Jan Annerstedt Copenhagen Business School The ‘glocal’ challenges of the Digital Age Information...

Jan Annerstedt

CopenhagenBusiness School

The ‘glocal’ challenges of the Digital Age

Information and the transformation of

science, technology and innovation

Presented at the ICSTI Public Conference

“The Information Imperative: Impacts of STM Information and STM Information Organizations”

Ottawa 2003-05-09

Jan Annerstedt


The values of STM Information

Global information issues in local contexts:

How to assess scientific, technical and medical (STM) information in relation to economic development?

Local cases from developing economies … and from the global scene What to measure? What’s the metrics?

Jan Annerstedt



A ‘digital divide’: How to measure?

ORBICOM (UNESCO Networks of Communication specialists) study of:

‘Infodensity’ = Sum of all ICT ‘stocks’ (capital investments, networks, skills/human resources, etc.

‘Infocom use’ = Consumption flows of ICT and ICT related services / period of time

Orbicom (2002): ‘Monitoring the Digital Divide’ (ISBN 2 922 651 01 0)

Jan Annerstedt



A ‘digital divide’? STM in ‘glocal’ contexts

Organizational intelligence: What a private coffee farm in a remote part of Vietnam does with STM information

‘Farmers on air & on line’: Community multimedia centers

In touch and empowered? -Who’s left behind in the knowledge-based economy?

STM information & transactions: More of one-to-one relationships. Information is customized as intelligence and increasingly tailor-made for particular needs and users

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What’s new for technology and the economy?

-The growth of infocom-related industries

Technology-induced changes Sweeping changes in technological capabilities due

to digitization Major shifts in the way electronic products are being

applied throughout the economy (and society) Evisceration of competitive boundaries between

traditionally distinct sectors and between sub-segments within a sector

Dramatic changes in the governance of the new economy: from ex ante regulation to market competition

A shift in the balance of power from the supply side to the demand side, from providers to users. The supply side is being restructured

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What’s new for technology and the economy? -Productivy enhancements in a more ’knowledge-based’ economy

Extensive changes over the past 20 years (particularly in N America and W Europe)

What’s the principal cause?

- Technology-based innovation processes

- Swift ICT applications fostering new products and processes

1. New tangible assets

2. New intangible goods

3. New intangible competencies

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2. Intangible goods

Licences, quotas, franchises Copyright or patent-protected ... Film, music, artistic, scientific, literary entities, incl. software Other intellectual property

Enforcable ownership rights that can be traded in disembodied form

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3. Intangible competencies

Innovation competencies Market competencies Human resources: Rediscovery of specific ’tacit’ knowledge (linked to ’exlicit’ knowledge), learning to learn, life-long learning, etc.

Distinctive factors of competitive advantage that differentiates one company (or other organization) from another

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How to measure information and other intangibles?

Examples at the level of firms and other organizations

Examples among firms and their supporting institutions

Examples at the level of cities and other localities

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Information in economic theory = a ‘Pure Public Good’

Information is not a normal (easily traded) commodity in a market

Infinite ‘expansibility’

Very low marginal transfer costs

Often high fixed costs of producing information

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Information in economic theory = a ‘Pure Public Good’Competitive markets typically fail to allocate

‘public goods’ efficientlyMarginal costs are often uncovered, even

with large production scalesExternal use benefits are not properly valued

by a private willingness to payConceptual designs are not rewarded

But, do these characteristics remain important in the new ‘knowledge-based’ economy?

Jan Annerstedt


Information & knowledge appropriationHow to benefit from STM information and related

investments in the ‘knowledge-based’ economy?

‘Intellectual property’ solutions: if you use the idea for commercial purposes = you pay

‘Public subsidy’ solutions: patronage

‘Socialist production system’ solutions: public provision, public procurement

Jan Annerstedt


Information & knowledge appropriationWhich are the currently dominant tendencies in the

‘knowledge-based’ economy?

Property rights are becoming central

Patronage (public or private) is becoming less important

Public provisions are becoming less important

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Information & knowledge appropriationWhich are the currently dominant tendencies in today’s

‘information disclosure regimes’?

Towards a more ‘closed system’ of information dissemination

A coming ‘meltdown’ in the republic of science?

An expansion of the realm of (privately controlled) technology and related science

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Countervailing tendencies: Towards more open systems

Internet is evolving rapidly through three stages of development:

1. A network of networks

2. A medium

3. A self-aware fabric that is always in the backgrund (all the way to wireless access)

Source: John Seely Brown

Jan Annerstedt



Internet as other networks are subject to network effects:

’Metcalf’s Law’ (the value of the network is the square of the number of network members)

The ’Law of Community’ (the value of the network is the square of the number of network communities connected)Source: John Seely Brown

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Radial networks: members connected through a ’center’ (a dot.com server such as Amazon.com)

Combinatorial networks: networks of combinations (or communities) of users

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From information to intelligence:Making use of STM informationThe new tendencies? What’s emerging?

From ‘content blind’ to ‘content smart’ information systems Specialized users in the driver’s seat. And, new user groups (and new communities of users) are appearing

A new culture of day-to-day collaboration among scientists across the world (incl. most developing countries) New types of scholarly publishing (in all steps of the research process)

Better integration between research and education and training (and the general public) More dynamic, and more functional science-industry-government relations

Jan Annerstedt


From information to intelligence:Making use of STM informationThe new tendencies? What’s emerging?

More powerful and sophisticated search engines, data processing and other software tools empower (both professional and other) users and shape new demand Scientific and technological user groups seem to remain in the forefront of new information demand, but a range of other advanced user demands are quickly emerging

New user demands (and interfaces for visualization, other virtual reality techniques, high-performance data handling, etc.) ‘rejuvenate’ STM information systems and make them increasingly relevant

Highly-specialized firms try to ride the wave of much more specialized (and professional) demand for STM information that could be turned into advanced applications

Jan Annerstedt


What’s the European Union doing related to STM information? Four fields of European action

1. Reshaping regulatory environments for STM and other information flows

-telecom regulation

-digital economy framework (copyright, web-signatures, etc.)

-protection of privacy and personal rights

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2. Improving infrastructure and access

-new modes of access to international networks

-national, regional and local infrastructure

-individual and collective access (e.g. specialized as well as public access points)

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3. Re-tooling education and other human resource development-support to specialized and general education and training (across sectors and professions)-easily available, general access to public data and information-schemes for home use of PCs and other internet access equipment (also with the aim of informal training)

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4. Stimulating new applications and specialized services

-adaptations to the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity

-specific programs for diffusion of ICT for local and regional economic development

-stimuli to ’not-for-profit’ (but viable) applications and activities

Jan Annerstedt Copenhagen Business School The ‘glocal’ challenges of the Digital Age Information...

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