Knowledge Economy Network KEN Bulletin Issue 9, Vol II September 2012 – 1 – www.knowledge-economy.net Secretariat services provided by Slovenian Business & Research Associaon KEN Chair: Boris Cizelj KEN Vice-Chair: Thomas Friis Konst Execuve Editor: Bostjan Sinkovec [email protected]tel: +32 (0)2 645 19 15 fax: +32 (0)2 645 19 17 Avenue Lloyd George 6 1000, Brussels Belgium Knowledge Economy Network Internaonal Advisory Board Prof.dr.Howard Alper, Chairman Michael Azodanloo Prof.dr.Dinnah Benne OBE Prof.dr.Erhard Busek Mehmet Gökgöz Prof.Daniel Guéguen Dr.Marn Grabert Peter Jungen Prof.dr.Ramesh Mashelkar Prof.dr.Metka Stare Roger Ryberg William Adam – Senior Adviser (ex officio) Olivier Bruslé – Adviser (ex officio) Boris Šavle – Secretary Dear KEN Members, We wish to follow further achievements and knowledge developments with our Awardees. Let me this me refer to the special Media Award presented to the Brish Broadcasng Corporaon, BBC for their contribuon to promong values of knowledge society. One of the producons with high educaonal and promo- onal impact, not only within the UK, but globally, is the “Dragons’ Den”. It is running successfully already for years, and has been licensed to many countries around the globe. It presents very clearly how complicated it is to become an in- novave, successful entrepreneur, including the ability to assess realiscally the value of one’s company – on the basis of which they have to negoate the deal with the future partner who is willing to put up her/his money but requires a share in the respecve company. Last Sunday, it was very excing to observe one of the two lady Dragons Vivian Devey, who decided to invest 100,000 Pounds to acquire a 40% share in a young enterprise offering hair extensions. The entrepreneur has turned off all the other four Dragons as she wasn’t fully aware of even the basic corporate business fig- ures. Ms.Devey was also crical about that weakness, but recognized the strong drive of the entrepreneur, and the potenal of her innovave business model – namely opening hair extension workshops in large shopping malls (in other words, coming closer to the customers). But let us congratulate Ms.Devey and BBC for a very interesng 2-piece documen- tary “Women on the Top” broadcasted on the last two Thursdays. As we are fol- lowing the subject of women in corporate decision making systemacally already several years, we can qualify this producon as probably the best effort ever – at least in the European media. Besides being extremely well documented: interviews with a big number of ex- perts, execuves, and policians, not only in UK but also in other European coun- tries, this producon excels also in the following important features: ͷ The author honestly admied her own inial illusion, namely believing that as she made it, every woman with sufficient capabilies and drive can make it too. However in her conclusions Ms.Devey draws a much more complex picture, and addresses the real causes of the problem, and for- mulates very clear and compelling proposals how to improve the condi- ons which will allow more women to follow a demanding business career, not on expense of their personal and family sacrifices. ͷ On the issue of female quotas Ms.Devey – aſter careful consideraons and learning from Norwegian experience – concludes that such a crude regu- latory measure wouldn’t work in UK. It is important to recognize that the same goal cannot be reached opmally in various environments (legal cul- ture, tradions) and countries. Also, she is not happy with the limited focus of the quota systems applied so far, namely covering only the large or only public companies. Instead of imposing a mandatory norm, she believes it is beer to address the causes for gender imbalance. She also went to a
Transcript
KnowledgeEconomyNetworkKEN Bulletin
Issue 9, Vol IISeptember 2012
– 1 –
www.knowledge-economy.net
Secretariat services provided by Slovenian Business & Research Association
Prof.dr.Howard Alper, Chairman Michael Azodanloo Prof.dr.Dinnah Bennett OBEProf.dr.Erhard BusekMehmet GökgözProf.Daniel GuéguenDr.Martin GrabertPeter Jungen Prof.dr.Ramesh Mashelkar Prof.dr.Metka StareRoger Ryberg William Adam – Senior Adviser (ex officio) Olivier Bruslé – Adviser (ex officio)Boris Šavle – Secretary
Dear KEN Members,
We wish to follow further achievements and knowledge developments with our Awardees. Let me this time refer to the special Media Award presented to the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC for their contribution to promoting values of knowledge society. One of the productions with high educational and promo-tional impact, not only within the UK, but globally, is the “Dragons’ Den”. It is running successfully already for years, and has been licensed to many countries around the globe. It presents very clearly how complicated it is to become an in-novative, successful entrepreneur, including the ability to assess realistically the value of one’s company – on the basis of which they have to negotiate the deal with the future partner who is willing to put up her/his money but requires a share in the respective company.
Last Sunday, it was very exciting to observe one of the two lady Dragons Vivian Devey, who decided to invest 100,000 Pounds to acquire a 40% share in a young enterprise offering hair extensions. The entrepreneur has turned off all the other four Dragons as she wasn’t fully aware of even the basic corporate business fig-ures. Ms.Devey was also critical about that weakness, but recognized the strong drive of the entrepreneur, and the potential of her innovative business model – namely opening hair extension workshops in large shopping malls (in other words, coming closer to the customers).
But let us congratulate Ms.Devey and BBC for a very interesting 2-piece documen-tary “Women on the Top” broadcasted on the last two Thursdays. As we are fol-lowing the subject of women in corporate decision making systematically already several years, we can qualify this production as probably the best effort ever – at least in the European media.
