Technological Innovation and Social Change

2011-09-14T16:22:00.000+04:00

Study on the Social Impact of ICT

Doesnt seem aware of the PICT programme's contributions, but has lots of useful material IM

Study on the Social Impact of ICT

A common assumption since the advent and rollout of the Internet back in the 90s is that the technology would revolutionise much of our lives and society as a whole. But just as with other technologies – the telephone, radio and television – society has not so much been changed as trends already in progress been enabled: technology has acted as an “amplifier” that aids social evolution rather than revolution.

This study, as the result of cross-European academic collaboration, highlights ten major trends in contemporary society, from the significant reduction of timespans through social infrastructure, class and political engagement to an increase in choice. Amplified, so the argument goes, by ICT, their adoption and progress is aided by the technology, but they were already happening anyway. Although this leads to the conclusion that society is changing independently of technological advance though aided by it, the report goes on to study in greater depth a number of specific domains such as eGovernment participation, health, work and the community, and tries to establish any underlying long-term transformations in four key areas: rationalisation (effectiveness and so forth), networking and social capital, empowerment and participation, and the availability of information and lifelong learning.

The report is a significant recent contribution to the debate about where technology has taken us. Relating much relevant academic research along the way, it offers a refreshing view of an underlying collaborative evolution of social forces taking advantage of technical advances that were not anticipated by the simplistic utopian promises made for the Internet towards the end of the 20th century.

The full report is available here

2011-08-19T20:14:00.000+04:00

Workplace Development as Part of Broad-based Innovation Policy:
Exploiting and Exploring Three Types of Knowledge
❚❚ Tuomo Alasoini
Director, Tekes – Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation,
Adjunct Professor (Sociology), University of Helsinki, Finland

"Abstract
This paper looks at the possibilities that a broad-based innovation policy contained by the national
innovation strategy recently adopted in Finland opens up for the promotion of workplace
innovations and examines the types of knowledge needed in workplace development. The author
highlights the interconnections between workplace development and the prerequisites of both
economic growth and the preservation of the Finnish welfare state. The paper also aims to explain
why, in addition to the productivity of work, improving the quality of working life should feature as
an increasingly important aim in the innovation policy of the future. An argument for the need of
three types of knowledge in workplace development – design knowledge, process knowledge and
dissemination knowledge – is made, together with an overview on new developments in each of
those three domains. In conclusion, the author demonstrates how problems in the productivity of
work and the quality of working life can be simultaneously tackled with at work organization level
through two kinds of development approaches....."

2011-07-25T12:20:00.001+04:00

Academy of Medical Science on human-animal chimera prospects

see http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/p47prid77.html

"Experiments that were of concern to both the public and the scientific
community focus on research studies involving modification of the animal
brain that could potentially lead to human-like ‘cerebral’ function,
experiments which might lead to fertilisation of human eggs or sperm in
an animal; and modification of an animal to create characteristics
perceived as uniquely human, such as facial shape, skin texture, or
speech."

Why the technology will develop:

"Some examples of ACHM include:

· Mice carrying human genes are widely used to study many diseases, including neurological and anxiety disorders, osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer.
· Goats which have a human gene incorporated in their genome are used to produce a human protein (an anti-thrombin) which is used to treat blood clotting disorders.
· Mice implanted with sections of human tumour are used in cancer research to study how cancers develop and spread, and to test new drugs and therapies.
· Introducing human stem cells into rats can provide an opportunity to study the human brain’s potential for repairing the damage caused by stroke.
· Mice which have their immune systems or livers reconstituted with human cells are used to study diseases such as HIV or hepatitis."

Why we need to think the bioethics and regulation sooner, not later

(from Financial Times summary, since very pithy):

"US scientists have also created mice in which one-quarter of the brain cells are human neurons, and they have discussed – but not gone ahead with – making a mouse in which all neurons are derived from human stem cells.

“If you replaced an entire mouse brain with human neurons, it would almost certainly still be a mouse, though with some interesting changes,” Prof Bobrow said. “But for something with a bigger and more complex brain, such as a primate, it is hard to guess what the result would be.”

Another controversial move would be to make animals sound like humans. A gene associated with human language has been transferred to mice. “These animals vocalise slightly differently from ordinary mice – but they don’t speak,” said Robin Lovell-Badge, head of stem cell biology at the National Institute for Medical Research.

“If you come home and your pet parrot says, ‘Who’s a pretty boy then?’, that’s one thing,” added Christopher Shaw, neurology professor at King’s College London. “If your pet monkey says it, that’s another.”

The academy recommends that the Home Office, which regulates animal experiments in the UK, establish a national expert body to provide specific advice on sensitive types of research involving humanised animals...."

Beyond pro-innovation bias

2010-05-06T12:54:00.001+04:00

Hanken - Beyond the pro-innovation bias

"The Project 'Beyond the pro-innovation bias' emerged as a response to a concern about unintended and undesirable consequences of innovation amongst a group of researchers at the Department of Management and Organisation. Although innovation is one of the most commonly mentioned concepts in social science unintended undesirable consequences of innovation are rarely studied. This project addresses this shortcoming and implications following from it.
...

Why is this important?
In his review of innovation literature twenty-five years ago, Rogers (1983) noticed that only 0.2 % of innovation research articles addressed consequences of innovation. To follow up this study this project (Sveiby et al., 2009) conducted a study including a literature review of all articles in the EBSCO database, with innovation in the title and which study undesirable consequences. Although 'innovation' hits reach hundreds of thousands, refining searches into 'negative or undesirable consequences' decreases the hits radically. The study found only 26 articles on unintended and undesirable consequences of innovation; 1 per 1000, a proportion that has not changed since the 1960's. Hence it seems important to ask why this is the case, what the implications are and how excluded or silenced voices can be promoted in the research field of innovation.

What does the project explore?
The project attempts to go beyond the 'pro-innovation bias'. Innovation research seems to be built on a fundamental assumption that 'innovation is good', which limits the ability of decision makers and change agents to anticipate unintended and undesirable consequences. Hence, a central theme is to develop an understanding of how this bias is constructed in order to explore how it could be deconstructed.

Another central theme of the project is the separation of discourses on desirable and undesirable consequences. More specifically, undesirable consequences of innovation can potentially follow from all types of innovation. These consequences are to some (unknown) degree studied in disciplines such as biology, medicine, environmental studies and sustainable development, and theories are constructed within perspectives drawing on sociology, CMS, STS, etc. Innovation research, however, seems to have implicitly isolated itself from considering them. The separation of discourses in this manner can have dangerous implications. One is that innovation studies have become "routinized". Another is a case of self-defeating purpose; as change agents receive little practical guidance from innovation researchers on how to consider undesirable consequences, they may cause unnecessary suffering among stakeholders, thereby reducing the net value of an innovation. Yet another is a self-feeding vicious circle; unless undesirable consequences are highlighted by innovation researchers, funding bodies see little point in funding such studies, thereby further reducing research. ...."
Papers by researchers who will take part in the workshop:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Annick CASTIAUX, professor:
Can
Corporate Responsbility foster innovation in high-tech firms? [pdf] 194k

David EDGAR, professor:
Innovation
in Practice and Practising Innovation [docx] 770k and
Revealing
Nuance in Entrepreneurial and Innovative Activity [docx] 15k

Yrjö ENGESTRÖM, professor:
The
Change Laboratory as a Cultivator of Employee-Driven Innovations [docx]
21k

Jan FAGERBERG, professor:
The
evolution of Norways national innovation system [pdf] 234k and
Innovation
- A Guide to the Literature [pdf] 92k

Martin FOUGÈRE, assistant professor:
Against
Corporate Responsibility (Fougere & Solitander) [pdf] 231k

Lidia GALABOVA, assistant professor and PhD:
Six
Sigma innovation [pdf] 106k

Magnus GULBRANDSEN, professor:
Research
institutes as hybrid organizations [docx] 62k and
Organisational
Tensions and Research Work [pdf] 162k

Nancy HARDING, professor:
Medical
diagnosis and the construction of dementia [docx] 45k

Mervi HASU, PhD:
In Search of
Sensitive Ethnography of Change [pdf] 2461k

Karl-Heinz LEITNER, Phd:
Innovation
Futures [pdf] 773k

Martin LINDELL, professor:
Developing
New Products - An action, interaction and contextual approach [pdf]
2441k

Linda McKIE, professor:
Marie
Curie project [pdf] 277k

M Paloma SANCHEZ, professor:
Shortcomings
in the measurement of innovation [pdf] 247k

Karl-Erik SVEIBY, Pernilla GRIPENBERG & Beata SEGERCRANTZ:

Unintended
and Undesirable Consequences of Innovation [pdf] 154k

Urmas VARBLANE, professor:
Assessing
innovative behaviour of firms [pdf] 194k and
Can
The National Innovation Systems of the New EU Member States Be Improved
[pdf] 199k

2010-05-06T12:52:00.002+04:00

Hanken - Beyond the pro-innovation bias

"The Project 'Beyond the pro-innovation bias' emerged as a response to a concern about unintended and undesirable consequences of innovation amongst a group of researchers at the Department of Management and Organisation. Although innovation is one of the most commonly mentioned concepts in social science unintended undesirable consequences of innovation are rarely studied. This project addresses this shortcoming and implications following from it.
...

Why is this important?
In his review of innovation literature twenty-five years ago, Rogers (1983) noticed that only 0.2 % of innovation research articles addressed consequences of innovation. To follow up this study this project (Sveiby et al., 2009) conducted a study including a literature review of all articles in the EBSCO database, with innovation in the title and which study undesirable consequences. Although 'innovation' hits reach hundreds of thousands, refining searches into 'negative or undesirable consequences' decreases the hits radically. The study found only 26 articles on unintended and undesirable consequences of innovation; 1 per 1000, a proportion that has not changed since the 1960's. Hence it seems important to ask why this is the case, what the implications are and how excluded or silenced voices can be promoted in the research field of innovation.

What does the project explore?
The project attempts to go beyond the 'pro-innovation bias'. Innovation research seems to be built on a fundamental assumption that 'innovation is good', which limits the ability of decision makers and change agents to anticipate unintended and undesirable consequences. Hence, a central theme is to develop an understanding of how this bias is constructed in order to explore how it could be deconstructed.

Another central theme of the project is the separation of discourses on desirable and undesirable consequences. More specifically, undesirable consequences of innovation can potentially follow from all types of innovation. These consequences are to some (unknown) degree studied in disciplines such as biology, medicine, environmental studies and sustainable development, and theories are constructed within perspectives drawing on sociology, CMS, STS, etc. Innovation research, however, seems to have implicitly isolated itself from considering them. The separation of discourses in this manner can have dangerous implications. One is that innovation studies have become "routinized". Another is a case of self-defeating purpose; as change agents receive little practical guidance from innovation researchers on how to consider undesirable consequences, they may cause unnecessary suffering among stakeholders, thereby reducing the net value of an innovation. Yet another is a self-feeding vicious circle; unless undesirable consequences are highlighted by innovation researchers, funding bodies see little point in funding such studies, thereby further reducing research. ...."
Papers by researchers who will take part in the workshop:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Annick CASTIAUX, professor: Can Corporate Responsbility foster innovation in high-tech firms? [pdf] 194k
David EDGAR, professor: Innovation in Practice and Practising Innovation [docx] 770k and Revealing Nuance in Entrepreneurial and Innovative Activity [docx] 15k
Yrjö ENGESTRÖM, professor: The Change Laboratory as a Cultivator of Employee-Driven Innovations [docx] 21k
Jan FAGERBERG, professor: The evolution of Norways national innovation system [pdf] 234k and Innovation - A Guide to the Literature [pdf] 92k
Martin FOUGÈRE, assistant professor: Against Corporate Responsibility (Fougere & Solitander) [pdf] 231k
Lidia GALABOVA, assistant professor and PhD: Six Sigma innovation [pdf] 106k
Magnus GULBRANDSEN, professor: Research institutes as hybrid organizations [docx] 62k and Organisational Tensions and Research Work [pdf] 162k
Nancy HARDING, professor: Medical diagnosis and the construction of dementia [docx] 45k
Mervi HASU, PhD: In Search of Sensitive Ethnography of Change [pdf] 2461k
Karl-Heinz LEITNER, Phd: Innovation Futures [pdf] 773k
Martin LINDELL, professor: Developing New Products - An action, interaction and contextual approach [pdf] 2441k
Linda McKIE, professor: Marie Curie project [pdf] 277k
M Paloma SANCHEZ, professor: Shortcomings in the measurement of innovation [pdf] 247k
Karl-Erik SVEIBY, Pernilla GRIPENBERG & Beata SEGERCRANTZ: Unintended and Undesirable Consequences of Innovation [pdf] 154k
Urmas VARBLANE, professor: Assessing innovative behaviour of firms [pdf] 194k and Can The National Innovation Systems of the New EU Member States Be Improved [pdf] 199k

From Real-World Economics Review blog

2009-12-01T19:32:00.000+03:00

Censorship of Critique of Emissions Trading and Carbon-Offsets Schemes « Real-World Economics Review Blog

"As the Copenhagen Climate Summit Approaches, heterodox economic analysis of climate change policies needs a bigger profile. The good news is that Edward Elgar Publishing is shortly to release Keynesian and Ecological Economics: Confronting Environmental Issues edited by Ric Holt, Steve Pressman and Clive Spash. The bad news, however, is that, as things currently stand, New Political Economy won’t be publishing an important paper in this area by Clive Spash, that the journal had accepted following normal refereeing processes. The paper is entitled ‘The Brave New World of Carbon Trading’, but Clive’s employer, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) wrote to New Political Economy demanding that it not be published.

Worse than this, as Clive says, ‘The CSIRO is currently maintaining they have the right to ban the written version of this paper from publication by myself as a representative of the organisation and by myself as a private citizen.’ A copy of the paper was leaked to The Australian this week and articles about the situation have been attracting wide interest here, along with predictable spin by the CSIRO and its Minister, Senator Kim Carr. While ABC Radio managed to track Clive down on vacation on a remote island and interview him, he received not even an email from the Senator’s office.

