The Cambridge Phenomenon Revisited


Book Description

"Part 1 provides an analytical overview of the Phenomenon and its growth in scale and complexity over the last fifteen years. It examines different aspects of the high-tech business community, including start-ups and spin-outs, the larger and long-established high-tech firms, firms that have moved into the region, and four of the key sectors - software, telecoms, biotechnology and technology consultancy. Changes in the University and related research institutes are also reviewed. Part 2 looks in greater depth at a number of particularly interesting aspects of the Cambridge high-tech cluster. Detailed analyses are made of two contrasting sectors: biotechnology, which has grown quickly and exhibits many of the attributes of competitive cluster; and instrumentation, which was one of the earliest foundations of high-tech business in Cambridge, but over the past fifteen years has recorded the weakest sectoral performance." -- BACK COVER.







The New Industrial Revolution


Book Description

The rapid emergence of China and India as prime locations for low-cost manufacturing has led some analysts to conclude that manufacturers in the "old economies"--the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan--are being edged out of a profitable future. But if countries that historically have been at the forefront of events in manufacturing can adapt adroitly, opportunities are by no means over, says the author of this timely book. Peter Marsh explores 250 years in the history of manufacturing, then examines the characteristics of the industrial revolution that is taking place right now.The driving forces that influence what types of goods are made and who makes them are little understood, Marsh observes. He discusses the key changes in what is happening in manufacturing today, including advances in technology, a greater focus on tailor-made goods aimed at specific individuals and industry users, participation of many more countries in world manufacturing, and the growing importance of sustainable forms of production. With broad historical sweep and dozens of engaging examples, Marsh explains these changes and their import both for consumers making purchase choices and for manufacturers assessing how to participate successfully in the new industrial era.




Academia-Business Links


Book Description

This book presents an overview of recent policy outcomes in the field of academia-business links in different European countries. It covers a broad range of approaches, from new public funding instruments to reforms of intellectual property rights and regional network policies. A special focus is put on practical policy implications and discussions about reform.




The Sustainable Development Paradox


Book Description

Sustainability--with its promise of economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental integrity--is hardly a controversial goal. Yet scholars have generally overlooked the ways that policies aimed at promoting "sustainability" at local, national, and global scales have been shaped and constrained by capitalist social relations. This thought-provoking book reexamines sustainability conceptually and as it actually exists on the ground, with a particular focus on Western European and North American urban contexts. Topics include critical theoretical engagements with the concept of sustainability; how sustainability projects map onto contemporary urban politics and social justice movements; the spatial politics of conservation planning and resource use; and what progressive sustainability practices in the context of neoliberalism might look like.




Worlds of Capitalism


Book Description

Efforts to combine the outstanding economic performance in the decades following the Second World War with social security appear to be endangered half way through the first decade of the 21st century. This book draws together an international team of contributors, including Douglass North, Harold Demsetz and Michael Piore to assess the current world order.




Making Housing more Affordable


Book Description

The movement away from traditional rented approaches to meeting the housing needs of those on modest incomes has taken on new momentum in the latest economic cycle. This book answers some of the questions around affordable housing and low cost home ownership, and whether these intermediate tenures have the potential to play a longer term role in achieving sustainable housing markets. The editors clarify the principles on which the development of affordable housing and intermediate tenures has been based; analyse the policy instruments used to implement these ideas; and make a preliminary assessment of their longer tem value to households and governments alike. Making Housing More Affordable: the role of intermediate tenures brings together an evidence base for researchers and policy makers as they assess past experience and work to understand future options. The book draws mainly on experience of the intermediate housing market in England but also on examples of policies that have been implemented across the world. It clarifies both the challenges and the achievements of governments in providing a well operating intermediate market that can help meet the fundamental goal of ‘a decent home for every household at a price within their means’. The first section outlines the principles and practice of intermediate housing and examines the instruments and mechanisms by which it has been provided internationally. The next section estimates who might benefit from being in intermediate housing and projects the take-up of different products in the future. Section III examines the supply side and Section IV introduces some case studies of who gets what. The final section looks at how effectively the intermediate market operates over the economic cycle.




