Each of us have great ideas to change our organization, our sector and often even our world. But to achieve that we need the right innovation tools.

How many times have you come up with a great idea… then, not seen a clear path to implement your idea for change.

Innovation tools are the tools that give you the clear path.

At 2thinknow we call innovation tools, our Innovation Technology. Be they compact analyst reports, benchmarking data to measure performance, change plans or performance indicators.

Recently, 2thinknow have begun launching a series of updated websites to share those tools with you. We started this process with the annual city rankings in 2007 and global city report the same year, followed by web 2.0 and government 2.0 workshops, speeches, and then city data, and more city reports.

Now having developed our Innovation Technology we are providing the reports, data and outputs.

But also, we are opening our doors and sharing with cities, business and some government clients through the Innovation Course and Local Innovation Forum events. Each designed to transfer innovation knowledge, and start work to build an innovation culture inside your organization, city, town or suburb. More paths to work with 2thinknow

There will be lot’s more news, but take a look as we finish updating and launching all the new websites from 2thinknow. Take a look at http://www.2thinknow.com (this site) as well as the Innovation Cities Program (http://www.innovation-cities.com) and Innovation Cities Analysis Report (http://report.innovation-cities.com).

Each website for each innovation project is designed to give you the innovation tools to change things in a structured, rational, inclusive way in your cities, business, workplace and community.

Change starts here. Let us know what you think, we’d love to hear from you about your innovation initiatives.

Keep innovating!

Christopher Hire
Executive Director,
2thinknow

Cities now house 50% of the world’s population, yet the body of ideas and practice available to cities is far less in number and depth than in business and management.

As a new concept in urban research, the Innovation Cities Analysis Report aims to change this situation with a concise readable work pulling together ideas to be implemented and communicated to create innovation in cities.

Whilst innovation in nations has been a topic attracting much attention — indeed the OECD proved that Finland and Norway innovated their way out of previous recessions, leading to stronger economic recoveries — this information has not to date been applied to cities.

The Innovation Cities Analysis Report fills that gap. Unlike other cities literature, the focus goes beyond ideas. The centrepiece is a structured framework for the implementation and communication of ideas in local cities, towns and suburbs.

This framework, the Innovation Cities Framework, has been created upon review of 42 benchmark cities, and expanded to the ongoing review of 256 cities.

The report introduces the framework as a structured logical way of communicating urban approaches — rather than presenting an idea as an opinion, the idea can be measured based on the potential implementation and communication.

For more, read the newly launched report website: http://report.innovation-cities.com

• Melbourne has world-class Cultural Assets, as good as or better than European cities, despite infrastructure issues
• U.K. and France interested in how cities can achieve “Australian economic miracle”
• Rely on multiple industry and community sectors to achieve cosmopolitan cities

Melbourne is the Australian city North Americans and Europeans could learn the most from, that’s the conclusion of a new global city report launched in Melbourne today.

A new concept in urban research, the Innovation Cities Analysis Report, was launched in Melbourne today by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow with a website designed to take Melbourne’s uniquely cosmopolitan and open view of cities to the world.

The report is significant because it provides new answers to how a city can improve economic and social performance in the face of economic uncertainty and potential job losses, by embracing a cosmopolitan approach to city planning.

In the global city report, Melbourne’s cultural assets and government arts strategy featured withh 32 mentions. These included praise for local architectural practices, laneway culture, major events, visitor information brochures, AFL and the sports industry.

Melbourne’s reputation as the “casual food capital” of the world was singled out, with the food quality, dining, diversity and affordability sections of the report using case studies from Melbourne. This included laneway cafes, bars and the Queen Victoria Market.

Answers in the report centre on a balanced multi-sector approach to cities across 3 factors: cultural assets, human infrastructure and networked markets.

The unique basis of the report is an ongoing benchmarking study of over 256 cities, on 162 performance indicators started in 2005.

The largest city benchmarking program ever undertaken, the program measures cities in terms of actual performance as experience by citizens, not statistics. The program does this by the design of performance indicators, then using the internet and global connections in new ways to monitor city performance.

Sydney received 17 mentions. Regional Victoria was praised along with Adelaide’s cultural assets of food and wine. However, infrastructure gaps in Australia were highlighted relative to Asia and Europe.

Editions of the report and benchmarking data have been purchased by city and state governments and business from Australia to New Zealand to United States, Canada, and Europe.

