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How to Measure Innovation
2008-08-09 17:45:00
Ernest Beck reported in BusinessWeek, July 16, 2008, the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts [NESTA], the independent British organization, is working on a new index to assess the state of innovation within specific industries." Since the 1970s, Britain's economy has made a dramatic shift from manufacturing to services, ranging from banking and finance to advertising and film production. But to date there's been no way to take stock of how innovative the companies and the industries actually are. Traditional methods of measuring innovation, such as the level of investment in research and development, don't tell the entire story." In an effort to more adequately measure innovation — and its impact on Britain's entire economy — NESTA, a nonprofit organization that promotes innovation, wants to create a new index, one that will be industry-specific and include what NESTA Executive Director Richard Halkett calls the changing, unreported face of innovati...
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Brussels-Capital Region ranked first for HRSTC in Europe
2008-07-20 17:23:00
The stock of human resources in science and technology (HRST) can be used as an indicator of the development of the knowledge-based economy in the EU. The core group of this population — known as HRSTC — can be considered as active stakeholders in the development of knowledge and technological innovation. This core group is often well represented in capital regions.In the 2006 regions ranking with the largest shares of HRSTC among the regional labour force in 2006, Oslo og Akershus (NO) was the region with the highest proportion of HRSTC (33%) among the regional labour force. Stockholm (SE), Province Brabant Wallon (BE), Inner London (UK) and Utrecht (NL) followed with shares of between 27% and 28%. Thirteen of the 25 leading regions were capital regions. Belgian regions were more strongly represented than others.Considering all economic sectors, the leading region in 2006 was Brussels -Capital Region (BE) with 29.1%. Berlin (DE) and Île de France (FR) followed...
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KIS employment in Brussels-Capital Region
2008-03-25 11:13:00
" Science, Technology and Innovation in Europe 2008 " published by Eurostat, reveals 7,9% of jobs in Belgium are in Knowledge Intensive Services (KIS(1)).While overall average in Europe is of 4,8%, Belgium scores best (7.9%) among EU27 countries, leaving behind Ireland (6,8%) and Finland (6,7%). Least best performers are Bulgaria, Austria and Slovakia (3%), with Portugal (2,7%) closing the ranking.Brussels -Capital Region scores 5th(2) in terms of employment in KIS (51.2%). Among regions, Brussels outperforms neighbouring Utrecht (48.8%), Île de France (46.1%) and even Belgian Vlaams Brabant Region (45,8%).Brussels employment in KIS is particularly intensive (45,6%)  in areas of air and water transport, post and telecommunication, financial intermediation, rental of equipment and machinery or real estate activities. (1) Knowledge intensive services (KIS) includes all employment in water transport ; air transport ; post and telecommunicati...
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The top ten advances in materials science
2008-03-22 09:53:00
Last year Jonathan Wood, editor at Materials Today, has assembled a list of the top ten advances in materials science over the last 50 years. In making the final selection, it has been tried to focus on the advances that have either changed our lives or are in the process of changing them.International Technology Roadmap for SemiconductorsScanning probe microscopesGiant magnetoresistive effectSemiconductor lasers and LEDsNational Nanotechnology InitiativeCarbon fiber reinforced plasticsMaterials for Li ion batteriesCarbon nanotubesSoft lithography MetamaterialsMore on Materials Today, December 19, 2007.
