News from the IPL
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Code for America Names Local Government Partners for its 2016 Fellowship Program
Michael Grass, Route Fifty
San Francisco-based Code for America, which embeds civic technologists in municipal governments around the nation in one-year fellowships to work on projects to improve government services, has named six local jurisdictions around the nation that will be part of its 2016 Fellowship Program: Kansas City, Missouri; Long Beach, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York City, New York; Salt Lake County, Utah; and Seattle, Washington. In the previous five years, Code for America’s Fellowship program has created more than 65 software applications with 38 municipal governments and worked with 126 fellows.
Editor's Pick
Canada’s Innovation Challenges and Opportunities: 2014 report on the state of Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation System
Science, Technology and Innovation Council
This major report that concludes that Canada’s poor business innovation performance represents the country’s most profound and urgent science, technology and innovation (ST&I) challenge. Canada is not globally competitive in this critical part of the ST&I ecosystem, and it is falling further behind global competitors and facing a widening gap with the world’s top five performing countries. On other indicators, this report confirms what previous State of the Nation reports have found: Canada maintains a solid foundation in its educated population and the quality of its knowledge production. However, other countries have been increasing their investments in knowledge at a faster pace than Canada, a reality that has started to impact Canada’s relative ranking — i.e., its competitiveness — on key research and development (R&D) funding indicators.
Innovation Policy
Nature: A Well Connected World
Jonathan Adams and Tamar Loach, Nature
Research has entered a ‘Fourth Age’: the leading edge of scientific discovery is now in the realm of international collaboration networks rather than individuals, institutions or nations. The research that emerges from these collaborations garners more attention than national research and is cited more frequently by other publications. The Nature Index is a selection of the world’s leading research publications, honed to capture the very best articles across key research fields within the natural sciences. This provides us with a keenly focused picture of recent collaborations between world leading research institutions. Because of this emphasis, the graphics and analyses in this Nature supplement can highlight interactions more clearly than analyses that draw on the sometimes-disparate specialist and national journals in commercial databases. The clarity of the Nature Index data presented provides a new and complementary tool for research and policy analysts, that allows researchers to determine which institutions are part of this growing global network, who they work with, and how their research contributes to innovation.
Advanced Technologies Initiative: Manufacturing and Innovation
Council on Competitiveness
Nations have long striven to advance to the next technology frontier and raise their economic well-being. In today’s highly dynamic environment, advanced technologies have become even more essential in improving economic competitiveness and national prosperity. As a result, many nations, including the United States (US), have invested heavily in establishing national innovation ecosystems which connect people, resources, policies and organizations to collectively translate new ideas via advanced technologies into commercialized products and services. A new global competitive environment has emerged in which America’s technology and innovation leadership faces fresh and persistent challenges. Thus, it is imperative to analyze America’s relative position within the global innovation environment, and identify and assess the myriad of challenges that threaten its competitive standing. This report identifies challenges facing U.S. manufacturing and national labs as well as the most promising technologies under development.
World Intellectual Property Report: Breakthrough Innovation and Economic Growth
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
One central insight from scholarly research is that lasting economic growth relies on continuous technological progress. Indeed, the last three centuries have seen a series of innovative breakthroughs in different fields of technology that have profoundly transformed productive activity and spurred the growth of new industries. How did these breakthrough innovations come about and how did they increase economic output? Answers to these questions are important, as policymakers continuously strive to improve the enabling environment for future growth. Indeed, as the world economy still reels some seven years on from the global financial crisis, there is serious debate as to whether innovation can continue to deliver rates of growth matching those before the crisis. This report endeavors to provide an analytical input into that debate. It explores the channels through which innovation promotes growth, and the ecosystems in which innovation flourishes. In so doing, the report pays special attention to the role of the intellectual property (IP) system, which at its heart seeks to support innovative activity.