The row about the paper has been going on since June 2009, with Clive being advised that the paper can only be released if substantial cuts are made, removing any reference to government policies. It seems that the cuts would prune about 40 pages from the 47-page paper. To prove this, Clive would need to release internal CSIRO documents, and thus breach his employment contract. Worse still, the paper originally had a junior co-author who asked to be deleted as an author following harassment within CSIRO. The situation rather calls to mind Elliott Perlman’s 2001 novel Three Dollars (which was turned into an award-winning movie in 2005) about an environmental scientist who faces losing his job if he tells the truth.

Of course, had Clive been working in one of Australia’s top (Group of Eight) universities, rather than a government agency, he would probably have had pressure of another kind: New Political Economy is, like many heterodox journals, only on the ‘B-list’ of journals, and the pressure is to publish only in the A*- or A-listed journals.

It’s a fine paper that needs to reach a wide audience. Clive covers the theoretical problems of running carbon trading schemes in a complex world of incomplete and dispersed knowledge, the way that vested interests end up benefiting from the issue of permits, and what happens, in terms of both consumer psychology and corporate responses, when you and I sign up for ‘green electricity’ and assume that, say, forests will be planted as carbon offsets. Unfortunately, we can’t post it here without breaching the terms under which the Blog operates and putting Clive’s position further at risk."

more on innovation, IPR, health

2009-12-01T19:05:00.000+03:00

WHO | CIPIH Studies

go to this page to locate links to the following papers.

:: Study Summaries [pdf 234kb]

:: "The use of flexibilities in TRIPS by developing countries: can they promote access to medicines?" by Cecilia Oh & Sisule Musungu
(now available)

:: "Case Studies: developing innovative capacity in developing countries to meet their health needs" by MIHR
(now available)

:: "Economic aspects of access to medicines after 2005" by Padmashree Sampath
(now available)

:: "How does the regulatory framework affect incentives for research and development" by Precious Matsoso, Martin Auton, Shabir Banoo, Henry Fomundam, Henry Leng, Sassan Noazin
(now available)

:: "Health Innovation Systems in Developing Countries: Towards a Global Strategy for Capacity Building" by John Mugabe
(now available)

:: "Intellectual Property Issues: Public-private partnerships (PPPs)" by Jon Merz
(now available)

:: "Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer: Enabling Access For Developing Countries" by Anthony D. So, Arti K. Rai, Robert M. Cook-Deegan

:: "Implications of Product Patents – Lessons from Japan" by Reiko Aoki
(now available)

:: "Pharmaceutical innovation and the burden of disease in developing and developed countries" by Frank R. Lichtenberg
(now available)

:: Pharmaceutical Tariffs: What is their effect on prices, protection of local industry and revenue generation? by Müge Olcay & Richard Laing
(now available)

:: "Statistical Trends in Pharmaceutical Research for Poor Countries" by Jean Lanjouw & Margarate MacLeod
(now available)

:: "Public-Private Partnerships for Product Development: Financial, scientific and managerial issues as challenges to future success" by Elizabeth Ziemba
(now available)

:: "A Framework for Developing a Research Agenda for Diseases Disproportianately Affecting the Poor: The Cases of Malaria, Diabetes and Rotavirus by Alyna Smith
(now available)

:: "Patents, Price Controls and Access to New Drugs: How Policy Affects Global Market Entry" by Jean Lanjouw
(now available)

:: "R&D for Development for Neglected Diseases. How Can India Contribute" by Sudip Chaudhuri
(now available)

:: "A Review of IP and Non-IP Incentives for R&D for Diseases of Poverty.What Type of Innovation is Required and How Can We Incentivise the Private Sector to Deliver It?" by Adrian Towse
(now available)

:: "The Right Tool(s): Designing Cost-Effective Strategies for Neglected Disease Research" by Stephen Maurer
(now available)

:: "Traditional Medicine: Modern Approach For Affordable Global Health" by Bhushan Patwardhan
(now available)

:: "Traditional medicine could make “Health for One” true" by Qian Jia
(now available)

:: "Using IP Agreements to promote the objectives of Public Private Partnerships in developing affordable products for developing countries" by Warren Kaplan
(now available)

:: "What has been achieved, what have been the constraints and what are the future priorities for pharmaceutical product-related R&D to the reproductive health needs of developing countries?" by Peter Hall
(now available)

:: Drug Regulation and Incentives for Innovation: The Case of ASEAN by Sauwakon Ratanawijitrasin
(now available)

The views expressed in these studies are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Health Organization or the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health.

Innovation and Public Health: Non-Patent Models of Innovation

2009-12-01T19:01:00.000+03:00

WHO | Innovation and Public Health

Innovation and Public Health
Non-Patent Models of Innovation

There has always been debate about the patent system, but this has been fuelled in recent years by its extension to new fields of technology including biotechnology, business methods and software - fields where incremental rather than discrete innovation is most common. Two particular developments stand out.

First, the sequencing of the human genome raised the issue of the extent to which innovation based on this fundamental data would be best promoted by making it freely available in the public domain (as practised by the publicly-funded Human Genome Project) or by patenting/selling data in private databases. A number of private companies initially based their business models on the latter approach.

Secondly, the development and subsequent successful commercial application of open source software has raised the issue of the viability of so-called “open and collaborative” models of innovation as complements or alternatives to innovation systems dependent on the intellectual property rights system.
Documents
- Finding Cures for Tropical Diseases: Is Open Source an Answer? | S. Maurer, A. Rai and A Sali | Paper presented at BIO 2004

- Patents and R&D Incentives: Comments on the Hubbard and Love Trade Framework for Financing Pharmaceutical R&D | By Joseph A. DiMasi and Henry G. Grabowsk | 25 June 2004
[pdf 63kb]
- A New Trade Framework for Global Healthcare R&D | T. Hubbard, J. Love | PLOS Biology 2:2, February 2004

- An Efficient Reward System for Pharmaceutical Innovation | By Aidan Hollis | 2004
[pdf 297kb]
- Commission on Macroeconomics and Health Paper No. WG2:8- Public Policies to Stimulate the Development of Vaccines and Drugs for the Neglected Diseases | By M. Kremer | 2001

2009-11-30T17:23:00.001+03:00

Wendy Faulkner | Science Studies | Staff Profiles

Wendy is retiring, so I don't know how long her page here will remain active - get material on gender and STI before it goes! Sorry for mis-spelling name in the title of this post!

‘Genders in/of engineering’, which was the subject of an ESRC funded ethnographic study of engineers and their work between 2003 and 2005. [click here for full research report] .

European collaborative study about strategies of gender inclusion in the information society (SIGIS), which has generated a massive resource for theory and policy development around gender and ICT. [See www.sigis.ist.org]

Another European collaborative project, Prometea, investigating women in engineering research [See www.prometea.info]

The politics and processes of enhancing public engagement in new or controversial areas of science and technology - contributes to the programme of socioeconomic research on innovation in genomics at the University of Edinburgh INNOGEN Centre. [See www.talkingstemcells.ed.ac.uk]

the course:
* Gender, Science and Technology (Honours course) [click here for course handout]

UK Social Trends online

2009-11-30T14:15:00.000+03:00

National Statistics Online - Product - Social Trends 39

"Social Trends draws together social and economic data from a wide range of government departments and other organisations; it paints a broad picture of UK society today, and how it has been changing."
it is an enduring achioevment of the Social Indicators Mopvement of the 1960s/70s, and is now going online-only.

13 chapters focus on specific policy areas:
population,
households and families,
education and training,
labour market, income and wealth,
expenditure,
health,
social protection,
crime and justice,
housing,
environment,
transport,
lifestyles
social participation.

Tea from an Empty Cup? - "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for Online Games

2009-11-10T14:38:00.000+03:00

Development Informatics Working Paper No. 32 - Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games (School of Environment and Development - The University of Manchester)

Current Analysis and Future Research Agenda on "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for the Virtual Economies of Online Games

Richard Heeks
Abstract

"From the start of the 21st century, a new form of employment has emerged in developing countries. It employs hundreds of thousands of people and earns hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Yet it has been almost invisible to both the academic and development communities. It is the phenomenon of "gold farming": the production of virtual goods and services for players of online games. China is the employment epicentre but the sub-sector has spread to other Asian nations and will spread further as online games-playing grows. It is the first example of a likely future development trend in online employment. It is also one of a few emerging examples in developing countries of "liminal ICT work"; jobs associated with digital technologies that are around or just below the threshold of what is deemed socially-acceptable and/or formally-legal.

This paper reviews what we know so far about gold farming, seeking to provide the first systematic analysis of the sub-sector. It assembles available data at the sectoral, enterprise and worker level. Five main analytical lenses are then applied. Economic analysis shows how exchange rate variations and scale economies do and do not impact gold farming; and the strong influence of information failure in the purchase of virtual items: known as "real-money trading". Analysis from the perspective of industrial sociology charts the commoditisation and globalisation of the sub-sector, while value chain models identify resource dependencies and power inequities. Enterprise analysis investigates enterprise entry, existence and progression, and outlines the competitive forces shaping the sub-sector's development; particularly threats. Developmental analysis investigates the impact of this sub-sector in macro and micro terms. Finally, there is a sociological analysis of the role played by perceptions and other social forces.

In using a broad base of analytical perspectives, the paper aims to encourage, and provide a stepping stone for, further research on this growing phenomenon. It concludes by outlining and justifying a future research agenda."

Values convergence across countries

2009-11-06T15:17:00.000+03:00

SSRN-Product-Based Cultural Change: Is the Village Global? by Nicolas Maystre, Jacques Olivier, Mathias Thoenig, Thierry Verdier
this is pay-to-view except if you have a subscription; but the abstract begins:
"Using answers to the World Values Survey for a sample of 79 countries over the 1989-2004 period, we first provide evidence of cultural homogenization between countries."
As well as this impressive result, the study shows which countries are more or less similar, and argues with some empirical support that trade openness promotes homogenisation.
Would be interesting to explore internal non-massifcation too.

Innovation Competitions

2009-11-04T20:22:00.000+03:00

McKinsey Report on Prizes and Innovation « MIT IDEAS GLOBAL CHALLENGE
the report is downloadable at http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/SSO/And_the_winner_is.pdf
The MIT summary:
offers a view of the current landscape of prizes and competitions for innovation and provides good insight in good practice. To follow are some notes.

Prizes to incentivize innovation are going through a renaissance - they’re calling these “philanthropic prizes.” Interestingly, find that, “prizes are a unique and powerful tool that should be in the basic toolkit of many of today’s philanthropists.” Some benefits of the “prize inducement” model are:

Identify new levels of excellence
Encourage specific innovations
Change wider perceptions
Improve performance of communities of problem solvers
Build the skills of individuals
Mobilize new talent and capital

Some promising practices identified in the report include:

Philanthropist matching a clear goal with a large group of potential problem solvers who are willing to absorb some risk.
Start with a clearly define aspiration for society benefit which can be translated into prize objectives that are specific, motivational, actionable, results-focused and time bound.
A good prize will invest significant resources into its design, specifying the competitor pool, rules and award attributes.
An effective prize process is at least as important as the prize design, which will attract candidates, manage the competition, celebrate winners, and publicize the effort.
A good sponsor will invest significant resources in post-prize activities that convert the awards result into long-term societal benefits.

Creativity and Innovation Management

2009-10-23T17:52:00.001+04:00

Creativity and Innovation Management - interesting journal

Energy Innovation Systems From the Bottom Up: Technology Policies for Confronting Climate Change

2009-10-02T13:20:00.001+04:00

CSPO - Consortium For Science, Policy & Outcomes - Projects
"Innovation Policy for Climate Change: A Report to the Nation, builds on the large body of knowledge concerning technological advance, the diffusion of innovations, and their integration into the economy, as well as insights generated during the workshops. However, the report is not a representation of the views, individual or collective, of workshop participants. The report is intended for United States policymakers, private sector leaders, and philanthropic decision makers."

SF into mainstream

2009-09-09T13:04:00.000+04:00

Eco-thrillers | Book reviews | Books | The Observer

"..environmental fiction is moving away from its roots in science fiction and is becoming part of mainstream literature – as is revealed by some of the most recent novels to tackle themes of climate change and the like."

But then note Atwood/LeGuin debate on mainstream and SF:
"Margaret Atwood doesn't think she writes science fiction. Ursula K Le Guin would like to disagree"

remember this back in days of Doris Lessing series, and Amis (pere and fils) and others...

Reader on human dimensions of innovation

2009-07-31T20:20:00.001+04:00

Inside the Innovation Matrix - Finding the hidden human dimensions - Published Research - Australian Business Foundation

Joel Mopkyr downloads

2009-07-28T19:25:00.001+04:00

People: Joel Mokyr, Economics Dept., NU

some excellent material here!
e.g.
King Kong and Cold Fusion:Counterfactual analysis and the History of Technology" March 1999,rev. version, July. 2000.

"Technological Selection, Information, and Changing Household Behavior, 1850-1914"

"Editor's Introduction: The New Economic History and the Industrial Revolution. In Joel Mokyr, ed., The British Industrial Revolution: an Economic Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press, 2nd ed., 1999, pp. 1-127.

OUTSIGHTS website - publications

2009-07-27T15:32:00.001+04:00

outsights strategic management consultancy | portfolio | futures library
lots of other material on other pages of this site.
for example:@

By looking at the broader future challenges in society and the
future of technology, Outsights worked with Sir James Crosby and the
Treasury team on his independent review, "Challenges and opportunities
in identity assurance". This review looked at how to maximise the
economic and social advantage to the UK from having the most effective
ID assurance systems and infrastructure.

UK Government Futures

A
wide survey of futures thinking in Government with projects completed
by Outsights using the Sigma Scan (www.sigmascan.org) and scenario
thinking.

Challenges and Opportunities in Identity Assurance (HM Treasury 2008)

A
review looked at how to maximise the economic and social advantage to
the UK from having the most effective ID assurance systems and
infrastructure.

2009-05-20T19:19:00.001+04:00

Editorial for INNOGRIPS Newsletter no 7:

at: http://grips.proinno-europe.eu/newsletter/
This is the full original text, it had to be edited down considerably!

