Impact of Artificial Reefs on the Environment and Communities


Book Description

Among the most important reasons that artificial reefs have been created are the protection of the seabed with macroalgae, the possibility of improving fishing, and meeting the expectations and demands of tourists. Coastal managers have realized that it is important that artificial reefs are useful to people, especially local communities, and that it is therefore important that they are promoted by government entities for various professional and leisure activity use. Coastal managers must take this into consideration when reefs are designed. They must also define the ecosystem services they promote as well as the main uses for which the reefs are created. Impact of Artificial Reefs on the Environment and Communities presents insights on the connection between artificial reefs and the tourism industry in order to encourage the sharing of experiences and development of new innovative possibilities that create value for society. It presents the experiences, testimonies, and innovations of those who work closely with artificial reefs. Covering topics such as computational fluid dynamics, dive tourism, and Industry 4.0, this book is an essential resource for entrepreneurs, researchers, students and educators of higher education, coastal managers, government officials, leaders in tourism, engineers, and academicians.




Evolutionary Economic Geography


Book Description

The purpose of this book is to provide a guided tour through the theoretical foundations of spatial locations of firms and industries in an evolutionary economic framework. It addresses the issues of how a location of business in geographical space is selected and where economic activity may (re)locate in the future. The analysis is in the context




Handbook on the Geographies of Innovation


Book Description

The geography of innovation is changing. Firstly, it is increasingly understood that innovative firms and organizations exhibit a wide variety of strategies, each differently attuned to diverse geographic contexts. Secondly, and concomitantly, the idea that cities, clusters and physical proximity are essential for innovation is evolving under the weight of new theorizing and empirical evidence. The aim of this handbook is to break with the many ideas and concepts that emerged during the course of the 1980s and 1990s, and to fully take into account the new reality of the internet, mobile communication technologies, personal mobility and globalization. The handbook gathers a new generation of ideas and authors to contribute to the debate, providing an empirically grounded critical appraisal of the prevailing knowledge on the geography of innovation. The 28 original chapters, written by a diverse range of scholars with widely differing views, present fresh empirical evidence and new perspectives relating to how innovation plays out across space in an age where mobility has increased, information is ubiquitous and globalisation has been realised. Overall, the dialogue between existing theory and new possibilities provides a unique and challenging appraisal of the connection between innovation, agglomeration and space. Offering cutting edge ideas in an accessible format, this will be an ideal resource for students and scholars of economic geography and innovation studies. The empirical evidence and analysis will also be of great value for policymakers and government officials. Contributors include:B.T. Asheim, H.W. Aslesen, A. Bain, P.-A. Balland, N. Bradford, A. Bramwell, C. Brennan-Horley, S. Breschi, C. Carraincazeaux, C. Chaminade, R. Comunian, C. De Fuentes, D. Doloreux, D. Eckert, A. Faggian, M. Ferru, R.D. Fitjar, K. Flanagan, C. Gibson, M. Grillitsch, M. Grossetti, G. Harirchi, F. Huber, A. Isaksen, S. Jewel, J. Karlsen, N. Komninos, J.-L. Klein, N. Lee, F. Lissoni, M. Maisonobe, J. Mattes, P. McCann, C.T. Noumedem, R. Ortega-Argilés, M. Plechero, A. Rallet, A. Rodriguez-Pose, R. Shearmur, H.L. Smith, B. Spigel, J. Tallec, E. Tranos, D.-G. Tremblay, F. Tödtling, M. Trippl, E. Uyarra, C. Yang, C. Wilkie, D.A. Wolfe




The Fourth Industrial Revolution


Book Description

World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolu­tion, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wear­able sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manu­facturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individu­als. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frame­works that advance progress.




Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists


Book Description

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.




Smart Development in Smart Communities


Book Description

The concept of smart cities has become one of the most significant new lines of thinking to emerge in the social sciences in recent years, both from the research and policy angles. To date, the focus in smart specialization has been on what regions as a whole can do to bring about innovation, but it hasn’t necessarily addressed the role cities play within the field. This book aims to address that gap, drawing together a team of leading contributors, to illustrate this process with particular focus on cities. Smart Development in Smart Communities discusses the cross-fertilization between smart specialization and cities in fostering smart development and its interactions with the macro-, micro- and meso-economic framework, from both a theoretical and applied perspective. Specific topics covered by the book include: human capital formation and utilization; centralized/decentralized industrial policies; innovation policies; collective learning; and the role of public utilities in sustaining smart development processes. This book tackles some of the most important questions that must be faced when investigating how structural change and innovation processes are shaping local and global economic development. It will be of interest to academics and researchers in the area of Development Economics, Urban Studies and Public Management.




