Knowledge Economy

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit presented by Entrepreneurial Ventures of Arabia, Dubai, UAE  11-12 DECEMBER, 2012

GES-EVA is the pre-eminent Global Summit and Exhibition for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Organised by Dubai World Trade Centre, the event is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.
The event is guided by the strong support, direction and participation of the UAE Government and the US State Department

Don’t miss the chance to engage with the world’s innovators, business leaders and elite entrepreneurs

DO NOT MISS THIS SINGULAR NETWORKING PLATFORM FEATURING SPEAKERS FROM GLOBAL BLUE-CHIPS +COCA-COLA +OASIS500 +PRICELINE +MICROSOFT +MORE

Sheila Baranda
T: +971 4 308 6473
E: sheila.baranda@dwtc.com

A PROCLAMATION

America is known around the world as a country that empowers the inventor and the innovator. Ours is a Nation where men and women can take a chance on a dream — where they can take an idea that starts around a kitchen table or in a garage and turn it into a new business or a new industry. During National Entrepreneurship Month, we celebrate the hard work, ingenuity, and courage of our thinkers, doers, and makers.

Because the new businesses created by entrepreneurs are responsible for most of the new jobs in our country, helping them succeed is essential to helping our economy grow. That is why my Administration has fought tirelessly to invest in entrepreneurs and small businesses so they can do what they do best — take risks, develop new ideas, grow businesses, and create new jobs. To help them expand and hire, I have signed 18 tax cuts for small businesses into law. Last year, my Administration launched the Startup America initiative to help connect innovators to funding and mentorship, cut through red tape, speed up innovation, and get their ventures off the ground faster. Alongside it, leaders in the private sector launched the Startup America Partnership, which has made over $1 billion in business services available to a national network that will serve tens of thousands of startups over the next 3 years. I also directed Federal agencies to streamline processes for establishing public-private research partnerships, small business research and development grants, and university-startup collaborations. And we launched BusinessUSA, a virtual one-stop shop that helps businesses — large and small — access the full range of Federal resources they need at every stage of their development.

My Administration has continued to build on that progress in 2012. Earlier this year, I signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law, which is making it easier for innovative companies to go public and expand their workforce. For the first time, the law will also allow ordinary Americans to go online and invest in the startups and small businesses they believe in through crowdfunding platforms. We have also updated regulations to make it easier for foundations to invest in businesses pursuing charitable purposes and stronger communities. In August, we launched the Presidential Innovation Fellows program to bring top innovators outside of Government together with top innovators inside Government; release Federal data that is being used to develop new products, services, and businesses; make it easier for startup entrepreneurs to compete

for Government contracts; transform the way citizens access Government information and services; and save taxpayers money. In addition, thousands of American entrepreneurs and inventors are helping Federal agencies solve tough problems at www.Challenge.gov. And, as part of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act I signed in February, we have bolstered Self-Employment Assistance programs that allow States to empower unemployed workers to start their own businesses.

As long as America’s daring entrepreneurs are taking risks and putting themselves behind new ideas and innovations, the Federal Government will serve as a partner to support their endeavors and catalyze their success. This month, and during Global Entrepreneurship Week, let us renew the spirit of innovation that has fueled more than two centuries of American progress and promises to drive us in the years to come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2012 as National Entrepreneurship Month. I call upon all Americans to commemorate this month with appropriate programs and activities, and to celebrate November 16, 2012, as National Entrepreneurs’ Day.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

BARACK OBAMA

Dear Friends,

As the world continues to shift to a knowledge-based economy that touches virtually every nation in the world and makes for a more competitive landscape, it is more imperative than ever that we prepare our students for the challenges ahead.

Once a leader in education, the U.S. has clearly fallen behind and is leaving many of our students unprepared to compete. The report, “Achievement Growth: International and U.S. State Trends in Student Performance,” released this summer by Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance & Education Next, ranked the U.S. 25th out of 49 countries in student test-score gains.

