tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/knowledge-economy-7915/articlesKnowledge economy – The Conversation2024-01-09T17:02:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206062024-01-09T17:02:30Z2024-01-09T17:02:30ZEncyclopedia Britannica once published a catalogue of humanity’s ‘102 Great Ideas’ – and it created more questions than answers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568265/original/file-20240108-25-a23hwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/england-london-january-22019-vintage-illustrated-1343411819">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In its January 26 1948 issue, Life magazine <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p0gEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q&f=false">published a feature</a> showcasing the “102 Great Ideas” of western civilisation. The project was the brainchild of Mortimer Adler, a professor of philosophy and law at the University of Chicago and his boss, Robert Maynard Hutchins, then the university’s chancellor and the director of the Encyclopedia Britannica, which the university had owned since 1943. </p>
<p>Hutchins and Adler had identified what they believed were the 432 great books of western civilisation, which the encyclopedia planned to publish as a complete set. To allow readers to navigate this collection, a team of researchers prepared an index. Adler’s Syntopicon, as the index has since become known, would go on to be published as volumes two and three of the encyclopedia’s Great Books of the Western World 54-volume compendium. </p>
<p>In the double-page group portrait heading <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=p0gEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q&f=false">Life’s extended feature</a>, Adler and the encyclopedia’s William Gorman pose on either side of the gathered indexers. Between them sit 102 <a href="https://forum.zettelkasten.de/discussion/2623/mortimer-j-adlers-syntopicon-a-topically-arranged-collaborative-slipbox">index-card boxes</a>, labelled alphabetically. </p>
<p>Devised at a time before computers were widely available, the index was certainly an impressive achievement. It had taken 24 researchers some five years to complete by hand, and had cost nearly a million dollars to produce. </p>
<p>The results, however, pose more questions than answers about who exactly decides what counts as knowledge. Still today, politics and power structures determine which books are “great” – and which are not.</p>
<h2>Categorising knowledge</h2>
<p>Hutchins and Adler believed that the Syntopicon presented the most important and comprehensive collection of human knowledge to date. To their minds, almost every idea in the world was included in the identified reference books. These ranged from #1: Angel to #102: World – which took in, among other things, Beauty, Chance, Habit, Rhetoric, Slavery, Tyranny and Will, with each counting more than 30 subdivisions.</p>
<p>From the outset, people homed in on problems with the selection process. The (non-bylined) Life article highlighted that all 71 authors of the 432 books were men, ranging from Homer to Freud. It also noted that while “man” was the subject of a section all its own, “woman” was not featured as a main idea, but instead a subdivision of the Family, Man and Love sections. </p>
<p>In excluding women from both being taken seriously as scholars and being seen as a topic worthy of consideration, the index reinforced and replicated, in printed form, the biases and power structures that had oppressed women for so many years.</p>
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<p>Researchers also pointed out that none of the books were by authors of colour. Entire areas of scholarship were disregarded, for being, as one commentator <a href="https://scholarworks.umb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1226&context=trotter_review">put it</a>, contrary to Adler’s narrow preconceptions. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, New Yorker journalist Dwight McDonald noted a “provincial overemphasis” on English literature at the expense of other <a href="https://writing.upenn.edu/%7Eafilreis/50s/macdonald-great-books.html">literary traditions</a>, and concluded that what might otherwise have been called “accidental eccentricities” of the selection were in fact systematic occlusions. To his mind, they sprang from “dogma rather than oversight.”</p>
<p>Author Marshall McLuhan <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230308848_5">reached a similar conclusion</a>. In his 1951 book, The Mechanical Bride, he wrote that the “great ideas” had been “extracted from the great books in order to provide an index tool for manipulating the books themselves”. </p>
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<h2>Marketisation of knowledge</h2>
<p>Adler’s index was thus riven with gender, racial and cultural biases, laying bare, in the way that knowledge was presented to the public, the politics and power structures of the day. It stands as a perfect example of how knowledge can be used as a source of power and control – and monetised.</p>
<p>The Syntopicon was as much a result of business decisions as it was a piece of academic research. The Encyclopedia Britannica had books to sell. The index – and the attendant press coverage it engendered – could be seen as promotional materials. </p>
<p>But Hutchin and Adler’s enterprise was also so much more than that. In many respects, the 102 Great Ideas were a symbol – a marker of esteem and prestige. Hutchins <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230308848_5">reportedly</a> held that they represented a utopian set of educational tools, with the potential to “save the world from self-destruction.” </p>
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<span class="caption">Making big claims in 1913.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica#/media/File:EncycBrit1913.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>The Encyclopedia Britannica positioned itself as an esteemed “owner” of knowledge – an organisation with the power to decide what counts as knowledge and what doesn’t. Today, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0741-0">online publishing platforms</a> similarly promote certain viewpoints in order to build audiences and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/07/too-greedy-mass-walkout-at-global-science-journal-over-unethical-fees">generate profit</a>.</p>
<p>In my research, I have shown, too, how <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1469540520944228">social media companies</a> carefully manage what appears in people’s feeds in order to generate more content and therefore, more advertising revenue. The result is we often end up with quite distorted views of the world, as we become part of the endless churn, producing and consuming content for the profit of others. </p>
<p>As readers and consumers of knowledge, we need to remember that the things we read are all published for a reason. There is a politics to knowledge just as much as there is a politics to education and a politics to our everyday lives. Even if the things we read come from “good” and “trustworthy” sources, a decision still has to be made about what gets included and what gets left out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Ryder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mid-century encyclopaedias claimed the power to decide what counted as knowledge and what didn’t – much as online publishing platforms and social media companies do today.Mike Ryder, Lecturer in Marketing, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1393842020-06-28T20:09:22Z2020-06-28T20:09:22ZJobs deficit drives army of daily commuters out of Western Sydney<p><em>This is the first of <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/western-sydney-jobs-deficit-88804">three articles</a> based on newly released <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/cws/policy">research</a> on the impacts of a lack of local jobs on the rapidly growing Western Sydney region.</em></p>
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<p>Western Sydney has a jobs problem. No other big regional economy in Australia fails in providing jobs for its residents more than this one. At the last census the Western Sydney jobs deficit – local jobs minus local workers – was <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/cws/workers">222,000</a>. </p>
<p>If the region’s average rate of jobs growth for this century continues, this deficit will grow to 325,000 by 2036, an increase of over 30%. In our newly released <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/cws/policy">reports</a> on Western Sydney, we estimate an outflow from the region of 562,000 commuters as a consequence. Over 300,000 people already leave the region each day for work.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-people-cant-get-to-their-jobs-bring-the-jobs-to-the-people-57567">If the people can't get to their jobs, bring the jobs to the people</a>
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<p>Young professionals will have a growing presence in this long-distance, grinding, daily flow of workers. It’s an urban planning nightmare.</p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre for Western Sydney</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Fifty years ago, Western Sydney was one of Australia’s major industrial regions. In <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/2105.0">1971</a>, a belt of four local government areas – stretching from Bankstown, through Fairfield and Parramatta to Blacktown – was home to 104,000 manufacturing workers, more than one-third of the local workforce. By <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/cws/workers">2016</a> the number of these workers had fallen by two-thirds to only 36,000, or 7.8% of local resident workers.</p>
<p>Yet, unlike many manufacturing regions across the developed world – where de-industrialisation has left <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uneven-growth-tackling-city-decline">deep pools of displaced workers</a> – the region hasn’t ended up a rust belt. Western Sydney’s workforce has undergone a remarkable intergenerational reconstruction. </p>
<h2>Education fuels rise of professional class</h2>
<p>University education, in particular, is driving this. In <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/2105.0">1971</a>, only 3,900 degree-holders lived in the old industrial belt described above. By <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/cws/Who-are-we">2016</a>, their number had surged to 198,000.</p>
<p>In the region as a whole, Western Sydney in 2016 was home to 353,000 adults with bachelor or higher degree qualifications. This was <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/cws/Who-are-we">20.7%</a> of all people in the region aged 15 years plus, up from <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/cws/Who-are-we">10.7%</a> in 2001. Clearly a transformative change in the region’s resident workers has been under way. </p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre for Western Sydney. Data: National Economics (NIEIR), 2018</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>At the last census, <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/cws/occupations">20%</a> of Western Sydney’s employed residents were professionals, amounting to 203,000 workers. That’s more than any other occupational group in the region.</p>
<p>We can also see the transformation of the Western Sydney workforce through its take-up of jobs in what has become known as “knowledge-based business services”. This term covers three industry groups: professional, scientific and technical services; financial and insurance services; and information, media and telecommunications.</p>
<p>Here the emergence of the Western Sydney workforce as the real deal is undeniable. Our calculation is that, for 2018, Western Sydney was home to more knowledge-based business services workers (162,000) than Brisbane (159,000) – east-coast Australia’s wonder child – and significantly more than either Perth or Adelaide.</p>
<p>Such is the pace of upskilling in Western Sydney, the growth from 2013-2018 of residents holding jobs in knowledge-based business services outpaced the growth of these job holders in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth combined. </p>
<p>Indeed, our report finds an emerging divide in Australia’s metropolitan economies. Greater Sydney, including Western Sydney, and Greater Melbourne are hurtling ahead as advanced knowledge economies. The other metropolitan regions are lagging.</p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre for Western Sydney. Data:National Economics (NIEIR), 2018</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>But 60% don’t work locally</h2>
<p>A key question, then, is whether there are enough jobs in Western Sydney for this growing number of professional and knowledge workers? The answer, clearly, is no. </p>
<p>At the 2016 census only <a href="https://profile.id.com.au/cws/journey-to-work">40.4%</a> of Western Sydney’s knowledge-based business services workers could find jobs in their home region. The remaining 59.6% are <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-people-cant-get-to-their-jobs-bring-the-jobs-to-the-people-57567">forced to commute to destinations beyond the region</a> to ply their 21st-century trades.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-city-workers-average-commute-has-blown-out-to-66-minutes-a-day-how-does-yours-compare-120598">Australian city workers' average commute has blown out to 66 minutes a day. How does yours compare?</a>
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<p>Western Sydney’s dependence on a population-growth economy has limited the growth of jobs for knowledge workers. The region’s strong jobs growth in recent years has come overwhelmingly from two sources. </p>
<p>Construction, especially residential construction, has generated a lot of jobs. </p>
<p>The other source of jobs is the industry sectors that have grown in direct proportion to population growth. These include health care and social assistance, education and training, retailing, and accommodation and food services. The region’s population growth has fuelled growth in these population-serving sectors.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342569/original/file-20200618-94078-zq4uz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342569/original/file-20200618-94078-zq4uz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342569/original/file-20200618-94078-zq4uz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342569/original/file-20200618-94078-zq4uz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342569/original/file-20200618-94078-zq4uz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342569/original/file-20200618-94078-zq4uz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342569/original/file-20200618-94078-zq4uz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342569/original/file-20200618-94078-zq4uz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre for Western Sydney</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Vulnerable in the downturn</h2>
<p>Obviously, this jobs growth has been welcome and is important for the region’s <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-everyday-economy/">day-to-day economy</a>. The problem is that the Western Sydney economy has failed to produce significant job growth in other sectors. This has left the population-driven sectors, including construction, as the main source of growth. </p>
<p>In the construction sector, however, bust follows every boom. The sector <a href="https://www.masterbuilders.com.au/Resources/Industry-Forecasts">entered a significant downturn in 2019</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and recession are likely to rein in Western Sydney’s record population growth rates. This will hit jobs in the population-serving sectors, including further job losses in construction.</p>
<p>So workforce transformation in Western Sydney is running ahead of the economic transformation needed to ensure a supply of suitable jobs in the region. </p>
<p>Western Sydney has grown to become something more than a suburban appendage to the Sydney metropolitan area. Yet its 1 million workers lack the diverse jobs base reasonably expected of a large advanced urban economy. </p>
<p>Little wonder Western Sydney’s reputation as a planning nightmare is growing.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Centre for Western Sydney has released three reports on Western Sydney’s growing jobs deficit. You can read the reports <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/cws/policy">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139384/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phillip O'Neill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Education fuelled extraordinary growth in Western Sydney’s professional services workforce, but their jobs aren’t local. More than 300,000 commute to work outside the region.Phillip O'Neill, Director, Centre for Western Sydney, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1305402020-02-06T19:01:20Z2020-02-06T19:01:20ZAs big cities get even bigger, some residents are being left behind<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313661/original/file-20200205-149778-1k0f2mv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3784%2C2626&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cromo Digital/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/B7616AB91C66CDCFCA25827800183B7B?Opendocument">concentration of growth in major cities</a>, driven by the knowledge economy and the changing nature of work, <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-big-cities-are-engines-of-inequality-so-how-do-we-fix-that-69775">may also increase their social inequality</a>. Our <a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/I_pYC6X1nohrAK13spaJUA?domain=event.crowdcompass.com">research</a> looked at cities in the US and Australia. We compared measures of the knowledge economy and social vulnerability of their metropolitan areas and plotted them together.</p>
<p>Cities with above-average knowledge economies and below-average levels of social vulnerability are better placed to cope with the dual challenges of technological change and social inequality. Australia has only two cities in this category. </p>
<p>Australia’s biggest cities score high on knowledge economy capacity but also have high levels of social vulnerability. And some cities score poorly on both measures. This makes them doubly vulnerable to economic change and social inequality.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-knowledge-city-index-sydney-takes-top-spot-but-canberra-punches-above-its-weight-81101">The Knowledge City Index: Sydney takes top spot but Canberra punches above its weight</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Winners and losers in the one city</h2>
<p>One factor in these contrasting trends of concentrated growth and rising social vulnerability is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-amazons-decision-to-retrain-a-third-of-its-employees-means-for-the-future-of-work-120474">changing nature of work</a>. Cities are the site of the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/focus/fourth-industrial-revolution">Fourth Industrial Revolution</a> as the world economy clusters in major centres. It’s driven by the benefits of <a href="https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/agglomeration-economies/">agglomeration</a> – the productivity and efficiency gains from having many producers and people located near one another. </p>
<p>Already, 600 cities generate 60% of <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/the-anatomy-of-a-smart-city/">global economic output</a>. The world has 21 mega-cities of over 10 million people compared to <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/the-anatomy-of-a-smart-city/">three in 1975</a>. By 2040, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/the-anatomy-of-a-smart-city/">65% of the world population</a> will live in cities. </p>
