New book: New energy and innovation in Denmark

Last week I went to a presentation of a book. This was done by my academic supervisor, Birgitte Gregersen, who is one of the authors. The book is JUST published. It’s only in Danish and the original title is: ”Ny energi og innovation i Danmark”. Honestly I have not much idea about energy issues, well, at least compared with many of my close friends who are doing their PhD’s in Energy (in engineering, planning and economics).

I will post some of the policy proposals they suggest for the case of Denmark. The reason why I’m doing it is because I always find very interesting the policy proposals, no matter in what field. It’s always nice to discuss it. And honestly I admire the reports, articles and books, that dare to give policy proposals. I find more interesting these ones, that the ones who are purely descriptive. One of the teachers I had in a Phd class, Andrea Fernandez Ribas, said that the ones who don’t give policy proposals do not really contribute for the society (or something like that).

Here are the policy proposals about how to improve the energy industry in Denmark. Something that probably any country can learn from. Again, I insist, I do not know too much about energy. So here I’m trying to repeat things, like a parrot. This is from the notes I took at the presentation.

1)    Strength Danish framework: collaboration among Danish firms and institutions (I guess this follows the ideas of the theories on National Systems of Innovation)
2)    Policy should be different for each technology (solar, wind, fuel cell, etc.)
3)    Continue strength Public-Private Partnerships
4)    On public money: More transparency (for example clearly show in websites the budgets, etc.). Avoid stop-go policy, that is ensure long term plans, to avoid momentum because of different policy makers in power. Also merge similar support schemes. If there are going to be changes, early warning, avoid surprises.
5)    Stimulate demand for renewable energies. R&D is not enough. (This can be done not only with subsidies, but taxing the use of other energies)
6)    More public innovation procurement as a direct policy. For example for new buildings and renovation of them.
7)    Better coordination of the energy and innovation policy
8)    Strength systematic experiences and learning process. For example, teaching energy efficiency in technical schools.

Denmarks efforts in attracting foreign students

A couple of weeks ago I found at the Copenhagen airport the magazine Focus in Denmark, I’ve seen it before but this time I read it while waiting. The article ATTRACTING FOREIGN STUDENTS seemed quite interesting to me. The basic idea you can learn is that if you’re a student around the world you should consider Denmark, if you’re already in Denmark, you should consider stay. If you’re a Dane, this is quite hard to listen (It would be hard for me to read this if a Spanish official would say it)

“We want to be a top-class international university and it is not the passport number that decides, but what our students have between their ears. We must attract the best, and if it is others than Danes, then it is they we want to have. But internationalisation is not a separate point in our strategy – it is incorporated into everything we do,” says Lykke Friis, prorector of the University of Copenhagen.

So, if you’re a Dane, you know that you’re not competing against the other Dane down the street or the other Dane across the bridge, but against all the world.

Of course things are not that clear cut neither the life for newcomers (especially in the beginning) is so rosy, but anyways I’m glad that I’m here among the Danes.

p.s. Yesterday I went and vote in the local and regional elections. As an EU citizen we’re allowed to do that, no matter where you’re in the EU. However, for the national elections we can only vote in our respective countries.

October teaching

It has been 6 weeks withouth writing anything in my blog.  Thanks Heavens, today is Friday and I have finally finished everything many things that I had to do.

I finished teaching 2 weeks ago. Most of teaching hours were devoted to the second year class of the Geography undergrad. I also tood a study trip to Barcelona (that was the previous post, a draf I had form October).  I’m also supervising a group of visiting students from Hannover. They’re pretty smart.

Something about teaching I like to pass in the last class a questionnare to give me feedback. I’m quite glad because my average evaluation has improved from last year.  I think that the changes that I have introduced have been good, but I still have to refine many things for next semesters.

Last year was my first year teaching in Denmark. It’s fine teaching the vast majority in English, but of course it’s a problem because that’s my second language and the students one. But I think the main problem comes from cultural differences. I have been mostly educated in Spain, and I know how the systems works. Also I have totalled four semester in the U.S., and I was a teaching assistant at Georgia Tech, so I know they system well to. By the way, out of the 5 other T.A.’s that I consult, I think the students highly pleased with me. But Denmark… is the culture. I studied here for 2 semester during my masters, but still sometimes is hard, and perhaps here in Aalborg is more challenging. Oh, well. We all have to learn.

Study Field to Barcelona city region.

Playing around with the students in Montseny Park (me in the left)

In the first week of October I went with the third year students of Geography to Barcelona. On the second year they Geography students they travel somewhere in Denmark, and the third year they go abroad. In previous years they have gone to Germany or the Netherlands. This year they assigned me to go somewhere and they suggested Spain. I’m from Madrid, and perhaps I should have gone there, but I though it would be interesting to go there and students will enjoy it more during their free time. (I think they did enjoy having almost 30 degrees and go to the beach!). I also wanted to visit some people at the University there.

It was an interesting experience. I think overall they liked it. We learn many things regarding, planning, socioeconomic factors, environment, economic geography, and of course learning from a different culture (for them, and a little bit for me I think they were also very good students, not only in general, but during the trip.

I’m looking forward next year.

Amazing things have been happening around my project…

And I have had not time to write. But I will. First, Joe Pine was here at Aalborg University three weeks ago. It was a very good presentation. I’ll tell about it. Also 4 days ago, David Plouffe, the chief campaign manager for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and other interesting leaders, presented in in a business leader seminar. They told me it was outstanding, I missed so much I did not go.

Anyways I just want to put a video here about a new upcoming event in Frederikshavn. Perhaps it’s not that exciting as the other two, only perhaps. It’s about the yearly Blues Festival of Frederikshavn. They just put it online.

