Digital Convergence Allows Adaptive Telecomm Policy

1. Digital Convergence
Allows Adaptive
Telecomm Policy
Fred Phillips
June, 2017

2. A café in Zhongli, Taiwan

3. IC2’s mission and reach
• Austin
• Texas
• USA
• World

4. IC2: Global Impact Mechanisms
• Overseas projects
• Visiting delegations
• Visiting scholars
• Fellows program
• Influencing Washington’s
foreign policy
• Powerful ideas
• Incubator graduate firms
• Publications &
Conferences
• New organizations
• Students
• Diversity & inclusion
• SPEAKING
• WRITING
• CONSULTING
• EXPERIMENTING
• NETWORKING

5. Publications & Conferences
• IC2 Update
• Book series
• New journals
• ICTPI conference series
–ICTPI 2017 in Taipei, September 27-
29 !

6. Students
• Degree supervisions
• IC2 interns
• Visiting scholars
• RAs, TAs
• Scholarship support
I’ve been in recent touch with former students and visiting scholars in Korea and Taiwan.
They are still active in teaching technology commercialization. QED.

7. “Overseas” projects
• In my time as Assoc. Dir. (1988-
95)
–Japan
–Mexico
• Now, so many more.
–Korea
–India
–Portugal

8. Visitors
• We hosted many 1-2 day foreign
delegations.
–They caught the mechanics, but not the
attitude, of the Austin Experiment.
• We (mostly, Dave G.) shifted IC2’s
policy toward long-term visiting
scholars.
–Much more effective in helping other
regions replicate what we did and are

9. Importance of tacit knowledge
transfer by means of long-term
visits/projects*
*F. Phillips, “Toward
an Intellectual and
Theoretical
Foundation for
‘Shared Prosperity.’”
Systemic Practice and
Action Research, 18:6,
2005, pp. 547-568.

10. Fellows Program
• Fellows were appointed for outstanding
scholarship, natch,
• but must also show high interest in 1 or
more of:
– Knowledge commercialization
– Developing new methodologies
– Social and global issues
– Building worldwide knowledge networks
– Building new, advanced curricula
• GK was always proud when an IC2 Fellow

11. Powerful Ideas
• Shared Prosperity (GK, Ray Marshall, FP)
• Complexity theory (Prigogine, Rostow &
others)
– GK on Board of Santa Fé Institute
– UT Plan II honors course in Complexity
– McCombs School conference on complexity in
management (McDaniel)
• Efficiency analysis (DEA) (Charnes,
Cooper)
• Evolutionary Economics (Barnett)

12. Influencing Washington’s (foreign)
policy
• Washington Fellows Program
– Mostly prominent lobbyists
– Introduced the academic Fellows to policy
makers.
– The problem was, few academic Fellows knew
how to talk to policy makers.
• And didn’t have the time to learn to do it.
• GK awarded National Medal of Technology by
President Clinton.
• W.W. Cooper, D.V. Gibson, F. Phillips, and S.
Thore (eds.), IMPACT: How IC2 Research
Affects Public Policy and Business Practices.
Greenwood (Quorum Books), Westport,

13. Influencing Washington policy
• GK kept IC2 nonpartisan.
–Keeping relationships with both major
parties.
• This is wise.
–“Liberal think-tank” and “conservative
think-tank” are oxymorons.
–Smoother relations overseas.
• Yet GK had a severe case of Brookings
Envy.
–And “non-partisan” is more difficult these

14. Speaking of Brookings…
• The daily “Brookings Brief” is great for
keeping that Institute’s name in front of
decision makers and the public.
• Even though the content is crap.
– Hastily assembled and not too deep.
• How can “IC2 Update” hit the sweet spot?
– Frequency of publication?
– Content? Depth of analysis?
– Mailing list?

15. Launching and supporting new
organizations
• Large-Scale Programs Institute
• Software Quality Institute
• Austin Technology Council
• Society for Design and Process Science
• Center for Study of the Presidency
• Austin-Oita Sister City Committee
• Many others…
• And folding them up when they’ve served
their purpose.

16. Diversity & Inclusion
• GK’s family were immigrants to the USA.
• He was a meritocrat with a global view
– But R&GK wanted to give the disadvantaged
an opportunity to shine.
• He was equally ornery with men and with
women.
– And criticized Japanese executives for
wasting the talents of half that country’s
population.

17. How to maintain & increase global
impact?
1. Distinctive positioning
2. Fundraising
3. New partnerships
4. Selling

18. 1. Positioning IC2 for global
impact
• Early activities/courses in entrepreneurship,
new product development, incubation came
from IC2.
– They are now the norm at universities worldwide.
– Let’s not fight battles already won.
• So what is IC2’s distinctive edge?
1. Systems view of technopolis, integrating tech,
politics, geography, psychology, education, etc.
2. Identifying important ‘emerging’ new issues and
industries, and beginning to structure them for
analysis.
3. Willingness to stick with clients for the long period

19. 2. Fundraising
• I heard that GK felt hurt when Bass brothers
told him, “You’re rich, George, fund it
yourself.”
– GK was then shy about asking for donations,
– and conveyed that attitude to others at IC2.
– Let’s get over it.
• Create public awareness that we carry on
GK’s legacy without GK’s money.
• Federal granting agencies are budget-
strapped.
– And usually require funds to be spent in USA.

20. 3. New partnerships
Covering
the
Globe
IC2
Institute
(Americas)
World
Technopolis
Association
(Asia)
International
Network for
SMEs
(Europe)

21. 4. Selling
• Why do regions (cf. Dortmund, in WTR)
pay for dubious, hit-and-run advice from
McKinsey?
• Because McKinsey has a sales force.
• ‘Nuff said.

22. We have already put Austin on the
global tech map
Seen on the front page of IKCEST’s portal, at the
Chinese Academy of Engineering, Beijing: “Uber and
Lyft Ousted from Austin.”

23. IC2 can continue to
have a global impact!
Thank you

24. Thank you
谢谢
24