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Subject:

TCI Newsletter December 2005

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TCI newsletter

From:

Boris Doesborg <fblunck@competitiveness.org>

=========== The Competitiveness Institute News Letter ==========
News from the cluster practitioners network Subscribe for free: http://www.competitiveness.org
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The Competitiveness Institute Newsletter, Dec 14, 2005
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Enter the Dragon: China's Emergence and Competitiveness
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For the presentations held at the conference please follow the
Hong Kong 2005 link. Please note that only TCI members can access
the presentations.
To all friends of TCI

Back home from the latest TCI conference in Hong Kong, I was
thinking about the top few ways that I know TCI has a very bright
future:

- The survey showed that the participants also this year were
very satisfied with the successful conference.
- There is a flurry of announcements about upcoming programs
and events at TCI.
- So many new talents have volunteered to be at TCI's
service.
- The weather is much better in Hong Kong than in Stockholm,
this part of the year.

It is a great pleasure to announce that we fulfilled the high
expectations on the conference in Hong Kong. The Pearl River
Delta is a truly exciting region. I deeply want to thank Prof.
Michael Enright and his colleagues at the Hong Kong Institute of
Economics and Business Strategy (HIEBS), making this conference a
success. This conference was really the event that changed the
mindsets of economic development practitioners from around the
world.

I feel very confident in TCI's future. The growth has
strengthened our activities, even as it has inevitably generated
new challenges for the Board of Directors. TCI's activities are
second to none among our members, and in looking to the future we
must plan and act as good stewards of TCI's resources.

The executive group will be fully engaged in creating a new
strategic plan, to guide TCI in the coming years. It will
identify directions and priorities for TCI that will build on the
great successes of recent years. In order to deliver on the
promises and great expectations created by the members, we need
to identify, enhance, and bring greater attention to TCI?s
long-term finances.

But we cannot allow ourselves to become distracted from our core
mission. We must continue to develop a superior environment to
improve living standards and local competitiveness of regions
across the world, and we must acknowledge and support the very
able and committed people whose work is integral to this mission.

We have listened to your comments on how we can improve. First we
will reorganize the membership fee structure to make the private
memberships more attractive. We will also develop a sponsorship
program and work out attractive opportunities at the conferences
for the private sector.

The conference 2006 in Lyon looks very promising and should give
us even more scope for making TCI a leading learning platform on
developing competitiveness. The phenomenon of governance and role
of government will be emphasised at all levels. We will make sure
there will be opportunities to see private sector "in action" in
special sessions for clusters in the region. We will focus on
facilitated "live" breakout sessions, which also is a general
direction, were TCI is moving. And of course there will be
exciting innovative cluster study tours as part of the
conference.

And by the way, there will not be any Board of Directors or Board
of Advisor meetings during the main part of the conference, to
ensure that all Board members interact more freely with other
members and participants.

There were also many requests for regional conferences. Next year
TCI will support regional conferences on competitiveness in
Pakistan, Kazakhstan and East Africa among others. We also have
the big Developing Countries Forum in Washington D.C. All these
activities feel very encouraging.

I also like to stress the new Gender Initiative, taken on by
Andrea Erdmann. If you are interested, please, contact her on
aerdmann@tsginc.com. It takes on a fundamental aspect of building
successful competitive regions across the world.

To accomplish all this, to ensure long-term economic security and
guarantee continuous high quality programs, we have taken a few
measures. Kristofer Erlandsson has been hired as Executive
Director. Elisabeth Waelbroeck-Rocha will re-join the Board of
Directors to serve as Treasurer.

There is a role for all who want to be involved. If you are
interested to join an enthusiastic group of people, to explore
new ideas, or just to provide help, I extend an invitation to all
to share your ideas and perspectives about our future with me.
Please send your comments and ideas to leklund @
competitiveness.org

Kung Hei Fat Choi! - A Happy Prosperous New Year!

