Strategic Direction 1 - Collaborate to develop and promote Melbourne as Australia’s Knowledge Capital and one of the world’s leading Knowledge Cities

The concept of a Knowledge City is very broad, incorporating all aspects of a city’s economic, social and cultural life. A Knowledge City recognises that its ability to grow and capture knowledge is the basis for its global competitive advantage and its quality of life. ¹ There is a kaleidoscope of perspectives on knowledge and learning cities and regions “however few initiatives are readily generalisable.” ²

Basic ingredients of effective knowledge cities include

• Innovation and investment in research and development as the drivers of economic growth.
• Effective competition policies to stimulate the demand for innovation
• An infrastructure of world class universities with strong linkages to the business community.
• Access to a ready supply of venture capital to ensure that research can be transformed into real products services and processes.
• A highly skilled workforce that delivers real improvements in productivity and performance.
• Efficient transport infrastructure to facilitate access to markets
• Efficient ICT infrastructure.
• Promotion of highly effective collaboration across industries, through business clusters and formal and informal business networks.
• High levels of social capital.³

It is widely recognised that the process of developing a Knowledge City is highly complex and represents a long term strategic undertaking; one that is both exciting and challenging.⁴ Each city must devise a unique recipe that reflects the earlier path of its development and high levels of collaboration and stakeholder engagement, along with clear strategic goals and commitment of resources are critical to success.⁵ The first stage of a coherent approach to developing a Knowledge City is for cities to invest time and effort into developing their own ‘knowledge economy story’, which is a shared narrative about what the knowledge economy means, the overall strengths and weaknesses of the city, and identification of where the opportunities in its knowledge economy lie, based on deep research. This goes beyond a descriptive analysis or technical indicators and creates a sense of shared effort among key players.⁶ Key to this is the establishment of shared set of priorities.⁷

The dynamics of global competition suggest that it is vital for the City of Melbourne to continue to pursue an ambitious Knowledge City strategy. It is important, however, that key learning from the past decade informs a new approach for the future.⁸ In this new phase the City of Melbourne will scope its role as a leader and catalyst to new levels of collaborative action, working to boldly engage stakeholders, at the highest level, in formulating a vision and strategic plan for Melbourne’s Knowledge future.

Extensive resources and case studies to guide further reflection on this strategic direction can be found at the Work Foundation.

Objectives

• Facilitate collaborative thinking and “joined-up” action at the highest level of business, government and community.
• Increase awareness of higher education as a key sector within the Victorian and national economies.
• Create a stronger innovation culture to integrate the actions of universities, research institutes, business and government.
• Promote the attractiveness of Melbourne as an international destination for conferences academics and collaborative research.
• Build learning partnerships and benchmark other global knowledge cities (Boston in particular).

Opportunities

Relevant indicators [For achieving objectives]

1. List proposed indicator against which relevant objectives can be assessed.
2. List proposed indicator against which relevant objectives can be assessed.
3. List proposed indicator against which relevant objectives can be assessed.

Relevant global city ranking

• RMIT Global University Cities Index to be released February 2008.

See also

• Manchester: Ideopolis, Developing a Knowledge Capital?
• Knowledge Economy Sheffield
• Ideopolis: Knowledge City-Regions

References

For when there are non-footnote references?..

Footnotes

References

1 : “An emerging pattern of successful knowledge cities”, by Kostas Ergazakis and Kostas Metaxiotis and John Psarras Ergazakis, Metxiotis and Psarras, in Knowledge Cities: Approaches, Experiences, and Perspectives, Francisco Javier Carrillo (Ed), 2005, Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN 0750679417.

2 : Making Knowledge Work, Chris Duke, Lesley Doyle and Bruce Wilson, 2006, Niace Leicester, ISBN 9781862012462.

3 , 6 : Ideopolis: Knowledge Cities Working Paper - What is the Knowledge Economy? Coats David, The Work Foundation, 2005.

4 : Enterprise Priorities to Enterprise Powerhouses: The Public Sector in the Knowledge Economy, Naomi Clayton, January 2008.

5 : "Greater Phoenix as a knowledge capital", by Chatzkel, J. in Knowledge Cities: Approaches, Experiences, and Perspectives, Francisco Javier Carrillo (Ed), 2005, Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN 0750679417.

7 : Priorities for Sheffield City Region in the Knowledge Economy Prepared for Sheffield City Region, October 2007.

8 : "Towards a knowledge city strategy", Technical Report, Melbourne City Council, SGS Economics and the Eureka Project, 2002.

9 : Defining the Knowledge Economy, The Work Foundation, London Brinkley, I. 2006.

10 : The Boston Indicators Project, The Boston Foundation in partnership with the City of Boston and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

11 : John LaWare Leadership Forum