Preparing
for Conversations with Bryan Davis and Debra Amidon
In the Knowledge
Zone
Bryan Elliott Davis
President,
Kaieteur Institute for Knowledge Management
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Debra Amidon
Founder
and CEO, Entovation International Ltd.
Wilmington, Massachusetts, U.S.
 Introduction
Debra M. Amidon
and Bryan Elliot Davis have teamed up to launch a new Web site,
In the Knowledge Zones. It is the next step in the development
of Knowledge Cities, communities that believe in a new
perspective of development, which is based on knowledge and innovation.
Zones and cities in some 40 countries are now accessible by registering
online. There you will find the foundation for global sustainability
including competitive ranking reports, recommended readings and
research plans. A major article on Knowledge Innovation Zones
(KIZs) will appear in the October issue of Knowledge Management
magazine.
A Knowledge Innovation
Zone or KIZ is a region, economic sector or community of practice
in which knowledge flows from origin to the point of highest
need or opportunity to improve economic performance and socio-political
and well-being.
These initiatives are the result of Debra Amidon's long-held
vision of a new economic world order based upon knowledge, innovation,
value-systems, stakeholder success and international collaboration.
Please prepare for
the conversations with Bryan Davis and Debra Amidon by reading
this page and following the links.
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Biographies
- Biography: Bryan
Elliot Davis
Bryan Davis is founder
and president of the Kaieteur Institute for Knowledge Management,
a research Think Tank, Applied Knowledge Lab and Knowledge Practices
Network which has been in operation since 1997. It provides education,
research, consulting and knowledge market advisory services to
clients.
Based on his advanced
independent research, Bryan applies new thinking to further our
understanding of knowledge-based innovation using knowledge markets
and exchanges, knowledge networks, knowledge cities, knowledge-enabling
software, knowledge-based business design, knowledge-based business
models, knowledge pattern recognition, the enterprise ideas economy,
knowledge as a vital asset for business continuity, change management
patterns, knowledge buyer motivation, knowledge-value creation,
personal knowledge management, knowledge grids and the "KnowledgeEverNet,"
the always-on, always connected global brain.
He lectures on KM
at the University of Toronto School for Continuing Studies and
has served as vice president, knowledge management strategies
and research with the Delphi Group Canada. He is a graduate of
York University's philosophy program and is a fellow of Debra
Amidon's Entovation International. A complete history of his
professional career can be found at:
http://www.kikm.org/BryanBio.htm
- Biography: Debra
M. Amidon
 Debra Amidon,
whose Entovation International Ltd., a global innovation research
and consulting network links 90 countries throughout the world,
was considered an architect of the Knowledge Economy as early
as 1995 and was one of the first guest luminaries to moderate
the STAR Series Dialogues and continues to follow the conversations,
occasionally adding her thoughts to the discussion.
Her specialties
include knowledge management, e-learning networks, customer innovation
and enterprise transformation. For the last couple of years,
her presentations have been heard throughout North America, Eastern
and Western Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa. Her advice
has been sought by diverse organizations such as the National
Research Council, The Agility Forum, the Industrial Research
Institute, the European Union, PBS, BBC and the World Bank.
Debra's personal
network is in the thousands, but she has also formed a who's
who network of some of the world's knowledge leaders called the
Entovation 100 which includes some of both the acclaimed
and the rising stars of KM and innovation strategies.
She is the author
of several books including her most recent The
Innovation Super Highway and the soon-to-be-released
Knowledge Economics: Principles, Practices and Policies,
a three-volume work co-edited with Piero Formica, Dean, International
University of Entrepreneurship, Senior Research Fellow, Enterprise
Research Development Centre, Business School, University of Central
England, and Eunika Mercier-Laurent, founder of EML Conseil Knowledge
Management, France.
Debra's complete
bio can be found at:
http://www.entovation.com/amidon/biographical.htm
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Background
Around the world,
cities, regions, countries and enterprises are moving away from
the industrial parks so prevalent in the U.S. in the last decades
of the 20th century to virtual spaces for knowledge enterprise,
sustainable growth and economic development. From Australia to
Newfoundland these spaces have evolved from "Knowledge Cities"
to "Knowledge Zones." They are the manifestations of
a dream Debra Amidon has held for two decades.