<p>In the US, jobs were lost all over the country during the <a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great_recession_of_200709">Great Recession</a> of 2007-09. But the recovery is concentrated in 25 urban cores. Some <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-america-people-and-places-today-and-tomorrow">60% of US job growth</a> is expected to take place in these centres. </p>
<p>This over-concentration of employment opportunities may lead to social inequality and vulnerability within these cities. At the same time, other older and smaller cities have <a href="https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/09/the-overlooked-cities-of-the-rust-belt/538479/">struggled to revamp their economies</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, too, the top five <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-knowledge-city-index-sydney-takes-top-spot-but-canberra-punches-above-its-weight-81101">capital cities</a> are growing bigger. Growth is <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/B7616AB91C66CDCFCA25827800183B7B?Opendocument">dominated by Sydney and Melbourne</a>, but <a href="https://theconversation.com/rapid-growth-is-widening-melbournes-social-and-economic-divide-117244">economic and social inequalities</a> are <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-big-cities-are-engines-of-inequality-so-how-do-we-fix-that-69775">increasing</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rapid-growth-is-widening-melbournes-social-and-economic-divide-117244">Rapid growth is widening Melbourne's social and economic divide</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Despite economic growth, homelessness is increasing in both <a href="https://theconversation.com/homelessness-soars-in-our-biggest-cities-driven-by-rising-inequality-since-2001-117833">Australian</a> and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/california-homeless-crisis-austin-rep-chip-roy">US cities</a>. For some US cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco, it is at a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/04/los-angeles-homeless-population-city-county">tipping point</a>. These same cities are home to the most educated and richest citizens too.</p>
<h2>How do US and Australian cities compare?</h2>
<p>Combining various socioeconomic and demographic data (including <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/census">Australian Census</a>, <a href="https://www.census.gov/">US Census</a>, <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs">American Community Survey</a> and <a href="https://international.ipums.org/international/">IPUMS</a> data) at the metropolitan level, we created a Knowledge Cities Index (KCI) and Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). The chart below plots the KCI and SVI scores of 104 US metropolitan centres. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312362/original/file-20200128-119984-njytew.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312362/original/file-20200128-119984-njytew.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312362/original/file-20200128-119984-njytew.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312362/original/file-20200128-119984-njytew.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312362/original/file-20200128-119984-njytew.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312362/original/file-20200128-119984-njytew.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312362/original/file-20200128-119984-njytew.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312362/original/file-20200128-119984-njytew.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Knowledge Cities Index (KCI) and Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) of US cities. Higher KCI is to the right of the average line, higher SVI is above the average line.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The middle two lines show the averages of these scores. Cities with higher knowledge city scores (right side of the line) and lower social vulnerability scores (below the line) are better placed to cope with the dual challenges of technological shift and social vulnerability. These cities include New York-Newark-Jersey City, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, and Boston-Cambridge-Newton.</p>
<p>The chart below shows only two Australian cities – Brisbane and Adelaide – are in this category. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312363/original/file-20200128-120030-xz4qcz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312363/original/file-20200128-120030-xz4qcz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312363/original/file-20200128-120030-xz4qcz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312363/original/file-20200128-120030-xz4qcz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312363/original/file-20200128-120030-xz4qcz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312363/original/file-20200128-120030-xz4qcz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312363/original/file-20200128-120030-xz4qcz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312363/original/file-20200128-120030-xz4qcz.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Knowledge Cities Index (KCI) and Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) of Australian cities. Higher KCI is to the right of the average line, higher SVI is above the average line.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cities with higher KCI scores but also higher SVI scores include Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth.</p>
<p>Some major US metro areas in this category are San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. These cities are doing well in terms of knowledge generation and innovation, but have greater inequality and social disparities among their residents. These cities need strategies and policies to make themselves more inclusive and resilient. </p>
<p>The benefit of agglomeration economics may concentrate and benefit knowledge workers while segregating them from the rest of the society and increasing inequality. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-did-the-rich-man-say-to-the-poor-man-why-spatial-inequality-in-australia-is-no-joke-73841">What did the rich man say to the poor man? Why spatial inequality in Australia is no joke</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The map below shows the concentration of knowledge industries in Sydney. Sydney CDB has the highest concentration for most of the knowledge industries, except high-tech manufacturing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312364/original/file-20200128-120039-1opbpv8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312364/original/file-20200128-120039-1opbpv8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312364/original/file-20200128-120039-1opbpv8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312364/original/file-20200128-120039-1opbpv8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312364/original/file-20200128-120039-1opbpv8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312364/original/file-20200128-120039-1opbpv8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312364/original/file-20200128-120039-1opbpv8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312364/original/file-20200128-120039-1opbpv8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Distribution of knowledge industries in Sydney metropolitan area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Data: ABS, 2016</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found some cities with very low KCI scores and high SVI scores. US examples include McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Portland-South Portland and Memphis. In Australia, cities in this category include Sunshine Coast, Bunbury, Central Coast, Townsville and Gold Coast-Tweed Heads. </p>
<p>These cities are the worst off. Their lack of knowledge capacities and high social inequality make them highly susceptible to both technological shifts and social vulnerability. Solid strategies and policies are needed to increase the knowledge bases and improve the social conditions of these cities. </p>
<h2>What does this mean for policy?</h2>
<p>One suggested solution is <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-big-cities-are-engines-of-inequality-so-how-do-we-fix-that-69775">polycentric cities</a>. But this approach depends on overcoming the challenge of coordinating transport with land uses. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-big-cities-are-engines-of-inequality-so-how-do-we-fix-that-69775">Our big cities are engines of inequality, so how do we fix that?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The knowledge economy is increasingly important for cities to compete in the age of automation. But it can also compound the risk of increased social exclusion or vulnerability. Affected cities may then become less capable of withstanding impacts on other frontiers of social change. </p>
<p>The belligerent rate of automation may make the situation worse. Despite its <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-automate-the-fun-out-of-life-88681">cost-efficiencies</a>, automation has other human costs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-the-end-of-the-checkout-signals-a-dire-future-for-those-without-the-right-skills-129894">Vital Signs: the end of the checkout signals a dire future for those without the right skills</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These impacts require <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-the-us-workforce-will-rely-on-ai-but-dont-count-human-workers-out-just-yet-124241">policy intervention</a>.
The two indices of our study examine both the urban opportunities and the downsides of inequality and social vulnerability that the knowledge economy creates. The policy challenge will be how to make socially vulnerable populations more resilient to the changing nature of work and reduce its negative impacts. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-could-lead-to-a-dark-future-125897">The fourth industrial revolution could lead to a dark future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130540/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Sajeda Tuli receives funding from Australian-American Fulbright Commission. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shakil Bin Kashem does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The knowledge economy creates clear winners and losers in the big cities whose growth it drives. Many Australian and US cities with strong knowledge economies have high levels of social vulnerability.Sajeda Tuli, Fulbright Scholar, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of CanberraShakil Bin Kashem, Teaching Assistant Professor, Geography & Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263912019-11-14T15:30:12Z2019-11-14T15:30:12ZDigital training can help supervisors lift PhD output<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301757/original/file-20191114-26222-s3h9y1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Online education can help meet the increasing demand for self-paced professional development opportunities for academics.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Jon Hrusa</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Several African countries have increased the number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.6017/ijahe.v1i1.5644">new universities</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.6017/ijahe.v1i1.5644">increased enrolments</a> as part of an effort to boost tertiary education and <a href="http://www.africanminds.co.za/dd-product/research-universities-in-africa/">development</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, there has been an increased emphasis on doctoral degrees. Some countries have set ambitious targets for <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/ihe/knowledge-centre/developing-talent-employability/phd-capacities-sub-saharan-africa">the number of doctoral degrees</a>. And <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20111209195021937">Nigeria</a> and <a href="http://www.cue.or.ke/images/news/appointment_promotion_criteria_universities_2014.pdf">Kenya</a> now demand that all university lecturers have doctoral degrees. </p>
<p>The push for higher doctoral output <a href="https://doi.org/10.6017/ijahe.v1i1.5644">has increased</a> postgraduate enrolments. But this has not necessarily translated into sufficient numbers of successful <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/h233_07_synthesis_report_final_web.pdf">completions</a>. One of the reasons for this is the need for well trained supervisors. </p>
<p>Across the world policy makers <a href="https://www.eua-cde.org/downloads/publications/2016_euacde_doctoral-salzburg-implementation-new-challenges.pdf">acknowledge</a> the <a href="https://eua.eu/resources/publications/615:salzburg-ii-%E2%80%93-recommendations.html">crucial role of supervision in postgraduate education</a>. An online <a href="http://www0.sun.ac.za/crest/">short training programme has been developed at</a> Stellenbosch University in South Africa to provide support for supervisors. The training course is specifically aimed at supervisors at African universities.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>The online course grew out of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/DAADNairobi/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1212557545469204">a seminar</a> on doctoral quality at African universities in 2016. A proposal was made for an online short training programme for supervisors with a specific focus on the needs and conditions in African countries. In many universities doctoral students often have to pursue their research in <a href="http://www.africanminds.co.za/dd-product/the-next-generation-of-scientists/">resource-poor and adverse conditions</a>.</p>
<p>The first offering in 2018 drew 152 enrolments and 135 enrolled in 2019. Further offerings are planned for 2020 and beyond. So far participants have come from 25 different African countries. The course has achieved a success rate of 73%.</p>
<p>This uptake and completion illustrate that there is clearly a demand for doctoral supervision training at African universities. </p>
<p>The course also provides an opportunity to find some answers to important questions. First, why higher doctoral enrolments may not always be translating into graduations. Second, why there are ongoing concerns about quality. </p>
<p>We posed these questions during the course and also analysed data from 25 789 online forum discussion posts and 123 essays submitted by the participants of the course.</p>
<p>All the participants held PhDs, representing a range of different fields of studies. There was close to a 50-50 distribution between the sciences and the humanities. They all acknowledged the challenges linked to the rapid expansion of doctoral programmes and enrolments in their countries. They maintained, nevertheless, that more doctorates were a national priority for economic and social development. </p>
<p>Many participants commented on the high drop-out rates in their countries. These are, for example, up to 50% <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/h233_07_synthesis_report_final_web.pdf">reported</a> at some universities in Kenya and up to 60% at some universities in South Africa. They also observed the long time it took to graduate – with an <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/h233_07_synthesis_report_final_web.pdf">average of 6 years</a> reported in some countries, but often longer.</p>
<p>The challenges for supervision and doctoral research identified correspond with the findings of <a href="https://www.idea-phd.net/images/doc-pdf/IAUFinal_Report_Doctoral_Programmes_Phase_I.pdf">the International University Association</a>. These issues are largely related to resource constraints – physical and financial resources, infrastructure and human resources. </p>
<h2>Constraints</h2>
<p>Among the most prominent institutional factors identified were deficient application and inadequate screening processes of prospective doctoral students. Universities, especially new ones, were ill prepared to provide and support doctoral programmes in the absence of well-functioning graduate schools and similar institutional support structures. </p>
<p>Inadequate library services and lack of an adequate technical and administrative infrastructure were among the other constraints. </p>
<p>In such an environment, the supervisor’s role goes beyond the academic dimensions of doctoral supervision. But many participants identified inadequate supervisor capacity as a major problem. In many universities a large number, if not a <a href="http://www0.sun.ac.za/crest/news/the-state-of-the-south-african-research-enterprise-e-book/">majority</a>, of lecturers do not hold doctoral degrees themselves. So they cannot supervise the increasing numbers of doctoral students. </p>
<p>Supervisors were stretched thin. And, in many instances, they had to supervise students on topics outside their area of expertise. </p>
<p>Supervisors reported that they often felt ill prepared to supervise and mentor doctoral students. This can lead to outdated and poor supervision practices (for example, working in isolation, long delays in feedback, superficial feedback limited to formal and grammatical issues in stead of substantial issues). This was widely seen as one of the reasons for high drop-out rates and questionable quality standards. </p>
<h2>Solutions</h2>
<p>Many participants saw solutions coming from the same source: the supervisor. Supervisors are expected to play a multifaceted role in their charge’s doctoral project. They are the editor, librarian, administrative support, project manager and personal mentor. They are also the teacher of digital and information literacy skills and writing skills, and the examiner. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, many participants saw this online training course as an opportunity to make a real difference in their institutions. They could benefit students by shaping better institutional policies, promoting responsible and ethical research practices, and maintaining good research standards. </p>
<p>Participants further highlighted the need for more experienced supervisors to mentor novice supervisors.</p>
<p>The success of this course demonstrates that online education can be used effectively to meet the increasing demand for self-paced professional development opportunities for academics at African universities. This comes with significant benefits in relation to scale and cost. Yet, there is still a tendency to focus on the <a href="https://innovation-entrepreneurship.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13731-015-0029-1">constraints</a>. This includes issues such as limited internet connectivity, limited digital resources and low levels of digital literacy. </p>
<p>Our experience demonstrated these were <a href="https://elearningindustry.com/3-key-challenges-implementing-elearning-in-africa">indeed challenges</a>. But they weren’t deal breakers. For example we found we had to strike a balance between learning material that could be downloaded for offline learning, and interactive, online learning activities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126391/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor at Stellenbosch University. Receives funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriele Beata Vilyte works for Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST), Stellenbosch University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miné de Klerk works for Stellenbosch University (Centre for Learning Technologies)</span></em></p>In a resource constrained environment, doctoral supervisors can benefit from professional development courses presented fully onlineJan Botha, Professor, Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST), Stellenbosch UniversityGabriele Vilyte, Junior Researcher at the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST), Stellenbosch UniversityMiné de Klerk, Advisor: Hybrid and Online Learning, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/973222018-12-26T19:28:29Z2018-12-26T19:28:29ZNew creatives are remaking Canberra’s city centre, but at a social cost<p>The new economy and new technology are changing Canberra’s city centre, Walter Burley Griffin’s <a href="http://australiaforeveryone.com.au/act/griffins-canberra.html">design legacy</a> of 100 years ago. While the central area is becoming <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-24/where-is-the-next-braddon-or-hipster-suburb-in-canberra/8373780">an innovation precinct and a dynamic place</a>, it comes with a cost of social gentrification and unaffordability. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs95.aspx">Griffin’s design for Canberra</a>, the city centre was planned to be a lively business centre with high-density retailing and commercial uses. The original idea included a citywide tram network supported by higher-density development along the corridors. City Hill was intended to be a heart for the city’s citizens. </p>
