Knowledge

Cities in the 21st century are becoming powerful places for the creation and exchange of new ideas and rapid developments in the fields of science. They are transforming these into the innovations that drive their economies and underpin their prosperity and sustainability. These are knowledge cities. Melbourne today is a knowledge city with substantial assets. These need to be developed, accelerated and celebrated.

Melbourne will develop its world-class universities, excellent schools and scientific institutions and businesses to rank among the world's best centres for research and innovation. It will be a place where people of all ages, cultures and abilities from all parts of the city can access affordable education. Ideas and research will be transformed into innovative goods and services, supported by a vibrant culture of enterprise and venture capital investment who enjoy easy access to some of the brightest and leading scientists in their fields.

The municipality will be a place with dynamic and adaptable educational, scientific, cultural and business environments that keep abreast of emerging issues and trends; a place that creates and shares knowledge and information across business, industry, government and community and philanthropic organisations. Students, researchers and start-up enterprises are crucial for a vibrant knowledge city, so the cost of living and working in Melbourne must, by international standards, be affordable for these people.

Learning in the city will also happen informally through all manner of interactions between people, from a science talk in a pub to a museum exhibition. The city will provide manifold avenues to explore ideas in formal and informal ways, value all forms of learning and treat education as a lifelong process.

The city will need the state-of-the-art telecommunications and information infrastructure and facilities so its people can be leaders in the online world of knowledge and innovation. These tools will enable collaborative networks of knowledge communities that connect locally and across the globe.

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1. Generating innovation from knowledge

Successful knowledge cities such as Boston and Manchester have a strong culture of investment in the creation of institutions of knowledge and research through civic entrepreneurship. Civic entrepreneurs are formal and informal leaders from all sectors - government, business and community who dedicate themselves to community initiatives. They identify projects, engage and enthuse others, use resources in inventive ways and secure financial investment. The recently established Office of Knowledge Capital will be an important facilitator of this culture in Melbourne

Deployment and commercialisation of knowledge generated in research and development institutions remain of vital importance. Innovation can also involve other, more flexible approaches; while not necessarily involving patentable knowledge, non-institutional innovation will foster a dynamic business community.

We will have a vital culture of innovation; creative learning communities; and public recognition and celebration of Melbourne's knowledge culture to accelerate the cycle of success and bring international recognition.

Relevant global city ranking

• RMIT Global University Cities Index
• The Most Admired Knowledge City Awards (MAKCi)

See also

• Yigitcanlar, T. et al (2008) The making of knowledge cities Melbournes knowledge based urban development experience
• Metacollab
• European Science and Technology Observatory
• Australian Centre for Science Innovation and Society .

2. Synergies between the city and universities

Victoria's universities are fundamental to Melbourne's knowledge economy. The Times Higher Education Supplement Top 200 World Universities ⁴_ ranked the University of Melbourne 22nd (2nd in Australia), and Monash University 38th.

Melbourne is not only a city with these world class universities in it. Factoring these together with its liveability, education expenditure and the number of its graduates and Melbourne emerges as a university city. Melbourne is ranked on the 2008 Global University Cities Index⁵ as the world's fourth top university city (out of 20 world cities) after London, Boston and Tokyo.

The universities with a presence in the municipality are significant contributors to the culture and economy of the city. They are:

• major export earners
• businesses in a global higher education industry
• diverse
• nurturing the development of human capital for the services sector
• part of the global higher education research sector
• leading service providers for government, industry and the community
• providing and maintaining a cultural infrastructure for the municipality
• drivers of the built environment.

The tertiary education sector is central to the future of Melbourne as a knowledge city. This sector is also integral to the growth and retention of priority business sectors. Melbourne needs to strengthen links between universities, government agencies, business and community groups to foster productive collaborations.

Universities could collaborate with one another and the cities scientific research institutes in researching or implementing priority projects, allowing genuine knowledge clusters to form across metropolitan Melbourne. Successful collaborative projects could be used in as case studies in marketing Melbourne internationally.

Universities could also continue to seek better links with industry. Melbourne's strengths (such as biotechnology) could be a particular focus, creating opportunities for universities to work with industry in ways that produce practical outcomes. While Melbourne is a leader when it comes to research, the commercialisation of our research could certainly be improved. That said, universities must continue to exist as entities free of interests that focused solely on private-industry profits. That proud university tradition of independent and rigorous debate must be upheld.

The recently established Office of Knowledge Capital, a collaboration between the City of Melbourne, eight Melbourne universities and the Committee for Melbourne, aims to advance Melbourne's position and global reputation as a university city . The Office of Knowledge Capital has potential as a new force for innovation and economic transformation – leveraging investment, championing ideas, expanding Melbourne's research capacity and stimulating and supporting business innovation. The office also aims to break new ground in university and community partnerships. It has the capacity to seed and support a legitimate hub for ongoing commercialisation and knowledge transfer activities.

To improve synergies between universities and the city, Melbourne needs to:

• harness Melbourne's research and development capacity
• foster knowledge business clusters
• increase the level of creativity, innovation and enterprise
• foster local and global business partnerships
• promote Melbourne's knowledge capability
• ensure Melbourne is a world leading cities for scientific research
• increase venture capital investment.

Indicators

• Proportion of metropolitan Melbourne and City of Melbourne municipal residents employed in highly skilled occupations (% of people working in area) (Source: ABS Census, Frequency: 5 years)
• Growth in the number of new businesses seeded in the City of Melbourne .

