[there are six news stories in this post.]
Washington Post :: Brain-Gain Cities Attract Educated Young
By Blaine Harden
..."A pack of cities is racing away from everybody else in terms of their ability to attract and retain an educated workforce," said Bruce Katz, director of the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy at the Brookings Institution. "It is a sobering trend for cities left behind."
The long economic downturn has stalled growth and increased unemployment in almost every U.S. city, and has brought a sense of near-desperation to the intercity fight for young talent. Mayors, business leaders and university presidents are scrambling to secure new technology companies and entice young people to live downtown.
"In our business, you have to cannibalize," said Ron Sims, the county executive of King County, which surrounds Seattle, and a Democratic candidate for governor of Washington state. "Many cities don't fight back very well."
In addition to Seattle, the largest brain-gain cities include Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, and Raleigh and Durham, N.C.
The rising tide of well-schooled talent has created a self-reinforcing cycle. Newcomers ... have made a handful of cities richer, more densely populated and more capable of squeezing wealth out of the next big thing that a knowledge-based economy might serve up.
Some of these cities are blessed with relatively young, homegrown billionaires. They understand technology and are making huge bets to lure more talent. Seattle, with Microsoft Corp. co-founders Paul G. Allen and Bill Gates fronting much of the money, is probably making the most expensive such bet in the country -- on biotechnology...
The Arizona Republic :: Fox is correct to view U.S. as partner
by O. Ricardo Pimentel
...Mexico is already our second-largest trading partner and we are its first, representing about 85 percent of all of it trade, Fox (President of Mexico) said. Arizona gets an estimated $6.8 billion of that.
This trade is accompanied in flourishes by the rhetoric of hemispheric cooperation - except when we talk about immigration.
Simply, Mexico views itself as in a partnership. We don't.
Fox made a good case for Mexico simply holding up its end of the bargain, providing labor and, by the way, being rich in something else we crave. That would be oil.
The United States has a knowledge-based economy, technology and investment wherewithal. Canada has much natural and human resources to contribute.
Fox speaks of a North American bloc that must vie economically with other regional blocs that are becoming increasingly efficient and competitive.
Meanwhile - my words, not Fox's - we are increasingly becoming a nation of unilateralists. We don't think in terms of blocs. We think the U.S. spells us, even when that shortchanges us.
Fox said it is shortsighted not to view the migration patterns evident in this hemisphere in a more global context. When the story of the 21st century is told, he said, global migration will be a major theme. He advocates bringing order, legality and fluidity to this flow with immigration reform that recognizes this central "fact of life."...
STUFF : INFOTECH : New Zealand :: ICT needs identified
By TOM PULLAR-STRECKER
...The Labour Department's Community Employment Group hosted the "Connecting Communities" conference, which was attended by more than 400 representatives from community groups, non-profit organisations and government agencies.
Labour Department chief executive James Buwalda says the conference showed the need for "asset-mapping tools" which could be used by community groups to maintain information on ICT resources, skills and services in their areas. Also highlighted was the role of "e-riders" - people with ICT expertise who are willing to help train and help educate community groups and non-IT literate people in their communities.
Mr Buwalda says the calls for "broadband for all" are a "no-brainer". "The internet is designing itself around broadband." He says the priorities will help shape future funding from government for community-based ICT projects for the next five years.
Social Development Minister Steve Maharey said the Government is committed to building "a knowledge-based society for New Zealanders". He says New Zealand is doing "pretty well in this area".
Progress will necessitate creating more places where people can access the net, "if not at home, in local libraries or whatever".
A lot of the drive will have to come from local government, he says...
STLtoday :: Midwestern governors ask how to halt job loss
...The Midwest has a lot going for it: affordable housing, top universities and a quality work force. With those assets, why can't the region attract high-tech, good-paying jobs?
Governors from four Midwestern states sought an answer to that question Thursday from panels of experts from businesses, academia and government.
Gov. Bob Holden had called the specialists together for a brainstorming session sponsored by the Midwestern Governors' Association. The group is supposed to come up with recommendations for the governors of all 13 member states to consider early next year.
Holden was joined by Govs. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Thomas Vilsack of Iowa and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. All are Democrats. Staff members and representatives from other states also attended the session at the Renaissance Grand Hotel.
Over the past three years, Midwestern states have been rocked by an economic downturn fueled partly by an exodus of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries, where it's cheaper to produce goods. The governors were looking for advice on how to keep what manufacturing jobs their states still had while replacing those that had been lost with a new, "knowledge-based economy."...
The Times & The Sunday Times, Malta :: Reflections on the FOI Conference
...The Malta Federation of Industry held a successful conference on the theme "Europe - most competitive economy by 2010? How will Malta benefit from this process?" on October 31 at the Corinthia San Gorg Hotel, St Julian's.
FOI president Anton Borg delivered a detailed presentation comparing Malta's current performance under the numerous Lisbon statistical indicators in relation to those of the EU 15 and the other nine EU accession countries together with Malta. Several eminent speakers, economists and politicians also discussed the various issues that proved to be more than a mouthful for a half-day conference.
The FOI was honoured with the presence of Dr Philippe de Buck, secretary general of the Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE), who discussed UNICE's stand and contribution to the Lisbon Agenda; Jussi Mustonen, director and chief economist of the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers (TT), who questioned how achievable the Lisbon Agenda indicators are; Dr Lawrence Gonzi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Policy, who presented the social aspect of the Lisbon Agenda and the developments in Malta as an accession country; John Dalli, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, who focused on the possible ways of developing a competitive knowledge-based economy in Malta; and Gordon Cordina, from the Economics Department, University of Malta, who discussed how the Lisbon Agenda targets could be met...
Viet Nam News Agency :: Knowledge Based Economy Workshop
Ha Noi, Nov. 9 (VNA) - Domestic News
- Nov. 10: The Viet Nam Union of Scientific and Technological Associations to hold a workshop on knowledge-based economy.
K-Collector