The slogan “crises are opportunities” may be of ancient Chinese origin, but it is strikingly relevant today. The economic crisis has certainly caused havoc in the lives of millions, and thrown innovation policies in many countries into disarray along with other government spending programmes. But as we saw in the last issue of this newsletter, the new US administration is investing substantially in science, R&D, information infrastructures, and a host of other measures designed to catch the next waves of innovation. The economic crisis might have been expected to tie the hands of the new president, but in many ways it seems to have empowered him to undertake more radical measures than would otherwise be the case. There are risks in public borrowing, in bailing out banks and other financial institutions whose leaders have behaved – and in some cases appear to delight in continuing to behave – in ways that are politely described as questionable, in striking out in new directions in geopolitics just at the same time as others are sticking in their heels. But the bankruptcy not just of a horde of companies, but of the systems of ethics and jurisprudence by which they were supposedly regulated, and the political worldviews on which they were founded, have made it possible to think the unthinkable.

The economic crisis is an opportunity to think again about how we are handling what is in all likelihood a slowly unfolding problem of far greater magnitude – the crisis of climate change. This is itself just one part of a multifold environmental crisis, where even without global warming the issue of some resources being exploited beyond the limits of sustainability would be ringing alarm bells. If projections of temperature rises are even partly accurate – and currently climate scientists are warning that some phenomena seem to be evolving more rapidly than feared – then we are looking at threats to the biosphere and to human habitats and economies that could last for centuries. Dislocation and conflict are inevitable consequences of even the more optimistic scenarios in which too little is done, too late. Just as “everyone knew” that there was something unsustainable about ever-inflating house prices, subprime mortgages and toxic assets, so “everybody knows” that current growth trajectories are environmentally unsustainable. The problem lies in converting this knowledge into action, and – since no one country can head off the growth in carbon emissions by itself - this means into collective action. The recent G20 summit may have been startlingly vague where it came to explicating its green rhetoric, as compared to its more conventional measures for recovery, but at least it shows that with a degree of creative leadership it is possible to pull together the major policy players in the world economy – which means the governments of the countries responsible for the lion’s share of global CO2 emissions.

What is needed now is serious effort to “green” the economic recovery, and this issue of the newsletter explores some of the efforts being undertaken here. What these brief appraisals reveal is the need to bring analysis of innovation far more centrally into the equation. Mainstream economics has habitually found it difficult to deal with innovation issues – this is why schools of evolutionary and neoSchumpeterian economics have arisen – and so it is not surprising that policymaking by economic and financial experts has largely neglected them. We will need to confront the prospects for more radical technological change if the way out of economic crisis is to be an opportunity to confront, rather than deepen, the environmental crisis. Innovation policy cannot be sidelined while we wait for the recovery – it has to be integrated with efforts to colour the recovery green.

And what sorts of opportunity are presented by the environmental crisis, then? The threats are so substantial that pious hopes are not enough. Policymakers will have to take bold steps, or risk being overwhelmed by the discontents of their electorates. Bold policymakers will make common cause with those citizens pressing for environmental criteria to become routine rather than one-off, for full-on confrontation of the problems of global poverty and inequity, and for rethinking the bases on which we measure social and economic progress and incentivise socially and environmentally sustainable practices. With mounting evidence from social research that a civilisation based on ever-increasing material consumption is a civilisation of discontent and diminishing returns in terms of happiness, it is an opportunity to rethink priorities of all sorts. Capturing this in terms of innovation and innovation policy is by no means an easy affair – “alternative technology” movements have foundered, and “ethical consumption” remains marginal in all but a few areas. Social innovation will be needed, to enable people to realise self-worth without unsustainable consumption, and to enable firms to pursue innovation – and marketing – that reinforces this. We are not used to thinking of social innovation policy, but more conventional innovation policymaking will need to be aware of the ways in which social and technological innovations can be mutually supportive in favour of a greener agenda. The combination of economic and environmental crises provides a strong signal about this, to those willing to listen. Hopefully, it will not be long before “everybody knows” this, too.

2009-05-15T19:44:00.001+04:00

Interested in the future of the the web? See our free public foresight report: the Metaverse Roadmap (MVR): Pathways to the 3D Web. The MVR is an extensive 10-year technology forecast and 20-year visioning survey of virtual and 3D Web technologies, markets, and applications. Made possible by generous start-up support from The Electric Sheep Company. See Interviews at Imagining the Internet, and visit the MVR Website for the full, free report.

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ASF-Sponsored Conference:

Evo Devo Universe 2008
October 8-9, Paris, France

An international conference, listserve, publication series, and wiki community of scholars exploring evolutionary and developmental processes in the universe and its subsystems, and thereby seeking to advance the science, systems theory and methods of foresight. How do we differentiate predictable and unpredictable process on the universal scale? Join us!

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tulipoomania, dot com and beyond

2009-05-01T16:29:00.001+04:00

debalie: cultureel politiek debat centrum In Memoriam: The New Economy :

In Memoriam: The New Economy

This web dossier brings together a collection of essays gathered in the frame of the Tulipomania DotCom conference, which was organised by De Balie at the initiative of media theorist Geert Lovink, on June 2nd and 3rd in De Balie in Amsterdam, and on June 4th 2000 at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. The texts were put together in a post-conference reader in the Summer of 2000. They are complemented here with more recent materials on the subject. The historical significance of the events surrounding the new economy and dotcom hype and their disastrous failure is hard to miss today.

.......................................................

Introduction to the Tulipomania DotCom Reader & Conceptual Background
The original introduction text to the Tulipomania DotCom Reader and the text on the conceptual background of the conference.

lees verder
.......................................................

The New Economy - Premises and Pitfalls
Essay by Douglas Henwood

lees verder
.......................................................

Mental Labor in the New Economy
Andrew Ross analyses the artisan new economy flex worker - by now a species extinct....

lees verder
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How the Internet Ruined San Francisco
In this essay Paulina Borsook describes how the internet-hype of the late nineties destroyed the unique cultural and social infrastructure of San Francisco, prerequisite to its 'succes'. A similar story could easily have been written about Amsterdam...

lees verder
.......................................................

No-Collar: The Humane Workplace and Its Hidden Costs
Interview with Andrew Ross, introducing his book on new economy workfloor conditions (Dec. 2002)

lees verder
.......................................................

Cyberculture in the Age of Dotcom.mania
A Vista over Internet Strategies - Essay by Geert Lovink in which he question the position of new media culture after the dotcom implosion.

lees verder
.......................................................

Cyberselfishness Explained
Interview with Paulina Borsook by Geert Lovink

lees verder
.......................................................

The Battle of the Three Letter Acronyms
Essay based on talk delivered at the Tulipomania DotCom conference by Jesse Hirsh.

lees verder
.......................................................

The Ideology of Immateriality
Text of the talk given by Felix Stalder.

lees verder
.......................................................

Het Internet, de Muziek, en de Regels (deel 1)
Essay by economist Wilfred Dolfsma on the economics of copyright law and the music industry in the digital domain, commisioned by De Balie and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. (Dutch text)

lees verder
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The New Culture? The New Economy!
Essay by Max Bruinsma & Chris Keulemans (2000) in response to the Tulipomania DotCom conference, orignally published in the Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer.

lees verder
.......................................................

BLUEPRINT FOR TOYWAR II
From Net Criticism to a Politics of Code - Theses on Network Economics and Network Politics.
Essay by Reinhold Grether

lees verder
.......................................................

Did you really think you were worth $300 Million?
If you're so smart, how come you're not rich (any more)?
Short essay by Dave Mandl.

lees verder
.......................................................

Was the Dot-Com Gold Rush Worth it?
By columnist and investment trend-watcher Christopher Byron.

lees verder
.......................................................

From New Economy to War Economy
The Financial Fallout - an assesment by time reporters Peter G. Goseelin and Jube Shiver Jr. less than two weeks after the 9/11 attacks.

lees verder
.......................................................

The Dot-Com Economy:
An Economy with no mediation?
by Korinna Patelis

lees verder
.......................................................

A Concise History of the New Economy
Stories on the Dotcom Crazes and Crashes, Winter/Spring 2000.

lees verder
.......................................................

Toward a New Political Economy:
Classically Marxist' analysis by researcher and Multitudes editor Pascal Jollivet.

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.......................................................

Smash the Surface / Break Open the Box / Disrupt the Code
The essay explores the connection between real-time mediation, economy, power and artist / activist responses. By Eric Kluitenberg.

lees verder
.......................................................

Fear in the Markets
Essay by Donald MacKenzie, analyses investment strategies of the investment partnership Long-Term Capital Management, that abruptly filed bankruptcy in September 1998.

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GRIPS Innovation Blog

2009-03-31T14:42:00.001+04:00

Inno GRIPS project blog

recent entries include:

Most recent blog entries

Global Green New Deal
InnoGRIPS Special Topic - Innovation for Recovery	By jhayden on 3/30/2009 1:21 PM

It looks like the UNEP's plan to green the world's economy is not fairing well in the UK, better luck in South Korea.

	More...

Nature to develop online 'open innovation' platform
InnoGRIPS Early Career Researchers Workshop – Open Innovation and IPR	By jhayden on 3/24/2009 11:23 AM

The Nature Publishing Group has just announced a partnership with InnoCentive to develop on online platform for open innovation, but will this new partnership address the issues of IP rights stifling collaborative crowdsourcing?

	More...

Ageing Japan - doomed?
InnoGRIPS Ageing and Innovation	By PREST on 3/18/2009 12:13 PM

A recent New York Times Op-Ed column by Masaru Tamamoto calls attention to some interesting and contestable points about the state of Japanese society and its ability to thrive given demographic ageing.

	More...

General Mills opens up to 'crowdsourcing'
InnoGRIPS Early Career Researchers Workshop – Open Innovation and IPR	By jhayden on 3/17/2009 2:27 PM

Not long ago the giant international foodstuffs company General Mills refused outsider innovations that arrived at their doorstep because of the external origination. Today, they are embracing 'open innovation' models including the strategic use of crowdsourcing.

	More...

Additional sources from our ongoing innovation and demographic ageing literature review
InnoGRIPS Ageing and Innovation	By PREST on 3/13/2009 4:29 PM

Herein find an expanded - but still annotated - bibliography from our ministudy on innovation in and for an ageing Europe.

	More...

Considering animal spirits
InnoGRIPS Special Topic - Innovation for Recovery	By jhayden on 3/6/2009 1:57 PM

Here is the paper on which Nigel Thrift's interesting talk at the recent AIM workshop on Innovation and Social Science at the Royal Society for Arts was based.

	More...

Green stimulus will provoke innovation
InnoGRIPS Special Topic - Innovation for Recovery	By jhayden on 3/2/2009 10:52 AM

A new policy brief has just been released by Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment & Centre for Climate Change Ecominics and Policy (LSE) called 'An outline of the case for a ‘green’ stimulus.'

	More...

Workshop follow-up: Main Themes
InnoGRIPS Early Career Researchers Workshop – Open Innovation and IPR	By jhayden on 2/25/2009 10:10 AM

Here we report in brief the main themes that emerged at the workshop on Open Innovation and IPR that took place at the University of Manchester 26, 27 January 2009. Did we (as a group) miss something? Are you working on these topics? Let us know...

2008-09-18T13:54:00.001+04:00

New Report: Policies for Open Innovation: Theory, Framework and Cases

The latest VISION Era-Net publication, whose authors include Henry Chesbrough, has been published.

The final report from the Open Innovation Policy Assessment Framework-project has been published. To access it, click below:

Jeroen P.J. de Jong, Wim Vanhaverbeke, Tarmo Kalvet and Henry Chesbrough: Policies for Open Innovation: Theory, Framework and Cases (pdf) (1.9 MB)

To read more of the project, go to: Open Innovation Policy Assessment Framework

2008-09-18T13:54:00.000+04:00

New Report: Policies for Open Innovation: Theory, Framework and Cases

The latest VISION Era-Net publication, whose authors include Henry Chesbrough, has been published.

The final report from the Open Innovation Policy Assessment Framework-project has been published. To access it, click below:

Jeroen P.J. de Jong, Wim Vanhaverbeke, Tarmo Kalvet and Henry Chesbrough: Policies for Open Innovation: Theory, Framework and Cases (pdf) (1.9 MB)

To read more of the project, go to: Open Innovation Policy Assessment Framework

2008-08-19T13:42:00.001+04:00

CIAT in Africa: Research Alliances - Enabling Rural Innovation

2008-08-19T13:39:00.000+04:00

ServINNo Service Innovation in the Nordic Countries Key Factors for Policy Design

The ServINNo project explores innovation processes in Nordic service firms and how policy can be designed to promote service innovation in the Nordic countries. The aim of the project is to identify appropriate service innovation policies based on in-depth analysis of innovation activities in Nordic service firms.

SWAMI Project

Safeguards in a World of AMbient Intelligence

2005 -2007

This project concerned the social, economic, legal, technological and ethical issues related to identity, privacy and security in the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environment.

Description:

Work package 1 (WP1) consists of a state of the art review of existing AmI projects, studies, scenarios and roadmaps.

Work package 2 (WP2) deals with developing "dark" (adverse) scenarios, the aim of which will be to expose key socio-economic, legal, technological and ethical risks and vulnerabilities related to issues such as identity, privacy and security.

January 2006: Deliverable 1 - Report on the "Brave New World of Ambient Intelligence: A State-of-the-art Review"
January 2006: Deliverable 2 - Report on "Dark Scenarios in Ambient Intelligence: Highlighting Risks and Vulnerabilities"

Work package 3 (WP3) develops legal and policy options which could serve as safeguards and privacy-enhancing mechanisms for Ambient Intelligence.

July 2006: Deliverable 3 - Report on "Threats, Vulnerabilities and Safeguards in Ambient Intelligence"

Work package 4 (WP4) focusses on dissimination of project results, continuously throughout the project. There are two validation and awareness-raising workshops foreseen. A final conference at the end of the project is also planned.

August 2006: Deliverable 4 - Final Report
April 2006: Deliverable 5 - Report on the Final Conference
August 2006: Deliverable 6 - Report on Dissemination Activities

Partners

ISI (D), Michael Friedewald www.isi.fraunhofer.de
VUB (B), Serge Gutwirth and Paul de Hert www.vub.ac.be/LSTS
TRILATERAL (UK), David Wrightwww.trilateralresearch.com
Technical Research Centre of Finland , VTT Electronics (Finland), Petteri Alahuhta www.vtt.fi

Dissemination

Related Deliverables:

Book: "Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence" Editors: Wright, D.; Gutwirth, S.; Friedewald, M.; Vidjiounaite, E.; and Punie, Y. To be published by Springer (International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology). It will be available from: http://www.springer.com/west/home/generic/search/results?SGWID=4-40109-22-173754327-0

2008-04-09T17:40:00.002+04:00

Wellknow

From welfare to knowfare.
A European approach to employment and gender mainstreaming in the Knowledge Based Society.