3. Learning city

A learning city is a way of life where industry, education, business and the community come together to encourage, recognise and celebrate lifelong learning for all. It is a city that successfully integrates economic, social and environmental development.

Usually, when we think of learning we think of formal education. But learning is so much more than just formal education. Learning is the process of understanding the world around us. And with the pace of change rapidly increasing, lifelong learning is the essential ingredient that allows us to thrive in a changing world. This will strengthen a city culture that celebrates learning and the culture of education through all levels from elite through to amateur

Modern cities are grappling with increasing complexity, change and uncertainty on major issues such as urban sustainability. The learning city approach can engage the wider community to develop a smarter and more adaptive culture that prepares for change.⁷

Conventional education practices could be re-thought to incorporate new concepts for cultivating new leaders and talented workers through treating the 'city as a classroom'. Collaborative, city-based learning can increase social capital for individuals and schools with low socio-economic status.⁸

Collaborative learning is often characterised by the technology that enables disparate groups to work together and share intellectual property. As a learning city, Melbourne should explore opportunities for open source collaborative learning options to match the expectations of our networked, creative community.

An emerging challenge for organisations is creating workplaces that attract and retain talent, connect people effectively and facilitate knowledge transfer and learning in the workplace. With the new skill sets needed to drive productivity, innovation and growth in an ever-changing environment, organisations are realising the value of tapping into the energy, skills and motivation of their people.

International initiatives such as the Vancouver Learning City builds community capacity and global competitiveness. Learning cities establish evidence-based, trans-disciplinary approaches to literacy and learning. Learning cities emphasise the fundamental importance of coherent learning and innovation strategies for developing knowledge-based societies.

Global city ranking

• Canadian Council of Learning (2008)
• TELS Study on Learning Cities (2008)
  The learning cities audit tool
• European TELS (2003) The world initiative on Lifelong Learning, Edinburgh

See also

• Lewis-Fitzgerald, C. (2005) Barriers to Participating in Learning and in the Community RMIT University
• Vancouver's Learning City (2006) Lessons Learned
• The Boston Indicators Project .

4. Online city

As an online city, Melbourne will have universal and dynamic online culture connecting its people to each other and to the world. A high percentage of people will access the internet via their choice of high -speed broadband providers and all will have access to the municipality's universal wireless internet connection.

The next generation personal broadband wireless system will be a dynamic engine for 21st century economic prosperity, educational advancement and delivery of a wide variety of services. Broadband wireless technologies offer the possibility of low (or no) cost, high-speed wireless connectivity and internet access to local communities.

In global terms, Melbourne is a remote city and currently it's standing and role as a global city is vulnerable to the threat of permanent and steeply rising cost of international air travel. Maintaining and enhancing Melbourne's role as a global city and its desirability as a place to live, study and do business will depend on it having a workforce proficient online, underpinned by state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure. This is critical to the city's businesses trading in 'knowledge' and 'discovery' and operating in global markets such as finance, design, the internet and games developers.

A sophisticated and affordable high-speed broadband network is critical to maintaining Melbourne's educational and economic standing in a rapidly evolving global socio-economic environment. An online city enables a richer and more interactive life for all. Wireless networks can deliver reliable connectivity at a fraction of current costs, meaning people from all walks of life should be able to afford access.

High capacity internet connectivity is critical for research institutions with super computers and data centres that transfer large volumes of data between research facilities. Wireless networks should act as innovation platforms, using open standards and mesh nodes to optimise interoperability and enable continued enhancements and invention. Symmetrical connectivity is necessary to equally support content creation (uploading) and content consumption (downloading). These new infrastructures engender new modes of knowledge development and Melbourne needs to be at the forefront of building the virtual city capacity.

Networks should not only provide internet access but also support robust local and peer to peer traffic, the next generation internet protocol (IPv6), and location awareness to leverage new social and economic benefits. In the future, for example, sensor networks may continually collect data on pollution and climate that in turn inform traffic congestion, pricing, energy and water services and evidence-based decisions and policy making.

A municipality-wide wireless network will enable governmental efficiencies, enhanced corporate productivity, educational excellence and a competitive environment capable of providing affordable, high-speed internet access to all residents and visitors. Sophisticated communication technologies allow people to produce imaginative concepts and generate valuable returns.

See also

• Broadband for Boston (2006) Wireless in Boston - Wireless Taskforce Report
• Examples of Educational Programs TechBoston Academy Machine Science Labs and South End Technology Center
• Best, J. (2008) Upwardly Mobile
• Fobes.com (2008) Atlanta is the most wired city in the US .

References

1 : 2thinknow Global Innovation Review 2007 Innovation City Rankings

2 : Canadian Composite Learning Index

3 : World Capital Institute (2007) Most Admired Knowledge City

4 : Times Higher Education Supplement Top 200 World Universities _

5 : 2008 Global University Cities Index

6 : Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (2008)

7 : The value of such an approach to anticipate and avoid problems and strategically seize opportunities that lie ahead, at all levels of government, is well documented in Leigh (2003) and Slaughter (1999)

8 : Melbourne melbournecares educationfoundation

9 : Community Indicators Victoria (2007) Melbourne Wellbeing Report

10 : ABS (2006) Gross Household Income (weekly) by Type of Internet Connection - Melbourne