LX - The Importance Of Research For Progress

  This post is a summary of three articles: the first with the title above, published
 http://www.jatm.com.br/papers/vol2_n1/JATMv2n1_editorial_The_importance_of_research_for_progress, in 2010, written by Herman Voorwald, Provost of UNESP. The second, with the title of,  " ERC president stresses the importance of investment in research on Austria TV." Published at http://erc.europa.eu, in 2013. The third with the title of,  " Patents and innovation: trends and policy challenges." Published at  http://www.oecd.org/sti/sci-tech/24508541.pdf, in 2004.

          The importance of research and R&D investment has become more evident every day, among the factors directly related to the good economic performance of the countries. Although there could be differences between the economic growth models, for instance, South Korean and Chinese models, all of such models are based upon substantial investments in the production of knowledge. The data from the present decade ( 2000-2009 ) indicate that the three state universities from the state of Sao Paulo contribute with 40% of the overall brazilian scientific production.The present global scenario demostrate that the brazilian research and higher education institutions can not avoid their responsibility in the efforts for economic and social development. Furthermore, such scenario evidences that participation in this process is also a challenge for both public authorities and the industrial sector in the country.

          ERC ( European Research Council ) president Helga Nowotny made an appearance on the austrian talkshow, where she commented on the current EU budget negotiations for the research budget, and the role of research and innovation in development aid. She stressed the importance of investment in education, research and innovation. She gave an update on the on going EU budget negotiations stating that the current budget plans for research and innovation were not as severe affected as she feared it would be. Professor Helga Nowotny concluded that it is necessary to raise awareness on the enormous potential of science, she hopes to fulfil what she calls a "duty" to give citizens a complete picture of the promising perspectives offered by science.

         Patents play an increasingly role in innovation and economic performance. Scientific and technological advances have created new waves of innovation, notably in ICT and biotechnology, and innovation processes have become centred less on individual firms and more dependent on interactions among global networks of actors in the public and private sectors. What aspects of patent policy in OECD countries can be seen as successful, or have failure occurred? These questions are central and highlights some unresolved issues that policy makers should address in the future:

- Governments need to improve their knowledge of markets for tech in order to support their development in the most socially beneficial directions.

- Encouraging patenting by public research organizations.

- In biotech, possibility of obtaining patent protection attracted capital need in this area.

- Software are new subject matter for patents.

         Although nearly all tech fields grew in patenting over the 1990s, two contributted disproportionately: biotech and ICT. An immediate issue is to assess how areas of tech and knowledge are addressed by the patent system. Software, genetics and nanotech, are subject to controversy.

PATENTS GRANTED/MILLION, BY COUNTRY/2001source:WIPO by nationmaster.com

1º - Japan - 994                                             19º - Australia - 7

2º - South Korea - 779                                   29º - Spain - 42

3º - USA - 289                                               30º - Canada - 3
4º - Sweden - 271                                         31º - Poland - 30

                         5º - Germany - 235                                     41º - Italy - 13                                                     6º - France - 205                                     44º - Argentina - 8                   8º - Netherlands - 189                                 49º - Brazil - 2

      9º - Finland - 187                                            52º - Colombia - 1

18º - UK - 82                                                    52º - China - 1

  PATENTS APPLICATIONS/MILLION, BY COUNTRY/2009

1º - Sweden - 311                                     12º - USA - 138

2º - Switzerland - 287                                14º - France - 110

3º - Finland - 277                                       24º - Italy - 58

4º - Israel - 235                                          38º - China - 6.5

5º - Japan - 210                                          44º - Russia - 5.4

7º - Germany - 203                                    46º - Chile - 3.8

9º - South Korea - 161                               48º - Brazil - 2.8             

11º - Norway - 143                                   58º - Mexico - 1.6

LIX - The Quest For Prosperity : How Developing Economies Can Take Off

             This post is a summary of three articles with the same subject: the review of the book with the title above, published in 2012 by the former chief economist of World Bank and now director for economic research at Peking University, China, Justin Yifu Lin. The first with the title above, published at http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9812.html. The second, with the title of, "The little we know on how poor countries get rich." Published at http://www.rossgittins.com/2013/02/the-little-we-know-on-how-poor.html, on February 16,2013. The third, with the title of, "Development optimism from Justin Lin: review of, 'The quest for prosperity".  Published at http://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/development-optimism-justin-lin-review-quest-prosperity, on January 22,2013.

