Current Issue
Archive:
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Issue
#25 September 17, 2001
Studies
& Publications: Announcements | Editor's Pick | Innovation
Policy | IT
Events
Be a Regional
Reporter!
Subscriptions
& Comments
This newsletter is published by ONRIS at the Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, and jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology. The views and ideas expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Ontario Government.
Next issue: October 1, 2001
ANNOUNCEMENTS [Table of Contents]
Ontario government invests $140 million to help colleges and universities upgrade facilities
Ontario's colleges and universities will share $140 million from the Ontario government to modernize and upgrade existing facilities according to Dianne Cunningham, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, in an announcement September 10th, 2001. This additional support comes from the SuperBuild Renewal initiative that will help colleges and universities renovate and renew their facilities. "We are committed to assisting colleges and universities in their efforts to revitalize existing academic facilities," Cunningham said. "This investment is part of our plan to ensure our postsecondary institutions are prepared to meet the increased enrolment demands anticipated in the coming years."
Multistakeholder Group Urges Shift In Attitude Towards Innovation
A cross-section of leaders from private and public sector organizations has worked with The Conference Board of Canada on a five point call to action to improve Canada's record on innovation. The resulting report, released September 13th, urges business leaders to promote risk-taking cultures, and to invest more in R&D, knowledge, training and learning. More commercialization of good ideas is, according to the report, required but needs enhanced technical and business capacity as well as developing people with strong entrepreneurial managerial skills. Such activities should be best approached in consort with academia and government. [The Conference Board of Canada]
EDITOR'S PICK [Table of Contents]
The Economic Geography of the Internet Age
E. Leamer, M. Storper, NBER Working Paper
This paper combines the perspective of an international economist with that of an economic geographer to reflect on how and to what extent the Internet will affect the location of economic activity. The authors argue that even after the very substantial transportation and communication improvements during the 20th Century, most exchanges of physical goods continue to take place within geographically-limited 'neighborhoods.' As with previous rounds of infrastructure improvement, the internet has a double effect, permitting dispersion of certain routine activities but also increasing the complexity and time-dependence of productive activity, making agglomeration more important. Agglomeration forces arising from the Internet will, however, be offset by the need for face-to-face contact that has historically underpinned trust and the understanding of complex uncodifiable messages upon which the economy increasingly depends.
INNOVATION & RELATED POLICY [Table of Contents]
Shaping the Future – The Economic Impact of
Public Universities
According to a report by National Association of State Universities and
Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), American state and land-grant universities, in
addition to providing a well-educated work-force, provide a major stimulus to
their state and regional economies, generating jobs, attracting and helping
create new high-tech businesses, and increasing state tax revenues to an
estimated total return on state investment of five to one. The report also contains an
institution-by-institution summary of economic and other data reported
by respondents highlighting many specific
examples of the economic benefits provided by public universities
The Key Characteristics of Sectoral Knowledge Bases: An International Comparison
S. Brusoni & A. Geuna,
SPRU
This paper builds upon and extends existing studies of scientific and technological specialization by proposing a broader theoretical framework to compare sectoral knowledge bases across countries. It puts forward the concepts of knowledge persistence and knowledge integration as the relevant dimensions along which knowledge bases can be mapped. Persistence is studied by analyzing the evolution of specialization over time, pointing to the cumulative, path dependent nature of learning processes. Integration, analyzed by the evolution of specialization across different typologies of research, hints at the complex, non-linear interdependencies that link the scientific and technological domains.
Papers from the 5th International Conference on Technology, Policy and Innovation
Papers and abstracts from the 5th International Conference on Technology, Policy and Innovation (The Hague, Netherlands, June 27-29, 2001) are now available. Topics of papers pertain to the building of robust infrastructures, innovation, the environment & regional development, institutional development, and networks and Internet economics.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY [Table of Contents]
Sun setting on Uncle Sam's it empire
The global dominance of the American IT sector is in decline, with its industrial research labs dead and the industry no longer rich, a leading US researcher and academic told a group of technologists in Australia earlier this month. Dr David Farber, a former adviser to president Bill Clinton and chief technologist at the Federal Communications Commission, said the US economy was not healthy and the IT industry was perceived to be in deep trouble. ``We are seeing the passing of an era in which we did some grand experiments. The net bubble burst with a vengeance. We had forgotten one very important thing - you need a business plan to survive,'' he said [Australian Financial Review]
UK R&D Strengths in
IT, Electronics and Communications (ITEC) and creative content industries
This study seeks to map and measure UK R&D strengths in ITEC fields of activity using both primary and secondary material. This includes an analysis of large UK R&D facilities and R&D intensive Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) active in the ITEC sector and, an assessment of strength and quality of academic research in the ITEC fields. Using further secondary data and related surveys, the report provides additional evidence of strengths and weaknesses of the UK in the ITEC technological fields.
EVENTS [Table of Contents]
Nanotechnology & Photonics: Waves of the Future
Pittsburgh, September 19, 2001
This
pre-conference workshop, conducted in partnership with the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers, will explain what nanotechnology and photonics are,
their current state of development, their potential impact on the economy and
our lives, and what the US federal government is doing to support the
development of these two revolutionary fields.
