Eindhoven, Netherlands -- The 25th Global Forum, an annual policy and strategy conference sometimes called “the Davos of ICT,” was held this week in Eindhoven, a smart city and technology hub with a rich industrial past.Eindhoven was the original home and de facto company town of Philips Electronics, one of the world’s leading technology giants. Then, under pressure from Asian and global competitors, Philips began a long process of exiting its historic lines of business.Eindhoven suffered an economic and psychological blow when in 1997 the company moved its headquarters to Amsterdam.The resulting economic and social disruption challenged Eindhoven to reinvent itself. The community focused on research and innovation (R&I), and built upon its Philips legacy to become the industrial design center of its country and the European region.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Jyväskylä, Finland -- The 11th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship was held last week at this picturesque university town in the central Finnish “Lake District.”Stanford University’s Henry Etzkovitz gave the opening keynote on “Triple Helix Innovation in a Crisis.”Etzkovitz originated the concept of “Triple Helix,” for the combined efforts of government, industry, and academia in regional economic development. He declared that in the knowledge era, the academic strand of the helix is the critical component.Cities and regions who deploy their academic resources wisely will prosper most in an era of global economic turmoil. “The entrepreneurial university” in particular can drive innovation because of its continuous waves of students, who can work on faculty-directed projects that do not have to meet direct economic goals, as corporations do.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Montreal, Quebec, was named “Intelligent Community of the Year” this week at the annual Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) Summit. In the face of economic decline and political scandals, Canada’s largest French-speaking city began its turnaround with a Smart City plan starting in 2011.The city, home to a 10th of Canada’s population, had endured trade losses, an eclipse of manufacturing, and years of separatist nostalgia. The new Montreal staked its future on a broader economic base of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), aerospace, health sciences, and clean technologies. These sectors now field 6,250 companies with 10% of the region’s workforce.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Montreal, Quebec, was named “Intelligent Community of the Year” this week at the annual Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) Summit. In the face of economic decline and political scandals, Canada’s largest French-speaking city began its turnaround with a Smart City plan starting in 2011.The city, home to a 10th of Canada’s population, had endured trade losses, an eclipse of manufacturing, and years of separatist nostalgia. The new Montreal staked its future on a broader economic base of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), aerospace, health sciences, and clean technologies. These sectors now field 6,250 companies with 10% of the region’s workforce.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Guadalajara, Mexico -- Smart Cities are the best response to the global urban future, according to the IEEE, which bills itself as “the world's largest professional association for the advancement of technology.”Gilles Betis, IEEE Smart City Initiative Chair, said the population in cities will grow from 3.5 billion today to 7.2 billion by 2050.“Doubling the number of people in cities is not an adjustment, this is a transition,” he said.Betis made the remarks in his keynote speech at the first IEEE Smart Cities Conference last week in Guadalajara, “the Silicon Valley of Mexico.”The city was the first of five “core cities” the association is focusing on for research grants and development projects.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Oulu, Finland -- The 24th Global Forum, an annual policy and strategy conference for technology leaders, was held this week in Oulu, a Nordic university town and research city about 100 miles from the Arctic Circle.
Juha sipila
Opened by Juha Sipilä, Finland’s current prime minister and a telecommunications engineer by training, the conference theme was “Digitalization: From Disruption to Sustainability.”+ FROM LAST YEAR'S CONFERENCE:Global Forum: Innovation creates opportunity, causes disruption +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Jay Gillette