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The main objective of this series of international conferences on Technology Policy and Innovation is to bring together leading representatives of academic, business, and government sectors worldwide to present and discuss current and future issues of critical importance for using science and technology to foster regional economic development and shared prosperity at home and abroad. Multidisciplinary perspectives are encouraged to provide state-of-the-art and useful knowledge to decision makers in both the private and public sectors - including informed and effective education, business, and government policies and strategies for the global, knowledge economy. The 1st International Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation was held in Macau, off the coast of China, July 2-4, 1997, with the theme "21st Century Opportunities and Challenges for Asian Science, Technology and Innovation Policy". The 2nd International Conference was held in Lisbon, Portugal, August 3-5, 1998, with the theme "Knowledge for Inclusive Development", the 3rd Conference was held in Austin, Texas, August 30-September 2, 1999, with the theme "Global Knowledge Partnerships: Creating Value for the 21st Century", and the 4th Conference will be held in Curitiba, Brazil, in August 2000, focusing on "Learning and knowledge networks for development". A record of all these events is available at http://in3.dem.ist.utl.pt/confpolicy/. A serie of special issues have been published in the international journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change with selected and extended papers, as described in http://in3.dem.ist.utl.pt/TFSC/, and other outstanding material presented during the Conferences have been published in the QUORUM BOOK series on Technology Policy and Innovation published by Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. http://www.quorumbooks.com, as described in http://in3.dem.ist.utl.pt/quorumseries/.
The 5Th Conference: DELFT´2001
For 2001, the 5th Conference will be held in Delft, The Netherlands, and will give emphasis on "Critical Infrastructures". Infrastructures such as those enabling physical transport, communication, the provision of energy and water, as well as waste materials, have become more and more critical to the functioning of society. Economic and social processes to a large extent rely on the services provided by such systems, together with an increasing range of knowledge infrastructures. At the same time, a variety of changes are taking place in and around the infrastructures, including: rapid institutional changes (privatization and decentralization, changes in ownership, internationalization), technological innovations (notably in information and communication technology), increasing demands on service quality and sustainability. These and other changes pose formidable challenges to policy makers, business innovators, system designers, infrastructure operators and scientists alike: How can efficiency be improved while allowing for innovation and creativity, and preserving system quality and reliability, equity of service where necessary, and sustainability? What are appropriate response strategies for businesses to these changes, grasping new business opportunities? How can system designers deal with increasing complexity and uncertainties regarding future demands and developments? How can science develop methods and approaches needed to integrate disciplinary perspectives in order to better understand infrastructure developments, and provide support to designers and policy makers? The 2001 conference on critical infrastructures will provide a unique, international, multidisciplinary forum where the scientific and business leaders and policy makers in the field will assess the state of the art and future prospects in the field. Coverage of different infrastructure systems and knowledge perspectives will provide unique opportunities for learning by comparison between infrastructures and confrontation and integration of disciplinary perspectives. |
For
more information, please go to
http://www.delft2001.tudelft.nl
