Luke Timmerman, Seattle Times business reporter writes: A Canadian way to make connections.
Luke writes about a few fundamental differences in the way that the University of British Columbia and the University of Washington interact with industry.
He asks: "Want lab space on campus for a business startup? Move into the University of British Columbia. Want graduate students to work for the company? No problem. Want to sponsor a university lab, direct the work and leave a fraction of profits to the university? Go ahead."
He goes on to say: "Even though UBC gets one-fourth the research funding of the University of Washington, the Canadian school is spinning out more startup companies, winning more patents per researcher and quickly increasing its income from technology licenses."
"...Many UBC startups have flopped, but some haven't. QLT of Vancouver has become one of the world's few profitable biotech companies by developing UBC research into a $400 million-a-year drug for macular degeneration, an eye disease...."
Interesting attitudes towards government, between Canadians and USA citizens: "The Canadians by and large have a belief system that reinforces government and believes in it, and Americans are much more skeptical," Miller (Bob Miller, the former director of tech transfer at UW) said. "Canadians think, 'How can we manage conflicts of interest and make this work?' Americans want to figure out, 'Who's the crook?' "
Knowledge based activities designed to breathe life into a knowledge economy here in the USA continue to pop up in the news. This one is in South Carolina:
PRESS RELEASE: EngenuitySC Announced Progress Report at Engenuity'04
Columbia, SC (PRWEB) August 28, 2004 -- Mayor Bob Coble and Dr. Andrew Sorensen kicked off Engenuity'04 today by discussing the Columbia region's many successes during the past 18 months. The conference, which is also the annual meeting of EngenuitySC, is in session at the State Museum in Columbia, SC, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. today. Nearly 200 people registered to attend the conference.
...Mayor Coble shared with the audience a progress report for the past 18 months. He reviewed the most important accomplishments of the past year:
* EngenuitySC was introduced. Engenuity is the coordinating council selected to lead the Columbia region's charge into the knowledge-based economy, in partnership with other organizations. The council includes a 12-member executive committee and over 50 board of trustees
* The EngenuitySC website http://www.engenuitysc.com was launched
Eric Berger, for the Houston Chronicle, reports--Science seen as slipping in U.S..
Eric writes about the impact of increasingly difficult visa hurdles on the development of innovation in science in the USA:
..."The Chinese government has a slogan, 'Develop science to save the country,' " said Paul Chu, a physics professor at the University of Houston who also is president of Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. "For a long time they have talked about it. Now they are serious."
According to the National Science Foundation and other organizations that track science indicators, the United States' share of worldwide scientific and engineering research publications, Nobel Prize awards, and some types of patents is falling.
A recent trend in the number of foreign students applying to U.S. schools is even more troubling, scientists say.
As American students have become less interested in science and engineering, top U.S. graduate schools have turned increasingly toward Europe and Asia for the best young scientists to fill laboratories. Yet now, with post-Sept. 11 visa rules tightening American borders, fewer foreign students are willing to endure the hassle of getting into the country.
"Essentially, the United States is pushing the best students from China and other countries away," Chu said...
Judd Slivka writes for The Arizona Republic: Job training strains schools.
Enrollment has risen dramatically in 'occupational' training: "In 1996-97, there were 203,899 enrollments in occupational courses in the Maricopa system. In 2002-03, there were 275,754."
More from this article:
"The demand for training is in fields that are costly: Biotechnology requires labs, truck driving requires trucks, aerospace requires planes. For just eight weeks of truck-driving class, the cost is upwards of $2,900; the average cost of educating a full-time student preparing to transfer to a four-year university is about $4,300 a year.
The automotive program, which gets cars donated by local dealers, needs to build a place to store them. A full-time nursing faculty member could cost more than $70,000 a year in salary and benefits.
This is the cost of the knowledge economy: crowding classrooms, increased costs and administrators looking for money under the couch cushions."
According to an InfoWorld article written by John Ribeiro, IDG News Service, Cutter Consortium's Edward Yourdon's New book says training can counter offshoring.
An excerpt:
...In Yourdon's new book "Outsource: Competing in the Global Productivity Race," the new threat is not only to U.S. software development jobs but to all kinds of knowledge work ranging from call centers and help desk operations to legal services, and clinical research operations in the pharmaceutical industry.
Knowledge work of all kinds is more and more likely to be a global commodity, and companies striving to compete in a global economy will continue looking for opportunities to use the lowest cost, highest quality providers of products and services, wherever they may be located, according to Yourdon...
On vnunet.com today I found Laurika Bretherton in Brussels, writing for Computing on: E-government: beyond the UK.
An interesting piece that talks about the European Union's aim "to be the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world" by 2010.
An excerpt that speaks to the possible integration of 'autonomic computing' capabilities:
"Piero Corsini, public sector European vice president at IBM, cited three key challenges that need to be addressed in government: reshaping citizen and business services; managing organisational effectiveness; and securing financial performance.
"This needs process transformation, resulting in cross-agency and cross-governmental processes, an integrated, open, autonomic and virtualised IT infrastructure, and above all cultural change within the organisations," said Corsini.
Edwin Lau, project leader on e-government at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), maintained that it is imperative for online services to transform the structures, processes and culture of public administration.
According to Lau, OECD countries are beginning to understand that services should be organised according to customer needs, and not the internal workings of government.
"Seamless online service delivery aims to provide users with a coherent and integrated package of government information and services," he said.
"Such services can provide more value to customers than separate services. Seamless services improve the business environment through the creation of one-stop services and administrative simplification, thereby reducing the cost of doing business.
"From the customer's point of view, government should appear as one organisation; from the government agencies' point of view, the customer should appear as a single customer."
Government organisations dealing with information society and e-government need to restructure, clearly separating concerns and responsibilities, according to Gartner analyst Andrea Di Maio.
States need to appoint a "whole-of-government" chief information officer and as many domain CIOs as necessary. It is one area where the UK is taking the lead, said Di Maio."
Thimphu : 3 July, 2004 - 82 National Assembly Presenting the annual report of the government to the 82nd session of the National Assembly on June 29, the prime minister, Lyonpo Jigmi Y Thinley, said that the past year had been an exceptionally eventful period that has left a defining impact on the future course of the nation.
..."His Majesty the King has put Bhutan on the path of a unique process of development based on the belief that the primary purpose of development is to achieve Gross National Happiness," said Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley. "It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the nation remains true to this philosophy, that true development can only be pursued through a judicious balance between spiritual and material advancement."
...The prime minister said that the government was committed to promoting a knowledge-based society to promote and ensure a functional and vibrant democracy.
Shane Schick writes: Cultural library to gauge how Canadians use technology, for itBusiness.ca.
...The University of Prince Edward Island Tuesday said it will be the first organization in Canada to use an IBM-built digital library to study how culture influences the way people can use technology to learn.
A custom-configured system, built on an IBM eServer Bladecenter running Content Manager and a number of applications out of the vendor's research division, is expected to arrive from IBM's Vancouver lab sometime later this month. IBM also announced a $1.3 million in-kind contribution to the project as part of a five-year agreement with the university.
The project is two-fold. Researchers within UPEI's Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Culture, Multimedia, Technology and Cognition will create the library with cultural artifacts from PEI and New Brunswick. They will then use this material in multimedia teaching environments and study how effective they are, developing courseware and methods of evaluation. Items in the library may include local folklore, musical literature and oral histories.
"We look at behaviour patterns, literally watching people learn," said Richard Kurial, dean of faculty of arts at PEIU. "Whether it's brain waves, heart beat, eye motion -- all of the kind of stuff that brings a certain psychological rigour." Kurial said the research team hopes to put together audio/visual records of how people learn to create exercises in positive teaching that will capture the nuances of Atlantic Canada...
FT.com :: EU still no match for US, finds survey
By Tobias Buck in Brussels
The US remains significantly more competitive than the majority of European Union member states, despite attempts by European leaders to turn the EU into the world's most competitive and dynamic region by 2010.
In some areas, however, including the crucial field of telecommunications, the EU outperforms the US. Further good news comes from Europe's north, where Finland, Denmark and Sweden were all found to be more competitive than the US.
These are the results of a study by the World Economic Forum, based on economic data and the forum's annual Executive Opinion Survey, and due to be published today. The study seeks to track Europe's progress towards the so-called Lisbon goals, a string of economic targets agreed upon by EU leaders in March 2000.
The goal was to challenge US economic hegemony by making Europe "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010".
However, the European Commission itself conceded earlier this year that the EU was falling further behind the US in some crucial areas. Economic growth and productivity growth, in particular, have been lagging behind US rates, leading many analysts to conclude that Europe stands little chance of overtaking the US within the next six years.
The forum's study points out that the EU beats the US in only three out of 13 categories: modernising social protection, sustainable development and telecommunications. Europe scores lowest vis-a-vis the US in the areas of innovation, research and development and in creating the right environment for business start-ups.
PR Newswire :: Microsoft Opens Innovation Centre Supporting EU Research Priorities
AACHEN, Germany, April 26 /PRNewswire/ --- European Microsoft Innovation Centre (EMIC) Will Contribute To Collaborative Public-Private R&D Programmes
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) officially opened the European Microsoft Innovation Centre (EMIC) today in Aachen, Germany. The facility, located in a leading European technology region, serves as the focal point for Microsoft's European collaborative applied research and development efforts . Microsoft(R) scientists and engineers at EMIC, in conjunction with academia and industry partners, will take part in applied research projects such as those sponsored by the European Commission (EC), national research programmes and national governments in Europe.
EMIC was created to participate in European research and development, which responds to the EC's call for additional private investment to reach the goal of the Lisbon agenda: to become the most competitive knowledge- based economy in the world by 2010.
"Information technology and innovation are essential to achieving the EC's Lisbon objectives, and we embrace the opportunity to collaborate with public and private organisations across Europe in pursuit of these shared goals," said Jean-Philippe Courtois, CEO of Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "The EMIC facility demonstrates our passion for innovation and desire to contribute to the research and development priorities of panregional, national and local governments."
EMIC applied research falls into three areas -- Web services, security and privacy technologies, and wireless technologies -- focused on three platforms: enterprise computing, embedded devices and the extended home. The collaborative nature of EMIC's work will allow Microsoft to share its technology expertise and to learn from and develop stronger relationships with technology partners, universities and governments in Europe.
Steven C.M. Wong in his New Straits Times column, CHISEL & STONE writes: Let's give debate a chance over dogma.
Steven voices his concern regarding the information propagation perceptions and practices of Malaysia:
For one reason or another, this country appears to have grown into one where facts do not matter, only opinions do. Not just that, but opinions have to be expressed in the most opinionated, i.e., unbalanced manner, accepting no discussion and brooking no challenge...
Information challenges our worldview. It is difficult to continue to remain closed and closeted when barraged by facts and data that contradict our values, beliefs and attitudes. It is in hermetically sealed hothouses of ideas that political and religious extremism are bred, not in open and interactive ones. If we want to fight doctrinaire positions, this is the way to do it.
Vision 2020 was far-sighted enough to recognise this and thus identified our need to become an information-rich society. Realising the Vision, however, is not merely the acceptance of the concept. It is the building of a whole superstructure of facilities and faculties. It is the restoration of the privilege to question and the right to demur. However much we would wish it, we cannot be an information-rich society without this...
In the Irish Examiner there is an article on -- Health, education and anti-crime the key: Kenny.
Fine Gael party leader Enda Kenny talks about the current state of literacy in Ireland and his hopes for a thriving "knowledge economy."
He said it was vital to invest radically and intensively in education, right from pre-school.
"The current early-start programme is at pilot stage. It has been for 10 years. And with one in five Irish people barely able to read or write, the move to the knowledge economy is a bit of a quantum leap. It requires quantum change," he told delegates.
"A confident Ireland starts with education. We must make the best education a basic civil right. Not the random privilege of parenting or class."
In CNETAsia, Mike Ricciuti and Martin LaMonica ask the question -- Can Sun-Microsoft cease-fire halt the war?
Have the C-level execs of these two companies really sealed a truce? This CNET news article opines that a large part of the reason driving this 'truce' is customer dis-satisfaction with this long and brooding war on interoperability between these platforms. Another reason for this unusual alliance advanced in this article is to join forces against IBM.
Competition against another 'foe' surely make strange bed-fellows. But how do Scott McNealy, and Steve Ballmer & Bill Gates reduce the noise of the plethora of invectives and insults that they have been slinging at each other for about the last decade?
For example -- in 2001 Bill Gates told CNET News: "Sun's pretty much almost about as pure as you can get as a competitor (to Microsoft). Sun believes in expensive hardware. They think that software R&D shouldn't be funded; they think the idea of empowering knowledge workers is a bad idea."
Times of Oman :: Bait Al Zubair to launch third book tomorrow
MUSCAT - The Bait Al Zubair will be officially launching their third book - the Oman - Ancient Civilisation: Modern Nation - Towards a Knowledge and service Economy - jointly with Trinity College Dublin tomorrow.
The book is jointly written by Vincent McBrierty and Mohammed Al Zubair. The book traces Oman's development throughout its colourful history spanning some six millennia. It is a fascinating story of economic achievement in a country that retained a deep respect for its environment throughout its colourful history.
...The book is intended to serve three main purposes: to provide a more integrated perspective of national policy within Oman and to create an enhanced sense of pride in the Omani people in their fascinating heritage; to inform the wider international community as to the way in which an open Arab economy can participate successfully in today's global knowledge economy without compromising its cherished traditions and values and to serve as a prototype for other developing economies with similar aspirations...
Reuters.com :: Massachusetts Tops Tech Index, Mississippi Last
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Massachusetts remains the state best positioned to take advantage of a high-technology economy, while Mississippi lags the rest of the nation, according to a new study released on Wednesday.
The Milken Institute, a Los Angeles-area think tank backed by former junk bond king Michael Milken, used 75 separate measurements to come up with its State Technology and Science Index, the second one produced by the institute.
Like the 2002 study before it, the new survey found a link between how well a state scores in the index and its per-capita income. Moreover, the researchers contend that the more a state invests in technology and develops technology businesses, the better off its citizens will be.
"If they don't become part of the knowledge economy, they risk some very large dislocations among their population,"
Ross DeVol, director of regional economics for the Milken Institute, told Reuters.
The same states occupied the top five and bottom five spots as in the last index, though in slightly different order. California rose to No. 2, while Colorado slipped to No 3.
Massachusetts was the only state to score higher than 80 out of 100 and was well ahead of California, while less than 1 point separated California from No. 4 Maryland.
At the bottom of the table, Arkansas traded places with Mississippi, now last in the nation with a score just over half of the national average.
Rhode Island made the biggest leap, coming 11th in the new survey from 21st in the 2002 study, while Texas suffered the biggest decline, falling to 23rd from 14th.
EU Business - Highlights of EU summit
...ECONOMIC REFORM: Four years since the Lisbon summit that set Europe the target of being the world's top knowledge-based economy by 2010, "the picture is a mixed one," the EU leaders agreed, and "the pace of reform needs to be significantly stepped up". Enlargement will help the EU meet its goal...
In the San Francisco Chronicle today Tom Abate writes - S.F. third in U.S. in higher degrees / Washington, D.C., Seattle residents take two top spots.
...The Census report, based on a 2002 survey and issued Wednesday, found that 18.5 percent of San Franciscans over age 25 hold postgraduate or professional degrees. In Seattle, the comparable figure is 19.3 percent. In the nation's capital, 23.6 percent of people over 25 have postgraduate credentials...
Sean Randolph, president of the Bay Area Economic Forum, said his group's surveys suggest that when the entire nine-county area is analyzed as an economic unit, it still beats competing regions in both numbers and percentages of scientists, engineers and professionals.
"My sense of it is that we are highly competitive and still set the standard in terms of knowledge workers,'' Randolph said...
I have not been paying enough attention to the state of the global knowledge economy lately. Below are two snippets of news on this front. Enjoy... (-:=
FT.com :: Priorities for EU's electronic communications
By Claudio Murri
...The eEurope 2005 Action Plan is an important initiative that will help to increase the use of information communication technologies (ICT) and services in the European Union, and to achieve the Lisbon objective of becoming the "most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010". However, in light of the European Commission's recent eEurope 2005 mid-term review and the Telecommunications Council of the European Union meeting in Brussels today, there is an urgent need for consistency and coherence in implementing the action plan and of legislation to make it a success...