More details are available about the Innovation Cities Analysis Report on the website:  http://report.innovation-cities.com

LEARNING FROM AUSTRALIA

The report concludes that Melbourne’s mix of cultural factors in cities contribute to a balanced approach to urban factors. This balance was what made Melbourne a destination for industry innovation in up to 31 industry and community segments.

The report takes a purely commercial approach to innovation, looking at potential job-creating industries and social innovation in areas that impact citizen satisfaction: such as transport or the environment.

Other studies on innovation in city that deal with patents or published research.

This championing of cosmopolitan Melbourne, follows recent media reports in global newspapers that nations such as France and U.K. were examining more closely how to emulate Australia’s economy and major cities.

The global city report places major Australian cities favourably within a global context, and concludes that they are out-innovating many United States cities in terms of urban planning and development of diverse cities.

Sydney also received 17 mentions, for cultural assets such an active nightlife, cultural links to Asia, private art galleries, casual food options, environmentally-friendly buildings such as Lend Lease’s The Bond and cinemas such as the Orpheum in Cremorne.

However, infrastructure was a strong negative in Sydney, with the analysts drawing attention to poor airport connections, disorganized urban planning, generally high prices and, like Melbourne, globally high property prices.

BEYOND THE CENTRES

South Australia’s food and wine around Adelaide received 3 mentions in the report, with a profile of the Central Market and the wine cluster in surrounding areas.

Regional cities, in regional Victoria, received a mention, with Ballarat’s art gallery and Clunes’ Book town promoted within the global city report as positive examples for regional areas across the world to emulate.

On the West Coast, Perth received a single mention, as did the Canberra. Neighbouring New Zealand cities received 6 mentions between them in the current edition, with special attention being drawn to a global quality film industry in Wellington.

NATIONAL BROADBAND ASIA

In terms of Federal Government programs, Australia’s fibre-optic National Broadband network was held up as an example of positive government intervention in the economy, and bringing Australia in line with Asian internet speeds.

In terms of the weaknesses of Australian cities, infrastructure gaps in logistics bottlenecks, rail freight, ports and public transport were highlighted. The report proposes greater public transport, more innovative car sharing schemes and less reliance on the automobile. Property affordability was highlighted, using the measure of multiple of salaries as a key concern relative to all other developed nations.

In Asia, Singapore and Hong Kong were highlighted, along with mainland Chinese and Japanese cities for improving infrastructure, including fast-rail. The lack of a fast-rail corridor, with redundancy, between Brisbane-Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne and regional areas was singled out as a missed economic opportunity.

ABOUT THE REPORT

The Innovation Cities Analysis Report integrates economics, markets and job creation concepts into to social urban planning ideas championed by Jane Jacobs, Richard Florida and others.

The report does this via the Innovation Cities Framework, a commercial model for measuring, comparing and planning for innovation through measuring city performance indicators, similar to the KPIs used in business.

The report is commercially available to city governments, business, community associations and media globally. More details are available about the Innovation Cities Analysis Report on the website:  http://report.innovation-cities.com

LEARNING FROM COPENHAGEN

Globally the report drew on many European examples such as Copenhagen’s traffic scheme, fast-rail projects in Germany, Japan and France, universities such as those in and near Boston, and the European bicycle rental schemes, newly implemented in Melbourne.

Boston, MA was the most mentioned U.S. city, with 26 mentions, and had previously been ranked #1 in the world for innovation, in the Innovation Cities Index 2009.

San Francisco and New York were frequently mentioned for their pro-business, pro-start-up approach, technology clusters and environmental initiatives.  Although the report warned many U.S. cities were falling behind and in danger of becoming backslider cities – cities that focused on minor social issues, at the expense of solving fundamental urban planning and design principles.

Overall, Australian cities were mentioned favourably within a global context.

CHANGING CITIES

The analysis report of urban research is part of the Innovation Cities Program, a program of resources for city government and business to create local innovation in urban areas.

The program includes a 162 indicator benchmarking data set of 256 global cities. Also in the program, are the Innovation Cities Index city rankings based around potential of cities to respond to current economic and social challenges.

The Index city rankings for 2010 are scheduled to be released in early August, with a new site launched prior to the city rankings launch. Index rankings provide a base of 162 cultural, economic, political and social indicators to ranking cities, rather than the base of 39 indicators used for liveability by Mercer’s annual rankings.

2thinknow’s Innovation Cities Program is mentioned in the City of Melbourne’s liveability and Benchmarking Programs, and is quoted on the Future Melbourne website. The library at Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet have been customers of the report since the early editions, along with libraries, city governments worldwide, trade boards, media organizations and corporate executives.

