Knowledge Innovation Zone Declaration

We are at a historical choice point – a defining moment - in determining the kind of world our children's children will inherit. If we make choices based on the models of our industrial-age past, we miss the true opportunities before us. Ours is a future to innovate what is economically equitable, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. In a knowledge economy, human development depends not on ‘having’ more but by ‘being’ more. This document is a statement of our collective intent to innovate our future…together.

Our Preamble:

·          A global knowledge commonwealth is replacing the world of nations. We are comprised of parts and at the same time are a part of others.

·          We are dependent upon the knowledge and success of others across organizational and cultural boundaries.

·          Knowledge is valuable; and imagination is the fundamental platform for progress.

·          Knowledge creates an economy based upon abundance, not material scarcity. Intangible knowledge assets are more valuable than tangible assets and require new indicators of performance.

·          To thrive amidst a chaotic, complex and unpredictable knowledge economy, people need to be inspired to action.

There is a natural coalescing of resources – human, financial and technological – for mutual benefit. These factors are becoming increasingly knowledge-driven. They provide a foundation for unprecedented global innovation in what are characterized as zones of activity.

A Knowledge Innovation Zone (KIZ) is a geographic region, product/service/industry segment or community of practice (e.g., with topical areas of interest) where knowledge flows from the point of origin to the point of need or opportunity. These zones are emerging in the quest for sustainable growth and economic development for cities, regions, countries, enterprises and global virtual communities.

Three Laws of Knowledge Dynamics have emerged for managing intangible and intellectual value within a KIZ:

I. Knowledge multiplies when shared.

II. Innovation value is created when knowledge moves from origin to highest need.

III. Collaboration for mutual leverage provides optimal utilization of tangible and intangible resources.

While not always explicitly recognized, these Laws drive and govern the processes to achieve stakeholder sustainability and prosperity.

Leadership executives create KIZ to increase their innovative capabilities for the benefit of their constituency. They learn from each other about policies and practices that stimulate dynamic and co-creative communities. These Zones - now crossing geographic and enterprise boundaries - are becoming linked communities of innovation practice. In the process, new dimensions of collaborative citizenship are emerging based upon openness, transparency and accountability.

In Bretton Woods, world leaders abandoned gold as the monetary standard to enable the “Creation of a dynamic world community in which the peoples of every nation will be able to realize their potentialities for peace.” Today, a new currency is emerging which can best be seen through a Triple Knowledge Lens: examining the dimensions of a Knowledge-Based Economy, Society and Infrastructure.

Part I: We BELIEVE…

As the knowledge-based economy expands, KIZ will become pathways to a prosperous and sustainable future. For example, Knowledge Cities, when developed intelligently and in harmony with the natural environment, will create prosperity, safety, and a high quality of life for citizens.

KIZ create cross-boundary magnets of interaction that lead to a deeper understanding of value across disciplines, technologies, and nations. This global networked competence creates a greater respect for diversity of individuals, committees, institutions and cultures. Each KIZ is defined by patterns of relationships among its elements – principles, policies, practice, performance and the innovation process.

The new economy is based upon an unlimited supply of intangible value. Through networking and symbiotic partnering, we impact the wealth of successive generations. Thus, a new economic world order is emerging – one that is based increasingly on knowledge, innovation and international collaboration.

Technology has connected humans across time and space. Our new destiny is to innovate our future…together - in ways that are both human and humane.

 Part II: We AGREE…

A well-structured KIZ, capable of sustained and real-time innovation, embraces standards of operational excellence. Lack of attention to the following knowledge economy principles results in sub-optimization of invested resources; thoughtful adoption enables progress.

-         A KIZ is designed with a clear purpose of optimizing human and intellectual capital (e.g., intellectual property, social capital, relationship capital, and intangible value) within a prescribed geographic area or context.

-         A KIZ is based on an economic model of abundance, as opposed to one of scarcity (i.e., classic material models based upon supply and demand). Wealth-creation depends upon creative ideas and infinite recipes for innovation.

-         A KIZ is similar to an economic trade zone. It creates markets for intellectual capital and orchestrates the design, development and deployment of intangible assets. Working in this context facilitates the flow of robust and expanded knowledge-based commerce, trade and exchange.

-         A KIZ addresses three lenses: the knowledge-based economy and business; knowledge-based society, community and culture; and the knowledge-based infrastructure, organization, technology, and environment. These arenas comprise the new global environment which nurtures livable, stimulating, creative, intelligent, inclusive, and ecologically balanced knowledge-innovating communities.

-         A KIZ is designed to optimize creative talent and harness the untapped human capital of all participants and stakeholders. While respecting intellectual property rights, the zone simultaneously enables and enlarges the open source creative commons, where knowledge and ideas are pooled for mutual advantage.

-         A KIZ facilitates new forms of citizenship in which openness, transparency, and accountability are encouraged. Connected leadership relies upon an aware, educated and involved citizenry. Shared values, well informed decision-making, and networks across community sectors, countries and enterprises create sustainable collaborative advantage.

-         A KIZ is structured to benefit from an economy where value is assigned to the supply, ownership, and mastery of brainpower, ideas, know-how, intellectual capital, and intangible assets. In addition to traditional economic principles, monetary modes of exchange and currency are tightly linked to social and digital-oriented variables of performance.

-         In a KIZ, there are consistent dynamics of interaction. They apply to network formations in any type of knowledge-based development: individual (synaptic network), an enterprise, a group of cooperating enterprises, a knowledge cluster, city or a nation.

-         A KIZ operates as a holistic symbiosis of the creative arts and science in a uniquely human ecosystem supported by a smart high-technology and communications infrastructure. Concepts are put into practice with a combination of aspirations and competencies.

-       The KIZ is comprised of organizations and underlying technology platforms which promote the meshing and social interactions of people, culture, and ideas that facilitate peer-to-peer networking and the purposeful connection of human intellect.

Our goal is beyond output or outcome. We seek an impact resulting in profitable growth for the enterprise, increased vitality of national economies and the advancement of society.

Part III: We RESOLVE…

Applying the KIZ principles enables us to transcend traditional boundaries to accomplish what we and others cannot do alone. Further, we will make more effective use of knowledge innovation as a lever to generate sustainable growth and increased standard of living across our local, regional and global economies. 

In the pursuit of effective KIZ, we will gain a greater understanding of the role knowledge plays in our existing and future activities. We will incorporate the concepts in our strategies and investments. We will convert perceived negative challenges presented by a networked world into opportunities.   

Therefore,  

1. We will celebrate, reward and provide incentives to individuals who contribute real value in our knowledge marketplace.

2. We will grow and share our collective knowledge among constituent stakeholders.

3. We will promote innovation language, culture and practice as a world-class high-performing knowledge network.

4. We will accelerate our rate of learning, building on the experiences of others.

5. We will optimize and put our knowledge assets to work.

Our mandate involves all our stakeholders. It leads to the sustainability of our customers, enterprises and countries. Together, we will explore, design and execute for prosperity and sustainable wealth in all economies of the world.  

We are entering an era unlike the previous agricultural, industrial or service economies. It is one that relies on the value of each human being and how to leverage for the benefit of mankind. We are exploring new questions. Answers will come through a better understanding of the interdependent variables of our knowledge economy, society and infrastructure.

Our intent is to innovate a future where we all thrive.

Already, several E100 have already offered their support: