This Wednesday I had the opportunity to take this snapshot of the cargo jumbo, which abandoned take-off, slided beyond the runway and broke into at least two pieces. The picture was taken through the window of the airport express and makes it quite clear that it was a near miss before turning into a huge catastrophe. If the plane just would have moved 50 yards further, it would have fallen onto the tracks, and fuelled as it was for a transatlantic flight, it would have exploded for sure. Not to think about the consequences if train would have passed at this moment goint to or coming from the airport. Only abot 200 yards further there is the high-speed track from Brussels to Liège and Cologne.

As it was, there were 4 staff on the plane only of whom just one was injured.

On Friday evening my flight took me from Hamburg to London, not with Ryanair from Lübeck, but with Easyjet directly to Luton, while Hanna left Berlin a bit earlier by Air Berlin to Stansted. Hamburg is a strange kind of airport, the departure lounge is some 600-800 m long and I had to walk the whole distance. Anyhow, at the end of the hall there is a moving walkway of about 20 m length, probably for people to rest just short of their breakdown or to pass the smokers’ cabin faster. This glass cabinet of about 2.5 by 2.5 m is really offering room for about six smokers, with eight people inside it would become difficult not to produce burn holes into each others clothing. It is interesting to watch people’s luggage, the foto is showing a particularly interestinhg piece, obviously made for people, who want to be sure to spot their luggage on the baggage belt.

Luton is a small and clearly laid out airport with fast passport control and baggage delivery and after a short ride on the shuttle bus you reach the station, from which a train took me to Farringdon in just over half an hour.

Farringdon is right in the middle of London City, the place where our hosts live, but it seems to be a hot spot for London night life: lots of slightly drunken people, a large contingent of police at the station. Somehow it has to be like this as lots of English people love the “Binge Drinking” and more or less go beyond their bonds.

Going on from Farringdon I past a shop called Kurz & Lang – the Bratwurst Company, which is specialised in fried sausagaes of all kinds served with bread and Sauerkraut, Just like an average London person would expect a cultivated German “Bratwurst” meal.

My walk led me further on to pass a wonderful Victorian market, interestingly one of the largest and most modern meat markets of Europe, the Smithfield Meat Market. In previous times hundreds of cattle were kept in huge underground quarters for sale and for slaughtering, now the cavements are used for cars and for dancing.

From this market it is not far to Little Britain, the road in which we are to live over the weekend. Across the the road from the flat there is a small park offering a kind of morbid place of interest: at some stage commemorative plaques have been installed remembering people who lost their lives trying to save other people.

Since our arrival everything is revolving around eating, talking and shopping. I am a pround owner of a new suit now.

A project meeting like this I never experienced before. The the date was fixed in the beginning of February, only 4 from 8 partners were represented at the start of the meeting.

• Partner 8 was supposed to host the meeting but had some unspecified other appointment leading to relocating the meeting to Hamburg.
• Partner 7 cancelled the participation without giving reasons, maybe it disturbed a long weekend??
• Partner 6 could not come due to him not being able to make it to Hamburg as there was an unnofficial strike by SAS cabin staff. He obviously did not take into account the 4 hour train ride to Hamburg.
• Partner 5 participated but only arrived in the evening of day 1. As two of the partners present hardly uttered a word, we were finished with the discussion when he arrived, particularly as the partner being the source of most of the discussions did not manage to come.

At least we had a nice dinner at Bixio in the interior port of Harburg, with the weather being unusually warm until 11 pm and an extraordinary evening mood. The food however did not meet the general mood, the poultry liver was too well done and the helpings were simply too big as often in Germany.

No, I do not want to get involved in the discussion about paid PR for blogs, I am just not important enough. But the project LOCOMOTIVE, which sort of beamed me to Toronto in April, is nearing its end this summer. To finish it off, a conference is held in Hamburg and for the unlikely case that one of my readers is interested I do not want to miss the opportunity to advertise it.

Well, advertising on!