ABOUT 2THINKNOW

2thinknow is an innovation agency based in Melbourne, Australia, established as a re-branding in 2006, and the company established 1999 has provided data analysis and reporting services to Federal and State government and ASX-listed Australian corporations.

—ENDS—

SPOKESPERSON:

Christopher Hire
Executive Director
+61 3 9935 2927
Email: media@2thinknow.com

VERSION UPDATED FINAL, JUNE 23RD, 15:30 PM AEST, MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA.

Further resources:

Journalists wishing to be emailed further releases on the topics of innovation in cities, city rankings and new urban research, should email media@2thinknow.com with a request. Several such emails will be sent several times a year.

Please read more about the tax-time EOFY offer here, and you can simply click and order in 90 seconds.

Best of all we take ASX and government purchase orders – so get in before June 30. This discount ceases at midnight, June 30.

Timed to coincide with the launch of the new global city report with it’s own website at: http://report.innovation-cities.com

Starting Monday 15th March, 2thinknow are relocating our shared office facilities to Melbourne landmark building, the Rialto:

Rialto South Tower, Level 27
525 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000
Australia

Our phone number is changing, and will be updated later today. The building is popular with lawyers and we’ll be sandwiched between Middletons and Freehills on our shared Level 27 facilities. Our new receptionist will be Mel. We felt it was time for a change.

The added benefit for clients is that we will now be able to offer workshops from April onwards for up to 70 people inside the Rialto, with all the benefits of nearby dining, transport (Southern Cross) and parking.

The move will be effective after 5pm Monday 15th March 2010, and the new phone number will be posted on this website.

Most data is collected and extrapolated beyond the needs of the application. This results in bad data, misleading data and at worse unusuable data. The analysts who do this – many and varied – hold a McDonalds view of data – more data calories are better.

Yet by defining data granularity, 2thinknow analysts can focus on the data that makes a difference. Without the costs of collecting the data that doesn’t.

Data Confidence.

Many analysts convey false confidence in their data, and never define their degree of confidence. Instead they assume an omnipotent always right approach. this is conversely why their economic forecasts and analysis is always wrong.

2thinknow give our select service clients and product customers, data that we can express a degree of confidence in.

Whether assigning a probability, measuring a city for innovation, publishing an analyst report or analysing a industry disruption, 2thinknow express data in terms of degrees of confidence.

By highlighting the degree of confidence uncertainty is conversely minimised.

2thinknow believe this is a more commercial, sensible and useful approach to data, and offers our client a choice of scenarios rather than a single dominant ‘infallible scenario’. This encompasses new proprietary techniques that address unforeseen ‘Black Swan’ events.

The 2thinknow website has completed the first stage of a major update process, Sunday 21st-Saturday 27th February 17:00 US Pacific Time. This will be followed by updates to the Innovation Cities website, and related sub-sites until the 31st of March.

This will result in more innovation products and services for select business and government users – as well as easier to find online resources.

As a user of our sites you should now experience faster load times, more online resources on innovation, clearer product descriptions and a cleaner navigation system, based on your feedback and marketing trends.

Coming next are some features to make it even easier to engage 2thinknow to provide innovation expertise as analyst reports, data, workshops and select client services. We’re pretty excited!

If you have any input or thoughts, share with us email: connect@2thinknow.com

In order to spur further discussion on Innovation Policy, and in line with Senator Lundy’s Public Sphere ICT & Creative Industries process I assisted in co-ordinating, we have decided to release an excerpt of the 2thinknow Innovation Cities Analysis Report, in the context of further analysis of paths to success for Australian innovation policy.

[The Excerpt should be posted online below by 6pm]

The Innovation Cities Analysis [ICA] Report is independently published by 2thinknow and is not affiliated with Australian State or Federal Government policy.

The ICA Report sets out how to measure city innovation, and build a broad base of innovative, cosmopolitan cities. It does this through a global narrative (Our Globe In Context), and a detailed by industry 31 segment, 162 indicator framework for developing innovation potential of cities.

At the centre of the framework is the concept of Cultural Assets, Human Infrastructure and Networked Markets enabling cities to be more competitive.

Australia in a Global Context.

The released Australia excerpt, posted below as PDF, features an analysis of cities in context, and some observations about Australian innovation development among other cities globally. Notably, Asian cities such as Singapore often outrank most Australian cities, and this should be of concern to Australian business, community and governments.