Business leaders spurred to walk economic talk
By Dennis Quick
...Ernest Andrade, director of the Charleston Digital Corridor, a collection of companies offering knowledge-based services to local small and medium-sized businesses, says the corridor's 2004 initiatives include forming a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation to raise funds that would be used to secure capital loans for small companies, partner with an unnamed corporation to create an environment for business incubation and growth acceleration, and create on the corridor's web site a database where interns and professionals can post their resumes and where companies searching for talent can view them...
Scotsman.com Business - Management - Firms 'miss out' on tax credits for innovation
..."In America the knowledge-based companies, including technology companies, get about 50% of their revenue from the public sector. Companies like Oracle would have been in Chapter 11 [administration] if the government hadn't purchased from them from their inception."
He [Iain Graham, chief executive of Renfrewshire software company Graham Technology] says that if the politicians believe that Scotland has good quality people then they must support them.
"Currently they must consider the intellectual group in Scotland to be so stupid they won't spend any money with them. They go to America for all their purchases," he says.
"Can't we move the public sector into the 21st century and buy the leading technology that American companies are buying from Scottish companies in our sector?"...
...The former Dutch Prime Minister, Mr Wim Kok, is in Dublin tomorrow Thursday 26th February 2004, to address an EU conference on 'Adaptability and Adjustment to Change in the Workplace'. Mr Kok will discuss the findings of the European Employment Task Force, which he chaired, and which presented its final report to the European Commission in November 2003.
..."A productive, highly competitive Europe requires companies and organisations that are able to compete in terms of innovation in the global knowledge-based economy." Research pointed to a growing body of empirical evidence for the economic benefits of new forms of work organisation, it adds; "In the emerging workplace model, a participative, consultative style of management and attention to work/life balance cannot be viewed as optional extras"...
Or 'A preponderance of mixed messages for an under-employed American 'knowledge worker' force in an election year.'
"I'm all for united action, and so are the 34 coalition partners we have in Iraq right now. Yet America must never outsource America's national security decisions to the leaders of other governments."
-- President Bush, 2/23/04 [CNN.com - Bush takes on critics - Feb. 24, 2004]
To which Cynthia Typaldos replies:
Even the president is worried about possible outsourcing of his job. With the upcoming election and the proposal to allow foreign-born citizens to become president he does have valid concerns.
However, if you add in his own (and Greenspan's) rhetoric about how outsourcing is good for America, and job losers should retrain, his attempt to defend his job against outsourcing seems NIMBY [Not In My Backyard.]
Cynthia then cites a reference to the following Greenspan article:
"There is a palpable unease that businesses and jobs are being drained from the United States, with potentially adverse long-run implications for unemployment and the standard of living of the average American," Greenspan said in prepared remarks delivered to the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. His solution to the problem, as he told Congress last week, is to do a better job of educating American workers. [Greenspan sees 'unease' about jobs - Feb. 20, 2004]
A question that I have for Greenspan is: How much more 'education' do American workers need? From where I stand, here on the East Coast of these United States of America, we have an alarming number of highly skilled, highly educated American 'knowledge workers' who are either un-employed or seriously under-employed.
Alas, I agree with Cynthia that the President should be concerned about the outsourcing of his own 'knowledge worker' job - and the 'jobs' of his top security advisory staff. But then, as I have ruminated in prior posts - inspired by Carly Fiorina's advice that: "There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore, we have to compete for jobs." - I am left to wonder: "Wasn't George W. Bush listening?" And when President Bush's chief economic adviser, Greg Mankiw, who said "outsourcing" - sending white-collar service jobs abroad where labor is cheaper - was a good thing, was George W. Bush not listening then either? Did he not reflect on the color of his own collar on the day Mankiw made that proclamation?
I am befuddled by Mr. Bush's confusing stance on 'outsourcing.' On one hand I read - Bush opposes outsourcing - Deccan Herald: ...Mr. Bush said in a speech in the industrial state of Pennsylvania: "There are people looking for jobs because jobs have gone overseas." He said, "We need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home, and people are more likely to to retain a job."... and then, look over here - Bush economic report praises 'outsourcing' jobs.
It is no small wonder that the White House found both Democrats and Republicans alike distancing themselves from the insensitivity of President Bush's chief economic adviser, Greg Mankiw's stance - that Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., chairman of the House Small Business Committee, who called for Bush to fire Mankiw, described as: "He would probably stick his finger in the face of one of my unemployed people and say, 'You are out of work. Congratulations. That is good for the economy, good for America,'" Manzullo said. [White House Outsourcing Remark Ignites Firestorm]
And to think - in an 'election year.'
The Times Herald :: Inside Outsourcing
By: Carl Rotenberg
...Ernest J. Dianastasis, the managing director of Computer Aid Inc., said the "60 to 70 percent promised cost savings of outsourcing really ends up being 10 to 15 percent." He said companies with established "best practices" had a better chance of achieving higher savings from outsourcing.
"Companies should get their own operations in order," he said, "before they turn to outsourcing." Dianastasis said the loss of 3.3 million U.S. jobs in the future would represent $136 billion in lost wages and nearly $1 trillion by 2015.
He said 123,000 jobs in the Delaware Valley were at risk now from outsourcing in the fields of information technology, call centers, customer service, bookkeeping and claims processing.
The loss of these local jobs would have an economic impact of more than $5 billion in annual salaries...
Byron Glick, in an IT Insights piece for The Wisconsin Technology Network, talks about: Transforming Information to Knowledge.
Borrowing from Aesop's Golden Goose fable he writes:
...A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose, which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it in order to secure the whole store of precious metal at once. But when they cut it open they found it was just like any other goose. Thus, they neither got rich all at once, as they had hoped, nor enjoyed any longer the daily addition to their wealth. Aesop
From a management point of view, Aesop describes two kinds of knowledge assets: intellectual assets and knowledge workers. Golden eggs represent intellectual property, the unique processes and various types of knowledge and experience that exist within our organizations. IT captures some, but by no means all, of this rich stream. The bits that can be documented, digitized and chopped up into databases all get IT attention but there is less certainty regarding the bigger parts, such as individual's creative ideas, insightful conversations among coworkers or a discussion focused on an engineer's design.
The second type of knowledge asset, the goose, represents the engine of production in the new economy, the knowledge worker. People create this asset and they use it daily, extracting the value from the golden egg. This human role is not readily reduced to bits and bytes, which poses an interesting challenge for IT.
IT departments are experts at building information pipelines for the desktop, but that's not enough anymore. Those dreadfully efficient pipes are creating geese overstuffed with information, which is great for pate but not so good for productivity and creativity. IT can't continue to treat the use of information and knowledge as unintended system consequences. Information managers must shift attention from volume and availability to content-related issues such as quality and reliability...
Stephen Cathers, in The University of Southern California's Daily Trojan posits that the movement of 'knowledge worker' jobs from USA shores is not a bad thing, and in fact is a good and necessary thing. In response to what he calls the 'Protectionist' platforms of candidates Kerry and Turner he asks:
...What makes the current dispute any different? The main difference between the present fight and previous battles is that white-collar workers are the ones who feel threatened this time.
This is supposedly important because knowledge workers are losing their jobs, and "everyone knows" that knowledge work is "America's future." When reminded that over time America has gone from agricultural to factory to knowledge work (which includes information technology), New Jersey State Senator Shirley Turner, author of protectionist legislation, told Wired, "I'd like to know where you go from knowledge." Of course, this assumes that more jobs won't be created in promising fields like biotechnology and nanotechnology, while discounting the fact that more discoveries and inventions are yet to come in areas we can't predict. Politicians are hardly the best people to figure out what future innovations will transform the economy. While the rest of us are still in the dark, protectionist politicians have somehow figured out a way to divine America's future, and apparently it looks exactly like the present.
...All these objections don't mean that the cost to workers who lose their jobs is not a valid concern, only that protectionism is a poor solution. More innovative and less destructive responses are called for. For instance, the McKinsey Global Institute's report on outsourcing concluded that "as part of a severance package, and for a small percent of the savings from offshoring, companies could purchase insurance for their displaced workers that would cover their loss in wages for the time a worker is unemployed."..
On January 18, 2004 I wrote a post Free Trade Is Not Free in which I recommended that outsourcing CEO jobs might be a good thing. I was inspired by HP chief Carly Fiorina's incredibly insensitive quote: "There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore, we have to compete for jobs."
While it is unlikely that Ms. Fiorina's intention was to intimate the possibility of outsourcing C-level executive positions - it appears that a number of writers, cited in the related links below, have picked up on this concept and run with it.
Related Links:
Outsource the CEO next time by Rich Heintz
Why not send CEO jobs overseas? by Jesse Kornbluth
Economic policies need a shakeup by Lewis Billig
Network World Fusion :: Industry leaders, academics focus on productivity
By Jennifer Mears
...The Information Work Productivity Council, created nearly two years ago by industry leaders including Microsoft, Cisco, HP and Intel, is holding its first Information Work Forum next week in New York in an effort to reach out to businesses wrestling with the best ways to step up productivity.
The invitation-only event is the first sponsored by the council that is focused on creating a framework for businesses to measure productivity stemming from information-centric technology such as e-mail, instant messaging, team workspaces, video conferencing and Web conferencing.
...John Seely Brown, author and former Chief Scientist and Palo Alto Research Center Director (PARC), Xerox, will also talk about the changing corporate IT infrastructure and how flexible, services-oriented architectures are allowing for more collaboration and, as a result, more innovation.
"The IT systems we use, the ERP systems we use, have created almost a prison for us and we cannot move very freely in that prison so any kind of innovation we want to rapidly deploy has to be squeezed into what our current IT systems and the business processes they support allow us to do," he says. "What's happening now is slowly but surely as an extension of Web Services we're starting to build service oriented architectures ... that enable us to build more loosely coupled systems. ... It enables us to innovate in ways we never could before."
Analysts are also tracking this effort to better manage the use of information-focused technology. Mike Gotta, a senior vice president at the Meta Group, for example, talks about what he calls the Knowledge Worker Infrastructure, which enables workers to use IT resources to interact with the information - and coworkers, partners and customers - they need when they need it.
"It's about people - it's how people get connected to information and processes so we can make the whole organization more productive," he says.
Efforts to create a knowledge worker infrastructure in organizations are just beginning, with pharmaceutical and high-tech manufacturing firms leading the way, Gotta says.
"By 2004, we believe only 15% of Global 2000 companies will have developed an enterprise-wide strategy for pulling together diverse KWI activities. By 2006, 50% of G2000 enterprises will have a strategic plan to address KWI needs, growing to 80% in 2008," Gotta writes in a research note on the subject...
Steven D. Rudnik, Magnitude Founder, and Chief Executive Officer stated: "Throughout the world, knowledge-workers represent a costly and significant resource to employers of all industries. Our clients are coming to us looking for effective and innovative ways to measure that resource as an integral step in managing it. Once employers implement ErgoEnterprise(TM) and observe their own organization's knowledge-worker productivity in real-time, they quickly follow-on with exploring ways to enhance performance such as through improving the ergonomics of the knowledge-worker, thus optimizing their performance. Good ergonomics equates to good economics."
Earlier today a friend of mine from the Bay Area and I were having a conversation about the current state of our 'knowledge economy.' He brought to my attention the SFGate article below on the increasing surge of 'knowledge worker' jobs to overseas markets. What caught his eye in this article was the quote:
"There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore," HP chief Carly Fiorina said. "We have to compete for jobs."
To which my friend offered, that he thought it rather noble of Carly to suggest that she and other USA C-level executives should have to compete for their jobs with offshore executives who would most likely work for millions less in annual pay. This would indeed save the USA job market a good deal of money - perhaps enough to re-employ a few million of the out-of-work non-'C'-level workforce... (^:
SFGate :: Backlash brews as executives keep shifting white-collar jobs overseas
RACHEL KONRAD, AP Business Writer
...Executives say transferring highly paid, highly skilled jobs to foreigners allows companies to engineer products inexpensively and lets Americans focus on emerging fields such as nanotechnology. The average American programmer commands $60 an hour; in India the rate is roughly one-sixth of that.
Proponents also say outsourcing develops work forces -- and in turn, consumers with buying power -- in fast-growing markets such as China, India and Russia.
Despite that daunting economic logic, outsourcing opponents say they hope to educate the public about the true cost of globalization.
"People are tired of everything being based upon the bottom line, where companies are getting richer and everyone else is losing out," said Marcus Courtney, organizer of the Seattle-based Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, which has 370 dues-paying members and 16,000 people on a free electronic mailing list...
Today Computerworld has a story by Carol Sliwa in which 'Sears CEO Alan Lacy sings praises of offshore outsourcing.' I am including a series of quotes from Alan Lacy that first left me speechless, and then left me pondering - what is left of Mr. Lacy's organization after manufacturing, customer support, financial systems, administrative support, human resources, and other 'knowledge worker' functions are outsourced to "smarter" shores?
...quote...
...I think that the fact that we now have potentially the ability to outsource to people who this is their business, they're going to have an incentive -- because it is their business to keep more state-of-the-art in terms of the quality of the financial systems, the HR systems and so on. I think that to some degree, just the nature of IT spending is that we have scarce resources in IT. Resources being scarce is going to lead to, I think, acceleration of outsourcing for some of the more administrative-like functions.
"But I think, beyond that, to me, a very interesting trend right now is the whole non-U.S. opportunity that's available, and ... if you think about personal intelligence and drive being randomly distributed by population -- you know, there are four or five times as many smart, driven people in China than there are in the U.S. And there's another four or five, three or four times as many people in India that are smarter or as smart or have more drive. And if technology is now going to basically reduce location as a barrier to competition, then essentially you've got something like whatever that was, seven or nine times, more smart, committed people that are now competing in this marketplace against certain activities.
"So, I think that the outsourcing potential -- particularly of some of the more commodity-like knowledge worker activities -- we're just beginning to see the first of that curve. I think that, just given the nature of technology and given the nature of those workforces, and given the fact that we've had a decrease in the supply, prices are going to fall.
"So we're going to see, I think, this huge incentive to shift some of these more commodity-like, knowledge worker jobs offshore."...
...end quote...
Contra Costa Times :: Bay Area slips in productivity
...The soaring costs of living and doing business have begun to sap the Bay Area's competitive edge, even though it has the nation's most productive and skilled workers, a study released today warns.
...Rising home prices, soaring premiums for workers' compensation, stubbornly high electricity costs and lengthening commutes have all eroded the Bay Area's ability to compete in the national and global marketplace, the McKinsey & Co. study suggests (this study titled - Downturn and Recovery: Restoring Prosperity - is available in 'PDF' format on: Bay Area Economic Forum Publications.)
..."We are morphing into something new," Van Dyke, an economist with the Berkeley-based Rosen Consulting Group, said. "The Bay Area will increasingly be a center where high-value knowledge work is done, and not an area where we put things together. We have to encourage startups, idea work, the intersection between hard technology and biosciences. That's the wave of the future."...
Brendan Pereira of The Straits Times reports 'Abdullah lays out his economic vision.' "He promised to lower the cost of doing business, spark a revolution in the education system and drive home the mantra of competitiveness to Malaysian businesses. Missing were diatribes against globalisation or a rosy analysis of the road ahead. In their place was a straightforward assessment that Malaysia needed to transform itself into a knowledge-based economy."
Today, in 'The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area,' "NCEITA said North Carolina's public schools from kindergarten through high school are seen as lacking and are a hindrance to attracting employees and knowledge-based companies to the state. The association also pointed out that the North Carolina community college system is leading the way in "retraining" workers from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, but that continuing budget cuts are undermining the community colleges."
The Korea Herald has a story on the 'NCA spearheading digitization.' "Last year, the United Nations ranked Korea 13th in an e-government evaluation of its 191 member states... "The NCA (National Computerization Agency) is led by the best minds in Korea who are devoted to creating a world-class knowledge economy," Suh Sam-young, president of NCA said. The organization's budget has also grown in tandem with the larger work force and greater tasks from 3.2 billion won in 1987 to more than 500 billion won by 1999."
In India's Financial Express, Union minister for information technology and communications, Arun Shourie 'Prescribes A Three-pronged Strategy To Boost Ties In ICT' (Information, Communication and Technology.) "Asia is becoming a powerhouse of the knowledge economy and significant parts of ICT gains elsewhere in the world is fueled by devices manufactured in Asia," he added.
Reported on iBerkshires.com for the USA, 'Higher education incentive, vocational course legislation approved by legislative committee,' and is sponsored by State Representative Peter J. Larkin, who serves as assistant vice-chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "This legislation would permit for-credit vocationally-oriented courses to be treated in the same way that not-for-credit programs are currently treated," Larkin noted. "Our state matching grants for this program should go towards those courses that provide people with the credentials that they need to get jobs in the knowledge economy of the 21st Century."