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The Most And Least Profitable Businesses To Start
2008-02-17 17:36:00
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Lead Market Initiative for Europe
2008-02-03 15:41:00
On the basis of intense stakeholder consultations, six markets have been identified against a set of objective criteria : e-Health,Protective textiles,Sustainable construction,Recycling,Bio-based products,Renewable energies.These markets are highly innovative, respond to customers’ needs, have a strong technological and industrial base in Europe and depend more than other markets on the creation of favourable framework conditions through public policy measures. For each market, a plan of actions for the next 3-5 years has been formulated. The European citizens will benefit both from the positive impact on growth and employment (the identified areas could represent three million jobs and 300 billion EUR by 2020) and from the access to enhanced goods and services of high societal value.More >> Lead Market Initiative for Europe
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Pecha Kucha, Brussels, Jan 20, 2008
2008-01-13 16:01:00
Pecha Kucha, which is Japanese for the sound of conversation, is a series of show-and-tell evenings for designers, architects, artists and creatives, started by Klein Dytham architecture in Tokyo in 2003.  Since then, groups have sprung up in cities across the world (over 100 so far) and adopted the Pecha Kucha format: each presenter has 20 slides which are displayed for 20 seconds each.Pecha Kucha taps into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown. With the 20x20 format, presentations are concise, the interest level goes up, and more people get the chance to show their ideas.The Brussels format includes designers, architects, artists, scientists, fashion designers, photographers, musicians, and creative entrepreneurs. More on Pecha Kucha >>
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The 20 Most Important Questions In Business
2007-12-22 18:05:00
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The OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2007
2007-12-15 18:06:00
Published every two years, the OECD Science , Technology and Industry (STI) Scoreboard brings together over 200 internationally comparable quality indicators to explore the progress of national innovation strategies and recent developments in science, technology and industry.Its goal is to inform policy makers on questions of high policy interest, including:The international mobility of researchers and scientistsThe growth of the information economyInnovation by regions and industriesInnovation strategies by companiesThe internationalisation of researchThe changing role of multinational enterprisesNew patterns in trade competitiveness and productivityBy providing a wide array of indicators for policy analysis, the STI Scoreboard has become a widely used reference which combines statistical rigour with easy access and readability. The key findings are presented as bullet points alongside graphs highlighting the relative importance of countries. In addition, brief technical notes provi...

Should Brussels become a city region ? [3]
2007-11-10 18:01:00
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The Belgian conflict is escalating
2007-11-03 17:25:00
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Brand valuation of Brussels
2007-10-27 18:29:00
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Doctoral Programmes in Europe’s Universities: Achievements and Challenges
2007-10-14 17:48:00
A new report published this week by EUA gives an important insight into the state of doctoral education in Europe .It highlights the latest trends in this key sector of higher education, such as, the introduction of new organisational structures to manage doctoral education, the increasing focus on learning ‘transferable skills’ and the growth in new types of doctoral programmes such as “professional doctorates”. Equally, it underlines the challenges that Europe faces if it is serious about attracting and retaining the best young research talent.Amongst the findings, EUA’s work underlines that stakeholders (universities and public authorities) must do more to widen participation, to improve mechanisms for supervision and assessment, and to promote the international mobility of doctoral candidates. They must also take steps to ensure professional skills development is an integral part of all doctoral training.The report also shows that national funding po...
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Should Brussels become a city region ? [2]
2007-09-22 18:09:00
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What Engineers for a competitive Europe ?
2007-09-21 18:42:00
The Europe an Society for Engineers and Industrialists [SEII] organizes the international round table conference What Engineers for a competitive Europe ?Brussels, November 9-10, 2007The conference will specially tackle the following topics : What is the European industry expecting from Engineers ?How could Higher Education prepare to meet these needs ?The conference is aimed at all those having interest in the Engineering profession : Industrial companies and their federations Universities and other institutions of higher education in Engineering Engineers and their representativesMore on >>
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Growing fields in engineering
2007-09-08 16:10:00
The 2008 edition of US News' Best Graduate Schools currently identified two hot areas of engineering for the future...1. Environmental Engineering - It's a growing field, and engineers are needed to clean up existing pollution problems and prevent future ones.2. Service Science, Management, and Engineering (SSME) [1] - This emerging discipline is getting a big push from industry, including IBM and Hewlett-Packard. SSME combines engineering, computer science, economics, and management to improve the service sector.[1] Service Science, Management, and Engineering (SSME) is a term introduced by IBM to describe Services Sciences, an interdisciplinary approach to the study, design, and implementation of services systems – complex systems in which specific arrangements of people and technologies take actions that provide value for others. More precisely, SSME has been defined as the application of science, management, and engineering disciplines to tasks that one organization...
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Should Brussels become a city region ? [1]
2007-09-01 16:48:00
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The role of Higher Education Institutions in the knowledge economy
2007-08-16 20:35:00
Laura Williams, Senior Researcher with The Work Foundation, investigated the role of Higher Education Institutions in the knowledge economy in UK. Looking at what the knowledge economy means for Higher Education Institutions and cities, she challenged some of the myths that contribute to confusion.Myth 1 – The knowledge economy is only about graduatesBroadly, the knowledge economy is what you get when you bring together highly trained workers and powerful computers. Successful Cities – those that are thriving in the knowledge economy, such as Manchester, London and Edinburgh – tend to have a broad mix of skills. The growth of an affluent and mobile knowledge workforce stimulates demand for services, retail, leisure, housing and schools, meaning that a successful knowledge city needs more than a critical mass of graduates, it also needs people with other skills to work in these important sectors.Myth 2 – A University is an essential 'ingredient' of a knowled...
