Regionalizing telecommunications reform in West Africa

In recent years, there has been an increasing recognition that significant welfare gains could be realized through deep forms of regional integration which entail harmonization of legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks. Reforms that reduce cross-border transaction costs and improve the performance of “backbone” infrastructure services are arguably even more important for the creation of an open, unified regional economic space than trade policy reforms narrowly defined. This paper assesses the potential gains from regionalized telecommunications policy in West Africa. To this end, the paper: (i) discusses how regional cooperation can overcome national limits in technical expertise, enhance the capacity of nations credibly to commit to stable regulatory policy, and ultimately facilitate infrastructure investment in the region; (ii) identifies trade-distorting regulations that inhibit opportunities for regional trade and economic development, and so are good candidates for regional trade negotiations to reduce indirect trade barriers; and (iii) describes substantive elements of a harmonized regional regulatory policy that can deliver immediate performance benefits.E-Business,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Emerging Markets

Agenda for change: strategic choices for the next government

The next government has a primary requirement to be well briefed on the challenges inherent in Australia’s strategic circumstances and the policy options available to it. ASPI is publishing this report to layout our strategic choices and to provide recommendations. Contributors are Peter Jennings on strategic policy, Mark Thomson and Andrew Davies on defence, Anthony Bergin and Kristy Bryden on homeland security, Russell Trood on foreign policy and Ryan Stokes on economic security. This body of ideas makes a compelling contribution to the discussions which ought always to characterise the Australian strategic and defence debate

Effective e-waste management-The role of international cooperation and fragementation

E-waste problems related to trade in wastes and informal recycling in the developing countries address environmental, social, and economic effects. Moreover, given on multiple aspect considerations, it is found that currently recycling fragmentation trade presents. This paper first reviews the driving forces of international trade in wastes and characters fragmentation in recycling industry. In the premise that environments and economic/social benefits can be exchanged among countries, we offer managerial conditions on international cooperation solution that increases e-waste treatment cooperation and fragmentation and contributes to effective e-waste management.e-waste management, recycling fragmentation trade, international cooperation importing countries, exporting countries, environment

The radio spectrum : opportunities and challenges for the developing world

The radio spectrum is a major component of the telecommunications infrastructure that underpins the information society. Spectrum management, however, has not kept up with major changes in technology, business practice, and economic policy during the past two decades. Traditional spectrum management practice is predicated on the spectrum being a limited resource that must be apportioned among uses and users by government administration. For many years this model worked well, but more recently the spectrum has come under pressure from rapid demand growth for wireless services and changing patterns of use. This has led to growing technical and economic inefficiencies, as well as obstacles to technological innovation. Two alternative approaches are being tried, one driven by the market (spectrum property rights) and another driven by technology innovation (commons). Practical solutions are evolving that combine some features of both. Wholesale replacement of current practice is unlikely, but the balance between administration, property rights, and commons is clearly shifting. Although the debate on spectrum management reform is mainly taking place in high-income countries, it is deeply relevant to developing countries as well.Broadcast and Media,Roads&Highways,Climate Change,Montreal Protocol,ICT Policy and Strategies

Energy Power, Digital Infrastructure and Elearning Platforms: Afrrican Experience.

Information and communication technologies are one of the most pervasive technologies in the world, second only to 'human intelligence' or the human brain. Thus, understanding the factors that determine the diffusion of new technologies across african countries is important to understanding the process of economic development. And whereas, energy is linked with the capacity to perform, the rate at which energy is consumed for the acceleration of the pace of socio-economic activities is regarded as power. Consequently, it will be obvious that the magnitude of the standard of living in any society; the growth and development of such an economy; and its ability to affect the course of events(such as ICT revolution)will be a function of the extent to which its energy(power) resources are developed and utilised. This paper therefore argued for the need to provide assistance in reducing vulnerability and building the capacity of african countries to more widely reap the benefits of the clean development mechanism in areas such as the development of cleaner and renewable energies. Inevitably, this is the critical condition for the sustainability of the emergent e-learning platforms and digital networks in africa.ICT, learning, elearning, development, energy, power, information, communication, solar, electricity, wind, governance, africa, electronics, telecommunications, internet, digital, satellite, renewable energy, gas turbine, power plants, bandwidth, coal, hydro, biomass, steam, transmission, distribution, utilisation

The future of Cybersecurity in Italy: Strategic focus area

This volume has been created as a continuation of the previous one, with the aim of outlining a set of focus areas and actions that the Italian Nation research community considers essential. The book touches many aspects of cyber security, ranging from the definition of the infrastructure and controls needed to organize cyberdefence to the actions and technologies to be developed to be better protected, from the identification of the main technologies to be defended to the proposal of a set of horizontal actions for training, awareness raising, and risk management

Design Challenges for Innovation Management on Agro-Food Sector

Current status of research indicates that we assist to location-specific factor supremacy as determinants in regional attractiveness and sustainability being territorial driven, we offer strong arguments for policy makers in order to enable this long term strategy. We also address another issue heavily disputed between academics-that is the return to local and regional offerings as complementary to global assumption. Assisting today to a hybrid innovation process, relying upon territorial marketing-an umbrella for too many issues cvasi- exploited: eco-clusters, local and regional offerings; traditional products/services exploiting, regional clusters competing for funds; we are focusing on complex industrial -rural system reconfiguration relying upon dynamic evolution of territorial branding into competitive identity, as the disruptive behavior we need in sustainable development. Successful development strategies are based on the ability to build an institutional territorial coherence-social and environmental sustainability being inextricably interdependent, such a complex coordination structure relies on territorial knowledge sharing through expertise polls consultation- as key concept of good governance. This model of innovational resource allocation coordination on agro food chains, relying upon clusterisation through patterns of innovational management deficit, offers a relevant solution for synergic orientation of assistance and mentoring efforts on the sector, enable the capitalization of relevant capabilities and increase the addressability from innovation demand side. Based upon auditing 500 SME’s from agro food sector in Europe and 51 in SE region, the paper is fully documented on there years of data analyzing from Agro Food sector on 10 European countries in the framework on FP6 SPAS European Project.territorial knowledge sharing, innovation resource allocation, disruptive territorial solution, community supported agro food chains

Evaluating a Potential US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty: Background, Context and Implications

[Excerpt] This paper, prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit for the US-China Economic and Security Council, summarises the context, current discussions and implications of a potential US-China bilateral investment treaty (BIT). The paper is organised in six sections: I. Existing US BITs II. China’s current BITs with other countries III. The potential US-China BIT IV. Major regulatory and transparency issues V. Implications for the US economy VI. Interviews Simply defined, a BIT is a treaty between two countries designed to promote and protect investments between the two signatory states. A BIT provides investors with a safer and more transparent investment environment by guarding against the risk of expropriation by the host state. Many countries, especially the larger economies, sign BITs with their main trading partners, both to ensure that companies from their country receive proper protection when they make investments abroad and to ensure that their rights can be protected and enforced through binding international arbitration