Think!
= THINK! (The Innovation Knowledge Foundation) is an international no-profit research institute – a think tank – whose aim is to collect, process, share and circulate information concerning the ways in which ICT and digital technologies can enable innovation processes, economic growth and human development [1]
URL = http://www.thinkinnovation.org/
Description
"“THINK! – The Innovation Knowledge Foundation”, an independent, international no-profit foundation whose mission is to spread the culture of innovation and promote the use of digital technologies as a means of favouring economic growth, the quality of life and human development in general.
The Foundation will operate locally and internationally in a context of “open innovation” with the aim of highlighting cases of successful innovation in mature, emerging and developing countries.
Under the guidance of Roberto Masiero, in his new role as President of THINK!, the Foundation intends to make use of the knowledge of innovation as factor of growth, productivity and development. In order to achieve these ambitious objectives THINK! will draw on the collaboration of an authoritative Scientific Committee of prestigious economic, financial, industrial and academic specialists, and the contributions of an extended network of international affiliated experts.
The THINK! Foundation has the following aims:
to establish a research institute or “think tank” to collect, process, share and spread information concerning the use of ICT, digital and science-driven technologies in order to overcome the digital divide and promote innovation processes, human development and the quality of life in an era characterised by the central importance of energy issues and envirenmental sustainability; to support public leaders and decision makers by helping them to understand and stimulate the new economy of innovation through the discussion and analysis of case studies of the use of ICT, digital and other new technologies to favour economic growth and the competitiveness of companies, industries and economies as a whole; to promote and support no-profit programmes and initiatives based on the use of information and digital technologies with the aim of promoting economic growth and human development in mature, emerging and developing countries. The Foundation will undertake a wide range of research activities that will give rise to a series of papers intended to clarify the broad scenarios of change and (more pragmatically) support public and private decision makers in selecting the innovation processes to be introduced into companies and other organisations, as well as into local and national government policies.
The Foundation also intends to create an “innovation map” of the most interesting international cases, which will then be made freely and reproducibly available.
The Foundation’s research activities will be accompanied by a rich programme of events, workshops and webinars, educational meetings and conferences organised in collaboration with universities, associations, research centres, and local and international institutions and agencies operating in the field of development in order to encourage the further spread of an innovation culture in more concrete terms.
“It is time to open up our country to the culture of innovation. International experiences show how often simple technological or organisational innovations can lead to major transformations and improvements. THINK! intends to disperse the cloudy abstractions of a debate that does not lead to tangible results by identifying concrete cases, approaches and proposals that will favour the transformation and growth of our country in a global scenario dominated by the pressing issues of environmentally sustainable energy supplies and economic development. Our initiative – the only one of its kind in Italy – offers an opportunity to network the enormous amount of talent, resources and innovative projects that are currently so confined to their individual niches that they fail to weld themselves into a system”, declared Roberto Masiero, the President of THINK! “The international dimension of our Foundation will also allow us to draw on the reservoir of ideas, talent and experiences characterising the processes of global market innovation as we confront the great transformations taking place throughout the world now that mature countries are having to redefine their traditional roles as the emerging countries begin to move into the centre of the stage.”
During the course of the presentation, Giacomo Vaciago, Professor of Economic Policies and Monetary Economics at the Catholic University of Milan, described the “Manifesto for relaunching growth in our country” drawn up by the members of the Scientific Committee of THINK! This analyses how Italy can benefit from the modern digital and communication technologies that are capable of substantially increasing the productivity and competitive capacity of the country as a result of their rapid and all-pervasive diffusion of knowledge and understanding." (http://www.thinkinnovation.org/en/blog/2010/10/think-is-born/)