News from the IPL
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NSF, NIST Launch New Consortium to Support Advanced Manufacturing
NSF via SSTI Weekly Digest
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently announced the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor will lead a consortium to identify new, emerging areas of advanced manufacturing that would benefit from shared public-private investment in research and development, education, and training. The Alliance for Manufacturing Foresight (MForesight) will provide a channel for rapid input from industrial, academic and other private sectors on future manufacturing technologies. Its work will help align advanced manufacturing research with national priorities and challenges to ensure efficient use of federal and private funding for the greatest possible return on investment.
Editor's Pick
Striking a (Local) Grand Bargain: How Cities and Anchor Institutions Can Work Together to Drive Growth and Prosperity
Neil Kleinman, NYU Wagner Innovation Lab
Cities need partners. At a time when local governments are confronting challenges on multiple fronts ranging from rising inequality to fast-moving global economic tides and reduced state and federal support, collaboration has never been so important. In 2015, it is “anchor institutions”—universities, medical centers and hospitals—that are the obvious partner for city leadership. In the majority of metropolitan regions, these institutions have eclipsed all other sectors as the lead employer, providing a significant and growing number of jobs. The authors recommend a grand bargain for anchor institutions and cities. This approach is not predicated on discrete transactions, but instead is based on identifying shared interests, and on co-creating ambitious goals and working together to achieve them. High-impact partnerships between cities and institutions will only work when the actors at the municipal level come together as equals and chart a long-term course forward that is transparent, ambitious, and holds itself accountable.
Innovation Policy
Driving the Next Wave of IT-Enabled State Government Productivity
Alan McQuinn, Robert D. Atkinson, Amber Laxton and Daniel Castro, ITIF
This report investigates how IT-enabled government can increase productivity. It first makes the case for IT-led productivity in government, reviewing the literature on IT and state and local government productivity. It then provides a wide array of examples of how state governments have been able to use IT to boost productivity. The report then discusses the barriers state governments face in using IT to raise productivity. Finally, the report offers a number of recommendations to state policymakers for optimizing productivity through IT-enabled government.
Data Driven Innovation: Big Data for Growth and Well-Being
OECD
Today, the generation and use of huge volumes of data are redefining our “intelligence” capacity and our social and economic landscapes, spurring new industries, processes and products, and creating significant competitive advantages. In this sense, data-driven innovation (DDI) has become a key pillar of 21st-century growth, with the potential to significantly enhance productivity, resource efficiency, economic competitiveness, and social well-being. Greater access to and use of data create a wide array of impacts and policy challenges, ranging from privacy and consumer protection to open access issues and measurement concerns, across public and private health, legal and science domains. This report aims to improve the evidence base on the role of DDI for promoting growth and well-being, and provide policy guidance on how to maximize the benefits of DDI and mitigate the associated economic and societal risks.
Inclusive Global Value Chains: Policy Options in Trade and Complementary Areas for GVC Integration by Small and Medium Enterprises and Low-Income Developing Countries
OECD and World Bank Group
The focus of the report is on making GVCs more “inclusive” by overcoming participation constraints for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and facilitating access for Low Income Developing Countries (LIDCs). Two key facts emerge from this report: participation in GVCs is heterogeneous and uneven, across and within countries; and, available data and survey-based evidence suggest that SME participation in GVCs is mostly taking place through indirect contribution to exports, rather than through exporting directly. The report makes the case that policy action, at the national and multilateral level and through G20 leadership, can make a difference in achieving more inclusive GVCs through: a holistic approach to reform spanning trade, investment and domestic policies both in G20 nations and in trade partner countries; and, investment in expanding the statistical basis and analysis of GVCs and in sharing knowledge on best practices on enabling policies and programs.
