Ghent University Technology Park : from a local initiative towards an essential component of the Ghent knowledge innovation ecosystem

Using the case of the Ghent University and its Technology Park, we will illustrate how changing policies and practices at the level of the university concerning research valorization have an impact on our science park. We will also demonstrate how the evolving nature of our science park has a clear impact on the university, as the science park becomes more and more an integral part of the university knowledge eco-system. We will also highlight the involvement of Ghent University in the Korea Songdo Global University Campus Project

The construction of knowledge-based economies versus knowledge societies: The cases of Germany and Singapore

In the past decades, terms such as knowledge-based economy (KBE)\u27, and \u27information/knowledge society\u27 have been adopted by governments worldwide in order to underline their interest in developing their economies and societies further and assure future growth. Many governments used these catchwords as labels for government programs and action plans aiming at economic and social prosperity. This aim of national governments to construct knowledge-based economies, information/knowledge societies, the actions taken and especially the ability or disability to do so, is the topic of this paper. As two cases of comparison act Singapore and Germany. (DIPF/Orig.

Capacity development for agricultural biotechnology in developing countries: Concepts, contexts, case studies and operational challenges of a systems perspective.

There are divergent views on what capacity development might mean in relation to agricultural biotechnology. The core of this debate is whether this should involve the development of human capital and research infrastructure, or whether it should encompass a wider range of activities which also include developing the capacity to use knowledge productively. This paper uses the innovation systems concept to shed light on this discussion, arguing that it is innovation capacity rather than science and technology capacity that has to be developed. The context of deploying biotechnology in developing countries is illustrated with an over view of Uganda and Ethiopia. The then presents 6 examples of different capacity development approaches. It concludes by suggesting that policy needs to take a multidimensional approach to capacity development in line with an innovation systems perspective. But it also argues that policy needs to recognise the need to develop the capacity of diversity of innovation systems and that a key part of the capacity development task is to bring about the integration of these different systems at strategic points in time. The paper concludes with a tentative typology of the main types of agricultural innovation systems that are likely to be important in developing countries.agriculture, Ethiopia, Uganda, innovation systems, biotechnology, capacity building, innovation policy.

The SLIM (Social learning for the integrated management and sustainable use of water at catchment scale) Final Report

Background: SLIM stands for 'Socuak Learning for the Integrated Management and Sustainable Use of Water at Catchment Scale'. It is a multi-country research project funded by the European Commission (DG RESEARCH - 5th Framework Programme for research and technological development, 1998-2002). Its main theme is the investigation of the socio-economic aspects of the sustainable use of water. Within this theme, its main focus of interest lies in understanding the application of social learning as a conceptual framework, an operational principle, a policy instrument and a process of systemic change

The theoretical and methodological toolbox of urban economics: from and towards where?

After more than five decades since the recognition of the importance of a branch in Economics called Regional and Urban Economics, there is for sure sufficient scientific material for an ex-post evaluation of what has been achieved so far, where is the scientific frontier in this field, and what are the main open conceptual questions. The present contribution aims at providing such a "picture", by underlining, in a critical way, the results achieved and the challenges that still remain to be faced. It is not at all a first attempt in this direction: especially in the last decade, some doubts on the scientific achievements in the fields of Regional and Urban Economics, and more widely of Regional Science, were stressed, especially in the American academic world. These sciences were interpreted as going through a deep "scientific crisis", interpreted as a sort of downward slope in their "life cycle". Some scientific in-depth analyses have already been provided by regional scientists, rightly claiming that still much can be said and be produced in terms of both theoretical and empirical (modelling) elements. Our paper will start from those considerations, and provide a step further in the interpretation of the problems encountered by Regional and Urban Economics in the actual scientific world, and will strongly suggest that there are important signs of a reaffirmation of the discipline, given the recently strong renewed interest around the conept of territory, developed: - within other branches of the Economic theory. A clear example of this is the emergence of the "New Economic Geography" theory, widely anchored to some well known regional economic concepts. The same can be said for the recent concept of knowledge spillover of the Industrial Economists, in which the innovative diffusion process is largely dependent on geographical distance among innovative actors; - with traditionally related scientific fields, such as Urban Planning and Geography, for the development of a unified framework of analysis for territorial economic processes; - with sociologists, on the concept of "social capital", related to the interaction between social and economic elements for the explanation of the processes of knowledge creation at the local level. In all these cases, there is still place for a more in-depth cooperation among scientists, with the aim to achieve a more in-depth knowledge of theoretical concepts; moreover, in all these cases, there is still place for regional economists to strengthen their role within the international interdisciplinary arena. The paper will highlight these cases, and strengthen the reasons for this statement.

Tacit knowledge and the biological weapons regime

Bioterrorism has become increasingly salient in security discourse in part because of perceived changes in the capacity and geography of life science research. Yet its salience is founded upon a framing of changes in science and security that does not always take into consideration the somewhat slippery concept of ‘tacit knowledge’, something poorly understood, disparately conceptualised and often marginalised in discussions on state and non-state biological weapons programmes. This paper looks at how changes in science and technology—particularly the evolution of information and communications technology—has contributed to the partial erosion of aspects of tacit knowledge and the implications for the biological weapons regime. This paper concludes by arguing that the marginalisation of tacit knowledge weakens our understanding of the difficulties encountered in biological weapons programmes and can result in distorted perceptions of the threat posed by dual-use biotechnology in the 21st century