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Recommendations for Business Incubators, Networks and Technology Transfer f
2007-07-04 17:48:00
A report published by the EU funded Nanoforum initiative makes recommendations on how Europe can improve the transfer of technology from its research results, including in the field of nanotechnology. This report is the result of the two day workshop "Nano2Business " held at Warsaw University of Technology on 7th and 8th February 2007. The main focus of the discussions was on the best organisation for technology transfer incubators, technology transfer networks, and on identifying the main barriers to technology transfer.The report highlights the importance of education, and especially university education, which could teach business skills to scientists. It also calls for the people involved in the commercialisation of nanoscience and technology to benefit from special education following their scientific degree so as to develop management skills and understand marketing and financial issues. "The management team must be able to act as an effective technology translator. Technology ...
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The European Research Area : New Perspectives [Green paper]
2007-06-02 16:51:00
With the Green Paper on the European Research Area (ERA), the European Commission launches a broad institutional and public debate on what should be done to create a unified and attractive European Research Area, which would fulfil the needs and expectations of the scientific community, business and citizens. The debate is open to everyone with an interest in the realisation of a European knowledge society. In particular, the Commission expects to receive responses from research institutions (including universities), researchers, industry, civil society organisations, national and regional public authorities as well as the general public. The Commission will use the results of the debate to prepare initiatives that will be proposed in 2008. How to participate in the debate?The best way to engage in the debate is to express your views in the on-line consultation linked to the Green Paper. We are interested in receiving your views on the overall priorities for ERA, as well as on six m...

Brave New Interfaces. Individual, Social and Economic Impact of the Next Ge
2007-05-27 19:23:00
On April 26th 2007 an exclusive mixture of engineers, academic and corporate researchers, curators, artists, corporate managers from the pharma and health care sector, computer scientists and legal counselors filled the library of Namahn in Saint-Josse in Brussels, to celebrate the release of the 2nd CROSSTALKS book. ‘Brave New Interface s’ is edited by Jan Cornelis & Marleen Wynants and published by VUBPRESS.The topic of exploring existing and future interfaces and their design emerged from numerous discussions on whether some spectacular technological innovations also meant or implied something more than just technological progress. Depending on the gender and the technological literacy of the conversationalists, the answer might be yes, no, or somewhere in between. Another drive behind this publication was the need to find a common language to discuss all things interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinarity has been a major buzzword for a couple of years, but reality proves that differen...
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Surrealism in Belgium (1924-2000)
2007-05-12 11:20:00
" Surrealism in Belgium (1924-2000) " is the first prestigious exhibition in the brand new Mons museum. This exhibition will present the most complete collection of works and documents regarding surrealism in Belgium.More >> Digg it >>
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i-techpartner
2007-05-06 17:25:00
i-techpartner's mission is to join excellent European technology leaders with entrepreneurs and investors, and build value creating relationships by making technology development alliances and investments accessible and effective. Technology transfer in Europe is overall lacking clear processes and focused execution. Support programmes try to overcome these problems by bringing researchers and entrepreneurs together, but this alone has proven to be ineffective. i-techpartner provides a pragmatic answer to Europe's significant innovation challenges. It achieves a high number and high value of investments, partnerships and entrepreneurial commitments between research projects and innovative SMEs throughout Europe, involving investors and corporate partners.More >>
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Services Research & Innovation Initiative
2007-03-31 14:47:00
As services have become a dominant economic driver, businesses, government and academia must increase service research and innovation.Jointly founded by IBM, Oracle, the Technology Professional Service s Association (TPSA), and the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), the SRI Initiative is a consortium of technology companies, government agencies and universities dedicated to fostering advancements in service research.The organization will accomplish this by raising awareness of this issue through conferences, symposia and the SRINet.com Web site – the informational hub for the effort.  Members include HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Arizona State University, University of Maryland, the European Commission and the Fraunhofer Institute.  The SRI Initiative is headquartered in the Silicon Valley.Organizations who are interested in participating in and getting involved with the SRI Initiative should visit the Web site for more information - www.thesri.org
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Overall Innovation performance of Belgium is slightly above the EU average
2007-02-25 17:26:02
The sixth edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) has been published on 22 February 2006. The EIS is the instrument developed by the European Commission, under the Lisbon Strategy, to evaluate and compare the innovation performance of the EU Member States.The overall performance of Belgium is slightly above the EU average, with several indicators above the EU25 average and only a couple of indicators below the average.Most recent available data for year 2005 show that the group of Innovation drivers is the better performing with a high participation in tertiary education and a high level of broadband penetration. High level of education in the country positively affects the group application, which shows a consistent concentration of employment in hightech services and manufacturing.Considering the latest available data for each indicator, the group Innovation & entrepreneurship shows high percentages of SMEs innovating in house or cooperating on innovation. The Knowledg...