Transforming U.S. Workforce Development Policies for the 21st Century
Carl Van Horn, Tammy Edwards and Todd Greene, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research via SSTI
This publication is a comprehensive examination of the state of contemporary workforce initiatives. The editors have assembled chapters and case studies from more than 70 authors that depict challenges, long-term structural changes and policy opportunities in national, state and local workforce efforts in the current economy. Of particular interest to the technology based economic development community are King and Prince’s article on scaling sectoral and career pathway programs, an examination of the success of the Wired65 initiative in Kentucky and Indiana, and several articles on building data-driven intelligent workforce systems.
Investing in Innovation
Royal Academy of Engineering
Government has a pivotal role to play in stimulating innovation. While innovation offers many potential benefits at the level of an individual firm, government support is often essential to encourage companies to engage in innovation. This is because innovation is an inherently risky process with an uncertain outcome, the benefits may only materialise over very long timescales and the innovator often accrues only a small proportion of the overall benefit generated. By creating a conducive policy environment, using procurement intelligently and providing targeted direct support, the public sector can be highly effective at enticing the private sector to invest in innovation. Other countries’ governments have increasingly embraced these arguments, prioritizing investment in innovation and the creation of policy frameworks that encourage others to invest in innovation. The case for continued investment in the research base as a means of fuelling future prosperity is compelling and has been widely articulated. However, this is necessary but not sufficient to safeguard competitiveness: a concomitant focus on innovation investment and performance is essential to ensure that the UK benefits from the potential in its research base. A clear and robust commitment to targeted, coherent and stable support — both direct and indirect — is essential if the government is to meet its ambition to tackle the UK’s productivity challenge and secure its position as one of the richest economies in the world.
The Innovation Imperative: Contributing to Productivity, Growth and Well-Being
OECD
Well-timed and targeted innovation boosts productivity, increases economic growth and helps solve societal problems. But how can governments encourage more people to innovate more of the time? And how can government itself be more innovative?The OECD Innovation Strategy provides a set of principles to spur innovation in people, firms and government. It takes an in-depth look at the scope of innovation and how it is changing, as well as where and how it is occurring, based on updated research and data.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
The Globalization of Angel Investment
Josh Lerner, Antoinette Schoar, Stanislav Sokolinksy, and Karen Wilson
This report argues that the last decade has seen a rapid expansion and deepening of the types of vehicles that fund startup firms in the U.S. and worldwide. In particular, the authors have seen a growing role for angel groups and other more “individualistic” funding options, such as super angels or crowd sourcing platforms. To support their claim, the authors examine the records of 13 angel investment groups based in 12 countries, with applicants from 21 nations. In addition to their findings about the globalization of angel investments the authors also found that angel investors have positive impact on the growth, performance and survival of the firms they fund. The positive impact of angel financing remains consistent, regardless of the country’s level of venture activity and its entrepreneur friendliness. They also found that angel investors enhance the ability of the funded firms to obtain follow-on financing.
The Global Competitiveness Report
World Economic Forum
The Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016 assesses the competitiveness landscape of 140 economies, providing insight
into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity. The Report series remains the most comprehensive assessment
of national competitiveness worldwide.
Statistics & Indicators
Using Earnings Data to Rank Colleges: A Value-Added Approach Updated with College Scorecard Data
Jonathan Rothwell, The Brookings Institution
Following up on previous Brookings research measuring the value colleges add to student outcomes irrespective of student characteristics, this study analyzes the Obama administration’s new College Scorecard database to produce value-added rankings for 3,173 colleges (1,507 two-year colleges and 1,666 four-year colleges), based on the earnings of alumni. Value-added measures attempt to isolate the contribution of the college to student outcomes, as distinct from what one might predict based on student characteristics or the level of degree offered. It is not a measure of return on investment, but rather a way to compare colleges on a more equal footing, by adjusting for the relative advantages or disadvantages faced by diverse students pursuing different levels of study across different local economies.
OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2015
OECD
Science, technology and innovation foster competitiveness, productivity and growth. Over 200 indicators in the OECD Science, Technology and Industry (STI) Scoreboard show how OECD and major non-OECD economies are starting to move beyond the crisis, increasingly investing in the future. The charts and underlying data in the OECD STI Scoreboard 2015 are available for download and selected indicators contain additional data expanding the time and country coverage of the print edition.