           The first non-westerner to be chief economist of the W. B. focuses on what developing nations can do to help themselves. Lin examines how the countries that have succeeded in developing their own economies have actually done it. He shows that economic development is a process of continuous technological innovation, industrial upgrading and structural change driven by how countries harness their land, labor, capital and infrastructure. Countries need to identify and facilitate the development of those industries where they have a comparative advantage. Where they can produce products most effectively and use them as a basis for development. Lin show how nations can grow 8% or more continuously for decades, significantly reduce poverty and become high-income countries in the span of one or two generations.

           In his book, Lin reviews the progress of development economics and sums up the latest thinking. The sad truth is that, since the world war II, only 13 countries have made the transition to being high-income economies, many progressing from the bottom only to get caught in the "middle-income trap." He says, "most successful developing countries have expanded their manufacturing bases and moved into more sophisticated industrial products by defying conventional wisdom. In their development process, they pursued an export-promotion strategy instead of an import-substitution strategy". Lin arque that there is no simple and uniform formula for countries to follow, even so, the W. B. growth report identify five points of resemblance among all successful countries. First, they made the most of globalisation, importing ideas, know-how and technology. Second, they maintained a stable macro-economic environment. Third, they had high rates of saving and investment. Fourth, they adhered to a market system to allocate resources. Their government did not resist market forces in reallocating capital and labor from industry to industry. Fifth, they had committed, credible and capable governments. The growth report also identified a series of "bad ideas" to be avoided by policymakers in their search for economic growth. The list includes subsidising energy, using employment in the public service to reduce joblessness, reducing budget deficits by cutting spending on infrastructure, imposing price control to stem inflation, banning exports for long periods, and measuring education progress by the increase in schools buildings.

          The book takes his paper on growth identification and facilitation and boils his thinking down into what he calls,  six recipes for developing country.

1 - Find a country similar, but that is doing much better, then imitate it.

2 - Find out what is holding the industries, sort these things out first and  then remove them ( infrastructure, credit, red tape, etc ).Lin draws heavily on Dani Rodrik and Ricardo Hausmann`s work on growth diagnostics.

3 - Attract global investors. Openness to FDI ( foreign direct investment )

4 - Government need an active industrial policy to spot and support local innovation and tech upgrading.

5 - Recognize the power of industrial parks. Export-processing zones as the best way to overcome dilapidated infrastructure and get exporting quickly.

6 - Provide resources to the rights industries.

LVIII - Citizenship Education

          This post is a summary of many articles. The two main are: the article with the complete title of, "What is citizenship education?" Published at http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/main/page.php?286. The others with the title of, "Social media and political engagement." Published at http://pewinternet.org/. The other articles came from this website, in articles published betweeen 2011 and 2013.

         Citizenship education is about enabling people to make their own decisions and to take responsibility for their own lives and their communities. It is not about trying to fit everyone into the same mold or about creating a "model of citizens." The schools and universities should not simply to teach citizenship but to demonstrate it through the way they operate.          WHY  TEACH  CITIZENSHIP?

          There are elements of citizenship education in many subjects, such as English, History and Maths. But citizenship education is more than that. Democracies need active, informed and responsible citizens. Democracies depend upon citizens who, among other things, are:  - Aware of their rights and responsabilities as citizens.

                   - Informed about social and political world.

                   - Concerned about the welfare of others.

                   - Articulate and capable of having an influence.

                   - Active in their communities and responsible in how they act.

      If citizens are to become genuinely involved in public life and affairs, a more explicit approach to citizenship education is required, this approach should be:

          - Inclusive = an entitlement for all people regardless their ability or background.

              - Pervasive = not limited to schools and universities.

                  - Lifelong = continuing throughout life.

                           HOW DOES IT BENEFIT YOUNG PEOPLE?

          - It helps them to develop self-confidence and successfully deal with significant life changes and challenges such as bullying and discrimination.

          - It gives them a voice.

          - It enables them  to make a positive contribution by developing experience needed to claim their rights and understand their responsibilities and preparing them for the adult and working life.      WHAT ARE ITS ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS?

          - Knowledge and understanding about topics such as: laws and rules, the democratic process, human rights, the economy, developing, justice, freedom and authority.  - Critical thinking for analysing information, for taking part in discussions and debates.     - Respect for justice, democracy and the rule of law, openness, tolerance, courage to defend a point of view and a willingness to work with and stand up for others.

