The IPL newsletter: Volume 2, Issue 22

Technology hiring slows: CIO survey 
Chief information officers predict that there will be a 16 per cent rise in the hiring of IT professionals between July and September of this year, 12 per cent less than the last three months.  The survey, carried out by RHI Consulting, polled 270 CIOs from a random sample of Canadian companies with 100 or more staff.

Canadian universities to receive $14.6 million for new research infrastructure
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) will invest $14.6 million to support the development of advanced research facilities at 29 Canadian universities.  The investments are being awarded through two funds, the New Opportunities Fund and the University Research Development Fund, which together will support some 77 infrastructure projects in the sciences, engineering, humanities and social sciences.

Science and Governance: describing and typifying the scientific advice structure in the policy making process – a multi-national study 
S. Glynn, K. Flanagan, M. Keenan, PREST 
This study identifies and typifies the advisory structures in the science related policy and regulatory decisions making systems in several states in an effort to develop a better understanding of current advisory processes and to suggest improvements.  The report comes in the wake of recent environmental and public health scares that have highlighted some of the difficulties faced by those providing advice and those who rely upon it.  A general overview of the advisory systems in each of the countries studied is presented along with a more detailed study of the advisory processes involved for two issues in which scientific advice has formed a major input into policy considerations: the possible cloning of embryonic stem cells for use in research; and the health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs). 
 

Knowledge Transfer and the Services Sector in the Context of the New Economy
R. Cowan, L. Soete and O. Tchervonnaya, MERIT
This paper examines the processes of knowledge transfer in the services sector in the economic reality, increasingly affected by the use of information and communication technologies.  Particular focus is given to whether the knowledge transfer channels, traditionally used in manufacturing, can also be made use of in services. To this end, the authors examine the specificity of services with respect to the nature of their output, degree of customer participation in the production process, degree of simultaneity of production and consumption, and study its effect on knowledge transfer.  It turns out that in services the following transfer channels are highly important: foreign direct investment, training and producer-consumer two-way knowledge transfer, whereas for manufacturing links with academy and patents are very significant. 

Human Capital Investment: An international Comparison
OECD
This report aims to clarify what is now known about human capital and how it can be measured, contributing to the debate on how to promote economic prosperity, fuller employment, and social cohesion through investment in human capital.  It responds to a request by governments represented in the OECD Council “to develop an initial set of indicators of human capital investment based on existing data, analyse areas where significant gaps remain in internationally comparable data, identify the cost of development of data collection for new measures and performance indicators, and report to Ministers in 1998”.

Technology Management in the Knowledge Era: Life in the e-World 
Portland, July 29 – August 3, 2001 
Organized by the Portland International Conference on Management of                        Engineering and Technology, this conference will focus on the strategic directions in regard to Information Technology.  Topics include I.T.  investments, applications, key issues, strategies and challenges in the Internet-driven economy as well as discussions on global cooperation among companies at a time when the reduction in product development cycle is a key competitive requirement.  Randy Steck, Vice President of Intel, Seiichi Watanabe, Corporate Executive Vice President of Sony,  Kwan Rim, Chairman of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, are among the conference speakers. 
 

Governing Knowledge-Processes
Copenhagen, 7-8 September 2001
This workshop, organized by the “Learning, Incentives, and Knowledge” (LINK) program at the Copenhagen Business School, will focus on understanding the governance of knowledge-creation, sharing and exploitation.  The organizers currently seek papers in one of three areas: the governance of knowledge creation, the governance of knowledge sharing, and the possible trade-offs between governance of knowledge creation and knowledge exploitation.

The Future of Innovation Studies
Eindhoven , September 20-23, 2001
The Center for Innovation Studies (ECIS) at Eindhoven University has organized a conference on ‘The Future of Innovation Studies’ which will host a number of plenary sessions featuring some of the key contributors to the field of innovation studies. Invited speakers include Giovanni Dosi, Ranjay Gulati and Bengt-Åke Lundvall.  The conference will include topics in all areas of the social sciences perspective on the innovation process. Special emphasis will be placed on contributions in the area of the economics of technological change, innovation management, and sociology of innovation processes.

Innovations for an e-Society- Challenges for Technology Assessment
Berlin, October 17-20, 2001
This conference, organized by the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis at the Research Centre Karlsruhe, is concerned with all aspects of society making better and increased use of information and communication technologies, with special emphasis on the roles of knowledge and information. There will be sessions on the following topics: e-Commerce, New Media and Culture, Electronic Governance, e-Health Services and New Approaches of Technology Assessment and Forecasting.

5th Annual ‘European Network on Industrial Policy’ (EUNIP) Conference
Vienna, November 29th – December 1st, 2001
This EUNIP Conference will focus on the cutting edge topics in industrial and structural policy, including policies promoting growth, competitiveness and employment. Topics include industrial economics and policy, innovation policy and theory and, regulatory issues in network industries.  A special session will focus on industrial policy in a knowledge based economy.