LOCOMOTIVE FINAL CONFERENCE

Hamburg 5-6 June 2007

Background to project
The goal set by the Lisbon Agenda for European growth is formulated in the Barcelona objective that R&D investment in the EU should rise to 3% of GDP with two thirds coming from the private sector by 2010. This is proving to be a difficult challenge. As Commission Potocnik has had to point out in January 2007, the current figures produced by Eurostat for 2005 show a stagnation at around 1,9%. Ref http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/blog_potocnik/page/potocnik?entry=figures_for_r_d_investment
There are many explanations for this. One of the most influential analyses is given in the Aho report. While there is much to be done at collective EU policy level, equally if Europe is to play a significant role in the knowledge economy, all levels of policy making European, national and regional have a role to play.
The FP6 Regions of Knowledge Project LOCOMOTIVE has been looking at the policies of significant private sector R&D investors (i.e. multi-national enterprises) in the eight regions of the project partners to learn and understand more about current thinking of global R&D decision-makers and how they perceive their locations. Many regional policy makers find a dialogue with the management of international companies problematic. Part of this is due to the fact that the decision-makers for R&D strategy may not be located in the region even though the R&D unit is. But without understanding the localisation strategies of major private R&D investors better, regional policy makers will not be able to harness or leverage private investment in support of regional development. A lack of an effective dialogue could well mean that clustering policies miss their mark, and that much regional investment of time and money could be in vain.
LOCOMOTIVE aims to bridge the gap in this dialogue in a highly pragmatic manner, by offering a framework for discussion. Interviews and roundtable discussions have been conducted with global R&D managers. The culmination of the project is the LOCOMOTIVE Final Conference which under the theme “Managing the links: global trends and regional policies in R&D location” aims to provide a platform for wider access to the findings and a collective discussion about should be done.
Target Attendees

The conference will be of particular interest to those with an interest in the interaction between global research players and regional actors including regional planning policy makers, industrialists R&D decision makers, technology orientated SMEs and others involved in issues relating to R&D location in the regional development.
Register now…
Advertising off

This is the report an proof that I really worked in Toronto. For the organisation of the visit my thanks go to David Wolfe of the Munk Centre for International Studies and to Jen Nelles for her charming chaperonage.

David Wolfe

Jen Nelles

Tuesday, April 10

Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham

ISCM is a “Not for Profit” business advisory hub that was created to help accelerate the growth and development of firms with the objective of assisting grow their sales and employment base. Supported by the Town of Markham, The National Research Council and the Ontario Ministry of Innovation, ISCM business support is offered at no cost to the SME. These services include linking a company to a very experienced business mentor/advisor, workshops and training courses to inform companies about current business issues. ISCM also has a partnering initiative to link companies to other resources for testing and IP development such as Universities and colleges across Ontario.

Tour of IBM Toronto Software Lab (CAS)

Organized with the assistance of Knowledge Media Design Institute
As one of the largest IBM software development laboratories, the IBM Toronto Lab develops leading products for worldwide distribution in the areas of: application development tooling, application servers, database management software, electronic commerce applications, and systems management solutions. The IBM Toronto Lab is home to more than 2,000 employees from a diverse range of backgrounds and disciplines, with a dynamic mix of early career employees and experienced professionals. Over 70 percent of lab employees hold a degree with a major in computer science, engineering or mathematics, which highlights our technical expertise.

Wednesday, April 11

Toronto Region Research Alliance (TRRA)
TRRA is a results-oriented, non-profit organization dedicated to making the Toronto region a world-leading centre for research and research-intensive industry by: attracting new research-intensive companies to the region and working to expand those already here; building public and private research capacity; and enhancing the commercialization of research. Activities are focused in biotech/life sciences, information and communication technology, and advanced manufacturing and materials science. Its role is to act as a neutral convenor, facilitator, catalyst and advocate on issues and opportunities related to its R&D mission. TRRA provides dynamic, neutral leadership to help forge a regional consensus on strategic priorities.

