From cultural quarters to creative clusters – creative spaces in the new city economy

Copyright @ 2009 Institute of Urban HistoryInstitute of Urban History, Stockhol

Conceptualising Regulatory Change - Explaining Shifts in Telecommunications Governance

Drawing on perspectives from telecommunications policy and neo-Gramscian understandings of international political economy, this paper offers an explanation and analysis of the shifting patterns of regulation which have been evident in the telecommunications sector in recent years. It aims to illustrate explain and explore the implications of the movement of regulatory sovereignty away from the nation-state, through regional conduits, to global organisations in the crystallisation of a world system of telecommunications governance. Our central argument is that telecommunications governance has evolved from a regulatory arena characterised, in large part, by national diversity, to one wherein a more convergent global multilayered system is emerging. We suggest that the epicentre of this regulatory system is the relatively new World Trade Organisation (WTO). Working in concert with the WTO are existing well-established nodes regulation. In further complement, we see regional regulatory projects, notably the European Union (EU), as important conduits and nodes of regulation in the consolidation of a global regulatory regime. By way of procedure, we first explore the utility of a neo-Gramscian approach for understanding the development of global regulatory frameworks. Second, we survey something of the recent history - and, in extension, conventional wisdom - of telecommunications regulation at national and regional levels. Third, we demonstrate how a multilayered system of global telecommunications regulation has emerged centred around the regulatory authority of the WTO. Finally, we offer our concluding comments.Comment: 29th TPRC conference, 200

Co-authorship in the age of cyberculture: Open Educational Resources at the Open University of the United Kingdom

Locating Open Educational Resources (OER) as a phenomenon of cyberculture, this paper presents a reflection on the possibilities of co-authorship that are entailed in OER initiatives of different natures and settings within a large organisation. A selection of OER-related projects and activities carried out at the Open University of United Kingdom (UKOU) are examined from the perspective of a comparative framework proposed by Okada (2010). The framework identifies key features and differences between ‘Closed’ and ‘Open’ Education, that is, respectively, formal education, which takes place within the constraints of institutional Virtual Learning Environments, and informal education, which is gradually taking place more widely in cyberspace. The paper is introduced with a succinct discussion of the connection between cyberculture and the emergence of OER, followed by a presentation of the comparative framework adopted. The UKOU´s structure and methods are then presented, and various projects are discussed. The article concludes by proposing a brief commentary on the creative potential that is being unleashed at the very boundaries between formal and informal educational spaces that cyberculture is challenging

Opportunities and risks of an integrated academic support : [Vortrag ; Tagung] "Integration of Information Services into University Infrastructures" - 7th Frankfurt Symposium: 12.10. - 13.10.2007

In the year 2000 the Deutsche Initiative für Netzwerkinformation (DINI) / German Coalition of Network Information was founded: 10 theses "Changes in information infrastructure – challenges to universities and their information and communications facilities" is the DINI’s founding charter (s. http://www.dini.de). Thesis 4 states: "The universities need to establish information management structures to integrate departments. University managements, departments and central institutions ought to prepare a university development plan for the areas of information, communication and multimedia." ..

Information Society Strategies in the European Context: The Case of Greece

This article sets out to analyze the policies adopted by the Greek government in its effort to accelerate the pace of reform towards a knowledge-based economy. These policies have to take into account the position that the country occupies within the emerging information society and, of course, the opportunities created by EU initiatives that aim to promote economic competitiveness and reduce regional disparities. Within this framework Greek policy makers have recognized the need for a coordinated, coherent and integrated approach, which attempts to diminish inequalities both within the country and with respect to other European Union economies. What emerges as a distinctive feature of the Greek information society strategy is the emphasis placed on the pivotal role of the state and the adoption of active interventionist policies

New Industries in Southeast Asia’s Late Industrialization: Evolution versus Creation - The Automation Industry in Penang (Malaysia) considered