The basic idea behind the WELLKNOW project is that growing number of European countries are implementing measures enabling individuals to acquire the "necessary/right" skills such that they can provide for themselves through paid work instead of relying on financial support from the state when out of work. In other words, there appears to be a shift in emphasis from what we know as welfare to what we would like to call knowfare.

The main objective of the project is to provide comparative and multidisciplinary analyses of the transition towards the Knowledge Based Society, KBS, from employment and gender perspectives. The project will seek answers to the question whether knowfare policies that promote investment in individuals and social cohesion reflect the main characteristics of divergent welfare models (e.g. Continental and Nordic) or impose a convergence around a European approach towards the KBS. The empirical results of the project will be used to outline a European approach that promotes employment and social cohesion, especially, gender equality. Moreover, indicators, ranks and benchmarks will be developed that capture policy goals of the European Employment Strategy, EES, and the progress towards the KBS from a gender perspective. Finally, the project will provide insights into and policy options of how to facilitate transition towards a competitive KBS with more and better jobs as well as greater gender equality.

2008-04-09T14:46:00.002+04:00

Europäische Akademie GmbH

The Newsletter gives an overview of current activities of the Europäische Akademie and its running and future projects. It is published mostly in English and appears free of charge six or eight times per year.
Regular parts of it are the focus article (scientists write about a topic of the project groups or other issues relevant for the Europäische Akademie), news about the academy´s working groups and latest publications and lectures of members of the Europäische Akademie. ...

No. 78:
March 2008
Pros and cons of nuclear energy: Private versus social costs
Thomas Ziesemer
No. 77:

January 2008
Is there an imminent renaissance of nuclear energy?
Klaus Heinloth

The Ziesmer article makes some interesting poiints: herer is the abstract:
"Whether or not nuclear energy should be used as a means against climate change cannot be determined
on the basis of lower CO2 emissions alone. Other aspects have to be taken into account
as well. It is hard, though, to find other favourable aspects, because (i) it is an unnecessarily
costly technology if all cost items in regard to risks of terrorism, safety and nuclear waste as well
as costs of scrapping are correctly taken into account rather than being waived as implicit
subsidies, (ii) the political situations in the relevant countries of procurement are not more favourable
than for the alternatives. The costs of electricity from fourth generation reactors which may
be an option for the future are unknown by now. As an intermediary solution, until long-run solutions
are found, nuclear energy is likely to crowd out the renewable and sustainable technologies.
The remaining chance for nuclear energy is based on high CO2-prices to be paid by the
competitors and low insurance costs, risks being born by society. This scenario, however, represents
an unfair competition through an asymmetric handling of the principal of causation."

And from Heinloth:

"Nuclear energy is used extensively worldwide, presently with more than 400 power
plants. These plants mostly use light-water reactors, which, inevitably, are burdened with
the risk of a “maximum credible accident” (MCA). Still, these nuclear power plants contribute
about 17% of the global electricity supply. Roughly two thirds of the electricity
available in the world comes from fossil-fuel stations and the remainder from hydroelectric
power plants. Several countries now consider extending the original service life of existing
nuclear power plants by about 20 years. Furthermore, there are plans to build a new
generation of nuclear plants, promising a lower risk of major accidents. These will be,
mainly, modified light-water reactors like the “European Pressure Water Reactor” (EPR),
but also high-temperature reactors with inherent safety. Presently there are 30 nuclear
power plants under construction worldwide, of which two will be in France and Finland
and eleven in China and India. Another 40 nuclear power plants are under planning. This
would amount to 15% global growth of installed nuclear power capacity. The question
is: What are the boundary conditions and energy options that influence this development?"

2008-04-08T17:11:00.002+04:00

Rethinking Development Economics

new blog

2008-03-10T16:26:00.002+03:00

Cross Cutting Research - BERR
the SME surveys contain data on levels of product and process innovation - seem relatively high compared to CIS, though show usual relation with firm size. Data on new to firm, to market, etc. Not sectorally disaggregated.

2008-03-01T20:52:00.002+03:00

ARCHITECTURE

Heat your house with car tyres and earth : energy hungry America teaches the world how to build ecological houses.

Lego for Big Boys : habitable shipping containers promise cheap, modular and comfortable housing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENERGY

Wind up your laptop : the human body can deliver enough power to drive computers, television sets and washing machines.

Energy from the clouds : floating windmills.

Nuclear reactors, but no fuel : already in 10 to 15 years time, there will be a severe shortage of uranium.

The world's factory hall : almost 30 percent of energy use in China comes from the production of export goods.

Water eats energy : if we fail to reduce water use, we may safely double predictions on future energy consumption.

Build your own windmill : traditional micro-wind turbines are plagued by problems.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HISTORY

Email in the 18th century : the internet is more than 200 years old.

Bumper cars on the highway : the electric car is 170 years old.

Satellite navigation in the 18th century : who needs the GPS?

Reinventing the wheel : the story of the motorized monowheel

------------------------------------------------------------------
HIGH-TECH

Faster internet is impossible : internet users continually need faster connections to surf the web at the same speed.

The digital oubliette : chances are small your children will be able to enjoy the family photo album when they grow up.

The right to 35 mobiles : the high energy consumption of the mobile phone network is due to the extremely short life span of the phones.

Information damages the environment : is an electronic newspaper more ecological than a paper newspaper?

Supercomputers reach their limits : the energy consumption of supercomputers is getting out of hand.

Second hand bits and bytes : where is the second hand market for digital products?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSPORTATION

Racing on solar energy : if racing cars can drive on solar energy, then why do normal cars still need fossil fuels?

A world without trucks : introducing a fifth transport system next to road, rail, air and water.

Cars on hot air : following the hype on hydrogen - meet the car on compressed air.

Green, slow air cargo : air freight could become the most eco-friendly mode of transport if speed is reduced.

The return of the sailing ship : considering the wind as an extra source of power, the fuel use of cargo ships can be reduced substantially. Can be.

Bumpers cars on the highway : the electric car has a conceptual problem.

Planes on wheels : from an ecological point of view, the strategy to move travellers from airplanes to high speed trains doesn't make sense.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAMES & TOYS

Download, print, cut, paste : an overview of the best paper models on the web

Gaming unplugged : the newest generation of board games is more fascinating than most computer games

----

Innovation Working papers

2008-02-25T14:27:00.001+03:00

a new website to me!

Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU) working papers

#08.09

Roel Nahuis

The politics of displacement. Towards a framework for democratic evaluation

#08.08

Simona O. Negro and Marko P. Hekkert

Explaining the success of emerging technologies by innovation system functioning: the case of biomass digestion in Germany

#08.07

Carolina Castaldi and Bart Los

The identification of important innovations using tail estimators

#08.06

Rens L.J. Vandeberg and Ellen H.M. Moors

A framework for interactive learning in emerging technologies

#08.05

Quirine van Voorst tot Voorst, Ruud Smits and John van den Elst

Standardisation Processes in China and the European Union Explained by Regional Innovation Systems

#08.04

Roald A.A. Suurs and Marko P. Hekkert

Cumulative Causation in the Formation of a Technological Innovation System: The Case of Biofuels in The Netherlands

#08.03

Laurens K. Hessels and Harro van Lente

Re-thinking new knowledge production: A literature review and a research agenda

#08.02

Frank van Rijnsoever and Carolina Castaldi

Knowledge base, information search and intention to adopt innovation

#08.01

Ruud Smits, Rutger van Merkerk, David H. Guston and Daniel Sarewitz

The role of TA in Systemic Innovation Policy

nuclear back on agenda

2008-02-23T00:28:00.001+03:00

and two sites (more to come):

nuclear dilemma

‘Does the UK need new nuclear power?
also see sussex_energy_group.pdf)

National OPEN innovation system

2008-02-20T16:01:00.001+03:00

new study at:

http://www.tse.fi/FI/yksikot/erillislaitokset/tutu/Documents/publications/eBook_2007-8.pdf

nuclear power debate

2008-02-20T15:56:00.001+03:00

About the Sussex Energy Group « Does The UK Need New Nuclear Power?

Good bioethics site

2008-02-15T16:18:00.001+03:00

BioCentre // The Centre for Bioethics & Public Policy

European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

2008-02-11T20:01:00.001+03:00

watch this space

EUROPA - Rapid - Press Releases

"

The European Commissioner for Education and
Culture, Ján Figeľ, announced to the European Parliament
and the Council on 5 February the composition of the ad-hoc Identification
Committee that will recommend members of the future EIT Governing Board. This
Identification Committee will guarantee the independence, legitimacy and
credibility of the identification process. Starting in February 2008, the work
of the identification Committee is expected to take around four months.

The Committee is composed of four professionals of highest standing and
unquestionable independence, providing a balance of expertise in different areas
and coming from across the European Union.

The members of the Identification Committee are:

Professor Günter Stock, Chairman, President of the Berlin-Brandenburg
Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Professor Miklos Boda advisor to the Rector at the Budapest University of
Technology and Economics
Cecilia Schelin Seidegård, chairwoman of the Royal University of
Technology in Stockholm
Professor Ronan Stéphan, director for industrial affairs and technology
transfer of the French CNRS, and executive director of France Innovation
Scientifique et Transfert S.A.

The identification process will
comprise a two-phase consultation with the main representative organisations at
EU level. The Commission, after having informed the EP and the Council of the
outcome of the selection process, will appoint the eighteen members of the EIT
Governing Board.

The EIT represents a unique opportunity to boost Europe's innovation
potential. It will be a flagship for excellence at European level, bringing
together the best scientific, business and education resources to boost the
Union's innovation capacity. It will be based on a two level-structure: first,
on a light-weight governance structure and second, on a set of Knowledge and
Innovation Communities (KICs) that will pool together the best European
resources to perform research, education and innovation activities.

The Governing Board will steer the activities of the EIT. It will be composed
of independent members of the highest potential and prestige and provide a
balanced expertise in business, research and education. It will set the strategy
of the EIT and decide on the areas in which to invest and to establish the KICs.
It will also be responsible for the selection of the KICs, for the monitoring
and evaluation of their work.

The Commission anticipates the appointment of the Board's members around
summer 2008, after the adoption of the EIT regulation scheduled in March
2008."

EFIOS - Inn in Communities of Practice

2008-02-08T17:18:00.001+03:00

efios knowledge management (welcome)

but in particular this paper:
http://www.efios.com/pdf/innovation_value.pdf which is

George Pór, in
collaboration with Erik van Bekkum Liberating the Innovation Value of Communities of Practice and has a helpful 4-dimensional model of innovation as well as the CoPs discussion promised.

Future of Innovation Studies

2008-02-04T17:07:00.001+03:00

Conference on "The Future of Innovation Studies", 21-23 September 2001, at ECIS, Eindhoven University of Technology. Conference papers still available including:

Jan Fagerberg (TIK, University of Oslo) - Technology
and the Wealth of Nations. A Critical Essay on Economic Growth Theory

Andreas Reinstaller & Werner Hölzl - Creative
response in economic development : the case of information processing
technologies in US manufacturing, 1870-1930

Caroline Heinrich – Metropolitan
Information Producers and Services and their Relevance to Innovation
Theory

Michael Peneder, Serguei Kaniovski & Bernhard Dachs - What
follows Tertiarisation? Structural change and the Role of Knowledge-Based
Services

Erik Baark - The Dynamics
of Innovation in Engineering Consulting Services

Henry van der Wiel - Innovation
and productivity in services

Maïder Saint Jean - The
dynamics of interaction between cleaner technologies and environmental
preferences : preliminary results of a simulation model

Frank Geels - Technological
transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level
perspective and a case study

Kevin Morgan (University of Cardiff) - The
Exaggerated Death Of Geography: Localised Learning, Innovation & Uneven
Development

Hans Pennings (Wharton Business School) - Market
Convergence and Firm Strategy: New Directions for Theory and Research
(co-authored paper with Phanish Puranam)

... and more..

World Bank - Tech Diffsion to Devg Countries

2008-01-17T19:28:00.001+03:00

GEP 2008 - Full Text

World Bank report
Global Economic Prospects 2008: Technology Diffusion in the Developing World

(

Chapter 1 : Prospects for Developing Countries
(see related interactive website: Prospects for the Global Economy)

Chapter 2 : Technology and Technological Diffusion in Developing Countries

Chapter 3 : Determinants of Technological Diffusion: Recent Trends and Prospects

Regional Economic Prospects (as one file)

Better innovation measurement

2008-01-17T18:00:00.001+03:00

US efforts to improve innovation measurement - consultation process and expert panel - note wide definition of innovation:

Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economy - Advisory Committee

Facebook not as good as Keats - shock horror

2008-01-15T12:47:00.001+03:00

There is some interesting discussion of those behind Facebook, but 75% of this article is time that could have been better spent reading Keats (or Hyperion)

With friends like these ... Tom Hodgkinson on the politics of the people behind Facebook | Technology | The Guardian

"Facebook's privacy policy

Just for fun, try substituting the words 'Big Brother' whenever you read the word 'Facebook'

1 We will advertise at you

"When you use Facebook, you may set up your personal profile, form relationships, send messages, perform searches and queries, form groups, set up events, add applications, and transmit information through various channels. We collect this information so that we can provide you the service and offer personalised features."

2 You can't delete anything

"When you update information, we usually keep a backup copy of the prior version for a reasonable period of time to enable reversion to the prior version of that information."

3 Anyone can glance at your intimate confessions

"... we cannot and do not guarantee that user content you post on the site will not be viewed by unauthorised persons. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the site. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of user content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other users have copied or stored your user content."

4 Our marketing profile of you will be unbeatable

"Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (eg, photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalised experience."

5 Opting out doesn't mean opting out

"Facebook reserves the right to send you notices about your account even if you opt out of all voluntary email notifications."

6 The CIA may look at the stuff when they feel like it

"By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States ... We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies."

serious location game

2008-01-14T16:25:00.001+03:00

TNO - Triangler game

"The Triangler game developed by TNO has received the Grand Prix and the Most Innovative Game Award of the prestigious International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA)....Two teams of 5 players play a match, the object of which is to enclose enemy players within 150-metre equilateral triangles formed by three team members. The team's score is equal to the number of enemy players it has enclosed. Triangler uses advanced mobile location and communication services to facilitate optimum co-ordination between team members. The winning team is the team that scores the most points. Triangler is not intended purely for entertainment.