MaRS Discovery District

MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences) is a convergence innovation centre dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of new ideas and new technologies by fostering the coming together of capital, science and business. Located in Toronto’s downtown “Discovery District,” MaRS sits at the epicentre of one of North America’s most concentrated clusters of biomedical research and expertise – literally steps from world-renowned teaching and research hospitals, the University of Toronto, Canada’s financial core and the Ontario legislature. MaRS was created in 2000 to capitalize on the research and innovation strengths of the Province of Ontario, and to position Canada for leadership in the highly competitive global innovation economy. MaRS is focused on helping Canadian innovators turn great ideas into great companies – and supporting those companies as they become global market leaders.

BioDiscovery Toronto

BioDiscovery Toronto is an organization linking nine of Toronto’s internationally recognized biomedical research institutions for the commercialization of research. It provides a one-stop shop for companies seeking break-through biomedical and related technologies and expertise.

Thursday, April 12

Ministry of Research and Innovation, Government of Ontario

City of Toronto Economic Development

As you might have noticed in the article on punks, I recently was in Dortmund for a project meeting. An as is usual for a project meeting, we spent the evening with a joint dinner. This time we were in a café bar in a Wilhelminian style quarter in Dortmund, the Swabedoo (link in German).

It is a very nice pub which offered a local beer which I did not know yet and which was quite good, the Hövels, which really reminded me of English ales. The food however was not that exciting, I have eaten much better food for sure. I always say that catering should either concentrate on being a restaurant or a pub, they mostly fail trying to be both. You should be careful, when you see a sign “Premiere Sportsbar” as this indicates that there you find people, which love beer, company or sports, but not necessarily food.

What I had ordered, did not sound too bad: Organic pork schnitzel with ratatouille, thyme potatoes and mushroom cream, where the mushroom cream was an extra 1,50 Euro and I was glad that I refrained from it. The plate was totally overloaded, apart from the ingredients on the menu there was a mixed salad on the plate which itself had the size of a starter. Unfortunately I am conditioned in such a way that I loose my appetite when the plate is overloaded. Potatoes and ratatouille were fine, unfortunatly the organic schnitzel was hard and tough and also much too big. I would not have missed the salad and liked a smaller but tender peace of meat and it would have been worth the same price. (To A.: sorry that I have to write this!).

I know that I am special with food, but I also have to say that most people from the international party left huge remains on their plates as well.

After my studies I worked with a systems house for nearly 13 years in software development. The company I would place somehow in the category “Early New Economy”, inspired by 68s ideas, this company operated with a principle that made you either a shareholder after 2 years or you had to leave (this company was founded in 1968 and was known as a the “programming commune”). I became a shareholder and stayed.

The company had good ideas and got (in the 1980s) some 5 million German Marks in Corporate Venture Capital to develop a parallel computer. Along with this investment shareholders had to declare to stay with the company at least for 5 years. Some left, but I stayed.

In additon to the venture capital developments were also financed via national and European projects. I became a member of a European project in the early phase of European funding programmes and then became responsible for those projects, probably because of my command of the English language. As these projects only got a funding of 50%, you had to write of the other 50 as own investment. In the long term this was not bound to work, especially the “alternative company” had huge difficulties with the necessary marketing. It soon became clear that it could not go on forever with this type of projects. I stayed but started to look for alternatives.

Not being bound as a shareholder any longer I found a French consulting company specialised in supporting this kind of European projects. We agreed on a coopertaion, not as an employee however, but as a freelance to start with and then founding a G,bH (Ltd) in Germany. My “old” company went into bankruptcy two years after my leaving. At least I stayed a shareholder (in my new company).

Unfortunately I only decided after 10 long years that I was not really adapted to selling my skills, especially as services in German research and development only reluctantly were being paid. And also I am not a good salesman, I am particularly good in understanding the concerns of potential buyers. My colleagues (based in Paris) got me some projects, so that I got along fairly well for 10 years. But I got tired to chase for new customers. So it came as an opportunity that a colleague of mine from my first company introduced me to a professor of the Hamburg Univerity of Technology (TUHH). After having performed well on a couple of projects he asked me to represent him with a new project.  I still was a shareholder.