Discourse on industry development and policy practice in late industrialization countries in East and Southeast Asia has predominantly tended to relate the emergence of new industries to ‘creation’ by the state and thereby to the role of state intervention or involvement in industrial growth and restructuring. On the other hand the role and position of (local) entrepreneurship in the genesis of new industries has been rather neglected, as little room was perceived for ‘autonomous’ development. Southeast Asian late industrialization is currently being confronted with the limits of development and expansion of specific (FDI-driven) export industries and thus with the necessity to devise new growth paths in industry (on the basis of high tech industries). This compels a reconsideration of policy practice and perceptions of modes of industry development on which it is based. In this paper we argue that a state-orchestrated ‘creation’ of priority industries is not the only possible route to new high tech industries in Southeast Asian late industrialization. This emanates from an analysis - based on field research - of the emergence and development of a recent growth industry in Malaysia, i.e. the manufacturing of automated equipment (or, automation industry) and its constituent firms in the Penang region. The analysis demonstrates that the mode of development of this industry conforms rather well to a number of notions from evolutionary economics on firm genesis and development in new industries. This suggests that successful industrial policies can be based on supporting an evolutionary ‘birth and development’ path, i.e. industry genesis and evolution as a more or less autonomous incremental process of the development of firms and their capabilities.industrial policy, late industrialization, automation industry, Malaysia, co-evolution, spin-out, diversification

Illinois Digital Scholarship: Preserving and Accessing the Digital Past, Present, and Future

Since the University's establishment in 1867, its scholarly output has been issued primarily in print, and the University Library and Archives have been readily able to collect, preserve, and to provide access to that output. Today, technological, economic, political and social forces are buffeting all means of scholarly communication. Scholars, academic institutions and publishers are engaged in debate about the impact of digital scholarship and open access publishing on the promotion and tenure process. The upsurge in digital scholarship affects many aspects of the academic enterprise, including how we record, evaluate, preserve, organize and disseminate scholarly work. The result has left the Library with no ready means by which to archive digitally produced publications, reports, presentations, and learning objects, much of which cannot be adequately represented in print form. In this incredibly fluid environment of digital scholarship, the critical question of how we will collect, preserve, and manage access to this important part of the University scholarly record demands a rational and forward-looking plan - one that includes perspectives from diverse scholarly disciplines, incorporates significant research breakthroughs in information science and computer science, and makes effective projections for future integration within the Library and computing services as a part of the campus infrastructure.Prepared jointly by the University of Illinois Library and CITES at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaig

Emergence of an European innovation system and its impact on Austria

The concept of a European Innovation System (EIS), defined as common effort of the EU as a whole and not merely as sum on national undertakings of the EU member states, has never been far below the surface for those seeking to create a united Europe. However, it needed a lot of years to emerge on the surface, still these days mor an - partly already operationalised - idea than an elaborated conceptual policy. In a brief historical perspective the emergence of the EIS wil be elaborated. At the time being, the 4th Framework Programme for European RTD (FP4) is running. It covers the period from 1994 until 1998 and encompasses an overall budget of approx. 15 billion ECU, which is considerably higher than the respective budgets in the late 1980s. However, the budget for FP4 and FP5 as well is still just around 4 % of the sum of all national public RTD-budgets of the 15 member states. Moreover, in terms of R&D expenditure, the EU is still lacking behind its main global competitors. While there is a slight but steady decreasing trend in those EU countries which already spend the largest proportion on R&D expenditure, most growth can be stated either in those countries starting from a relatively low base or the Nordic countries, while the Austrian value stagnates. The differences in the distribution of R&D expenditures by socio-economic objectives between the various national governments and the European Commission are remarkable. The objectives laid down in FP4 can be regarded as an additional value for the Austrian innovation system. Due to its specific nature, FP4 has some substantial advantages for the Austrian innovation system.First, Austria contributes roughly three per cent of the total FP4 budget, but has access to considerably more know-how. Second, the EU RTD programme is based on inter-institutional networking. This forces and facilitates the entry of industrial enterprises in research consortia and thus stimulates the co-operation between academic and enrepreneurial research efforts. Third, there are a lot of EU RTD efforts which focus directly on the active participation of SMEs, which form the overall industrial structure in Austria. The fourth advantage of the EU RTD programmes for Austria lies in its obvious and highly necessary concentration on high-tech sectors. In Austria the rate of export specialisation on goods with high R&D-input is twice as low as in the EU. First results of the Austrian participation in FP4 show some remarkable features. Out of 3972 submitted project proposals with Austrian participation, 1053 were funded by the EC. Especially successful were proposals with Austrian participants from the business sector (40 % of successful proposers), followed by participants from the universities (32 %) and non-university research institutions (16 %), both below their respective share in terms of application. Concerning the different technological programmes, Austria performed especially well in the non-nuclear energy programmes, in some of the environmental targeted research programmes, in information technologies and telematics as well as in transport targeted research.