<p>Griffin’s vision was not truly fulfilled, however. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-to-fix-parliament-house-what-about-some-neighbours-96710">Friday essay: how to fix Parliament House - what about some neighbours?</a>
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<h2>The knowledge cluster effect</h2>
<p>The new economy seems to provide an opportunity unforeseen by Griffin to revitalise the city centre. </p>
<p>Canberra is a <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-knowledge-city-index-sydney-takes-top-spot-but-canberra-punches-above-its-weight-81101#comment_1353412">knowledge city</a>, despite its comparatively small population and employment sector. Knowledge is Canberra’s industry. </p>
<p>According to the Australian 2016 Census data, the city centre – <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/curious-canberra/2016-08-15/why-is-canberras-cbd-called-civic-rather-than-the-city/7626358">known as Civic</a> – has the highest concentration of knowledge workers in the Canberra region (Figure 1). They are transforming the city centre’s functions, activities and spatial uses and pattern. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222529/original/file-20180611-191947-62ypu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222529/original/file-20180611-191947-62ypu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222529/original/file-20180611-191947-62ypu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222529/original/file-20180611-191947-62ypu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222529/original/file-20180611-191947-62ypu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222529/original/file-20180611-191947-62ypu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222529/original/file-20180611-191947-62ypu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222529/original/file-20180611-191947-62ypu2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1066&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Figure 1. Spatial distribution of knowledge workers in Canberra.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABS 2016 Census</span></span>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-knowledge-city-index-sydney-takes-top-spot-but-canberra-punches-above-its-weight-81101">The Knowledge City Index: Sydney takes top spot but Canberra punches above its weight</a>
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<p>The transformation of city centres is a global phenomenon. It is happening in major Australian capital cities. </p>
<p>Canberra presents an extreme case to illustrate this point, as a planned city known for being a “bush capital” with suburban sprawl. The city of just over 400,000 people has an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra">area of more than 800 square kilometres</a>. But its compact centre is becoming more important in a globalised and networked society.</p>
<p>The city centre is more than a geographical or spatial centre. Its “centrality” is cultural, social, political and economical. Canberra’s city centre, a Modernist planning legacy, now exists in a setting of multiple global and local forces. These forces are intersecting with economic restructuring, ubiquitous information technology, knowledge diffusion and people movement. </p>
<p>As a result, the city centre is becoming more “centralised”: it is a cluster of functions, a magnet of activities. </p>
<p>The knowledge work and workers are reshaping the use of spaces and the public realm in the city centre. Innovation activities require more interaction and exchange, more access to public space and amenities, and more spatial and temporal flexibility. They are blurring the conventional division of land uses and space uses and challenging the old ways of design thinking. </p>
<p>One spatial impact of the new economy is the growing presence and practice of smart work in Canberra’s city centre. Creative workers are sharing spaces and facilities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222530/original/file-20180611-191940-z45eak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222530/original/file-20180611-191940-z45eak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222530/original/file-20180611-191940-z45eak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222530/original/file-20180611-191940-z45eak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222530/original/file-20180611-191940-z45eak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222530/original/file-20180611-191940-z45eak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222530/original/file-20180611-191940-z45eak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A smart work hub in Canberra city centre.</span>
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<h2>Creatives are moving in</h2>
<p>In Canberra’s city centre, more well-designed and medium-density dwellings are being built and provided to meet the needs of the new creative workers who work and live there. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250377/original/file-20181213-110246-2mu4tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250377/original/file-20181213-110246-2mu4tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250377/original/file-20181213-110246-2mu4tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250377/original/file-20181213-110246-2mu4tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250377/original/file-20181213-110246-2mu4tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250377/original/file-20181213-110246-2mu4tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250377/original/file-20181213-110246-2mu4tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250377/original/file-20181213-110246-2mu4tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Population growth rate year ended March 31 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0">ABS</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>These creatives have impacts on both place and people. <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0">Canberra is growing fast</a>, <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/a-canberra-baby-boom-has-the-act-population-surging-20180621-p4zmwc.html">attracting people from interstate and internationally</a>.</p>
<p>This growth includes large-scale movement of knowledge workers to the inner-city areas. The poorer socio-economic groups are being displaced from these areas. </p>
<p>People working as managers and professionals are moving into the increasingly desirable inner-city areas. As a result, rising housing and rental prices are pushing out existing inhabitants. According to Census 2016, nearly 1200 managers and professionals lived and worked in inner areas of Civic and Braddon, but only 170 technicians and labourers who worked there also lived there. </p>
<h2>Urban renewal for everyone</h2>
<p>While the precinct is becoming more dynamic and active, in contrast to people’s long-held <a href="https://theconversation.com/canberra-is-101-and-australia-still-hasnt-grown-up-24893">(mis)perception of Canberra as a humdrum place</a>, the change comes at a social cost. People on low incomes are dislocated and many young people, the most valuable capital for the city’s future, find the place increasingly unaffordable. </p>
<p>Thus, the very transformations that present opportunities for the city’s economic diversification and urban renewal also bring challenges in maintaining it as an equitable city. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/barr-governments-urban-renewal-leads-to-accidental-gentrification-of-canberra-20180221-h0wen6.html">Canberra’s urban renewal strategy</a> should not embrace or celebrate the creative transformations only. It should also appropriately manage the social implications to genuinely make the city a place for everyone. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canberra-is-101-and-australia-still-hasnt-grown-up-24893">Canberra is 101 and Australia still hasn't grown up</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canberra is growing as fast as anywhere in Australia. It’s driven by a knowledge economy that is transforming the city centre but is also displacing poorer residents.Richard Hu, Professor, Faculty of Arts and Design & Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of CanberraSajeda Tuli, Research Officer, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1036802018-10-12T06:13:14Z2018-10-12T06:13:14ZWhat it takes for Indonesia to create, share and use knowledge to grow its economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238894/original/file-20181002-85611-18o5vt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=98%2C44%2C5743%2C3319&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In a technology-driven and interconnected world, the speed of creation and dissemination of knowledge makes it even more central to economic growth that it was fifty years ago. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For middle-income countries, like Indonesia, to move away from unsustainable industries and exports - such as extractive industries - towards a knowledge economy, the government needs to consider and make important policy choices. </p>
<p>A knowledge economy is one based on the creation, sharing, and use of knowledge to enhance growth and development. <a href="http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/350kPEESchultzInvestmentHumanCapital.pdf">Human capital theory</a> puts knowledge at the centre of the development process during the 1960s. Today, in a technology-driven and interconnected world, the speed of creation and dissemination of knowledge makes it even more central to economic growth than it was 50 years ago. </p>
<p><a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/223546-1206318727118/4808502-1206318753312/slknowledgechapter1.pdf">According to the World Bank</a>, successful knowledge economies are built on public policies that support science and technology research, innovation, education, and lifelong learning.</p>
<p>These are also the foundations of the knowledge systems that provide policymakers with the evidence and research needed to inform policy decisions, and budget allocations to shift the economy towards a stronger knowledge base. </p>
<p>In Indonesia, as well as other middle-income countries, policymakers struggle to develop these knowledge systems and capabilities. There’s a lack of political will to support science and technology research. Many public servants are yet to be trained in developing evidence-based policies. At the same time, there are limitations in the regulatory frameworks. </p>
<p>Additionally, international development programs tend to focus on the capacity to produce research by think-tanks and policy research organisations rather than government agencies’ capabilities to demand and use knowledge to inform policy. </p>
<p>I am the co-editor and co-author of <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-981-13-0167-4">Knowledge, Politics and Policy Making in Indonesia</a>. One of the points we make in the book is that the knowledge produced and shared by think-tanks and public/private research organisations is necessary. But it is not sufficient to contribute to designing policies that enhance the social and economic potential of Indonesia. Strong capability to demand and use knowledge is as important.</p>
<p>Our research shows that the Indonesian public sector has some challenges to overcome. </p>
<h2>Public sector workforce</h2>
<p>Data from the <a href="https://www.kasn.go.id/publikasi/laporan-tahunan/94-laporan-kinerja-tahunan/106-laporan-kinerja-komisi-aparatur-sipil-negara-tahun-2016">National Civil Service Commission</a> show that in 2016, just over 6% of Indonesia’s 4.5 million civil servants – including over 1.7 million teachers, as well as health workers and other technical roles – have a master’s degree, while 0.3% have a doctorate. </p>
<p>Some ministries have a high concentration of advanced degrees (for example, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the National Development Planning Agency and the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs). But overall within the civil service there is a research skills gap. This makes it hard for various government agencies and administrations to independently identify what kind of research they need to support policymaking and assess the research and studies they commissioned. </p>
<h2>A structured policymaking process</h2>
<p>In Indonesia, the two main policy processes taking place at the national level are the long- and medium-term development planning and the development of laws and regulations. </p>
<p>All development planning is the responsibility of the Ministry for National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas). Overall, the planning process defines the background work needed to inform the policy process.</p>
<p>The staff of Bappenas draw on background studies that are conducted internally or commissioned externally to inform the development planning process. However, the funds for these studies are limited and have to be used within the financial years on a set number of studies that cannot be changed. Due to this regulatory rigidity, government agencies rely on international donors to fund research and studies that they have the resources to fund but not the flexibility to procure. </p>
<h2>Pre-defined research formats</h2>
<p>With regard to legislation, the formulation of laws and regulations requires the use of academic papers (naskah akademik) in all policy formulation processes. These papers follow a tightly specified format that outlines the legal need to address the problem, the theoretical and empirical background, and an analysis of existing laws and regulations. Conversely, existing regulations do not place a sufficiently strong emphasis on designing research and evaluation to assess which development programmes and policies work, which do not, and why. </p>
<h2>More knowledge or better capabilities to use knowledge?</h2>
<p>Indonesia has cut the poverty rate by more than half since 1999, to 10.9% in 2016. Its economy is projected to become the 4th largest by 2045. The government is designing strategies to move towards a greater emphasis on knowledge and innovation as pillars of economic growth. </p>
<p>In this near future, <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/International-Inequalities/events/Tracking-the-Rise-in-Global-Economic-Inequality">government agencies are likely to be flooded</a> by data, research and analysis coming from development programmes, projects, and multilateral organisations. Moreover, data innovation exponentially increases the amount of data and analysis that government agencies can produce through digital technologies. </p>
<p>What matters for policymakers is the capability to identify and acquire the knowledge they need, at the right time. These skills and capabilities will become increasingly important as middle-income countries such as Indonesia develop they knowledge economies and enter the fourth industrial revolution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arnaldo Pellini tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>The Indonesian public sector has some challenges to overcome to be able to design better policies.Arnaldo Pellini, Member of EduKnow Research Group at the University of Tampere (Finland), Tampere UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/962282018-05-30T13:28:50Z2018-05-30T13:28:50ZHow the SKA telescope is boosting South Africa’s knowledge economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220623/original/file-20180528-80623-wr4ilu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The MeerKAT radio telescope under construction in South Africa's Karoo region.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo courtesy of Dr Fernando Camilo, Chief Scientist at SKA SA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’re living in a time when <a href="http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/blog/data-raw-material-be-mined">data</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2012/apr/18/francis-maude-data-raw-material">knowledge</a> have become key resources for economic development. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.eib.org/attachments/efs/the_knowledge_economy_in_europe.pdf">Developed economies</a> have recognised this and have increasingly embraced <a href="http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/newsourcesofgrowthknowledge-basedcapital.htm">knowledge creation</a> as a way to secure their competitive advantage. They’ve done so by, among other things, <a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/education/why-education-matters-economic-development">investing more in education</a> with an eye on producing more highly skilled graduates who can thrive in an increasingly technology-driven world.</p>
<p>Some countries have also spent a great deal on huge scientific projects that involve international collaboration. Examples include the <a href="https://home.cern/">European Organisation for Nuclear Research</a> (CERN) in Switzerland and the <a href="https://www.lsst.org/about">Large Synoptic Survey Telescope</a> in Chile, which is a billion dollar project.</p>
<p>And in South Africa, the <a href="http://www.ska.ac.za/about/the-project/">Square Kilometre Array</a> (SKA) project is an example of a promising knowledge-based initiative. It <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-05-19-00-science-technology-and-innovation-transforming-south-africa">could be</a> one of the drivers that contributes to the country’s economic growth.</p>
<p>The SKA is a global project to build the world’s largest radio telescope. It’s co-located in South Africa and Australia. When it’s completed it will cover over 1 million sq metres and will help scientists seek answers to fundamental questions about the nature and origin of the universe.</p>
<p>But the road that leads from a complex project like the SKA to the creation of a thriving local knowledge economy is by no means a straightforward one. In a <a href="http://journals.co.za/docserver/fulltext/sajsci_v114_n3_4_a18.pdf?expires=1525694504&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=0D73AB64708039A06F38A14BBDFD2742">recent paper</a> for the South African Journal of Science, I explored the various factors that impede or encourage the extent to which the process might work. </p>
<p>I found four key factors that determine the extent to which the SKA will be able to contribute to the creation of a robust knowledge economy. These factors are institutions; interrelationships; innovation and individuals. My research suggests that, thanks to these four factors, the project has already borne fruit for South Africa. It has led to good collaboration, sharing of skills and substantial growth of the country’s astronomy community. </p>
<h2>Four pillars</h2>
<p>Firstly, a project like this needs to be supported by sound institutions if it’s to contribute to the long-term, sustainable growth of a knowledge economy. There must be stable and consistent funding and policies at government level. And a country’s broader institutional environment needs to be open and inclusive. This all encourages diverse participation and creative cross-over of ideas. </p>
<p>SKA South Africa has benefited from stable and consistent policies and funding. But, given that SKA SA is publicly funded, policies can sometimes be cumbersome. This can slow things down.</p>