During a first meeting for this project, shortly before Christmas 1999 if I recall correctly, another institute of TUHH was represented by an English woman, who is my boss in the meantime. And a company from the booming “new economy” was also represented as a potential partner in that meeting. This company even sustained an “Institute for Media Development”, which was developing new techniques with the help of European research projects. I was more or less tired with my kind of autonomy and directly apporached this company for a job. I got it and then was a not a shareholder any longer.

When I started my new job on 1 July 2000, the person employing me was no longer with the company under dubious circumstances. The company however was booming and shortly after my starting had its peak with some 1200 employees world wide. This felt like a secure job even if the company produced heavy losses, but then they were not bothering about profits but about increasing the “Shareholder Value”. I got into the job quite well, even had share options a year later. I was not a shareholder any longer but a potential holder of anonymous shares.

I took a Berlin flat in Lichtenberg, more or less within walking distance to my company. Via the Internet I got acquainted with Hanna and had a kind of wild time with her, going close and distant within short times until I decided to stay with her.  Prices of my company’s shares however started to fall, after the stock exchange’s high of an 180 DM approximately I got my options for 79 and the company distributed T-shirts imprinted with 10/10/100: 10% profit, 10% growth in turnover, 100 DM share prices (the company still is existing with price of shares of 1,36 €). The bubble was bound to burst and suddenly I was the last in my department. During the second wave of staff reductions I also got my notice. The amateurish management continued and with no representatives with deciding power I got a good compensation from the labour court. But now I was not a shareholder, I was redundant.

Then I remembered the English woman connected to another professor. She remembered me well and first gave me a freelance contract, and then an employee’s contract. This was in 2002, I have limited contracts since then, contracts which keep me from moving to Hamburg apart from Hanna of course. Well now I live in Berlin with a secondary flat in Hamburg, and I am commuting. Now I am just an employee.

Just a little more than 7 years ago, around Christmas 1999, I was asked by a professor at TUHH to support him in a preparation meeting for a new European research projectin. The goal of this project was the development of an online solution for democratic decision processes based on moderated discussions. This request had far-reaching consequences for me:

• it brought me to Berlin,
• it made me experience the high time of the New Economy,
• and made me feel the downfall hardly with personal consequences,
• it led to my meeting my beloved wife,
• it had the consequence of my my meeting my current boss,
• and that I now may/can/must commute between Berlin and Hamburg.

The project application in the end was successful and of course the project now has come to an end. The project manager now is my colleague and manages a small department in our company. This department keeps a small but interesting blog about e-Participation and e-Democracy in German, the DEMOS Monitor. I think it is quite readable, so just check it out if you know German.

My personal story will be told later at a suitable moment.

Toulouse of course does not just consist of horrible 70s buildings. A very beautiful example of an old building is the Saint-Sernin Basilica from the 11th/12th century with, according to my opinion with very moorish/Spanish elements. Clicking on the picture will open a gallery with images of my Toulouse visits (captions in German).

The last time I was in Toulouse (in November) we were put up in the Hotel le Président by our hosts. Nothing special, clean, simple and affordable. But it still has something special about it.
Clearly the hotel looks like being built in the and you might say that large parts look as original as being fit to be listed. The colour design and several details look so typical as  dedicated to serving for kind of lecture material. Just take a look at the red door handle combined with the yellow door frame and the matching light switch which certainly seemed absolutely modern and futuristic at the time of construction.

A very special and typical detail of the time are the special music equipments fitted to the rooms at those times, to deliver radio programmes to the rooms with these special machines. Radio clocks were certainly quite expensive in those times. And then there was the danger that guests would just nick those items. Of course the equipment does not work any longer, it just is a decoration.

Particularly beautiful and well done is the coulour design with two different yellow shades for lamp and wall combinded with heavy curtains kept completely in orange.

Of course the hotel did not have a suitable internet connection, as there was no such thing in the 1970s. Even if the rooms were redecorated in the 1990s, the beds are definitively not from the 1970s and they fitted phones at that time which look a little bit more modern.

To dispatch something urgently, I went to an Internet café for the first time in my life. And this even had a good price/value relation. Ordering a Coke for a price of 2,50 € I could use the WLAN for an hour. You certainly cannot complain about that!