Superconducted info, sticky knowledge
When does « open » help developing economies
Yves Bourgeois, PhD
Director, UNB Urban and community studies institute
Bailiwick 2012 Conference: Focus on open access
UNBSJ, Saint John
24 October 2012
we are gathered here today because knowledge is not free
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Juxtapositions
1. Gov facilitating and implementing…
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4G, 1gbps networks, e-services
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uptown revital, convention centres, airport upgrades
2. We recently observed…
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1 billionth facebook friend request, spike in skype
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Can air traffic 85M (2001) to 113M (2011)
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Conflicting observations if you subscribe to a Deathof-distance view (ICT-mediated K cannibalizing
physical proximity mediated K)
but rational if you consider them mutually enhancing
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K filtering
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1.
2.
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You don’t watch a youtube video to learn how to
ride a bike (Polanyi 1966), well…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjUopYKMVhA
Data  Info  K  wisdom (Ackoff 1989)
TK vs CK
When we speak of open innovation, we are
speaking of Information and arguably codified K
Knowledge and wisdom = spatially-mediated
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Packing & unpacking knowledge is costly
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Costs to acquiring knowledge can be high & many
Direct costs
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IPR (Apple-v-Samsung), subscriptions
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Venue is money  K infrastructure, conferences
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Digital pony express  data encrypt, netw security
Indirect costs
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Time = money  sift, act, learn (e-journals)
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Devel absorptive capacity (training, R&D)
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Unpacking knowledge is spatial
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Distance, K decay, “broken telephone”
F2F buzz – (Storper & Venables 2004)
water coolers  trust, networks, gossip unrecord
Temporary vs permanent knowledge clusters
(Bathelt 2011)
Introductions, collaborations, closing deals, fixing
misunderstandings …F2F-dependent
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Knowledge can be sticky
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When knowledge can be packed and unpacked
into bits and bytes, transmission costs can be
virtually nil, but …
not all K can be packed  learning-by-doing,
learning-by-interacting etc often requires physical
space mediation
chefs learn in kitchens, physicists in labs
unpacking knowledge is costly  absorptive
capacity (skills, R&D), learning, trust
Inability to pack some K and cost of unpacking
impel physical proximity
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Implications for developing economies
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ICT mediated knowledge can substitute or
enhance K acquisition strategies
Oreilly.com, customer feedback integration
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Need much more sophisticated appreciation of
how open and “closed” knowledge strategies are
used by businesses according to
environment/locales (access to infra)
stages of product development (K forms)
stages of business development (start up, export)
industrial sector
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Firms develop sophisticated knowledge
strategies – or wing it – recombining physical and
relational proximities to identify, adopt, adapt,
produce, share and sell knowledge.
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Use of web-based technologies
% of establishments
Email
95.3%
Company website
82.8%
Intelligence on markets and competitors
78.5%
Intelligence on technologies
71.9%
Purchasing products
68.1%
Financial services
67.8%
Marketing to existing clients
64.5%
Downloading software
61.0%
Establishing presence and reputation
59.6%
Client prospecting
53.4%
Updates on our products
48.5%
Online training
45.9%
Hiring workers
35.9%
Employee collaborations
34.8%
Selling products
31.4%
Client feedback
29.3%
Entertainment
26.0%
Product demos
15.1%
Managing resources
Other
12.5%
Rural firms (vs urban and metro)
systematically underutilize
productivity yet equally accessible
ICT technologies
3.3%
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Source: Bourgeois (2011) The knowledge economy in Atlantic Canada
Reflections on open access
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Open access potential of flattening or leveling
playing field in scientific production
Open access journals will need to establish
credibility not simply turnaround speed
Some elephants in the corner…
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scientific production infrastructure (nanotech
labs, particle accelerators) are spatially anchored
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absorptive capacity  skill levels needed to pack
and unpack knowledge
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peer-reviewed content often subjected to earlier
peer-reviews at F2F conferences
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