I was surfing the web on the weekend and accidently I came across some info and videos that filled an important gap in my understanding of a book that was meaningful in my childhood.
When I was in primary (elementary) school I came across a book called "The World of Tomorrow" and I was instantly hooked on understanding technology and increasingly the way it develops or doesn't. The book had great glossy photos of amazing looking vehicles. My older brother had railway sets and the photos looked liked they were based on a model but apart from the attribution to General Motors in the notes section there was no commentary on the photos themselves.
The book was interesting because it didn't present possibilities of the future it presented one version as a technological forecast. Although, the author missed the mark with various technologies he was quite accurate with an number of predictions to do with communications and electronics. The biggest failure of the book was that there was no role for societial / demongraphics shifts influencing the use of technologies. Today, we understand much better, but still to little, about how to understand the future. Thus one of my hobbies is collecting and reading old books that make technological predictions.
Anyway, on the weekend I discovered the photos come from the General Motors exhibit at the 1964 World Fair (New York), which they called Futurama II. There are some great videos on the web which give you the experience of their display.
Futurama 1, 1939 World Fair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cO9X4NMb4
Futurama 2, 1964 World Fair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-5aK0H05jk
Assembling Futurama 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjclrx2__-w
While, obviously such work ends up being being as much works of fiction as prediction they interset on how we understand innovation and the systems of institutions that turn them into reality. More importantly, we can learn from such work that there still exists a blurry space between traditional innovation systems studies (focussed on economies) and science and technology studies with its interest in culture, gender and other social issues.We can learn much from how the past understood the future.
Interestingly, for me there are clearly epochs in history when populations are captivated by the future being full of better possibilities and others when the prevaiding mood is more depressed or post-futurist. It would be interesting to characterise communities on the basis of such moods for their effect of the social innovation system as opposed to the business innovation system.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
The Nature of cities
This week the Journal Nature has an interesting series of articles, all with a focus on cities. A couple of the articles focus on the production of science in cities with a few references to the usual suspects in innovation studies.
However, more interesting are the articles on 'a unified theory of urban living' and the role of cities in climate change action. Just as it is with nations and economics which are bound in geo-politics and power, it seems that cities have more freedom to maneuver and take direct action. Once again we see the need for a re-balancing of governance powers. How many city governments take seriously their responsibility to interact with their educational institutions above the level of high school? How many city governments interact on industry / innovation policy? And how many are even recognised in national constitutions?
Money and power seemingly flows downwards but increasing the action needs to be in managing upwards.
However, more interesting are the articles on 'a unified theory of urban living' and the role of cities in climate change action. Just as it is with nations and economics which are bound in geo-politics and power, it seems that cities have more freedom to maneuver and take direct action. Once again we see the need for a re-balancing of governance powers. How many city governments take seriously their responsibility to interact with their educational institutions above the level of high school? How many city governments interact on industry / innovation policy? And how many are even recognised in national constitutions?
Money and power seemingly flows downwards but increasing the action needs to be in managing upwards.
Friday, October 1, 2010
September's interesting links
With the focus worldwide on stabilising the global economy and jumpstarting growth, a strong emphasis on directed pro-innovation policies can be a rainbow of hope for nations worldwide. Third in the series, the Global Innovation Index and Report 2009-10 brought out this year, like last, by the world's business school INSEAD in partnership with India's Confederation Industry (CII) has stressed the importance of innovation in country competitiveness and development strategies and is clearly one of the most comprehensive assessments of innovation-this time covering 132 nations.
- Europe in figures - Eurostat yearbook 2010 http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/product_details/publication?p_product_code=KS-CD-10-220
- The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet - from Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/
- OECD - Measuring Globalization: OECD Economic Globalization Indicators 2010
- http://www.oecd.org/document/50/0,3343,en_2649_34557_45938226_1_1_1_37461,00.html
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
August's interesting links
This month I am going to start posting links to interesting material that I see (but obviously haven't necessarily read) that month.
- A website devoted to Chris Freeman's life http://www.freemanchris.org/ .
- T Niedomysl, H K Hansen. What matters more for the decision to move: jobs versus amenities Environment and Planning A 2010, volume 42, pages 1636 - 1649
Abstract.
Highly skilled workers are increasingly recognised as a key competitive asset for regional development, and claims have been made that emphasise the importance of certain amenities for the prospects of attracting this particular group of workers. We use a recent large-scale survey to investigate the relative importance of jobs versus amenities for the decision to migrate, as perceived by the migrants themselves. The paper thereby adds important insights to the existing literature that has hitherto mainly focused on analysing the extent to which aggregate migration flows correlate with employment-related or amenity-related factors. The results show that jobs are considerably more important for the decision to move among highly educated migrants compared with migrants with lower education.