       The use of social media is becoming a feature of political and civic engagement for many Americans. A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 66% of social media users have done some civic or political activities with social media. These social media users have employed the platforms to post their thoughts about civic and political issues, react to others postings, press friends to act on issues, follow candidates and belong to groups formed on social networking sites. Social networking sites have grown more important in recent years as a venue for political involvement, learning and debate. The growth illustrates the increasing importance of social media sites as places where citizens can connect with political causes and issues. The Center for Technology Innovations at Brookings Institute convened a forum focused on using social media and digital tools to reinvigorate democracy and extend electronic engagement from campaigns and grassroots-activism to governance. Participants discussed strategies for voter empowerment, citizen engagement and governance transformation.

         Questions examined included: What tools does government use to engage the people? How does social media improve participation and collaboration in governance? What roles should internet firms, such as facebook play in encouraging civic participation?

          WHY MIGHT WE THINK THAT POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IS 

DIFFERENT IN THE INTERNET ERA?

         The offline world                                                The online world

- Organizing is expensive.                                      - Organizing is inexpensive.

- Information is scarce.                                          - Information is abundant.

- Top-down.                                                         - Grassroots-led.

- Appeals from authority.                                       - Appeals from friends.

- Conducted in a specific place/time.                      - Conducted any place/time.

- Communication is largely one-way.              - Facilitates for two-way conversations.

- Difficult for citizens to self-organize.                 - Self-organization is a principle.

- Personal conversations is limited.                 - Connections not limited by geography.

          

LVII - Human Rights on the Internet in Debate

       This post is a summary of three articles. The first with the title above, more the words "in Rio." Published at http://oglobo.globo.com/, on June, 1st, 2012. The second with the title of, "US tech companies warn of threat to internet from foreign governments." Published at http://www.washingtonpost.com/, on May,31,2012. The third with the title of, "Blogger, with focus on surveillance, is at center of a debate." Published at http://global.nytimes.com/, on June, 6th, 2013.

        The freedom in the internet is in check, the alert was made by analysts in the RightsCon, human rights and technology conference, that take place in Rio de Janeiro. According to Thor Halvorssen, president of the Human Right Foundation ( http://www.thehrf.org/ ), 55% of the countries in the United Nations does not has democracy and 24% of them are totalitarians states, which reflects in cyberspace. The most populars websites of the world, such as Facebook, Google and Twitter are blocked in these countries. "These governments act like this, because they are terrified with the reach of the internet and they do not want that their citizens leaves the ignorance of what happens outside their dictatorships or that any local information leaking to the world," said Halvorssen. Some companies of I.T. ( information tech ) also contributed with arbitraries attitudes, as Ericsson that sold to the dictator of Bielorusia a system of telecommunications capable of interceptions. The Cisco sold to China modules to the mounting of a system which blocks some websites to population. One of the paths to become internet more democratic, is to increase the concurrence in the infrastructure, thus is possible to avoid cases like what happened in Egypt, when Vodafone blocked its services of connection, requested of the government during the manifestations.

        In a congressional hearing U.S. officials and high-tech business will warn lawmakers of a growing movement led by China, Russia and some Arabs states to hand more control of the web to the U.N. and places rules on the internet that the U.S. companies say would empower governments to clamp down on civil rights and free speech. That could mean the web might look drastically different in other countries than it does in the U.S. An internet user could be more easily tracked by governments and might get access to only a portion of the Google search results seen in the U.S., for example. In a coordinated effort to knock down the proposals, Google, Microsoft and Cisco also warn of financial risk, if new rules are adopted. They say some nations could lead to tariffs on internet services providers or even web firms. "The threats are real and not imagined although they sound like works of fiction at times," said Robert McDowell, a congressman member of the federal communication commission. Facebook and Twitter proved to be vital for revolutionaries during the Arab Spring protests. And in many countries, the only outlet to the outside world is what people read online. Russia, China and other wrote a letter to the U.N. General Assembly that called for an "international code of conduct" that would establish "norms and rules guiding the behaviour" of countries overseeing the web. "Such proposals raise the prospect of policies that enable government controls but greatly diminish the innovation that underlies extraordinary internet-based economic growth, to say nothing of trampling human rights," said Vint Cerf, Google vice-president.