Besides being extremely well documented: interviews with a big number of ex-perts, executives, and politicians, not only in UK but also in other European coun-tries, this production excels also in the following important features:
ͷ The author honestly admitted her own initial illusion, namely believing that as she made it, every woman with sufficient capabilities and drive can make it too. However in her conclusions Ms.Devey draws a much more complex picture, and addresses the real causes of the problem, and for-mulates very clear and compelling proposals how to improve the condi-tions which will allow more women to follow a demanding business career, not on expense of their personal and family sacrifices.
ͷ On the issue of female quotas Ms.Devey – after careful considerations and learning from Norwegian experience – concludes that such a crude regu-latory measure wouldn’t work in UK. It is important to recognize that the same goal cannot be reached optimally in various environments (legal cul-ture, traditions) and countries. Also, she is not happy with the limited focus of the quota systems applied so far, namely covering only the large or only public companies. Instead of imposing a mandatory norm, she believes it is better to address the causes for gender imbalance. She also went to a
very small company which achieved it and found the solutions to practical problems of employees with young children.
ͷ Further, Ms.Devey deserves special compli-ment for welcoming in her own company an expert to give her an independent verdict on whether she could do more for gender balance in her board and indeed in all de-partments of the company. Being aware that the “glass ceiling” needs to be attacked from various sides, she went to the local radio station to invite women to join her forklift drivers – and offering them flexible hours.
ͷ Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Ms.Devey has become an activist of gen-der balance based on now well established research results, indicating beyond doubt, that balance makes companies perform better, and by promoting these facts helps educate masculine and feminine entrepre-neurs and managers to act accordingly. She emphasizes that the key approach to creat-
ing gender balance in business is not - often either feminist or paternalistic - concept of political correctness, but very basic eco-nomics.
At the moment UK government is contemplating a number of “soft” measures, mostly relying on rec-ommendations, and a lot of awareness building - targeting both men and women - will be needed to reach the target of 25% board members by 2015.
On another subject, let me advise that shortly the Call for hosting the 2013 KEN Forum will be pub-lished, and as decided at Maribor Forum in June, the topic will be Education and Training for an In-novative Economy.
Finally, let me invite you to the next KEN Workshop – co-organized together with the International Cen-tre for Promotion of Enterprise, ICPE in Ljubljana, Slovenia – on 24 October. The topic is “Benefits and Challenges of Public-Private Partnership for increased Energy Efficiency”. The program is pre-sented in the Annex 1 of the Bulletin.
Dr. Boris Cizelj
Editor
KnowledgeEconomyNetworkKEN Bulletin
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Table of Contents 3
Knowledge Economy Developments 4
Articles on Key Topics 11
Recently published documents 13
Upcoming events 16
Relevant indicators, statistics and graphs 24
ICPE KEN Conference Programme 31
Table of Contents
KnowledgeEconomyNetworkKEN Bulletin
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Case Study on Knowledge Transfer (KT) to Jordan
Arab countries live in a density disparity zone, where knowledge density is higher on the outside than on the inside and pretty much like “osmosis” there is a need for knowledge influx to create equilibrium and bi-directional exchange, namely through direct economic action (FDI, foreign trade, ease of staring business, globalization, open trade, standardization and competitiveness), as an immediate action for short-term impact; with mid-term goals of politi-cal, economic and social reforms, in support for KT through adequate ICT infrastructure and innovative platform nurturing RDI and S&T. Long-term KE poli-cies are needed to build the in-common and crucial national human capitol gaining ICT-based KE and entrepreneurship skills for knowledge creation and production, Reem N. Bsaiso writes in her study ti-tled “Knowledge Economy (KE) for Growth and Em-ployment in the MENA Region
Case Study on Knowledge Transfer (KT) to Jordan”.
More:
The Study
Knowledge Economy Developments News in Brief
Philippines needs to stay competitive in knowledge economy
With the unprecedented incorporation of knowl-edge into all forms of economic activity, govern-ment and the private sector must work together to help the Philippines stay competitive in today’s knowledge economy. This was the key message of local scientists and biotechnology experts who spoke during the Novartis Biotechnology Leader-ship Camp (BioCamp). Held at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center in Makati City, this year’s Local BioCamp had the theme “Stay-
ing Competitive in the Knowledge Economy.” “In today’s global economy, knowledge is the key re-source that drives innovation, productivity and economic growth. To stay competitive, we need to continuously enhance the country’s science and technology capabilities and adopt a research and development-oriented mindset,” said Sen. Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on sci-ence and technology.
More:
The Article
Video is a golden ticket to the knowledge economy
By 2018, “digital natives” will transform the work-place. The use of IT will intensify in financial insti-tutions as well as education and media companies that wish to stay competitive, says Iddo Shai, who is knowledge and video production manager at Kaltu-ra, the world’s first open source video platform. The democratisation of IT isn’t a trend - it’s a reality. Just take a look at the three year-old toddlers that are already using touchscreens. Can you imagine what they will expect from technology by the time they start their first job? Those CIOs who choose to drive video adoption in order to enhance enterprise col-laboration and communication will be at the fore-front of the knowledge economy; those that don’t will lag behind.