In AME Info Business News for the United Arab Emirates, 'Business Software Alliance supports e-Literacy drive in the Middle East.' "The UAE's leadership position in knowledge economy is widely acknowledged today. The government's efforts in this direction have already shown excellent results, in the form of several successful projects including Dubai e-Government and Dubai Internet City," said Jawad Al Redha, Co-chairman, BSA Middle East.
In Great Britain, Larry Elliott writes for the Guardian Unlimited about 'Why we shouldn't just be topping up the number of graduates.' "The government is in a fine old mess over top-up fees. Students are unhappy, universities are unhappy, Labour backbenchers are unhappy. Concessions offered to prevent a Commons defeat mean the proposals are now hideously complicated, but still may not be enough to buy off the rebels... ministers are sticking to their guns. There is, they insist, no alternative if we are to expand higher education so that Britain can be at the cutting edge of the knowledge economy. Strangely, given all the fuss over top-up fees, this assumption has gone almost unquestioned."
And in Scoop, the New Zealand Government announces 'New video-conferencing service for schools.' "Broadband is the infrastructure for the knowledge economy, delivering the high speed Internet access critical to improving our educational and economic outcomes. Broadband is as important to the modern world as roads and railways were in opening up opportunities for previous generations. High-speed internet will ensure New Zealand can continue to move forward as an innovative and thriving knowledge society - a key goal of this government."
John McTernan writes a reflective piece for 'The Scotsman' - Building on devolution.
In this article John asks three questions about Scotland, the third of which I am quoting:
"what now forms our identity? Underlying the nationalist analysis is an assumption that modern identity is still bound up with a nineteenth century notion of the nation state: my country, right or wrong. That certainly seems to fit most Scots over thirty, amongst many of whom there can be no greater sin than to support England in a World Cup. But for the younger, rising generations identity seems to be far more fluid. On the one hand globalisation of brands, music and entertainment offers a range of public identities by affinity. On the other, new forms of communication - the internet and mobile phones - create new identities along community of interest and these transcend territorial boundaries. The knowledge economy is sometimes described as the weightless economy because work which is digitised can be instantly transmitted globally. In parallel, a form of weightless identity is becoming established. There are still clear territorial loyalties, even amongst younger people. Increasingly, however, these are to sub-national localities, predominantly to cities."
The following are some 'knowledge' sound bytes published in the Earth Negotiations Bulletin on the Summary of the Pan-African Implementation and Partnership Conference on Water that was held 8-12 December 2003.
...Presenting on the vulnerability of water resources to environmental change, Hans Beekman, United Nations Environment Programme - UNEP, said that vulnerability assessments should include water quality, climate variability, pollution, urbanization, competition for water, data availability and knowledge gaps...
...On Tuesday, 9 December, Eberhard Braune presented recommendations for ministerial consideration, which include the need to: develop capacity at all levels; strengthen partnerships with international training institutes; improve monitoring and assessment programmes; find new ways to disseminate information and share knowledge; and reinforce the link between the scientific community and decision-makers and civil society...
...Abby Mgugu, Southern African Development Community (SADC ) Regional Coordinator for Women’s Land and Water Rights, chaired a session on water and gender. Mildred Mkandla, EarthCare, presented on a rainwater harvesting pilot project in Kenya, which seeks to empower women to own, control and manage their water resources. Delegates underlined the critical role women in developing countries play in the management of water resources, particularly at the household level, while often lacking access to land and financial resources to participate in the decision-making process. The session concluded that gender concerns need to be taken into account in terms of policy formulation, resource allocation, development of technology and training programmes, and management of facilities. They also stressed the need to recognize and promote indigenous knowledge systems and to develop information systems that are gender disaggregated and easily accessible at all levels...
Douglas Merrey, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), presented the final report "WaterDome" on water-related World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) outcomes. Efua Dzameshie, Young Volunteers for the Environment, said sustainable water management needs to be community-driven and focused on the poor, and stressed the need to: involve women and youth; improve knowledge management, including traditional knowledge; and build capacity for Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM).
Washington Post :: U.N. Sets Aside Debate Over Control of Internet
By David McGuire
...United Nations member states this weekend headed off a showdown over who should control the Internet, agreeing to study the issue and reopen it in 2005.
...Leaders had planned to wade into a debate over the way Web site and e-mail addresses are doled out, standards are set for Internet security and the thorny question of how Internet-based transactions are taxed, among other things.
Some developing nations have complained that the world's most visible Internet governance body -- the U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) -- hasn't adequately represented non-U.S. interests, and should be replaced with a governmental group overseen by the United Nations.
ICANN President Paul Twomey said this weekend's compromise shows that most countries don't want to scrap ICANN. "When you look at the actual outcome, it reflected that a lot of delegations weren't willing to go down that path at all. I think that was a minority opinion," Twomey said. "We're happy also to have two years where we listen to the concerns of governments."
ICANN -- a Marina del Rey, Calif.-based nonprofit -- has managed the Internet's global addressing system since 1998 under an agreement with the U.S. government.
Many U.S. companies -- who actually run much of the Internet's infrastructure -- strongly opposed efforts to move Internet management into government hands, arguing that private-sector groups like ICANN are better suited to respond to the quickly evolving Internet...
As reported in an article in The New York Times, 'Nations Chafe at U.S. Influence Over the Internet,' ICANN president, Paul Twomey, was excluded from a prepatory meeting for the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society.
Jennifer L. Schenker, of the International Herald Tribune, states "Icann and the United States government are expected to come under heavy fire at the conference, which begins Wednesday in Geneva and will be one of the largest gatherings of high-level government officials, business leaders and nonprofit organizations to discuss the Internet's future. An important point of debate will be whether the Internet should be overseen by the United Nations instead of American groups like Icann."
According to this article, the role of governmental agencies in the future of the Internet will be the core discussion at this conference. Although Icann and the US Government will be conspicuous by their absence at this meeting, Nicholas Negroponte, Esther Dyson and Tim Berners-Lee, are expected to attend. As are representatives from a number of US based companies, including AOL, Microsoft, The Boeing Company, Siemens AG, Alcatel and Vodafone.
For me, my 'knowledge notes' provide a way to record the 'global buzz' on a number of topics that I follow. However, I have received some feedback from those who read my newsfeed, or my contributions to various 'topic exchange channels,' to include only one item, or news story, per post. I have been doing this for the past couple of weeks and find that it has been difficult for me to 'contain' certain areas to this format. And so, I will attempt, at least for this 'knowledge economy' news channel, a more conversational inclusion of multiple stories, on this single topic, in a single post, and see how well it is 'digested' by my fine readership.
Today, on INQ7.net, Irene R. Sino Cruz talks about the Philippine government's desire to ensure a continuous stream of local technical workers and prepare future knowledge workers for the "Knowledge Economy" through the Philippine's 'PCs for Public School Project (PCPS 2).'
The Star Telegram, in Fort Worth, Texas has an 'Opinion' piece on the "City of Arlington 2025 Visioning Report" and Arlington's need to draw and keep college graduates to support an evolving "knowledge economy."
In 'Pakistan Link Headlines,' talking about the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) being held in Geneva from December 10 to 12, Dr. Attaur Rehman of Pakistan said the representatives from governments, private sectors, civil society, international organisations and mass media would attend the Summit. He said the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) "was not about Information Technology but was about the transition taking place during the last two decades where the world had moved from a natural resource based economy to the knowledge economy."
'The News Review' from Douglas County, Oregon, reporter,Chris Casey, writes about the Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce's 2004 Business Outlook Forum where David Frohnmayer, president of the University of Oregon, advocates greater investment in higher education, a critical player in the emerging "knowledge economy." He noted that the University of Oregon in 2002 received $70 million in state tax money and spent $700 million in the local and regional economy. "That's a 10-to-1 return on investment," he said. "If we were all on the stock market, we'd want to buy that stock on the basis of its equity value. And that's a year-in and year-out return."
In 'The Guardian' Dr. Ray Greek, medical director of 'Europeans for Medical Advancement' speaks out on how the government policy to promote an internationally competitive knowledge economy in Britain is influencing the direction of British science for economic motives, even though they conflict with public health interests and he concludes that "A knowledge economy based on erroneous knowledge is doomed to fail."
And, in 'The Financial Express' today Pradip Kumar Dey, FE Research Group, agrees with Pythagoras that "Numbers rule the universe." He notes that "While petroleum sector majors remain on top of FE 500 (numbers generated by The Financial Express Research Bureau analysing the performance of India's top 500,) companies from the knowledge economy, steel, automobiles and pharmaceuticals have also moved to the top of the pile."
VNUnet :: Dump the blame game and look to the future
by Michael Gubbins
...Few areas promised quite as much 'efficiency' as Knowledge Management. If only we could learn to see information as our main asset and share a bit more, the KM revolutionaries would say, we could become kings and queens of a new Knowledge Economy.
Where did it all go wrong? The IT professional, of course. Delegates and exhibitors at last week's KM Europe 2003 conference in Amsterdam were falling over themselves to talk about past geeky misdemeanours.
"We don't deal with the IT people any more," said one vendor, who shall remain nameless. "You'll never get them to understand the business."
There's a lot of this kind of talk around. IT companies are often convinced that, if only they could talk to the chief executive, sales would rocket. The small-minded obsessives in the IT department are holding back the future, they say.
OK. So all of us know IT professionals from the Planet Zorg, who simply cannot mix with Earthlings. We have all seen data centres that are the eclectic product of years of bodging, where shelves bulge with redundant kit that was once the Next Big Thing.
But let's also recognise that few businesses historically really understood the role of IT in the value chain.
What we need is to dump the blame game and look at future opportunities. IT-led business projects may often be a recipe for disaster, but it's difficult to envisage a business-led project that does not have IT at its core.
Sam Marshall, knowledge management specialist at Unilever, says that a successful project ought to be 20 per cent IT, 30 per cent processes and 50 per cent people.
But those making a success of projects, like his company, understand that only a harmonious relationship between the three can really work. Jaw-jaw is better than war-war...
[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.
UNDP News Bulletins :: UNDP Launches second Arab Human Development Report in Amman
...Amman, Jordan, 20 October 2003:The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched its groundbreaking new Arab Human Development Report in a ceremony attended by leading Arab intellectuals and opinion leaders and hosted by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The new report - titled Arab Human Development Report 200- Building A Knowledge Society focuses on the current state of learning and intellectual inquiry in the Arab world. "In today's world, knowledge has become the key to progress and growth," said Dr. Rima Khalaf, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States in UNDP. "Knowledge increasingly defines the line between wealth and poverty, between capability and powerlessness and between human fulfilment and frustration."
Dr. Khalaf, who supervised the writing of the report, made her remarks at an event this morning attended by senior Jordanian officials, Arab and international diplomatic missions, distinguished Arab personalities, the report's advisory board, and the media.
Dr. Khalaf was joined by H.E. Dr. Marwan Muasher, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jordan and Dr. Clovis Maksoud, Vice President of the Report's Advisory Board. Minister Muasher in his speech added: "Jordan is convinced that the Report provides an effective basis for addressing contemporary challenges to the Arab world. Our faith is reflected in the adoption of its core messages by His Majesty King Abdullah II and Her Majesty Queen Rania."
Muasher said that Jordan is committed to working in the framework of the Report's recommendation to pursue its own human development plans, and believes that Arab countries should not respond defensively to the report's findings or deny that some aspects of the status quo called for action. "We have to work courageously and with commitment to put right what is clearly wrong and build on our positive achievements," he said.
The Report, which is published by UNDP and co-sponsored by the Arab Fund for Social Development is written by Arabs for Arabs and outlines a vision of self-determined change, based on internal social reform and scrupulous self-criticism. The team concluded that successful reform of the region can only be initiated from within.
In order for the Arab region to achieve a knowledge society, the team of writers concluded the report by offering the region five strategic steps, dubbed the "five pillars":
* Guaranteeing the key freedoms of opinion, speech and assembly through democratic governance, supported by a legal framework
* Universal access to high quality education
* Making science an integral part of Arab societies, encouraging research and development and joining the information revolution
* Shifting rapidly towards knowledge-based and value-added production
* Developing an authentic, broadminded and enlightened Arab knowledge model
The landmark ceremony was followed by a press conference with the AHDR 2003 team and a presentation by Dr. Nader Fergany, the lead author of the Report. ...
For more information visit the Arab Human Development Report 2003.
UNDP - United Nations Development Programme is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.
To receive more UNDP news bulletins about development issues and projects around the world, please subscribe to UNDP News Bulletins...
Eleven stories today on the continuing global conversation on the knowledge economy and the growth and maturation of knowledge societies. This topic has been burgeoning in coverage lately. Enjoy.
Business Day :: China third in R&D spending: OECD
...SHANGHAI - China has jumped to third in the world in the amount of money it spends on research and development, a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows.
Total research and development spending in China in 2001 reached nearly 60 billion dollars, behind only the United States and Japan who had expenditures of 282 billion and 104 billion respectively, said the Paris-based group in a report published every two years.
China came in ahead of Germany's 54 billion dollars, while India spent about 19 billion, putting it among the top 10 countries worldwide. The OECD data, which measures trends in the knowledge-based economy, said that spending in China has grown rapidly, from 0.6 percent of gross domestic product in 1996 to 1.1% in the latest year.
Most of the rise in research and development expenditure is due to higher business investment, a sign that China has moved quickly towards developing its knowledge-based industries. In China, 60% of the spending in 2001 came from domestic and foreign companies, with the rest coming from the government.
In the past two years multinationals such as Alcatel, General Electric and computer chip manufacturers such as Infineon have set up research centres in China in order to take advantage of lower costs and a comparatively cheap, educated labour force.
Most of research goes into applied technologies, such as the development of new cell phones or auto technology that then uses conventional engineering techniques.
China now has the second highest number of researchers in the world with 743,000, behind the 1.3 million in the United States but ahead of Japan and Russia, with 648,000 and 505,000 respectively.
For the group of 30 OECD countries, spending as a proportion of total output in 2001 was 2.3%, with major non-OECD economies currently accounting for 17% of global research expenditure.
Among individual OECD members, Sweden topped the list with spending at 4.3% of total output, while the US was on 2.8 percent and Britain 1.9%...
Business News :: Australia-US talks turn tense
...Talks on an Australia-US free-trade agreement resumed yesterday with the hardest issues yet to be negotiated and opposition rising among union, consumer, film and TV industry groups.
Key issues remain agriculture, Australia's pharmaceutical benefits scheme, local content rules for film and TV, and services and investment arrangements.
A deal must be finalised by the end of the year to meet the deadline set by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister John Howard, and to enable ratification by the US Congress before next year's American elections.
As negotiations began yesterday, unionists protested outside Parliament House against a deal they said would destroy Australian jobs.
"Thousands of jobs will be lost in our manufacturing industries if we go ahead with this agreement," said Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Doug Cameron. "Our Government is trading away our future capacity to be part of the knowledge economy by destroying our capacity to manufacture." ...
vnunet :: Human factors key to success in IT
By Rachel Fielding
...IT professionals must develop good interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence if they are to succeed, according to experts at a recent IDC technology forum in Paris.
Chief information officers (CIOs) attending the event were told that companies that ignore the human factors in IT projects leave themselves at greater risk of failure.
While innovation and technology enhancements have the potential dramatically to improve business processes, speakers at the conference stressed that failing to recognise the impact of IT on people could render investments at best wasted and at worse counterproductive. ...
it is not just the feelings and perceptions of internal users that IT professionals need to take into account.
"Customers are taking control," said Patricia Seybold, chief executive of Patricia Seybold Group, a US-based e-commerce consulting company.
"Thanks to the internet and mobile devices customers can be much more demanding about comparing products. Customers are voting with their feet in that they have not all chosen to do business direct."
Searching for information and purchasing products, whether face-to-face, over the phone or online, can be challenging for customers.
Seybold insisted that IT departments must have the customers' experience uppermost in their minds when developing channels to market.
In an increasingly competitive environment, where customer allegiance lasts only as long as the experience is positive, the risks for firms that don't account for customers' needs and wants are obvious.
Seybold believes that this approach should also be applied to internal staff.
"In a knowledge economy: the quality of talent firms employ and the ability to retain 'knowledge assets' become critical to success," she argued. "Helping staff do their jobs by offering easy access to data is a key step."...