The strategic, tactical and operational co-ordination skills that the game requires means that it is highly suitable for other purposes such as large-scale training programmes for disaster workers...."

Job creation and Intrenet

2008-01-07T18:32:00.001+03:00

The big switch may turn off jobs | Technology | The Guardian

argues that electricity generated many jobs in many places, the internet may create entrepreneursial opporunities in many places - but not so many jobs.

Technological Innovation and Intellectual Property

2007-12-17T17:29:00.001+03:00

Technological Innovation and Intellectual Property
"TIIP (Technological Innovation and Intellectual Property) newsletter
discusses research on technological innovation and intellectual
property in an informal, “blog” style."
Topics covered include:

for instance:

Is Intellectual Property the Best Incentive System?

December 16, 2002

Nancy
Gallini and Suzanne Scotchmer review the literature that compares
patents to other mechanisms for promoting innovation, including prizes
and government contracts.

Read the summary

Positioning in practice

2007-12-11T19:37:00.001+03:00

Positium LBS - Portfolio
Look at the "personal positioning" section on the right.
You can click onto staff members, and see where their GPS or phone data tells you they have been in last hours, weeks, months, neatly plotted onto maps of various scales.
People in Estonia are working on very sophisticated mobile phone tracking for crowd analysis and management (e.g. where all the people with UK registered phones are in the airport...)

Million Books online

2007-12-10T13:49:00.001+03:00

Universal Digital Library: Million Book Collection , hosted by Carnegie Mellon University
The Million Book Project is a venture led by Carnegie Mellon
University in the United States, Zhejiang University in China, the Indian
Institute of Science in India and the Library at Alexandria in Egypt.
It has
now digitised and put online more than 1.5 million books!

2007-11-24T12:55:00.000+03:00

Bad Science » Make your own ID:

essential reading for the ID debate... demolition of (fingerprint) biometrics...

"every time you touch something, if your security systems rely on biometric ID, then you’re essentially leaving your pin number on a post-it note."

"will biometrics prevent ID theft? Well, it might make it more difficult for you to prove your innocence. And once your fingerprints are stolen, they are harder to replace than your pin number. But here’s the final nail in the coffin. Your fingerprint data will be stored in your passport or ID card as a series of numbers, called the “minutiae template”. In the new biometric passport with its wireless chip, remember, all your data can be read and decrypted with a device near you, but not touching you."

2007-11-08T19:39:00.000+03:00

The Center for Graphic Facilitation: Graphic Facilitators

Joe Ravetz told me that this was a new profession, and he was right! He provided cartooning services for some scenario workshops we ran a few years back, and this was really successful.

creative industries innovation

2007-11-02T20:35:00.001+03:00

Research in progress - NESTA Policy and Research Unit - NESTA

Hidden innovation in the creative sectors

2007-10-10T23:06:00.000+04:00

The Law of Accelerating Returns
Ray Kurzweill on acceleration.

He makes a case against SETI, but thinks he is the first to figure out what LEM long past wrote in The New Cosmogony (in A Perfect Vacuum) - that the cosmos on a macro scale and depp leve may have been reshaped by those who went before.

2007-10-04T17:12:00.001+04:00

at http://www.eukidsonline.net/
EU Kids Online

European Research on Cultural, Contextual and Risk Issues in Children's Safe
Use of the Internet and New Media.

a project funded by the EC Safer Internet plus Programme

(see What is Safer Internet?)"

Repository of research on children and the Internet in Europe

a database of recent and ongoing empirical projects
regarding children and the Internet in Europe. Our aim is to provide a public
resource for researchers and practitioners in this field in which studies are
identified and information about them can be readily searched and accessed.

Click here to enter the searchable EU Kids Online Data Repository "

and..

"The first of the reports now available on our website is:
Staksrud, E., Livingstone, S., and Haddon, L. (2007) What Do We Know About Children’s Use of Online Technologies? A Report on Data Availability and Research Gaps in Europe.
The report examines the available research on children and the internet in the 18 countries originally participating in the EU Kids Online network. It provides a detailed analysis of the research identified in our online repository after 6 months (235 studies in all), in order to inform policy-makers, practitioners and academics working in the field of the nature of the evidence base, its availability and the key gaps.

The report has been produced in two versions:
The short version, available in paper form (on request) and online, summarises all the findings, and includes 500 word national research overviews for each of the 18 countries (35 pages).
The long version, available online only, provides a detailed account of all findings, with tables and figures (63 pages), plus an annex containing 2000 word national reports for each of the 18 countries (48 pages).
The report aims to provide an account of:
how much research exists regarding children and the internet, and its accessibility
the nature of the evidence base, in terms of funding, methods, topics, risks, age of children and country studied
the conclusions note the key features of the available research, the significant gaps in the evidence base, and the emerging issues and challenges for research.
Key research gaps are:

Research on younger (primary school) children
Research on platforms other than the fixed internet
Research on peer-to-peer applications
Research on children’s perceptions of online risk
Research on children’s coping with risk, including media literacy
Research on parents’ coping with risk, including parental mediation and use of filtering or other safety tools
Research on the effectiveness of parental mediation/use of safety tools
Research on online risk to children in certain countries
Research on certain types of risk (commercial risk, user-generated content, suicide or self harm sites.

Emerging issues and challenges are noted in brief below:

First, empirical research is highly time-sensitive -

Research in this field becomes quickly out of date and findings must be regularly updated
We greatly need multi-national research, so one country may learn from another, while recognising the specificities of diverse economic, cultural and social contexts
Tracking studies are required to understand the long-term implications of online technologies
The research agenda does not always suit the needs of the policy agenda, and it is more common to identify problems than to evaluate policy solutions.
Second, regarding the theories, methods and standards of research -
We advocate multiple theoretical perspectives, so the various dimensions of children’s internet use can be understood in relation to children’s own perceptions, those of their parents, and the context of everyday internet use
Although multidisciplinary, multimethod, contextual, and longitudinal research is particularly demanding, it remains sorely needed
Research is sometimes poorly reported, with key information missing, or it is difficult to gain access to – the quality, rigour and public accessibility of some research could be improved
Nearly all research online activities and risks neglects children's lives offline (e.g. their social networks, their parenting, their attitudes to risk-taking or coping with psychological distress).

Last, we note that this is a sensitive and difficult field of research -

The risk agenda is led largely led by adult concerns and media-spread moral panics, and so focuses on pornography, stranger contact, violence etc.
It is insufficiently led by objective evidence of actual harm, whether criminal (e.g. incidence of sexual abuse or criminal abduction) or medical (e.g. incidence of youth suicide or self harm attempts)
It is also insufficiently reflective of children and young people's own agenda of concerns (in which bullying, identity abuse, spam and race hate would figure much higher than pornography or even stranger danger)
Research and policy often underestimates the ways in which it is inherent to childhood and especially adolescence to take risks, push boundaries and evade adult scrutiny.
The pressing need for more research on younger children raises significant challenges regarding methodology and research ethics
More discrimination is needed regarding the nature of children's online activities, including they ways in which they differentiate different kinds of pornographic or violent content or potentially harmful contact.

We conclude that research must follow use – tracking online activities for new populations, younger users, new risks, and so forth. Much depends on the researchers’ grasp of children’s experiences, including their approach to risk, for in many respects, children do not draw the line between risks and opportunities in the same way that adults do."

Powered by ScribeFire.

www.eukidsonline.net

Intellectual Property and Innovation

2007-09-04T18:41:00.001+04:00

Research on Innovation
more precisely on Intellectual Property and Innovation, but this doesnt get well-covered in most innovation sites.

21st Century work - USA

2007-08-09T12:56:00.001+04:00

Working in the 21st Century Home Page
Bureau of Labor Statistics

excellent range of material.

Technology, innovation, development

2007-07-25T14:31:00.001+04:00

Knowledge for Development - New Industrial and Innovation Policy
World Bank resources on innovation and development

Information Society - metrics and more

2007-07-18T16:09:00.001+04:00

SIBIS - Statistical Indicators Benchmarking the Information Society - List of other relevant projects

BEEP
- Best eEurope Practices

Promotes best practice cases in four key business and social areas
(domains) that will lead to Europe enhancing its position globally.

URL: http://www.beep-eu.org

BISER
- Benchmarking the Information Society in European Regions

will define, develop and pilot a set of statistical indicators for
benchmarking the progress of European regions in respect of the
eEurope Initiative and the emerging Information Society.

URL: http://www.biser-eu.com

B2B
METRICS - Statistical indicators for the information society

will allow for a better understanding of the B2B e-commerce development
via the use of innovative frameworks and indicators.

URL: http://www.b2b-metrics.de

DIECOFIS
- Development of a System of Indicators on COmpetitiveness and FIScal
Impact on Enterprise Performance

covers key and long debated EU issues on indicators, competitiveness
and the impact of public policy.

URL: http://www.istat.it/diecofis

ECATT
- Benchmarking Progress on Electronic Commerce and New Methods of
Work

generated representative information on the prevalence and spread
of electronic commerce and new forms of work in Europe.

URL: http://www.ecatt.com

E-LIVING
- Life in a Digital Europe

created and co-ordinated a set of pan-European longitudinal household
panel studies to generate quantitative data on time-use, uptake
of IST's, IST competencies, environmental impact and perceived quality
of life.

URL: http://www.eurescom.de

MUTEIS
- Macro-Economic and Urban Trends in Europe's Information Society

intends to analyse, explain and understand functional and spatial
diversity in Europe's digital economy both from a macro and local/urban
perspective.

URL: http://muteis.infonomics.nl

NESIS
- New Economy Statistical Information System

was designed to contribute to the continuing elaboration and evaluation
of European benchmarking indicators, as successive phases of the
Lisbon strategy unfold and are implemented.

URL: http://nesis.jrc.it

NewKind:
New Indicators for the Knowledge Based Economy

The project has developed indicators for assessing the significance
of changes in the knowledge-base underlying economic, industrial
and firm performance.

URL: http://www.researchineurope.org/newkind/index.htm

PRISMA

The project has analysed good practice across a range of eGovernment
service areas, used scenarios to understand future development requirements,
and published a series of strategic guidelines for eGovernment policy
makers and practitioners.

URL: http://www.prisma-eu.net

STAR
- Socio-economics Trends Assessment for the Digital Evolution

examines the socio-economic impacts of new technologies and services
on the nature of work and business enterprise in the next decade.

URL: http://www.databank.it/star

SEAMATE
- Socio-economic analysis and Macro-modelling of Adapting to Information
Technologies in Europe.

URL: http://www.seamate.net

SENIORWATCH
- developed a European Observatory and Inventory on the specific
IS needs of older and disabled people to guide industry, RTD and
policy.

URL: http://www.seniorwatch.de

TERRA
- has developed scenarios for the ways in the Networked Society
might evolve and their implications for sustainability.

URL: http://www.terra-2000.org

2007-06-26T00:24:00.000+04:00

What's New - DTI: "Innovation trends: prioritising emerging technologies shaping the UK to 2017

URN: 07/629

DTI occasional paper no. 8. Discusses from an economic perspective trends in innovation and technology. Sets out the background to the prioritisation process for policies relating to emerging technologies that will shape the UK to 2017. A set of concepts about technologies that are likely to have a major impact on the UK economy, society or culture in the near future are debated.

* View PDF

Research Methods

2007-06-20T12:49:00.001+04:00

Research Methods Knowledge Base

a great deal of useful guidance on methods and methodology

Methodology, Institutional Economics, etc.

2007-06-18T20:40:00.001+04:00

Geoffrey Hodgson's website

lots downloadable, inc.:

 ‘Meanings of Methodological Individualism’,

‘The Revival of Veblenian Institutional Economics’

 ‘The Nature and Units of Social Selection’

‘The Impact of Empirical Tests of Transaction Cost Economics on the Debate on the Nature of the Firm’

‘The Limits to Participatory Planning: A Reply to Adaman and Devine’

‘Darwinism, Causality and the Social Sciences’

‘The Editors and Authors of Economics Journals: A Case of Institutional Oligopoly?’

. ‘Socialism Against Markets? A Critique of Two Recent Proposals’,

‘On the Evolution of Thorstein Veblen’s Evolutionary Economics’,

‘The Ubiquity of Habits and Rules’,

energy environment industry...

2007-06-13T12:48:00.001+04:00

EUROPA - European Commission - Enterprise and Industry

In February 2006, the EC set up a High-Level Group to examine the relationship between competitiveness, energy and the environment.... offer advice to policy-makers and ensure an integrated approach to the development of legislation and regulation.