South Africa’s move towards a “knowledge econo-my”, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pan-dor said at the launch of the week at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus. “It’s no doubt that science and technology have changed the world tremendously and countries that excel in the sector become powerful players in the economy of the world,” she said. “The onus is therefore on every country to establish how it wants to positions itself. Recent developments, such as the bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), as well as the collaboration with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) generated a worldwide interest in science and the possibilities it offers for humanity.” She believed South Africa and its other eight African partner countries, who will host the majority of the SKA dishes, will soon get to a place where they can provide answers about the early history of the universe, dark matter and gravity.
More:
The Article
Taiwan ranks as top of Asia
According to the World Bank’s Knowledge Econo-my Index (KEI), Taiwan ranks 13th among the 146 countries covered worldwide and 1st in Asia, above Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and other ma-jor competitors. Taiwan scored especially well in the education, innovation, and information and communications technology (ICT) indexes, ranking among the world’s top 10 in all three.
The Council for Economic Planning and Develop-ment (CEPD) noted that Taiwan’s competitiveness in terms of knowledge economy is constantly im-proving, and that the score gap between Taiwan and the world’s No. 1 ranking has narrowed from 0.82 in 2000 to 0.66 this year. Over the same pe-riod, the distance between the scores of Japan, Korea, and Singapore and the top-ranked country actually lengthened.
More:
The Article
Brunei’s switch to ‘knowledge’ economy begins with educators
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR), Hjh Normah Suria Hayati during the closing ceremony of the regional training programme on “Integrating 21st Century Labour Market Competencies in the Curriculum” said in her speech that a knowledge-based econ-omy is one in which the production, distribution, and the use of knowledge are the main drivers of growth, wealth creation, and employment for all industries. “In this form of economy, people, ideas, and capabilities are the key source of wealth and opportunities,” she said. Hjh Normah, guest of honour at the event, urged Brunei to follow in the footsteps of other countries towards making man-power more specialised. “Many countries today are moving towards a knowledge-based economic de-velopment, which requires the transition to more effective skill formation systems,” she said.
More:
The Article
Catalyst for knowledge economy
Participants of the Economic Transformation Pro-gramme Lab identified that Business Services will be a key catalyst in transforming Malaysia into a knowledge economy. “This EPP is a means for Ma-laysia to offer high end engineering services to mul-tinational companies without having these compa-nies relocate. These highly differentiated services will see an inflow of income into Malaysia whilst keeping the talents in Malaysia,” said Dr Fadhullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek, Director, Business Services
Embracing our humanities in today’s knowledge-driven economy
For generations of Canadians a postsecondary edu-cation in the social sciences or the humanities has been a viable — and valuable — path to a fulfilling
NKEA, Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu). “These services are unique and will initially focus on the aviation and automotive industries. Working with entities such as Airbus and Nissan from Malaysia itself, positions our country as a high-end service provider. This aligns with the aspiration to drive Malaysia towards becoming a high income nation by 2020,” he added.
More:
The Article
Huge potential of key enabling technologies for jobs
The European Commission tabled its strategy to boost the industrial production of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs)-based products, e.g. innova-tive products and applications of the future.The global market in Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), which comprises micro- and nanoelectronics, ad-vanced materials, industrial biotechnology, pho-tonics, nanotechnology and advanced manufactur-ing systems, is forecast to grow from € 646 Billion to over € 1 Trillion between 2008 and 2015; this is a jump of over 54%, or more than 8% of the EU’s GDP. Rapid growth in jobs is expected, too. In nanotech-nology industries alone, the number of jobs in the EU is expected to increase from 160,000 in 2008, to around 400,000 by 2015. Europe is a global leader in KETs research and development with a global share in patent applications of more than 30%.
More:
The Strategy
Skills and Innovation in Knowledge Intensive Ser-vice Activities
The Knowledge Economy at Work offers empirical analyses that address issues of knowledge as an organizational resource, how knowledge-intensive service activities (KISA) and skills come together to produce innovation, and the various ways in which knowledge is actually put to work. The editors and contributors are mainly concerned with firm-level analysis, although they are also interested in social mechanisms, and therefore situate particular firms in larger contexts of analysis, including industries and sectors. The contributors pay careful attention to competition, performance, personnel, human resources, and, importantly, innovation. They also remind us that not all knowledge resources are used in the service of innovation, and that innova-tion is not solely the outcome of knowledge work.
More:
The Article
and rewarding career. That’s still the case today, es-pecially in the face of a global culture and econo-my fueled by technology and innovation. Despite what some pundits will argue, a social sciences or humanities (SSH) degree is not only relevant given the demands of the 21st century knowledge econ-omy — it’s indispensable. In fact, many high-tech and business leaders have recently acknowledged the significant role that SSH graduates have played — and will continue to play — in their companies’ successes, Paul Davidson, President of Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada writes.
€8.1 billion EU investment in research and innovation to create growth and jobs
The European Commission has published the final and biggest ever set of calls for proposals for re-search under its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). In total, €8.1 billion will support projects and ideas that will tackle issues such as human health, protecting the environment and finding new solu-tions to growing challenges linked to urbanisation and managing waste. The funding – which is open to organisations and businesses in all EU Member States and partner countries - makes up the lion’s share of the EU’s proposed €10.8 billion research budget for 2013.