- D L Prytherch `Vertebrating' the region as networked space of flows: learning from the spatial grammar of Catalanist territoriality' Environment and Planning A 2010, volume 42, pages 1537 - 1554
For decades theoretical debates about political restructuring have resorted to and co-constructed geographical concepts of territory and scale, interpreting `new' and `Euro' regionalisms as processes of reterritorialization and rescaling (and the politics thereof ). But nested and hierarchical theories of scale have been severely critiqued, and bounded notions of territory opened to question. How then to develop a more relational understanding of the region without trading one limiting theoretical master narrative for another? Drawing inspiration from recent attempts to do just this, in this paper I ask: what can we learn about the complex and relational spatiality of the region, and thus scale and territory, through the spatial vocabularies of regionalists themselves? Using the case study of the Northwestern Mediterranean, I explore the imaginaries and stratagems of Catalan regionalism and transboundary macroregionalism, particularly in the neighboring regions of Catalunya and the Comunitat Valenciana and their proposed integration in a Euroregion called the Arc Mediterrani. While Catalanists increasingly emphasize networked economic relationships and flows, they do so within a structured, territorial, and in many ways bounded understanding of Mediterranean spatial relations. How Catalanists vertebrar territori (articulate or structurate territory, in Catalan) offers an alternative spatial grammar for thinking about how various spatialitiesöincluding network and geographical scaleöare distinct yet co-implicated in the social production of regional and macroregional territory.
- The geography of transport systems http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/ A great website of maps and diagrams of transport flows across the North America and the globe.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Connectivity: internet flows, airline flows and our internet usage
Ethan Zuckerman on TED this year has some really interesting observations on social networks. His focus was primarily on how we create with filter bubbles. We stay within our own interest boundaries. Maybe the old economy and the new economy have something in common - it hard tomove outside your milieu. Actually Zuckerman suggests its easier to get stuff across the globe than move outside your digital bubble. He has some great diagrams of the lack of international news carried by US media. He highlights wiki entries geo-coded which shows that they mostly relate to the USA, Europe, Brazil and Australia.
Ethan says we focus on the infrastructure of globalisation - he uses the example of airline routes rather than the content of the wiring - the number planes or passengers moving between places.
On a related subject, recently, I came across the work of Chris Harrison. His images reveal the city to city connectivity of global society. Unsurprisingly, there is huge activity within the USA and then between the USA and Western Europe. Take the time to look at his images.
http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/InternetMap/index.html
Essentially, connectivity maps are the same if we talk of flights or bits and bytes.
Zuckerman could be onto something. Perhaps there is a growing difference in our trade behaviour and our person to person connections.
Ethan says we focus on the infrastructure of globalisation - he uses the example of airline routes rather than the content of the wiring - the number planes or passengers moving between places.
On a related subject, recently, I came across the work of Chris Harrison. His images reveal the city to city connectivity of global society. Unsurprisingly, there is huge activity within the USA and then between the USA and Western Europe. Take the time to look at his images.
http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/InternetMap/index.html
Essentially, connectivity maps are the same if we talk of flights or bits and bytes.
Zuckerman could be onto something. Perhaps there is a growing difference in our trade behaviour and our person to person connections.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Chis Freeman
I have heard on the grapevine that Professor Chris Freeman who headed SPRU for many years and with the late Keith Pavitt establish Research Policy died on the weekend. His wiki page has the same information.
The work of Chris Freeman is rightly held in high respect. In recent years I have been tracking down early work of the OECD on science and innovation. Chris' writings of the 1960s still read well today. More insightful and clearer than much of what the journals currently publish on the subject.
For those with an interest in science policy and consequential indicators, his work on 'the problems of science policy' (1968) is an informative read and one that reveals that for the last 40 years we haven't gone much beyond filling in his agenda.
The work of Chris Freeman is rightly held in high respect. In recent years I have been tracking down early work of the OECD on science and innovation. Chris' writings of the 1960s still read well today. More insightful and clearer than much of what the journals currently publish on the subject.
For those with an interest in science policy and consequential indicators, his work on 'the problems of science policy' (1968) is an informative read and one that reveals that for the last 40 years we haven't gone much beyond filling in his agenda.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Architecture #4: Delight, Beauty and Happiness
You are probably wondering how it is possible that an innovation system could be analysed on its properties for aiding delight, beauty or maybe a more popular word of late - happiness. I had (until recently) been pondering the same thing for over a decade. Some ideas appear to offer intriquing possibilities without any possibility of resolution. So it was with this one. More than a decade ago I regularly had coffee with an architect friend in Canberra who first introduced me to the eloquent summary of architecture as firmness, fitness and delight. At the time I was searching for a language that invoked a 3Dness to the structural studies of economies and 'architecture' seemed like a useful word. At the time I couldn't envisage anything more that just 'form' in various guises.
However, curiously, as I have been reading Alain de Botton's book on architecture, this third piece of puzzle has begun to clarify itself for me. On page 71 (of my version) he states:
... However, there might be a way to surmount this state of sterile relativism with the help of John Ruskin's provocative remark about the eloquence of architecture. The remark focuses our minds on the idea that buildings are not visual objects without any connection to connects which we can analyse and then evaluate.Buildings speak - and on topics which can be readily discerned. They speak of democracy or aristocracy, openness or arrogance, welcome or threat, a sympathy for the future or a hankering for the past.
SO of what do innovation systems speak?