A number of states, however, have taken steps and have made significant strides in recent years. The report, which examined state trends in student achievement growth using National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math, reading and science data from 1992 to 2011, ranked Florida (2^nd) and two Chiefs for Change states – Louisiana (5^th) and New Jersey (7^th) – in the top 10 in test-score gains. Though we should celebrate the gains made by individual states, it is important that we refocus our efforts as a nation. In this post-election climate, we must put aside our differences and come together in order to prepare every student, regardless of income or zip code, for the jobs of tomorrow.

The policies and practices that will improve the quality of education and better prepare students for success is the focus of the fifth annual Excellence in Action National Summit on Education Reform. This year’s event will include a conversation with former U.S. secretary of state, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, and former New York City schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein. These leaders will expand on the findings of the task force they co-chaired for the Council on Foreign Relations, which concluded that “the United States’ failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country’s ability to thrive in a global economy.”

The time is now to put our students first; our nation’s security and global standing depend on it.

Sincerely,
Patricia Levesque
Executive Director
Foundation for Excellence in Education

UPDATE: The Foundation for Excellence in Education today announced U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will deliver a breakfast keynote address for the fifth annual Excellence in Action National Summit on Education Reform. This keynote will take place at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC, Nov. 28.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, they have reached maximum capacity for the Summit, and registration is closed. Please know all keynote speeches and general sessions will be streamed live on the Internet at http://www.excelined.org/everywhere and all strategy sessions will be filmed and available after the event. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah@ExcelinEd.org.

William Eggers and Owen Sanderson:  James Kotecki is your typical 20-something. His day starts with a shower, a bowl of cereal and a few minutes catching up with his favorite blogs. But it’s here where his morning routine departs from many of his friends who work for big consulting firms, large banks and news syndicates. Instead of donning slacks and a tie — typical of America’s white-collar, service-oriented workforce that has emerged since World War II — James opts for a black t-shirt branded with an image of Disney’s Space Mountain.

James is a representative of the no collar generation, a segment of the labor force that has exploded in the last decade. This new cohort of talent is trading in starched collars for t-shirts. James in particular is a new media savant. He has been able to craft a profession at the intersection of technology, social media and humor. He is an online author and video host who blogs for The Huffington Post, combines journalism with jokes for The Not Safe For Work Corporation and hosts a political humor show for The Daily. The Economist once referred to him as “probably the world’s foremost expert on YouTube videos posted by presidential candidates” — a lofty accolade, to be sure. He’s finding a professional niche at the fringe.

James is one of millions of members of the no collar generation. Like many others, his success can be directly traced to the emergence of America’s knowledge economy — where the acquisition and transfer of knowledge is key. By some estimates, knowledge workers represent between 28 and 45 percent of the U.S. labor force. This segment is expected to grow rapidly according to the Department of Labor. Within the knowledge economy there is what author Dan Pink has called free agent nation — in which working for one employer for your entire career is a thing of the past.   Rest

Ingredients of a knowledge economy – BusinessDayOnline.com

Qatar University drives Qatar’s knowledge economy – AMEinfo.com

The Uneven Geography of U.S. Economic Growth – TheAtlanticCities.com

China Moving to Quality Not Quantity: Jim O’Neill – CNBC.com

GE to invest SR3.75 bn in Kingdom – Arab News

“With this investment, GE will promote innovation and human capital development to strengthen the country’s manufacturing capability and supply chain in health care and energy. We are committed to work in partnership with key ministries and customers to support the Saudi Vision of boosting the country’s competitiveness and building a knowledge-based economy. Today, we live in a world where multi-way partnerships can better unlock potential, empower a strong local work force and stimulate the SME sector to build local technologies and solutions that address pressing challenges.” Steve Bolze, GE president and CEO of power plant and water – full article

Aiming toward a knowledge-based economy – Saudi Gazette

The King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) was the starting point of turning the Saudi economy away from oil dependency and toward a knowledge-based one. Launched in 2005, KASP is considered the largest scholarship program in the history of the Kingdom.  Rest

Tiger mothers in Singapore – Losing her stripes?

