Economic Development Technical Information Paper

Information is a major development resource, joining the ranks with human, natural and financial resources. Therefore, development agencies must understand the role of information and information technologies (informatics) in the developing countries to respond to a rapidly evolving global environment. The ongoing information explosion in the industrialized economies contrasts sharply with the information poverty of developing countries. This poverty takes many forms, including poor information support for macroeconomic and sectoral policy formulation and implementation, limited access to information for rural populations, and isolation of researchers and professionals from international research findings and so on. Informatics applications offers new ways to make the most of the managerial and institutional resources of developing countries, with the most widespread benefits likely to come from applying it to priority sectors. Governments are recognizing their roles as information providers and users, facilitators of information technology diffusion, and providers of information and communication infrastructures, as well as their role in setting policies for informatics. During the 1990s the impact of information technology will be felt increasingly. Developing countries at all levels of development must stay abreast of the information revolution : they cannot afford to ignore this "second industrial revolution."

This book is the result of a comparative investigation that contrasts micro-systems of innovation in several regions of China and Australia - two vastly different countries in terms of traditions, industry structures, political systems and economic organisation. Six regional studies comprehensively document the experiences of firms engaged in product or process innovation. The book also examines the institutions that support research and development and the impact of government policies on innovation in each of the regions studied. The case-studies present original and informative insights into the different ways in which local, national and transnational interests interact and influence regional development. These findings support the view that local innovation systems are emerging with quite different structural characteristics. The authors conclude that local, national and transnational dimensions are continually redefining and aligning themselves in novel and interesting ways. They highlight the importance of identifying these structural relationships in order to encourage dynamic innovation to occur. This, they argue, has important implications for policymakers concerned with the promotion of innovation in regional areas.

General study of Pacific - covers historical and geographical aspects, the demographic aspects and social structures, living conditions, religion, traditions, cultural factors, education, governmental systems, political leadership, the economic structure, banking, trade, transportation, tourism, economic resources, etc. Bibliography pp. 463 to 465, map and references.

It was Faraday who in 1821 said that there are three necessary stages of useful research. The first to begin it, the second to· end it, and the third 1 to publish it. There has since indeed been so much research and publication that we have become increasingly alarmed by the galloping proliferation of scientific information produced in relation to the user's ability to retrieve and consume it effectively, conveniently and creatively. In 1948, to deal with this concern, the Royal Society Scientific Infor 1 mation Conference held in London spanned the whole realm of scientific in formation. Sir Robert Robinson, President of the Royal Society, in his open ing address noted that "the study of scientific information services in all its ramifications has enormous scope", and the London conference dealt with scientific publication, format, editorial policy, subject grouping, organiza tion, abstracting, reviews, classification, indexing and training of infor mation officers. It was about this time that information science began to develop more on the retrieval end, so it seems logical that the first editors' group founded in 1949 was ICSU AB, the International Council of Scientific Unions Abstract ing Board. In 1958 the National Academy of Sciences International Conference of 2 Scientific Information in Washington limited its interests and expanded on the later phases of the life cycle of information - storage and retrieval.