2theadvocate :: San Diego's experience shows research is key to development
By CHAD CALDER
...Baton Rouge's dream of a thriving biotech industry rests on university and community leaders recognizing that scientific research and discovery is an essential component of economic development, a San Diego academician says.
Dr. Alan Paau, assistant vice chancellor for technology transfer and intellectual property at the University of California at San Diego, said the philosophy of his university and the political establishment has been crucial to making San Diego the fourth-largest city for biotechnology and biomedicine.
"UCSD is here to serve the community," Paau recalled the university's chancellor once telling him, "and industry is an important part of the community."
Paau said the top biotechnology centers that cities across the country are trying to emulate are all home to research institutions.
First-ranked San Francisco has Stanford, UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley; second-ranked Cambridge, Mass., has Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; third-ranked San Diego has UCSD; and fourth-ranked Raleigh, N.C., anchored by Research Triangle Park, has Duke University, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State. ...
Paau said physical proximity is the key to building a closely knit, knowledge-based economy. Employees working near the university will spend time there, meeting visiting researchers, attending lectures and integrating themselves into the culture of academia, he said. And researchers will be more apt to serve on boards and act as consultants, he added.
"If you're 30 miles away, it's not conducive to that kind of environment," Paau said. Paau also said researchers are sensitive to how much their political leadership truly values their work.
A research community that sees its city and state taking tech development seriously will start to produce technology that is commercially viable. If it hears only talk -- or nothing at all -- researchers will be more likely to conduct research for knowledge's sake, he said...
The Nation :: Business ethics stressed at Apec event
by Kitipong Urapeepatanapong
... I have recently been highly critical of a lack of effective enforcement as undermining the "knowledge-based economy" (KBE). Apec made three key points on this. Firstly, make the standards simpler. This is a point I have already made. Second, concentrate on capacity building, which means that special investigation bodies need to be established and given the required resources as the normal police do not have the necessary expertise. This also needs to include judicial and prosecutor training. Thirdly, regulators must be strong, active and independent...
eTaiwanNews :: Conference on competition laws to start tomorrow
...Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has organized the International Conference on Competition Policies and Laws - the Future Development of Competition Framework. Tomorrow and Wednesday, experts on globalization and the development of a competition framework will deliver speeches on the topic at the Howard International House.
"This conference will dwell on issues that impact the public good," said Dr. Tzong-leh Hwang, chairman of the Fair Trade Commission. "These include globalization, intellectual property rights and a competition framework for financial reform."
Twenty-nine scholars and experts from 13 countries plus delegates from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will speak on various topics such as Harmonization of Competition Laws, Regional Cooperation between Competition Authorities and Globalization and the Development of Competition Framework.
"Since our establishment in 1992, the Fair Trade Commission has actively carried out initiatives in accordance with law, promoted economic development, safeguarded the public interest, and kept in step with international trends," said Hwang. "But rapid technological development has propelled the world into the age of the knowledge-based economy and a number of issues need to be discussed within a global framework." ...
Telecom.paper: Flemish research center for broadband technology gets subsidy
...The Flemish government has officially approved the foundation of an interdisciplinary virtual research center for broadband technology, as part of its priority to encourage a high developed knowledge society. The center will have no special focus, but is to develop and research all aspects of broadband technology. The initiative will be launched before the end of the year and will receive an annual subsidy of EUR 15 million. The Flemish governments points out a number of fields in which broadband technology research can be conducted: interactive digital television, availability of ICT in health care, tourism, and teleworking...
The Scientist :: Euro research area agreement
By Stephen Pincock
...The European Research Area project was launched at the European Council at Lisbon in March 2000 in an effort to strengthen the competitiveness of Europe's knowledge-based economy by creating a research analogue for the "common market" that exists for goods and services in the European Union.
Last year, the European Council meeting in Barcelona set the goal of attaining a level of 3% of gross domestic product for research and development investment in the European Union by 2010, to achieve the objectives set out at Lisbon.
Euroscience, an association that aims to influence science and technology policy, welcomed the announcement with some reservations.
"This is an excellent idea," said Jean-Patrick Connerade, president of Euroscience. "In principle, what it does is open up the Commission to organizations which are external to it, and therefore it is a welcome development because it achieves a greater integration of the European scientific community."
But in line with Euroscience's grassroots perspective, he noted that the statement focuses on integrating institutional, "top-down" research.
"Many of us feel that bottom-up research, or blue sky research, at the European level is still not really very well organized," he told The Scientist.
"Some of Europe's best scientists are in the organizations listed, but not all of them. What we're concerned about is to make sure we do not forget individual scientists of very high quality pursuing projects which perhaps are not within such institutional structures," Connerade said...
WISH News 8 :: Changes at State Universities Signal Economic Shift
...Five of Indiana's seven public universities have replaced their presidents since 2000. At the state's 31 private colleges, nine have chosen new presidents since 2000.
The wave of new presidents comes as the state undertakes a transition from a manufacturing-based to a knowledge-based economy. Colleges are being called on to support new ventures in life sciences, advanced manufacturing and information technology...
4NI - Northern Ireland :: Two Curriculum bodies meet in Armagh
...Ireland's two main Curriculum Bodies are to meet in Armagh today and tomorrow to discuss education issues of common interest across the island of Ireland.
The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) and their Southern Irish counterparts, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) will meet in the City Hotel, Armagh to discuss developments in e-learning, education for employability and reviewing the primary and 16 - 19 curriculum.
Welcoming the NCCA delegates, Chairman of CCEA, Dr Alan Lennon said: "It is striking to note the similarity of the challenges facing our two organizations and thus more important than ever that we share ideas and approaches."
Dr. Catherine O' Brien, Chairperson of NCCA, added: "As the leading development in education north and south, both Councils face a range of common challenges, not least of which is ensuring that young people are ready to contribute to and participate in the knowledge society. Both Councils are committed to moving our schools and students into the forefront of this development."
This is the sixth occasion on which the members of the two Councils have met in joint session...
Gulf News :: Education key to reforms
By Mohammed Almezel, Bureau Chief
...Investing in education and promoting knowledge are the fundamental keys to address the lack of basic freedoms in the Arab world and empower its women, a prominent Gulf academic said yesterday.
"We have to admit that there is a huge knowledge gap between the Arab world and the so-called developed world," Dr Rafia'a Ghubash, President of the Bahrain-based Arabian Gulf University, said.
"Education budgets in most Arab countries are minimal when compared to countries in other parts of the world," she noted.
She said the region which is under military and cultural attack needs to invest in and promote knowledge because it is the first and the main line of defence."
"Defending our culture and language, to me, is far important than the military defence," Dr Rafia'a said. Knowledge is also the key to reform the political and social systems in the region, she added.
She was speaking at the UN House in Manama following the official launch of the 2003 Arab Human Development Report (AHDR), the second of a four-part series of reports that aim at "building human development in the Arab world."
The report, written by a group of Arab scholars and opinion leaders, is at once descriptive and prescriptive, with bold recommendations for change and detailed analyses of the current state of education, scientific research, the media, the publishing industry, culture encompassing religion, intellectual heritage and the Arabic language, and other building blocks of a "knowledge society" in the Arab world, said Dr Khalid Allouch, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative in Bahrain...
[there are nine news stories in this post around Beijing, Taipei, Virginia, UK, Calcutta, Auckland, New Jersey, New Zealand, and Glasgow.]
Xinhuanet :: WEF to hold 22nd Business Summit in Beijing
...GENEVA, Oct. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Economic Forum (WEF) is to hold its 22nd annual China Summit in Beijing on Nov. 6 and 7.
WEF said in statement on Thursday that this year's Summit is unique in that it brings together international organizations and the Chinese government in close partnership.
The meeting, "China Business Summit 2003 and the World Economic Development Declaration," with more than 600 participants from foreign and Chinese companies, will tackle discussions around the Summit theme of China under New Leadership.
International partners include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), while the local partner for the Summit is the China Enterprise Confederation.
As China's leading forum for local and foreign business, the Summit will draw upon a rigorous program that captures and charts China's growth and development.
WEF said the program will also benefit from the participation of the Chinese government at all levels, led by Executive Vice-Premier Huang Ju, who will give a special address to update participants on priorities and strategies for sustaining economic growth and developing the environment for business.
Other topics of discussion at the Summit include: the outlook for the Chinese economy, including foreign direct investment, growth in the western regions, the knowledge economy, agriculture and state enterprise reform...
Taipei Times :: Council promotes science with a new radio program
By Chiu Yu-Tzu
...Believing that popularized scientific information is the driving force behind a knowledge-based economy, the National Science Council (NSC) plans to launch a mass media program later this month to help ordinary people better understand the world of science.
Wei Che-ho, minister for the NSC, said at a press conference yesterday that people's daily lives have been deeply influenced by ongoing scientific and technological developments. To most laypeople, however, the technical terms used to describe the developments are incomprehensible.
"Our new science education program will translate scientific jargon into plain language, shortening the distance between the public and scientific development," Wei said...
Collegiate Times :: Warner, partners celebrate Institute
by Tiffany Hoffman, Managing Editor
...Gov. Mark Warner, representatives from Virginia Tech and several other businesses and colleges are meeting in southside Virginia today to celebrate the progress of their collaborative project - the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.
Warner will speak about the necessity of focusing on smaller job employers in southside Virginia rather than taking the 'rifle approach' and basing the whole economy on the large manufacturing companies, said Ellen Qualls, Warner's spokesperson.
"It needs to be a place where research, tourism, racing teams and track work capture the imagination and dollars in Southside Virginia without counting on one big company to provide all the jobs," Qualls said. "The Institute is a way to train the workforce to be entrepreneurial and (make people) able to function in a knowledge-based economy."...
Times Online :: Making things should be the springboard for future growth
By Graham Searjeant, Financial Editor
...In the UK, services have been exposed, by one means or another, to most of the competitive and price pressures that drive the thingmakers to ever greater productivity, innovation and cost-cutting. Our top economic challenge is somehow to achieve comparable gains in monopoly public services such as healthcare, which make up an ever-growing proportion of the economy but are imprisoned behind bars of artificial restrictions and regulations and locked doors of habitual practices that even German banks might find bizarre.
Across the board, however, service industries are unlikely to be able to drive living standards forward at the same pace as those that transform raw materials into goods. Factories take the lead, even in the information revolution.
Over the past three years, for instance, output per hour worked in the UK economy has grown 3.8 per cent. Over the same period, output per hour worked in manufacturing grew 9.5 per cent. Other production industries such as energy were not far behind.
These were not vintage years. The thingmakers have been suffering from global economic stagnation, relatively high interest rates and a relative high pound. The CBI's latest survey found that two thirds of the sector was suffering from excess capacity. In spite of the the euro strengthening, order books and prices have fallen relentlessly and there has been little respite from years of falling output. If the thingmakers had enjoyed a better run, the whole economy would have grown faster.
The US economy is healthier than ours to an important extent because, after a short but worse recession, its knowledge-based high-tech manufacturing is stronger. We cannot achieve that by intervention or subsidy. The City is perennially hostile to thingmakers because risks are often higher and results less predictable than those of the more solid consumer services.
We can, however, choose patent and labour laws, taxes, business rates, planning guidelines and transport policies more conducive to manufacturers who have to compete in volatile markets...
The Telegraph - Calcutta :: Kalam tip: calculated risk
...Sofia, Oct. 23: Into the final lap of his week-long three-nation tour, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam strongly advised policy planners, decision-makers and business leaders in India to take calculated risks if the country is to realise the dream of becoming a developed nation by 2020.
"Nobody has succeeded without taking a risk; if you want to succeed you will have to take calculated risks," the President said yesterday while flying from Sudan to the Bulgarian capital. Kalam was sharing his impressions of the visit to the United Arab Emirates with the reporters accompanying him.
If there is one dominant lesson that India could learn from the Emirates' march to development and prosperity, it is that anything can be accomplished if vision and determination are backed by the courage to take risks, Kalam said...
Scoop :: Doctoral top achiever to aid medical research
...The Auckland University of Technology's first Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship winner is helping power New Zealand's emerging knowledge economy with research he hopes will help to find new ways of fighting disease.
PhD candidate Paulo Gottgtroy is studying at the Knowledge and Engineering Research Discovery Institute (KEDRI), located at AUT's Technology Park in Penrose.
The scholarship, worth $28,000 per year over three years, was awarded by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology, a government funding body that invests in innovation with a view to fostering the creation of new knowledge.
Paulo Gottgtroy's research involves building an ontology, or conceptual framework, that makes biomedical knowledge and concepts that are sharable over computer applications and reusable for several purposes.
The ontology will bring together different techniques including statistical analysis, neural networking and ontology to find correlations in the information discovered.
Information collected from clinical patient data, geographical and demographic data, epidemiological data, pharmaceutical, and therapeutic data may be examined to form a clearer picture when correlations between the different types of information are discovered...
CourierPost :: The merger proposal
...Research universities support the educational, cultural, social, and economic needs of their regions. Such universities create the conditions for robust knowledge based growth. ...
Southern New Jersey can - in fact, must - evolve to compete in the knowledge economy. The region already has many assets: a hub for shipping and transportation, proximity to major markets, and good inventory for offices.
However, historic strengths in manufacturing and agriculture no longer provide the level of employment that South Jersey demands, and so we must look toward the knowledge economy to spur the continued vitality of this region.
We cannot move forward in the knowledge-based economy until the research capacity of the region's institutions is significantly expanded across a wide area of disciplines.
South Jersey needs a constant flow of science and technology research that can be adapted for commercial purposes.
That requires a sizeable mass of scholars producing these innovations and, collectively, becoming a magnet for attracting new enterprises.
South Jersey requires added research capacity in a wide array of disciplines.
Systems biology, information technology security, genomic research, geriatric medicine, nutraceuticals, nanotechnology, environmental science, molecular biology, biochemistry, software engineering, culturally competent health care and pharmaceuticals are prime examples of fields that will create new approaches to combating bioterrorism, developing new technologies, reclaiming brownfields, and improving healthcare and the quality of life for all residents.
In addition, we must add research strength in existing programs such as public policy, business, humanities, social sciences, and law...
New Zealand News :: GM release a gamble not worth the candle
by Joanna Goven
...The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, consistently characterises her refusal to extend the moratorium on applications for the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment as "rational".
The Environment Minister, Marian Hobbs, derides those who oppose lifting the moratorium as Luddites who are anti-research. Decisions around GM need, she says, to be made with rational consideration.
But who is being irrational here? It is increasingly difficult to discern a rational argument for lifting the moratorium next Wednesday.
We have been told that lifting the moratorium is the only economically responsible path. But where is the evidence that pursuing a GM path will result in economic benefit?
We have spent millions building a clean, green image. Research carried out by Lincoln University for the Ministry for the Environment indicated that GM release would substantially devalue that brand. ...
Is it rational to sacrifice our existing agricultural and tourism market advantage for the advantage of intellectual property ownership that may well end up overseas? Where is the policy work to ensure that this does not happen?
We are told that extending the moratorium will lead to a drain in scientific expertise vital to a knowledge economy. Scientific expertise is diverse...
AUF | Agenda scientifique des membres de l'AUF
Conference 2004 : The Knowledge Economy in the Long Seventeenth Century - L'économie du savoir, 1580-1715 (Appel à communications jusqu'au 1er mars 2004)
Domaine : Langue française, francophonie, diversité linguistique
du 16 au 18 septembre 2004 à l'Université de Glasgow, Royaume-Uni
Organisation : The Society for Seventeenth-Century French Studies
...Résumé : The 27th Annual Conference of the Society for Seventeenth-Century French Studies Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Seventeenth-Century French Studies
The University of Glasgow, September 16-18, 2004
This conference will explore the economic power of knowledge. Is it fair to claim that the knowledge economy of the twenty-first century has a lengthy genealogy which includes early modern France?
'A knowledge-driven economy is one in which the generation and exploitation of knowledge play the predominant part in the creation of wealth' (United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry, 1998). Knowledge workers are 'symbolic analysts', workers who manipulate symbols rather than machines. They include architects, fashion designers, researchers, teachers and policy analysts, and their product is what economists call 'non-rivalrous':
'He who receives an idea from me receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine receives light without darkening me.' - Thomas Jefferson...
FT.com :: Bay Area heads index of know-how economies
By Roger Blitz in London
...Heavy investment in the knowledge economy has pushed San Francisco and the Bay Area region of California into top spot in an index of world knowledge competitiveness.
Despite its economic downturn of recent years, the region scores highly in the amount of R&D expenditure by business and higher education public spending over the past year.