<p>Interrelationships are also crucial. Collaboration and knowledge sharing are extremely important, especially in a field like astronomy. So the cultivation of stronger interrelationships boosts the promotion of knowledge economies. </p>
<p>These interrelationships need to be fostered across multiple disciplines and sectors, as well as across international boundaries. The SKA in South Africa is doing well on this front. Its collaboration with <a href="https://www.ska.ac.za/ska-activities-in-the-northern-cape/developing-small-to-medium-enterprises/">industry partners</a> that range from small, medium and micro-sized enterprises to multinationals has helped <a href="https://www.ska.ac.za/about/highlights/">the spread of scientific and operational expertise</a> among other sectors. </p>
<p>For instance, teachers from the towns closest to the SKA site have received training in robotics through the project. And members of the SKA’s management team have shared their skills to help the municipality with its integrated development planning. </p>
<p>Data collected by the SKA array in a single day would take <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/columns/45930/ska-a-game-changer-for-african-tech/">nearly two million years</a> to play back on an iPod. Processing and analysing such astronomical data sets requires both cutting edge technology and collaboration with a diverse set of stakeholders. The SKA in South Africa <a href="http://www.ska.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/16_ska_newsletter_mar2012.pdf">is benefiting</a> from both such technology and that level of collaboration.</p>
<p>More fundamentally, the different stakeholders are working together to develop technologies that have <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/columns/45930/ska-a-game-changer-for-african-tech/">not yet been invented</a>. </p>
<p>The third factor, innovation, presents an opportunity for developing economies to close the gap with developed economies. But this is only true if ways can be found to commercialise some of the initiatives that emerge. </p>
<p>SKA’s South African arm is taking part in numerous collaborations across sectors that promote knowledge sharing and joint problem solving. Its <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2015-12-03-ska-gives-high-tech-firms-a-boost">commercialisation strategy</a> is essential for the project to have a great impact on the knowledge economy. </p>
<p>Finally, individuals matter. A project like the SKA must be able to attract, retain and train skilled individuals to establish a viable knowledge economy. Here SKA South Africa has been exemplary. </p>
<p>It has done substantial work to <a href="http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/ska-drives-human-capital-development-in-s-africa-africa-ramaphosa-2015-03-02">grow South Africa’s astronomy community</a> through a special human capital development programme that’s aimed at training young people. <a href="http://www.ska.ac.za/students/postgraduate-bursary-conference/">More than 1000</a> young people have benefited from this and similar SKA programmes, and those who’ve been trained are not limited to careers in astronomy: they contribute to the knowledge economy by using their skills in other sectors. </p>
<h2>Forward to the future</h2>
<p>The SKA project is still in its infancy. Science observations are expected to start with a partial telescope array in the mid 2020s. The second phase is set to be completed in the late 2020s.</p>
<p>But, even at this early stage, the project is already contributing to the growth of South Africa’s knowledge economy. The four pillars I explored in my research provide a framework for better understanding how further growth and gains can be encouraged.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96228/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nishana Bhogal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The SKA global project could be a driver that contributes to South Africa’ economic growth.Nishana Bhogal, PhD Candidate, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/970252018-05-24T08:00:39Z2018-05-24T08:00:39ZScience in Africa: homegrown solutions and talent must come first<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219953/original/file-20180522-51095-1khjk0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's more and more good science news coming from Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Romolo Tavani/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been a recurring refrain: Africa still lags <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/237371468204551128/pdf/910160WP0P126900disclose09026020140.pdf">woefully behind</a> the rest of the world in generating new scientific knowledge.</p>
<p>As figures collated by the World Bank in 2014 <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/237371468204551128/pdf/910160WP0P126900disclose09026020140.pdf">show</a>, the continent – home to <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/continents/africa-population/">around 16%</a> of the world’s population – produces less than 1% of the world’s research output.</p>
<p>These are painful admissions to make as the continent prepares to celebrate Africa Day on May 25. But there are several projects and initiatives that offer hope amid all the bad news. </p>
<p>One is a major funding and agenda setting platform, the <a href="https://aesa.ac.ke/">Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa</a> based in Nairobi, Kenya, which was established by the African Academy of Sciences in partnership with NEPAD. It will award research grants to African universities, advise on financial best practice and develop a science strategy for Africa. It also offers an opportunity for African scientists to speak with one voice when it comes to aligning a research and development agenda for African countries.</p>
<p>Another is the US’s National Institute of Health and Wellcome Trust’s commitment to invest <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04685-1">nearly US$ 200 million</a> into Africa-led genomics projects, biobanks and training of bioinformatics personnel. This investment targets diseases that affect the African continent and gives African scientists the opportunity to set priorities with regard to health interventions and skills development.</p>
<p>And some countries on the continent are starting to realise just how important it is to retain talent and skills. They are investing in human capital development and building infrastructure to keep African scientists in Africa – or to attract them back home once they’ve studied elsewhere. All of this will help to shift the continent’s economies towards becoming knowledge-based.</p>
<p>These are all promising steps in the right direction. But more work and focus is needed across the continent.</p>
<h2>Political will lagging</h2>
<p>The underlying reason for the dispiriting figures shared by the World Bank is multifaceted but simple: Africa does not produce enough scientists. </p>
<p>The continent currently has <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/scientists-are-the-key-to-africas-future/">only 198 researchers</a> per million people. That’s compared to 455 per million in Chile, and more than 4,500 per million in the UK and the US. If it’s to match the world average for the number of researchers per million people – around 1,150 – the continent needs another million new PhDs.</p>
<p>Political will is desperately needed to achieve that goal. It is sorely lacking in most African countries. In 2006, members of the African Union endorsed a target for each nation to <a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/decisions/9556-assembly_en_29_30_january_2007_auc_the_african_union_eighth_ordinary_session.pdf">spend 1% of its Gross Domestic Product</a> on research and development. Yet as of 2017 only three countries – South Africa, Malawi and Uganda – have <a href="http://www.resakss.org/node/6285">reached this goal</a>.</p>
<p>And while more African authors are producing research and being published in <a href="http://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/404/ZP_Files/Innovate%2009/Articles/research-emphasis-and-collaboration-in-africa_pouris-and-ho.zp39667.pdf">international journals</a>, a great deal of this work is being conducted in collaboration with international partners.</p>
<p>The vital role of international partnerships in driving innovation in Africa is unquestionable. But at the same time, the dependence on international collaboration and investment without any pan-African framework for increasing and sustaining local funding, limits Africa’s ability to drive a scientific agenda that is aligned to its specific needs.</p>
<h2>Homegrown initiatives</h2>
<p>That’s why African-led initiatives like the <a href="https://aesa.ac.ke/">Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa</a>, <a href="http://www.h3africa.org">Human, Heredity and Health in Africa Programme</a> and the <a href="https://www.getafrica.org">Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium</a> – through which genomics programmes on the continent are being funded – are so important.</p>
<p>For instance, the funding the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust are channelling through the Human, Heredity and Health in Africa Programme has catalysed regional efforts to establish guidelines for biobanks in South Africa, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone. </p>
<p>Genetic material of African origin is key to the development of more effective vaccines or understanding disease mechanisms. Biobanks provide both the infrastructure and protocols to accurately store these biological samples, and in the context of pandemics like Ebola scientists have access to the biological material to find vaccines. </p>
<p>In supporting biobanks and more generally genetics laboratories, my team has built the open-source <a href="http://www.baobablims.org">Baobab LIMS</a> through <a href="http://www.b3africa.org">European Union funding</a> to track the lifespan of a biological sample in a laboratory. This means a researcher can trace what happens to a biological sample or where it is located. Currently this technology is being used at labs in South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Tunisia. </p>
<p>But building laboratories isn’t enough. To keep growing and improving its scientific output, Africa needs to pay urgent attention to retaining talent.</p>
<p>The continent’s unstable research funding streams mean that scientists tend to be employed only on short-term contracts. <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/research-initiatives/world-bank-2014">As a result</a>, 48% of researchers in Southern Africa are spending less than two years at any one institution. This number drops to 39% for East Africa.</p>
<p>The impact of short-term contracts will be felt in the research and development space where we do not have sufficient time to build critical mass. This results in continuous initiation of new projects without building on existing knowledge and seeking interventions that are sustainable.</p>
<p>This short-term thinking also means that brilliant African thinkers and scientists are lost to the continent. And there is no doubt that retaining such scientists makes a difference. Take the case of Professor Abdoulaye Djimde. The continent needs more like him.</p>
<p>Djimde, one of my collaborators, is chief of the Molecular Epidemiology and Drug Resistance Unit at the Malaria Research and Training Centre University of Bamako, Mali. He returned to Mali in 2001 after completing his PhD in genetics in the US. </p>
<p>Over a period of 17 years, he has rolled out a research development strategy that attracted millions of dollars in investment to build infrastructure in his home country. He’s also obtained funding to develop the next generation of African scientists through the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science (DELTAS) Africa programme. The continent needs to keep more of its Professor Djimdes at home if it’s to keep growing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97025/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Christoffels receives funding from Department of Science & Technology/National Research Foundation’s South African Research Chairs Initiative, South African Medical Research Council and the European Union Horizon2020. </span></em></p>There are several projects and initiatives that offer hope amid all the bad news about African science.Alan Christoffels, DST/NRF Research Chair in Bioinformatics and Public Health Genomics, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/866222017-11-12T19:00:38Z2017-11-12T19:00:38ZWhy big projects like the Adani coal mine won’t transform regional Queensland<p>Queensland election campaigns often focus on <a href="https://www.queenslandlabor.org/2017-state-election/campaign-policies/">big</a> <a href="https://www.betterqueensland.org.au/new-deal-for-regional-queensland">projects</a> for the regions, such as for roads, power plants and mines. But <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/sites/defualt/files/P293%20Queensland%20regional%20jobs%20FINAL.2.pdf">research</a> suggests that mega projects, such as in gas and coal, have not transformed skills or improved employment prospects in regional Queensland.</p>
<p>Take away the temporary booms from construction and other short-term jobs, and employment growth overall is no better than before the global financial crisis. Certainly Queensland’s regions are no more resilient. Instead of these mega projects, what’s needed are new sources of economic value in knowledge, services, and technology. </p>
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<p>Between 2010 and 2013 <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/sites/defualt/files/P293%20Queensland%20regional%20jobs%20FINAL.2.pdf">investment in coal mining surged 400%</a> in the Bowen Basin. Further south, in the Surat Basin and at Gladstone, four international consortia spent more than <a href="http://www.gasfieldscommissionqld.org.au/">A$70 billion fast-tracking a coal seam and liquid natural gas industry</a>.</p>
<p>These projects fell far short of generating new skills and enduring businesses in the regions. Continuing dependence on resources and agriculture also creates its own vulnerabilities, as both are challenged by market and investment volatility, and increased climate risk. </p>
<p>Overall the focus on mega projects has weakened social and economic resilience in communities across Queensland. <a href="http://www.stockholmresilience.org/">Resilience</a> refers to the capacity of regional communities to handle risks and manage change. Resilient regions deepen and diversify their economies.</p>
<h2>Megaproject sugar highs</h2>
<p>Annual construction spending in the resources sector <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/transitioning-regions/initial">peaked</a> at A$36.6 billion in Queensland in 2013-14, and has dropped by 70% since. <a href="http://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/LFR_SAFOUR/QLD_LFR_LM_byLFR_UnemploymentRate">Unemployment has doubled</a> in Queensland’s northern, central and outback regions. </p>
<p>The impact is seen in <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-05/adani-carmichael-mine-fifo-workforce-townsville-rockhampton/9017610">Townsville, Rockhampton</a>, and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-19/union-fears-gladstone-flyin-flyout-focus/2846610">Gladstone</a>, who are now pitching to become bases for “Fly In Fly Out” workers. Rather than drive their own local economic development, these cities are punting on the next big mining project. </p>
<p>Gladstone is already the pin-up of the construction boom-bust development model. The port city boasts a highly trained workforce in alumina and aluminium processing, cement, liquid natural gas and chemical manufacturing. Still, it waits on the next big mining construction boom. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-queenslanders-vote-on-economic-issues-the-labor-government-is-looking-good-86842">If Queenslanders vote on economic issues the Labor government is looking good</a>
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<p>What regional Queensland really needs is politicians to abandon short-term economic fixes, in favour of a sustainable long term vision. Policies would have greater impact if they focused on skills and enterprise training. Stronger regional collaboration to broker opportunities for smart businesses is essential. </p>
<p>Just north of Brisbane, Moreton Regional Council is showing the way by <a href="https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/themill/">transforming</a> a former industrial site into a university campus. Tertiary education will come to the fast growing region along with a research and technology park, creating the jobs of the future.</p>
<p>Regional Queensland can also learn from the European Commission’s “<a href="http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/smartspecialisation.htm">smart specialisation</a>” structural assistance programs that help regions build knowledge-based competitive industries through strategic public funding and support for research and development etc.</p>
<p>By 2020, <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/guides/smart_spec/strength_innov_regions_en.pdf">smart specialisation in Europe</a> is expected to deliver 15,000 new products to market, 140,000 new startups and 350,000 new jobs.</p>
<p>Integral to the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343404.2013.799769?journalCode=cres20&">European strategy</a> is strong collaboration between the research and university sectors, and regional industries. Strong cooperation between levels of government is key to the success. The industries are as varied as cheese manufacturing in Spain, new transport systems in Finland, and materials manufacturing in France. </p>
<p>The Europeans have found that changing business culture and boosting entrepreneurship are just as important to creating opportunity as large infrastructure projects. </p>
<h2>What Queensland should do</h2>
<p>Queensland should rethink its big projects for a big country approach. Regional jobs that depend on project investment without generating local income are not sustainable. Small business and community must be restored to centre stage in development strategy.</p>
<p>Small and medium businesses collectively <a href="https://www.cciq.com.au/business-voice/queensland-budget-2017/">account for more than 99%</a> of all business in Queensland, and three times as many people work in the state’s A$20 billion <a href="https://qpc.blob.core.windows.net/wordpress/2017/07/17_4232-QPC-Manufacturing-Report_21.pdf">manufacturing sector</a> (169,000) as work directly in the resources sector (48,000).</p>
<p>But small and medium businesses lack the profile of the “big end of town”, and the large resources companies have been effective at selling the narrative that they are central to the A$300 billion Queensland economy. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/bust-the-regional-city-myths-and-look-beyond-the-big-5-for-a-378b-return-79760">Bust the regional city myths and look beyond the 'big 5' for a $378b return</a>
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<p>The priority for developing Queensland’s regions should be investment that generates small business growth, local income, new skills and communities. Particular emphasis has to be given to attracting and retaining talented people. </p>
<p>The state government can best help regional Queensland by heeding the <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/transitioning-regions/initial">Productivity Commission’s call</a> to help regional Australia adapt and exploit the opportunities of ever present change. This requires greater local initiative, making the most of competitive strengths, and training people to better engage with the world. </p>
<p>The global services sector is a <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.SRV.TETC.CD">$US47 trillion</a> industry. For regional Queensland to tap into this sector will require skills in fields as diverse as big data, biotechnology, genetics, robotics, communications, and digital manufacturing.</p>
