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KnowledgeEconomy.SC

Panel: State’s entrepreneurship ecosystem driving small business growth

“People are feeling that way because that is the reality,” said John Denise, president of Advanced Automation Consultation. “It’s all the economic development that’s going on, it’s all the announcements. But South Carolina also has a great ecosystem for entrepreneurship.

“The jobs that go under the radar typically are the small companies and startups that create, in our case, knowledge economy, well-paying jobs. There’s more and more of that all the time and it builds a snowball going down the hill. Those are things we don’t read about in the paper but people can feel it. It’s the younger, knowledge economy workers coming and creating that buzz.” …

Infrastructure remains the chief priority on any list, leaders agreed, as does a focus on improving and funding statewide education and military. But attracting more knowledge economy jobs to further economic development is also essential.

“You don’t have to write big checks,” Denise said. “Knowledge workers don’t need a whole lot of infrastructure. All they need is internet and a place to sit. We can do a whole lot more here utilizing the advantages South Carolina has that other states don’t have, such as quality of life and cost of living.” Link

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Kuwait’s knowledge economy

KUNA : Global Informatics Forum 2015 kicks off – Science & Technology – 01/12/2015

Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Acting Minister of Electricity and Water Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah has emphasized the significance of the global informatics forum 2015, as it is held at a time when competitiveness in knowledge economy is escalating.

The forum is organized by Sheikh Salem Al ­Ali Al ­Sabah Informatics Award, in cooperation with the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), the Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT) and the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs, the minister said.
The main theme of the event, held under patronage of His Highness the Amir, is “prerequisites for success of digital projects in knowledge economy.” According to Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the gathering aims to develop a business environment that enhances institutional capabilities and human skills.
This forum seeks to keep pace with advanced communities and promote innovation and creativity. It enjoys support of the government led by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

The two-day forum will shed light on prerequisites that secure success of digital projects in knowledge economy, bringing together scores of digital entrepreneurs, local and foreigners, together with government and investment bodies, with the chief aim of creating of Kuwait a distinguished center for innovation and creativity, Al-Shammari noted.
On the sidelines of the informatics forum, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah opened an exhibition under “market of ideas” where 40 developers from around the globe will be reviewing their startups. Discussions will also address scientific studies on knowledge economy.

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Interestingly the new document uses the phrase “Provide citizens with knowledge and skills to meet the future needs of the labor market” 24 times. http://sustg.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/NTP_En.compressed.pdf

 

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How to Fix Higher Education

University of North Carolina Chancellor Carol Folt makes a very good argument for

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First, fight corruption – because there is a direct link between corruption and the rise of violent extremism. Nothing does more to undermine respect for the rule of law than the perception that governments consider themselves to be above the law. How astonishing it is that billions of dollars were stolen – maybe $50 billion from the Government of Nigeria, maybe $30 billion from the Government of Yemen – and that is stealing from the education and the health and the infrastructure and the future of the citizens of those countries. And what about the banks that deposit that money and second it for those who have stolen it? It’s little wonder that there is great unrest in certain parts of the world. And if we’re serious about fighting terrorism, then we have to expose corruption, and protect whistleblowers, and prosecute perpetrators, and throw the guilty in jail. And at the same time, we have to strive for improved governance across the board. What does that mean? That means preventing graft, strengthening democratic and accountable governance, where basic freedoms are protected and people have the ability to express their views openly, without harassment, and without fear. After all, if citizens are going to respect their governments, then governments need to respect their citizens.

Now, second, we have to invest in education. I can’t emphasize this enough. Globally, right now – (applause) – right now as we sit here in Aspen, in these extraordinary surroundings, 120 million children and adolescents are out of school. We can’t settle for a policy, my friends, that plans to get these kids in school in 10 years. You’re 10 years old today, nine years old, seven years old – you’re going to be 17, 18 before somebody starts to teach you something? They need to go to school now. And we need an emergency global education effort. When I was in Pakistan as a senator, I went up to the area of the earthquake you remember a few years ago, up near the mountains of the Himalayas, and I remember these kids would come down out of the mountains, and they were in a tent with desks and a chair, and they had uniforms somehow that someone had gotten them. And half of these kids were in school for the first time in their life. And why were they there? They were there because of an emergency that brought them there.

Well, I’m telling you I don’t think we should wait for a flood or an earthquake. We have an emergency now and we should treat this as if it were an emergency now, and make sure these kids are getting the education that they need.

Now, terrorist recruiters are on the prowl – (applause) – if I were running for office, I’d milk that; I’d – (laughter) – try to – but I’m not. I’m sorry. (Laughter and applause.) Terrorist recruiters are literally prowling around. I have a foreign – I won’t tell you which country, but in Africa, my counterpart told me how you grab these kids at age five, and they pay them, and then they proselytize, then they don’t need to proselytize because their minds are gone, and they’ve got them, and then they don’t have to pay them. Then they go out and get the next group. And my counterpart, the foreign minister of this country, said to me, “You know, they have a plan for 30 years or 35 years; we don’t even have a five-year plan.”

So think about it. To win the battle of ideas, we have to ensure that kids everywhere actually have schools to go to, that schools don’t preach hate and radical views, but they offer an opportunity to prepare for a better life. And guess what? That does take a little bit of money. Not as much as people think, but I am convinced when you think of the other side on which we wind up paying for all of this, it is far cheaper to do it up front and far more effective in so many different ways.

