Applying a knowledge ecosystem frame to regions immediately yields several insights that may dictate strategic shifts in the way we approach technology-based economic development. First, while land and leased space will continue to underpin the economics of creating research spaces of all kinds, the real added value will increasingly come not just from providing services (as many parks already do), but from actively managing activities and knowledge creation. Second, as scientific knowledge and tools become available anywhere on-demand, focusing on global domination of any particular industry will lose effectiveness. Growing the regional ecosystem elements that provide the capacity for repeatedly reinventing the cluster will become paramount. Third, all of these dictate a reduced emphasis on real estate development and infrastructure, and more emphasis on creating mechanisms that link local assets to global markets in ways that generate value.
Download the full report, "Future Knowledge Ecosystems," in PDF format.
Highlights
From Free Markets to Stimulus Capitalism. The economic crisis of 2009 will turn the tables on markets, putting governments at the helm of the global economy for many years to come. Public investments in basic science and research infrastructure will be used as a primary tool to stimulate both short-term and long-term growth.
The Group Economy. New tools for cooperation will drive down the cost of forming groups around any shared interest, identity or activity. New models for creating wealth will emerge at the intersection of the social web and grassroots movements. Existing organizations will be transformed through the adoption of these tools and processes, becoming less hierarchical, more agile and more collaborative.
Ecological Economics Comes of Age. The next decade will see the introduction of a new generation of sustainability-related practices, technologies and services, built less around estimations of the environmental impact of manufacturing, transportation, and resource/energy use, and more on the measurement of actual resource use and pollution.
Key Trends. Five trends will have the greatest impact on technology-based economic development and research parks:
- Biology by design will supplant physics as the most scientifically vibrant and economically important field, letting us read and write nature’s “source code” at will.
- The spread of ubiquitous computing will create massive new streams of research data, while simultaneously providing new tools for scientific collaboration in the lab.
- Social networks where people and computers work together to make sense of data will enable a shift from artificial intelligence to hybrid sensemaking.
- New scientists will transform the practice of science by forging transdisciplinary fields, multi-sector careers and bringing new cultural influences to bear.
- Science institutions will be transformed as collaborative, open and online models for collaboration and knowledge sharing break through obsolete barriers.
Download the full report, "Future Knowledge Ecosystems," in PDF format.