<p>A good start has been made in the <a href="https://advance.qld.gov.au/small-business/advancing-regional-innovation.aspx">Advance Queensland Regional Innovation Programs</a> which have challenged regions to think outside the box, collaborate, and come up with their own strategies. It complements the federal government’s <a href="https://www.business.gov.au/assistance/building-better-regions-fund">Building Better Regions Fund</a>.</p>
<p>This approach challenges the current politically dominated top down model of regional development. It’s a vision for regional Queensland that extends beyond resources, agriculture, tourism and construction to the people themselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Cole is a member of the Queensland Plan Ambassadors Council. He is also a member of the policy advisory board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland.</span></em></p>The big ticket resources projects of the past decade have not delivered as hoped for regional Queensland. New approaches are needed.John Cole, Executive Director, Institute for Resilient Regions, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/588032017-11-06T12:32:06Z2017-11-06T12:32:06ZWhy openness, not technology alone, must be the heart of the digital economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151298/original/image-20161221-4085-1qyx1j8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tyndale_Bible_John_5.jpg">Kevin Rawlings</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440 it was, just as the internet has been in our time, a revolutionary development. Before the printing press, it is estimated there were <a href="http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/legacy/">just 30,000 books in all of Europe</a>. Fifty years later, there were more than ten million. Over the next 500 years Gutenberg’s invention would transform our ability to share knowledge and help create the modern world. </p>
<p>Less than a century later on October 6, 1536, a man named <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_tyndale/">William Tyndale</a> was burnt at the stake as a heretic for producing <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/william-tyndales-new-testament">the Bible in English that bore his name</a>. Just 40 years old, Tyndale grew up in a world transformed by Gutenberg’s invention. Educated at Cambridge, Tyndale became a scholar and a priest. At that time it was forbidden and deemed heretical to translate the Bible from Latin. The reason was simple: control of the information in the Bible provided immense power. </p>
<p>Very few could read Latin, not even most aristocrats. By ensuring the Bible remained in Latin only the Pope and priests of the Catholic Church retained control of the information within it. This allowed the church to exert religious authority and also to maintain secular power and generate revenues, for example by inventing new “pay-for” sacraments with no scriptural basis – the most egregious of these were “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/indulgence">indulgences</a>” which permitted their purchaser automatic forgiveness of sins.</p>
<p>Tyndale had an independent mind. Inspired by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_tyndale/">Martin Luther’s call to reformation</a> he became a medieval information freedom fighter. Tyndale was committed to opening up information by translating the Bible into English. Between 1524 and 1527 he produced the first printed English translation of the Bible from abroad to avoid prosecution, which was secretly shipped back to England. Despite being banned and publicly burnt, his translation spread rapidly, giving ordinary people access to the Bible and sowing the seeds of the Reformation in England.</p>
<p>Fast-forward to today and we are living through another information revolution as digital technologies such as the internet change how information is created and communicated. Our world may seem very different from that of Gutenberg and Tyndale, but if we look deeper there is much we can learn.</p>
<p>Gutenberg’s technology may have laid the groundwork for change, but the printing press could very well just have been used to produce more Latin Bibles for priests – enabling only more of the same without changing the balance of power. It was Tyndale’s efforts to translate the Bible in order to democratise access to it that created real change: the printing press was just the means to carry his message to the masses. In doing so he empowered and liberated ordinary people and gave them the opportunity to understand, think and decide for themselves. This was open information as freedom, as empowerment, as social change.</p>
<p>Knowledge power in the 16th century came through control of the Bible. Today, in our data-driven world it’s much broader: everything from maps to medicines, sonnets to statistics. And so today we need to open up public data and information, making it freely available to anyone for any purpose, building insight and knowledge from it together.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193413/original/file-20171106-1008-2uhkhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Technology that no one can access is no more use than a book no one can read.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maksim Kabakou/Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>In fact we already have concrete examples of how this would work. For example, <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org">OpenStreetMap</a> is an open, global map service based on freely available sources. <a href="http://opentrials.net/">OpenTrials</a> is an open database of medical and clinical trials, open source software such as <a href="http://www.phonearena.com/news/Android-is-taking-over-the-world-80-of-all-smartphones-run-Googles-OS_id46001">Linux and Android powers 80% of all smartphones</a> and of course there is a vast amount of publicly-funded research made available through open journals.</p>
<p>Tyndale’s example highlights the crucial role of openness: too often we focus on technology and forget the structures of law, ownership and power that technology operates within. Dazzled by the astonishing pace of technological advance we can easily think that information technology is itself the solution. Instead we must think about the purpose, power and politics of information technology, and not presume some in-built positive aim. Put simply: the medium is not the message, and the internet’s open architecture will not itself guarantee a more democratic or open world – as the events of 2016 should demonstrate.</p>
<p>If we need reminding of this we need only look to radio or even cable TV. Discussions of radio from the 1920s sound eerily familiar to <a href="https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence">early utopian visions of the internet</a>: radio would revolutionise human communication, creating a peer-to-peer world where everyone could broadcast, enabling a new and better democracy. Radio may have delivered on its technological promise but not on its social one. Far from a peer-to-peer communications democracy, instead we have a one-way medium dominated by state broadcasters and a few huge corporations.</p>
<p>Likewise, take a look at the 21st century internet and it’s clear that the internet’s costless transmission enables the creation of information empires and <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21637338-todays-tech-billionaires-have-lot-common-previous-generation-capitalist">information “robber barons”</a> as much as it does digital democracy and information equality. Modern information technology offers unprecedented opportunities for surveillance, as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/19/extreme-surveillance-becomes-uk-law-with-barely-a-whimper">newly passed Investigatory Powers Act in the UK demonstrates</a>, and for the manipulation of information. It is just as easily used to exploit as to empower.</p>
<p>Which brings us back to Tyndale. He took the possibility the printing press offered and married it with openness. In doing so he created something truly transformative – modern versions of the Bible incorporate much of Tyndale’s translation. The same is true for us: in all areas, from databases to drug formula, we must combine the possibilities offered by digital technology with a policy of openness. Only by putting openness at the heart of the information age can we fully realise its potential – be that for creativity and collaboration, or for freedom and fairness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58803/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rufus Pollock is an Associate of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Cambridge; the Founder and non-executive President of Open Knowledge International (<a href="https://okfn.org">https://okfn.org</a>), a not-for-profit dedicated to creating a world where knowledge creates power for the many, not the few, where data empowers us to make informed choices about how we live, what we buy and who gets our vote and where information and insights are accessible – and apparent – to everyone; and the co-Founder of Art / Earth / Tech a community of people seeking a wiser, weller world - <a href="https://artearthtech.com/">https://artearthtech.com/</a>.
He and these associated organisations have been the recipient of numerous grants including a 3 year Mead Research Fellowship in Economics at the University of Cambridge, a Shuttleworth Fellowship, FP7 and H2020 EU funding, and UK innovation and research funding as well as grants from foundations such as the Omidyar Network, Hewlett Foundation, Open Society Foundations and others.
</span></em></p>The printing press, like the internet, has been revolutionary. But technology alone is not enough – access to to it must be open to ensure its benefits are felt.Rufus Pollock, Associate Fellow, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/811012017-07-26T20:16:04Z2017-07-26T20:16:04ZThe Knowledge City Index: Sydney takes top spot but Canberra punches above its weight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179376/original/file-20170724-28465-1fuy30c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sydney has the brightest prospects of the 25 Australian cities assessed in the new Knowledge City Index. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sydney-aerial-skyline-harbour-area-529025239?src=I1ZWlrjdDilbPZ7MuIipKQ-1-45">pisaphotography from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A knowledge city has several characteristics, including diverse knowledge industries, key knowledge-producing infrastructure (such as universities and science parks), and a quality of life that enhances the city’s social and cultural milieu. </p>
<p>To understand the impacts of these elements we have built a new <a href="http://www.canberra.edu.au/research/faculty-research-centres/nexus-centre-for-research/research-progeammes/research-programs/research-areas/the-knowledge-city-index-a-tale-of-25-cities-in-australia">Knowledge City Index</a> for Australia. The index, released today, enables us to compare the strengths and weaknesses of 25 Australian cities. </p>
<p>The idea of a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417414000682?via%3Dihub">knowledge city</a> is not new. But, until now, few have gone further in assessing knowledge cities than definitions to create measures for comparing cities and their knowledge intensiveness. </p>
<p>While many espouse the achievements of specific cities, few offer a systematic analysis of the factors that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Smartest-Places-Earth-Rustbelts-Innovation/dp/1610394356">drive a knowledge city’s success</a>, or develop a methodology for benchmarking them. </p>
<h2>Geography still matters</h2>
<p>In a digital age, there’s a tendency to consider knowledge exchange as freed from geographical constraints. The argument goes that barriers of linguistic and cultural differences or legal restrictions imposed by countries no longer constrain knowledge. It can be produced or acquired anywhere and, equally, can be shared globally. </p>
<p>Though some may proclaim geography irrelevant, we do not share this view. Rather, we argue that propinquity is vital to the development and transmission of knowledge.</p>
<p>One of the fundamental features of <a href="https://theconversation.com/valleys-alleys-and-roundabouts-innovating-beyond-a-precinct-24290">knowledge cities and precincts</a> is the proximity of individuals in generating and sharing knowledge, ideas and innovations. </p>
<p>This proximity generates a culture and conviviality of enquiry. It also allows for the chance acquaintances that supplement formal structures of co-operation. </p>
<p>This capacity to generate incidental enhancement of knowledge delivers on the expectation that cities are the places where knowledge can best be developed and exchanged.</p>
<h2>The changing nature of work</h2>
<p>And then there are the workers themselves. For workers in knowledge-intensive industries it may be the best of times, as their knowledge, skills, and creativity become increasingly valuable and combine to make them more prosperous. </p>
<p>For other workers, it could be the worst of times, as their hard-won skills and occupational practice become increasingly irrelevant or obsolete. In many sectors, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and machine learning <a href="https://theconversation.com/machines-on-the-march-threaten-almost-half-of-modern-jobs-18485">will make</a> more and more jobs redundant, or at least change them fundamentally. </p>
<p>It isn’t only unskilled or semi-skilled workers who face these threats in the changing landscape of work. Technological change and associated economic and social transformations will continue to affect many skilled and professional occupations.</p>
<p>This has led some to question the very future of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Future-Professions-Technology-Transform-Experts/dp/0198713398">many professions</a>. It is predicted that close to half of the current jobs in developed economies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/careers/2016/oct/13/will-jobs-exist-in-2050">could be automated</a> or otherwise made redundant by 2030. </p>
<h2>The Knowledge City Index</h2>
<p>How will all of this play out in Australia? </p>
<p>We know which types of jobs are most likely to decline. We also have some sense of what types of jobs, or at least which sectors, are likely to be most resilient. But this dichotomy of decline and resilience is not equally distributed across the geography of Australian cities. </p>
<p>To create our index, we examined a total of 25 cities and analysed each of them according to its knowledge capital (the underlying knowledge infrastructure) and knowledge economy (the knowledge activation). We combined six different measures, using a data-standardisation process that controls for the size of cities, to compare all 25 significant urban areas. </p>
<p>The framework underpinning the index can be used for comparative analysis of cities in other countries. It’s also repeatable over time, so we can understand how cities are changing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178915/original/file-20170719-14138-1viid9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178915/original/file-20170719-14138-1viid9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178915/original/file-20170719-14138-1viid9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178915/original/file-20170719-14138-1viid9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178915/original/file-20170719-14138-1viid9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178915/original/file-20170719-14138-1viid9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178915/original/file-20170719-14138-1viid9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178915/original/file-20170719-14138-1viid9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How 25 Australian cities rate on the six key measures of the Knowledge City Index.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Knowledge City Index results are mixed.</p>
<p>Five cities in Australia appear to be well prepared for the technological revolution and knowledge transition that are already taking place. Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth qualify as knowledge cities. The remaining 20 cities have observable knowledge limitations to various degrees. </p>
<p>Canberra stands out as one of Australia’s leading knowledge cities, despite its comparatively small population and employment bases. Higher proportions of its population have both knowledge capacity and actually work in the knowledge economy than in any other city. </p>
<p>Cities that have traditionally relied on the manufacturing and mining industries for their employment base lack sufficient knowledge capital and have significant shortfalls in their knowledge economy. </p>
<h2>A tale of two cities</h2>
<p>The index also provides city portraits that highlight differences between cities. Compare the two largest cities: Sydney and Melbourne:</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179390/original/file-20170724-11666-d9fqvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179390/original/file-20170724-11666-d9fqvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179390/original/file-20170724-11666-d9fqvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=187&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179390/original/file-20170724-11666-d9fqvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=187&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179390/original/file-20170724-11666-d9fqvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=187&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179390/original/file-20170724-11666-d9fqvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179390/original/file-20170724-11666-d9fqvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179390/original/file-20170724-11666-d9fqvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How Sydney and Melbourne compare on the key Knowledge City Index measures.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite being nearly identical overall, Sydney and Melbourne do demonstrate nuances in individual indicators that reveal their relative knowledge strengths and weakness. Our analysis produces portraits for all 25 Australian cities. </p>
<p>For cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth, the shift to a knowledge economy promises to be “the best of times”. For the other 20 cities, it could well be “the worst of times” if they are unable to adapt to the knowledge economy. </p>
<p>Understanding the underlying components of these changes and exploring the social, political and economic implications that stem from them is fundamental. Only then can we know which cities are likely to be most and least susceptible to the uneven technological advancements underway.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81101/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The changing nature of work means the knowledge capabilities of cities are more important than ever. Here’s what the new Knowledge City Index tells us about 25 Australian cities.Lawrence Pratchett, Dean of Business, Government and Law, University of CanberraMichael James Walsh, Assistant Professor of Social Science, University of CanberraRichard Hu, Professor, Faculty of Arts and Design, University of CanberraSajeda Tuli, PhD Candidate, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/791262017-06-29T15:01:33Z2017-06-29T15:01:33ZHow access to knowledge can help universal health coverage become a reality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175369/original/file-20170623-27888-n157q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The World Health Organisation’s Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus has set universal health coverage as one of the main priorities for his term. </p>
<p>Universal health coverage is defined by the WHO as free access to promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services. These have to be of a sufficient quality to be effective but without causing unnecessary financial hardship when paying for the services. </p>
