| CONNECT: |  |
 |
 |
University of Calgary
Centre for the Digital Economy (CDE@)
The Centre for the Digital Economy (CDE@) at the University of Calgary has been developed through equal funding provided by Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc, Shaw Communications Inc., and TELUS. The Centre has been created to address the issue of Canada's productivity as it relates to the performance and the role of information and communications technology (ICT).
CDE@ will operate under the premise that reliance on market forces is fundamental to organizing economic activity, while recognizing that in some limited instances well-designed government involvement may be required to improve market outcomes.
The Centre has been developed to inform policy debate through the release of discussion papers, fact backgrounders, research reports and roundtable sessions; it also engages in research and offers funding to graduate students undertaking related thesis topics.
News Release Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Announcing new research Centre for the Digital Economy
University of Calgary creates policy Centre on economic, public and management issues surrounding the digital economy in Canada
[Calgary, AB] The Haskayne School of Business and the Department of Economics, University of Calgary, are delighted to announce the new Centre for the Digital Economy (CDE@) sited at the University of Calgary’s downtown campus.
The Centre has been created to become the policy centre on economic, public and management issues surrounding the digital economy in Canada. The ultimate purpose of the Centre is to facilitate and promote the development of objective and evidence-based knowledge that responds to, and anticipates, managerial and government policy decisions.
CDE Director, Professor Jeffrey Church, Department of Economics, University of Calgary, commented that, “It is important for Canadians, as both consumers and producers in the digital economy, that there be a source of independent analysis that engages in the development and assessment of government policies and initiatives, informed by Canada’s unique evolution and circumstances.”
Advising and monitoring the Centre’s outputs and activities, the members of the CDE@ Advisory Board represent a wide range of industry expertise.
Joining the Advisory Board on February 8, 2012, will be;
- Dr. Leonard Waverman, Dean, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary
- Professor Jeffrey Church, Department of Economics, University of Calgary
- Gary Kovacs, CEO of Mozilla Firefox Corporation, Mountain View, California and HSB Alumnus
- Professor Eli Noam, Director Columbia Center for Tele-Information, Columbia University Business School, New York
- David Krause, Director, Economics Analysis, Bell Canada
- Ken Engelhart, Senior Vice President, Regulatory, Rogers Communications.
- Jean Brazeau, Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Shaw Communications Inc.
- Michael Hennessy, Senior Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, TELUS
Dean Leonard Waverman, Haskayne School of Business, sees the creation of the Centre as another illustration of the important work taking place between the University and Canadian industry, “This is a further example of the ability of western Canada to establish thought leadership on issues of critical national importance. We are grateful to the founding donors for understanding the value of independent academic research that is translated into policy documents. The development of the Digital Economy is critical to Canadian productivity growth and well-being.”
Researchers at CDE@ are already working towards presenting an average of six discussion papers per year, alongside plans to host live roundtable debates and online webinar sessions on key policy and research issues throughout the year.
Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, President of the University of Calgary, says the creation of the Centre for the Digital Economy aligns well with the University’s renewed strategic direction, and its goals to more fully integrate with the community, to provide and to promote leadership, and to support research excellence. ”There is tremendous potential in this collaboration with industry, working together to help shape the future of telecommunications, The Centre embodies all the elements of successful corporate partnerships, and supports our Eyes High vision of becoming one of the top five research institutions in Canada by 2016,” she says.
The Centre for the Digital Economy was created through seed money provided by four leading telecommunications companies in Canada: Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications Inc., and TELUS.
For more information about the Centre for the Digital Economy visit: haskayne.ucalgary.ca/research/research-centres/cde
About the University of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a comprehensive research university, ranked one of Canada’s top eight research universities and a member of the 15 most research intensive universities in Canada (the U15), combining the best of long-established university traditions with the city of Calgary’s vibrant energy and diversity. Founded in 1966, the University of Calgary operates under the authority of Alberta's Post-secondary Learning Act (Mandate Statement). The university’s academic foundations are prevalent in all the university’s work. They are: student success, excellence in research, scholarship and creative activity, interdisciplinary education and research, and return to community.
The University of Calgary has over 1,800 academic staff actively engaged in research, scholarship and teaching in Canada and around the world, and about 2,200 support staff. The university produces an economic impact of $1 billion in the Calgary area alone.
About Haskyne School of Business, University of Calgary
The Haskayne School of Business was founded at the University of Calgary in 1967, and was named in honour of Richard F. Haskayne, OC, AOE, FCA, in 2002. The business school has approximately 3300 full- and part-time students enrolled in bachelor's, master's, doctorate, and executive education programs, and stays connected with its 20,000 alumni in 60 countries worldwide.