More:
The News
Innovation partnership for Smart Cities and Communities
By launching a Smart Cities and Communities Eu-ropean Innovation Partnership (SCC) the European Commission aims to boost the development of smart technologies in cities – by pooling research resources from energy, transport and ICT and con-centrating them on a small number of demonstra-tion projects which will be implemented in partner-ship with cities. For 2013 alone, € 365 million in EU funds have been earmarked for the demonstration of these types of urban technology solutions. Cur-rently many obstacles limit the potential of inno-vative smart technologies, for example high tech-nological risk, difficulties over uncertain returns on investment or regulatory difficulties. In tough economic times, businesses and cities are also re-luctant to scale up and rapidly deploy innovative technologies despite potential cost savings and longer-term emissions reductions.
More:
The News
Progress Microfinance proves success as tool for micro-entrepreneur start-ups in Europe
The European Progress Microfinance Facility has proved to be a successful tool to create jobs, par-ticularly amongst groups with difficulties to raise finance from more traditional sources, by helping start-ups by micro-entrepreneurs, according to the second annual report on its implementation. Through this Facility twenty microfinance provid-ers throughout the European Union have received guarantees or funding (debt or equity) to facilitate their lending to would-be micro-entrepreneurs worth €170 million over the coming two to three years. The facility, launched together with the Eu-ropean Investment Bank Group at the end of 2010, helps microcredit providers selected by the Euro-pean Investment Fund (EIF) to increase their micro-lending volumes. It also gives incentives to serve “risky” target groups e.g. young people who can-not put up sufficient collateral for a traditional bank loan.
More:
The News
European Commission targets barriers to Single Market for research and innovation
The European Commission has set out concrete steps Member States should take to achieve the European Research Area (ERA), a Single Market for research and innovation in Europe. The goal is to enable researchers, research institutions and busi-nesses to better move, compete and co-operate across borders. To help achieve the European Re-search Area, the Commission has also signed a Joint Statement and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with organisations representing key re-search organisations and research funding bodies. The proposals are a response to the deadline set by EU leaders to make the European Research Area a reality by 2014.
the Commission says. Contributions may be sent no later than 5 November 2012.
More:
The Consultation paper
and
The Consultation page
Consultation on a future framework for investment funds
The European Commission launched an in-depth consultation on issues arising in the area of invest-ment funds. The consultation focuses on the issue of money market funds and how such funds should be regulated in future; the fund industry’s involve-ment in securities lending and repurchase (repo) arrangements; and the fund industry’s exposure to certain OTC derivatives that, in future, will be subject to central clearing and the fund industry’s approach to investors’ redemptions. Responses to this consultation are invited by 18 October 2012 at the latest.
More:
The Consultation document
and
The Consultation page
International education contributes $8 billion to Canada’s economy
Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minis-ter for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, announced the re-lease of a report on the economic impact of inter-national education in Canada. The report estimates that international student expenditure contributed $8 billion to Canada’s economy in 2010, as well as supporting 86,000 jobs and contributing $455 mil-lion in government tax revenue. “I am delighted that Canada is a destination that is growing in attraction for international students,” said Minister Fast while visiting the University of British Columbia. “The presence of international students and researchers taking advantage of Canada’s world-class facilities creates jobs and economic growth and contributes to our people-to-people ties with other countries and, in particular, emerging markets.” “Outstand-ing international students and researchers not only enrich our campuses but make Canada more com-petitive by sharing knowledge and expertise both during their time at university and afterwards,” said Prof. Stephen Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia. A commit-ment to refresh Canada’s Global Commerce Strat-egy was announced in Economic Action Plan 2012.
More:
The Report
More:
The News
EU Commission consults on tax obstacles to cross-border venture capital investment
The European Commission has launched a public consultation to collect factual examples of direct tax problems that arise when venture capital is in-vested across borders. Due to mismatches between the tax systems of the EU’s 27 Member States, ven-ture capital funds can face problems of double tax-ation as well as legal and administrative uncertainty when they invest across borders. These problems could hinder the full development of the venture capital market in Europe and therefore compromise the provision of financing to the EU’s most innova-tive small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
Venture capitalist returns to Canada ‘to create jobs’
Venture capitalist Ann Hanham hopes to bring a little bit of Silicon Valley to Canada. At 59, she is returning home to create a $300 million venture capital fund for the biotechnology sector. She will be looking to back just 15 to 20 companies, on the expectation that those companies will produce a return of five times their value within five years. Hanham is a managing director at Burrill & Com-pany, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley where she has worked for the past 12 years.
More:
The Article
Global Venture Capital Confidence Survey 2012
Venture capitalists from around the globe say that there are pockets of optimism in the current ven-ture capital environment, Deloitte’s Global Survey shows. Respondents demonstrated more enthusi-asm for emerging geographies such as Brazil and newer IT sub-sectors including cloud computing and social media. However, despite increased opti-mism in these areas, the survey reveals that there remains room for considerable improvement in overall global venture capital confidence levels, particularly when it comes to externalities impact-ing the industry. “We are starting to see some posi-
The Global Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index
The 2012 Annual Global Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index has ranked USA, Canada and UK as most attractive countries for venture capital and private equity.
More:
Webpage with figures
Venture Capital Firms Jump Into Brazil After Years of Testing Water
In recent years, venture capitalists have only dipped their toes in Brazil, where high taxes, government bureaucracy and an abundance of required vaca-tion time make the country an expensive place for startups. Now, two venture firms are diving in, de-ciding that the world’s sixth-largest economy is too important to ignore even with the risks. Redpoint Ventures and e.ventures (formerly BV Capital) an-nounced that they’ve raise a $130 million fund to focus on early-stage Brazilian companies. The firms raised the capital primarily from existing limited partners and hired two full-time partners to man-age the fund. “There’s 200 million people, a very fast growing middle class, increasing disposable income, a dramatic rise in broadband penetration and Internet engagement is really high,” said Jeff Brody, who co-founded Menlo Park, California-based Redpoint in 1999. “That makes it worthwhile to bear the burden of the additional overhead.”