These virtual knowledge
spaces are not the "wired towns and cities" many communities
experimented with early on when the focus was on IT and ICT infrastructures
with minimal understanding of the human elements required. Many
of those projects failed. Today a similar fate would await communities
that focus on digital platforms without attention to the Knowledge
Information Zones' focus on citizen involvement.
The Knowledge City
-- and now Zone -- is the synthesis of the "creative city,"
the "science city" and the "digital city"
where arts and sciences become unified in a uniquely human twenty-first
century urban ecology powered by advances in technological communication.
Knowledge cities create online Knowledge Observatories, Web
sites showcasing the knowledge-based enterprises, talent bases
and initiatives in progress within a given city or region.
Knowledge Zones
can cross
geography and industry boundaries, linking communities of practice
in which ideas can flow in a wider circle - from the point of
origin to the point of need or use. Zones and cities in some
40 countries are now accessible by registering online. There Bryan Davis and
Debra Amidon present the foundation for global sustainability,
including competitive ranking reports, recommended readings and
research plans.
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Knowledge
Cities Manifesto
The Knowledge City
idea is the newest and hottest emerging dimension of the knowledge-based
economy. In the knowledge economy, human development depends
not on having more but by being more -- becoming a co-creator
of the future of humanity.
Not since the historical
Greek Polis has a new urban formation been so prospective for
democracy, as is the emerging Knowledge City. If the means of
production now truly resides in the minds of the producers then
there will spread more equality of opportunity, since anyone
can have a great idea. The Knowledge City is the culmination
and synthesis of the "creative city," the "science
city" and the "digital city" where arts and sciences
become unified in a uniquely human twenty-first century urban
ecology powered by advances in technological communication.
Knowledge cities
are actively interested in increasing their innovative capabilities
in supporting business, education and the arts so that their
individual citizens are inspired and energized by knowledge.
Knowledge cities learn from one another about the policies and
approaches that can engender dynamic and co-creative communities.
These Knowledge Zones -- now crossing geographic and industry
boundaries -- are becoming linked communities of innovation practice
in which ideas flow from the point of origin to the point of
need or opportunity.
Click
here for larger image
Cities that believe
firmly in a new perspective of development, which is based on
knowledge and innovation, have an active interest in participating
as a co-founding and co-creating member partner of a Knowledge
Cities Observatory -- that is, an active community of knowledge
sensitive cities that will rapidly learn from each other. Because
diversity is a key to effective cross-fertilization of ideas,
the Observatory includes small and large cities - urban or rural
- those with an old historical heritage and also newly established
ones from the six continents of our world. The pre-condition
for participation is the willingness to share the experience
with other members of the Observatory.
The Observatory
provides long-term observation and wide perspectives on the strategies,
the conditions, the intangible aspects, the dynamics of socio-economic
development, and the human issues that create a mature and successful
Knowledge City.
Each city member
will appoint executive liaisons that will participate in the
Knowledge Cities meetings, and bring back the insights, learning,
findings and tools. This will typically be a senior official,
such as the mayor, economic development executive, head of renewal
plan, and the like. Each city member of the observatory has surely
a wealth of unique expertise, methods, insights and practices
that can be contributed and will enrich the best-practices body
of knowledge.
Knowledge-based
urban development is the perfect new medium in which to grow
more livable, stimulating, cleaner, intelligent, enlightened,
tolerant and meaningful communities worldwide. The Knowledge
City is the first new urban formation tailored for the needs
of a knowledge economy where ideas rule and there are infinite
recipes for innovation and new wealth creation.
To achieve innovation
beyond the regeneration of industrialized areas, the main challenge
of a city council is to build a community of communities as the
essence of its governance. This is in the very nature of the
"polis" because individuals make meaning of information
and convert it into action from ideas nurtured in communities.
New think tanks and emerging communities in a city are groups
of people that receive institutional recognition to search for
new knowledge.
Mayors are the new
knowledge architects who can turn their cities into knowledge
cities. In an era where there is growing unease, dissatisfaction
and distrust in current governance regimes, these new architects
of the Knowledge City can facilitate new forms of citizenship
based on openness, transparency and accountability.
Also, see the KIZ
Principles - http://www.inthekzone.com/principles.htm.
By permission.
© 2004 EG/A - ENTOVATION Group Alliance for the Knowledge
Cities Observatory. Prepared in preparation for the E100 Roundtable
in Barcelona - November 13-17, 2004.
Important Note: While the Barcelona meeting is intended for E100
members, November 15 is an open forum. For additional information download a brochure.
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