Summary of the 9th Uddevalla Symposium 2006

on: "Entrepreneurship and Development - Local Processes and Global Patterns"

The 9th Uddevalla Symposium 2006 was hosted by and took place at School of Public Policy, George Mason University (GMU), Fairfax, VI, USA on June 15-17th. University West, Sweden, Jönköping International Business School, Sweden, Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, (CESIS), Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden and The School of Public Policy at George Mason University, VA, USA organized it in cooperation. Mornings up to lunch all three days there were in total 11 keynote presentations and in the afternoons there were in total 50 paper presentations in parallel paper sessions.

The formal Opening up on Thursday June 15 was done by Peter N. Stearns, Provost, George Mason University. The first keynote speech: "Political/Economic/Social Entrepreneurship: The Fashioning of the Entrepreneurial City´s Competitiveness" was given by Professor T.R. Lakshmanan, Boston University, USA and if was followed by a keynote speech on "Organizational Legacy and the Internal Dynamics of Clusters: The U.S. Human Bio-Therapeutics Industry, 1976-2002" by Professor Maryann Feldman, University of Toronto, Canada. A third keynote speech entitled: "From Creative Economy to a Creative Society" was given by Professor Richard Florida, George Mason University, USA. After the presentations there were a plenary discussion chaired by professor Kingsley E. Haynes, Dean, The School of Public Policy, GMU.

Friday June 16 morning was chaired by Professor Roger R. Stough, GMU, USA. "Issues for Modeling Regional Endogenous Growth" was the title of the first keynote speech given by Professor Robert J. Stimson's, University of Queensland, Australia. This was followed by the presentation "Productivity, International Trade and Reference Area Interactions in Shift-Share Analysis: Some Operational Notes" by Professor Kingsley E. Haynes, GMU, USA. The third keynote speech, entitled: "A Territorial Scenario for an Integrated Europe: Local Patterns of Growth in a Global Perspective" was given by Professor Roberta Capello, Politecnico di Milan, Italy and the fourth, entitled: "ICT, Innovation and Finance: Opportunities for Entrepreneurship and the Role of Policy" was presented by Professor Thomas Andersson, Jönköping University, Sweden

On this evening, at the Formal Dinner, Mason Hall, GMU, the Best Paper Awards were announced. Winners of the Best Paper at the 9th Uddevalla Symposium 2006 were the Professors Gary A. S. Cook, University of Liverpool Management School. UK. and Naresh R. Pandit, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, UK. The title of their paper was: "International linkages and entrepreneurship in media clusters. Evidence from the UK". The winners of the PhD Candidate Best Paper were Helena Bohman and Désirée Nilsson both from Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping, Sweden. The title of their paper was: "Income Inequality as a Determinant of Trade Flows".

Morning up to lunch on Saturday June 17 was chaired by Professor Charlie Karlsson, Jönköping International Business School & University West, Sweden, who introduced the first keynote speaker - Professor Yongda Yu, Tsinghua University, China- who talked about "Advantage Integration: A New Approach to Strategic Economic Development". It was followed by a speech on: "The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship" given by Professor Zoltan J. Acs, George Mason University, USA. The third keynote speech entitled: "e-Governance and Cyber Images of Cities" was presented by Professor Peter Nijkamp, Free University, Amsterdam, Netherlands. The last keynote speech, entitled "Measuring Entrepreneurship Capital and Modeling Its Role in the Growth and Change in U.S. Metropolitan Regions" was given by Professor Roger R. Stough, GMU, USA.

The Organization Committee consisted of the following members:
Iréne Bernhard (former Johansson), Chair, The University West, Sweden
Prof. Rolf Dahlberg, The University West, Sweden
Prof. Charlie Karlsson, Jönköping International Business School Sweden & the University West, Sweden
Prof. Roger Stough, George Mason University, School of Public Policy, USA
Daisy Botros, George Mason University, School of Public Policy, USA.

In the Scientific Committee the following members were represented:

Prof. Per Assmo, The University West, Sweden
Prof. Ulrich Blum, Halle Institute for Economic Research, Germany
Prof. Paul Cheshire, The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
Prof. Andreas P. Cornett, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Prof. Rolf Dahlberg, The University West, Sweden
Prof. Hamid Etemad, McGill University, Canada
Prof. Börje Johansson, Jönköping International Business School, Sweden & CESIS, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
Prof. Charlie Karlsson, Jönköping International Business School Sweden & The University West, Sweden
Prof. Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Kyoto University, Japan
Prof. Roger R. Stough, George Mason University, USA.