High-Level Group reports:

First report (pdf): “Functioning of the energy market, access to energy , energy efficiency and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme” (02.06.2006)

Second report (pdf): Long term energy futures and investment in power generation and energy efficiency (30.10.2006)

Third report (pdf): Contributing to an integrated approach on competitiveness, energy and the environment policies - Helping energy intensive industries adapt to the energy and climate change challenges; incentives, innovation and technology policies" (27.03.2007)

Fourth report (pdf): Ensuring future sustainability and competitiveness of European enterprises in a carbon and resource constrained world (11.06.2007)

plus more...

nanotech and society

2007-05-04T16:10:00.001+04:00

CNS - Center for Nanotechnology in Society at ASU

social research on nanotech - particulalrly  interesting powerpoint presentation on forecasting science-based innovation - see http://cns.asu.edu/new-at-cns/Bunger.pdf

2007-05-03T14:59:00.000+04:00

Allianz - New report on risks and rewards of nanotechnology

Quotes: The US, Europe and Japan each spend between 500 million and one billion US dollars a year on nanotech....
The OECD reports that nanotech markets are estimated to reach a value of trillions of US dollars within the decade. However, these values are based on projections including nanotech-based production techniques and those that incorporate only some nano-components....such a wide cross-section of opportunities could bring equally diverse and technically wide-ranging risks. From health to the environment, there is scope for nano-particles not only to present traditional risks but also novel problems. ...
There is a gap between the scope for innovating new uses for nanotech and the corresponding understanding of the consequent risks to humans and the environment. Additionally, the impact of an exposure to humans may not be directly evident till many years later, leading to similar problems as were experienced with asbestos and benzene (an aromatic component of gasoline which has been found to cause cancer)...
Axel Theis, CEO of Allianz Global Risks, comments: "This report shows that nanotech will underpin many of the most important technical and industrial advances of the early 21st century. However its huge scope for beneficial developments must not mask any risk from nanotech to the people who use it or the environment in which it operates."
"Allianz believes that it would not be appropriate to create a general exclusion of nanotech from insurance coverage. However, a general 'wait and see' attitude is also not an option. As a responsible insurer, Allianz has worked with the OECD in this report to stimulate an early, active and positive response to nanotech-related risks from all parties involved."
recommends:
- Independent research into the risk of nanoparticles, exposure routes and their effect on humans and the environment
- A balanced approach to scientific innovation and public safety concerns
- Expanding traditional areas of competence by referencing multi-disciplinary knowledge across economic sectors, institutions and borders
- Strengthening of the evidence base regarding the safe handling of nanoparticles
- Development of comparative risk classification schemes and databases
- Focusing attention of underwriters and risk managers on the critical issues
- Bringing the discussion of nanotechnology to the forefront of insurance
- Foster a dialogue-oriented approach which makes good use of reviews by independent organizations
- Using sustainability as a criterion for vision and success
- Developing a suitable regulatory framework to enable the industry to operate sustainably but safely

2007-03-13T20:44:00.000+03:00

"Digital Prosperity: Understanding the Economic Benefits of the Information Technology Revolution"
March 13, 2007
"There have been surprisingly few attempts to catalogue what is known about the economic impact of information and communications technology (IT). In a new report, ITIF does just that, examining the impact of IT in five key areas: 1) productivity; 2) employment; 3) more efficient markets; 4) higher quality goods and services; and 5) innovation and new products and services. The report finds that the integration of IT into virtually all aspects of the economy and society is creating a digitally-enabled economy that is responsible for generating the lion’s share of economic growth and prosperity, both here and abroad, including in developing nations. Importantly, the “IT engine” does not appear likely to run out of gas anytime soon and should power robust growth for at least the next decade, provided that policy makers take the right steps. Toward that end the report lays out five key public policy principles for driving digital prosperity: 1) give the digital economy its due; 2) actively encourage digital innovation and transformation of economic sectors; 3) use the tax code to spur IT investment; 4) encourage universal digital literacy and adoption; and 5) do no harm."

2007-03-06T23:32:00.000+03:00

2007-02-28T19:02:00.000+03:00

The Marxist Critique of Capitalist Science: A History in Three Movements?

Gary Werskey wrote excellent VISIBLE COLLEGE study of inetrwar left approaches to science - Bernal Haldane and much more. Here are his reflections twenty + years on.

2007-02-13T01:16:00.000+03:00

Project NOAH- Publications:
began focused on smart houses and home computing, but now contains PDFs on such topics as:

'Arts and Aesthetics: Marketing and Cultural Production,' Alladi Venkatesh and Laurie A. Meamber. Marketing Theory, 6 (1), 11-39.
'From Marketing to the Market: A Call for Paradigm Shift,' Alladi Venkatesh and Lisa Penaloza. To appear as a chapter in Jagdish N. Sheth and Rajendra S. Sisodia (Eds.), Does Marketing Need Reform?, Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Publishers, 2006.
'An Investigation of Theories of Diffusion in the Global Context: A Comparative Study of the U.S., Sweden and India.' Alladi Venkatesh and Chuan-Fong Shih. CRITO Working Paper.
'Design As a State-of-Mind: The Aesthetics of Design and the Art of Marketing.' Theresa Digerfeldt-Månsson and Alladi Venkatesh. Working Paper.

as well as more familiar material (in the context of this site) like

'Designing The Family Portal for Home Networking.' Alladi Venkatesh, Steven Chen, and Victor Gonzalez y Gonzalez. To appear as a chapter in Robert Kraut, Malcolm Brynin & Sara Kiesler (Eds.) Domesticating Information Technologies, Oxford University Press, 2005.
Alladi Venkatesh, 'The Tech Enabled Networked Home: An Analysis of Current Trends and Future Promise,' in Dutton, W., B. Kahin, et al (Eds), Transforming Enterprise, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005.

2007-02-13T00:50:00.000+03:00

Les Haddon publications: lots of good material, including the most recent I have tracked down ~
Haddon, L. (2003) ‘What is Innovatory Use? A Thinkpiece’, in Haddon, L., Mante-Meijer, E., Sapio, B., Kommenon, K-H, Fortunati, L., and Kant, A. (eds) The Good, the Bad and the Irrelevant: The User and the Future of Information and Communication Technologies, Conference Proceedings, 1-3, September, Helsinki.

2007-02-08T19:08:00.000+03:00

Unbenannte Seite
paper on innovation in recording industry, using an innovation survey and problematising it.

2007-02-04T19:18:00.000+03:00

Technical and Privacy Dimensions of Information for Terrorism Prevention and other National Goals:
"The study will address the specific information needs of the government as it faces the challenges of terrorism prevention and threats to public health and safety that arise in the government’s deployment of various forms of technology for broad access to data. Specifically, it will examine the nexus between terrorism prevention, technology, privacy and other policy issues and the implications and issues involved in deploying surveillance, data mining, and information fusion technologies"
a paper by Peter Swire is downloadable together with project info.

2007-02-04T19:00:00.000+03:00

Dale Jorgenson's Recent Work - on his Harvard website

Muych on IT and input-output, and related topics, for instance:

Industry Origins of the American Productivity Resurgence, with Mun S. Ho, Jon Samuels, and Kevin J. Stiroh, October 2, 2006. PowerPoint presentation to IIOA Conference, Sendai, Japan, July 26, 2006.

A Retrospective Look at the U.S. Productivity Growth Resurgence, with Mun S. Ho and Kevin J. Stiroh, December 13, 2006. PowerPoint presentation for the 18th Villa Mondragone Seminar, University of Rome, June 26, 2006. Lean and unseen, The Economist, July 3, 2006. The American economy: Slow road ahead, The Economist, October 28, 2006.

Econometric Modeling of Technical Change, with Hui Jin, August 22, 2006. PowerPoint presentation to the 20th Anniversary Symposium of the Korean Econometric Society, Seoul National University, July 19,2006.

Information Technology and the U.S. Economy (updated tables through 2005), American Economic Review, Vol. 91, No. 1, March 2001, pp. 1-32. PowerPoint Presentation; .pdf Slides. French translation: Les Technologies de l'Information de l'Economie Americaine. Institut d'Economie Industrielle, Universite Toulouse I, May 22, 2001. (Click on "Conferences," then on "IDEI Lectures.")

Information Technology and the Japanese Economy, with Kazuyuki Motohashi, Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Vol. 19, No. 4, December 2005, pp. 460-481.

Information Technology and the G7 Economies (updated manuscript and tables), World Economics, Vol. 4, No. 4, October-December, 2003, pp. 139-169; updated and reprinted in Revista di Politica Economica, Vol. 95, Nos. 1-2, January-February 2005, pp. 25-56; French translation "Les technologies d'information et les économies du G7," L'Actualité Économique, Vol. 81, Nos. 1-2, Mars-Juin 2005, pp. 15-46. PowerPoint presentation to the ISAE/CEIS Conference on Monitoring Italy 2005, Rome, Italy, June 7, 2005. Interview by Rosella Bocciarelli, La lezione di Harvard: «Più concorrenza nei servizi», Il Sole 24 Ore, June 8, 2005. Webcast (see August 24, 8:30 a.m. session) of presentation to the Aspen Summit of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, Aspen, Colorado, August 24, 2004. Computing the gains, The Economist, October 23, 2003.

Information Technology and the World Growth Resurgence, with Khuong Vu. Appendix (updated tables). Information Technology and the World Economy, with Khuong Vu, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 107, Issue 4, December 2005, pp. 631-650; reprinted in Manual Castells and Gustavo Cardoso, The Network Society, Washington, Johns Hopkins Center for Transatlantic Relations, 2006, pp. 71-124; Portuguese translation in Castells and Cardoso, A Sociedad em Reade, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional, 2006, pp. 65-114. PowerPoint presentation for the Barcelona Lecture, CEIR, Barcelona, Spain, May 11, 2006. Interview by Miguel Olivares, Europa debe enfatizar el impulso de la productividad, El País, June 4, 2006. PowerPoint presentation for the Bank of Korea, Seoul, Korea, July 20, 2006.

Economic Growth in Canada and the United States in the Information Age, Industry Canada monograph, Ottawa, Canada, May 2004. Industry-level Productivity and International Competitiveness Between Canada and the United States, with Frank C. Lee, Industry Canada monograph, Ottawa, Canada, March 2001.

2007-01-25T16:34:00.000+03:00

cybersoc.com
a blog on all things digital, including blogs, user-generated content, etc.
links to old Cybersociology magazine, relevant lists and papers, and several other things.

2007-01-23T14:58:00.000+03:00

Proboscis | Diffusion eBooks

I've yet to scrutinise much of this material. I have been impressed by "Urban Tapestries". The DIFFUSION books are awful for on-screen rteading: they are designed to be printed out and folded up, which is not very green and does not IMHO bring me into any "producer" role; rather a more harassed consumer. Still thwere is material on design, modernity, and lots more...

Proboscis http://proboscis.org.uk/about.html
"is an artist-led studio which combines artistic practice with commissioning, curatorial projects, design and consultancy. Collaboration is at the core of our creative practice and ethic: Proboscis works across disciplines and practices, working with associate artists, writers, curators, critics, designers, technologists, filmmakers, scientists and theorists to explore social, cultural and creative issues...Our work includes large scale collaborative artworks such as Mapping Perception, long term media works such as Urban Tapestries and DIFFUSION Generator, multi-project initiatives involving in depth research and a high level of public participation such as Social Tapestries, smaller scale artworks, interventions and films such as Topographies and Tales, experimental forums and events such as Human Echoes – A Dialogue on Cultures of Listening and large scale curatorial initiatives such as Navigating History.

Sine 2001 Proboscis has created a number of projects that explore the relationships between individuals, communities and the environments they inhabit. Our work has developed from an initial focus on the geographies of place to the social relationships that underpin it. Our projects have become rooted in deeper engagement with specific situations and contexts with our interventions taking place over longer periods of time. For participatory work Proboscis uses co-creative approaches – encouraging people to participate in making and sharing ideas through artistic processes and works: examples are the Urban Tapestries mapping platform, the DIFFUSION Generator (utilising the DIFFUSION eBook format), the Endless Landscapes, the StoryCubes, the Sound Scavenging kits and the Feral Robots for environmental sensing...."

DIFFUSION "

eBooks are shareable paper books that are free to download, print and make up …. Proboscis regularly commissions new writing and creative publications which broaden discussion and debate around themes relating to our own projects and research…. Readers are encouraged to share the eBooks electronically or as material objects. DIFFUSION aims to bridge analogue and digital media by taking the reader away from the computer screen and engaging them in the process of making with their hands. Through the physical act of making the eBook, a dynamic is created that blurs the distinctions between producers and consumers.

Proboscis is building a web service enabling people to create their own DIFFUSION eBooks without the need for graphic design expertise or access to professional DTP software. A private beta test of the system begins in November 2006. We aim to launch the Generator to the public in Spring 2007.

Much material downloadable, under headings like:

LIQUID GEOGRAPHY
SOCIAL TAPESTRIES
SPECIES OF SPACES
PERFORMANCE NOTATIONS
LIQUID GEOGRAPHY

Among the MANY documents (etc) available are:

· Giles Lane & Sarah Thelwall

Social Tapestries: Creative Lab documentation

· Otto von Busch & Karl Palmas

Design Management: a reinterpretation on the theme of Modes of Production and Design Hacking

· Dr Andy Pratt

It's space Jim, but not as we know

· Gair Dunlop & Daniel Norton

This is Tomorrow

· Matt Locke

P2P & Mobility: Rethinking the Roles of Networks in Content Distribution

2007-01-18T16:22:00.000+03:00

House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 25 Oct 2005 (pt 28)

this has details of UK R&D on renewable energy.

2007-01-07T13:37:00.000+03:00

Sustainable Technologies Programme Publications from an ESRC programme of work on transition to sustainable technologies. Including:

Project Innovation Briefs ~
1. Will Planners Tilt Towards Windmills?
2. Fostering Fuel Cells For Sustainable Energy
3. How Green Is My Food?
4. Bringing Sustainable Technologies Into The Mainstream
5. How Could Sustainable Consumption Become Normal?
6. Finding The Right Policy Mix For Sustainable Innovation
7. Choosing To Be Sustainable: Tracing Complex Decisions
8. The Waste Challenge: The Role Of Partnerships
9. Unlocking the Power House
10. Encouraging Early Public Engagement With Nanotechnology
11. Harnessing Community Energies
12. Innovation in Marine Energy: Firms, Networks & Governance
13. Networking Sustainability: De-Materialising The Paper Chain
14. The Green Consumer – Myth Or Miracle?
15. Can Utility Regulation Help Drive Innovation?

Project Reports ~
- Pearson, P., Foxon, T.J., Makuch, Z. & Mata, M. (2005), 'Policy Drivers and Barriers for Sustainable Innovation'.
- Watson, J., Sauter, R., Bahaj, B., James, P.A., Myers, L. & Wing, R. (2006), 'Unlocking the Power House: Policy and System Change for Domestic Micro-generation in the UK'.