<p>But Ghebreyesus’s goal is a challenging one, especially for low and middle income countries which make up around 84% of the world’s <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/income-level/low-income">population</a>. Yet they only have access to half the <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.MED.PHYS.ZS">physicians</a> and a quarter of the nurses that high income countries have access to. </p>
<p>Similarly low and middle income countries only <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.PCAP">spend</a> around US $266 per capita on health care. In contrast, high income countries spend a whopping US $5 251 per capita.</p>
<p>This means that attaining universal health coverage in poorer settings is challenging to say the least. Large cuts to foreign aid investment from a number of <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2017/05/pandemics-disease-control-science-trump/">high income economies</a> only compound this challenge. </p>
<p>To address this, affected countries need to start thinking smarter, and not simply work harder. Optimising available resources requires local researchers to apply themselves. In other words, these countries need to grow their knowledge economies.</p>
<p>High income countries already have access to significant resources. This is mainly due to their own knowledge economies flourishing. To match this low and middle income countries need to increase the investment in their research activity. This includes increasing the number of institutions and supervisors that support research.</p>
<p>Although low and middle income countries have seen an increase and improvement in all these areas, access to existing knowledge remains poor. Particularly when compared to access in higher income countries.</p>
<h2>The ideal knowledge economy</h2>
<p>A healthy knowledge economy needs:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>investment (funding set aside for generating knowledge), </p></li>
<li><p>people who create research and consume information, </p></li>
<li><p>higher education institutions, and </p></li>
<li><p>reasonable access to knowledge (existing, published research). </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Low and middle income countries <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/apps/visualisations/research-and-development-spending/">invest</a> around a third of what high income countries invest in research. They also have access to around a fifth of the <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/indicator/sti-rd-hr-res">researchers</a> high income countries have access to. To top it off, less than a quarter of the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings">Times Higher Education</a> ranked universities are located in low and middle income countries.</p>
<p>Yet of all the cogs that make up the knowledge economy, access to knowledge is likely the easiest to achieve. Although accessible knowledge remains a problem, strides have been made with increased support of open access publication on a global scale. </p>
<h2>How accessible knowledge helps</h2>
<p>Given the growing penetration of the internet into low and middle income countries, information has never been more <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/02/22/internet-access-growing-worldwide-but-remains-higher-in-advanced-economies/">accessible</a> at any point in history than today. Yet
access to a sizeable and ever growing bulk of health care research remains poor.</p>
<p>Open access publishing has become a strong global movement. Roughly 20% to 50% of all published research is currently freely available online - depending on its year of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2012/oct/22/inexorable-rise-open-access-scientific-publishing">publication</a>. </p>
<p>Some have remained sceptical of open access publishing. Despite that many funding agencies and higher education institutions now insist on accessible research reporting from their beneficiaries, staff and students.</p>
<p>It’s hard to argue the possibilities if the 2.7 million plus health care publications published within the last three years were freely accessible in low and middle income countries. It would likely confer a tremendous benefit to both health care professionals and patients (or even universal health coverage).</p>
<p>It is important to understand that the purpose of access to knowledge generated in high income countries is not simply to copy it verbatim into lower income settings. The comparative resource restrictions that apply renders direct implementation largely unfeasible. However, accessible knowledge, wherever generated, provides the references needed to generate locally appropriate applications thereof.</p>
<h2>Navigating the challenges</h2>
<p>For many low and middle income countries, open access comes with barriers as a result of infrastructural challenges.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.who.int/hinari/about/en/">Hinari</a> programme is an example of this. It has been around since 2002. It’s supported by the World Health Organisation along with a large number of publishers and provides access to a substantial amount of published material for researchers from low and middle income countries. </p>
<p>But during its 15 year existence it has remained <a href="http://www.research4life.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IPL-HINARI-Research4Life-Survey-Analysis-final.pdf">poorly supported</a>. Ironically, for a programme that has existed so long, the main reason for this appears to be poor access.</p>
<p>To solve this problem publishers could easily provide equitable access for low and middle income countries using <a href="https://docs.nexcess.net/article/what-is-geoip.html">geolocation internet protocols</a> in the same way Netflix does. As a video streaming service, Netflix controls the content its users can access based on where they are accessing the service from. If geolocation is now an industry standard for various similar information sharing, internet based services, why not also for publication?</p>
<p>For publishers contributing to Hinari, such a step should be fairly straight forward. Use of <a href="https://docs.nexcess.net/article/what-is-geoip.html">geolocation internet protocols</a> will allow researchers in eligible countries to access to research from participating publishers on any device, anywhere where they have an internet connection. This would include the patient’s bedside - not just the academic library. </p>
<p>Much of the knowledge required to establish the universal health coverage Ghebreyesus wants, already exists. Poor access to this knowledge presents a major barrier to achieving universal health coverage. </p>
<p>To unlock this knowledge for everyone’s benefit, policymakers and publishers need to seriously consider more innovative ways to provide access. Ironically, these solutions probably already exist as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stevan Bruijns is a senior lecturer with the Division of Emergency Medicine at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and the editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Emergency Medicine, a fully open access journal.</span></em></p>A critical part of attaining universal health coverage is access to published research.Stevan Bruijns, Senior lecturer in the Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/767872017-05-14T20:17:47Z2017-05-14T20:17:47ZFrom ‘white flight’ to ‘bright flight’ – the looming risk for our growing cities<p>If the growth of cities in the 20th century was marked by “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight">white flight</a>”, the 21st century is shaping up to be the era of “bright flight”. The young, highly educated and restless are being <a href="https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/01/2017-demographia-housing-affordability-survey/">priced out of many of the world’s major cities</a>.</p>
<p>They are choosing instead to set themselves up in smaller, regional cities. These offer access to less expensive housing and abundant cheap workspace. The barriers to entering the workforce or starting up a business are lower.</p>
<p>The “metropolitan pressure” of rapid urbanisation is generating a talent spill-over effect, which is setting the stage for a new era of urban winners and losers. This talent leakage is primarily made up of the “forgotten ones” – those who don’t qualify for social housing, but who are unable to afford market-rate housing. </p>
<p>In this age of of hyper-urban migration, where talent goes, capital flows. Cities need to respond to this migration trend and provide adequate housing solutions to retain talent. If not, it could shape up to be a major economic challenge as many are relying on this cohort of knowledge sector and tech-focused workers to lead them into the digital age.</p>
<h2>Lessons from the rise of the suburbs</h2>
<p>Many will know the urban story, or rather sub-urban story, of the mid-20th century. It was an era marked by “white flight”, the term used to describe the phenomenon of predominantly middle and upper-class Caucasians leaving urban centres to live in the suburbs. </p>
<p>For some, it was a chance to have their dream home in a culturally and ideologically homogeneous neighbourhood replete with white picket fences and enabled by access to cheap debt and favourable tax incentives. </p>
<p>From the cities’ perspective, this migration was devastating. Cities saw their tax revenues drained as higher-income earners fled to the ’burbs. At the same time, these cities required increased investment in social services, housing and education for low-income residents who largely had no choice but to stay in urban centres. </p>
<p>Over a few decades, this exodus led to severe economic and social decay in many of the world’s cities. By the mid-1970s, even New York was on the verge of bankruptcy.</p>
<h2>Reversal drives an urban renaissance</h2>
<p>This era of “white flight”, however, began to fade in the later part of the 20th century as a new generation of urbanites flocked to cities across the world. </p>
<p>What we are experiencing now is nothing short of a modern urban renaissance. From the very young to the very old, from singles to families, people are moving to cities in droves, drawn by the excitement, cultural diversity, eclecticism and array of employment opportunities that urban living offers. </p>
<p>Global cities like London and New York have rebounded from this era of urban decay better than they could ever have expected. In many ways, however, they have been too successful for their own good. The reverse migration back to the city has placed enormous pressure on our metropolitan regions.</p>
<p>As urban populations grow, so too does the level of investment needed for cities to function well. The investment is required to improve ageing infrastructure, expand mass transit, increase housing supply and extend capacity of civil services. </p>
<p>But making all these upgrades to improve and sustainably grow our cities creates another challenge: it increases competition for space. The more we increase density in our cities, the more expensive land becomes. The more expensive land becomes, the more expensive housing becomes, so people get priced out of their city of choice and move on.</p>
<h2>Spilling over to second-tier cities</h2>
<p>This pattern has been playing out for a some time now in the US. The spill-over of talent from top-tier cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco has flowed into more regional cities such as Seattle, Portland, Austin, Philadelphia and Denver. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168858/original/file-20170511-21593-1hzt7aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168858/original/file-20170511-21593-1hzt7aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168858/original/file-20170511-21593-1hzt7aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168858/original/file-20170511-21593-1hzt7aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168858/original/file-20170511-21593-1hzt7aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=675&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168858/original/file-20170511-21593-1hzt7aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168858/original/file-20170511-21593-1hzt7aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168858/original/file-20170511-21593-1hzt7aj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia doesn’t have many regional cities that, like Minneapolis in the US, offer a place for talented workers to migrate within the country.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These second-tier cities have been the beneficiaries of this new wave of tech-savvy, knowledge sector workers. With all those bright workers around, companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon soon followed. </p>
<p>As a result, these cities now have some of the hottest property markets in the world. And they are now experiencing their own growing pains as housing prices have soared and the next wave of talent are being priced out. </p>
<p>And so the pattern continues and the talent spills into even more regional cities like Charlotte, Chattanooga and Minneapolis.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for Australia?</h2>
<p>Today, civic leaders and planning agencies are caught in the vice of balancing the need for increased density and growth while maintaining liveability, affordability and a sense of place. </p>
<p>Unfortunately for many cities, this vice has been tightened too much. We are pushing out the very workers who make our cities function (bus drivers, social workers, teachers), who define their culture (artists, designers, writers, musicians) and who will shape their future (data scientists, software developers, clean tech experts).</p>
<p>For Australia, this issue is much more acute. Unlike the US, which has a multitude of cities for talent to spill into, Australia has only a handful of cities. While places like Parramatta, Geelong and Newcastle will likely benefit from talent capture owing to the pressure build-up in Melbourne and Sydney, many more “bright ones” will likely seek their fortunes overseas and leave the country altogether. </p>
<p>We will rue the day if the companies follow suit, but cities can also take action to relieve some of this affordability pressure. Many cities are enabling innovative housing models such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/reinventing-density-how-baugruppen-are-pioneering-the-self-made-city-66488">Baugruppen</a> in Berlin and <a href="https://www.pocketliving.com/">Pocket Living</a> in London. US cities like Seattle, Austin and Portland are leading the way on inter-generational <a href="https://capitolhillurbancohousing.org/">urban co-housing</a> models. </p>
<p>In Australia, Moreland City Council, birthplace of The Commons and <a href="https://theconversation.com/nightingales-sustainability-song-falls-on-deaf-ears-as-car-centric-planning-rules-hold-sway-50187">Nightingale</a> <a href="http://nightingalehousing.org/">housing model</a>, is doing its part to keep talented artists, designers, key workers, young families and downsizers within metro-Melbourne. Co-living models, such as <a href="http://www.basecommons.com/">Base Commons</a> in Melbourne, are also making an entry here in Australia as a refreshed, millennial-driven approach to urban co-housing. </p>
<p>Watch this space. And cities: keep enabling housing innovation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76787/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Twill is Director of Urban Apostles Pty. Ltd., a Sydney-based development services business specialising in creative city making. He is affiliated with Nightingale Housing as a "champion" of the model.</span></em></p>Australia has few places to capture the spill-over of talented workers priced out of the big cities. Some may leave the country altogether – and where talent goes, capital flows.Jason Twill, Innovation Fellow and Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/538762016-02-24T19:02:47Z2016-02-24T19:02:47ZWhen ‘innovation’ fails to fix our finances<p>One of the most unassailable <a href="https://theconversation.com/translated-the-baffling-world-of-business-jargon-52795">buzzwords</a> of our time is “<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/innovation-the-history-of-a-buzzword/277067/">innovation</a>”. We are repeatedly told that our economies aren’t working properly simply because we aren’t “getting enough <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304791704577418250902309914">innovation</a>” these days. </p>
<p>However, what our singular attention to the innovation <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-0-387-35634-1_2">mantra</a> misses is that the knowledge economy is <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/EUM0000000005869">harder to measure</a>, and therefore to tax.</p>
<p>The very aspects that define the knowledge economy are the ones that make it so difficult to tax. These include its <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/13683040410524702">intangible nature</a>, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2118291?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">global structure</a> spread across <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410101000453">multiple jurisdictions</a> and its seemingly endless components, including: information, bio and financial technology “<a href="http://www.inc.com/magazine/201509/maria-aspan/2015-inc5000-fintech-finally-lifts-off.html">fintech</a>”, smart renewables and cities, social networks, and the <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/00c3f127a46b194079e4a02ab4e2b12d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=27157">sharing economy</a>.</p>
<p>The knowledge economy is now a <a href="http://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/814-mapping-australia-economy.pdf">defining factor</a> for countries around the world. If fiscal policy regulation does not catch up, the gap between the outcomes for financially successful multinational companies and the broader society will only <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/29737691?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">widen</a>.</p>
<p>A very recent example of this fiscal challenge can be seen in the <a href="http://bloombergview.com/articles/2016-01-28/the-u-k-gives-google-a-sweetheart-tax-deal">lenient tax deal</a> the UK government signed with Google, a vanguard of the knowledge economy, for a paltry 130 million pounds. This amount was seen by many policymakers as “<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-26/mcdonnell-presses-osborne-over-google-s-derisory-u-k-tax-deal">derisory</a>”, although Google insists that the deal is fair.</p>
<p>Another example is the comparison of the finances of the State of California as opposed to its residing Silicon Valley tech giants. Whereas the State of California has suffered from budget difficulties for decades and considers maintaining fiscal balance to be “<a href="http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/FullBudgetSummary.pdf">an ongoing challenge</a>”, the Silicon Valley companies <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2015/10/27/apple-still-leads-cash-rich-silicon-valley-nearly-doubling-microsoft/#44aea08e16a8">have more cash</a> than they know what to do with. </p>
<p>Turning innovation into a <a href="http://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/108180">vehicle</a> for broader prosperity requires that both the redistribution of taxation and increasing the amount of public services offered, in accordance with the notion of <a href="https://www.kpmg.com/Ca/en/External%20Documents/Tl0408-Tax-Transparency-Report-Final-Web.pdf">tax morality</a>, which argues that there is a normative, moral imperative for large economic entities to contribute to the tax base.</p>
