Tag Archives: Hendriks

Getting Rio

14 Jun

As Rio+20 gets underway and the mainstream media find this gathering of world leaders creeping into the news agenda, we give some time to considering how they will find consensus around fundamental issues for future sustainability.

The leaders will not be short of advice.  Lobbyists from every quarter of the globe and every sector of society are geared up for for a field day and honing their green credentials.

As great minds attempt to focus down on key global policy issues, the question that we hope the world leaders will ask of all those earnest supplicants is ‘Why are you telling me this?‘

And, when they jet back home to more mundane matters we hope that it will be a question they keep asking wherever and whenever they hear continuing excuses for the ‘digital deficit’ that blights the infrastructure that their citizens and venture leaders need for a return to economic health.

Full story here 

(Rio+20 will be reported for Groupe Intellex and NextGenTV by Marit Hendriks)

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Business, Society and Public Services

23 May

It’s good to see the ‘Circular Economy’ mentioned in the RSA’s latest report but the primary concern is that policy development in public services and economic growth is not being tackled in any cohesive way.

Based on the experience of Community Study Tours in Scandinavia, Groupe Intellex has long argued that the glue that binds these things together is investment in a high quality digital infrastructure.

It may, of course, be far more obviously necessary in remote places, with extremes of weather and transport difficulties, to maximise the use of digital interaction for basic public services such as health and education but the impact has been equally beneficial for enterprise, innovation, competition, community development and the stimulation of inward investment .

The RSA report’s main title reflects the distinct labels of Business, Society and Public Services – regarded by many as being in entirely different camps –  but the subtitle – ‘a social productivity framework‘ gets a little closer to the ‘mashed up’ realities and interdependencies of the real economy.   It’s a brave step but probably far too much for ‘Sun headlined’  ideologically-driven policy developers looking for simple solutions.

Will sleepwalkers awake when digital floods rise higher than their knees?

Download the full RSA report (PDF) here

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Searching for new economic models

20 May

The tide of digital enablement – across the entire economy – has triggered research projects that seek to understand the foundations of new economic models.

The work may lead to new UK centres of research excellence and generate a source of independent and influential policy advice for businesses, organisations of all sizes, communities, governments and regulators.

Some aspects of the RCUK’s work will be presented at NextGen Bristol (17th July) in a workshop led by Prof. Roger Maull from Exeter University.

Full story here

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On the road to Rio: Legacy and Lateness

15 May

The Groupe Intellex editorial ‘Sustainability: the end game for the next generation’ has attracted a great deal of attention and the feedback has been interesting.

It reveals that the themes that most catch readers’ attention are little to do with the UN’s Sustainability summit in Rio – there’s precious little hope expressed for successful outcomes and a great deal of apathy about global governance.

Top of the real concerns of readers are worries about the legacy that inaction will leave for future generations and the fact that after 20 years it still looks as if another twenty years may pass before political leaders are strong enough to address the digital investment that is needed to make progress on environmental issues.

Full story here.

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Broadband Coverage – concerns raised over EU claims

2 May

With an increasing focus on the need for digital infrastructure investment to support economic growth plans and environmental improvements, concern has been raised  about the integrity of information on broadband coverage published by the EU.

The linkages between the digital, environmental and economic deficits are becoming clearer – particularly following widespread readership of Marit Hendriks editorial on Sustainability.

The issue of data honesty is of course much wider than that of the digital network sector and it highlights an area where ‘open’ data is beginning to empower citizens and businesses to get at the truth behind impressive claims that simply don’t match up to everyday personal experience.

The broadband coverage issue was raised by INTUG (representing mainly business telecoms users) in a strongly-worded letter to EC Commissioner Neelie Kroes – herself a champion for greater digital infrastructure investment.

The full story is on our main site (www.groupe-intellex.com) but feel free to comment here.

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Preparing for Rio+20 – the full edition

28 Apr

Over the past few weeks Groupe Intellex has devoted space to raise awareness of and prepare delegates for the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development taking place in June.

We have now brought these editorials together in a single edition to make it easier for readers to navigate and comment on the series.  Some of these have appeared in previous posts but together they add up to a fairly weighty reading list that delegates might turn to in the 6 weeks remaining before the mechanisms of global diplomacy and lobbyists for corporate interests seek consensus and commitments that might flourish more effectively than those made in 1992.

Our focus kicked off with Marit Hendriks’ piece on ‘Sharing Experiences‘ and the need to learn from others without being tempted to ‘reinvent the wheel’.

This was followed by another essay on ‘the end game for the next generation‘ – an editorial that has been widely shared around the world.

Distracted by racing cars cavorting in the Middle East the short piece ‘What, on Earth Day?‘  made us think more about the silo mentality that compartmentalises discussions that are, or should be, interconnected.

The publication of the Royal Society’s report ‘People and the Planet’ gave us opportunity to start the ‘Ready for Rio‘ series and then the Ellen MacArthur Foundation weighed in with a brilliant exploration of ‘The circular economy‘ – by far the most widely read of our trilogy to date.

Finally – not least because you now have more than enough homework before Rio+20 – we reflected on a more spiritual view – taking the thoughts of Dr Rowan Williams Archbishop of Canterbury – and suggesting amongst other things that our fixation on growth, markets and the commoditisation of everything was somewhat ‘eccentric’.

Groupe Intellex will, in the next few weeks, seek out and publish the news and views of others (your inputs are welcome) and will then report on the outcomes of Rio+20 and the prospects for further progress toward sustainable development.

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Getting Ready for Rio – part 2

27 Apr

If the Royal Society report (see last post) mapped out the scale of the problem to balancing consumption inequalities then part of the answer comes from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report ‘Towards the Circular Economy’.

Required reading we think for all going to RIO+20 in June.

Full story here.

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Getting ready for Rio

26 Apr

The Royal Society (London UK) today published a major report – ‘People and the planet’ – a good read ahead of the UN Summit in June.

All 10 recommendations would be more easily translated into practical policy if there was intensive investment in digital infrastructure.

Full story here.

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