- Current
issues for sustainable development have raised the
requirements to combine environmental assessment and
advanced reserach methods of appraisal to guide
socio-economic development In this context, the seminar
will discuss current knowledge on the development of
economic activities integrating the design for the
environment and adequate technology transfer
practices.
- The process of
designing, building-up and implementing science and
technology policies and infrastructures is discussed and
described in terms of their impact on regional and
economic development. Technology institutes,
university/industry partnerships and science and
technology parks will be described on the basis of case
studies in several European contexts, in a way to allow
the design of science and technology policies devoted to
regional development. The need to promote interactive
linkages between the various actors in an innovation
system will be discussed, namely in terms of the role of
science and technology infrastructures in promoting those
linkages. The results will be discussed in terms of
advanced economic theories, which has shown the need to
promote the learning capacity of society. In this
context, various types of science and technolgy
infrastructures developed in the last years will be
discussed and assessed based on recent
methodologies.
- The concept of
regional systems of knowledge creation and diffusion will
be discussed and described based on the current
understanding of technology policy and innovation. The
processes of establishing learning networks and to move
from a learning regional system to a regional system of
innovation will be discussed with the utlimate goal to
implement and promote the diffusion and creation of
knowledge. The role of the various actors involved in
regional development will be emphasised, namely in terms
of the assessment of educational and science and
technology systems and of corporate dynamics, at the
various dimensions ranging from SMEs to large
multinational companies.
- The process of
designing and implementing social structures to
facilitate technology-based economic development will be
described making use of experiences in Europe and the
USA. Civic enterpreneurs are leaders in their communities
and the way they can foster local economic development is
described. Emphasis will be given on the processes how
civic entrepreneurs foster powerful productive linkages
at businesses, government, education and the community
and how they operate to create "competitive
advantages".
- The importance
of information and telecommunication technologies and
policies for development will be assessed making use of
case-studies in Europe, Asia and in America. The
discussion will be policy-oriented in that it will
discuss how far the advance of telecommunications
infrastructures and services leads to a pattern of
corporate and regional performance. The analysis will be
based on the existance of production network
externalities, which may derive from the use of
information and telecommunication industries affecting
the connectivity and performance index of a region.
Typical issues to be raised on the design of information
policies in national and regional contexts will be
discussed, and the use of telematics and
telecommunications networks as the latest form of urban
infrastructures, are described and assessed in terms of
the of performance of urban environment.