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The Article
tive signs that the global economy is beginning to rebound from where it was two years ago,” said James Atwell, recently named national managing partner of the EGC Practice, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “Venture capitalists are already starting to grow more confident within their home countries, along with significant opportunities ahead in fast growing IT sectors like cloud computing and social media, further demonstrating the optimism about certain investment opportunities.”
Humboldt Foundation seeks to recruit more wom-en researchers for its network
In the worldwide contest for the best, most tal-ented minds the Humboldt Foundation wants to introduce a new equal opportunities strategy to promote significantly more women researchers and recruit them for the Humboldt Network. The strategy will be evaluated in four years’ time.
More:
The Article
The new Wayra Academy in Brazil starts running in São Paulo
The 23rd of July saw the official inauguration of the new Wayra Academy in São Paulo. This space will welcome the Brazilian entrepreneurs selected in 2011 in a venue where the exchange of experi-ences and the effervescence of ideas comprise a favourable ecosystem for innovation. 1,200 m2 in size and, like the rest of the Wayra Academies around the world, designed to promote interaction among the entrepreneurs, it has an ultra-rapid in-ternet connection, a games room and even a rest area for those who will spend nights turning their projects into realities. “Brazil is a country with great creative potential and also a crucible of talents in the technology sector. At present, when the Brazil-ian market is very attractive for international inves-tors, it is very important for entrepreneurs to have the backing necessary to develop their ideas”, said the CEO of the Telefónica Group in Brazil, Antonio Carlos Valente.
More:
The Article
Brazil bids to become world’s third IT market by 2022
Brazil hopes to capitalize on the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics to advance its goal of becoming the world’s third largest information technology and communications (ITC) market, a top industry official says.
“We are today the fifth largest ITC market in the world, (worth) $210 billion dollars,” Antonio Gil, president of the Brazilian Association of Informa-tion Technology and Communication Companies (Brasscom), told AFP in an interview Monday.Brasscom, which groups top domestic and foreign ITC companies operating in Brazil such as IBM, Mi-crosoft, Intel, Ericcson and Lenovo, is drawing up a study with global consulting firm McKinsey on how to help Brazil vault into third place behind China and the United States by 2022.
More:
The Article
Singapore Needs More Entrepreneurs
Singapore has produced an abundance of “wealth managers” and not enough “wealth creators.” So lamented Ngiam Tong Dow, former permanent sec-
retary of the Singapore Ministry of Finance and the prime minister’s Office of the Government of Sin-gapore. But who is benefiting from this? According to a 2010 Gallup survey, 16% of Singapore residents who are not already business owners reported that they have thought about starting a business, com-pared with 40% in Hong Kong and in 33% in Taiwan. The number of people who have actually acted on such pipedreams is no doubt much smaller. Unless Singapore gets much better at understanding what drives entrepreneurs and how to identify and nur-ture those precious few who exist, Singaporeans may continue to create the ideal capitalist society but see most of the returns to capital flow to oth-ers, Leong Chee Tung, a Senior Consultant with Gal-lup, says.
Reconciling IMF rules and international investment agreements: An innovative derogation for capital controls
Written by Elizabeth L. Broomfield
There is currently no universal framework govern-ing capital controls. As a result, a conflict has arisen due to the different approaches taken by various international organizations and many international investment agreements (IIAs). In particular, the In-ternational Monetary Fund (IMF) -- established to manage the international financial system -- pre-serves national autonomy over capital controls when such measures are deemed necessary; in contrast, IIAs, and especially bilateral investment treaties (BITs) -- crafted primarily to protect inves-tors -- typically do not allow for the imposition of restrictions on capital outflows associated with for-eign investments for balance-of-payments reasons.
More specifically, countries that significantly limit the policy space for capital controls in their IIAs (that is, do not allow for a balance-of-payments der-ogation) can potentially come in direct conflict with the IMF. For instance, a senior IMF lawyer, express-ing concern that this approach might be contrary to a request by the Fund that a government adopt capital controls, observed that there is a risk that, “in complying with its obligations [under Free Trade Agreements] … a member could be rendered ineli-gible to use the Fund’s resources under the Fund’s articles.” Recent volatile capital flows to developing countries, as well as the greater acceptance of capi-tal controls today, make it likely that this issue will stay on the international agenda. This dilemma has been recognized in the international community, as demonstrated by several attempted solutions.
In response to this issue, IIAs should incorporate derogations for countries when treaty obligations conflict with IMF recommendations. More specifi-
cally, if and when the IMF suggests that a govern-ment employ capital controls for a limited time to respond to severe economic hardship, the employ-ing country would have a complete defense against investor lawsuits under IIAs incorporating such der-ogations.
This recommendation may be more politically pal-atable than other proposed derogations that might afford greater discretion to treaty parties in the implementation of capital controls and therefore should be the most politically feasible. Moreover, the IMF has the preeminent role in international economic rule-making on this issue; the General Agreement on Trade in Services defers to IMF au-thority on the question of transfer restrictions and some countries have already demonstrated a will-ingness to rely on IMF judgment on this subject: the North American Free Trade Agreement’s balance-of-payments derogation relies upon IMF statistical information and recommendations. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has even advocated a greater role for the IMF in policing international capital flows.
