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... mainstream economic theory does not help addressing innovation policies suited to the knowledge economy as it assumes away the complexities of innovation processes. This dissertation deals with the above-mentioned topic from the viewpoint of the Lisbon goal of competitiveness in the knowledge economy. First, the author asks why the creative sector could play an important role in the knowledge economy, how this relates to the Lisbon Agenda, and whether the arguments available to date are sound. The relevant literature suggests mainly that the creative sector has a strong nexus with the economy nowadays, and that it has entered the post-Fordist cycle, i.e. human creativity, knowledge and innovation are at the basis of its competitiveness. [....] In future, the creative sector is expected to further grow in European countries, and this is related to the opportunities offered by the conjunction of the so-named "big three" - digitization, convergence and globalization. Public institutions' adaptation and response to the "big three" to foster creative firms' adaptation would unleash high growth for the creative sector. In addition, its growth could feed the ICT sector who calls for cultural content, inter alia. This may favour the ICT sector uptake, which is the key sector in the Lisbon Strategy. The author finds the main concern is about the precision of current statistics. Indeed, the present census for the creative sector only allows for indicative figures. Thus, further and sounder evidence is required. Even so, it can be concluded that the creative sector can play an important role within the knowledge-economy in Europe but this is much about prospects and it depends on the adaptation to the "big three" as fostered by the state itself. The corresponding role of the state in formulating policies to boost the creative sector is explored by analyzing a case study, i.e. the Creative Economy Programme in the UK. This has developed a whole approach

daviding says: I've only read the abstract, but my guess is that "creative sector" would somehow link to Richard Florida's "creative class". There's an interesting pointer to the "Lisbon strategy", with which I'm not familiar, and the "big three" of digitalization, convergence and globalization (of whom I'm not sure named as "the big three"

Building on the success of the original INNOV8 in the academic community, INNOV8 v.2 will be available at no cost to businesses and academic institutions for simulations and training. The new version features puzzles and tasks that challenge players to tackle real-world challenges. INNOV8 v.2 delivers a complete redesign of the game, with a new global collaboration feature for players to work with virtual teammates to progress to the next level of the game. In addition, three new game scenarios reflect a new level of intelligence required for future, high-value job opportunities: * 'Green' Supply Chain: Players evaluate a traditional supply chain model and are tasked with reducing a fictional company's carbon footprint. * Efficient Traffic Flow: Players evaluate existing traffic patterns and re-route traffic based on sensors that alert the player to disruptions such as accidents and roadway congestion. * Call Center Customer Service: Using a call center environment, players develop more efficient ways to respond to customers. [....] Most MBA programs are already heavily based on projects that reflect how individuals and teams need to interact in the real world. INNOV8 v.2 takes that a step further by actually allowing students to step into a dynamic business environment. Based on advanced commercial gaming technologies, it allows players to visualize how technology and related business strategies affect an organization's performance. Together, players can map out business processes, identify bottlenecks and explore 'what if' scenarios in an experiential learning environment. [....] INNOV8 v.2 will be available in May 2009. For more information on INNOV8, IBM's Academic Initiative or to access the virtual press kit, pleas visit www.ibm.com/innov8.

daviding says: The main page is at http://www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/innov8/index.html . I haven't played the game -- I'm not a fan of video games -- so if you want to try 5 to 10 minutes online, I'd be interested in your experience.

I watched the first video, and it made the U.S. social security system (mismanagement) easy to understand. Note the references: Odum, Basteson, Jantsch.

Ecolanguage introduces a few new things: (1) the use of regular motion as a part of standard grammar, and (2) the use of a visual symmetry -- the hexagonal snowflake -- to stand for an organization of any kind, at any level of nature and society. In the center, we put the ruler. Everything else is based on things which came before. By using old and new things, Ecolanguage comprises: (A) an international systems language, (B) an accelerated learning strategy, (C) an integration of important and crucial topics, and (D) a scientific philosophy, emerging from many thinkers and writers over the last century, that brings the life, social, and cognitive sciences into the same picture as the physical sciences. We put the new basics of INFORMATION and ORGANIZATION alongside the established basics of MATTER and ENERGY. Now we can represent purposiveness, intention, relationship, agreement, and belief. We can locate the position of mathematical and physical deduction within a larger picture of communication and exchange. We can indicate both analysis and synthesis, including the redundancy of parts and their transcendence into wholes. It is a picture of our perceptual framework, no matter where we look. For a fun primer on this philosophy, please watch: New Chart, for Descartes. (For the old pointers, see the following bibliography.)

daviding says: Categorizing problems as P-type, N-type and NP-type (i.e. NP-hard) provides a way for appreciating why managers avoid taking on some challenges. It's better to succeed on an easy problem, than fail on a hard one. (There's a easier-reading version of this article in Rotman Magazine Winter 2009 that seems to have been evolved for publication into Harvard Business Review in January 2009).

[from the introduction] We develop a model of cognitive choices managers implicitly make among and within problem complexity classes and argue that strategic managers use problem statements from one complexity class with greater regularity than those from other complexity classes to make sense of their predicaments (i.e. to transform 'situations' or 'raw feels' into 'problems' or 'puzzles'). We examine the marginal value to strategic managers of greater 'logical complexity' - parametrized by the marginal value of greater precision of an answer and the computational sophistication of competitors schema - to come up with a computationally precise formulation of 'ecological rationality'.