Policy Digest
Enabling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Phillip E. Auerswald, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Inspired by research on the importance of entrepreneurship for sustained economic growth and improved wellbeing, many governments and non-governmental grantmaking organizations have sought over the past decade to implement policies and programs intended to support entrepreneurs. Over this interval, growing appreciation of the limits of strategies focused narrowly on financing or training entrepreneurs has prompted a number of such entities to shift their efforts toward more broadbased strategies aimed at enabling “entrepreneurial ecosystems” at the city or sub-national regional scale. This paper takes the metaphor of the “ecosystem” seriously, seeking to draw lessons from evolutionary biology and ecology to inform policy for entrepreneurship. In so doing, the paper provides a framework for data gathering and analysis of practical value in assessing the vibrancy of entrepreneurial ecosystems. It concludes by proposing six strategies to build strong entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Six strategies to help create connected, dense and diverse environments for entrepreneurs:
- Favor incumbents less. Policies and regulations that favor existing, dominant companies over entrepreneurial ventures constrain competition and create barriers to entry for new firms. Examples of such regulations include assertive enforcement of non-compete laws, excessively restrictive occupational licensing requirements and regulatory complexity that inhibits contracting. Policymakers should avoid such policies and regulations and work to reduce the barriers to business startup.
- Listen to entrepreneurs. Rather than developing policies abstractly intended to correct “market failures,” policymakers should listen to what entrepreneurs have to say about their challenges. That input should be used to develop policies that stimulate idea exploration, product development and increased rates of deal flow.
- Map the ecosystem. Entrepreneurial supporters should create an inventory or graph that indicates who the participants in the ecosystem are and how they are connected. Ecosystem maps can become valuable tools in developing engagement strategies.
- Think big, start small, move fast. This simple rule, long a guiding principle for entrepreneurial ventures, also holds true for successful entrepreneurial ecosystems. The ecosystem should enable the connectivity needed for early success, and then clear the runway for future growth.
- Avoid artificially segmenting your community or your strategies. Entrepreneurs and members of entrepreneurial communities are active participants in creating new companies, investing in and/or advising startups, mentoring entrepreneurs and serving as customers of entrepreneurial companies. Expect participants in entrepreneurial ecosystems to play multiple roles, and make the most of their valuable skillsets.
- Prepare to capitalize on crises. Much like the rotting trunk of a fallen tree feeds the growth of new saplings, economic disruption creates entrepreneurial opportunities. Because disruptions are inevitable in economic and social life, architects of entrepreneurial ecosystems should anticipate them and prepare to make the most of the opportunities they create.
The paper says establishing an entrepreneurial ecosystem requires a practical approach toward entrepreneurs’ everyday needs. Policymakers should ask relevant questions and map out a broad framework that minimizes barriers to success. Once the results are evaluated, policymakers should use that data to make necessary adjustments.
Events
SSTI 2015 Annual Conference – Cultivating Prosperity: Partners, Ideas, Solutions
Oklahoma City, 26-28 October, 2015
Innovation is driven by the cross-pollination of ideas. New ideas in manufacturing can spur a pharmaceutical revolution. Lean business models can enable a new generation of software entrepreneurs. Advancements in consumer design can help a computing device company take off. Behavioral psychology can shape our understanding of Big Data. Universities provide an ideal environment for fostering new ideas in a range of disciplines. Why, then, are university commercialization models so centered on engineering, medicine and business research? At the 2015 Annual Conference hear from practitioners on the front lines who are working to bring new ideas from all parts of the university to market.