This proposal could be especially useful for US IIAs and the US Model BIT; the US has been particularly reluctant to incorporate any derogation for capital controls into its IIAs. This plan offers several ad-vantages over the potential balance-of-payments derogation currently debated by the US State De-partment. First, an IMF exemption could allow con-trols to prevent a crisis from escalating, rather than addressing problems purely retrospectively; this problem has already occurred regarding the NAFTA balance-of-payments exception. Though permis-sion to use capital controls in this manner would likely be extremely rare, the possibility may prevent a costly and potentially unnecessary buildup of re-serves, as occurred in Mexico. The requirement of an IMF recommendation to use controls would also limit abuse of the flexibility by host countries. It is
KnowledgeEconomyNetworkKEN Bulletin
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also more objective and therefore promotes legal predictability, as the existence of a balance-of-pay-ments crisis can be subjective. A country may be threatened with lawsuits even if it believes capital controls are needed to respond to a clear balance-of-payments dilemma; IMF permission to impose capital controls would remove this uncertainty. If the IMF states that capital controls are needed to address a financial difficulty, a country may pro-ceed without fear of lawsuits.
Most importantly, this proposed derogation would directly address the IMF’s concern that its author-ity to recommend capital controls could be under-
mined by IIAs. While rules of international institu-tions are carefully designed to ensure that they do not create conflicting obligations, this is not the case for most treaties crafted in the investment area. Currently, it is possible that a country in crisis will have to face two potentially conflicting inter-national obligations: an IMF recommendation to employ capital controls, and IIAs that allow inves-tors to sue if controls are imposed. A simple dero-gation in IIAs would remove this risk and enhance the compatibility of such agreements with interna-tional rule-making.
Recently published documentsTo access any of the following publications, simply click on the title or cover page of the publication. Addi-tional publications can be found on the KEN website.
Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators
Turning the Tide: How Europe Can Rebuild Skills and Generate
GrowthRegional Innovation Systems as
Public Goods
Building InnovationThe world in 2050: Quantifying the shift in the global economy
Strengthening Education and Research Connectivity between
Upcoming eventsBelow you will find a selection of the most pertinent events taking place up until December 2012. For more events, please visit our online interactive calendar.
indicates recently added events.
5th Workshop Digital Social Networks
Date: 19 September 2012
Venue: Braunschweig, Germany
Further information
Global Learning Academy 2012
Date: 19 – 21 September 2012
Venue: Johannesburg, South Africa
Further information
RESER 2012: Services and economic development: local and global challenges
Date: 20 – 22 September 2012-02-24
Venue: Bucharest, Romania
Further information
Tenth International Symposium on Power of Green Energy
Date: 20 Septemebr 2012
Venue: Torun, Poland
Further information
ICITEA 2012: International conference on Information Technology, E-government and applications
Date: 20 – 21 September 2012
Venue: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Further information
International Conference on Internet , E-Learning and Education Technologies
Date: 23 – 24 September 2012
Venue: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Further information
European Clean Technology 2012
Date: 24 – 25 September 2012
Venue: London, United Kingdom
Further information
Global Mindset Development in Leadership and Management Conference
1 Iceland 1.1132 Denmark 1.2392 New Zealand 1.2394 Canada 1.3175 Japan 1.3266 Austria 1.3286 Ireland 1.3288 Slovenia 1.3309 Finland 1.34810 Switzerland 1.34911 Belgium 1.37612 Qatar 1.39513 Czech Republic 1.39614 Sweden 1.41915 Germany 1.42416 Portugal 1.47017 Hungary 1.47618 Norway 1.48019 Bhutan 1.48120 Malaysia 1.48521 Mauritius 1.48722 Australia 1.49423 Singapore 1.52124 Poland 1.52425 Spain 1.54826 Slovakia 1.59027 Taiwan 1.60228 Netherlands 1.606
29 United Kingdom 1.60930 Chile 1.61631 Botswana 1.62132 Romania 1.62733 Uruguay 1.62834 Vietnam 1.64135 Croatia 1.64836 Costa Rica 1.65937 Laos 1.66238 Italy 1.69039 Bulgaria 1.69940 France 1.71041 Estonia 1.71542 South Korea 1.73443 Lithuania 1.74144 Argentina 1.76345 Latvia 1.77446 United Arab
The achievement of democracy presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in the conduct of the affairs of society in which they work in equality and complementarity, drawing mutual enrichment from their differences.Universal Declaration on Democracy, 1997, Principle No 4
Without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women’s perspective at all levels of decision-making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved.Beijing Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995
Situation on 1 January 2012
Rank Country Lower or single House % Women Women / Seats
No Information availableDemocratic Republic of the Congo
No parliament on 1 January 2012Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, Guinea, Libya
Women in ParliamentThe countries are ranked and colour-coded according to the percentage of women
in unicameral parliaments or the lower house of parliament. Reflecting elections/appointments up to 1 January 2012.
(1) South Africa: The figures on the distribution of seats in the Upper House do not include the 36 special rotating delegates appointed on an ad hoc basis, and all percentages given are therefore calculated on the basis of the 54 permanent seats.
