29 June 2009 – Julia Djarova, Vice Chair of ECORYS International, has been invited to preside and speak at the UNECE International Conference on Technological Readiness for Innovation-based Competitiveness that will take place on June 29-30, Geneva.

The Conference is organised by the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Integration of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

The Conference will address selected policy-relevant issues related to the promotion of ICT-based technological readiness, innovation and competitiveness.  It will seek to cover related cross-cutting issues, highlighting the importance of ICT in different CECI thematic areas, such as innovation and competitiveness policies; commercialization and protection of intellectual property rights; financing innovative development; entrepreneurship and enterprise development. In view of the crosscutting nature of many of the topics to be discussed, members of the UNECE Teams of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Polices and on Intellectual Property will take part in the Conference.

The Conference will aim to clarify issues related to the promotion of ICT-based technological readiness, innovation and competitiveness and to facilitate the sharing of good practices among policymakers, experts and other stakeholders.  It will identify good practices in promoting an enabling policy and on regulatory frameworks to strengthen the basis of member countries’ knowledge-based development. It will address the following key policy-relevant issues:

• (a) Promoting enabling ICT policies and strategies for an efficient knowledge-based economy;
• (b) Facilitating the wide diffusion of ICT and ICT-based applications as a prerequisite for innovative entrepreneurship;
• (c) Policies and strategies to support the emergence and financing of innovative enterprises in the ICT and ICT-enabled sectors and coping with the negative effects of the global crisis;
• (d) Promoting new ICT-based business opportunities in countries with economies in transition to enable them to participate in global value chains;
• (e) Policies supporting ICT-based entrepreneurship as the future basis of innovation-based competitiveness;
• (f) Policies and regulatory framework in facilitating e-business development and ensuring security in cyberspace;
• (g) Promotion of a supportive ICT infrastructure as a factor contributing to open innovation and collaboration;
• (h) Policy responses to IPR challenges related to open and global ICT-based innovation activities; and
• (i) Policy coordination and the role of public institutions in support of innovative ICT-based SMEs.

Julia Djarova will speak at the opening of the conference on ICT, Innovation and Economic Growth and will base her presentation on ECORYS studies and experience in the field. She will also preside the second day of the Conference on ICT as an engine of entrepreneurship and a source of new business opportunities.

For more info on ECORYS experience in relevant fields see these webpages:

• www.infodev.org/en/Publication.553.html
• www.ecorys.com/news-items-press-releases/ecorys-studies-impact-of-ict-on-firm-level-innov-2.html
• www.ecorys.com/economy-and-competitiveness/innovation-science-and-technology-policy.html