These are two of the main measurements compiled by Robert Huggins Associates, the think-tank based in Cardiff, the Welsh capital, to compare the strengths and weaknesses of knowledge economy regions.
San Francisco remains one of the strongest regions in the world for employment in knowledge intensive sectors such as production of computers and high-technology devices, despite considerable job losses in Silicon Valley.
The World Knowledge Competitiveness Index underlines the dominance of US regions among leading centres of the knowledge economy.
The US has 43 out of the top 50 regions in the index, which uses 17 measures to gauge knowledge capacity, capability and utilisation of a region's economic performance.
Only eight of 45 European regions perform above the average, with only four in the top 50 - Stockholm (18th), Uusimaa, Finland (37th), Luxembourg (44th) and Switzerland (49th).
Regions that have improved considerably since Mr Huggins' first competitiveness index last year are Boston, New York and Rochester in the US, Brussels and Luxembourg in Europe and Kanagawa and Osaka in Japan.
But the biggest climber in the index is Tokyo, up 39 places to 15th, the highest-ranking non-US region.
The Chinese knowledge economies of Pearl River delta, Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin make it on to the list primarily because of high economic activity and rapid labour market growth.
Despite the ability of Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore to attract knowledge-based investment, India lags far behind its US and European rivals...
[there are twelve news stories in this post, some great reads.]
Islam Online :: Seven Reasons Why Women in Science & Technology Remain Invisible
By Deepa Kandaswamy [an engineer/writer/political analyst based in India. Her articles have been based in five continents and some of her writing credits include ABC News, Christian Science Monitor, PC World, Data Quest and Middle East Policy.]
...Most know of the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world. We also know it was built in memory of Mumtaz Mahal. But how many know of her Aunt Nor who invented the device that performed attar distillation of flowers to make perfumes?
Despite 4,000 years of contributions, many are unaware of pioneering women like Empress Shi Dun who invented paper or Catherine Green who invented cotton gin, the patent of which is actually held by Eli Whitney.
Florence Nightingale is known as a famous nurse, but she was also a brilliant mathematician. Her contribution to statistics as the inventor of the pie chart used by businesses, technologists, researchers and governments throughout the world today is virtually unknown.
This continues even in the 'Information Age,' where we boast of living in knowledge-based societies. It took fifty years for Rosalind Franklin's outstanding contribution to understanding the helical structure of the DNA to be even acknowledged. The X-rays she used to discover the secret of life (DNA) probably killed her due to the lack of adequate protection from the radiation in the lab that made her contract cancer and die at the young age of 37. How many of us know of contemporary women like Helen Greiner, the president of the largest robot company in the world, or of Vanitha Rangaraju, the only Indian woman to win an Oscar for her technical work?
After research and interviewing several women and men in the fields of education, business and technology, I found there are seven primary reasons why women in technology continue to remain invisible - Social Myths, Conditioning, Media, Deterrence, Balance, Networking and Marketing...
...The Chinese nation has traversed an air flight road of thousand-year "dreaming", "breeding" and "delivery-expediting" period from the moving legend of the "Goddess Chang'e flew to the moon" to the flying Apsaras (as in the frescoes of the Dunhuang Caves), and from the air flight by thousands of homes in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to the "Dawn) airship. Until 1992, the CPC (Communist Party of China) third-generation collective leadership with Comrade Jiang Zemin at the core, with great foresight in making decision, began implementing China's manned space-engineering project, thereby spreading China's magnificent blueprint for sending man to the outer space. After 11 years of strenuous efforts of tackling difficult problems, the Chinese have finally fulfilled their dream of flying to the Ninth Heaven, or the highest of heavens on the basis of four unmanned test flights. This effort made China become the third country, after Russia and the United States, which independently develops manned space technology. At the same time, manned space-engineering project has also made China become an important member of the international space club, providing China with motive force for sustainable development in the impending implementation of the project of probing into the moon and deep-space exploration. ...
In the 21st century, profound changes are taking place in the world's political, economic, scientific and technical and military fields. Science and technology are developing and changing with each passing day, the knowledge economy has arisen quietly, manned space flights are in the ascendant. There exist both difficulty and hope and both challenge and opportunity, the new generation astronauts will seize the opportunity and meet the challenge, take up the heavy mission entrusted to them by history, comprehensively carry out the second-step task for manned space fight project focused on the development of space laboratory and its new carrier rocket, breaking out the cabin activity and the intersection and dock technologies, promote the sustainable development of China's manned space industry, render new meritorious services for the construction of a well-off society in an all-round way and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!...
(This article was written by Zhang Qingwei, general manager of the China Space Science & Technology Group Company and deputy general commander of the China Manned Space Flight Project, and translated by People's Daily Online.)
Telegraph :: What's wrong with being an elite?
Going private? It's where we're heading if UK plc is to hit its target of being the best, the chairman of the Russell Group of universities tells Liz Lightfoot
...Michael Sterling, chairman of the Russell Group of 19 leading universities, has defended academic elitism in his first interview. "People may say we are an elite, but if it is an elite based on academic merit, what's wrong with that?" he said.
When it was formed in the early l990s, the Russell Group was an informal number of vice-chancellors holding clandestine meetings at the Russell Hotel in central London to discuss their concerns.
The group, which felt the voice of the big, research-led institutions was not being heard in the rush towards mass higher education, refused to issue a list of members as it faced the animosity of the rest of the higher education sector. The vice-chancellors were accused of seeking to bring in an "Ivy League" system of privately-funded universities. ...
"If we are going to deliver the UK's mission for being a globally leading knowledge economy, which is the mission statement of UK plc, then we have to produce top-class graduates."...
KoreaTimes :: Toffler Calls for Decentralization of Capital
By Na Jeong-ju Staff Reporter
...South Korea should utilize its strong information infrastructure and further focus on developing medical, educational and other service sectors to brace for the changes that the future holds, a renowned futurist visiting Seoul said yesterday.
Sketching a broad picture of the ever-changing global economy, Alvin Toffler said many factors that helped South Korea emerge as a powerful industrial country will not work in a future where efficiency rules. ...
The author of "Future Shock," "Power Shift," and "Third Wave," which have become bibles for administrators looking for future strategies, Toffler said South Korea is making a successful transformation into a knowledge-based economy, but should avoid being caught in the downward spiral of competition from lower wage countries.
That competitive rivalry is coming from China and it will be stronger in the near future, he said...
allAfrica.com: PanAfrica :: Bridging the Digital Divide in a Communications Renaissance
...PROVIDING a basic communications infrastructure is one of the key sector priorities of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), reflected in the phenomenal growth in cellphone networks across the continent.
Yvonne Muthien, group executive: corporate affairs for the MTN group, says countries and regions without access to information and communications technology will be at a considerable disadvantage.
"Bridging the digital divide is imperative to ensure that the marginalised people of the African continent participate in the knowledge-based economy of the future."...
Taipei Times :: EU leaders to examine ways to get economy moving
...EU leaders will this week tackle rival initiatives designed to kick-start economic growth after a prolonged slump that has strained the rulebook governing the euro zone. At a summit tomorrow and on Friday, EU heads of government will return to a long-running debate about how the 15-nation bloc -- which is expanding to 25 next year -- can better compete with the US.
The EU has set itself the goal of becoming the world's "most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy" by 2010. But performance on the ground has failed to match the rhetoric, with critics arguing that Europe remains fettered by too much red tape and rigid labor markets...
...Dr. Walter Doring, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy for the State of Baden Wurttemberg, Germany, will head a delegation of industrial suppliers who are taking part at a 'Buyer-Seller Meet' organised at Expo Centre Sharjah on 20 and 21 October 2003. ...
A knowledge-based economy renowned for the innovativeness of its manufacturing and industrial sector, the state of Baden Wurttemberg is one of the few regions in the world spending more than 3% of its GDP on research and development. Its GDP per capita was approximately 25,000 Euros last year, well above the German and European averages. Moreover, its export volume, at approximately 8 000 Euros per capita last year, is far above Germany's federal average and clearly surpasses the figure for other industrial nations such as Japan (approx. 2,250 Euros) and the USA (approx. 2,850 Euros). Approximately 2% of the world's exports come from this federal state...
AP Wire :: Forum examines future of higher education
...ABERDEEN, S.D. - The state's higher education system will have to adjust to changing demographics of fewer college-age students and more older South Dakotans, participants were told Tuesday night at a public forum on education.
Legislators, representatives from the Board of Regents, its staff and public university presidents attended.
With the number of residents ages 25 to 64 decreasing by 2010 and the number of those ages 65 and older increasing, "this is a long term problem if you don't attend to it soon," said Tad Perry, executive director of the regents.
By 2010 the state will have 28 percent fewer high school graduates and will have to produce 22 percent more college grads to compete in a knowledge-based world...
VNA :: Prime Minister to attend APEC leaders' meeting
...Ha Noi, Oct. 15 (VNA) - Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will attend the 11th leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Oct. 20 and 21.
The Foreign Ministry announced the PM's attendance in a communique issued on Wednesday, adding that PM Khai was invited to the forum by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The Ministry said that before the 11th APEC Summit, Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien and Deputy Trade Minister Luong Van Tu will attend the 15th meeting of APEC trade and foreign ministers on Oct. 17 and 18. An APEC senior officials' meeting was held on Oct. 14 and 15.
five major issues: developing a knowledge-based economy, ensuring security of human resources, building financial structures, supporting small, and medium sized enterprises, and implementing commitments on development...
BusinessWire :: Sweden Forecast as Europe's Major Economic Success Story Through 2010
...According to a recent report by Robert Huggins and Associates, Sweden's economy is forecast to be Europe's major success story leading up to 2010 with a 15% GDP increase. Other studies report Sweden also has the earliest adopters of new technology and the world's most advanced information society. These combined factors, along with Sweden's numerous science parks and technology clusters, make Sweden a unique and ideal test market for high-tech companies wanting to perfect their R&D efforts, technology implementations and business models.
"When you combine Sweden's advanced IT infrastructure with its society that readily adopts and embraces new technologies, you get an ideal environment and European launch pad for U.S. companies to test market their new technologies, applications and business models," stated Goran Eriksson, director, Los Angeles Branch Office - Invest in Sweden Agency. "As Europe's leading knowledge economy, Sweden has refined its strategic IT investment process with academic and corporate partners and is poised for strong economic growth throughout the next decade." ...
RSI :: Singapore employers lack vision and are self-interested
...A recent study sponsored by The Gallup Organisation, the Singapore Institute of Management or SIM, and The Gallup Leadership Institute, showed that Singaporean employers are anything but progressive.
The study rated Singapore bosses to be "less visionary, less optimistic, less willing to challenge old ways to doing things, less likely to sacrifice their self-interest and less likely to pay attention to the moral and ethical consequences of their decisions."
...speaking to Madam Halimah Yacob (HY), the Assistant Secretary General of the National Trades Union Congress, or NTUC, in Singapore, I first asked her how far she agree with the findings:
...I have not seen the detailed report yet, which represents, basically, perceptions of employees. But I think that management should not just dismiss them. This suggests to be that people today expect much more from their managers. They want managers that can inspire and motivate them to better performance and not managers who would just use the old "carrot and stick" command and control approach, which, really, no longer works. What people want now is for manager to not just manage, which is easy, but to be leaders at work. Our way of managing people have not changed much - pay people more and they will work harder, or be more productive. Pay people less and they will not slack or cheat on you. I think this kind of leadership is completely uninspiring and in a knowledge-based economy where value resides in a person's mind, you cannot expect the best from them through this approach."...
Canada NewsWire :: Government of Canada funds initiative by Literacy New Brunswick Inc.
...Literacy skills are linked to work skills, health and self-esteem. Higher literacy skills among Canadians enable them to participate more fully in our economy and our society. For instance, literacy skills help determine the kinds of jobs we find, enable parents to read to their children and help us understand technical jargon, allowing us to use tools and equipment safely. The National Literacy Secretariat works in partnership with provincial and territorial governments, business, labour and the volunteer community. The goal of these partnerships is to increase public awareness of literacy, help people share information, improve access to literacy programs, develop learning materials and advance research on literacy. This project supports the Government of Canada's Innovation Strategy and more specifically Knowledge Matters, a policy paper that addresses the national challenge of ensuring that Canadians possess the skills and knowledge required to fully participate in the knowledge-based economy...
The Nation :: Electronic libraries in the works
...The government wants to develop a network of e-libraries with the ambitious goal of creating an information and knowledge bank for students nationwide. Marasri Boonroj and Patcharee Lueng-uthai report.
For years, government leaders have complained that Thais don't have the reading habit. Public and private organisations have lined up to attack this problem and implement campaigns through the nation's school libraries, but it is less clear what commitment is being shown at the national level. As information technology proliferates, the government is promoting e-libraries as a vital tool to stimulate learning.
In March, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ordered three ministries - Information and Communication Technology, Education and Culture - to establish a National Knowledge Institute to provide overall management for the library system. ... No one disputes the need to bridge the knowledge gap by moving libraries into the digital world, but experts raise concerns that many elements might be overlooked...
wkforum :: World Knowledge Forum, Oct. 14-17, Seoul
...Business leaders will remember 2003 as a year of well-founded worries. An omnipresent terrorist threat, the war in Iraq, the SARS outbreak, and North Korea's nuclear issue aggravated a situation already darkened by a protracted economic recession.
Yet as the year unfolded, the clouds had begun to dissipate. The vanquishing of SARS, the rapid overthrow of a hostile regime, and a gradual return of business confidence have all brightened moods in boardrooms around the world. Signs hint at a recovery in Europe following definite recovery in the United States, and heads of state of Northeast Asian countries are actively seeking ways to promote economic cooperation in the region.
Of course it is still too early to say that the dark days are behind us - outcomes in both the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East are still very uncertain, and there are many who warn that Europe and even the U.S. may succumb to the deflationary forces that have hurt Japan.
But there is much to be hopeful about, and many who wish to share hopeful signs. For them, there are many venues for discussion of the right path to global prosperity. What's missing from many of those venues, though, is the crucial mix of business insights, survival strategies, and diagnostics of present status and future trends.
In Asia, the World Knowledge Forum offers that vital mix. Hosted by Maeil Business Newspaper and sponsored by the Financial Times, Nikkei, CNBC Asia and Bloomberg, Reuters and SBS, the fourth World Knowledge Forum welcomes all business leaders, political leaders, and thought leaders to a discussion of a new future...
WIPO/PR/2003/363: 2003 Session of WIPO Assemblies Conclude
...The Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) concluded on Wednesday following a review of activities over the past year and agreement on the agenda of the Organization for the next year. The meetings of the Assemblies, which bring together the 179 member states of the Organization as well as representatives of a number of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, were chaired by Ambassador Bernard Kessedjian, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva. Ms. Dorothy Angote, Registrar-General, Department of the Registrar-General, Attorney-General's Chambers of Kenya and Mr. Wang Jingchuan, Commissioner, State Intellectual Property Office of China served as Vice Chairs.
The highlights of the meeting that took place from September 22 through October 1, 2003, include:
The General Assembly approved by consensus the 2004-2005 program and budget, which proposes a slight decrease as compared to 2002-2003 owing to the completion of major infrastructure projects in the area of information technology and buildings during that financial period. Member states approved a budget amounting to 638.8 million Swiss Francs (SFr), which reflects a decrease of 30 million SFr or 4.5 % as compared with the revised budget for 2002-2003 of 668.8 million SFr. ... The plan affirms that the economic health of a country and its success in meeting development challenges such as bridging the knowledge divide and reducing poverty will depend on an ability to develop, utilize and protect its national creativity and innovation...
[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...
[there are eight news stories in this post, including stories on New Zealand, Ireland, Jamaica, UK, Canada, Texas, and Bangladesh.]
Scoop: Great quality of life in North Shore City
...New Zealand's eight largest cities (North Shore, Waitakere, Auckland, Manukau, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin) have clubbed together to find out how their residents feel about living in a large urban centre. And, on the whole, the results are positive. ...
"It's great that our community takes such pride in this city and cherishes the lifestyle here," says North Shore City's mayor, George Wood. ...
"We have a strong knowledge-based economy, highly qualified people and great educational facilities but there are gaps, and we need to bridge the divide. Our draft economic development strategy identifies a number of ways in which we can drive our city forward while embracing the qualities that make it special."...
CORDIS :: Irish business sector increases R&D spending, but not enough, claims study
...Speaking at the launch of the report, Martin Cronin, Chief Executive of Forfas, said that the rate at which the business sector was increasing its investment in R&D activities had to improve in order to place Ireland on a par with other Member States. 'EU Heads of Government have stated that Europe must become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. To achieve this goal, a target figure has been set of an average EU investment in R&D of three per cent of GDP by 2010, two thirds of which should come from industry,' he said.