RSA Winter Conference: Great Transformations – Recasting Regional Policy
London, UK, 19-20 November, 2015
This conference provides a platform for scholars across the globe to address great transformations taking place across our economic, political, and social spheres amidst heightened uneven development and inequality in a post-crisis era of ongoing market liberalisation, financialisation, global competition and changing patterns of regulation and governance. The world has continued to witness highly differentiated shifts in socio-economic relations in the recovery from the global financial crisis (GFC), with some places benefiting, while others have seen a worsening of problems. The inter-related processes of industrialization, urbanization, and regional and local development are now becoming increasingly complex and pose a major challenge, firstly for our conceptualization’s of regional and urban development and, secondly, for specifying appropriate policy-fixes to ‘hold down’ the global and provide the atmosphere for sustained economic growth.
DRUID Academy Conference 2016
Bordeaux, France, 13-15 January, 2016
The conference is open for all PhD students working within the broad field of economics and management of innovation, entrepreneurship and organizations. We invite papers aiming at enhancing our understanding of the dynamics of technological, structural and institutional change at the level of firms, industries, regions and nations. DRUID is the node for an open international network – new partners are most welcome. We encourage all PhD students to submit their research to the conference. Do not hesitate to apply even if you have not been in contact with DRUID previously.
Regional Studies Association Annual Conference 2016 – Building Bridges: Cities and Regions in a Transnational World
Graz, Austria, 3-6 April, 2016
Throughout history, cities and regions have been cornerstones of economic, social and cultural institution building and centres of communication and trade across borders of empires and nations. In a globalized world dominated by multi-level governance and declining economic and political significance of the nation-state, cities and regions are becoming ever more so important in building bridges across nations, supra-national unions, and even continents. These challenges surpass the usual aspects of integration: it is not sufficient to reduce barriers for the mobility of labour, goods, services and capital, to create a homogenous competitive environment, and a solid monetary system. What is needed in addition are more elements of a new regionalism, which is based on non-hierarchical relationships, on self-government, and on the creation of flexible alliances leading to interregional transnational cooperation. The development of a region is affected by its competitive and complementary relationships with other increasingly distant regions. These relationships have to be embedded in an overall structure of relations which encompass the purely economic ones and have strong social, cultural, legal and political dimensions. The objective of the conference is to initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue about the future of a transnational world of urban and regional cooperation. We welcome submissions from researchers, policy makers and practitioners working in all areas of regional analysis.
The Organization, Economics and Policy of Scientific Research
Torino, Italy, 9-10 May, 2016
The aim of the workshop is to bring together a small group of scholars interested in the analysis of the production and diffusion of scientific research from an economics, historical, organizational, and policy perspective. As in previous years, we aim to attract contributions from both junior and senior scholars; a minimum number of slots are reserved for junior researchers (PhD students or postdoc scholars who obtained their PhD in 2013 or later). Up to 18 papers will be selected from open submissions on the basis of peer review. The workshop aims at including papers form various streams of research developed in recent years in and around the area of public and private scientific research.
Regional Studies Association 2nd North American Conference: Cities and Regions: Managing Growth and Change
Atlanta, Georgia, 16-17 June, 2016
In the wake of the global financial crisis, cities have searched for new policies and practices capable of addressing major shifts in socio-economic relations at the urban and regional scale. These divergent and differentiated efforts have led to the intensification of underlying problems in some cities and a return to growth in others. Regional policies, particularly in the North American context, responded to economic challenges by adopting new technologies and new institutional and organizational forms to manage growth and change at the city scale. The result is a complex and uneven landscape of public and private actors delivering financial services, scaling-up supply chains, coordinating firm networks, diffusing process and material innovations, and organizing new forms of civic representation and participation. This conference provides a platform for researchers to address the effects of these policy, organizational, and institutional innovations and their impact on work, identity, governance, production networks, infrastructure investments, technology diffusion, and ultimately place. The conference will focus on the policy implications of emerging forms of governance and policy delivery relative to uneven development and inequality in a post-crisis era of ongoing market liberalization, financialization, and global competition.
Subscriptions & Comments
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think will find it of value. We look forward to collaborating with you on this initiative. If you would like to comment on, or contribute to, the content, subscribe or unsubscribe, please contact us at ipl.munkschool@utoronto.ca.
This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.