Accelerating Technology-Based Growth in Developed, Developing, and Emerging Regions Worldwide - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 226

developed regions and universities (UT-Austin/Portugal CoLab Newsletter

(September, 2008):

In a recent topic titled ''The World is Flat'', New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman
argues that globalization is radically changing business models across the world. These
global tsunamis are also changing universities—no country has a monopoly on research
talent or resources, so it has become necessary for universities to work together across
national boundaries to solve major research challenges.

The objective is networking companies/regions/science parks/innovation clus-
ters for social, economic, scientific, and technological development—through
global academic, business, and government collaboration. Gibson and Conceicao
( 2003 ), emphasize the Importance of sharing both ''software'' or codified
knowledge and ''wetware'' or tacit knowledge, an important distinction made by
Nelson and Romer in 1996 . They also suggest three principles for global knowl-
edge sharing networks while focusing on Learning and Innovation Poles (LIPs).

(1) Principle No. 1 states that when establishing Learning & Innovation Poles, we
must deal with social as well as physical constructs that link participating
people and institutions in networks of knowledge production, sharing, adop-
tion, and diffusion while fostering self-reinforcing learning cycles.
(2) Principle No. 2 centers on fostering networks where interaction leads to
increased learning in all network nodes, but in which the rate of learning is
higher in the less developed nodes, Fig. 9
(3) Principle No. 3 centers on fostering regional 'ownership' and sustainability of
activities and results for emerging, developing, and developed LIPs.

6 The International Collaboratory for Emerging
Technologies (CoLab)

The International Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies (CoLab) is an
important 5-year project involving the Government of Portugal, numerous
Portuguese Universities and public and private institutions, and The University of
Texas at Austin ( www.utaustinportugal.org ) . As noted in Fig. 10 , the organizing
framework for this project includes an Advisory Board, Eternal Review
Committee, and three academic programs: Digital Media, Mathematics, and
Advanced Computing. The University Technology Enterprise Network (UTEN) is
a fourth activity that focuses on the training and internationalization of Portuguese
Technology Transfer Officers and entrepreneurs as well as accelerating U.S. and
global market access for Portuguese technology-based firms. Each of these
programs has a director and co-director located at UT-Austin and at collaborating
Portuguese universities. Key CoLab objectives and metrics are as follows: