Jan Figel made a great statement in his keynote at the CISCO public services summit in Stockholm

without life long learning, there will be less and less life long earning!

too true.

Dave Weinberger, US Web 2.0 Guru. THE REALISM OF THE WEB

gave a great presentation about the way in which the web is being used to present itself. showed what a good structure and a bad structure might look like. focused on lateral communication. 'Deaniacs' story. Then went on to Twitter. the blogshere of less than 140 characters. it is really all about the intimacy of details.

conversation finds bugs. it is really important for finding those you can trust.
knowledge is between us. the knowledge is not really siting in our heads, it is on the web in-between people. he gave the example of how youngsters learn. they are collective learners, but we test them individually.

trust, credibility and accountability. encyclopedia vs wikipedia. the strength of wikipedia is that it is negotiated knowledge. this is really critical. one of the reasons that we know that this, is due to the fact that it admits that it is not an authority. this is in crass difference to those that are 'experts' like the new york times or the encyclopedia. paper based authority depended upon their singlularity. the god-like position negates the

generosity, intimacy, fallibility are fundamental human traits. we are social beings and these three characteristics are important to recognize. the web enables us to turn to each other and show each other not just our differences, but our similarities.

Wim Elfrink, Chief Globalization Officer, CISCO. GLOBALIZATION - A PARADIGM SHIFT

the past globalization focused on outsourcing and reducing costs. the new globalization effort will be focused on Growth, Innovation and Growth.

in 1820 the worlds top 10 economies were China, India France, UK, Prussia, Japan, Austria, Spain, US. Russia. He also showed the list from 2050 that i couldnt get down fast enough.
China, US, India, Japan, Brazil, Russia, UK, Germany, France, Italy
[http://www.futureatlas.com/blog/index.php/2006/03/26/world-economies-to-2050-a-wealthier-planet/]

new area of wealth. there will be 200 million new urban dwellers in the next five years alone. mobility will be the platform to deal with the expanding middle class' purchasing power. managed and hosted services will connect rural areas in efforts to deal with the latent demand.
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2006/ts_120606.html

Innovation challenge will be to accept what is coming back from the developing world and to reintegrate into the economies of the western world.

skills challenge is the recognition that the engineering and science skill sets are located in the East. why india? the fundamental proximity to 70% of the world's population [5 hour flight] it is clear that if you are thinking about ten or twenty years out, that a significant presence in India is vital. It is also the youngest population. the talent is good and biggest democratic market. And India, epitomizes the human network.

Important issues for businesses around the world are
education
infrastructure
innovation and market transitions
supportive governments

his closing piece was on web 2.p0 collaborative strategy based around the telepresence suite. the next generation will be in 3D. he went on to talking about the challenge that this is posing for their corporate structure. telepresence will allow this for distributed executives in ways that are/were unprecedented. then a final slikde on the evolution of globalization...

1.0 was about trade
2.0 was about global manufacturing
3.0 is about R+D
4.0 is about the 'corporate brain' [co-creation and talent]

6000 mobile subsribers
4000 urban citizens
added in the past 30 minutes

jan Figel, European Commissioner. Education, Training, Culture and Youth. EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE.

he started by pointing out that today is the international day of human rights. he spoke of perspective. he shared thoughts on the perspective of time. he noted that it has not been long that Europe has had a core of peace and that this must be remembered. there was a slogan in central europe that was....

'is there a man, there is a problem. is there no man, there is no problem' this was slogan during Stalinist times.

without life long learning, there will be less and less life long earning!

Ricardo Illy, President. Italian Region of Fruili-Vezia-Guilia. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR QUALITY IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. [yes, this is the family of the coffee]

he talked about the issues around the current perception of the context of the world; the globalized economics and finances as well as information. there has been a transition from the industrial age to the knowledge age. this due to the competitiveness of lower labour costs which leads to a 'duty' to innovation. he described the resources and his program that has been implemented in his region.

in the QA at the end he was asked to compare the public sector and private sector leadership roles. he noted that there are not as many differences as one imagines. shareholders and citizens are very similar in their demands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friuli-Venezia_Giulia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riccardo_Illy
http://www.a-e-r.org/curriculum-vitae/riccardo-illy.html
http://www.riccardoilly.it/index_it.php

Rajeeva Ratna Shah. Indian Planing Commission Member Secretary. MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS

He spoke of various levels of data and technology having a relation to humans and society. He focused on the role and importance of the individual in society. it is the foundation of diversity so that individuality leads to innovation thru the diversity.

Liberty - to bring out the best of individuals, Justice - 'justice is a square number. it is in perfect harmony, since the number of its parts is equal to the value of each part' stated Pythagorean.
Equality -
Fraternity -

India has 1.1 billion people. it has an annual growth rate of 9%. it could be greater, but the rate has been moderated so that the growth does not lead to even more exclusion. They do have an e-Governance Infrastructure and program which is focused on any time delivery of services. one of the programs that is on-going is the Unique ID for every voter.

there is now a move from centralized planning to decentralized land planning. every local authority can now access village level planning. they have aggregated all their resource GIS systems into one.

he continued to talk about their many programs that are active at the government.

'it should not be a privilege to have a job'
the closing remark from molly tschang at the socially inclusive growth session at the 2007 cisco public services summit.

Dr Rashid Bajwa on the National Rural Support Programme: The Pakistan Case.

The 160 million population. Sound 7% growth. Poverty reduced from 34 to 25%...indicators are good, but the gap continues to increase. The trickle down effect does not work. In order to move ahead, there must be a clear understanding of the context of poverty. One of the key assumptions is that the most impoverished have the inherent ability and the willingness to improve the quality of their life. The model is essentially social mobiliztion; or better said to organize communities around their needs and strengths. People might be poor, but they are not stupid.

The NRSP model is a Non-Profit, like a 501C3, rather than a NGO, that then receives a seed capital ‘grant’ that is put into an endowment. Thus, the work of the entity is not influenced by the government. Thus an organization is created that has the flexibility of the Not for profit, with the systems of a corporate body and the credibility of the Government [*]

There is then a program which organizes the villagers into their own development plan. The key is to understand that is the HOUSEHOLD is the unit that needs to be addressed. And, the best way to develop the plan is to figure out a way to generate income at a household level. IF the work is focused at the village level, it will never be sustainable. The basic message is that the need is the organization of the poor rather than for the poor. AND there must be financial sustainability.

Lessons learned:
1. three kinds of people [visionary, implementer with commitment, political champion]
2. macro economic growth helps
3. programme rather than a project mode and financial sustainability is the key to long-term success
4. household is the engine of development
5. best success if it is driven by home governments
6. donors should follow rather than initiate
7. important to reduce the jobless rate.
8. Education does not need that individuals are employable; thus focus on technical capabilities is also really important

this was really interesting!

he introduced the CUD program...the RAND corporation was asked to figure out how to ensure that the US would survive an attack on its telecom system. PAUL BARAN suggested that the gov't should go to a fully distributed network, rather than a hub and spoke system.

CISCO made a committment to Clinton Global after the former president came to speak to the Board. John Chambers then said that the firm has to reduce this by the CARBON to COLLABORATION program. this was very effective in that it forced more tools to be developed. The second program is the CUD program. this program was founded one year ago. they found that emissions broke down as follows:

50% from buildings
25% from industry
25% from transportation

he told a story about when he was stuck in a traffic jam. he started to think about the options that he SHOULD have had. very compelling case for a unified information system. this is really about the 4th Utility. a new city infrastructure which provides:
1. content-based infrastructure that provides intelligence
2. open infrastructure that is used intelligently
3. symmetrical infrastructure that is designed intelligently
4. physical and virtual environment are intertwined thru services
5. location freedom due to the connection

the think-tank in SF will be 20/21st Fef

Federico Casalengno. Director, Mobile Experience Laboratory, MIT

presented the familiar MIT talk which gives next to no content and is a largly a promise. They have three areas that they are focusing on. One is a Sustainable Innovation Inventory [Gads, not yet another one!]. They are working with Amsterdam on the idea of a personalized bus [not again! Saarinen did this for Dulles Airport and they are being abandoned. I wonder if they have looked at any of the contemporary people mover systems]. In Seoul they are working on a personalized transportation device. [I saw this proposal demonstrated at the Irish branch of the Media Lab in 2000. I wonder what is new here?]. Finally, with SF they are thinking about ‘connected transportation’. [this has already been done in England…again, what is new? Perhaps only that MIT did not think of this before…] well, he did point out that the students are bright and creative.

