The second day of the conference started with an interesting presentation by Martin Hinoul, a innovation guru when it comes to effective science based regional development. His inspiring words were followed by a discussion with experts such as IBM Finland’s general manager Tuomo Haukkovaara, President of the American Council on Germany, William Drozdiak and the Chair of the South African Technology Innovation Agency, Mamphela Ramphele. They highlighted the importance of international collaboration and an exchange of ideas and knowledge when it comes to future regional development. It was particularly interesting how much willingness there was to assist South Africa in overcoming its challenges by making use of the opportunities that exist. The Technopolicy Network is eager to develop further projects to stimulate this North/ South collaboration, which will result in an interesting set of best practices.
The discussion was followed by two sets of break-out sessions that focused on the role taking process in the implementation of Open Innovation in regions, and the implementation of OI in clusters. Richard Bendis led a lively discussion on the best Practices in Innovation Based Economic Development, addressing the different needs of emerging versus established regions. Another session focused on the role a university can play in the local system. This resulted in a lot of constructive discussion, one that certainly will continue after this event and might even become a conference on its own.
To conclude the conference the experienced Global Advisory Board of The Technopolicy Network summarized the lessons learned. With so much expertise sharing the podium the audience was treated to some excellent advice on crucial strategies for the stimulation of innovation.
Martin Hinoul stated that to become a strong innovative region you need ‘time, talent and money’ Time, or patience, for your plans to develop, results will not come over night. Talent to innovate and money to support development where it is needed. He also stressed that you need to focus on focus, use your strengths to form a niche.
Douglas Robertson added that you should not compare yourself to Silicon Valley, or Boston, but rather to a more comparable region and try to see which model they used to become successful. You will always need to adapt the model to your circumstances, so it is much easier if you compare yourself with the closest similar region. Rich Bendis reminded the participants to not be concerned about the terms Clusters and Open Innovation, but to concentrate on identifying your leading innovation assets and build your implementation strategies around them.
The one lesson all have learned from this conference is that to truly succeed you will need a champion and a visionary leader. This will be a one in a million leader that cannot be created or trained. Even if all the policies are right, you still depend on such a leader for success. But to excel you will need more people, who are connected in a strong network. The creation of the ‘win-win-win’ situation is an excellent way to achieve such strong ties. In the end, a regions most valuable assets are its people.
The importance of people brought the discussion back to the educational system. With a system that is outdated and does not cater to the needs of a knowledge society, one can never become a truly successful region in the global economy. To improve this system is one of the biggest challenges ahead of us, and use of OI strategies is a step in the right direction.
The 8th Annual Conference of The Technopolicy Network has been a great success for all involved, join us at our next conference in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2011.
For more information on The Technopolicy Network or our events, please contact Ewout Meijer at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