Smart Specialisation


Book Description

This is the first book on a new policy approach that has been widely adopted in Europe and beyond. It analyses the concept of smart specialisation and discuss the need for smart specialisation strategies, explains why the approach is new and different from more standard policy processes and explores what are the conditions for successful implementation. Smart Specialisation: Opportunities and Challenges for Regional Innovation Policy describes the origin of the concept, explains when a smart specialisation policy is necessary, provides a detailed analysis of the design principles of the policy and discuss the pertinence of this approach according to regional development levels. Finally the book discuss the practical implementation phase of the process – based on the first feedback acquired from certain regions engaged in the preparation of their smart specialisation strategy. The book is original in that it provides the first full analysis of smart specialisation strategies both at theoretical and practical levels. It has been written at the critical period of the implementation of smart specialisation strategies in every region in Europe. The fact that the EU has adopted smart specialisation as a mandatory principle for every region and member states will make this book well received by and very useful for: i) policy makers in regional and national administrations in Europe, ii) policy makers in other parts of the world who are in charge of regional policy and have heard about the concept, iii) consultants, analysts and experts who are active on the "markets for smart specialisation diagnosis and expertise", iv) scholars, researchers and graduate students working in the field of regional studies, technology policy and geography of innovation.




Factories of the Future


Book Description

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book presents results relevant in the manufacturing research field, that are mainly aimed at closing the gap between the academic investigation and the industrial application, in collaboration with manufacturing companies. Several hardware and software prototypes represent the key outcome of the scientific contributions that can be grouped into five main areas, representing different perspectives of the factory domain:1) Evolutionary and reconfigurable factories to cope with dynamic production contexts characterized by evolving demand and technologies, products and processes.2) Factories for sustainable production, asking for energy efficiency, low environmental impact products and processes, new de-production logics, sustainable logistics.3) Factories for the People who need new kinds of interactions between production processes, machines, and human beings to offer a more comfortable and stimulating working environment.4) Factories for customized products that will be more and more tailored to the final user’s needs and sold at cost-effective prices.5) High performance factories to yield the due production while minimizing the inefficiencies caused by failures, management problems, maintenance.This books is primarily targeted to academic researchers and industrial practitioners in the manufacturing domain.




Innovation in the Asia Pacific


Book Description

This book promotes the creation of advanced knowledge-based economies driven by innovation networks and the continuous development of human capital and capability. It provides valuable insights into the growing emergence of knowledge-based industries of the Asia Pacific, and highlights research on: modes of creativity and innovation; intellectual property; the components of national innovation systems such as firms, education and training; knowledge and technical infrastructure; and public policy. The Asia Pacific region is currently in the process of transforming from being the manufacturing centre of the global economy to a centre of innovation for the knowledge economy, with the successful IPO of Alibaba in 2014 being a prime example of this shift. From a neo-Schumpeterian perspective, the region is increasingly engaged in shortening and intensifying cycles of innovation. The historic agreement at the Beijing APEC meeting between China and the US to radically reduce carbon emissions indicates that one imperative of this innovation is to contribute to sustainability. The fact that the US Government is moving away from this historic commitment, while the Chinese Government is endorsing the commitment, indicates an emerging opportunity for Asia to lead the world technologically in a vital industrial sector of the future.




R&D and Productivity


Book Description

Zvi Griliches, a world-renowned pioneer in the field of productivity growth, has compiled in a single volume his pathbreaking research on R&D and productivity. Griliches addresses the relationship between research and development (R&D) and productivity, one of the most complex yet vital issues in today's business world. Using econometric techniques, he establishes this connection and measures its magnitude for firm-, industry-, and economy-level data. Griliches began his studies of productivity growth during the 1950s, adding a variable of "knowledge stock" to traditional production function models, and his work has served as the point of departure for much of the research into R&D and productivity. This collection of essays documents both Griliches's distinguished career as well as the history of this line of thought. As inputs into production increasingly taking the form of "intellectual capital" and new technologies that are not as easily measured as traditional labor and capital, the methods Griliches has refined and applied to R&D become crucial to understanding today's economy.