Marijke Vos. Alderwoman from Amsterdam.

She spoke about how her city is now on the path to become the most sustainable city in Europe. She noted that there has been allot of talk, but the emissions are still growing. this is because economic growth is still tied to fossil fuel [true globally, but the example of DK shows differently]. their intention is to reduce emissions by 40% in two small steps and one large one. they are intending to use Ground Source Heating and Cooling to heat and cool the city. [surprising considering the water table!!!!] she also showed their program called 'Step2Save' which is to visit all homes in the country to help citizens learn about what they can do. this is essentially an employment program for jobless youth. she also mentioned that they will be using waste to fuel CHP plants.

they are also doing a GreenIT program. it is further their goal to be a carbon neutral city by 2050. part of this is the personal traffic management program for city workers as a prototype. this is coming along, but slowly.

the city of san francisco is partnering with 30 cities to attempt to reduce effects of climate change. he started with a bit of a preamble about climate change. there is a target to be 20% lower than 1990 levels by 2012. their breakdown of emissions is also calculated at 50% from transportation with 25% from cars. their city vehicles run on biodiesel [ie fire trucks and police cars] to demonstrate to the public that it does work.

buildings. 65% of all energy emissions so the city is working on Legislative tools to help change behaviours. All municipal buildings must be LEED silver, priority permitting for LEED gold, and now exploring LEED gold for ALL city construction.

transport. instead of a payroll tax, there will be a carbon tax depending on distance travelled. in this way, business will then become responsible for the business miles travelled by their employees. this is a major issue and depends upon rich data.

energy efficiency. partnering with businesses and homes to save energy and money. departments must take a look at all of their purchases to ensure that their purchases are based upon the 'precautionary principle' to get the best available.

renewables. solar panels are being installed all over the city. this is both on municipal and commercial properties. the goal is for increased in-city generation. there is also an intent to put tidal energy can be harnessed from the coastal tides.

recycling. currently at 69%, which is the best in the states. goal is to get to 75% in 2010 and by 2020 it should be zero. soon there will be stickers to name and shame those who do not participate. stickers on the cans. there will be charges after they have been warned.

direct impact of IT. he talked about the first order, second order and third order effects. same as Yvon talked about.....First, is the direct impact of IT, Second is the impact of applications, the Third is the long-term socio-economic changes.

these are very much into PPP!

Hong Seo Goh. Director of Transportation Planning, Seoul.

transportation breakdown is very interesting. over 60% of citizens use public transportation. the goal of the CUD program is to create clean, attractive public transportation. this includes multi-modal considerations. this has included a number of kinds of parts of the program. one part has to do with business taxis [which i did not understand]. another is to complete a bicycle pathway network and then a congestion charging scheme.

it was noted that Seoul has the smarted transportation grid in the world. the RFID SMART card system works across all modes of transportation. you can pay based on distance, time or mode.

www.seoul.go.kr

the afternoon session was opened by Bas Boorsma and Wolfgang Wagener who are part of te Connected Urban Development project which is a joint commitment between CISCO and three cities [Seoul, Amsterdam, San Francisco] to investigate ways in which to reduce CO2 emissions. It is really all about.

80% of emissions are due to cities which means that there is a large responsibility to take action. Both believe that if we can do a better job with connectivity and transparency of information then we can indeed make inroads into this.

the city of stockholm then gave a comment. she talked about the beauty and cleanliness of the environment here. they will have a system which will allow one to look at the air quality, street-by-street, on an hour-by-hour basis soon. 80% of houses in the city are part of the district heating program. about the same percentage is used to convert to heat. a large percentage of the energy is emission free and there is a goal to increase this. 381 ethonol and 50 bio busses.

Peter Gruetter - BORN TO BE CONNECTED
he started out with a brief resume of how Switzerland's mercenaries were one of the earliest european knowledge networks. a bit of a stretch. he talked about how the nation really did not fit into the standard industrial centralized model. they have always been required to adapt to the context around them. he led? the renovation of the federal finance system to give an equal position to the states and federal gov't. they also harmonized their IT infrastructure in the late 90's.