End of Award Research Reports ~
1. Accounting for the Outcomes of Windfarm Applications
2. Development and Diffusion of Fuel Cell Technology as a Disruptive Innovation
3. Technological Transformations in Food Consumption and Production Systems
4. Supporting and Harnessing Diversity? Experiments in Appropriate Technology
5. Sustainable Domestic Technologies: Changing Practice, Technology & Convention
6. Policy Drivers and Barriers for Sustainable Development
7. Trade-offs in Decision-Making for Sustainable Technologies
8. Delivering Sustainable Technologies: Improving Uptake Through Partnership?
12. Building Renewable Energy Innovation Systems
14. Towards a Social Psychology of Sustainable Consumption

Project Introductory Briefs ~
1. Accounting for the Outcomes of Windfarm Applications
2. Development and Diffusion of Fuel Cell Technology as a Disruptive Innovation
3. Technological Transformations in Food Consumption and Production Systems
4. Supporting and Harnessing Diversity? Experiments in Appropriate Technology
5. Sustainable Domestic Technologies: Changing Practice, Technology & Convention
6. Policy Drivers and Barriers for Sustainable Development
7. Trade-offs in Decision-Making for Sustainable Technologies
8. Delivering Sustainable Technologies: Improving Uptake Through Partnership?
9. Integrating Micro-Generation into Energy Networks and Buildings
10. Nanotechnology, Risk and Sustainability: Moving Public Engagement Upstream
11. Community Energy Initiatives: Embedding Sustainable Technology at a Local Level
12. Building Renewable Energy Innovation Systems
13. Sustainable Technology Transition Through Innovation Network Reconfiguration
14. Towards a Social Psychology of Sustainable Consumption
15. Towards a New Theory of Economic Regulation to Include Environmental Concerns

2006-12-27T22:02:00.000+03:00

Project Censored Media Democracy in Action:
Not to believe everything you read online, esp. whem insuifficienmt info on what modification is involved, but this interesting site tells us...
... " Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed

Sources:

Independent/UK, May 22, 2005
Title: Revealed: “Health Fears Over Secret Study in GM Food”
Author: Geoffrey Lean

Organic Consumers Association website, June 2,2005
Title: “Monsanto's GE Corn Experiments on Rats Continue to Generate Global Controversy”
Authors: GM Free Cymru

Independent/UK, January 8, 2006
Title: GM: New Study Shows Unborn Babies Could Be Harmed”
Author: Geoffrey Lean

Le Monde and Truthout, February 9, 2006
Title: “New Suspicions About GMOs”
Author: Herve Kempf

Faculty Evaluator: Michael Ezra
Student Researchers: Destiny Stone and Lani Ready

Several recent studies confirm fears that genetically modified (GM) foods damage human health. These studies were released as the World Trade Organization (WTO) moved toward upholding the ruling that the European Union has violated international trade rules by stopping importation of GM foods.

* Research by the Russian Academy of Sciences released in December 2005 found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed GM soy died within the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers fed on non-modified soy. Six times as many offspring fed GM soy were also severely underweight.
* In November 2005, a private research institute in Australia, CSIRO Plant Industry, put a halt to further development of a GM pea cultivator when it was found to cause an immune response in laboratory mice.1
* In the summer of 2005, an Italian research team led by a cellular biologist at the University of Urbino published confirmation that absorption of GM soy by mice causes development of misshapen liver cells, as well as other cellular anomalies.
* In May of 2005 the review of a highly confidential and controversial Monsanto report on test results of corn modified with Monsanto MON863 was published in The Independent/UK.

Dr. Arpad Pusztai one of the few genuinely independent scientists specializing in plant genetics and animal feeding studies, was asked by the German authorities in the autumn of 2004 to examine Monsanto’s 1,139-page report on the feeding of MON863 to laboratory rats over a ninety-day period.

The study found “statistically significant” differences in kidney weights and certain blood parameters in the rats fed the GM corn as compared with the control groups. A number of scientists across Europe who saw the study (and heavily-censored summaries of it) expressed concerns about the health and safety implications if MON863 should ever enter the food chain. There was particular concern in France, where Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen has been trying (without success) for almost eighteen months to obtain full disclosure of all documents relating to the MON863 study.

Dr. Pusztai was forced by the German authorities to sign a “declaration of secrecy” before he was allowed to see the Monsanto rat feeding study, on the grounds that the document is classified as “CBI” or “confidential business interest.” While Pusztai is still bound by the declaration of secrecy, Monsanto recently declared that it does not object to the widespread dissemination of the “Pusztai Report.”2

Monsanto GM soy and corn are widely consumed by Americans at a time when the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has concluded, “In several cases, GMOs have been put on the market when safety issues are not clear.”

As GMO research is not encouraged by U.S. or European governments, the vast majority of toxicological studies are conducted by those companies producing and promoting consumption of GMOs. With motive and authenticity of results suspect in corporate testing, independent scientific research into the effects of GM foods is attracting increasing attention.

Comment: In May 2006 the WTO upheld a ruling that European countries broke international trade rules by stopping importation of GM foods. The WTO verdict found that the EU has had an effective ban on biotech foods since 1998 and sided with the U.S., Canada, and Argentina in a decision that the moratorium was illegal under WTO rules.3

Notes
1. “GM peas cause immune response–A gap in the approval process?” http://www.GMO-Compass.org, January 3, 2006.
2. Arpad Pusztai, “Mon863-Pusztai Report,” http://www.GMWatch.org, September 12, 2004.
3. Bradley S. Clapper, “WTO Faults EU for Blocking Modified Food,” Associated Press, May 11, 2006

2006-12-21T14:45:00.000+03:00

HEEDNET
heterodox economics, especially as applied to environment and development; papers currently available include:

Extending the “rational man” model of human behaviour:
seven key principles
Briefing note for the Environment Agency by nef - May 2005

From simplistic to complex systems in economics
John Foster - 2005

The revolution in welfare economics and the implications for environmental policy
John Gowdy - 13 December 2004

Heterodox Economic Approaches To Sustainable Consumption: An Agenda for research
Sigrid Stagl & Jonathan Köhler - 2003

Evolutionary and institutional economics, the dynamics of economic development, and the design of packages of measures to achieve environmental outcomes
Dominic Hogg, Jonathan Michie & Christine Oughton - 2003

Economic instruments for the environment: A psychological perspective
Alan Lewis - 2004

A well-being manifesto for a flourishing society
Hetan Shah and Nic Marks - 2004

The Revolution in welfare economics and its implications for environmental valuation and policy
John M gowdy - 2004

Towards a new welfare foundation for sustainability
John M Gowdy - 2004

2006-12-13T13:00:00.000+03:00

CSPO - Consortium For Science, Policy & Outcomes :
See the new report Policy Implications of Technologies for Cognitive Enhancement; this covers a wide range of techniques - learning and computer technologies, neural implants, pharma etc,., and four social research perspectives (from tech optimism/pessimism thru to human essentialism), and examines policy approaches to governance of human enhancement technologies.

"

2006-11-14T17:37:00.000+03:00

Chimera - the Institute for Social and Technical Research
Publications from CHIMERA.

Chimera is an Institute of the University of Essex that combines the social and technological sciences to generate insights into the personal and social use of information and communication technologies. Our objective is to understand what people do, how they do it, how this changes over time and what difference it makes. We then apply this understanding to the design of new technologies, commercial strategies or public policy interventions.

many papers and powerpoints here: the 2006 selection includes

Anderson, B. and Gaved, M. (2006) Local ICT initiatives: Social capital engineering? Presentation at an ESRC/NCVO Seminar on ICT, Social Capital and Voluntary Action, October 5th, NCVO, London, UK. See also the glossy brochure and the press release produced by the ESRC for the event.

Brady, M. (2006) Motivating factors for writing and reading blogs. Paper presented at the Information Communication and Society Conference, 12-14 September 2006, University of York, York, UK.

Anderson, B. (2006) Social capital, quality of life and ICTs: A microsimulation approach to 'impact' analysis for the 'young' and the 'old' . Paper presented at the Information Communication and Society Conference, 12-14 September 2006, University of York, York, UK.

Anderson, B., Partridge, C., and Stoneman, P. (2006) E-Society Past, Present and Future: Looking back to look forwards, Paper presented at the ESRC e-Society Programme Conference, York, 19th September 2006

Anderson, B. (2006) 'Non-response and attrition in a multi-method longitudinal household panel survey'. Paper presented at the Methodology of Longitudinal Surveys International Conference, 12-14 July 2006, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.

Stoneman, P. (2006) Exploring time use - "web-use and net-nerds". Paper presented at the IATUR 2006 International Association of Time Use Researchers Conference, Copenhagen, 16-18 August, 2006.

Anderson, B., Carlson, S. and Nafus, D. (2006) 'e-Enabling Data: Potential impacts on methods and expertise'. Paper presented at the Second International Conference on e-Social Science, 28-30 June 2006, Manchester, UK.

Anderson, B., Carlson, S. and Nafus, D. (2006) eNabling Data: Some observations. NCeSS 2006 Conference Workshop on 'Social Science Perspectives on e-Science', Manchester, June 27th, 2006.

Ellis, R. M. and Haywood, A. (2006) "Full Report of Research Activities and Results for the ESRC - 'Virtually second-hand: Internet auction sites as spaces of knowledge performance'. " Award no: RES=000-23-0433.

Ellis, R. M. and Haywood, A. (2006, in press) 'Virtual_radiophile (163*): eBay and the changing collecting practices and geographies of the UK vintage radio community', in Hillis, K.; Epley, N. and Petit, M. Everyday eBay: Culture, Collecting and Desire (Routledge: New York)

Anderson, B., Brynin, M., and Raban, Y. [Eds.] (2006, in press) Information and Communications Technologies in Society. London: Routledge.

Anderson, B., and Raban, Y. (2006, in press) The social impact of broadband internet in the home. In Anderson, B., Brynin, M., and Raban, Y. [Eds.] (2006) Information and Communications Technologies in Society. London: Routledge.

Anderson, B., and Yttri, B., (2006, in press) Telework Transitions and the Quality of Life. In Anderson, B., Brynin, M., and Raban, Y. [Eds.] (2006) Information and Communications Technologies in Society. London: Routledge.

Anderson, B., (2006, in press) Social Capital, Quality of Life and Information and Communication Technologies. In Anderson, B., Brynin, M., and Raban, Y. [Eds.] (2006) Information and Communications Technologies in Society. London: Routledge.

Anderson, B.,(2006) 'Passing by and Passing Through'. In Kraut, R., Brynin, M. and Kiesler, S [Eds] Domesticating Information Technologies. London: Routledge.

Chimera Working Papers - 2006

Brady, M (October 2006) ''Blogs: Motivations Behind the Phenomenon', Chimera Working Paper 2006-17, Ipswich: University of Essex.

Ellis R M (August 2006) ''Key Issues in Broadband Uptake Amongst SMEs in Suffolk and Norfolk', Chimera Working Paper 2006-16, Ipswich: University of Essex.

Anderson, B., and Carlson, S. (August 2006) ''Entangled Data: Knowledge & Community making in E (Social) Science - Research Report to the ESRC', Chimera Working Paper 2006-15. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Zong, P and Anderson, B. (August 2006) ''Modelling and forecasting UK telecommunications expenditure using household microdata', Chimera Working Paper 2006-14. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Anderson, B., and Carlson, S., (July 2006) ''Entangled Data: Knowledge & Community making in E (Social) Science Final Data Report', Chimera Working Paper 2006-13. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Anderson, B., and Carlson, S., (July 2006) ''e-Enabling Data: Potential impacts on methods and expertise', Chimera Working Paper 2006-12. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Stoneman, P. (June 2006) 'Exploring time use: a methodological response to "web-use and net-nerds", Chimera Working Paper 2006-11. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Haywood, A J. (April 2006) 'Online Auctions: User Experience Insights from eBay.', Chimera Working Paper 2006-10. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Ellis, R M and Haywood, A J. (January 2006) 'The implications of eBay for the policy community: eBay as a source of self employment, consumer issues and online community as a policy tool.', Chimera Working Paper 2006-09. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Ellis, R M and Haywood, A H. (January 2006) 'eBay and changing collecting practices and rituals: the vintage radio and stamp/cover collecting communities', Chimera Working Paper 2006-07. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Gaved, M and Anderson, B. (2006) 'The impact of local ICT initiatives on social capital and quality of life ', Chimera Working Paper 2006-06. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Hicks, M. (2006) 'The 24/7 society: Implications for the East of England.', Chimera Working Paper 2006-05. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Stoneman, P and Anderson, B. (2006) 'Social Capital, Quality of Life, Employment and ICTs', Chimera Working Paper 2006-04. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Anderson, B., Yttri, B., (2006) 'Telework Transitions and the Quality of Life', Chimera Working Paper 2006-03. Ipswich: University of Essex.

Anderson, B. (2006) 'The effect of ICT uptake on social capital and quality of life: a microsimulation approach', Chimera Working Paper 2006-02. Ipswich: University of Essex.

2006-11-12T13:03:00.000+03:00

if:book
Rich blog on Future of the Book and much else

2006-11-01T16:45:00.000+03:00

Vernon Ruttan Research
a lot of other papers from this author, including much of interest in terms of environmental technologies and the role of the state in innovation.

2006-11-01T16:43:00.000+03:00

Vernon Ruttan Book:
Interesting set of essays, displaying wide-ranging knowledge, gathered as...

SOCIAL SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
by Vernon W. Ruttan

Part I
Chapter 1 Induced Institutional Innovation

Part II
Chapter 2 Cultural Endowments and Economic Development

Chapter 3 The Sociology of Development and Underdevelopment

Chapter 4 What Happened to Political Development?

Chapter 5 Growth Economics and Development Economics

Part III
Chapter 6 Technology Adoption, Diffusion and Transfer

Chapter 7 Social Capital and Institutional Renovation

Chapter 8 Religion, Culture and Nation

Chapter 9 Why Foreign Economic Assistance?