Creating
Opportunity: Tools for Building Tech-Based Economies
Pittsburgh, September 20, 2001
Sponsored by the State Science & Technology Institute, this conference gives extensive coverage to all aspects of technology based economic development. In addition to 12 sessions on policies and practices for tech-based economic development, two separate tracks of inter-related sessions have been included: “Universities in today’s tech-based economy”, and “Resources for building tech-based economies”.
The Future of Innovation Studies
Eindhoven, September 20-23, 2001
The Center for Innovation Studies (ECIS) at Eindhoven University has organized a conference on 'The Future of Innovation Studies’, which will host a number of plenary sessions featuring some of the key contributors to the field of innovation studies. Invited speakers include Giovanni Dosi, Ranjay Gulati and Bengt-Åke Lundvall. The conference will include topics in all areas of the social sciences perspective on the innovation process. Special emphasis will be placed on contributions in the area of the economics of technological change, innovation management, and sociology of innovation processes.
CITO’s Knowledge Network Conference
Ottawa,
October 10-11, 2001
This year’s Knowledge Network Conference brings together academic and industrial researchers, technology leaders and CITO's top electrical engineering and computer science graduates to share research and technology ideas and develop future research strategies in the fields of communications, IT and digital media. The two-day conference explores the issues affecting long-term planning for communications, information technology and digital media technologies - and provides a forum to chart the course for the development of future research strategies.
Innovations for an e-Society- Challenges for Technology Assessment
Berlin, October 17-20, 2001
This conference, organized by the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis at the Research Centre Karlsruhe, is concerned with all aspects of society making better and increased use of information and communication technologies, with special emphasis on the roles of knowledge and information. There will be sessions on the following topics: e-Commerce, New Media and Culture, Electronic Governance, e-Health Services and New Approaches of Technology Assessment and Forecasting.
Toronto, November 5-8, 2001
The 2001 IBM Centre for Advanced Studies Conference invites researchers and developers from IBM, universities, government agencies, and their industry partners to present their latest technological undertakings. One of the key components of CASCON is the technology showcase where CASCON provides an interactive forum for researchers and developers to meet and interact in a friendly atmosphere. The deadline for registering posters and demos for CASCON 2001 is Monday, October 1, 2001.
Implementing Clusters in Practice: Academic and Practical
Perspectives
Newcastle upon Tyne, 17 October, 2001
The Regional Studies Association in conjunction with the ESRC are organizing a half day seminar in Newcastle upon Tyne, as part of the ESRC Cluster seminar series. The focus of this seminar will be to look at how cluster policies have been implemented in practice. Particular emphasis will be placed on the way in which academic and practitioner analyses of these policies and the clusters have advanced understandings of local, regional and national economic development. Speakers will be drawn from academic, practitioner and policy-maker communities, with the opportunity for a lively and engaging debate alongside the main presentations to build on and extend the interim findings of the seminar series.
2001 Innovation Conference: Investing In Innovation
Montreal, November 19-20, 2001
This Conference Board of Canada event focuses on the critical necessity to increase investment for innovation, presenting helpful tools and lessons learned from practitioners, and discussing what it means for the country, organizations and individuals. The conference will help executives, managers and entrepreneurs in any organization to create the kind of culture that encourages the constant effort to find and invest in new answers, new ideas and new products. Stakeholders for this event include the business community, the financial community, the education system and all levels of government.
5th Annual 'European Network on Industrial Policy' (EUNIP) Conference
Vienna, November 29th - December 1st, 2001
This EUNIP Conference will focus on the cutting edge topics in industrial and structural policy, including policies promoting growth, competitiveness and employment. Topics include industrial economics and policy, innovation policy and theory and, regulatory issues in network industries. A special session will focus on industrial policy in a knowledge-based economy.
Regional Governance in an Age of Globalization
Stuttgart, Germany, March 8-9, 2002
This conference aims to examine and advance theories and practices in understanding regional governance in an age of globalization. The focus will be on globalization and its impact on subnational governments around the world with a particular interest in the intersection of the international with the local and regional and how this phenomenon is affecting the development of international and transnational relations on the one hand, and governance internationally, nationally, and subnationally on the other. The influence of unprecedented technological change on globalization and governance is also of interest to the conference organizers.
Rethinking Science Policy: Analytical Frameworks for Evidence-based
Policy
Brighton, March 21-23, 2002
This conference focuses on new models for science policy, exploring the European context where traditional foundations for science policy have been increasingly questioned during the last few decades of science policy research as policymakers search for new methods of harnessing scientific investigation. Twenty-six new papers, including eight invited papers by leading authorities in the field of science policy, will be presented. Final date for acceptance of abstracts 1st November, 2001.
WILL YOU BE ONE OF OUR REGIONAL REPORTERS? [Table of Contents]
Yes, you! In an effort to improve our coverage of Ontario's regional economies in this newsletter, we are looking for a few people who are 'plugged in' to the latest local economic development and innovation happenings in their regions. All we ask is that you send us a short message once a month highlighting recent news and research initiatives from your region - please forward items that you would like to share with newsletter recipients, as well as other items of interest, to: onris.progris@utoronto.ca.
SUBSCRIPTIONS & COMMENTS [Table of Contents]
Please forward this newsletter to anyone
you think will find it of value. We look forward to collaborating with you on
this initiative. If you would like to comment on the content, subscribe
or unsubscribe, please contact us as onris.progris@utoronto.ca.
This newsletter is prepared by Tijs Creutzberg.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.