Lars Eklund new President of TCI
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Lars Eklund, former vice president of TCI has been appointed the
new president of The Competitiveness Institute at the eighth
Annual Global Conference in Hong Kong. He succeeds Alec Hansen
after two years of distinguished service.
Lars Eklund has a PhD from the Stockholm School of Economics and
is a Director of Competitiveness at the Swedish Governmental
Agency for Innovation Systems - VINNOVA.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/722

Threats or Opportunities? Asia challenges in focus on
Competitiveness Conference
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The Competitiveness Institute's eighth Annual Global Conference
ended its three-day run at the Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel in Hong
Kong with more than 170 experts from 43 countries. The conference
"Enter the Dragon: China's Emergence and International
Competitiveness" was organized by the Hong Kong Institute of
Economics and Business Strategy.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/723

Kristofer Erlandsson new Executive Director for The
Competitiveness Institute
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The Competitiveness Institute, the major international
not-for-profit alliance of cluster practitioners, announced at
the institute’s eighth Annual Global Conference in Hong Kong the
appointment of Kristofer Erlandsson as a the first Executive
Director for The Competitiveness Institute.

Commenting on this appointment Lars Eklund, President of TCI,
said “I am delighted to welcome Kristofer Erlandsson to the
board. His breadth of experience in international trade and
industry policy will further strengthen our ability to develop
TCI appropriately and effectively. His extensive business
experience will be of great value to TCI. It will demonstrate our
continued commitment to engage on competitiveness issues to
improve living standards and local competitiveness of regions
across the world.”
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/725

Pakistan takes broad Initiative to increase Competitiveness
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At The Competitiveness Institute's eighth Annual Global
Conference in Hong Kong the Pakistan Minister of State for
Finance, Omar Ayub Khan, in his keynote address announced that
the Government of Pakistan has undertaken major initiative
towards improving the competitiveness of its economy by
establishing a Competitiveness Support Fund and projecting the
creation of an a national Innovation and Competitiveness Council.

The Council will use the Competitiveness Support Fund, financed
by the Government of Pakistan together with United States Agency
for International Development USAID, as a platform to upgrade the
Pakistani industry. The fund is tailored to meet Pakistan's needs
and based on international best practices of successful existing
funds operating in countries like India, Thailand, Turkey,
Ireland and Finland.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/724

2006 Conference to be held in Lyon
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The Competitiveness Institute announced during the conference in
Hong Kong that the ninth annual TCI conference is to be held in
Lyon, France, October 9 to 13, 2006. The key issues of the Lyon
conference will be Governance and Companies as Cornerstones of
Cluster Initiatives.
This conference will be organized by the Chambre de Commerce et
d'Industrie de Lyon. Focus will be new developments in cluster
governance and business involvement. During the last day of our
conference participants where introduced to the theme and host
region.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/726

Developing Countries Forum Meeting#1 in Washington DC
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The first "formal" meeting of the DC Forum was held on October
25, 2005 at SRI International's office in Arlington, Virginia. A
bottom-line summary is provided in this article, making no
attempt to do justice to the extraordinarily rich mixture of
presentations and discussion during two meetings on October 25.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/732
Competitiveness Partnership - Public-Private Dialogue

The World Bank and the DFID are organizing a workshop on
Public-Private Dialogue in Paris, February 1-2, 2006 in The World
Bank Paris Conference Center.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/700

Antoni Subirà Appointed To European Commission Expert Group
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Antoni Subirà, Chairman of The Competitiveness Institute's Board
of Advisors and Catalonia's former minister of industry, have
been invited by European Commissioner for Science and Research
Janez Potocnik to join a group that will identify priority
actions for the EU to boost its investment in research.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/733

Launch of national cluster training program in Poland
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December 14, 2005 marks the launch of a comprehensive cluster
training program in Poland.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/734

Annual Conference 2007 - Expression of Interest
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The Competitiveness Institute is issuing a "Call for Expression
of Interest" for the organization of its 10th Annual Conference
to be held in 2007. Proposals from within the Americas region
will be particularly welcome although outstanding applications
from other regions are invited.
More » http://www.competitiveness.org/article/view/213
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