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Next issue: September 2, 2002
ANNOUNCEMENTS [Table of Contents]
Weak VC quarter for Ottawa drives national decline
Venture capital investment in Canada plunged almost 70 per cent in the second quarter from the year before, according to a report issued Monday, with Ottawa cited as a key area of weakness. The report, released by the Toronto-based Canadian Venture Capital Association and Macdonald & Associates Ltd., said total VC investment dropped 45 per cent from Q1 and 69 per cent from the second quarter of 2001 to only $416 million in the April to June period. The report pointed out Ottawa as the hardest hit area. Until the most recent second quarter, Canada had been avoiding the steep declines felt south of the border since late 2000. [Silicon Valley North]
Canada Continues to be a Global Leader on Connectedness
According to the annual Connectedness Index from The Conference Board of
Canada, more Canadians are browsing, interacting, learning, and buying over
the Internet every year. Canada is a global leader in the use of information
and communications technologies (ICTs) – second only to the U.S. Four sectors in particular benefit
from Canada’s strength in connectedness – health, education and learning,
business, and government. The Conference Board’s Connectedness Index is the
third in an annual series that compares Canada with nine other OECD nations
on the availability and use of ICTs.
New Directions in Agri-Food and Rural Research
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s has announced its next call for proposals for ‘New Directions’ research program for fall 2002. This program is aimed at beefing up research in priority areas such as food safety, water quality, environmental protection, and new life science opportunities for therapeutic and industrial uses of crops and livestock. For more information, please email robyn.meerveld@omafra.gov.on.ca
EDITOR'S PICK [Table of Contents]
SSTI Conference: Building Tech-Based Economies: From Policy to Practice
Dearborn, (Michigan) October 2-3, 2002
SSTI’s premier conference on ‘Building Tech-Based Economies’ will include more than 30 sessions and keynote addresses by Michigan Governor John Engler and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development David Sampson. Sessions will focus on a variety of topics, including: universities roles' in building tech-based economies, including the spin-off of companies and commercialization of technology, strategies to involve all areas in a tech-based economy, including rural areas, changing approaches to making capital available for tech companies, evaluating the success of tech-based economic development programs, and building support for investing in science and technology. Note: pre-conference activities begin October 1.
INNOVATION & RELATED POLICY [Table of Contents]
Identifying emerging generic technologies at the national level: the UK experience
M. Keenan, PREST.
Taking
the UK Technology Foresight Programme as an example, this paper sets out to
describe the processes used to obtain a list of prioritized generic ‘themes’.
It shows that several difficult choices have to be made, often requiring an
assessment of opposing and synergistic tendencies. In the case of the UK
Programme, a number of decisions seemed to be taken without adequate regard
to some of the consequences. This resulted in the identification of generic
themes that were, for the most part, subsequently ignored. This paper sets
out to explain how this state of affairs came about, and points to possible
lessons for those intending to embark upon similar exercises.
S. Breschi S., Cusmano L. CESPRI
Contributing to the recent debate about targets and effectiveness of network policies at the EU level, this paper presents a detailed analysis of the large R&D network that has emerged over Framework Programmes. Using social network analysis and graph theory the authors find a network that is both dense and pervasive, branching around a large "oligarchic core", whose centrality and connectivity strengthened over programs. With this structure the degree to which this network responds to EU broad policy objectives of competitiveness and cohesion is examined along with the implications for recent programs aimed at shaping a European Research Area.
REGIONAL INNOVATION & CLUSTERS [Table of Contents]
The Place of Cities in Canada: Inside the Constitutional Box and Out
Here is a speech delivered at an April 2002 conference at Queen’s
University’s School of Policy Studies by Alan Broadbent on a range of
practicable solutions to the growing crisis of the city in Canada’s economy
and society. Included are the recommendations requested by federal finance minister Paul Martin on what
he could actually do within the constitution that would not violate the
federal-provincial balance in areas such as transportation, housing,
settlement payments, education and culture.
S. Randles, CRIC
This paper takes as its theoretical start point notions of collective reflexivity in attempting to explain some of the differences in political governance and economic development evidenced in the two cities of Manchester, UK, and Lyon, France. The comparative case studies suggest that differences exist in the mode and salience of collective reflexive thinking and action embodied in the political elites of each city. Further, historical analysis is used to suggest these differences may be traced in terms of path dependency producing qualitative differences in collective reflexivity. Temporalities and their connection to processes of transformation - particularly deep understandings of long histories and their connections, via the present, to far-away futures, are thus cornerstones of what we might call collective reflexivity.
UNIVERSITIES [Table of Contents]
Universities: Working in Partnership
This briefing, prepared by the Government of Quebec’s Conseil supérior de l’éducation, reports on the effect of partnerships on the future development of Québec's universities. After looking at how partnerships affect the mission of universities, as well as the type of supervision universities provide for partnership projects and how research and training partnerships are integrated with other university activities, the Conseil concludes that partnerships should be intensified, citing several positive impacts partnerships have on universities’ missions. The Conseil also recommends that support should be provided for their implementation, and that partnerships should be managed more closely to take into account the fundamental mission of the universities.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY [Table of Contents]
Shared Services: Advancing Innovation In Government Service Delivery
ITAC Position Paper
The
outcome of an ITAC forum, this paper contributes new thinking to the
discourse on Government On-line, offering observations and recommendations on
how the Canadian government can further exploit information and communications
technology through shared services. It describes the shared services concept
and provides examples of how governments and government agencies in different
jurisdictions are using this concept to improve services, streamline costs
and drive innovation.