(2) United States of America: Total refers to all voting members of the House.(3) Egypt: Figures correspond to the results of elections to the Lower House completed in January 2012. Elections to the Upper House
will be completed in early 2012. Source: National parliaments
‡ The total includes Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers. Prime Ministers/Heads of Government were also included when they held ministerial portfolios. Vice-Presidents and heads of governmental or public agencies have not been included.
Source: Information obtained from Governments, Permanent Missions to the United Nations, or publicly available information which is indicated as (*). Pr
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World and Regional Averages of Women in Parliament
Single or Lower House
Upper House or Senate
Both Houses combined
World average 19.7% 18.7% 19.5%
Regional averagesRegions are classified by descending order of the percentage of women in unicameral parliaments or the lower house of parliament. The regional groupings used herein are those of the IPU.
Nordic countries 42.0% — —
Americas 22.6% 23.4% 22.7%
Europe OSCE (Nordic countries included) 22.6% 21.1% 22.3%
Europe OSCE (Nordic countries not included) 20.8% 21.1% 20.9%
Sub-Saharan Africa 20.4% 19.4% 20.2%
Asia 18.3% 14.3% 17.9%
Pacific 12.4% 34.8% 14.9%
Arab States 11.3% 7.3% 10.7%
About this mapThe colour coding of the countries reflects the percentage of women in unicameral parliaments or in the lower house of parliament, and corresponds to the data found in the world ranking of women in parliament on the right of the map.
A world ranking of women in ministerial positions is on the left hand side of the map.
Country with a woman presiding officer of parliament or one house of parliament
Country with a woman head of government and/or elected head of State
All data reflects the situation on 1 January 2012. The information presented has been submitted to the IPU by national authorities, unless otherwise indicated. The IPU is responsible for processing the data and for the criteria applied in displaying the information
The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UN Women or of the Inter-Parliamentary Union concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or any area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
* Dotted line represents approximately the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir agreed upon by India and Pakistan. The final status of Jammu and Kashmir has not yet been agreed upon by the parties.
a Occupied Palestinian Territoryb A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).c Final boundary between the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan has not yet been determined.
Contacts:United Nations Entity for Gender Equality Inter-Parliamentary Union Office of the Permanent Observer of the IPUand the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Headquarters to the United Nations in New YorkE-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]: www.unwomen.org Web: www.ipu.org
Women in Ministerial Positions
The countries are ranked according to the percentage of women in ministerial positions (‡). Reflecting appointments up to 1 January 2012.
Rank Country % Women Women Total ministers ‡50 to 59.9%
67 Indonesia 11.4 4 3568 Antigua and Barbuda* 11.1 1 9“ El Salvador 11.1 2 18“ Fiji* 11.1 1 9“ Republic of Korea 11,1 3 24“ Saint Kitts and Nevis* 11.1 1 9“ Suriname 11.1 2 18
Information not availableBotswana, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Sri Lanka
Women in the Highest Positions of State
Presiding Officers of Parliament189 Parliaments, of which 76 are bicameral = 265 Chambers of Parliament (1)
Albania (Assembly)Antigua and Barbuda (House of Representatives and Senate)Austria (National Council)Bahamas (Senate) Belize (Senate)Belgium (Senate)Botswana (National Assembly)Bulgaria (National Assembly)Czech Republic (Chamber of Deputies)Dominica (House of Assembly) Estonia (The Estonian Parliament)Gabon (Senate)Ghana (Parliament)
Grenada (Senate)Iceland (Parliament)India (House of the People)Jamaica (House of Representatives)Lao People’s Democratic Republic (National Assembly)Latvia (Parliament)Lesotho (National Assembly)Lithuania (Parliament)Mozambique (Assembly of the Republic)Netherlands (House of Representatives)Pakistan (National Assembly)Poland (Sejm)Portugal (Assembly of the Republic)
Romania (Chamber of Deputies)Russian Federation (Council of the Federation)Rwanda (Chamber of Deputies)Saint Lucia (House of Assembly and Senate)Serbia (National Assembly)Suriname (National Assembly)Swaziland (Senate)Turkmenistan (Assembly)Uganda (Parliament)United Kingdom (House of Lords)United Republic of Tanzania (National Assembly)Uzbekistan (Legislative Chamber)Zimbabwe (Senate)
(1) There are 265 Chambers of Parliament and 273 presiding officer posts, comprised as follows: 259 parliamentary chambers with one presiding officer each. Three chambers with two presiding officers each (San Marino’s single chamber, the US Senate and the Liberian Senate). Two chambers with three presiding officers each (Bosnia and Herzegovina’s lower and upper chambers).
Note: One bicameral Parliament does not have presiding officers as at 1 January 2012.
India (HS) Liberia (HS/HG)Lithuania (HS)Mali (HG)Slovakia (HG)Switzerland (HS/HG)Thailand (HG)Trinidad and Tobago (HG)
Note: (HS/HG) = The Head of State is also the Head of Government.
(1) Only elected Heads of State have been taken into account.