<p>To implement this, financial regulators must adapt to the demands of the digital age, and engage in responsible and active oversight of the knowledge economy. In the case of the Google-UK debate, it was the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/112/11202.htm">Parliamentary Accounts Committee</a> that acted as a vehicle of <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/tax-avoidance-google/">fiscal scrutiny</a>. <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTPARLIAMENTARIANS/Resources/Legislatures_and_Oversight.pdf">Legislative involvement</a> in budgetary oversight is more necessary now than ever.</p>
<p>Additionally, institutions that are responsible for financial regulation need to collaborate at an international level if they are to increase <a href="http://www.parliamentarystrengthening.org/budgetmodule/additionalresources/supplemental/The%20Legislature%20and%20the%20Budget%20by%20Rick%20Stapenhurs.pdf">democratic leverage</a> on behalf of citizens.</p>
<p>There is a negative backlash to all this, as explained by the economic phenomenon of <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=927478">tax reactance</a>, whereby taxes are perceived as a threat to the exercise of individual freedom, this includes increasing profit. This <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/04/big-tech-companies-make-tax-bills-vanish/">inflexibility</a> helps to explain in part the low effective tax rates paid by many large participants in the knowledge economy.</p>
<p>All this is not to imply in any way that the rate of innovation in society should be slowed or stalled. Instead, it is important for fiscal policy to innovate in tandem with the rest of the participants along the <a href="http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jmkg.69.3.152.66361">technological curve</a>.</p>
<p>There is some room for optimism. Some <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-shows-google-tax-can-work-despite-arguments-against-it-43545">recent cases,</a> including Amazon, show technology companies can be made to contribute to the tax framework. Furthermore, the OECD has been at the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/ctp/BEPSActionPlan.pdf">forefront</a> of designing an action plan for addressing tax base erosion.</p>
<p>The question that we must ask is: <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733306001399">how many</a> lenient tax deals are governments willing to offer before driving more concerted reform?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Usman W. Chohan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rest of society won’t see the benefits of innovation until governments figure out a way to effectively tax the knowledge economy.Usman W. Chohan, Doctoral Candidate, Economics, Policy Reform, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/445732015-07-14T06:36:19Z2015-07-14T06:36:19ZQueensland’s budget puts it back on track to be a smart state<p>As part of its state budget package presented today, the Palaszczuk government in Queensland is investing A$180 million in a push to get industry, universities and government collaborating to create new jobs and drive investment in knowledge-based sectors of the state’s economy.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2015/7/13/180-million-advance-queensland-to-create-jobs-of-the-future">Advance Queensland</a> program proposes to build upon the research base created by previous state Labor governments.</p>
<p>This announcement readily adopts the ideas and language of the Smart State-era of the Beattie and Bligh <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-13/queensland-budget-2015-premier-palaszczuk-vows-smarter-state/6615132">governments</a>, when funding of research infrastructure and innovation initiatives was a clear focus.</p>
<p>This is a noteworthy development, after the former Newman LNP government <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-no-longer-the-smart-state-20120722-22hpw.html">dropped the rhetoric</a> and well-publicised commitment of that period. This led to a perceived loss of momentum in science, research and innovation in <a href="http://theconversation.com/can-the-states-help-the-nations-critical-research-infrastructure-38441">Queensland</a>.</p>
<h2>All about jobs for the future</h2>
<p>The new Advance Queensland program is described as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] a comprehensive suite of reforms that will create jobs now, and jobs for the future.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This cleverly pitches Advance Queensland as a long-term plan (akin to the Newman government’s 30-year <a href="http://queenslandplan.qld.gov.au/">Queensland Plan</a>) requiring the faith and sustained support of the research and industry sectors. It should also appeal to voters who until now have not seen much in the way of the Labor government’s economic blueprint.</p>
<p>Significantly, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk called Advance Queensland the core of both the budget and the government’s agenda. Regardless of budget confines, this program seems to be a go-ahead plan and apparently has the Premier’s strong backing.</p>
<p>All relevant ministers were present at the program’s launch and (in more shades of Beattie’s Smart State agenda) it was framed as a “whole of government” exercise in jobs growth and economic development.</p>
<p>After several years of impressive spending on visionary research infrastructure under the Beattie and Bligh governments, this new program noticeably steers clear of committing to further investment in facilities and other such blunt policy levers.</p>
<p>This is a wise move given the financial constraints in which Treasurer Curtis Pitt’s first budget is being framed, with apparently little in the state’s coffers for large infrastructure projects.</p>
<p>But Advance Queensland picks up where Bligh’s later focus on people, ideas and products left off. It promises A$50 million to attract and retain world-class research talent and fund increased science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs in schools.</p>
<h2>The need for industry support</h2>
<p>Importantly, the new agenda takes some of those earlier Smart State initiatives to the next step through a “major focus on commercialisation”. It not only aims to encourage research-industry links, but promote small business start-ups and attract commercial investment through a A$76 million Business Development Fund.</p>
<p>This may sound to some like the government picking winners. But business investment in research and development (R&D) and private sector engagement with researchers and universities – the drivers of innovation – have historically been quite low by international standards in Queensland, as elsewhere in <a href="http://www.ceda.com.au/news-articles/2013/06/17/icnconference#nogo">Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Being short of what Palaszczuk called a “strong innovation and entrepreneurial culture”, it is important and desirable that government plays a facilitating role in filling some of that gap.</p>
<p>The progression of this government’s focus from “bricks to brains to business” appears to be a move in the right direction. It has been argued by successive <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.qld.gov.au/images/documents/chiefscientist/reports/bricks-to-brains-to-business-report.pdf">Chief Scientists</a> and other research leaders that the critical next phase in the development of a sustainable innovation system must see an environment where cutting-edge research is more readily translated into commercially viable products.</p>
<p>The A$180 million program stays within the minority government’s economic and political means and within the framework of Labor’s modest first budget. But it sets up a platform for “<a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-budget-2015-180m-plan-to-create-jobs-20150712-gias6x.html">playing the long game</a>” in terms of hopefully bipartisan government support.</p>
<p>Importantly, it indicates that the government doesn’t want to, and nor should it, do this by itself. The research and private sector communities have to play their part too.</p>
<h2>A welcomed move</h2>
<p>Pointedly, the <a href="https://www.qut.edu.au/news/news?news-id=92475">program’s launch</a> was held at the Queensland University of Technology, in the heart of the Brisbane CBD’s government-university-corporate nexus. Key representatives of those sectors were present, most of whom appeared well pleased that science, research and innovation is back in the political limelight.</p>
<p>As such, the program puts out positive signals but doesn’t extend the government too much in the short term. Plans are modest and perhaps seen by some as <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/backing-for-smart-state-20-but-too-little-too-late-for-queenslands-biotechnology-it-industries/story-fnihsps3-1227440500440">insufficient</a>, but there’s still enough commitment.</p>
<p>It expanded from a <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/the-big-promises-in-the-qld-election/story-e6frfku9-1227202284538">A$50 million pre-election proposal</a> to a A$180 million budget <a href="http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2015/7/13/advance-queensland-launch-breakfast">package</a> to make a serious statement of intent toward research funding and creation of jobs of the future.</p>
<p>Even a modest amount of funding as in this program can have a positive multiplier effect once fed into the innovation ecosystem and capitalised upon by external partners.</p>
<p>As QUT’s Vice Chancellor, Peter Coaldrake, <a href="http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2015/07/advancing-queensland-through-curtis-pitts-maiden-budget.html?site=brisbane&program=612_morning">told 612 ABC Brisbane local radio</a>, while the funding amount might not be of the same magnitude as seen in the Beattie period, universities and research institutions will still welcome the availability of money.</p>
<p>They’ll also welcome the clear signal this program sends that the state government is willing to visibly back the research and innovation sectors. Such a move picks up some of the slack left by the federal government’s proposed backing away from research and infrastructure spending, amid continued uncertainty over higher education <a href="https://theconversation.com/budget-brief-how-does-science-and-research-funding-fare-41434">funding</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Salisbury is a Research Associate with the TJ Ryan Foundation, a progressive think tank focusing on Queensland public policy.</span></em></p>The Palaszczuk government’s first budget for Queensland has promised to drive new investement and jobs in the knowledge based sectors.Chris Salisbury, Lecturer, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/418302015-05-15T01:31:21Z2015-05-15T01:31:21ZBudget week reveals an appetite for government but not to govern<p>The <a href="http://www.budget.gov.au/2015-16/index.htm">federal budget</a> confirms a voracious appetite for government in Australia, but a tepid will to govern. The government wants everyone to “have a go”, but seems reticent to do so itself. It’s like the cricket captain sending in the nightwatchman without facing up to the challenge himself.</p>
<p>Dressed up as a reboot, the budget presents as a capitulation. Once you wrap your mind around the cornucopia of policy reversals, inconsistencies and outright hypocrisies, not to mention the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-dull-and-routine-budget-that-relies-on-group-denial-41599">above-trend forecasts</a>, the overarching impression is the government has decided the task of governing is too complex and that campaigning is a better fit.</p>
<p>The result is a hollow and contradictory approach to fiscal management and a slap-dash approach to supporting the structural economic transition Australia needs. This comes two months after Treasurer Joe Hockey <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-05/population-projected-to-near-40-million-in-ageing-boom/6282674">told us</a> deficits forecast in the <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.au/PublicationsAndMedia/Publications/2015/2015-Intergenerational-Report">Intergenerational Report</a> would make us fall off our chairs. Now he risks being labelled the boy who cried wolf, backflipping on the Coalition’s raison d’etre for government and its life source in opposition. The “urgency” of fiscal consolidation is stalled at best and abandoned at worst.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Treasurer Joe Hockey’s second budget speech stalled his first budget’s ‘urgent’ fiscal consolidation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All this comes in the wake of a <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/democracy-under-threat-as-trust-in-system-broken/story-e6frg74x-1227333321047">poll</a> indicating 94% of respondents believe Australia “needs a better plan for its long-term future”.</p>
<p>One thing should be obvious: you cannot “have a go” at building the future unless you can describe what it should look like. Let me advance two elements.</p>
<h2>We need to enhance public sector capacities</h2>
<p>First, Australia’s future requires creative and integrated long-term thinking, within which a strong, active and effective public sector will be critical. Yet the budget confirms the “<a href="http://www.financeminister.gov.au/media/2015/0511-smaller-government.html">smaller and more rational government</a>” agenda continues. </p>
<p>The budget trumpets A$450 million in savings from “functional reviews” of the departments of Health and Education and from “efficiencies” in Attorney-Generals and Immigration and Border Security. It has confirmed reviews of another eight departments and agencies including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Treasury, Environment, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Having wrung all the “<a href="https://cpd.org.au/2014/06/false-economies/">false economies</a>” out of the blunt approach, the government has swapped the sledgehammer for a scalpel.</p>
<p>After years of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/why-this-obsession-with-cutting-public-service-jobs-20150104-12h1nj.html">indiscriminate cuts</a>, a more surgical approach might allow focus on allocative and dynamic efficiency. But surely these qualities cannot prosper in a public sector cut to the bone – not to mention the A$80 billion of cuts to health and education that remain.</p>
<p>There is no consideration to boosting public sector innovation to enhance workforce capacity. There is no awareness of <a href="http://equitablegrowth.org/2015/04/05/draft-rethinking-macroeconomics-conference-fiscal-policy-panel/">new evidence</a> suggesting 21st-century challenges require a larger, better-resourced and innovative public sector.</p>
<p>The government’s approach ensures a diluted advisory ability within an impotent public service. That a toxic environment for tackling long-term issues like social mobility and climate change.</p>
<h2>We need to invest in an ideas boom</h2>
<p>Second, Australia’s future does not rest on mining. The next boom <a href="http://qz.com/405059/chinas-on-track-for-the-biggest-reduction-in-coal-use-ever-recorded/">will not be a mining boom</a>. It must be an ideas boom. </p>
<p>Yet we aren’t investing in winning ideas. The net result for innovation in the budget was poor: cutting $263 million from the Sustainable Research Excellence program salvaged the Research Infrastructure Fund. Building our creative infrastructure will require catalytic investment by governments and business, a culture of collaboration and a preparedness to fail. </p>
<p>Teaching our kids to code will be essential too. The government’s improvements to the taxation of employee share schemes, along with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s call in the <a href="http://www.alp.org.au/budget_reply_speech">budget reply</a> for coding literacy and a $500 million Smart Investment Fund are all steps in the right direction.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s budget reply offered a couple of steps in the right direction.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An ideas boom would transition our economy to penetrate global value chains and accelerate the move towards a clean economy. Investment in renewable energy fell 35% in Australia last year (it fell 88% in investment in large-scale renewable energy) despite <a href="http://apps.unep.org/publications/pmtdocuments/-Global_trends_in_renewable_energy_investment_2015-201515028nefvisual8-mediumres.pdf.pdf">rising 17% globally</a>. Bizarrely, the only double-dissolution election trigger the government has is its bill to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which is forecast to return money to the budget at double the five-year government bond rate.</p>
<p>This is not a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2015/s4199952.htm">“dull”</a> and do-nothing budget. By continued acts or deliberate omissions the budget undermines long-term policy development and credibility. Our contributions in <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-fair-budget-not-for-the-poor-losing-australian-aid-in-record-cuts-41609">foreign aid are cut again</a> by $3.7 billion over the next three years, diminishing our influence in the region and making us more vulnerable to the butterfly effect of poor development.</p>
<h2>Bulging ‘too hard’ basket is jeopardising our future</h2>
<p>Make no mistake: the <a href="http://cpd.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/IGR-Response-Final-15-April.pdf">largest deficit</a> Australia has is between the conversation we need to have about the future and the one we’re having.</p>
<p>Small-target politics is a far cry from what Australians want: effective long-term policy solutions infused with values as well. Most of us understand tough decisions must be made about our economy, <a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-crisis-of-liberal-democracy-creates-climate-change-paralysis-39851">democracy</a> and society. Our luck hasn’t run out. It might if we can’t separate real issues from imagined ones.</p>
<p>The knowledge-action gap is as tragic as it is mesmerising.</p>
<p>Australians have much to be proud of but certain facts should concern us. We don’t take climate change seriously. We <a href="http://aamc.org.au/smes-lead-the-way-but-more-collaboration-needed/">rank last</a> in the OECD for collaboration. We <a href="http://www.boundlss.com/blog/perth-startup-ecosystem-report">punt more than twice as much</a> each year on the Melbourne Cup as we do on technology start-ups. </p>
<p>Indigenous Australians comprise <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-state-of-imprisonment-in-australia-its-time-to-take-stock-38902">over 25% of our adult prison population</a> but just 3% of our total population. Nearly nine in ten Australians live in cities, yet we have <a href="https://theconversation.com/without-a-national-cities-policy-who-joins-all-the-planning-dots-24634">no national cities policy</a>. Wage growth is the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/wages-grow-at-slowest-pace-since-abs-began-quarterly-records-20150513-gh0e8n.html">lowest on record</a>. Unemployment is <a href="http://www.budget.gov.au/2014-15/content/bp1/html/bp1_bst2-01.htm">predicted to climb</a>.</p>
<p>And, yes, Australia does have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/budget-explainer-what-is-a-structural-deficit-and-why-does-australia-have-one-40089">structural budget deficit</a>. But there are pathways to correct it, including by rebalancing taxes and concessions on wealth, capital, labour, land, emissions and consumption. An informed debate about debt financing might help too.</p>
<p>This budget confirms fiscal consolidation has joined other policy challenges in the “too hard” basket. That leaves us with a grab bag of politicised and capricious policy initiatives that pick around the edges, often ineffectually. </p>
<p>The budget attempts to fix childcare without focusing on the child. It tries to foster “fairness” in paid parental leave by discounting hard-won gains of mothers from employers. And it persists with poorly targeted and extremely costly superannuation concessions.</p>
