Seeking an opinion on Green Tech futures had never been easier in Korea than it was in Daejeon in the final week of May. The Daedeok Innopolis won the bid to host the IASP (International Association of Science Parks) conference and exhibition this year. The event, hosted at the DCC (Daejeon Convention Center) rallies thought and industry leaders with varying backgrounds and viewpoints, at times within the same room and hopefully with results.
It was said by an attending industry consultant from the United States of America (USA) that, "often these conferences are so exciting and then people get out the door after it's finished and say, 'okay, now what do I do'" Such post partum despair had not been given a chance at the 2010 conference if the standard of issues raised by opening speakers was anything to judge by. Attendants were given tools at the outset of the conference to focus their management of science parks and selection of products, policies and strategies towards what is calculated to work. This was all after establishing what doesn't work.
Trends and their place in the management of science parks and initiation of ventures were also acknowledged by management consultant Julia Roelofsen of InnoPraxis in Finland. It was spoken by many that what is deemed trendy, of which some is actually, according to Nobel laureate Leo Esaki, the "discoveries of the century," such as the role of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) and the subsequent impact on medical science and related technology, can be capitalised upon in terms of orientating a venture, entreprenuers, science parks, policies and research strategies in a best direction. Acknowledgements, with little understatement, of the power of industry, indeed the attendants of the conference, in the role of green growth were also seen as phrases such as 'green collar worker,' kindly offerred by Rasheed Al Zahrani, Vice President of Riyadh Techno Valley, confirm that new orientations are arriving just as speakers at the conference shared their experiences, findings and suggestions.
Of policies, what doesn't work, according to statistician and author of The Sceptical Environmentalist, Bjorn Lomborg, is throwing money at something and hoping. Dr Lomborg used a case of notoriously expensive solar panels as an example of a good idea that needs a development strategy that innovates the price down. Taxes for emissions too are costly and according to Dr Lomborg, potentially devastating to economies if not done correctly. But citations of worst practices came with reprieve, by applying calculations of cost effectiveness, yes it was expressly implied, the concept of job effectiveness and justification of tasks according to calculations of the cost of a policy or task per tonne of carbon, better policies can be created. So differing orientations of cost effectiveness, or the beginnings of a concept of 360 degree or perhaps it should be named 3D reporting, abounded at the DCC. Is industry ready
More information about IASP 2010 is available here: https://iasp2010ddi.com/eng/index.php
More information about IASP is available here: http://www.iasp.ws/publico/intro.jsp