Creating Silicon Valley in Europe


Book Description

Through the 1990s and early 2000s the strength of the United States economy has been linked to its ability to foster large numbers of small innovative technology companies, a few of which have grown to dominate new industries, such as Microsoft, Genentech, or Google. US technology clusters such as Silicon Valley have become tremendous engines of innovation and wealth creation, and the envy of governments around the world. Creating Silicon Valley in Europe examines trajectories by which new technology industries emerge and become sustainable across different types of economies. Governments around the world have poured vast sums of money into policies designed to foster clusters of similar start-up firms in their economies. This book employs careful empirical studies of the biotechnology and software industries in the United States and several European economies, to examine the relative success of policies aimed at cultivating the 'Silicon Valley model' of organizing and financing companies in Europe. Influential research associated with the 'varieties of capitalism' literature has argued that countries with liberal market orientations, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, can more easily design policies to cultivate success in new technology industries compared to countries associated with organized economies, such as Germany and Sweden. The book's empirical findings support the view that national institutional factors strongly condition the success of new technology policies. However, the study also identifies important cases in which radically innovative new technology firms have thrived within organized economies. Through examining case of both success and failure Creating Silicon Valley in Europe helps identify constellations of market and governmental activities that can lead to the emergence of sustainable clusters of new technology firms across both organized and liberal market economies.




Towards the Third Generation University


Book Description

The book is very well-structured. . . [It] provides a timely contribution to a conversation with a long history, and debates over the nature and purpose of the university seem certain to figure prominently in educational discourse for many years to come. Peter Roberts, Journal of Educational Administrative and History Drawing from experience as a professor in innovation and entrepreneurship and as a consultant to universities, Wissema offers deep insights into management of the modern universities. The book is well-written and all those university administrators who wish to transform their universities into entrepreneurial universities would find the book very useful. Jandhyala B.G. Tilak, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration In Central and Eastern Europe, universities are struggling to adapt to the new economic and institutional situations. The concept of the Third Generation University is powerful in giving direction. In addition, the book offers much practical advice, taken from the author s experience as a consultant to universities. Marjan Bojadzhiev, University American College Skopje, Macedonia Although the quality of university management makes or breaks the effectiveness and efficiency of a university, most university managers come unprepared to the job while only few books and courses in the subject are available. This book offers, amongst other things, welcome insights into the issue of university management. In Wageningen, the concept of the Third Generation University has proven to be inspiring, challenging and operational. It enabled us to develop science for Impact for a variety of new stakeholders. M. Kropff, Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands This book demonstrates that universities are subject to fundamental change, evolving from science-based, monodisciplinary institutions into transfunctional, international know-how hubs named third generation universities or 3GUs. J.G. Wissema explores the combination of forces that propel this dramatic change, tracing the historic development of universities, and exploring the technology-based enterprises, technostarters and financiers for start-ups and young enterprises that are the main partners of these 3GUs. He goes on to illustrate that universities play a new role as incubators of new science- or technology-based enterprises and take an active role in the exploitation of the knowledge they create. The book concludes with suggestions regarding the way in which changes in the university s mission should be reflected in subsequent organisational changes. Offering practical advice on the route forward for universities, and elucidating the role of education in entrepreneurship, this unique book will prove invaluable to academics and practitioners who seek to implement and facilitate changes for 3GU status. It will also appeal to students and researchers with an interest in business and management, education, entrepreneurship and public policy on education.




Cities and Economic Change


Book Description

"An invaluable text for all those interested in cities and economic change. Empirically grounded, theoretically informed, and written in a highly accessible way to help students understand processes underlying the changing urban economy, urban governance, and the role of place." - Lily Kong, National University of Singapore "Editors and contributors leave readers in no doubt about the extent of the transformations coursing through urban economies in the global north and south." - Kevin Ward, University of Manchester "An essential read for anyone interested in the role of cities in the changing global space economy." - James Faulconbridge, Lancaster University "A timely and path-breaking contribution to the urban literature. It stands out as an excellent addition to the expanding urban library and a key reference on urban issues." - George C.S. Lin, Hong Kong University Cities and Economic Change combines a sound theoretical grounding with an empirical overview of the urban economy. Specific references are made to key emergent processes and debates including splintered labour markets, informal economies, consumption, a comparative discussion of North and South, and quantitative aspects of globalization. The text is clear and accessible, with pedagogical features and illustrative case studies integrated throughout. The use of boxes for city examples, key questions for discussion at the end of main chapters together with suggested readings and key web sites are designed to aid learning and understanding.