[there are five news stories in this post.]
CIO | Timing is Everything
by Beverley Head
...Derek Goh is the general manager of IT for Challenger Financial Services Group, which recently merged with CPH Investment, and he believes there are occasions when information systems innovation is essential, and other times when it is less appropriate. ...
"It's like the recent campaign in [Iraq] where you have an air, land and sea, all-in-one campaign; whereas in World War II these were all separate operations," says Goh. "Today [our effort] is coordinated. We have one campaign comprising legacy, growth and future systems; the management challenge is to make it move as a whole and maintain harmony." To achieve that, says Goh, demands a focus on the people. He believes he has a strong team, capable of helping Challenger quickly elevate its information systems capability, which he acknowledges is presently somewhat behind its major competition.
Goh believes there are three levels at which a financial institute can compete via its information systems. First, through its transaction capability and the efficiency at which it can run those systems; second, through information competition by use of data; and finally via knowledge-based competition, which is more about business intelligence. "Our goal is to move towards business intelligence competition," says Goh. Which, as the innovation statement suggests, will require an innovation culture to support it...
The Economic Times :: PM sells resurgent India to Asean
...Mr Vajpayee said the 21st century would belong to Asia, and India was determined to play a key role in its growth. "Our interest rates are falling, inflation has been kept down, and foreign exchange reserves are growing rapidly. India remained unaffected by the Asian financial. We have targeted an 8% growth over the next few years. As our economic base in large, there is considerable untapped potential for India's continued - and even accelerated - economic growth." He underlined six highlights of the India:
* An inherently strong economy driven by indigenous skills and domestic enterprise.
* A growing and accessible domestic market, with important and investment barriers falling away.
* A rich pool of human resources - English speaking, with R&D skills, technological and managerial capabilities.
* Special capabilities in state-of-the-art technologies. India is one of only three countries - the US and Japan - to have indigenously designed and manufactured supercomputers. It is one of only six countries that can build and launch its own satellites.
* Global leadership in technologies of the knowledge economy. India's pre-eminent position in IT and IT-enabled services had led global companies to set up captives in India or to outsource their operations to quality Indian service providers.
* A sound and transparent financial system, with well-managed banking and insurance sectors, and vibrant capital markets...
SFGate :: EU considers new growth plan while France comes under fresh fire for deficits
by Paul Geitner, AP Business Writer
...The EU finance ministers took up a new economic growth plan that foresees mobilizing euro50 billion ($58.5 billion) over the next seven years through the European Investment Bank for transportation and research projects.
"We need to go on the offensive," said Italian economy minister Giulio Tremonti, who chaired the meeting. EIB president Philippe Maystadt said a "quick-start program" was needed in the coming months "to have a more rapid impact" on economic growth.
The EU expects a meager 0.5 percent growth rate in the 12 countries that use the euro as their currency this year, improving to only between 1 percent and 1.5 percent next year.
With attention focused on France's repeated violations of EU budget rules, however, Tremonti and others voiced concern that increased public spending would lead others down that path too.
"If you're going to boost the knowledge-based economy, it's important to remain within the limits of the (euro's) stability and growth pact," Tremonti said...
The Virginian-Pilot :: Pharmacy college planned in Grundy as part of revitalization
...GRUNDY, Va. -- Buchanan County officials announced plans to open a pharmacy college in Grundy within three years.
The proposed University of Appalachia School of Pharmacy is part of a local effort to revitalize the coalfields of far Southwest Virginia through higher education. Opening in the fall of 2006, the new private college would ultimately enroll up to 300 students and generate upward of $20 million for the local economy, organizers said Monday.
Frank Kilgore, assistant county attorney and chairman of the school's board of trustees, said the goal is to eventually "transform the economy of Grundy from extraction to knowledge-based industries'' with the help of roughly 1,000 students studying in town...
The Business Journal of Kansas City :: Cerner unveils $191M expansion
by Charlie Anderson
...Cerner Corp. officials used the unveiling of a sparkling campus expansion Tuesday to serve notice that the company will embark on unforeseen territory, both globally and abroad. ...
North Kansas City-based Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN) is in the third year of its campus expansion, which includes the four-story, 123,500-square-foot building between two existing offices that was unveiled Tuesday. ...
Missouri Gov. Bob Holden used a short speech to highlight the need for better schools to feed companies such as Cerner in "the knowledge-based economy."
"This company and its workers are the classic example of the transition happening in Missouri's economy," Holden said...
K-Collector