I have not written here as I have been busy teaching, writing and preparing my study abroad for Spring 2010.

Twitter

Some days ago I opened a Twitter account. Everyone is talking about it, so I thought I’ll have to give a try. They say that everyone who does not have a Twitter account thinks that is just another way to waste time. I understand this, as this is what I though not long ago. I guess you can waste time, and this is not something I have too much now, with various serious deadlines and a newborn in the family. The reason to open it was to follow some authors I like that are in this software network. So my idea is not to write more than a couple lines a week, I just want it more to help me to get info I like.

There is an application where you can find who of your contacts are using Twitter, and out of 1300 contacts I have in Gmail, only 20 are subscribed and only 3 update it.

Economic Sense; Addressed To The Innovators Of Business & Commerce

A couple of weeks ago I got via Google Alerts (Fox News), the release of the 2009 declaration of Pine and Gilmore. It’s actually Gilmore and Pine, but one has been to used to refer to them as in the first form.

It has the date of 4th of July, and it has the apperance of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

This declaration, can be found here at the website of their consulting company: http://www.strategichorizons.com/thinkaboutinvites/2009/EconomicSense.pdf 

I think this was done with the purpose of celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the book “The Experience Economy” and especifically to promote the conference they’re organizing in Philadelphia, next month. If it weren’t 2500USD$ to register I would not mind to cross the Atlantic.

The basic idea in this declaration is that we’re in this economic crisis because businesses (and the private) have not really focused on offering experiences. Then they came up with very good perpectives for the private sector. I have to say that I always enjoy reading these guys. They’re really innovative and they come up with cool things.

Unfortunately, as good conservative Americans, I think they have been too influenced in the current political debate. In the last paragraphs they condemn goverment support to healthcare and higher education. I still don’t understand this part of the declaration. I guess is my European perspective. They say that public support to education and healthcare hinder The Experience Economy, but they don’t say anything about other public spending in endless wars, bail outs to corporations, or evasion to tax havens. Maybe they’re right, but I think this is a debate they should not have got into. Maybe it’s me who I should not get into this debate…

Macroeconomics… perhaps not that useful…*

My good friend Ana Luiza was talking today about the article “What went wrong with economics” published in the always interesting The Economist. She mentioned that it was a good analysis of the situation. She’s one of the best economists I know, so I listen to her.

The articles starts powerfully “Of all the economic bubbles that have been pricked, few have burst more spectacularly than the reputation of economics itself.” Something worth it to put in the recently open my quotes page. I enjoyed reading the whole thing. The only thing that I didn’t really agree is when he says “Macroeconomists, especially within central banks, were too fixated on taming inflation and too cavalier about asset bubbles.” I think central banks in the U.S., Spain and many other did not care at all about real inflation. We have to remember that the housing prices (which many say that this is what brought us here) , which is by far the highest expenditure of the families was rising around a 15% yearly, I did not see the central banks really calling for an action on this issue, like for example a tax on an empty house/apartment to avoid speculation.

Anyways what I found interesting is the quote of my man Paul Krugman. Last month at the London School of Economics (!!) he argued that much of the past 30 years of macroeconomics was “spectacularly useless at best, and positively harmful at worst.”

A Professor teaching economics

I was never a fan of macroeconomics, so, obviously this assertion makes me feel really good. I remember in 1998, in my first year at the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales (Economics and Business School at Universidad de Alcala, Spain), we were going over Mankiw’s textbook on micro and macro, and after a few classes we started questioning our Professor (sorry I can only remember his nickname). I remember raising my hand in a specific example about the labor maket and saying, “but, this does seem to happen in reality”, and he answered “well, you have to learn the theory, even if it does not happen in reality”. Later in class I wondered with friends why in the world we should learn something like the theories of flying pigs. Anyways I was happy to learn about it, but probably less hours on subjects like these would be good.

This non-sense long studies in the mainstream economics studies, among other reasons, was why I probably found Ana in the masters program at the Business Department of Aalborg University in 2005.

“Economic Crisis” in Denmark and in the USA (II)

6 months ago I looked at how many times the term “economic crisis” and “økonomisk krise” were mentioned in the most popular newspapers of the USA (New York Times) and Denmark (Jyllands-Posten) respectively. I’m proud of this entry because it’s one of the most visited. So this summer I was kind of interested to see a comparison looking at the first 6 months of 2009.

It is important to notice that I have multiplied times 2, the corresponding figure for the first half of the year. So the 2009 “result” will actually be the final result, if they mentioned the term exactly the same times between and July and December, as they have done from January to the end of June.

So this is how it looks the agreement of both newspapers. Comparing it with the 1994-2008 graph You can draw your own conclussions.

Now I’m really busy, trying to write a paper for a journal before my wife gives birth in the next days, but whenever I need a break from the paper, I will add the consumer confidence chart.

End of Economic Crisis? You choose

From the U.S. we have some numbers and various interpretations.

reported unemployment figures for every month since begining of recesssion

National Public Radio | July 5 2009:
Is The Worst Over? Most Economists Say Yes

Nouriel Roubini | Jul 2, 2009
U.S. Job Report Suggests that Green Shoots are Mostly Yellow Weeds
“The June employment report suggests that the alleged ‘green shoots’ are mostly yellow weeds that may eventually turn into brown manure…”
(I read this quote and I started laughing)

Anyways as I mentioned, and the same Paul Samuelson (Nobel Prize in Economics and key figure in neoclassical economics) admitted last year: “What we know about the global financial crisis is that we don’t know very much.”