> View the Table of Contents of the Report

> Page Numbers of City Mentions in the Report

> EXCERPT: Innovation Cities Analysis Report Oct 02 Ed – with Australian recommendations [shortly]

> More information on the Innovation Cities Analysis Report

> Order the Report securely online now

Note: 2thinknow is based in Melbourne, Australia – and, therefore, has a deep practical interest in Australian Innovation Policy.

Australian Innovation Policy.

There is a need for global and Asian city case studies and examples in the Innovation Cities Analysis Report, and drawing on other research, to be interpreted on a local basis for Australia prior to a Governmental policy, into recommendations for community, government and business.

In the October edition Innovation Cities Analysis Report, we mentioned 2thinknow would prepare a specific paper for Innovation Policy in Australia. This Australian Innovation Policy Paper has not yet been released and we are seeking funding to develop and release the analysis in a timely fashion. The funding sought is only a minimum of $10K in total, drawn from one or more organizational sponsors.

This would give the largest sponsor contributor branding and naming rights – ie. the “SPONSOR Innovation Policy in Australia Report” would appear in all media. Of course, there are more details that can be discussed. We are hoping to release this in a timely fashion of 30-60 days.

The general thrust of the “SPONSOR Innovation Policy in Australia Report” would be methods to grow start-up culture of innovation, using global city case studies, and taken from a business-government partnership view. The OECD identified that innovation at the national level had been responsible for the success of countries like South Korea and Finland in response to previous recessions, and can in short “keep the good times rolling”.

2thinknow have an analysis framework that can be applied, and would be interested to develop the “SPONSOR Innovation Policy in Australia Report” with the right partner organization(s). These could be in finance, cities, councils, associations and others – anyone wishing to take some thought leadership in this space. The minimum sponsor unit is only $1000, and confers sponsor status in print and on the web.

Potential interested sponsors should contact us in the first instance. A call went out from my twitter account today, so feel free to get in touch via there.

Keep innovating,

Christopher Hire

Innovation Cities Index™, Framework & Analyst Report.

The Innovation Cities™ Index is the world’s leading ranking of cities based on innovation indicators. This differs from other indexes as it uses innovation to measure economic and social performance. Index rankings are free online, published since 2007, and now contain 256 cities.

> 2009 > 2008 > 2007

The Innovation Cities™ Analyst Reports outlines the Innovation Cities™ Framework to measure, analyse and plan to change cities innovation potential. It is the world’s leading report on the topic of innovation in cities, and is now in the 2010 March edition, since the first 2007 publication.

> Current Report

Independent. All of these are commercial, market-oriented models and frameworks, part of the Innovation Cities™ Program. The program is totally independent and receives no government funding.

More Media Resources here: http://www.innovation-cities.com/media-resources/

Innovation Cities Site: http://www.innovation-cities.com/

Innovation Programs.

2thinknow announce new Innovation Programs related to topical issues from time to time. If you’d like us to keep you appraised and give you a ‘heads-up’ – contact us.

General Company Resources.

• 2thinknow company Background
• Executive Director – of the research, Christopher Hire
• Flickr Images – Christopher Hire

Email media@2thinknow.com or contact 2thinknow here with all your urgent enquiries.

First of all REUTERS picked up our release (which is a big deal): http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS110124+26-Oct-2009+PRN20091026 one of a couple from AAP Medianet: http://www.aapmedianet.com.au/MNJ/Release.aspx?R=633713&K=8973133

We’ve also been picked up by Yahoo, Sun-Herald (USA), Forbes Magazine Online, a variety of business journals across the U.S.A, AOL and those are the ones we know about. 57 to date that we know about – but there’s the problem, media monitoring is a difficult to track in a global market-place.

This builds on write-ups about Boston in Entrepreneur Magazine and local news in Massachussetts. And write-ups on our analysis of Lyon in French, Italian cities and South Africa. We also had those recent Australian Radio Australia, and Radio National interviews, plus Canada’s Municipal World article.

Some Malaysian language articles have begun showing up, but we’d really like your help in finding articles in all languages. Google news seems to exclude a lot of new outlets. It also seems Google takes a long time to index new content. Or maybe that’s the 24/7 world.

We’re aiming for a global media presence, so let us know what you find about Innovation Cities in the media. Just email us at connect@2thinknow.com any time you see us in print or online!

The best spot of a good article (that we don’t know about) before November 7, will receive a great prize!