'In the light of this, and the goal that Ireland has set itself of being a competitive and knowledge-based economy, we must ensure that Ireland is a location which is attractive for R&D both in our universities and in industry,' added Mr Cronin.'...
JamaicaObserver.com :: Teachers just have to prepare students better, trade expert insists
...JAMAICA'S teachers must do a better job of preparing their students for the global economy by emphasising "critical thinking" and getting away from rote learning, according to Rosalea Hamilton, a trade expert at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Speaking Friday to 200 educators of the Mico Old Students' Association, Hamilton urged teachers to find "new ways" to prepare their students for a global economy in which innovation and creativity are prized as much as competitive goods and services.
"Education is key to building a knowledge-based economy," said Hamilton, the guest speaker during a luncheon at the Alhambra Inn Hotel & Restaurant in Kingston.
One way for Jamaica to remain competitive, she said, was for it to draw on its culture and creativity. Those strengths would be boosted by a single Caribbean economy, similar to the European Union's, she said...
Shout99 :: Ministers hear from small business
by Susie Hughes
...Philip Ross - working within Labour Philip chaired the meeting and opened the proceeding by raising the question in the title of the meeting: "Is Labour the party of and for small business?"
Philip said: "At last year's conference Gordon Brown said 'Let our party be the pro-enterprise as well as the pro-fairness party: Labour, the party of small businesses and the self employed in Britain'
"We are in part answering that call.
"At our Forum, a group of freelancers in attendance suggested that it was important that a distinction was clearly made between those who work as professional freelancers and those who work as temporary workers for both tax and employment purposes. And of course the distinction between employed and self-employed workers.
"To be a small business can take many forms. You don't have to employ people or manufacture goods to be in business, in our knowledge based economy the selling skills and knowledge on a freelance basis is forming an important and dynamic part of our economy and around 50 per cent of our group is made up of freelance workers.
"A recent survey indicated that about 10 per cent of the workforce is self-employed, many more operate small businesses or work as freelancers through their companies. I would say that a large number of our members are in a similar position.
"The aim of the Labour Small Business Forum is to give these members a voice within the Party. We say to the Party and Government that you don't need to look outside for help and advice on small business as there is a wealth of experience and knowledge within the ranks of our own members.
"Our long term aim is for the Party's small business manifesto to pass through the policy forum process."...
...Ms. Yolande Thibeault, Member of Parliament for Saint-Lambert, on behalf of the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development, today announced funding of $18,000 for the project Pour un développement harmonieux in Longueuil. The Government of Canada is funding this initiative through the National Literacy Secretariat.
This project aims to define the organization's main directions; create a development plan for the short, medium and long terms; and implement activities that will stimulate reflection on a common vision for promoting literacy. Within the project's framework, the organization Le Fablier, une histoire de familles will develop an action plan, prepare a development plan
and organize four focus days.
"By making literacy one of its main priorities, the Government of Canada helps integrate Canadians into the knowledge-based economy," said Ms. Thibeault. "We are proud to support Le Fablier, une histoire de familles in its efforts to combat illiteracy."...
Dallas Business Journal :: UTD to launch arts-and-technology degrees
...While there are a handful of programs and institutes dedicated to arts and technology -- such as the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology -- there are no known majors that experiment with the synergies between arts and technology and combine digital arts with game and interactive studies in the same manner as UTD's offerings, the school said. ..
"I believe this is a significant moment in UTD's history," Linehan said. "These new majors combine three of the most powerful areas of the creative economy -- arts, science and technology -- and together those fields can create new, knowledge-based jobs, and, of course, more jobs ultimately means a better economy. It's a clear win-win."...
The Daily Star :: Acquire skill to face globalisation: PM
...Prime Minister Khaleda Zia here yesterday urged all to increase national productivity by acquiring knowledge based on moral values and time befitting modern technology.
"Education and only education can gives us the strength to sustain in the unequal stiff competition of globalisation and the power to go ahead further," Khaleda said while she was inaugurating the country's second women polytechnic institute at Halishahar in the port city of Chittagong...
...Allan Rock, Minister of Industry and Minister Responsible for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), today announced the appointment of Dr. Katherine Heinrich to NSERC's Council for a term of three years.
"Dr. Katherine Heinrich will be bringing her research experience and public outreach expertise to bear on the vital decisions that NSERC will be making in these areas," said Minister Rock.
Dr. Heinrich is Vice-President (Academic) and professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Regina. She has received many awards, honours and scholarships, has published widely in her field, and has been active in promoting science as a career, especially to young women.
NSERC is one of 16 Government of Canada departments and agencies that make up the Industry Portfolio. Together, these organizations are uniquely positioned to further the Government's goal of building a knowledge-based economy in all regions of Canada. As a member of the Industry Portfolio, NSERC is one of the primary Government of Canada agencies investing in people, discovery and innovation. The Council supports both basic university research through research grants, and project research through partnerships among universities, governments and the private sector, as well as the advanced training of highly qualified people. Its governing body is composed of a full-time president and up to 21 members appointed by the Governor-in-Council...
[there are eight news stories in this post, including stories on Malta, Ghana, UK, Bangkok, Scotland, Tallahassee, Florida, Brazil, Russia, India, and China.]
The Scotsman :: Scots innovators urged to abandon clan mentality
by Sharon Ward
...Mr Ogilvie is director of Hillington Innovation Centre in Glasgow, backed with public and private money, which has been described as a microcosm of innovation and indicates the potential that exists behind closed doors.
"It's not about winning more resources, but actually using what is already there. We need to get out of Division Two and into the Premiership," he said.
First opened in November 2000, the centre nurtures the development of new, high growth, knowledge-based businesses. Despite operating in a market downturn, 68 separate companies with a survival rate over two years of 90 per cent have graduated including Damovo, I-document Systems and Agripa.
Current innovators include Virtual Clones, who are set to revolutionise the interactive entertainment industry with 3D characters of living celebrities taking minutes instead of weeks to complete...
Tallahassee Democrat :: FAMU confidential
By Mary Ann Lindley
...it's both refreshing and astonishing these days to see President Fred Gainous and FAMU [Florida A&M University] board of trustees chairman James Corbin having increasingly public disagreements about what's good for FAMU.
Corbin is like a bungee jumper when he reads the state law describing the duties of trustees: He gives himself a lot of latitude to make his personal vision known. A couple of weeks ago, for instance, he single-handedly called a halt to a change in some admission standards - a unilateral call that his own fellow board members didn't see as his to make. Certainly President Gainous didn't; nor does state law.
But he says reducing standards is crazy "in our knowledge-based society" and his intervention was absolutely critical to save the day.
Corbin's equally unshy in his criticism of Humphries, who, he says, deferred campus maintenance to the point that some halls "are condemned and the campus is in shambles." He blames it on Humphries not being straightforward with the old Board of Regents, with playing the race card (when Corbin was on the BOR, too) and then finding that the Regents more or less took their marbles and went home rather than respond to racial showdowns.
Corbin also seems to be perpetuating a myth he says even he doesn't believe that Gainous has political orders to "crash signature programs" such as business, architecture, pharmacy and journalism by lowering the standards and diminishing them until it begins to make sense to talk about a merger of FAMU and Florida State University...
sunspot.net :: Falling rates of participation seen at colleges
Education Beat: Mike Bowler
Study: A commission points to a crisis in access to higher education as the country tries to compete in the global economy.
...according to the report from the Education Commission of the States, Maryland is going to have to find room for 101,000 additional students by 2015 if it wants to match the best-performing states. In Maryland, about 36 percent of people over 18 go to a college or university. In New England states like Rhode Island, the college-going rate is about 50 percent.
Why is closing this "participation gap" so important? Because in a worldwide knowledge-based economy, a high school diploma has lost much of its value. It's "not a ticket to a middle-class lifestyle in the 21st century," said Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who looks at his state's 34 percent college-enrollment rate in terms of dollars and cents...
The Times, Malta :: Graduate unemployment: a tragedy or a good omen?
Ibn Campusino
...The University, along with other tertiary education institutions, public and private, has turned many an unemployable middle-aged person into a valuable resource for the country. And it is also tertiary education that trains trainers (a.k.a. teachers). When looking at numbers, the distinctions between a significant turnover on the register, of graduates in-between-jobs, a sign of job mobility, and those with low potential of employment, is often blurred, if not lost. So be not afraid of statistics showing a few graduates on the dole, it is only a natural phenomenon as we progress towards that ephemeral goal of "Malta a Knowledge-based Society".
But why invest in research when the economy is out for tea? Because, I shall claim without numeric proof, the investment in research is directly linked to the capacity for production of graduates by tertiary level institutions. It also affects the quality of such graduates, and makes the country more attractive to investment which yields a higher return...
Ghana News :: Desist from request for admission favours -Vice Chancellor
...the Vice-Chancellor said, that the University is to establish a Centre for Distance Education as a means to make University education accessible. Some of the programmes will be run in conjunction with other universities outside Ghana. He said quality education was necessary for national development and the universities had a prime role to play in providing the critically needed human resources in a knowledge-based economy. However, quality higher education, Prof. Asenso-Okyere said, needed to be paid for and appealed to students to realise its importance and desist from opposing any increase in fees. He expressed the hope that the students would help the University authorities by raising the current levels of fees, which he said, were grossly inadequate to be able to promote quality...
The Manila Times Internet Edition :: Bangkok to smell like roses for APEC summit
Thai foreign ministry officials have hinted to the local media that talks during APEC meeting will seek to revive some of the contentious issues that led to the collapse of the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in September.
"The meeting will discuss five subthemes, which [include] knowledge-based economy, promotion of human security [and] financial architecture for a world of differences," Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told the UN General Assembly in New York last week...
FT.com : UK :: EU competitiveness: More enterprise, less state
By Dr Jürgen Strube, president of UNICE
...Europe does not spend enough on research. A knowledge-based society needs a constant input of new ideas and inventions in order to reach competitive edges. But inventiveness on its own is not sufficient. Greater cooperation between business and academic research should help to ensure that research results are translated into marketable products. Furthermore, we need a favourable legislative framework for innovation. The situation would also be improved if the cost of protecting intellectual property were brought more closely into line with what Europe's most important competitors have to pay...
Times Online : Get ready :: the BRICs are rebuilding the world
By Gary Duncan
...The recent course of world events has been more than usually distracting, with war and terror gripping the imaginations of politicians and electorates. But this only makes it more important than ever to pause to consider the world-changing trends that continue, ineluctably, in the background.
In the economic arena, the most powerful of these trends is the steady rise of four developing economies, Brazil, Russia, India, and China - "the BRICs". The enormous consequences of the emergence of these four big states as leading economic powers over the next 50 years is examined in a compelling new paper by Dominic Wilson and Roopa Purushothaman, of Goldman Sachs. Their analysis charts how the four emerging economies are poised to become a potent, perhaps dominant, force in the world economy and to eclipse the present developed economies - including Britain. ...
In the developed nations, anxieties are rising over the flow of skilled, knowledge-based jobs to India and other emerging countries whose cost advantage once counted only in the realm of manufacturing as they turned out cheap textiles, toys, and other goods. In the US, protectionist pressures are intensifying amid fears over the challenge from China’s rapidly expanding economic capacity. ...
For companies, the new world will be a demanding one, but one rich in opportunities. Many of these will still be in the present developed countries. Their economies will no longer be the world’s largest, but their smaller populations mean that they will still be home to the richest of the planet’s people, whose incomes per head will remain higher than those in the BRICs. Still, the shift in economic gravity will mean that the big emerging nations, and the spending power of their people, will become a key engine for growth — and profits...
[there are nine news stories in this post.]
Oswego Daily News :: Business Professor's Research Supports Homeland Security
...The National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense have joined forces to support research addressing management challenges faced by modern knowledge-based organizations -- including research by SUNY Oswego's Dr. June Dong, professor of management in the School of Business.
Their "Management of Knowledge Intensive, Dynamic Systems" program supports researchers investigating how information technology can help streamline processes for organizations that must respond rapidly to incoming knowledge, dynamic situations and uncertainty.
Dong is working on the project with Dr. Anna Nagurney, John F. Smith Memorial Professor at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. ...
They have received an NSF grant "to study knowledge supernetworks and to develop models that examine the management of dynamic business processes under risk and uncertainty," Dong said. "The project will develop a new theoretical framework as well as computational algorithms." ...
Dong is the co-author with Nagurney of the book, "Supernetworks: Decision-Making for the Information Age," published last year by Edward Elgar Publishers, and the recipient of the President's Award for Scholarly and Creative Activity from SUNY Oswego last spring. She is an associate of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks (http://supernet.som.umass.edu/)...
MSN Money - Extra: Will your job move to India?
By Philipp Harper
...One of the most unsettling truths about the job market today can be found in two seemingly insignificant recent announcements by high-tech powerhouses Oracle and Hewlett-Packard.
Software giant Oracle (ORCL, news, msgs) said it's moving 2,000 developer jobs from the United States to India, doubling the number of developers it has on payroll there. Then Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, news, msgs) announced plans to close a customer-service operation in Florida and send the operation's 1,200 jobs overseas, again to India.
Though negligible when compared to the sheer numbers of job losses in manufacturing, the shifts by two technology companies are alarming for what they likely foretell: no less than the relocation of millions of high-end technology and service jobs from this country to less expensive foreign venues. In the process, there will be a redefining of what constitutes "safe" employment in America. ...
A study by Forrester Research predicts that U.S. companies will transfer 3.3 million service jobs overseas by 2015, compared with just 102,000 jobs shifted in 2000. Meanwhile, the payroll associated with those jobs will rise from $4 billion to more than $136 billion, according to Forrester projections. ...
As the trend gathers steam, Forrester predicts, other and more sophisticated types of knowledge-based work also will be exported...
The Times and Democrat :: Planting SEED against poverty
By LEE HENDREN, T&D Staff Writer
...SANTEE -- Pending legislation in Congress would give counties in the nation's "Black Belt" -- including Orangeburg, Bamberg, Barnwell and Calhoun -- about $1 million a year apiece to fight persistent poverty.
The House bill, HR 678, was introduced by U.S. Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama and is called the Southern Empowerment and Economic Development Act, or SEED.
"Consider every major index of social misery and grinding poverty, and you will find the congressional districts of the Black Belt will stand at the top of them," Davis said in an address to the House. ...
"Time is standing still for these communities, in a technological way," he said. "A knowledge-based economy requires a different method and a different approach and we have to move away from the conventional ways. The way they've been doing business has to cease. They have to come up with new strategies to make sure processes like this work."...
MyInKy :: While city procrastinates
By RYAN REYNOLDS Courier & Press staff writer
...David Audretsch, an economic development professor at Indiana University, ... argues that, despite the common notion that America's coastal cities are more European than its heartland, the opposite is actually true.
"We're very conservative, very European in that respect," he said. "The Midwest has the reputation of being the power behind America's economic might, and it takes a long time to get over that."
For a long time, that might was built on manufacturing. Evansville was a city where men lived in the neighborhoods of the factories where they worked. Small children listened every afternoon for the whistles that signaled an end to each shift, then went to wait along the sidewalks for their fathers to come down the street, ready to carry them on their shoulders back to the house, where a hot dinner waited. ...
An improvement in attitude could lead to the establishment of a more diverse spread of industries here. And as more and more companies move their manufacturing lines overseas, it becomes increasingly important to have other types of jobs to fall back on, Audretsch said.
"The places that do well are the places that are shifting toward more knowledge-based jobs," Audretsch said. And the areas that establish more of those jobs are those willing to accept change. Audretsch pointed to the Research Triangle of North Carolina and Austin, Texas, as examples...
ic Wales :: Data giant keeps faith with city
by Will Smale, The Western Mail
...GLOBAL IT and business services giant Electronic Data Systems is to build a new headquarters in Swansea. ...
"EDS not only makes a major contribution to the regional economy it also plays a key role in building and developing the knowledge- based economy that we need in Wales.
"Through working closely with EDS, regionally and internationally, we were able to provide a solution which will enable them to consolidate their position in Swansea and hopefully expand and strengthen their operations in the future."...
Croner CCH Webcentre :: Manufacturing jobs we can't afford to lose
...Workers from across the UK have been demonstrating outside the Labour Party Conference against manufacturing job cuts. The 2500 workers protesting yesterday represented the number of manufacturing jobs allegedly lost in the UK each week. Union leaders are calling on the Prime Minister to put jobs at the top of the political agenda.