Do they speak of openness and inclusion or merely the trendy and wealthy?
Do they speak of just economies or societies and communities?
#1. Of what do innovations systems speak
- democracry - maybe, economies - definitely, but societies and communities - I'm less certain.
Today 'innovation' is invoked as the panacea for the ills of our economies but not of our societies.
Should we start asking questions about who innovation is for etc. This has been the realm of science and technology studies but I am beginning to think that we need to urgently dialogue this in Schumpeterian side of the literature as well. Is creativity just for new products and services? What of the poor and disadvantaged even in advanced economies - those that don't go to schools with all the latest technology etc? What of innovations and their effects on the disabled communities. Some innovations improve their lives and others make it harder.
Are schools just to produce clones of a previous era or can we envisage something more?
#2 What of happiness.
In recent years there has been a flood of literature.
One observation (stated in Graham 2005 in World Economics p45)
Easterlin, in his original study, revealed a paradox that sparked interest in the topic but is, as of yet, unresolved. While most happiness studies find that within countries wealthier people are, on average, happier than poor ones, studies across countries and over time find very little, if any, relationship between increases in per capita income and average happiness levels. On average, wealthier countries (as a group) are happier than poor ones (as a group); happiness seems to rise with income up to a point, but not beyond it. Yet even among the less happy, poorer countries, there is not a clear relationship between average income and average happiness levels, suggesting that many other factors—including cultural traits—are at play.
Other factors that are important are: social connections, social services such as education and health etc.
This is another TED video.
#3 - Conclusions
If we want to speak of innovation - particularly 'national innovation systems' then isn't it time that we move beyond a purely narrow economics context. All we are doing is replacing one discourse which emphasised monetary policy along with labour and natural resource exploiting development paths with a technological creation one.
The science and technology studies literature which has developed largely in parrallel with the innovation literature already emphasises culture and gender issues amongst others - isn't it time that there was greater informed cross readings.
Interestingly, there was a conference ths year that seems a step in the right direction from the perspective of innovation systems and happiness.
Innovation and Inequality: From Pharma and Beyond
Workshop in Pisa, Italy, 15-16 May 2010, Conference organisers: Mariana Mazzucato and Luigi Orsenigo
http://www.open.ac.uk/ikd/events/innovation-and-inequality/
However, curiously, as I have been reading Alain de Botton's book on architecture, this third piece of puzzle has begun to clarify itself for me. On page 71 (of my version) he states:
... However, there might be a way to surmount this state of sterile relativism with the help of John Ruskin's provocative remark about the eloquence of architecture. The remark focuses our minds on the idea that buildings are not visual objects without any connection to connects which we can analyse and then evaluate.Buildings speak - and on topics which can be readily discerned. They speak of democracy or aristocracy, openness or arrogance, welcome or threat, a sympathy for the future or a hankering for the past.
SO of what do innovation systems speak?
Do they speak of openness and inclusion or merely the trendy and wealthy?
Do they speak of just economies or societies and communities?
#1. Of what do innovations systems speak
- democracry - maybe, economies - definitely, but societies and communities - I'm less certain.
Today 'innovation' is invoked as the panacea for the ills of our economies but not of our societies.
Should we start asking questions about who innovation is for etc. This has been the realm of science and technology studies but I am beginning to think that we need to urgently dialogue this in Schumpeterian side of the literature as well. Is creativity just for new products and services? What of the poor and disadvantaged even in advanced economies - those that don't go to schools with all the latest technology etc? What of innovations and their effects on the disabled communities. Some innovations improve their lives and others make it harder.
Are schools just to produce clones of a previous era or can we envisage something more?
#2 What of happiness.
In recent years there has been a flood of literature.
One observation (stated in Graham 2005 in World Economics p45)
Easterlin, in his original study, revealed a paradox that sparked interest in the topic but is, as of yet, unresolved. While most happiness studies find that within countries wealthier people are, on average, happier than poor ones, studies across countries and over time find very little, if any, relationship between increases in per capita income and average happiness levels. On average, wealthier countries (as a group) are happier than poor ones (as a group); happiness seems to rise with income up to a point, but not beyond it. Yet even among the less happy, poorer countries, there is not a clear relationship between average income and average happiness levels, suggesting that many other factors—including cultural traits—are at play.
Other factors that are important are: social connections, social services such as education and health etc.
This is another TED video.
#3 - Conclusions
If we want to speak of innovation - particularly 'national innovation systems' then isn't it time that we move beyond a purely narrow economics context. All we are doing is replacing one discourse which emphasised monetary policy along with labour and natural resource exploiting development paths with a technological creation one.
The science and technology studies literature which has developed largely in parrallel with the innovation literature already emphasises culture and gender issues amongst others - isn't it time that there was greater informed cross readings.
Interestingly, there was a conference ths year that seems a step in the right direction from the perspective of innovation systems and happiness.
Innovation and Inequality: From Pharma and Beyond
Workshop in Pisa, Italy, 15-16 May 2010, Conference organisers: Mariana Mazzucato and Luigi Orsenigo
http://www.open.ac.uk/ikd/events/innovation-and-inequality/
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