Third thing we need to do is close the gap between what students learn in class and the skills that they’ll need in the workplace, in today’s workplace. And that means addressing unequal access to unemployment and promoting lifelong learning and on-the-job training, not just in other countries, but also right here at home, above all. (Applause.) And we need to – we have an effort called Global Connect which we’ve started, because we’re trying to connect the other 60 percent of the people in the world who do not have the internet yet and need it.

Fourth, we have to give entrepreneurs and small business people everywhere the chance to translate their good new ideas into thriving businesses, because innovation is by far, as I’m sure all of you here know, the primary source of job creation. And that means ending the suffocating stranglehold in some countries of militaries and bureaucracies that suck up the private sector to the detriment of the rest of the citizens in the country or the rest of the legitimate business people. It means opening doors to the full participation by women. And there’s literally no way we are going to meet the 21st century expectations with 20th century economic policies or 19th century standards of governance.

Finally, we need to draw the basic ideas that have guided America for centuries. I don’t know about you, I am obsessed by Hamilton and I keep listening to it. It’s magnificent – (laughter and applause) – and it reminds us about those ideas.

And if we are consistent in showing the world what we are for, we will never lack allies in the fight against bigotry and terror.

And the reason for that is clear. A group like Daesh – in fact, all of these groups: Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, all of them, they’re all the same in this regard – they don’t have any room for anyone else, folks. If they’re allowed to prevail it would utterly destroy the human mosaic that has existed in the Middle East for countless generations. It castigates – Daesh castigates Yezidis as devil worshippers. It tells Christians, quote, “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women.” It says of Shia Muslims, quote, “We have a duty to kill them, fight them, displace them, and cleanse the land of their filth.”

Obviously, you’re here celebrating the best of our country, which is a festival of ideas, where we have every opportunity to share our opinions, discuss alternative policies, explain respectfully why those with whom we disagree are mistaken.

And one of the things I’ve learned after years of public life is there are no end to the tests for our country. The testing is constant. But compared to 1950, when the Aspen Institute was founded, we have tremendous advantages. Since then, through American leadership and the combined efforts of good people across the globe, average life expectancy is up 50 percent. Infant mortality is down by four-fifths. The number of democracies has nearly quadrupled. The rate of extreme poverty has just this year fallen below 10 percent for the first time ever. Overall, a child entering the world today is more likely than ever before in history to be born healthy, to have vaccinations, to be adequately fed, to be able to get the necessary education, and more likely to live a long life.

So I think we have every reason to be confident in the future, provided we are willing to make the investments that leaders have a responsibility to make, provided we do not allow the passions of the day to turn our heads and leave us fighting with one another, and provided we draw the right lessons from our own past. We also need to believe in basic facts and science.

Full remarks

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Interesting links

Cornell Ph.D. Commercialization Fellows Program

Twitter account for the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge forum

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Sir Martin Sorrell

Strategy, Innovation, and Change: Challenges for Management

Chapter 12  Leading in the Knowledge Economy

Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones

Highly talented people who are able to create disproportionate amounts of value from organizational resources are increasingly important. How you lead these ‘clever’ people is one of the keys to succeeding in the knowledge economy.
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the world’s largest communications services company, WPP, is as forthright as he is imposingly well briefed. ‘The only reason for this company to exist,’ Sorrell told us matter-of-factly when we talked at WPP’s London headquarters, ‘is to leverage economies of knowledge.’
He paused, before adding: ‘One of the biggest challenges is that there are diseconomies of scale in creative industries. If you double the number of creative people, it doesn’t mean you will be twice as creative.’

Rest

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Ruebensaal called Dubai “a successful model of the knowledge economy,” citing its many special economic zones — for example the Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, and Dubai Design District — that have attracted foreign investors. “Sheikh Mohammed [bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the emir of Dubai] … made a big bet on creativity and sustainable global growth,” he said.

“Sheikh Mohammed [bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the emir of Dubai] … made a big bet on creativity and sustainable global growth,” –Clayton Ruebensaal

Ruebensaal noted that there is a need to “let more people know about the generosity” of the Gulf region and also about the business opportunities: “It’s quite clear that this is an economically welcoming, vibrant environment where … [one] can make a lot of money and create something exciting.” He compared the atmosphere to that of Silicon Valley.

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The Economist: The collaboration curse

The biggest problem with collaboration is that it makes what Mr Newport calls “deep work” difficult, if not impossible. Deep work is the killer app of the knowledge economy: it is only by concentrating intensely that you can master a difficult discipline or solve a demanding problem. Many of the most productive knowledge workers go out of their way to avoid meetings and unplug electronic distractions. Peter Drucker, a management thinker, argued that you can do real work or go to meetings but you cannot do both.  Rest

 

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MR. BAKER: Turning to the issue of technology and what you’ve called the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Clearly, there are great concerns about jobs going away. Artificial intelligence is advancing very, very quickly. What can the world come together and, through an event like Davos, do to come up with solutions to the human consequences of this technological change?

‘We have to find the right balance between globalization and making sure that we maintain the social contract,’ says World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab.

‘We have to find the right balance between globalization and making sure that we maintain the social contract,’ says World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab. PHOTO: FABRICE COFFRINI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

PROF. SCHWAB: Davos can make a contribution in that we combine the fourth revolution with the educational system. [Ed: by combining I personally feel that our present educational system should be much more flexible. We should have modules which allow people, lifelong, to continuously update themselves and maybe even to be certified every year with the progress they have made in terms of taking care of their own up-skilling.

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