Photo: www.visir.is
On the occasion of Björk Guðmundsdóttir presenting Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde with eight proposals for changes that can be made to further sustainable development in Iceland
After the Náttúra-Concert last summer, Björk began researching the economic life of Iceland and summoned a workshop on the October 12th and 19th, together with the website Nattura.info, University of Reykjavik and The Centre of Innovation. Around one hundred experts gathered at the open discussion of the workshops; academics, investors and industrial designers, representatives from Region Business agencies, professional organisations, knowledge societies around the country, together with those who have worked on creating ideas, companies and other innovation activity, on sustainable growth and diversity.
Participants where seated at eight tables; health table, technology table, education table, tourism table, design table, food table, biotech table and energy table. More tables are of course possible, for example a culture and art table, business table and a table of politics. Hopefully they can join in soon and sit down at a table for a conversation!
Enclosed are the conclusions from the creative conversations at the workshops, the conclusions of the discussions that started there and continued in several debates, in activity groups, and also on the active mailing group list of Neisti (Spark) that includes 120 people and is still growing. We still can intensify the networking with the ones who have the experience and knowledge of the core of the system and different fields of innovation.
The first general conclusion of this groundwork is how many people are ready to put in all their effort and share their knowledge and vision, contributing to diversity and sustainable evolution in Iceland. Already a lot has occurred within every field of knowledge and in every region of the country. But it seems as if the experience of innovators, the conclusion drawn from various experiments and efforts that have been put into policy-making, have not sufficiently managed to fertilize further innovation experiments, as to nourish a sustainable process. Hence the strong need to share experience of potential proceedings within the society and the system; to open and connect databases of knowledge and ideas, and make them more accessible. Good ideas need the support of those who listen, recieve them, and administer to them. That is how sparks light up new sparks.
The second general conclusion of the groundwork is the importance of looking at Iceland as a whole, regarding the self sustainable infrastructure in economical, social and environmental sense. To activate local potentials and local specialities, it seems that each working area in Iceland needs to be structured in small diversive clusters, where inner relation between different fields are secured; that health related activity is connected with the development in knowledge and business fields, that design is connected with the development of the food industry and tourism, and so forth. Each working area and each cluster development then needs an active connection with other developments of working areas. At the same time it is necessary to enchance the connection between a domestic system infrastructure and foreign markets, fields of knowledge and trades.
The third general conclusion of the workshop is the urgency of a research that is done with great knowledge, forsight and responsibility, into all the effects, including the so called crowding out effect, that single-track development of heavy industry has on the economy and culture of Iceland in the future.
The research and the groundwork continues with a solid faith on the potentials of Iceland, with patience and endurance. Policy and development in hard times will not be made only by politicians, but in active correlation with local experience and working knowledge in every corner of the society. Changing stands and regulation systems then requires a massive efficiency in the forthcoming times.
With all due respect, we give the representatives of the Icelandic government these starting points, as an upbeat for a conversation, and in hope for their attention.
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January 27th, 2009 at 2:58 am
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