
Great morning session at the NZ Cities Summit in Auckland
23 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in Events
23 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in Events

21 Monday May 2012
Posted in Events
This week I am chairing the NZ Cities Summit 2012 being held in Auckland, New Zealand.
Looks like it’s going to be a great event, with a top line-up of speakers and discussion panels, including; Hamilton Mayor – Julie Hardaker, Tauranga Mayor – Stuart Crosby, Auckland Deputy Mayor – Penny Hulse, Ludo Campbell-Reid – Auckland Council, Rohan MacMahon – Crown Fibre Holdings, Louise Marra – Ministry of Economic Development and Brett O’Riley – ATEED…to name just a few. Programme…here.
I’ll be presenting on “Cities – Hubs of Local innovation within National Economies” which looks at how cities support the complex interactions of people, ideas, innovation and knowledge creation throughout an economy and the role of entrepreneurs and urban based innovation ecosystems in supporting national competitiveness.
See you there…
06 Friday Jan 2012
Posted in Research
Citigroup’s research team led by Chief Economist Willem Buiter recently published their forecasts for global trade in 2050. Of these 10 countries, 7 are in the Asia Pacific, here’s how rankings break down:
1. China
2. India
3. The United States
4. Germany
5. South Korea
6. Indonesia
7. Hong Kong
8. Japan
9. Singapore
10. The United Kingdom
22 Thursday Dec 2011
Posted in Communities
At the beginning of this month I presented at the TCI2011 global conference, on the topic of Exploring national competitiveness, economic productivity, and the contribution by information and communications technologies (ICTs) to economies.
In this presentation, I provided the outputs of my recent research into the relationships between hardware, software and services, and economic productivity.
The research helps economic development agencies advisors balance hi-tech industry investment, top drive economic growth. Here’s the hardware sector maturity across 50 countries as an example from the presentation.
If you would like a full copy of the presentation, you can download it from the TCI2011 website…here.
05 Monday Dec 2011
Posted in Research
At The Future Cities Institute we have been investigating the relationships between the hi-tech sectors of hardware, software and services, and economic productivity, to provide better understanding for policy makers, industry, and non-government organisations on how these sectors can be developed to support economic growth and national competitiveness.
In working with these groups we are sometimes asked about the relationships between these hi-tech sectors, and other ‘social indicators’ so I thought I would share some preliminary results using two recently released social indexes; the UNDP Human Development Report for 2011 which is an alternative way of measuring countries’ prosperity and well-being, and the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International, which measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 183 countries and territories around the world.
When comparing the maturity of local software economies with both these indexes, we found that Local Software Economy Maturity was more strongly correlated with the Corruption Perceptions Index (.715) than the Human Development Index (.640).
Remember this does not suggest cause and effect, just a signicant relationship. However, it may support the hypothesis that the use of software to provide better access to government processes by citizens (eGovernment) may have an impact on perceived corruption deduction. Here’s the plot of this relationship across 52 countries:
©Copyright Malcolm J Fraser 2011, The Future Cities Institute Inc.
02 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Cities and Innovation, Events
I’ll be speaking at the Accelerating Asia Conference in KL next week.
Should be a great conference with a strong focus on sustainable growth through technology enabled innovation, and the role of NGOs in empowering city communities
03 Thursday Nov 2011
Posted in Events
Today I’m presenting at the World Bank workshop on Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Inclusive Growth: The Role of Cities.
This workshop, hosted by the World Bank’s Urbanization Knowledge Platform and infoDev (FPD Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Global Practice), has been held to discuss the role of global cities in promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, and job growth.
Specifically, the session is examining the role of business incubators in cities such as Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro, and Barcelona as stimulators for business innovation and entrepreneurship to create opportunities for inclusive growth, job creation and poverty reduction.
01 Tuesday Nov 2011
Posted in Communities
It’s Movember and time to focus on men’s health.
To show my commitment, I’m donating my face to the cause by growing a moustache for the entire month of November, and need your support.
My Mo will spark conversations, and no doubt generate some laughs; all in the name of raising vital awareness and funds for prostate cancer and male depression. Why am I so passionate about men’s health?
I’m asking you to support my Movember campaign by making a donation online at: http://mobro.co/malcolmfraser
Thank you in advance for supporting my efforts to change the face of men’s health.
Malcolm
27 Thursday Oct 2011
Posted in Communities
I spent a wonderful morning with Director Xu Jinwan and his colleges from Nanjing City in China, who are visiting in Auckland New Zealand. With 8 million people in the wider metropolis of Nanjing, their High-Tech Zone has 11 universities, 120,000 students and 2,000 companies in the 168 square kilometre High-Tech Zone…some wonderful opportunities for collaboration and innovation for the future.
29 Thursday Sep 2011
Posted in Communities