Cities, Clusters & Regions
Planning for Prosperity: Globalization, Competitiveness and the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe
Pamela Blais, The Neptis Foundation
This report maps and analyzes the dynamics of long-term structural changes – not merely cyclical market fluctuations – brought about by globalization and rapidly evolving technology in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) economy. The study reveals a regional economic landscape characterized by concentrations of employment in Downtown Toronto, three large suburban employment megazones, and five Suburban Knowledge-Intensive Districts (SKIDs). Like Downtown Toronto, these megazones and SKIDs, contain a high proportion of “core” jobs, that is, jobs in the “tradeable” sectors that draw income into the region and are key to innovation and competition. The author notes that the megazones and SKIDs are not recognized in The Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe or in The Big Move, which focus instead on potential growth nodes called Urban Growth Centres (UGCs). The report contains suggestions for ways in which planning in the GGH could be better oriented towards ensuring a competitive, prosperous region that attracts businesses and investment.
How Many American Cities are Preparing for the Arrival of Self-Driving Cars? Not Many
Kim Mai-Cutler, TechCrunch
Only about 6 percent of the country’s biggest cities are planning for or thinking about autonomous vehicles or self-driving cars in their long-range transportation plans, according to the National League of Cities. What’s even more surprising is that only 3 percent of these cities’ transit plans are even taking into account the impact of ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft even though they already operate in 60 of the 68 largest markets in the U.S. That’s according to a content analysis of transportation planning documents from the country’s 50 most populous cities.
Habitat III Can Galvanize City-Business Collaboration on Sustainable Urban Infrastructure
Roland Hunziker, Citiscope
Cities and businesses have a lot to gain from each other. As a key solutions provider, business can ensure access to cutting-edge technology and the development of expertise in designing, building, operating and maintaining major infrastructure. Cities, in turn, are taking a leading role in tackling sustainability issues from climate change to resilience, resource efficiency to equitable growth. They also present new markets for sustainable products and services by business. From 2010 to 2014, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) led a groundbreaking project called the Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII). This brought together 14 of our leading member companies and 10 cities to explore the value of early strategic collaboration between business and urban areas, with the aim of tackling the complex challenge of sustainable urban infrastructure. The outcome of this project suggests that all cities seeking to realize their sustainability objectives can benefit from engaging with business early in the planning and strategy-development processes. As we approach 2016 — arguably the “Year of Cities”, with the upcoming Habitat III conference slated to take place in October in Quito, Ecuador — it is time for cities and business to enhance their collaboration, to learn from existing experience and to scale up urban sustainability solutions.
Statistics & Indicators
Interactive: Where Companies Spend Their R&D Money
strategy + business
Corporate R&D has become overwhelmingly global. According to the 2015 Global Innovation 1000 study, 94 percent of the world’s biggest innovators now conduct parts of their R&D programs abroad. But where they spend their R&D money has changed dramatically. Asia is now the top destination for corporate R&D spending, followed by North America and Europe. In 2007, the three regions were ranked in reverse order. This interactive infographic compares the location of corporate R&D spending in 2007 versus 2015.
How Much Does Venture Capital Drive the U.S. Economy?
Ilya A. Strebulaev and Will Gornall, Insights by Stanford Business
The importance of venture capital to the U.S. economy is both over- and under-stated. Researchers tend to overstate the importance of VC funding to the extent that successful VC-backed companies may well have been successful even without VC financing. Of course, the fact that so many successful entrepreneurs choose VC financing suggests that this financing plays an important role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The Future is Open: 2015 State of Innovation
Thompson Reuters
This report is an analysis of global scientific literature and patent data across 12 technology areas. It shows that although overall patent activity has reached an all-time high, year-over-year growth in new inventions has slowed considerably and scientific literature production has declined in almost every industry. It examines fundamental research and patent activity worldwide across: Aerospace & Defense; Automotive; Biotechnology; Cosmetics & Well-Being; Food, Beverages & Tobacco; Home Appliances; Information Technology; Medical Devices; Oil & Gas; Pharmaceuticals; Semiconductors; and Telecommunications. Thomson Reuters analysts scrutinized five years of global patent and scientific literature data, outlining the top companies, research institutions and technology areas producing the highest volume of innovation.
Policy Digest
Opportunities for All: Making Massachusetts Great Everywhere
State of Massachusetts (via SSTI Weekly Digest)
In this plan the administration notes that Massachusetts is a nationwide leader in educational attainment and innovation-related employment, but both business formation and job growth have fallen in recent years. New policies are needed to address the growing skills gap for middle-skill jobs and growing regional inequality. As the global economy pivots toward knowledge-intensive industries, the Baker administration perceives an opportunity for Massachusetts to leverage its advantages in a few strategic, high-tech industries. Areas of strength, as identified in the plan, include: digital health care, the Internet of Things, robotics, flexible hybrid electronics, revolutionary fibers and textiles, cybersecurity, marine technology, big data, photonics, autonomous vehicles and financial technology.
