From the monthly archives:

November 2014

Global Impact of Climate Change

November 30, 2014

The World Bank has published a report on climate change, titled “Turn Down the Heat: Confronting the New Climate Normal”, which is available at this link. New scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day (0.8°C), 2°C and 4°C warming above pre-industrial temperatures on agricultural production, water resources, ecosystem services, and coastal vulnerability for […]

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Place Excellence in the Age of Globalisation and Austerity

November 28, 2014

“..because the execution of an idea is always more important than the brilliance of the thought..” –  Executing Your Strategy – by Morgan, Levitt & Maleck – Harvard Business Publishing During the last few decades, the challenges to manage cities and towns has become increasingly more complex. Today we live in a time that for […]

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The EU´s New Deal to boost investments in Europe

November 27, 2014

“Today Europe is turning a page. After years of fighting to restore our fiscal credibility and to promote reform, today we are adding the third point of a virtuous triangle: An ambitious, yet realistic ‘Investment Plan for Europe’. Europe needs a kick-start and today the Commission is supplying the jump cables.” – Jean-Claude Juncker in […]

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Improvements in UK unemployment

November 25, 2014

To what extend has the current unemployment situation improved in the UK? Unemployment has become a critical problem in a number of countries due to negative effects on both the economy and our living standards. It can be described as a phenomenon occurring when willing, actively looking for and able to work people face difficulties […]

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The Triumph of The Walkable City

November 24, 2014

“Some places will, however, be left behind. Not every city will succeed, because not every city has been adept at adapting to the age of information, in which ideas are the ultimate creator of wealth.” – Edward Glaeser, Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier Lessons […]

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A Look into the Venture Capital Industry

November 21, 2014

Venture Capital is one of those things that are often discussed, but maybe not completely understood. You will often hear about a company having “venture investors” or famous venture capital firms that make hugely profitable investments in things like Facebook. The InfoGraph below from ObizMedia and SurePayRoll illustrates how Venture Capital works in United States.

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Establish in Uppsala 2014

November 20, 2014

On Tuesday this week I participated a inspiration speaker in the Establish in Uppsala 2014 forum. It was a an overall inspirational event also for me. The Chamber of Commerce had organised and managed to get more than 60 of the key place managers in Uppsala to attend. The participants came from all four sectors of […]

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Open Innovation

November 18, 2014

Innovation is a key to the future.  To manage innovation companies judge projects on their technical and business merits,  on ever stricter criteria. This is  a ruthless process, in which many great ideas are generated at first,  then nurtured then in many cases… abandoned. Only a limited number of projects finally emerge from the project […]

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The Value of Science Parks

November 17, 2014

On November 5th. I had the opportunity to attend the international symposium The Value of Science Parks at Mjärdevi Science Park in Linköping. Swedish and international speakers contributed to forming The Linköping declaration together with other attendees. In the declaration six factors that contribute to a successful science park are described. These factors also constitutes […]

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A snapshot of power in the Pacific

November 16, 2014

The worlds economic centre is now in Asia and more than half the world’s population live within a circle superimposed over a section of southeast Asia. It is not the first time in history that the global economy has revolved around the Pacific. The demography was about the same in the year 1.000. In the […]

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Networked Society Index 2014

November 15, 2014

Ericsson, a Swedish multinational provider of communications technology and services, has released a report on the latest Network Society City Index  that ranks 40 cities and measures their ICT maturity in terms of leverage from ICT investments in economic, social and environmental development , i.e. the “triple bottom line” effect. The way that cities lead […]

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Cities in the Dark

November 14, 2014

“When we look up at night and view the stars, everything we see is shining because of distant nuclear fusion.” – Carl Sagan in Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, 1980 It is Friday and soon weekend, so here is a post on a bit lighter touch than we usually publish on this blog, or maybe not […]

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Promotion and Marketing in Tourism

November 12, 2014

In modern business, on the tourism market, promotion and marketing are gaining increasing importance in advancing the development of tourist destinations. In order to be effective, promotion should be a result of joint actions of all promotional activities. Promotion never is and can not be a goal for it self. It is always in function […]

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About Stress

November 11, 2014

“Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.”  – Richard Carlson We all sometimes talk about stress, and feel stressed, usually when we feel we have too much to do and too much on our minds, or other people are making unreasonable demands on us, or we are dealing with situations […]

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European Regional Competitiveness Scoreboard

November 10, 2014

Smart Specialisation or RIS3 (Research and Innovation strategies for Smart Specialisation) is a strategic approach to economic development through targeted support for research and innovation. It involves a process of developing a vision, identifying regionally based areas of greatest strategic potential, developing multi-stakeholder governance mechanisms, setting strategic priorities and using smart policies to maximize the […]

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Bearing signs up to United Nations Global Compact

November 7, 2014

Commitment to UN Global Compact On November 5th, Bearing Group Ltd (the group parent company of Bearing) signed up to UN Global Compact. Being an international consultancy with assignments in both advanced and emerging economies, we have decided to adapt the compact to align our CSR policy with an international framework. Our letter of commitment […]

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European Union Economic Forecast

November 6, 2014

The European Commission’s autumn forecast projects weak economic growth for the rest of this year in both the EU and the euro area. In the course of 2015, a gradual strengthening of economic activity is expected and growth is projected to rise further in 2016. All EU countries are set to register positive growth in […]

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The world’s 50 most innovative companies 2014

November 5, 2014

Boston Consulting Group have published their annual survey of the most innovative companies, and for the ninth year in a row, Apple has been the most innovative company on the planet. Every year since 2005, Boston Consulting group have surveyed more than 1,500 senior global executives for a snapshot of the most innovative companies in […]

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Poland – On the Trail of the EU Funds

November 4, 2014

Economic data suggests that membership in the European Union has been good for Poland. With much of Europe still struggling to recover from the impact of the 2008 financial crisis, Poland stands out as an unlikely island of economic success, a place where companies and individuals plan for growth rather than decline. In 2009, when […]

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Impact Investing

November 3, 2014

Impact investments are investments made with the intention to generate not only financial return but also a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact. Impact investments can be made in both emerging and developed markets, and target a range of returns from below-market to above-market rates, depending upon the circumstances. William Jimerson from the private equity […]

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