Today a professor of manufacturing from Warwick University said Britain needs "grass-roots investment" to help develop new products that can be competitively marketed at home and abroad.
Writing in the Financial Times, Professor Kumar Bhattacharyya said the number of new manufacturing start-ups is going down and the cost of setting up a manufacturing business in the UK is prohibitive. He suggested a five-year tax holiday to help new businesses become established. He also recommended a training levy on the payroll or tax allowances to help plug the skills gap.
Professor Bhattacharyya sees investment in manufacturing as vital to Britain's economic health. He believes we are currently relying too heavily on a "knowledge-based economy" which faces severe competition from countries such as India...
...ATUG has supported competition in telecommunications since 1981 on the basis that a competitive industry would deliver better prices, service and innovation to users than monopoly providers. The government is laying the groundwork for a significant next step in the development of the telecommunications industry, with the introduction of the Telstra (Transition to Full Private Ownership) Bill 2003, currently under review by the Senate.
The decade since the beginnings of competition in telecommunications has seen the emergence of the information/knowledge based economy and society, with increased emphasis on the role of telecommunications connectivity and services. Economic growth, business productivity and opportunity, effective government service delivery and increasing community needs for information and communication, all depend on quality telecommunications at affordable prices...
...Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Surakiart urged nations of the world to stand together and bridge their differences, using the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation as an example. Thailand will host the summit from October 20-21.
Mr Surakiart also spoke about the agenda in Bangkok. "This APEC leaders meeting reflects the belief that despite the diversity and differences that exist across the region there is unlimited potential and benefit that can be tapped through effective partnership.
"The meeting will discuss five sub-themes which are knowledge-based economy, promotion of human security, financial architecture for a world of differences, SME's and act of development pledge. "In addition the issue of counter terrorism will also be underscored to promote economic stability in the Asia Pacific region and beyond," added Mr Surakiart.
Canada NewsWire :: BIOTECanada applies for intervener status before the Supreme Court of Canada
...Today, Canada's community of biotechnology innovators, represented by BIOTECanada applied to intervene before the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of Percy Schmeiser and Monsanto. Intervener status, if granted, would allow for BIOTECanada to speak to the importance of protecting the foundation for innovation - patent protection to all Canadians.
Since 1998, the Government of Canada has invested more than $11 billion dollars in the infrastructure of discovery and research. Canada is world renown for its scientific and regulatory excellence in support of technologies and product safety. BIOTECanada believes the Supreme Court must evaluate the merits of this case with a full exploration of what patent protection means, how it is applied and what is needed to include Canada in a knowledge-based society.
"The integrity of our patent system protects people who bring ideas to fruition and ensures Canadians can have access to new products and processes with potential to improve our daily lives," offered Ms Lambert. "Canadians have played an important part in the explosion of knowledge in recent years, and have a role in how the global community will adapt to the benefits biotechnology offers. Our patent system is essential to that role."...
[there are ten news stories in this post.]
The San Francisco Chronicle :: After IT, Silicon Valley must find new ways to stay on top
by John Shinal
...More than 60 percent of college students in China study engineering, while the figure at U.S. colleges is only 6 percent, according to Guardino of the Manufacturers' Group. Similarly, India has a pool of 17 million people with science and engineering degrees, said Vivek Paul, president and chief executive of Wipro Technologies. Still, even Paul, who works out of Wipro's Silicon Valley offices, said it's foolish to think that the region won't remain at the center of knowledge- based industries...
Business Report : Savannah :: Beaufort County Forecast: Economic Blue Skies To Stay
By Jason Harvey
...Greater Beaufort Chamber CEO Barnes told luncheon attendees that 2004 also would be an important year for recruiting knowledge-based industries to the Lowcountry. Study after study show that South Carolina needs to attract high-tech companies to diversify and solidify its economy, and Barnes thinks Beaufort County could be the perfect corridor for these kinds of companies...
Palladium-Item, Greater Richmond, Indiana :: Lack of education, crime can cost jobs
By Bernhardt Dotson
...There isn't a community in the world that doesn't have a poverty or education issue," said Jim Hizer, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County. One of the things his organization does is identify and address obstacles to development, growth and retention. "It's the companies that you never hear about that mark you off the list," Hizer said. "What you try and do is reduce the number of factors that a company would use to not locate or relocate to your community." A typical industrial client is looking for a workforce that is eager to learn and gain new skills, regardless of their economic circumstances. This is an area where Richmond excels, Hizer said. He said society is moving toward a knowledge-based economy, thus, within the next 30 years, the opportunity for economic success would be related to skill and educational level. In such an economy, Hizer said, community economic success would depend more and more on the skill level of workers. "If our workers lack skills, an increasing number of economic development opportunities will pass us by," Hizer said...
HollandSentinel, MI :: Courting the creative class
by Robert Gold
...HAPPY IN HOLLAND: Mat Nguyen, co-founder of the computer company Worksighted, worked with a Holland Area Chamber of Commerce committee to look for ways to convince more young entrepreneurs like him to stay in Holland rather than move to metropolitan areas. ...
Instead of trying to lure manufacturers to set up shop in Holland, the city must keep creative people who will stay loyal to the region, said Chris Byrnes, who leaves his job as chamber president Tuesday. With manufacturers moving production to countries with cheaper labor costs like China, the emphasis need to change from attracting businesses to attracting people, Byrnes said. Byrnes, who will continue working with the chamber on the project after he leaves office, said the idea grew out of a chamber retreat last year with Richard Florida, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who wrote "The Rise of the Creative Class." Florida argues that knowledge-based workers, engineers, designers and artists are a driving economic force and that these people often stay in an area because of their cultural opportunities...
The Oregonian :: Out of reach
by Bill Graves and Steven Carter
...Oregon follows a national trend. Financial barriers keep half of college-ready low-income students from attending a university and one in five from attending any college at all, the national Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance reported last year.
The United States is reducing support for higher education at a time when the rest of the industrialized world is expanding investments to keep pace with a knowledge-based global economy. The United States once led the world in the proportion of youth it sent on to college. Now it is about average, with many countries such as South Korea, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom exceeding it...
Daily Local News: Chester County, PA :: Commissioner candidates open up about open space
by Betsy Gilliland
...Land preservation has dominated Chester County discourse since 1989 when more than 80 percent of voters approved an open space referendum. Apparently, little has changed in 14 years. According to a December poll, said Peter Hausmann, a commercial developer, leader of Chester County Citizens to Save Open Space and former Chester County Planning Commission chairman, more than 83 percent of likely voters still support candidates who endorse open space initiatives. "Open space isn't just an environmental issue," he said. "It's an economic issue in a knowledge-based economy."...
The Economic Times :: Amma's bash had its share of global celebrities
by Joe A Scaria
...Hotmail founder and co-chairman Navin Communications, Sabeer Bhatia said India ought to educate her citizens in moving from a knowledge-based system to an inquiry-based system while ensuring education for all. India should also learn to celebrate the successes that no one in the country seemed to appreciate, felt Gururaj Deshpande, global chairman of TiE. "Perhaps we are overlooking some of the mega success stories in the country. Get them on to the front page. That will encourage them and inspire other aspiring entrepreneurs," he said...
TheStar.com :: Premier's 'links' to Martin flop: Poll
...Martin stressed the need for Canada to exploit the "knowledge-based" economy of the future - a line that is familiar to those who have been listening to McGuinty sing the praises of a highly-educated and skilled workforce as the true road to prosperity.
Speaking to the Star's editorial board on Friday, McGuinty was asked about the confusion among some voters between the federal and provincial Liberals and acknowledged that some of the votes his party receives in Thursday's election may be from people who think they are voting for Martin.
"I won't look a gift horse in the mouth," McGuinty joked, saying he is aware that some people do make that mistake, but stressing that he has campaigned hard on provincial issues and is confident that most Ontario voters are well aware of both him and his platform...
Times of Oman :: GOIC predicts 30pc growth in AGCC IT sector next year
...The GOIC secretary-general said some of the Gulf states had surpassed the international rates that measured the progress in communication, while some were endeavouring to catch up.
"To that effect, GOIC on many occasions, had called for taking the initiative to bridge the digital gap. The priorities of the Gulf states at this stage are to complete the infrastructure, promulgate necessary legalisation, transfer and localisation of technology, establish knowledge-based industries, etc. The priorities also include the launch of e-governments in the AGCC, in addition to attracting foreign investment after preparing the inductive environment," he added...
The Financial Express :: Economic Diplomacy Post-Cancun
...We need to develop a bit of a give-and-take approach in our negotiations with major countries rather than get locked into rigid ideological positions that could easily happen if India is posited into leadership role in the new-found G-21.
Secondly, we must look for expansion of regional trade, as most other countries are doing. India is held back in this by the hostility of Pakistan and Bangladesh. We should, as a first step, unilaterally free trade with our neighbouring countries (with appropriate rules of origin put in place), so that it would put pressure on the neighbours to reciprocate. In any case, it would help to create trading and manufacturing interest groups that should help to undermine political hostility to India in those countries.
Thirdly, we should be more proactive in identifying areas where foreign investment can be brought into the country without damaging our national interest. A litmus test is whether it is adding to our export capacity in knowledge-based industries, with strong vertical downstream linkages in the Indian economy. Investments of this kind cannot be easily shifted abroad, as they are human-capital based. By making such investments, other nations will acquire a strong interest in the security of India, and the prosperity of this country.
Fourthly, we should actively seek out trade and technological collaboration opportunities with other major Third World countries, such as China, South Africa, Egypt and Brazil. India is already building a reputation for knowledge based industries - information technology and pharmaceuticals. We should build on this reputation...
[there are four news stories in this post.]
The Globe and Mail :: In a world with no borders, the best-connected nation is king
by Ken Wiwa
...Last week's outing of Mers Kutt came as a reminder that in the borderless world being fashioned by the designs of the knowledge economy, some old Canadian habits persist.
As reported in this newspaper, Mr. Kutt was revealed in a recent issue of the Annals of the History of Computing as the inventor of the personal computer. As a result, Canadians are now officially recognized as the inventor of the telephone, the cellphone and the personal computer -- all of which should make Canada some kind of big brother in the world of innovation. But, as Mr. Kutt pointed out: "In Canada, we don't really look for big acknowledgments unless they sort of come your way."...
Gulf Daily News :: Traders invited to chart new course
...COCHIN, India: Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam yesterday invited top business leaders to help lay down the road map for the country to become a developed nation by 2020.
Addressing more than 100 senior business heads at a CEO Summit in this southern Indian city, Kalam said the blueprint would require a renewed focus on agriculture, power, education and healthcare, and information technology.
"Self-reliance in critical technologies and other areas will also need a (boost). These areas are closely interlinked and lead to food, economic and social security and employment generation." Kalam, who arrived in Cochin to attend the birthday of Indian mystic Mata Amritanandamayai, known as Amma (mother) or the "Hugging Saint", said transforming India's predominantly rural areas into a "knowledge society" was the key to rapid growth...
..."Making sure that Canadians have the skills and knowledge required for today's knowledge-based economy and the economy of the future is a national challenge," said the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development. "The Government of Canada's contribution to CAETO, to develop the articulation reports, demonstrates a commitment to working collectively to address national skills issues."...
Canada NewsWire :: Government of Canada funds literacy project in Moncton
...The National Literacy Secretariat works in partnership with provincial and territorial governments, business, labour and the volunteer community. The goal of these partnerships is to increase public awareness of literacy, help people share information, improve access to literacy programs, develop learning materials and advance research on literacy.
This project supports the Government of Canada's Innovation Strategy and more specifically Knowledge Matters, a policy paper that addresses the national challenge of ensuring that Canadians possess the skills and knowledge required to fully participate in the knowledge-based economy...
[eight news stories in this post.]
Waterford News & Star :: R&D is the key to the future
...FURTHER investment in education is necessary to ensure Ireland's economic survival, the attendance was told at a conference addressed by leading Irish academics and industry leaders in Dungarvan on Monday.
The conference entitled "The Knowledge Economy - Working, Creating, Innovating" was the last in the series of five conferences hosted WIT across the South East to stimulate debate about issues of national and regional significance and to encourage improved partnerships between key policy and decision makers in the region. The Dungarvan conference identified key factors and issues relating to the knowledge economy and its implications for modern work practices in organisations within the South East and throughout Ireland...
...The new Western Economic Partnership Agreements respond to the 2002 Speech from the Throne commitment that "the government will target its regional development activities to better meet the needs of the knowledge economy and address the distinct challenges of Canada's urban, rural and northern communities." Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2003 federal budget...
The Times of India :: Being effective the Covey way
...For all those business managers who think success is a function of corporate wizardry, here's a revelation from Steven Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The road to high-product quality is paved by individuals who are not only competent, but whose lives are centered on enduring timeless principles.
Information-age organisations functioning in a knowledge economy cannot afford to overlook the mutual importance of technical and social competencies. Organisational and technological successes can no longer be achieved without awareness for improved ways of working. Serious consideration needs to be given to relationship between doing quality work and having strong character. For Covey, both are crucial to building enduring organizations, developing high-trust relationships, and maintaining a strong work culture...
Telegraph News :: How university was turned into a Disney-style adventure
...Lectures, libraries and laboratories are over-crowded, teaching is too perfunctory, contact with lecturers too slight and the quality of courses too variable. At the same time the Government has allowed a rigorous and informative quality assurance system to be junked, with the result that choosing a course is becoming like sticking a tail on a donkey while blindfolded.
The only response to all this from the Government is to insist that a "knowledge-based economy" requires an almost infinite number of graduates and that most future expansion will be in cheaper two-year, vocationally-related "foundation degrees" taught largely in further education colleges.
Perhaps in the end affordability will be the key. The more costly university becomes, the more realistic students may be about whether Disney-style mass higher education has anything worthwhile to offer them...
Botswana Daily News :: Ministry committed to improve living standards
...Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology is committed to improving Batswana's living standards by turning Botswana into an information and knowledge-based economy, says the ministry's permanent secretary Marianne Nganunu.
Nganunu told BOPA that to achieve this goal and improve living standards her ministry would harness technology and material resources in a sustainable manner. Three new departments of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Science, Research and Technology Development and Information Technology Services have been established in this regard.
She said research, science and technology policies were formulated in an effort to develop regulations and guidelines for research, science and technology...
TheStraitsTimes :: WTO impasse to top agenda of Apec summit
...Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Thailand steered a series of Apec meetings this year to serve the government's economic strategies for local benefit, linking its policies with international cooperation.
The government's strategies match the sub-theme of the Apec meeting, which is to focus on a knowledge-based economy, promoting human security, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and implementation of development pledges agreed in previous meetings.
The government will champion information technology, SMEs and the 'One Tambon, One Product' schemes. Tambon refers to a sub-district in Thailand...
...Whether your interest lies in high-fidelity loudspeakers based on plasma technology, a 40-euro scanning tunnelling microscope with applications in nanotechnology, or using genetic engineering to determine intracellular pH, you need look no further than the three first-prize winners of this year's EU contest for young scientists. Yesterday in Budapest the European Commission awarded the prize to two young Germans and a Hungarian researcher. But contestants from several other countries (the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Russia and Switzerland) won second an third prizes in areas as diverse as computing, biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics. ...
As part of the EU's Science and Society programme, the aim of this annual event is to encourage young people to pursue their interest in science and embark on scientific careers. In today's knowledge-based society, it is vital for the future of Europe's that we continue to build a dynamic European research community. And that means it is also essential that young scientists such as those at the EU contest turn their interests into careers...
Europa: Rapid :: First European Youth Week "Youth IN Action" (29 September to 5 October)
...The European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Member States joined forces in April 2000 to set up the YOUTH Community action programme, the aim being to meet the needs of young people (of 15 to 25 years of age) and youth leaders by providing financial aid for their projects, along with information, training and partnership opportunities throughout Europe and beyond. Since its launch, the Youth programme has provided funding for some 40 000 projects and provided mobility facilities for some 400 000 young people. Its aim is to help create a "knowledge-based Europe" and a European cooperation structure for developing youth policy, based on non-formal education. It encourages lifelong learning and training and the development of skills which will boost active citizenship...
Salle de Presse des Institutions européennes :: Japan will benefit from the enlarged Union
SPEECH/03/431 by Günter Verheugen, Membre of the European Commission
...Japan is a major political and economic partner of the European Union. It is the Union's second largest trading partner. Together, we account for some 40% of world GDP and almost 30% of world trade. We have a common responsibility to make a substantial contribution to global governance in the world. ...