A Vision For Massachusetts’ Future
Economic prosperity for citizens: This plan seeks to build a Massachusetts led by a strong middle class. Its primary objectives are economic opportunity and economic mobility for all the state’s citizens. By advancing ability of citizens to access good jobs and good wages, it seeks to build a strong, prosperous Commonwealth.
Economic vitality for communities: This plan seeks to deepen the vibrancy of communities across Massachusetts. It creates new tools and opportunities to build capacity and leadership at the local level. It advances strategies for strengthening economic activity in a variety of community settings, from downtowns, town centers and community main streets, to industrial parks. And it seeks to unlock economic growth in all regions of the state. Through deep partnerships between state, regional, and local stakeholders, it seeks to foster communities across the Commonwealth where families can build a future.
Economic growth for businesses: This plan seeks to build a Massachusetts where businesses of all sizes can thrive. It prioritizes efforts to make the business environment less complex and less costly. It will make government less intrusive, more responsive, and nimbler. It supports entrepreneurship and private enterprise, and a healthy business ecosystem.
Areas of Strategic Development
A. Preparing Communities for Success
Strong communities and regions across Massachusetts are necessary for a resilient economy
Strategic Objectives:
- Foster community leadership development;
- Invest in infrastructure;
- Create physical spaces that attract investment;
- Craft development ready-ready regulations;
- Match communities and regions to economic opportunities.
B. Fostering a Culture of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Massachusetts is unmatched in the knowledge economy, which spurs innovation and new business starts.
Strategic Objectives:
- Deepen partnerships with higher education;
- Support an infrastructure for innovation;
- Seed and grow innovation communities;
- Support community-based entrepreneurship;
- Coordinate quasi-public agency work.
C. Advancing Key Clusters and Industries
This plan is inclusive of traditional clusters, high-growth clusters, and emerging clusters.
Strategic Objectives:
- Analyze and communicate opportunities;
- Strengthen established clusters;
- Support emerging clusters;
- Act regionally;
- Expand markets.
D. Creating a Balanced Regulatory and Business Cost Environment
Massachusetts competes national and globally for jobs, and needs to remain competitive and provide ease of doing business.
Strategic Objectives:
- Reform regulatory culture;
- Reform regulatory process;
- Drive cost competitiveness;
- Collaborate across Cabinets;
- Deepen local best practices.
E. Expanding Workforce Development and Talent Retention
Massachusetts will connect residents to good-paying jobs by providing residents with in-demand skills, at a variety of educational levels.
Strategic Objectives:
- Align workforce development behind employer needs;
- Coordinate state workforce development resources;
- Improve talent retention;
- Facilitate regional dialogue on skills pipeline;
- Deepen inter-secretariat collaboration.
F. Adopting Housing Policies that Support Economic Growth
Meet the demand for new housing, stabilize family incomes, and support talent retention.
Strategic Objectives:
- Increase the supply of housing;
- Promote reasonable density in cities and town centers;
- Empower municipalities by sharing best practices and data;
- Support affordability;
- Support mobility.
G. Improving Transportation Access
This plan leverages transportation connections to advance residents’ economic well-being.
Strategic Objectives:
- Support housing in transit-oriented development locations;
- Use transportation to unlock economic development;
- Connect workers to jobs;
- Strengthen regional connections;
- Create a 21st century transportation network.
Events
The Federal Role in Cities: Insights from the Outside
Toronto, 10 December, 2015
Cities around the world are increasingly being recognized as engines of national growth, productivity, and resilience. In Australia and the UK, national policies for cities have been at the heart of federal debate and decision-making in recent years. Are there lessons for Canada? This presentation will draw on the causes, courses and consequences of federal city policies in the UK and Australia and highlight points of difference and potential interest to Canadian policymakers. Speaker Duncan Maclennan from the University of Glasgow makes the case that stronger emphasis on economic growth, integrated infrastructure planning, and local fiscal capacity will result in more productive and sustainable cities.
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.
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This newsletter is prepared by Jen Nelles.
Project manager is David A. Wolfe.