          After writing intensely for years about government surveillance and the prosecution of journalists, Glenn Greenwald, has suddenly put himself directly at the intersection of those two issues, and perhaps in the cross hairs of federal prosecutors. Greenwald, a lawyer and blogger, published an article in the Guardian newspaper about the existence of a secreta court order allowing the National Security Agency ( NSA ) to monitor millions of telephones and emails. The article, which included a link to the order, is expected to attract an investigation from the Justice Department. " The NSA is kind of the crown jewel in government secrecy. I expect them to react even more extremely," said Greenwald. He said that he had decided that what he is doing is exactly what the constitution is about and he is not worried about it. Greenwald, 46 years-old, who came to mainstream journalism through his own blog, before that he was a lawyer, when he worked to a very important New York firm. He began his blog in 2005 (http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com.br/), after the news of warrantless surveillance under the Bush Administration. Greenwald said he has had to get up to speed in the security precautions that are expected from a reporter covering national security matters, including installing encrypted chat and email programs. By the time he was studying law at NY University, he was always passionate about constitutional issues and he was very deep into those issues and how it must come out. He was tireless and relentless about pursuing this. His writings has made him a frequent target from ideological foes who accuse him of excusing terrorism.

     

LVI - Societies on the Move

          This post is a summary of three articles: the first one, with the title above, published at http://www.economist.com/, on September 9th,2010. The second, with the title of, "Brazil`s ICT market: facing skill shortage, companies invest in training." Published at http://www.rcrwireless.com/americas/2013, on January 30, 2013. The third, " Brazil bids to become world`s third IT market by 2022." Published at http://news.yahoo.com/, on August 31, 2012.

         Expanding the middle class requires better schools and reform in public spending. It has led some commentators to claim that Latin America is well on the way to building middle-class societies. That would have profound implications, for everything from politics to business. Poverty has declined almost everywhere. Just as important, income distribution has been getting less unequal in many countries. The decline of poverty is a result of a faster economic growth and the conquest of inflation, but also of better social policies. In particular, conditional cash-transfer ( CCT ) programmes, have proved effective in helping the poor. All this has mean that across the region the lower middle-class, also called, class C, has expanded. In Brazil, Fundação Getulio Vargas, a research institute, defines this group as having household income of between 1,070 reais and 4,560. The new lower middle-class is more entrepreneurial, though many of its member work at least partly in the informal economy. All this progress is still fragile, and not everyone finds a way out of poverty. The children of poor households are much less likely than the average to complete their schooling. If it is to become a middle-class society, Latin America`s first priority must be to improve the quality of schooling. Primary schooling is almost universal, 70% of the children in the region now start secondary school, but 90% do in rich countries. The number in tertiary education has risen to a third since 1999. But many drop out, and many who stay do not learn much. At least people are becoming more aware of the need to improve the quality of public education. This is particularly clear in Brazil, where the progressive education policies of the government of FHC ( 1995-2003 ) have been broadly continued under Lula. The government has introduced a national exam to monitor standards. In Sao Paulo state has also introduced a standard curriculum, required teachers to submit to a proficiency test and linked big salary increases for them to better schools results in the exams. Colombia and Chile have both made big efforts to expand pre-school education. In Peru, the government has introduced compulsory evaluation of teachers. But many parents are complacent about their children`s schooling, content that they are staying in school longer than they did themselves.

           Several brazilian companies have chosen to invest in employee traning to deal with the lack of technically skilled job applicants. This strategy has also been used to reduce employee turnover, another serious concern for information and communication technologies companies ( ICT ). In the ICT labor market in Brazil, there are more open positions than candidates. In addition to the gap between the number of students graduating and the number of professionals the ICT market needs, the high cost of education is also an issue. " The qualification courses in the IT industry are very expensive," said Antonio Neto, president of the union representing IT workers in Sao Paulo state. "In traditional schools, these courses cost about US$15,000. Starting salaries, however, are low, and workers can not afford to pay. Many end up and changing areas," he add. Neto explained that the greatest shortage is for specialized professionals because the number of required skills, including graduating, specialization and high level of English. Tania Casa, director of human relations at PromonLogicalis said, " the greatest difficult is situated in the area of collaboration, such as, video conferencing, telepresence, network management, information security and data centers." Angelo Ribeiro, human resources manager at Arcon said, " the number of graduated does not meet the open positions, investing in training internally and getting professionals from other sites are altenative ways to reduce this difficulty."

       Brazil hopes to become the world`s third largest information technology and communication market by 2022, behind China and U.S. Antonio Gil, president of the Brasscom ( Association of ICT companies ) said, "We are now focusing on innovation and new investment in small and medium sized companies as well as on using IT in sectors like health, education and transparency in government. Brazil today has 250 million mobile phones, but they are expensive due to the high taxes, equivalent to 45% of total bill. The major challenge is how to improve the country`s education system and overcome of shortage of skilled professionals." The Brazilian ICT industry currently has two million professionals and will need an additional 900,000 until 2022. The IT market in Brazil now represent around 4.5% of Brazil GDP, a share expected to jump to 6.6% in 2022.