<p>Former Labor frontbencher Bob Carr <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3553747.htm">used to say</a> the US was “one budget deal away from banishing talk of American decline”. Australia is too if she can deal boldly with the issues above. Clear goals and incremental reforms to outlast political cycles would allow us to make the future we want and renew Australia to thrive in the 21st century.</p>
<p>Australia must do more than survive until stumps. It’s time to call back the <a href="https://theconversation.com/maths-test-why-using-a-cricket-nightwatchman-is-off-the-mark-35378">nightwatchman</a> and set ourselves up for the long term.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41830/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Travers McLeod is CEO of the Centre for Policy Development, an independent, non-profit and non-partisan policy institute.</span></em></p>Joe Hockey’s second budget has two large deficits: the fiscal one, plus the lack of a coherent and creative plan for Australia. The Abbott government failed to ‘have a go’ at building the future.Travers McLeod, Honorary Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/393612015-04-15T20:35:26Z2015-04-15T20:35:26ZMeasuring the value of science: it’s not always about the money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77615/original/image-20150410-2072-eix65b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C0%2C1101%2C697&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Science can help explain the mysteries of the universe but how do you put a dollar value on that?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiegilbert/8274404242">Flickr/James Gilbert</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reports about the worthy contributions of science to national economies pop up regularly all around the world – from the <a href="http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_13-5-2014-12-8-8">UK</a> to the <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100609/full/465682a.html">US</a> and even the <a href="http://www.scidev.net/global/r-d/news/basic-science-linked-to-faster-economic-growth.html">developing world</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, the Office of the Chief Scientist recently <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/2015/03/report-the-importance-of-advanced-physical-and-mathematical-sciences-to-the-australian-economy-2/">released an analysis</a> of science and its contribution to the economy down under, finding it’s worth around A$145 billion a year.</p>
<p>It’s perfectly sensible and understandable that science (and related sectors) would feel the need to account for themselves in financial or economic terms. But in doing this we need to be wary of getting lulled into believing that this is the only – or worse, the best – way of attributing value to science.</p>
<p>When it comes to determining the value of science, we should <a href="http://www.iisd.org/pdf/s_ind_2.pdf">heed the words</a> of the American environmental scientist and thinker, <a href="http://www.donellameadows.org/donella-meadows-legacy/donella-dana-meadows/">Donella Meadows</a>, on how we think about indicators: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Indicators arise from values (we measure what we care about), and they create values (we care about what we measure). Indicators are often poorly chosen […] The choice of indicators is a critical determinant of the behaviour of a system.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Much public debate about the value of science has been hijacked by the assumption that direct, tangible economic impact is <em>the</em> way to measure scientific worth. </p>
<p>We seem now to be in a place where positing non-economic arguments for science benefits runs the risk of being branded quaintly naïve and out-of-touch at best, or worse: insensitive, irrelevant and self-serving. </p>
<p>But relegating science to the status of mere servant of the economy does science a dramatic disservice and leaves both science and society the poorer for it. </p>
<p>So here are five ways we can acknowledge and appreciate the societal influences and impacts of science that lie well beyond the dreary, soulless, cost-benefit equations of economics. </p>
<h2>Testing and presenting ideas and the great tools to do it</h2>
<p>The mechanisms of scientific enterprise have proven their worth time and again. The formulation of challengeable hypotheses, and the increasingly sophisticated methods we use to test them, have repeatedly been confirmed as the most potent tools for finding out things about our world. </p>
<p>The scientific method has helped us make sense of the world in a way that counters our natural tendencies to make connections and draw conclusions that simply aren’t true.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/clearing-up-confusion-between-correlation-and-causation-30761">For example</a>, the issue of correlation and causation, and how we regularly mess this up if we don’t apply rigorous scientific and statistical reasoning. </p>
<h2>Scientific reasoning protects us and saves us from ourselves</h2>
<p>Scientific thinking and reasoning – and the social and institutional capital that often comes with it – help free us from control by superstition, magical thinking and unscrupulous power-seekers. </p>
<p>Science has been our guide, our sword and our shield, when identifying all manner of evils. Think the connection between <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/">smoking and disease</a>, the damage of <a href="http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/">human-induced climate change</a>, or waking us up to the first rule of gambling: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20120816-travelwise-casino-design-and-why-the-house-always-wins">that the house always wins</a>. </p>
<p>While there are benefits to the economy in saving lives or working to stem the effects of climate change, these are not the first, nor even the most, significant effects on us as individuals. </p>
<h2>Inspire, motivate and delight</h2>
<p>By pushing the boundaries of what is possible, science has repeatedly inspired and facilitated humanity’s ability to not just dream, but to turn our most ambitious dreams in to reality. </p>
<p>People now live into their <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/deaths/life-expectancy/">70s and 80s</a> as a matter of routine, we easily and instantly communicate with any part of the globe on a whim and we have even left the planet itself. </p>
<p>A quick search for the most <a href="http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/science-websites">popular science sites on the web</a> turns up an armful of space-related material, explainers on how things works and general science story aggregators. If economic benefits are even mentioned, they are frequently an afterthought at best.</p>
<p>At my own university, the most popular video on our YouTube channel is a physics lecture on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n19HIHCpOVE">the great unsolved mysteries of the universe</a>. Yes, a lecture. An hour-long lecture, filmed in lo-fi nearly five years ago. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n19HIHCpOVE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The inspirational effects of science are powerful, ubiquitous, and are by no means limited to contested contributions to the economy. And this is just the tangible, more obvious stuff. </p>
<h2>Challenging the status-quo and inspiring reflection</h2>
<p>Equipped with scientific methods and reasoning, no subject need be off the table for reasoned debate, discussion and dissent. In science, no subject is taboo as long as the methods for considering it are scientific. </p>
<p>This ethos allows us to challenge the assumptions upon which fundamental norms are based without worrying that rogue, opposing ideas might somehow infect us. </p>
<p>The application of scientific reasoning allowed us, for example, to discover that the <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/04/how-do-we-know-the-earth-orbits-the-sun/">sun doesn’t revolve around the Earth</a> and to recognise there are more than two straight-forward biological representations of <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/barronlerner/2015/03/13/science-activism-and-truth-galileos-middle-finger-by-alice-dreger/">human sexes</a>. </p>
<p>Pushed further, respect for the appropriate application of scientific thinking accepts challenges to the very basis of our beliefs about ourselves as a species. Nowhere is this more powerfully confronted than in Australian-born philosopher <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Epsinger/">Peter Singer</a>’s <a href="http://www.vuletic.com/hume/ph/singer.html">thought-provoking</a> dismemberment of our rationale for justifying experimentation on non-human animals that we would not conduct on ourselves.</p>
<p>Yes, greasing the economic wheels of day-to-day subsistence is important, but reflecting upon, and challenging how we understand what makes us human? That’s something you’d be hard pressed to cost-out for your bank manager. </p>
<h2>Meaning, worth and expressing the best of ourselves</h2>
<p>We already know that science can free us from the tyranny of superstition, ignorance and devious influences.</p>
<p>At its finest, it provides a model for exploring and understanding anything in the tangible universe. But science and its products also offer a vehicle for considering what it is to be human, not just physically but esoterically.</p>
<p>Science can offer a sense of mystery and connectedness that doesn’t rely on faith or appeals to authority and dogma. It can provide a humbling, perspective-smashing sense of the scale of the stuff of the universe and our place in relation to it (from sub-atomic to galactic and beyond). </p>
<p>I say this not to usurp the place of religion for those to whom it is important. On this I agree with American physicist and writer <a href="http://cmsw.mit.edu/alan-lightman">Alan Lightman</a> <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/15/alan-lightman-accidental-universe-science-spirituality/">when he says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Science does not reveal the meaning of our existence, but it does draw back some of the veils.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For atheists like me though, I am more moved by sentiments like those expressed by Ann Druyan, the widow of the American astronomer Carl Sagan, who said Carl saw science as a kind of “<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/12/20/carl-sagan-varieties-of-scientific-experience/">informed worship</a>”. Science can provide a wonderful path to connecting with something bigger and more profound than ourselves, without requiring divine support. </p>
<h2>So anyway …</h2>
<p>I’m not so idealistic that I’d argue money doesn’t matter. It matters. It matters a lot. But to accept without contest that it is the most important, realistic or mature way to measure value in society is not only diminishing, it’s perverse. </p>
<p>Science helps us see that we are more than just the sum of our economic outputs and contributions (how often do you hear Einstein, Newton or Curie lauded for their contributions to the economy?).</p>
<p>Science helps us accept that idealism is okay, even beneficial. Science is as intrinsic to culture and cultural-identity as high-culture (think music, poetry, literature, painting and the like). </p>
<p>Science provides a refuge for those of us who know that knowledge for its own sake can be intrinsically valuable. It supports we who appreciate that there can be immeasurable value in judging human endeavours using indicators that stretch far beyond the mundanities of improving wages or boosting trade. </p>
<p>Yes there are benefits of science that can be measured by their contribution to GDP, but that doesn’t mean they should be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rod Lamberts has previously received funding from the ARC Linkage program. </span></em></p>Why put a dollar value on science when the benefits to our lives and society are far more valuable?Rod Lamberts, Deputy Director, Australian National Centre for Public Awareness of Science, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/349142014-12-02T19:22:36Z2014-12-02T19:22:36ZThe East-West Link is dead – a victory for 21st-century thinking<p>Labor’s state election victory in Victoria has fatally undermined Melbourne’s most controversial tunnel, the now-doomed <a href="http://www.linkingmelbourne.vic.gov.au/east-west-link">East-West Link</a>, with new Premier Daniel Andrews pledging to rip up the contracts for the project.</p>
<p>His decision is a victory for anyone who values 21st-century urban thinking over the outdated car-first mentality. </p>
<p>It’s also a financial relief, because – as the project’s back story shows – the East-West Link was always more about politics than economics.</p>
<h2>Courting cars</h2>
<p>For many years, the only groups calling for a tunnel to link Melbourne’s Eastern and Citylink freeways were the <a href="http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/racv/Internet/Primary/home">RAC of Victoria</a> and <a href="https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/">VicRoads</a>. The problem was that the tunnel never made economic sense when it was just a freight project, yet most attention in the transport planning system was on public transport, where demand was growing rapidly. The East-West tunnel needed a large dose of cars to justify it. </p>
<p>Enter Tony Abbott, who <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/tollfree-eastwest-link-preferable-tony-abbott-20130902-2t0ff.html">pledged A$1.5 billion</a> before last year’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/federal-election-2013">federal election</a> for the East-West plan, arguing that Australians love their cars and public transport was not in his federal knitting. </p>
<p>The East-West project grew in concept and soon became a massive capital cost, with the price tag for the whole plan, including the western extension to Melbourne’s port, threatening to <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/state-budget-2014-major-road-and-rail-projects-worth-24b-to-transform-melbourne-20140506-zr5mj.html">hit A$10 billion</a> and swamp the transport budget. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in the waning days of the first <a href="http://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au">Infrastructure Australia</a> (on which I was privileged to serve for four years), it became obvious that the East-West tunnel and Sydney’s <a href="http://www.westconnex.com.au">WestConnex</a> would never be subject to the scrutiny of our process. They were to be seen as purely political projects and the case for their going ahead would depend on their popularity, not on value for money. </p>
<h2>Why tunnelling Melbourne was a bad idea</h2>
<p>The old shibboleth that building roads is vital for improving the economy is no longer true. Economic growth has divorced itself from car dependence (my new book with <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jeff-kenworthy-15708">Jeff Kenworthy</a>, <a href="http://www.bibliovault.org/BV.book.epl?ISBN=9781610914635">The End of Automobile Dependence</a>, traces the fall of the empire of car-based planning). </p>
<p>Growth in the Victorian and Australian economies now depends on the growth in “knowledge economy” jobs. These jobs at the creative, productive, innovative edge of our economy are now firmly enmeshed in the dense centres of our cities. </p>
<p>As the US urban economists Ed Glaeser and Richard Florida have <a href="blog.ted.com/2012/02/29/cities-ed-glaeser-at-ted2012">shown</a>, the knowledge economy depends on close interactions between creative people and those who can deliver projects. This work requires intensive spaces in cities, which in turn need intensive modes of transport to enable them. This means that rail, cycling and walking are critical to the knowledge economy. Although heavily into digital communications, knowledge economy workers need face-to-face contact and are now shifting back into central and inner city locations to optimise this process. </p>
<p>In contrast, cars and trucks are dispersive modes of transport, and are needed for the consumption economy. These jobs are important too, but are essentially based in the dispersed spaces of the suburbs. These jobs are not the ones we are seeking as much as those in the knowledge economy, because they do not drive productivity growth as effectively. </p>
<p>It is no wonder that around the world, we are seeing <a href="http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=38472#.VH1FI2SUdgA">declining car use per capita and growing public transport use</a>, as well as a widespread return to formerly neglected inner cities.</p>
<p>The six most walkable US cities have <a href="http://urbanful.org/2014/06/20/walkable-cities/">38% higher gross domestic product than the national average</a>. Cities now compete on new measures such as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/opinion/sunday/now-coveted-a-walkable-convenient-place.html?_r=0">walkability</a> and <a href="http://www.livablecities.org/blog/value-rankings-and-meaning-livability">livability</a>. Governments everywhere are aiming to build quality rail projects and make city centres more human in scale. Even <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberras-780m-light-rail-line-gets-final-go-ahead-business-case-to-be-released-20140915-10gzr3.html">Canberra</a> and <a href="http://www.parracity.nsw.gov.au/work/business_in_parramatta/strategy/solving_transport_problems/light_rail_for_western_sydney">Paramatta</a> are joining in, as they work out how to build light rail. </p>
<p>Melbourne has one of the most attractive city centres in the world for knowledge economy jobs. It needs to ensure that this is not lost by tipping more cars into its walkable centre. Instead it needs to encourage commuting by rail, bike and on foot. </p>
<h2>Change in the air</h2>
<p>Victoria’s people have now spoken. The East-West Link will be scrapped, and should be replaced by more sensible transport planning. Melbourne does need to improve east-west access for people and freight, but it should not be beyond us to find some solutions that do not break the bank. </p>
<p>Clearly there are plans for upgrading rail access through several proposed rail projects, including the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-19/melbourne-rail-a-better-deal-than-east-west-toll-planners-say/5902268">original Melbourne Metro plan</a>, and the <a href="http://ptv.vic.gov.au/assets/PTV/PTV%20docs/Melbourne-Airport/Melbourne-Airport-Rail-Link-Study-Overview.pdf">Airport Rail Link</a>. <a href="http://ptv.vic.gov.au/projects/rail-projects/doncaster-rail-study">Doncaster Rail</a> should remain on the table, hopefully not for another 100 years, as it is a simple and direct way to move passengers east-west. </p>
<p>The freight system seems to be amenable to much simpler concepts than the East-West Tunnel, like those <a href="http://habitattrustmelbourne.org.au">presented by the Habitat Trust</a>, using several inland rail interchange facilities.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/spinifex/bays-precinct-five-principles-emerge-from-summit/69895">same principles</a> should lead New South Wales to modify the Connex West project, especially where it spills traffic into Sydney’s central and inner areas. Such traffic “solutions” actually harm the economy of inner urban areas, burying investment opportunities under bitumen for parking and road-widening, and congesting areas that already have too many cars. </p>
<p>The public can sense that we have to update the way we travel and how we build cities so they are not car-dependent. The road-building brigade needs to take a deep breath and see that their plans are old-fashioned. Perhaps the legacy of the East-West Tunnel will be that such projects will never again be foisted on the Australian public.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Newman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Labor’s state election victory in Victoria has fatally undermined Melbourne’s most controversial tunnel, the now-doomed East-West Link, with new Premier Daniel Andrews pledging to rip up the contracts…Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.