The prime minister goes into battle against pushy parents

…  It is too early to tell which way the debate that Mr Lee provoked will go. For many parents, to follow the prime minister’s indulgent instincts would be to jeopardize the little prodigy’s future. But the anxiety behind the comments is that hard-studying Singaporeans lack creativity and an ability to think laterally. This is now seen as a competitive disadvantage in what are often called “knowledge economies”, where innovation and inventiveness are at a premium. Are the tiger mothers, Mr Lee seems to be wondering, now putting Singapore’s future prosperity at risk?   The full article

Gearing Up for Knowledge Economy

As countries progress toward higher income levels, their success or failure depends on their economies’ ability to move up the production ladder from low-value-added manufacturing based on imported technology to high-value-added products less reliant on technology imports.

Numerous middle-income countries that were initially high economic performers struggled to make this transition. As their wages and other production costs increased, they could no longer compete with low-income countries, and with limited technological capacity and innovation, they could not compete with high-income countries either. In economists’ jargon, they were caught in the “middle-income trap”.

China is not considered to be in the middle-income trap, but its economy shows many similar symptoms. Wages have risen sharply, exports and growth are under threat, and many parts of the economy will need to move quickly to increase their value-added products and stay competitive.

The experience of countries that avoided the middle-income trap is highly relevant to China. What have others learned? Two crucial elements: education and innovation.    Rest

Competition enforcement in the knowledge economy

Joaquín Almunia Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Competition Policy Competition enforcement in the knowledge economy Fordham University/ New York City 20 September 2012  … I will start with the financial services. Over the past 30 years or so, banks and other financial institutions have grown spectacularly in size and complexity and information technology has changed the industry beyond recognition. For regulators and antitrust enforcers this means that to keep financial markets open and fair we must refine our tools and update our expertise. It’s an uphill struggle. We all know that for too long the financial-services sector has not had the same constraints and standards that were imposed on other industries to protect us from the harm it could do – nowhere near the standards for environmental protection, for instance. We know that well, but today I will not talk about regulation and oversight – or the lack thereof. Instead, I will talk about how the EU competition authority is trying to keep a level playing field in the industry and prepare the ground for the sounder, safer and more transparent financial sector of the future.  Rest

Biomedical Research Foundation

Economic development organizations must invest in knowledge the way they invested in manufacturing, a central Louisiana development professional said. Jim Clinton, president and CEO of the Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance, shared that thought during the Biomedical Research Foundation annual luncheon Tuesday in Shreveport. “Today we find ourselves in the middle of what we call the knowledge economy,” Clinton said. “The most valuable companies today … are valued for what they know, not what they own.”  Rest

Day one of the Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy was enlightening, thought-provoking and a fabulous networking event.  It started with remarks from Richard Boucher, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, regarding the growing importance of international manufacturing value chains.

Sang-Jick Yoon, Vice Minister for Industry and Technology, Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE), also added his welcoming remarks and noted that “Korea’s efforts for strengthening the Knowledge-based Economy will not be confined only within Korea. By holding this forum, we hope to become a bridge between the OECD member and non-member countries contributing to the spread of knowledge economy throughout the world. ” (full remarks here).

Further remarks were provided by Yong-Geun Kim, President, Korea Institute of Advanced Technology (KIAT), and Kyung Wook Hur, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Korea to the OECD and the Forum then commenced with about twenty additional excellent speakers grouped in discussion panels.

Day two is anticipated to be equally interesting with a focus on green and inclusive growth.  As a current example of how business can be made more sustainable, I note an interesting article in yesterday’s Korea JoongAng Daily entitled Winning eco-product strategies.  The author, Ha Joo-hyun, is a research fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI) www.SERIworld.org.

Looking forward to a great crowd at the 2nd Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy in Seoul, South Korea in a couple of days.  This year’s Forum is hosted by both the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the South Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy.  The website for the event is here as part of the OECD website.

Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, Sept 12 (IBNS) With a leadership change playing out and in the midst of implementing its current Five-Year Plan for sustainable and balanced growth and creating an innovative knowledge economy, China may be poised for a fresh round of reforms that are necessary to achieve its long-term development goals.    …

The determination of China’s political leaders to get things done should not be underestimated, Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, United Kingdom, advised. “I have great confidence in the political leadership here. State-directed capitalism works. My experience is that the leadership understands the need for change.”  Full article