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The Greatest Innovations of All Time
2007-02-19 05:21:01
Larry Keeley of Doblin Inc. nominates the innovations that have most improved safety, living standards, and quality of life. His choices may surprise. All-time-great innovations ranked by Doblin planners are : 1. Weapons 2. Mathematics and the number zero 3. Money 4. Printing 5. Free markets and capital markets 6. Domesticated animals and agriculture 7. Property ownership 8. Limited liability 9. Participatory democracy10. Anesthetics and surgery11. Vaccines and antibiotics12. Semiconductors13. The Internet14. Genetic sequencing15. Containerized shippingAs pointed out by Larry " you may well disagree with these selections... For the moment I would rather note how very surprising this list is and to try to understand the lessons it offers to anyone who wants to innovate today ".Source : Businessweek.com, February 16, 2007.Digg it >>
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Brussels' population rising
2007-02-05 05:10:02
According to Mathieu Van Criekingen the rise in Brussels ' population is due above all to the arrival of foreigners rather than a reversal of urban flight, i.e., the return of former residents who moved to the greener suburbs.Results of the study indicate that, even if gentrification in Brussels is still marked by the gradual mutation of workingclass areas into " trendy " rather than " chic " neighbourhoods, this process is already highly selective in social terms. Indeed, whilst various types of migrant are leaving the inner city, their destinations vary markedly, in line with their socio-economic profiles.Source : Mathieu Van Criekingen, What is happening to Brussels’ inner-city neighbourhoods ? Selective migration from areas undergoing gentrification. Posted on Brussels Studies, Dec. 12, 2006. Digg it >>
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The engineer in the European Union of knowledge
2007-02-05 05:10:02
International seminar 9th and 10th February 2007, Brussels Within the context of the Lisbon Summit*, this international seminar wishes to emphasize research, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit and to demonstrate the role of the engineer in these three fields. The seminar will provide a forum for :- the industrial world- institutions of higher education- the engineering profession- individual engineers- who have an active interest in the added value of engineers towards the realisation of the Lisbon objectives More details on Council of Associations of long-cycle Engineers, of a university or higher school of engineering of the Euro pe an Union [CLAIU-EU] * The main objectives of the Lisbon Summit are : reach an average economic growth of 3% and create employment for 20 million by 2010.
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The 10 Riskiest Businesses To Start
2007-01-28 05:07:08
While some two-thirds of small firms make it past the two-year mark, just 44% can hack it for four years, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (USA). According to Fair Isaac (FIC), the more riskiest are : Transportation Apparel Stores Restaurants and bars Communications Travel agencies and tour operators Food services Personal services Auto repair Trucking Money Services Business esAnd which industries are a better fit for the faint of heart ? Surprisingly, real estate--including landlords, agents and developers--has a relatively low risk profile, according to Fair Isaac's data. Professional services and licensed trades score well, too: Think insurance brokers, doctor's offices and law firms. By Maureen Farrel, The 10 riskiest businesses to start, Forbes.com, Jan. 18, 2007.Full article >>
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The 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor reports a substanti
2007-01-13 22:58:03
The 2006 Global Entrepreneur ship Monitor reports a substantial decrease of the entrepreneurial “mindset” in Belgium for nascent as well as new companies. The Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) declined from 3.9 % (2005) to 2.7 % (2006). Belgium has now the lowest rate of early-stage entrepreneurial activity and the fifth lowest rate of established business ownership.The 2005 TEA showed a small increase at 3.9 % from 3.5% (2004).Source : Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
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