The vision of the Haskayne School of Business is to be an internationally recognized centre of excellence for business education, research, and community outreach, with a special emphasis on the distinct elements that define Calgary and Alberta: energy, entrepreneurship, and ethical leadership.
About the Department of Economics, University of Calgary
The mission of the Department is to advance knowledge in both theoretical and applied economics. The Department has a strong and growing reputation for applied and policy relevant research, which is solidly based in economic theory and strong empirical techniques and that encourages leadership in the area of economic policy. In the U15 group of research intensive Universities in Canada, the Department is currently ranked fifth based on its record of research.
As part of its mission, the Department is committed to strong graduate programs and the provision of high quality instruction in economic theory and applications at the undergraduate level. There are approximately 800 majors, 70 graduate students, and 10,000 course enrollees in economics at the University of Calgary.
Media Contact:
Sally-Anne Bowerman
Director, Communications and Marketing, Haskayne School of Business
University of Calgary
Phone: 403.220.3375
The University of Calgary is a leading Canadian university located in the nation’s most enterprising city. The university has a clear strategic direction – “Eyes High” – to become one of Canada’s top five research universities by 2016, grounded in innovative learning and teaching and fully integrated with the community of Calgary. For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.
Looking for a University of Calgary expert for a story? Try our Experts Online: www.ucalgary.ca/experts
Stay up to date with University of Calgary news headlines on Twitter @UCalgary
Vision and Mission
The Centre for the Digital Economy at the University of Calgary (CDE@) aims to be the key fact based research and policy Centre on economic, public policy and management issues surrounding the Digital Economy in Canada.
The CDE@ will explore ICT’s critical role in the Canadian economy and its importance in explaining the productivity gap which is not well understood. It will conduct research to ascertain the degree to which the ICT/productivity gap is a matter of innovation, adoption and implementation of ICT across all industries and an issue at the firm/industry/government level.
The CDE@ will be a repository of data, conduct academic research, provide outreach so as to broaden and deepen the public debate in Canada on the Digital Economy.
The ultimate purpose of the CDE@ is to facilitate and promote the development of objective and evidence based knowledge that responds to, and anticipates, managerial and government policy concerns.
Objectives
The CDE@ will develop and cultivate a research infrastructure that will
- be a source of independent analysis;
- engage policy development and assess government policies and initiatives;
- promote, develop, and assess innovations in management practice;
- examine the reasons for productivity ‘gaps’ and the role of ICT adoption on productivity in Canada.
The intent is for the Centre to (i) shape the intellectual environment and set the agenda for government policy and (ii) inform and assess managerial practice, both by developing expertise in our graduates and through empirical and theoretically rigorous research on crucial policy issues.
The CDE@ is a joint initiative between the Haskayne School of Business and the Department of Economics at the University of Calgary, developed through funding donated by four of the leading telecommunications companies in Canada: Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., and TELUS.
The Digital Economy Explained
The Digital Economy refers to the economic activity in the information and communications technology (ICT) sectors, as well its related emerging applications and services sectors, and that created and facilitated by its applications and developments in the ICT sectors. The digital economy exists because information can be reduced to a stream of binary data and this representation communicated and transformed. It is the manipulation of these binary streams that is transforming the economy through the nature of buying and selling (B to B, B to C, Black Cyber Monday); processes and globalization (supply chains); firm organization and activities; and the very nature of human interaction (social networks).
The key ICT developments are ubiquitous broadband networks; internet standards and protocols; applications; and complementary skills. ICT is a general purpose technology and the digitalization of information associated with ICT is transformative, fundamentally changing the nature of production and the structure of economic activities, giving rise not only to a digital economy, but a digital society. Nowhere is the enormous change engendered by ICT more obvious than in the convergence between telecommunications and broadcasting and the affect more generally on the media and entertainment industries.
The transformative nature of modern ICT raises significant challenges to management and for government policy. Inefficient policy, poorly designed institutions, and uninformed and ill prepared management will reduce the ability of Canadians to participate in the digital economy, both as consumers and producers.
The CDE@ is founded on the general understanding and consensus that a reliance on markets to organize economic activity underpins our prosperity. The function, structure and very nature of markets, however, depend on non-market institutions and government policy. Government policy can constrain markets and it can enable markets. One objective of the CDE@ is to identify when a reliance on competition is appropriate and, how to enhance it, and when a competition is not appropriate, to identify the costs and benefits of alternatives.