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| Latest news |
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Delegation from Renmin University visits UNU-MERIT
Posted: 2009-10-02 | Updated: 2009-10-06
On 23 September, UNU-MERIT received a delegation from twinning partner Renmin University of China, headed by the President of Renmin University, Prof. Ji Boacheng. The delegation also included Mr. Zha Xianyou (Ass.-President and Director of Financial Office), Prof. Zhang Yu (Deputy Dean of School of Economics), Prof. Kong Xiangzhi (Deputy Dean of School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development), Prof. Cai Wen (Deputy Dean of School of Journalism) and Ms. Zhang Damiao (International Office). The Chinese visit came roughly two months after a group from UNU-MERIT visited Renmin University. Prof. Gerard Mols, Rector-Magnificus of Maastricht University, Dr. Jo Ritzen, President of Maastricht University and Prof. Luc Soete, Director UNU-MERIT welcomed the guests. An informal reception was held at which UNU-MERIT research-fellows and PhD-researchers that work on China-related topics were present.
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Case studies in Africa: Call for project-proposals
Posted: 2009-10-02
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| Prof. Dr. Fred Gault, coordinator of the project |
The project 'Research and training Support to Build African Capacity in Science, Technology, and Innovation Indicators' is a joint effort between Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and UNU-MERIT. The project, coordinated by Prof. Dr. Fred Gault, supports the development of case studies on innovation processes in Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa. A total of nine selected proposals will be awarded up to $20,000 to carry out case studies. During 2010 the research teams of the winning proposals will take part in a 3-day training workshop in one of the three countries. The application deadline is 30 October.
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The world in 2025
Posted: 2009-10-02
On 24 September, UNU-MERIT Director Luc Soete presented an article on new production-consumption patterns during the ‘The World in 2025’ seminar organized by the European Commission Directorate General Research. The seminar was attended by members of the European Foresight Expert Group and provided a socio-economic look at the future. Later that day Luc Soete participated in a Ministerial seminar organised by the Swedish Presidency of the EU, which was attended by Swedish politicians and academics and which produced conclusions on future trends, especially with respect to Europe.
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Catalan Ministry appoints Luc Soete
Posted: 2009-10-02
The Catalan Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise has appointed Luc Soete (Director of UNU-MERIT) to ‘the Council for Interdepartmental Research on Innovation and Technology’ (CIRIT). This advisory body consists of academics and business-experts and aims to promote the creation and transfer of knowledge in order to enhance Catalonia’s strategic position in terms of R&D and innovation.
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| Research & policy analysis |
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Wikipedia: male dominated contributions
Posted: 2009-10-02
On August 26, UNU-MERIT’s Collaborative Creativity Group (CCG) presented preliminary findings of the first multilingual survey on the global use of Wikipedia (a survey that was co-conducted with the Wikimedia Foundation). People from more than 200 countries participated in the survey, with more than half of the completed responses coming from Russian and English speaking countries. With an average age of 25, one third of the respondents claim to not only read but also contribute to the articles. A noticeable fact, according to the survey is that only 30% of the readers and 13% of the contributors are women, making Wikipedia’s information input male dominated. To view all the preliminary findings please click the link below.
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| Training & capacity development |
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DEIP coming to El Salvador and Pakistan
Posted: 2009-10-02 | Updated: 2009-10-05
UNU-MERIT and the Ministry of Economy, Government of El Salvador are jointly organizing a training course on the Design and Evaluation of Innovation Policy (DEIP) in San Salvador, El Salvador from 26-30 October 2009. The focus of this course will be to facilitate understanding on innovation policy to identify and generate productive activities in the Salvadoran context. Less than two months later, from 7-12 December, the Committee on Science and Technological Cooperation (Comstech) and UNU-MERIT will organize a DEIP-course in Islamabad, Pakistan. Target participants are science and technology managers, policy planners and researchers from both public and private sectors. It is still possible to apply for the Islamabad-edition, the application deadline is October 18th.
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UNU-MERIT PhD defences
Posted: 2009-10-02 | Updated: 2009-10-05
On October 15 at 12:00h and 14:00h respectively, UNU-MERIT PhD-fellows Alexis Habiyaremye (Rwanda) and Yoseph Yilma Getachew (Ethiopia) will defend their dissertations in the Aula at the Minderbroedersberg faculty building. Alexis’ thesis, ‘From Primary Commodity Dependence to Diversification and Growth: Absorptive Capacity and Technological Catch Up in Botswana and Mauritius’, explores the role of absorptive capacity in the reduction of the dependence on primary commodities in the trade relationships of developing countries. His promotors are Prof. Luc Soete (UNU-MERIT), Prof. Louk de la Rive Box (ISS) and Dr. Thomas Ziesemer (UNU-MERIT).
The title of Yoseph’s dissertation is ‘The Role of Public Capital on Economic Development’. This thesis explores the possible role of public capital on economic development analytically and empirically. It investigates important economic development problems relating to public capital, income inequality, economic growth, and the poverty trap. Promotors are Prof. Luc Soete and Dr. Thomas Ziesemer.
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| Face of the month |
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Andreas Meiszner
Posted: 2009-10-02
Andreas Meiszner joined UNU-MERIT as a research fellow on October 1st. He will be part of UNU-MERIT’s Collaborative Creativity Group (CCG) and is currently involved in the Open Source Observatory and Repository (OSOR), the FLOSS Include-project and ICT@Innovation. Andreas is an experienced international consultant, project manager and researcher focusing on education, innovation, and training. Prior to joining UNU-MERIT, he worked for the Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (SPI, Portugal) as a consultant and technology expert. Since 2006 Andreas is a PhD-fellow at the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University (UK) where he investigates new open learning systems and the coupling of technology with education. He holds three higher education degrees in Economics and Management obtained from universities in France, Germany and The Netherlands.
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Roberto Antonietti
Posted: 2009-10-02
Dr. Roberto Antonietti (Italy) is Assistant Professor at the University of Padua, where he teaches International Economics at the Faculty of Law and Regional Economics at the Faculty of Political Sciences. He will join UNU-MERIT for one month until 31 October where he will be working with Dr. Adriaan Van Zon on topics related to education, training and R&D-based endogenous growth. Roberto visited UNU-MERIT in 2004/2005, 2007 and 2008 as well. In Italy, Roberto also teaches Economics of Industry and Innovation at the University of Bologna and Human Capital Policies at the University of Trento. His main research interests cover labour and human capital economics, the economics of innovation and technological change, industrial agglomeration and regional economics, the determinants and effects of international outsourcing and sports economics.
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| Events & networking |
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Workshop on industrialization in the 21st century
Posted: 2009-09-02 | Updated: 2009-10-26
On 22-23 October, UNU-MERIT will host an international workshop on the ‘Pathways to industrialization in the 21st century: New challenges and emerging paradigms’. The workshop which is organised in collaboration with UNU-WIDER and UNIDO will focus on the challenges facing developing countries given the current financial crisis and the collapse of manufacturing industries witnessed in many countries. Keynote speakers including Mike Hobday, Morris Teubal, John Page, John Weiss, Hal Hill and Zoltan Acs will address questions such as: Has the path to development through industrialization as we know it been exhausted, or is the world at the dawn of a new era in industrialization and development?
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