Chapter 1 Thought Leadership on Intellectual Capital1 1This chapter was reprinted with permission from MCB University Press © 2001. Bontis, Nick and Danny Nikitopoulos. 2001. “Thought leadership on intellectual capital,” Journal of Intellectual Capital 2: 3, 183–191.

A synopsis of key topics, issues, and findings, as presented at the 4th World Congress on Intellectual Capital, hosted by McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. There were 536 delegates from thirty-two countries who discussed the growing importance of intellectual capital. This paper highlights the key messages from the keynote speakers of the conference. We include a summary of the presentations of such luminaries as Shahla Aly (VP Communication Sector at IBM Canada), Stephen Denning (KM Director of the World Bank), Don Tapscott (Chairman of Digital 4Sight), Ante Pulic and Ursula Schneider (Directors of the Austrian Intellectual Capital Research Centre), Tom Jenkins (CEO of OpenText), Leif Edvinsson (VP of Knexa.com Enterprises), Verna Allee (President of Integral Performance Group), and Don Morrison (COO of Research in Motion).