The Global Urban Competitiveness Project publishes periodic studies ranks 500 cities on their ability to attract and use resources to generate wealth. The cities are assessed on nine measures, including income, economic growth, innovation, jobs, prices and the presence of multinational firms.

The July 2008 issue of the I4D magazine is a special edition devoted to an examination of this gender aspect of the development of the Knowledge Society, including articles by such well known leaders in digital empowerment of women as Nancy Hafkin and Samia Melham.

This report presents a wealth of information, and much of it is presented beautifully, aiding reader understanding. While the focus is on the scientific, technological and educational activities of the United States, there is a wealth of comparative information on other regions of the world. The report is especially strong on the characteristics of the U.S. scientific and technological labor market that attract professionals from other nations. Titus Galama and James Hosek, RAND, 2008. (PDF, 189 more...

Ireland has moved from a scientific backwater of Europe to develop a vibrant effort to innovate industrially based on advances in the life sciences. In this special supplement of TheScientist.com (July 2008), the process of this transformation is reviewed and the current situation is described. The supplement has a number of articles by Irish experts, divided into three sections: Policy, Industry, and Research. Given the number of developing nations that seek to learn from the Irish success, thi more...

By Tokihiro Nakamura, Mayor of Matsuyama
10 May 2008: The tourism hotspot of Matsuyama in southern Japan has forged a reputation as an early adopter of optical capabilities in local industry and town planning, earning it the designation IT Business Model District by the central government.

Located in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, Matsuyama City is the nucleus municipality in the prefecture with a population of some 513,000. The metropolitan area is highly accessible as it takes more...

London, 16 July 2008: An inquiry set up by London mayor Boris Johnson to examine the spending regime of his predecessor has failed to find any evidence of corruption or wrong-doing on the part of former mayor Ken Livingstone or any of his advisers. The final report of the forensic audit panel established to examine the finances of the London Development Agency (LDA) did however claim that 'tens of millions' had been wasted during Livingstone's two terms, a charge the former mayor refutes.

'In more...

'This paper constructs a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model which reflects the characteristics of African economies but is general enough to imbed both oil-producing and oil-importing countries. This model is used to quantify the impact of changes in oil prices on African economies. A rise to twice the current price level would lead to:

* a fall in output by 6% in the first year for the median oil-importing country given a complete pass through of the increase in prices to the c more...

by Erica Gies -

Not long ago Bill and Becka Doering, of Santa Barbara, California, decided they needed a bigger house to accommodate their two young children. After a fruitless search of Santa Barbara’s pricey real estatemarket, the Doerings took Becka’s father up on an offer to trade his 102-square-meter (1,100-square-foot) tract house for their 84-square-meter place across town. That helped, but the tract house had just two bedrooms and one bath, so the Doerings remodeled, resulting in more...

By Tann vom Hove, Editor from CityMayors.com-
17 June 2008: Deciding on which is the world’s most expensive city is a little bit like choosing between the merits of various world heavy weight boxing champions. Until a few years ago the choice was between Tokyo and London. But in its 2007 ‘Worldwide cost of living survey’ the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said four European cities had overtaken Tokyo as the world’s costliest city. However, Mercer Consulting insists Moscow was th more...

K4D is organizing a regional learning program for East Asian countries on Developing Knowledge Economy Strategies to Improve Competitiveness, to take place in Seoul, July 15-18, 2008, in partnership with the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management.

The main aim of this program is to have a broad discussion with a wide range of stakeholders from government, private sector, and civil society from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Philippines and Vietnam on how more...