The Rise of the Creative Class

Benedict Anderson’s deservedly famous thesis about the origins and nature
of modern nationalism turns around the central notion of an “imagined
community.” This category provides him with a matrix out of which one
can apprehend-theoretically and historically-the different variants of nationalist discourse formulated over the last two hundred years. We will refer,
in the brief comments that follow, to three basic dimensions structuring
the fabric of Anderson’s argument: 1) the presuppositions implicit in the
notion of an “imagined” community; 2) the kind of substitutability or solidarity which is required to be a member of such a community; 3) the kind
of relationship that is established between such a community-which is by
definition finite or limited-and its outside. Before that, however, let us
describe the main features of Anderson’s thesis.

On Imagined Communities

Eric Ries was born in September 1978. He graduated from Yale University and moved to silicon Valley in the beginning of the millennium. He pioneered the philosophy of Lean Startup, based on his experience with multiple startups, primary being IMVU which he co-founded along with Will Harvey in 2004. Eric Ries originated his Lean Startup philosophy after getting inspired from the Japanese Philosophy of Lean Manufacturing.

The Lean Startup:How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

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Annual Report 2011 -個人別教育研究報告-

Neo-liberal urban planning policies: A literature survey 1990–2010

The Nordic countries have a quite different urban structure and social systems than the USA. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden may then constitute a critical test of the empirical reach of Richard Florida's much cited creative class thesis beyond its empirical basis in the USA. This paper employs comparative statistics to examine the importance of the quality of place in attracting members of the creative class to Nordic city regions, and it analyses the role of the creative class for regional economic development. Florida's original study focused only on city regions with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Our statistical analyses mainly support Florida's results with regard to these larger Nordic city regions. The paper, however, also analyses smaller city regions, which are important in the Nordic urban structure. The findings are clearly less supportive for these smaller regions, which mean that the original creative class approach has to be considerably refined when used in the Nordic context.

Nordic City Regions in the Creative Class Debate—Putting the Creative Class Thesis to a Test

The creative class thesis put forward by Florida [(2002a) The Rise of the Creative Class and How it's transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life (New York: Basic Books)] has in recent years been subject to vivid debate and criticism. This article applies the creative class thesis onto a Nordic context in order to examine whether Florida's theory proves fruitful in a context different from the US. Based on qualitative data, the paper analyses the role of people climate and business climate for the location of the creative class and firms in three different kinds of regions in four Nordic countries. The analyses demonstrate that the people climate tends to be of secondary importance to the business climate in explaining the location of the Nordic creative class. This should be seen as a result of the urban hierarchy within the Nordic countries as well as a strong welfare policy, which ensures an equal distribution of public provision and supports dual career households. Together, these factors ...

One Size Fits All? Applying the Creative Class Thesis onto a Nordic Context

Open innovation platforms (OIPs) as a new tool fostering the convergence of innovation, education, and research activities have been gaining popularity over the course of recent years Innovative activities are evolving towards more agile and user-driven processes OIPs are the key mechanism for orchestrating these processes, providing a qualitatively new space for the interactions between science, education, and innovation Platform actors have the opportunity to share knowledge and use the urban environment as a ‘living lab’Using the case of Tampere (Finland), the paper explores OIPs’ role in the orchestration of joint innovation projects within the framework of the ‘smart city’ model The functions of the platforms in coordinating innovation are illustrated by the practices of three universities implementing the ‘knowledge triangle’ strategy The initial data for the analysis of the cases were collected within the framework of the Six Cities Strategy project The authors were guided by a participatory action research (PAR) approach and directly participated in events aimed at the development of strategyThe results of the case analysis should contribute to the evolution of the OIPs concept both from the academic and policy perspectives The authors highlight some tentative policy implications and recommendations

Open Innovation Platforms as a Knowledge Triangle Policy Tool - Evidence from Finland

This paper explores a widely employed instrument of regional innovation policy: the innovation incubator. It proposes that incubation approaches are moving away from a ‘traditional’ approach strongly premised on physical infrastructure and high-technology, to a more interactive, participatory and social mode of innovation, in line with broader developments in innovation policy and theory. To practically illustrate this shift, we take two cases: a ‘traditional’ style of incubation in Wales, UK, and a ‘next generation’ incubation programme in Finland. This paper reflects on incubators as a mode of regional innovation policy, both past developments and future trends, to ensure that new policies and programmes learn from best (and indeed, worst) practice and build on, rather than replicate, past approaches.

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Transformation of regional innovation policies: from ‘traditional’ to ‘next generation’ models of incubation

This participative inquiry critiques recent management trends in the Finnish higher education system. The six authors, presently working in three Finnish universities, focus on strategic internationalization policy to highlight the argument. Global trends in internationalization are introduced, followed by an experienced-based meta-analysis, drawing on several recent studies by the authors. This analysis points to significant challenges and blind spots that exist-well hidden-alongside the Finnish higher education system's best features. The increasing use of ICT-based management routines are called into question with respect to higher education practices, capacity and linked societal challenges. The analysis indicates these challenges remain unengaged-even obscured by-the rapidly proliferating number of ICT-based university management systems. Although none of the authors are specialists in Philosophy or ethics, the interpretive-level findings presented by this interdisciplinary group of scholars illuminates ways forward for the emerging field of specialists focused on ICT-based network-related ethics.

Mika Raunio

Papers

Nordic City Regions in the Creative Class Debate—Putting the Creative Class Thesis to a Test

One Size Fits All? Applying the Creative Class Thesis onto a Nordic Context

Open Innovation Platforms as a Knowledge Triangle Policy Tool - Evidence from Finland

Transformation of regional innovation policies: from ‘traditional’ to ‘next generation’ models of incubation

The International SOLETM of Finnish Higher Education: A Virtual Vanishing Act