'only those who use their freedom will remain free'

he focused on innovation and put up the graphic which shoed the most innovative nations....sweden, switzerland, finland, denmark, japan, and germany are on the top. [i wonder why this is? all of them are in one way very socialistic and highly democratic]

[great image of the rings of a tree cut to talk about change and seasonal variation and complexity]

[http://www.gallup.com/poll/21811/American-Beliefs-Evolution-vs-Bibles-Explanation-Human-
Origins.aspx]
[http://www.publicopinionpros.com/features/2006/aug/bishop_printable.asp]

Harald Lemke, German State of Hesse State Sect and CIO. GERMANY 115 - A BRIDGE BETWEEN CITIZENS AND THE GOVERNMENT.

The german Government is unifying their public services switchboard into one telephone number...115. 80% of questions should be able to be answered with this first call. its intention is to turn the administrations into more responsive entities rather than unresponsive elephants. the 115 project will be regionalized so that all over the nation anyone anywhere need only call one number to know how to get to gov't services. it is also an acknowledgment of the need of a nationwide policy for information access.

http://www.megovconf-lisbon.gov.pt/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=51

Nomhie Canca. Chief Executive of South Africa's Blue IQ Company. UNLEASHING THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE.
educated in the US, but went back to SA to found many of the women's empowerment movement. she is now working for Blue IQ which is an agency of the government. its mandate is governed by the Gauteng province to find a sustainable relationship between the government and private sector. all of her projects must find their own legs over time. her economic impact is measured and a win-win solution is the goal of all projects. one of these is the provision of broadband to the greatest range of citizens as possible. this is called B-link:
1. digital inclusion - broadband access for everyone
2. social/global inclusion - incubate the region for national replication
3. service delivery - provide more efficient govt and social services
4. economic development - having an impact

health issues dominate the requirements of the citizens and the areas that they expect gov't to help. they are going to do not only the broadband network, but also the last mile AND, most importantly, the last inch.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=250108&area=/insight/insight__economy__business/
http://www.theinnovationhub.com/profiles.cfm
http://www.theinnovationhub.com/NewsBits/vol3no9/news03.cfm

Yvon Le Roux, VP Public Sector, CISCO. INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY is the title of his talk. he opened with the results of the public services survey. the overwhelming view was the need to innovate. he brought up the definition of insanity...doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get a different result. Credit Suisse predicted that China's electric needs will continue to rise at 11%. this has made China the largest absolute producer of greenhouse gasses. the fact that Al Gore and the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize means that the world picture has changed. Energy and Climate change are now part of every business leaders developing vocabulary. thus there are a few issues to better understand:
1. Understanding the Direct REsult of Electricity Consumption of IT and itc CO2 impact
2. Impact of Applications that can lower the CO2 of our infrastructure
3. Long-term socio-economic changes based on new models

'we have seen the iceberg; ours is melting' this he used as his as his rallying call for the summit. we need technologies which will allow the developing nations to develop without the continued radical climb in CO2.

he quoted OULU, in Finland as being one of the best examples of integration of technology into their economy. incredibly innovative.......[[[[must go there!]]]]]

Preston Jay Waite, Deputy Director of the US Census Bureau. THE 21st CENTURY CENSUS.
he gave a great overview of the challenges that the Census faces. he brought wonderful mid-western humor to a very serious issue. how do you keep current? he is reengineering the 2010 Decennial Census Program. there is a misalignment between the GIS data and the street centre line data that the bureau uses. it costs about $10billion to make a census. his challenge it to get rid of paper. they are going to use hand-held devices to collect the data for the next one. the last one in 2000 used way too much paper and this will be a digital census.

a few really good lessons.....
2. DO NOT automate the questions, automate the data collection process.
3. DO NOT underestimate the End User
4. Automation cannot replace Interpersonal Communication
5. Training Presents New Challenges and Opportunities

count everybody once and only once and in the right place

http://www.census.gov/
http://www.census.gov/pubinfo/www/bios/jay_waite_bio.html

Opened by the ever present Simon Willis who framed the context of change. This summit is co-hosted by CISCO and the City of Stockholm.

