From the monthly archives:

May 2014

Adaption of Innovation in the Context of the EU Policy Framework

May 31, 2014

Innovation is by many seen as a key for how to re-ignite economic growth in Europe. However for many, the term innovation is used without a real understanding of the innovation and innovation implementation process and the challenges that need to be overcome to enable a successful innovation system. With this article we aim to […]

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Apple is planning to launch a Smart Home platform at WWDC

May 27, 2014

Apple has been making ground-breaking changes in our lives by creating products such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad. According to Ingram (2014), iPhone can be considered as ‘a kind of centralized remote control for a wide range of devices, from televisions and stereo systems to intelligent light bulbs and thermostats’. As reported on Monday […]

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The Importance of Trust

May 24, 2014

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. – Ernest Hemingway What makes an organisation work in todays time of uncertainty? Management theorist Simon Sinek suggests it is a corporate culture of trust where the leaders make their employees feel secure. When trust exists between employees and management, […]

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New French trains are “too large”

May 22, 2014

A news article caught my eye this morning which demonstrates how easily a project can go badly wrong, and the financial consequences of rectifying the problem. France’s national railway operator SNCF recently ordered 2,000 new TER (Trains Express Regionaux) trains from Alstom and Bombardier, as part of a £2.43bn national upgrade. Responding to customer demands […]

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Setting up, managing and evaluating science and technology parks

May 20, 2014

Science and Technological Parks play a significant role in knowledge and technology transfer into the European Union market. There are more than 365 Parks across the EU today, hosting approximately 40,000 organisations that employ that employ 750,000 people, mostly in high value added jobs. They contribute to regional economic development and facilitate the emergence of […]

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Virgin Disruptors – Have entrepreneurs lost the will to innovate?

May 18, 2014

Many businesses today are active in hyper competitive markets, with a pressure to innovate to survive. Incremental innovation is a necessity. Disruptive innovation is what makes markets move. But what is the state and understanding of innovation among business leaders? On Friday, May 9th, Richard Branson and a group of entrepreneurs had an interesting debate […]

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Rent a Castle

May 17, 2014

We have all been at that point in our childhood when we were fantasizing about what we want to become one day. But before dreaming about being astronauts, doctors or garbage men (yes, some kids actually come up with this idea), we dreamt about being either princes or princesses. And that of course, entailed having […]

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20 cities, 20 years

May 16, 2014

The world develops and environments change. This link was sent to me by one of my students, Svetlana Masjutina. It links to a Russian website showing how 20 cities have changed in 20 years. The introduction says: The world is rapidly changing, and often we do not even have time to trace it. Just arriving […]

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Regenerative design – The key to environmental driven business development

May 15, 2014

Regenerative design, as basis for circular economy, can be applied to all systems, even beyond agriculture.[1] Circular Economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which material flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to re-enter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are […]

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Why Apple may buy Beats

May 14, 2014

Apple may soon acquire Beats Electronics, one of the leading producers of headphones, in a deal which could be valued at as much as 3.2 billion USD, according to various reports by the media. If the deal goes ahead it will be the largest acquisition ever made by Apple. In September last year, Carlyle Group […]

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"Most Liveable Cities Index"

May 13, 2014

I have recently spent some time studying the development of the cities from social behavioural point of view, and throughout my research I came across an interesting article regarding the world’s most liveable cities. Obviously, this informal rank of cities provokes lots of discussions and controversy, since what makes a city truly “liveable” is subjective. […]

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The TED conference phenomenon

May 12, 2014

We live in times of megatrends that are shaping our future. Through urbanisation, more than half the population of the world now live in cities. Through demographic change, the population of the earth is changing rapidly, both in numbers, geography where we live and in age composition. Through climate change we have new situations with […]

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Gary S. Becker – A Giant in Microeconomics

May 9, 2014

It has been one week since my main inspiration for studying economics passed away. The intellectual hero and 1992 Nobel Laureate Gary Becker died last Saturday in Chicago at the age of 83. Becker pioneered the fields of human capital economics, economics of the family, and economic analysis of crime, discrimination, addiction and population. He […]

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Ten years since enlargement of the European Union

May 2, 2014

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the extension of the 15 member European Union with ten countries in the east and south, creating a union of 25 nations. It was the largest single expansion of the European Union, in terms of territory, number of states and population. However, it was not the largest in […]

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The Beauty of Numbers

May 1, 2014

"Numbers are the musical notes with which the symphony of the universe is written." – Adam Spencer Today is May 1st, in many countries synonymous with “Labour Day” or  International Workers’ Day, a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement. In the age of the knowledge economy […]

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