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Portfolios held by Women Ministers(1065 portfolios, for 188 countries)
Social AffairsFamily / Children / Youth / Elderly / DisabledWomen’s Affairs / Gender EqualityEducationEmployment / Labour / Vocational TrainingEnvironment / Natural Resources / EnergyTrade / IndustryHealthCultureForeign Affairs (including development assistance)JusticeAgriculture / Food / Forestry / FishingPublic Works / Territorial PlanningResearch and Development / Science and TechnologyHome Affairs / Immigration (including integration and refugees)Finance / BudgetLocal GovernmentTourismCommunications / Telecommunications / Postal AffairsEconomy / DevelopmentHousing / Urban AffairsHuman Rights Public Administration / Public ServiceSportsTransportInformation / MediaParliamentary Affairs Defence and Veteran AffairsMinisters of State without portfolioPopulation
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000
55
7810
151718
20202020
222425
2831
3637
3940
5258
6062
6868
7379
98
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union
Dying young: Comparing death rates for young people in the rich world
Benefits and Challenges of Public-Private Partnerships
for Improving Energy Efficiency
24 October 2012 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Achieving a healthy balance between private and public sector represents a crucial challenge for both national and
regional economies, both in times of economic growth and particularly in times of economic crises. Such a
pragmatic mechanism responds adequately and timely to changes in economic circumstances, to shifts in
regulatory framework, and to needs and priorities of society as the whole and consumers in particular. Accordingly,
public-private partnerships (PPP) should be explored more in-depth.
Moreover, in today’s globalized world energy and its efficiency attracts more and more concerns from local as
well as international leaders. Despite fast economic expansions and advancement of technology, many countries
fail to ensure stable energy supply at affordable prices. Furthermore, scarcity of traditional resources for energy
production and limited available renewable resources combined with constant growth in prices and burden to
environment, call for considerable attention and immediate actions from policy-makers, businesses and civil society.
Therefore, the purpose of the conference is to present and evaluate benefits and challenges of
public-private partnerships for improving energy efficiency. The conference will attempt to find
specific ways to face some of the biggest contemporary challenges in energy efficiency and
opportunities provided by PPP as an effective tool.
Actions to increase energy efficiency can make a significant impact in squaring the circle between an increased
demand for energy and environmental protection and ensuring a more sustainable energy future. Energy efficiency
not only enables the business sector to save costs, improve its competitiveness and overall productivity but also
opens opportunities to develop new businesses that enhance efficiency across countries and sectors.
Governments need to create a regulatory and policy environment that rewards energy-
efficient choices and encourages innovation. The dissemination and transfer of best practices
and efficient technologies, the capacity building, as well as enabling joint research and
development on key energy technologies, in particular for application in developing countries,
are issues of great importance to be addressed at the conference.
ICPE - International Center for Promotion of Enterprisesin cooperation with
KEN - Knowledge Economy NetworkPresents
About the organizers
International Center of
Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE) is an inter-governmental organisation
based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, dedicated to efficient and productive public enterprise, promotion and development of entrepreneurship
and efficient and socially responsible management with four decades of experience. The Center aims to
ensure quality and win-win based cooperation among its both member states, and local and international
partners.
The global mission of Knowledge
Economy Network – KEN – is to
motivate policy makers, as well as stakeholders, to play an active role in
resolving practical issues of knowledge economy developments. The Network also aims to contribute
to international cooperation in increasing the awareness of the critical importance of upgrading knowledge-based competitiveness
through stronger partnerships in education, R&D, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Draft programme
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
09.00Welcome and Keynote Addresses
Welcome: Janez Podobnik, ICPE Acting Director GeneralKeynote Address: Dr. Hideo Hato, President of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, KawasakiKeynote Address: Dr. Pradeep Monga, Director of the Energy Branch, UNIDO, ViennaWelcome: Radovan Žerjav, Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology
10.00 Energy efficiency and sustainable energy policy to be achieved through PPP and international cooperation (speakers proposed or invited)
Defining PPP Models and Assesing their Potential: Adam Sek, Regional Adviser on Sustainable Energy, UN Economic Commission for Europe, GenevaMiranda Groff Ferjančič, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia Representative of World Bank, WashingtonRepresentative of OECD, ParisEuropean Commission, Unit Energy Efficiency & Intelligent Energy, DG Energy, BrusselsRepresentatives from regional development banks (Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank)
11.30 Break
12.00 Presentation of Best Practice Cases, dealing with key aspects of PPP (selected cases to be confirmed later from those listed below)
Chair, Introductory Remarks: Anton Rop, Vice-President and Member of the Management Committee of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg Power Grid Corporation of India LimitedNational Energy Strategy – German Federal Government Action Plan Statoil Hydro and ABB (using Communication and Information Technologies to improve Energy Efficiency) Japan Facility Solutions – TEPCO Group (providing Energy Efficiency as a service) The National Business Initiative in South Africa (A partnership between the government and industry-wide businesses to foster overall energy efficiency) ECO Fund, Slovenian Environmental Public Fund (Franc Beravs, Director, to be invited)
13.30 Lunch
15.00 Parallel Discussion Groups
A. Regulatory support and public incentives for effective PPP in energy sector (inclusive efforts for developing proper regulatory environment creating optimal conditions for initiation, development and management of PPP projects)
B. Strengthening international cooperation in the field of Public enterprise and PPP (learning from best practice cases through dialogue and networking, and creating knowledge alliances and centers of excellence)
16.30 Coffee Break
16.45 Brief reports on conclusions of two Discussion groups by the rapporteurs
17.15 Adoption of Recommendations and Closure of the conference
Conference venue Grand Hotel Union, Ljubljana
Preparatory materials (to be received two weeks in advance):
•Select Bibliography (about 120 units, dated mostly since 2000);
•Analytical Compendium (about 30 pages of extracts from the most relevant documents, studies and reports);