EVENTS [Table of Contents]
From Industry to Advanced Services -
Perspectives of European Metropolitan Regions
Dortmund, 27-31 August, 2002
This year’s Congress of the European Regional Science Association focuses broadly on regional economic issues. Themed sessions include regional competitiveness, innovation and new technologies, regional and urban planning, sectoral changes and new markets, demographic trends and regional policy.
Doing Business in the New European Economy
Toronto, 28 August, 2002
SMART Toronto, in partnership with the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance and ITAC Ontario, have organized this breakfast session focused on doing business in the New European Union. With Dr. Wolfgang Fürniss, Brandenburg's Minister of Economic Affairs, as keynote speaker emphasis will be on the state of Brandenburg, one of Europe's up-and-coming centers of technological innovation.
Charlottetown, 8 September 8, 2002
This four-day event, themed “Where Great Ideas are Born” will not only include IT focused industries, but will explore business possibilities in the Media/Film, Education/e-Learning, Health, and Aerospace/Energy and Food/Hospitality sectors, all sectors which are providing lots of opportunities for IT companies. Participants include buyers, sellers, and facilitators from over 30 countries.
Cities
And Regions In The 21st Century
Newcastle upon Tyne, 17-18
September 2002
To mark their 25th year, the Centre for Urban and Regional Development
Studies (CURDS) has organized this conference to critically examine current
debates in urban and regional development studies and the prospects for
cities and regions over the next quarter century. Issues to be discussed
include: the way in which cities and regions shape - and are shaped by - the
activities and experiences of their citizens; territorial differentiation of
life chances and access to services within, and between, cities and regions;
the application of theories of clusters, innovation systems and
knowledge-based development to the understanding of regional dynamics and
their translation into policy and the revived interest in cities as motors of
their regional economies.
Europe's Regions Shaping the Future - the Role of Foresight
Brussels, 24 - 25 September, 2002
Involving various Commission Services, European organizations, and policy makers and experts from Member States and Candidate Countries, the conference aims at contributing to the networking of regional decision-makers, as well as foresight practitioners, promoters and stakeholders throughout Europe's regions. The first day is dedicated to inserting regional Foresight in a broader context and presenting concrete results already achieved in this field in different European regions. The second day will actively engage both promoters and sponsors of regional foresight and, practitioners and stakeholders to develop ideas for new activities to harness the potential of Foresight to contribute to the Lisbon goals.
Seventh International S&T Indicators Conference
Karlsruhe, 25-28 September 2002
This conference, organized by The Fraunhofer ISI and the University of Karlsruhe, will look at whether appropriate indicators can clarify the debate on knowledge societies and the broad, radical conversion of modes of knowledge production that are claimed to accompany the shift. The main themes to be addressed include: trends and challenges in the development of novel, advanced S&T Indicators; validity and adequacy of S&T indicators; indicators reflecting modes of knowledge production; combination and integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches; and S&T Indicators for the assessment of policy effects.
International Conference on Quality and Innovation
Waterloo, 22-23 October, 2002
Sponsored in part by the University of Waterloo and the American the
Society for Quality, this conference brings together academic researchers,
government and business leaders, and professionals to discuss and promote
ideas in the areas of quality and innovation. Topics include innovation management, leadership for
innovation, quality management and continuous improvement, quality culture
and business ethics, creativity and e-business.
CITO's Knowledge Network Conference - Where
People in Technology Converge
Ottawa, 24 October, 2002
This conference aims to further CITO’s mandate of facilitating
partnerships and knowledge exchange between industry and academic members.
The conference is a forum for over 200 of Ontario's leading researchers and
innovators to identify significant emerging technologies and explore the
issues, opportunities and challenges they present to both the research and
business communities. Among the highlights of this year's conference:
interactive research strategy sessions, research presentations by current and
upcoming innovators in communications, information technology and digital
media and commercialization workshops. Dinner keynote speaker will be Bill
Lishman.
Knowledge And Economic And Social Change: New Challenges To Innovation Studies
Manchester, 7-9 April, 2003
The purpose of this conference is to bring together the innovation studies community to focus on the current developments in the global economy, in technologies, and in political systems that are continuing to pose new challenges to analysis. Topics include: the increasing importance of the role of knowledge in the operation of the global economy; and the qualitative change in the conditions under which knowledge is exploited to create wealth, to improve the quality of life, and to move towards a sustainable ecosystem, economy and society. The conference is organized by Advances in the Economic and Social Analysis of Technology and the Institute of Innovation Research.
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]
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This newsletter is prepared by Tijs Creutzberg.
Project manager is David
A. Wolfe.