Kristina Alvendal, Vice Mayor of Stockholm. The city is striving to become the capital of the world as far as internet integration is concerned. this is based upon a clear collaboration between business and political realms. she pointed out that it also depends upon a well educated public to understand and take advantage of the opportunity. further, that one of the most important roles of politics is to prepare, and deal with, change as it is happening as well as anticipated. 80% of all Swedes have access to the internet. 'IT is the steam engine of contemporary society'.

over the next three days, i will be sending notes from the this event that is put on by CISCO. these dates are chosen so that the participants can also attend the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo at the end of the conference. I enjoyed seeing familiar faces at the opening reception tonight. I will be speaking tomorrow in the Connected Urban Development specialist session.

taking inspiration from the fluter of a blade of grass and the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse, this guy has come up with a brilliant idea of how to generate electricity.... the video says it all...

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4224763.html?series=37

impressive array of events laid on in this vibrant city. i spoke at two venues. the first was the opening of the interactive design media research series on future scenarios [http://www.designsingapore.org/Default.asp?Page=262] and the second at the Architectural Festival called Archifest [http://app.singaporedesignfestival.com/event/event_details.asp?id=25]. it is incredibly well organized and a real pleasure to ork with the Design Council.

it is a privilege to have the opportunity to meet the designers of wonderful architecture. they presented their work as part of the Archifest event. the floating roof kindergarden is unforgettable. i suggest that a peak at it is worth it. [http://www.g-mark.org/search/Detail?id=33708&lang=en]

and they are really nice people too which makes it all the better.

it must have done something to be known by the locals as the first six star hotel in Singapore. I have seen none of it. The staff at the door smile widely as they open it and unnecessarily offer to help me pull my wheelie up the four steps. enter the door to an inner sanctum. the building was once a post office and was turned into a hotel with a large vacant interior space. the check-in staff were all but sullen. they made it clear that not only was i was lucky to be here, but to be served by them at all. not even the W in NewYork front desk had so much attitude. I asked specifically NOT to be put across from an elevator as the incessant 'dinging' can drive me batty. it is one of the those sounds that as soon as it gets into your consciousness, it does not leave it. i get to me room and, yes, i am directly across from an elevator. i did not even go in the room. back to the desk. 'sorry sir, nothing we can do. we will move you tomorrow'. he used the 'we are totally full' trump card which i am not so much of a jerk to call. the dinging did drive me batty as i finished up my talk for the increasingly encroaching morning. the balcony had a view to die for. the balcony doors cannot stay open which is a great pity because the weather here is pretty good and a bit of fresh air would have flushed out the slight mildew smell.

day 2. i let the front desk know that i have packed my bag as instructed and would be back in the afternoon. returned after the first talk at about 1330 and found that nothing had been done. i needed to prepare my second talk so i aksed if i could go back to the old room just for an hour to get the presetnation finished. i felt like i was asking for the opening ticket on the moon shuttle, but did recieve a keycard. worked away. finished. came back down at 1500 ane let them know i would be back at arond 1900. they assured me all would be fine, and i assumed, that it would be. ha. came back after second talk at 2000 hours to ask for a room key from smiless front-desk staff. lots of paper shuffling. 'you must be going out for dinner, when will you return?' no, i am not going out for dinner now, i need to change my clothes first 'oh, well the room is not ready' no, that is not possible. you have nkown all day that i would return at 1900 and here it is 2000 and you must have a room that is ready for me. 'sorry sir, please wait here' .....'my colleague will go check on the rooms, please wait here'.....five minutes later i am handed a room key and told that all is ready. no apology! get to the room. no luggage. as i am about to call down, a knock on the door brings my bag. again, no apologies. now, i am not the kind of person that goes arond begging for others to apologize, but i found that the poor room management which was clearly evident by my experience would indicate to me that this place has issues they need to deal with.

can it really be that bad? well, the black mould in the shower caulking should not be there. really...in a how many star hotel is this supposed to be? but then again, the big glass shower door doesn't close properly so water can escape.

there is the requisite room tea-water boiler in the room. however, the only plug is on the other side of the room half way up the wall [see flickr]. the closets are uselss for pieces of luggage and there seem to be two minibar pieces of furniture. [again, niether of them with mains plugs].

the location is superb. the view over the old colonial buildings romantic. if you stay here, bring some scented candles. this must have either been given its stars on a promise, or they are falling.

don't go back.