Part IV

Chapter 10 Postscript"

2006-11-01T13:33:00.000+03:00

ICT in Agriculture:
Perspectives of Technological Innovation ed by E. Gelb, A. Offer

downloadable book: Table of Contents is ~

Introduction - Computers and Farming: Vision and Reality? - A. Offer (PDF)

Is ICT Adoption for Agriculture Still an Important Issue? - E. Gelb, C. Parker (PDF)
IT Applications in Agriculture: Some Developments and Perspectives – F. Kuhlmann (PDF)

ICT Adoption as an Agricultural Information Dissemination tool – an historical perspective - M. Harkin (PDF)

Management Information Systems - S. Harsh (PDF)

ICT in Precision Agriculture – Diffusion of technology - S. Fountas, S. Blackmore. S. M. Pedersen (PDF)

ICT in Water Supply and Irrigation Management - M. Sne (PDF)

ICT in the Dairy Farming System - - A. Berman (PDF)

Measuring the Benefit from a Computer in the Milking Parlor – E. Gelb, Y. Kislev, H. Voet (PDF)

Fruit Tree Models: Scope and Limitations - E. Goldschmidt, A. Lakso (PDF)

Tell Me, Crop, How Are You? – J. R. Lambert (PDF)

AGRIS 1968-1994: Insights and Lessons - A personal memoir – A. I. Lebowitz (PDF)

How Can Agricultural Extension Best Harness ICTs to Improve Rural Livelihood in
Developing Countries - D. Richardson (PDF)

Evaluating Internet for Extension in Agriculture – G. Bonati, E. Gelb (PDF)

What Influences Farmers' Computer Use - R.K. Iddings, J. Apps. (PDF)

ICT Adoption in Horticulture: A comparison to the EFITA Base line – N. Taragola, E. Gelb (PDF)

FARMSOFT – A 1997 Agricultural Software Review Perspective – E. Gelb, G. Bonati, J.L. Carel, J.J. Claustriaux, P. Jurgens, S. Lehnert,
P. Pasher, J. Kamp, A.M. Murao, V.Wahl, J. Nicol, J.A. Nunez, Butragueno, F. Costa, G. Spoiden, M. Raschas (PDF)

ICT Adoption From Bonn to Debrecen– A summary of the EFITA Questionnaires - E. Gelb, P. Wagner, K. Rosskopf, C. Parker, G. Schiefer (PDF)

ICT Spillovers in Rural Areas (An ICT Adoption review) – E. Gelb, D. Getz, G. Obermann (PDF)

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Adoption as a Tool for Agricultural Research Coordination and
Information Dissemination - A. Maoz (PDF)

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Contribution to Broiler Breeding - Y. Eitan (PDF)

Management of Publicly Funded Agricultural Research - E. Gelb, D. Levanon (PDF)

NOA - A Management Information System for the National Dairy and Beef Herds - E. Ezra (PDF)

2006-11-01T13:21:00.000+03:00

MilkenInstitute.Org > Publications > Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization

Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization
Ross DeVol and Armen Bedroussian, with Anna Babayan, Meggy Frye, Daniela Murphy, Tomas J. Philipson, Lorna Wallace, Perry Wong and Benjamin Yeo
September 20, 2006
Quote: "Three decades have passed since researchers from Stanford and the University of California, San Francisco began to develop the commercial applications for their work on recombinant DNA and launched the birth of the biotech industry. The result is a flourishing global landscape of spin-offs, startups and collaborations between biotechnology firms, financiers and academia.

Those linkages were fortified in the United States with the 1980 passage of the Bayh-Dole Act, granting to universities the right to own, license and market the fruits of their faculty research. Nations worldwide quickly followed suit.

Research and innovation are increasingly shifting away from the corporate lab and back to where they began: the university campus. And as the global economy grows increasingly dependent on the generation and dissemination of knowledge, universities are seen as natural partners for both business and government.

For this reason, it is crucial to examine the process of university technology transfer for its strengths and vulnerabilities in order to facilitate the commercialization process and ensure the greatest possible returns on public investment.

In this study, Milken Institute researchers examine the biotechnology transfer process taking place at universities, from knowledge creation to technology transfer and early-stage commercialization. A key focus of the investigation is the role played by technology transfer professionals. Research is essential for commercial outcome, but the technology transfer professional is crucial in the successful conversion of knowledge to the private sector.

Key Findings:

* Harvard University ranks first in terms of biotech research, as measured by papers and citations, followed by the University of Tokyo and University of London. U.S. universities hold eight of the top 10, and 28 of the top 40 positions. California universities hold five of the top 25 rankings; the UK and Japan hold three each.
* The University of Texas system scores first on our Biotech Patent Composite Index, followed by U.C. San Francisco — which is likely first among individual campuses since the University of Texas doesn’t report data on individual campuses — and Johns Hopkins. Nine of the top 10 patent holders are U.S. universities. The University of London ranks first among foreign universities (10th overall).
* Our University Technology Transfer and Commercialization Index shows MIT first on outcome measures, which include such factors as licensing income and startups. The University of California system ranks second (led by U.C. San Francisco), with Caltech third, Stanford fourth and Florida fifth. The University of British Columbia was the highest-ranked Canadian institution, coming in eighth overall.
* Among U.S., Canadian and European universities, the United States leads in invention disclosures, patents filed and granted, licenses executed and licensing income. However, European universities surpass their U.S. counterparts in startups established.
* Research activity has a high rate of return. Each 10-point increase in our research papers score contributes an additional $1.7 million in annual licensing income.
* Investments into offices of technology transfer (OTT) also offer high returns. For every $1 invested in OTT staff, the university receives a little more than $6 of licensing income.
* In terms of job creation, the Amgens and Genentechs most differentiate the economic impact of U.S. university-based biotech commercialization that originates from universities in other nations.

The report includes rankings of the top universities based on the quality of their biotech research (Publication Ranking), the number and quality of their patents (Patent Ranking) and their ability to transfer this IP into commercial uses (Technology Transfer and Commercialization Index)......."

2006-10-16T20:44:00.000+04:00

NESTA - Interact Nesta covers S&T and Arts. The website has plenty of content on innovation, and this page contains demos, films, interactive games and the like.

2006-09-15T13:08:00.000+04:00

Systemic Business : This is the website of the Systemic Business Community - this particular page listing - Publications by Date, including such pieces as:
'Networking Your Knowledge Workers: Collaborative Communities of Mobile Business Professionals'

'Enabling Collective Knowledge Work through the Design of Mediating Spaces'

and "Transformation of Corporations: Towards Appreciative Service Systems"

2006-09-08T01:57:00.000+04:00

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Gamesblog: Mother of God! Icons are making virtual visits: "Mother of God! Icons are making virtual visits

File under I TOLD YOU SO. In an article in Foresight a few years ago, about Fortean trends, I discussed the idea of the haunted (should have been enchanted) Internet as a site for anomalous apparitions. And here goes, from today's Guardian:

Aleks Krotoski
Thursday September 7, 2006
The Guardian

Aleks Krotoski writes:

"When I was seven, a group of kids in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, claimed that they were being visited by the Virgin Mary. I loved a good paranormal tale. I read everything I could on the subject and wondered why the Mother of God wasn't appearing to me. After all, I ate all my vegetables. I kept the backtalk to a minimum. I didn't covet my neighbour's wife. I didn't even know what that meant.

Despite falling from my Catholic pulpit, I've remained fascinated by the world of Marian apparitions. But things have changed. Medjugorje, once a quiet mountain town, is now chokka with hostelries and relic-sellers. Czestochowa in Poland, the site of a tearful painting of the Black Madonna, is in the Rough Guide as a destination for gap year students. And if you need vials of holy water, may I recommend a trip to Lourdes?

All this commercial fallout appears to have deterred the holy family from including the physical plane in their recent holiday plans. Apart from a few sightings of Jesus on loaves of bread, the apparition scene has been quiet. But it seems the celestial deities were just trying to figure out how best to position themselves in this new, modern world.

In the 21st century, the place to make a personal appearance is cyberspace. And, proving she's as hip as Gorillaz, Duran Duran and the governor of Virginia, the Virgin Mary has joined in the party. Last week, she turned up on a piece of virtual wood 'rezzed' (created, if you're not up with the lingo) by Resident Kalie Saluko in online community Second Life.

'... my religious beliefs (or lack thereof) changed drastically today while building a pre-fab in S[econd] L[ife],' explains Saluko in the description of the digital icon on the classifieds site SLExchange. 'Upon rezzing a standard cube, suddenly and to my astonishment, what appeared to be the image of the Virgin Mary appeared on side 0! Clear as day on a .5x.5x.5 cube you can see the mother of Jesus!'

And she's right. If you stare at the computer-generated grains, you can see the holy mother clear as day. Better still, Saluko is willing to give you this piece of religious idolatry for only $100 of real money. It truly is a small price to pay.

As far as I can tell, from over two minutes of searching, no major religious figure has ever made a binary appearance before. News of this miraculous event has ripped through the internet, and based upon this success, I anticipate many more religious icons will follow. I'm keeping my eyes peeled: 31 years of brussels sprouts consumption will not have been in vain."

2006-07-19T20:48:00.000+04:00

Taxonomy - GameInnovation
WIKI on innovation in videogames - constructs a taxonomy that is suggestive of how we could develop taxonomies for other areas of aesthetic-sum-technological-cum-business innovation.

2006-07-19T16:11:00.000+04:00

History and Sociology of Statistics on Science, Technology and Innovation:
"To date, the project on the History and Sociology of Statistics on Science, Technology and Innovation has produced two books and over thirty papers. Now in its second phase, the project turns to the history and genealogy of the concepts behind the numbers. Research is such a concept, one that has a specific definition in statistics, as is innovation. More particularly, the project actually examines the idea of innovation (and invention) for an understanding of how and why it developed such a centrality in modern societies: its emergence in the Middle-Ages, its theoretical analysis in anthropology, history, and sociology in the 19th Century, and in economics in the 20th Century."

2006-06-22T12:51:00.000+04:00

Lecture Series - Genomics in Perspective:
Videos viewable:
"Genes, Railroads and Regulation: Intellectual Property and the Public Interest
Lecture: Professor Daniel Kevles, Yale University.
Response: Claire T. Driscoll, M.S., Director, Technology Transfer Office, National Human Genome Research Institute.

Transdisciplinarity in SPORE Funded Brain Tumor Research at the University of California San Francisco
Lecture: Professor Dorothy Porter, University of California, San Francisco.
Response: Brian Kimes, Ph.D., former Director, Office of Centers, Training and Resources (OCTR), National Cancer Institute.

Standing on the Biological Horizon
Lecture: Professor Rayna Rapp, New York University
Response: Sharon F. Terry, M.A., President and C.E.O., Genetic Alliance, 4301 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 404, Washington, D.C.

Genes and Disease: The Rise of Genomic Medicine in the United States
Lecture: Professor Susan Lindee, University of Pennsylvania.
Response: Alan E. Guttmacher, M.D., Deputy Director, National Human Genome Research Institute.

Depicting Pasts, Projecting Futures: Making Histories of the New Biology
Lecture: Professor Stephen Hilgartner, Cornell University.
Response: Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D., Scientific Director, Division of Intramural Research, National Human Genome Research Institute.

The Molecular Reinscription of Race: New Technologies Re-Generating a Dead-End Debate"

2006-06-20T12:53:00.000+04:00

Science Policy & Technology Management Institutions
SPRU has put together this excellent list of research centres and others in this field.

2006-05-25T20:55:00.000+04:00

EU KLEMS page

EU KLEMS Project studies Productivity in the European Union. Muich attention paid to services.
"This project aims to create a database on measures of economic growth, productivity, employment creation, capital formation and technological change at the industry level for all European Union member states from 1970 onwards. This work will provide an important input to policy evaluation, in particular for the assessment of the goals concerning competitiveness and economic growth potential as established by the Lisbon and Barcelona summit goals. The database should facilitate the sustainable production of high quality statistics using the methodologies of national accounts and input-output analysis. The input measures will include various categories of capital, labour, energy, material and service inputs. Productivity measures will be developed, in particular with growth accounting techniques. Several measures on knowledge creation will also be constructed. Substantial methodological and data research on these measures will be carried out to improve international comparability. There will be ample attention for the development of a flexible database structure, and for the progressive implementation of the database in official statistics over the course of the project. The database will be used for analytical and policy-related purposes, in particular by studying the relationship between skill formation, technological progress and innovation on the one hand, and productivity, on the other. To facilitate this type of analysis a link will also be sought with existing micro (firm level) databases. The balance in academic, statistical and policy input in this project is realised by the participation of 15 organisations from across the EU, representing a mix of academic institutions and national economic policy research institutes and with the support from various statistical offices and the OECD....

The page for Workpackage 1 contains two new documents:
-Nick Oulton: The Measurement of Output and Prices In the Service Sector
-Kurt Kratena: Deflation of Supply and Use Tables"

But the data are NOT publically available, though much text to download.

2006-05-17T16:28:00.000+04:00

chicagocrime.org: Chicago crime database
From the BBC website:
Web mashups
In Silicon Valley, the current rage is called "web 2.0" - a reference to the web as a computing platform in its own right. As more and more companies give third parties a way to combine their web-based data and services with other companies' data and services, clever folks are mashing things together in remarkable ways. For example ... ChicagoCrime.org, which puts government-provided crime data on Google maps and lets people drill down into detail.
Now add to this the idea that everyday folks can start annotating maps and other kinds of information on their own. The possibilities seem endless..."

2006-05-13T23:47:00.000+04:00

Technological Innovation and Social Change

Study on the Social Impact of ICT

Study on the Social Impact of ICT

Beyond pro-innovation bias

Papers by researchers who will take part in the workshop:

Papers by researchers who will take part in the workshop:

From Real-World Economics Review blog

more on innovation, IPR, health

Innovation and Public Health: Non-Patent Models of Innovation

UK Social Trends online

Tea from an Empty Cup? - "Gold Farming": Real-World Production in Developing Countries for Online Games

Values convergence across countries

Innovation Competitions

Creativity and Innovation Management

Energy Innovation Systems From the Bottom Up: Technology Policies for Confronting Climate Change

SF into mainstream

Reader on human dimensions of innovation

Joel Mopkyr downloads

OUTSIGHTS website - publications

UK Government Futures

Challenges and Opportunities in Identity Assurance (HM Treasury 2008)

tulipoomania, dot com and beyond

GRIPS Innovation Blog

New Report: Policies for Open Innovation: Theory, Framework and Cases

New Report: Policies for Open Innovation: Theory, Framework and Cases

SWAMI Project

Safeguards in a World of AMbient Intelligence

Partners

Dissemination

Related Deliverables:

Rethinking Development Economics

Low-tech Magazine

Innovation Working papers

nuclear back on agenda

National OPEN innovation system

nuclear power debate

Good bioethics site

European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

EFIOS - Inn in Communities of Practice

Future of Innovation Studies

World Bank - Tech Diffsion to Devg Countries

Better innovation measurement

Facebook not as good as Keats - shock horror

serious location game

Job creation and Intrenet

Technological Innovation and Intellectual Property

for instance:

Positioning in practice

Million Books online

creative industries innovation

Repository of research on children and the Internet in Europe

Intellectual Property and Innovation

21st Century work - USA

Technology, innovation, development

Information Society - metrics and more

Research Methods

Methodology, Institutional Economics, etc.

energy environment industry...

nanotech and society

Dale Jorgenson's Recent Work - on his Harvard website