The implementation of the Lisbon Strategy. At the Lisbon Summit in 2000, the Union set itself the objective of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world by 2010, capable of sustained economic growth and better employment. Much has already been achieved by opening up energy markets, modernising competition policy and putting in place an integrated Europe-wide financial market. But the Union will need to intensify the pace of reform and to advance the Lisbon agenda of social, economic and environmental renewal...
[This knowledge economy news post contains six items. If you are reading my weblog via RSS, access my full RSS feed to continue reading.]
Regarding Wired News: Bidding Your Job Bon Voyage, a response from Michael Palacios of the Philippines:
...It's almost pathetic the way some Americans whine about their lack of global competitiveness ("Bidding Your Job Bon Voyage," Sept. 19, 2003)...The reality is that not everyone needs to realize the decadent American lifestyle to be able to practice its trade -- whether it's customer support, graphic design or anything else that can be outsourced. Knowledge workers in the Third World can be happy with much less than that...Years ago, America told the Third World to get competitive, and so we learned and became competitive. Now that the enlightened masses are starting to awaken, you cry foul? It's colonial America rearing its ugly head!...
Kauai Garden Island News :: Baptiste honors graduates of Academy
..."The collective talent of our people will be the primary factor in our County's economic vitality. This initiative provides workforce skills for the new, knowledge-based economy."...
Asia Times :: Thailand's novel education policy
By James Borton
...In the context of an increasingly interconnected world, the importance of a knowledge-based economy challenges developing countries to adapt or simply be excluded from the global community. With this advent of a new world order, Thailand's education minister acknowledges that widespread access to telecommunications networks, the development of an educated labor force and consumers and institutional capacity must be in place to become a part of the new economy...
...'In a drive to make Dubai a Knowledge-based economy and the region's digital hub, Dubai Government is sparing no effort to ensure that government and citizens are conversant with deploying eServices in all spheres of life.' said Khalifa. 'The programs are expected to boost government employees' productivity and enhance their ability to deliver eServices. The programs will enable citizens to maximize the benefits offered by the Knowledge based society.'...
Canada NewsWire :: 'Behind' the Scenes of Canadian Innovation: 'One-Size Fits All' Just Won't Do
..."MMO is pleased to have played a part in advancing the delivery of new products to the automotive industry," says Geoff Clarke, president and CEO, Materials and Manufacturing Ontario. "Partnerships between industry and universities are essential in a competitive and a rapidly changing economic environment. Supporting the transfer of knowledge and commercialization of new technologies is the driving force behind all that we do."
MMO is one of four Ontario Centres of Excellence established by the provincial government promoting commercial research partnerships between post-secondary research institutions and industry. The Ontario Centres of Excellence, funded by the Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation, are part of the provincial government's $2 billion investment in Ontario's knowledge economy making Ontario more competitive through innovation in science and technology...
Sunnetwork Online News :: Indo-US relations have undergone "major transformation": PM
...Elaborating on Indo-US ties, the Prime Minister said the two countries were jointly exploring frontier areas of science and technology, including medicine, environment- friendly energy and advanced materials. "We are working to re-establish ties in civilian space applications and in civilian nuclear safety. Information technology and the new knowledge economy are increasingly defining the story of our bilateral relationship. Our growing partnership in developing technologies of the future should take our bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level," Vajpayee said...
STUFF:New Zealand :: Unbundling boosts broadband - watchdog
By Marta Steeman
...The Australian competition watchdog says "unbundling" of the local copper network has boosted the uptake of high-speed services in Australia, though few lines have been rented by Telstra's competitors. ... "If the Government is serious about the whole knowledge economy thing then unbundling and wholesaling, the intervention of the commissioner, is the only thing to kick the deployment of broadband throughout New Zealand."...
The Scotsman :: Hi-Wide set to deliver broadband to isolated communities
by John Ross
...Calum Davidson, the head of HIE's (Highlands and Islands Enterprise) knowledge economy team, said: "In the current market, we can't see that commercial broadband solutions will become available to much more than half the people in our area. But we are convinced that broadband will be the major driving force for economic and social development this decade and we can't afford for any parts of the Highlands and Islands to be left behind."...
[This knowledge economy news post contains six items. If you are reading my weblog via RSS, access my full RSS feed.]
Scotland on Sunday - Business - Ignite the new enlightenment
by Jim McMahon
A GROWING body of academic opinion in America believes that it was 18th and 19th century Scots - not the Italians of the Renaissance period - who invented the modern world. From John Knox to Lord Kames, David Hume to Adam Smith, the Scots had few equals in developing and evolving ideas in economics and business philosophy.
Yet somehow we have lost our way, and in particular we have lost the confidence to grow our economy and our people today. We need consensus, collaboration and a focus on three core areas - education, enterprise and a new era of enlightenment - if we are to build a confident, self-sustaining economy.
At long last an enterprise culture is beginning to develop here, but the challenge is to continue that momentum so the entrepreneurial bandwagon becomes unstoppable. ...the Entrepreneurial Exchange model, in which entrepreneur aids fellow entrepreneur through mentoring and knowledge-sharing, could be adopted by other organisations - the Chambers of Commerce, for instance. The EE's 400 members show clear benefits of 'knowing fellow entrepreneurs and learning from them'. Indeed, research from the Hunter Centre indicates the single largest hurdle to new business creation is the lack of knowledge of a fellow entrepreneur...
The Capital Times :: Summit to tout arts, economy link
...author Richard Florida argued in his 2002 book "The Rise of the Creative Class" that communities with a vibrant arts scene will attract the kind of talents that will thrive in the new "knowledge-based economy" of the 21st century. ..
eTaiwanNews.com :: Chen addresses links issue at ECCT gala dinner
...Taiwan still needs to strengthen IPR protection, offer greater market access in public procurement, and provide a better regulatory environment in the service industry, he said.
"(These) are key steps that would make Taiwan more attractive to European investors and lead to the development of a 'knowledge-based economy' in Taiwan. It would also help in fulfilling Taiwan's plans to establish free ports and to become a global logistics center," said the ECCT chief...
Brudirect.com :: Japanese Envoy Lauds Brunei For Paving Knowledge-Based Economy
...Bandar Seri Begawan - The commitment of His Majesty's government in providing opportunities for the acquisition of several languages, other skills and knowledge could pave the way for the promotion and enhancement of a knowledge-based economy...
...Since 1996, the Government of Canada's Office of Learning Technologies has worked in partnership with other governments, businesses, associations, labour and learning institutions to raise awareness and expand the use of innovative technologies for adult learning. Projects are designed to increase understanding of how adults learn and how technologies can best support their learning needs. Research has shown that people who are familiar with technology and are willing to pursue lifelong learning will have the greatest opportunities in our emerging knowledge-based economy and society...
Turks.US :: India-Turkey relations in the 21st century
As post-Cold War India and Turkey look at each other across a vast Asian landmass, they see that the cultural affinities of the past have been reinforced by new political convergences and economic complementarities. ... We have some obvious shared strengths and commonalities ... These commonalities lead to many obvious convergences of interests and objectives. ... both our countries have attached great importance to science & technology as important catalysts of their development process. Technology drives the knowledge economy, which is at the heart of the globalisation process. It also accelerates the transition from one stage of development to the next. India and turkey have global scientific traditions. It is natural that we should enhance our linkages in this area. India's growing strengths in agriculture, Information technology, biotechnology, space sciences and civilian nuclear power are well recognized. Companies around the world are outsourcing their research to Indian laboratories and institutions. India is also emerging as a world-class centre for healthcare. Collaboration in these areas can be a significant force multiplier for our economic cooperation. We have to pursue it with a sense of purpose...
Channel3000.com :: Madison Magazine Honors WARF
...The book "Innovation U: New University Roles in the Knowledge Economy" names UW-Madison among the top 12 research institutions in the US promoting technology transfer off campus...
HindustanTimes :: India seen as third largest IT, BPO industry
by Arvind Padmanabhan
...Mahadeva said the main reason for the backlash against BPO was that economic recovery in the US had not translated into more jobs. "It is also the 'silly season' right now in Washington, DC, with the Presidential election, then Senate, the House, and many of the governors and state houses. Jobs, therefore, are certainly a major issue," he said. Yet, one cannot shy away from the fact that the baby boomer generation in the US is retiring and that the next wave of knowledge workers will be much smaller, he said...
TechRepublic :: Outsourcing backlash: Globalization in the knowledge economy
By Dion Wiggins and Diane Morello
...Globalization of the knowledge economy has surprised many enterprises. The speed and impact of offshore outsourcing, and the poor global economy, are driving change in the workforce...
Shout99 :: Submit your views on outsourcing to Commons Committee
by Susie Hughes
...Freelancers in the Shout99 network are invited to put forward their views on the impact of outsourcing on the UK's knowledge-based economy as part of an inquiry by the influential Trade and Industry Select Committee. The Committee intends to review progress since the publication of the Government's White Paper 'Our Competitive future: Building the Knowledge Driven Economy' in 1998...
canada.com :: Business people applaud Paul Martin economic vision; but short on solutions
by Allan Swift
...Paul-Arthur Huot, Quebec president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, welcomed Martin's insistence on help for research and development..."Innovation is a key driver of long-term economic growth," said Huot. "We commend Mr. Martin's focus on commercialization of our world-leading research and knowledge-generating capacity to generate returns, jobs and economic prosperity."...
Xinhuanet :: IT industry in spotlight in Guizhou
...Guizhou Province in Southwest China will be developed into one of the most important research and production bases for China's IT industry, senior provincial officials said yesterday. "We have adopted a new economic development policy - technology innovation coming first and industrial processing second," said Chen Dawei, vice-governor of the province, at the opening ceremony of the two-day International Conference on the Guizhou Development Plan for Innovative Knowledge-based Economy...
TheStar :: Singapore PM suggests Asean-wide firewall
...Asean countries must also give priority to Internet literacy, he said, warning that "if the people are not ICT-savvy, they risk being left out in the knowledge economy."...
New Zealand's National Business Review :: Democracy: The tyranny of the PC minority
Comment from James Allan
...having a prime minister who can say to Linda Clark on National Radio that "I never had the slightest interest in science" is embarrassing and hypocritical when combined with her professed desire to build a knowledge economy...
Malaysia kini :: Mahathir deserves a grand farewell
...Incentives given to tertiary education and the development of professional skills, not only as a growing industry but also as a means of developing skill knowledge worker for Malaysia's own requirements, is certainly something to be lauded...
...The first presentation will be on 'Harnessing National Intellectual Capital for Wealth and Jobs Creation; Roadmap from Assessment to Fulfillment' by Debra Amidon, CEO ENTOVATION International Ltd, a renown architect, practitioner and authority on knowledge innovation and strategies, technology management, and knowledge economy and development...
Radio Singapore International :: Is economic progress contradictory to environmental sustainability
...In the short term, it is possible for any government to achieve economic growth at the expense of the environment - in the short term, maybe three years, maybe five years, maybe even 10 years. But in the long term, it is not possible, because as you move up the economic ladder, you're going to move into what we call a knowledge-based economy. You're going to move into an era where more and more of your work force will be knowledge workers. And knowledge workers will demand a high standard of living, in terms of living environment. No knowledge will want to work in a place where they are paid $200,000 a year, but they have to live in an environment where they have no clean air, no clean land and no healthy living environment... Mr Lim Swee Say, Singapore's Minister of the Environment.
SmartPros :: 'Offshoring' Drive for Savings Accelerates
by Jeffrey Marshall
...India may be the clear leader among Asian outsourcing providers, but the Philippines wants to make it a horse race. The government there has been actively promoting its labor force -- which it claims is ranked first worldwide for knowledge workers -- and cites a META Group ranking that puts its telecommunications capabilities on par with India's...
WTO-CANCUN :: UN Makes The Most of Observer Status
...The UNDP facilitates donor coordination and South-South cooperation on trade-related issues. It has established a corporate database as a tool for knowledge sharing on experiences gathered in trade capacity development... "The poverty and MDG knowledge networks provide a platform for discussion of pro-poor issues of which trade is a subset," said UNDP's Assistant Administrator Pasha...
GN Online :: Manpower training centre set up
...The DIHRD will promote awareness and will also host knowledge-building programmes aimed at senior and middle management in government departments, agencies and the private sector. These programmes cover areas of human resource management including quality, leadership, business excellence, customer relations and personal development. It will also provide advisory services in the form of informational support and consultancy in order to promote life-long learning, forming a foundation for the knowledge-based economy...
ManchesterOnline - Leese in 'snub' to twin cities launch
...A NEW era of co-operation between Manchester and Salford has got off to an embarrassing start after Manchester city council leader Richard Leese missed its launch.
The twin cities have united behind a project called Manchester: Knowledge Capital.
The aim is to create 100,000 jobs over the next 10 years by the two local authorities working together with the four universities - Salford, Manchester, Umist and Manchester Metropolitan - to attract new investment...
..."In addition to the successes in joint technology development, the UMR/Motorola team has established a great partnership to bridge today's industry and academia through knowledge sharing and graduate student internships," says O'Keefe. Over the past three years, four UMR graduate students have spent their summer working at Motorola. These students have not only contributed to the Motorola research, but also gained valuable industrial experience, says O'Keefe...
Arizona struggling in high-tech sector - 2003-09-08 - The Business Journal of Phoenix
...Morrison's review of Arizona's four competitor states concludes that those states, over many years, benefited "mightily from large, sustained, multifaceted federal investments in defense and space that contributed to the formation of a significant concentration of knowledge workers."...
thestar.com.my: Targeted fiscal stimuli to remain the govt’s focus
by Nicholas Crist
...In view of the threat of other fast developing economies such as China, the (Malaysia) government has emphasised the importance of accelerating the transition to information and communications technology to achieve a knowledge-based economy...
...Lured by cost savings as high as 50 percent, U.S. companies including American Express, Dell, GE, HP, Microsoft and Sprint are relocating or outsourcing some of their operations to countries such as India and the Philippines. Indeed, Forrester Research estimates that as many as 3.3 million white-collar jobs in America with $136 billion in wages will be exported by 2015, with call center services in the vanguard of that flight...
LJWorld.com : Text: Hemenway's 2003 convocation remarks
(Taken from the text of Chancellor Robert Hemenway's remarks to Kansas University faculty and staff on Sept. 11.)
...We must be very clear. The key to a prosperous state of Kansas is an excellent education system. Our ability to lift ourselves out of any post-9/11 syndrome will come from a University of Kansas creating knowledge, transmitting knowledge and educating students for a knowledge economy. The stakes are high. That is why the financial crisis is so frustrating...
West Bluff district holds first meeting
Medical, technology group seen as city's best hope for re-energizing local economy
By Sonya Klopfenstein, of the Journal Star
..."This is, if not historic, a unique time in Peoria - moving into the 21st-century knowledge economy," said Methodist Medical Center President Michael Bryant, who was elected commission chairman Wednesday...
APEC member economies discover the sky's the limit
...Chinese Taipei has been putting much effort into developing a knowledge-based economy (including a strong biotechnology sector), promoting liberalization and transparency, and assisting developing member economies in capacity building...
DeVry University Opens First Center in Indianapolis
..."DeVry University prepares students to succeed in a global knowledge economy in which technology and business are intertwined. We look forward to helping contribute to the highly-skilled workforce needed in Indianapolis to meet the demands of tomorrow's economy," said Forsythe...
...Europe's industrial base certainly needs updating. It has more than its fair share of capital-intensive industries that have reached the end of their innovation cycles, and are unsure where to go next. European industry is also investing too little in research and development (R&D), at least if it hopes to keep up in the knowledge-economy stakes. But increasing the amount that Europe spends on R&D is difficult when so much of its industrial base is mature...
...The library will pay $25,000 to each of the architects, who are to present their ideas at an Oct. 22 forum. The selected design should "increase Philadelphia's visibility to the world as a knowledge center," said Peter Benoliel, the board member overseeing the project...
IEK: Taiwan to lead magnesium alloy market in 2004
...Taiwan is expected to become the world's largest supplier of magnesium alloy products and the largest importing country of magnesium ingots and chips in 2004, according to the Taiwan-based Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK)...
OneWorld.net - Wiring up a Knowledge Revolution in Rural India
...A group of 15 women, some of them from the so-called untouchable castes or Dalits, operate the computers, collate and present data. They speak no English and have not studied beyond high school. For the benefit of the odd visitor, they put up a Power Point presentation they have created. They man one of the twelve spokes - called Knowledge Centers - of an information and communication technology (ICT) enabled rural upliftment program...