Creative Class

The first installment is here.

Clunky sounding or not, mega-regions are the real
economic engines of the global economy. The 10 largest account for 43 per cent
of the planet’s economic activity and more than half of its patented innovations
and star scientists who generate pioneering breakthroughs, while housing only
6.5 per cent of its population. The top 40 produce 66 per cent of the world’s
economic activity and more than eight in 10 of its patented innovations and
most-cited scientists, while being home to just 18 per cent of the world’s
population. All of this convinces me that place, not statehood, is
the central axis of our time and of our global economy.

There’s a nice story by Globe and Mail editor, Edward Greenspon, here.

Today is the hard launch and Exhibit A in what one of my
predecessors used to call editorial refreshments is Dr. Richard
Florida, one of the world’s leading scholars on the relationship
between economic and social progress and the critical role of the
creative classes. Richard, long an attentive student of this country,
chose earlier this summer to move his research team and family to
Canada from the United States. He is itching to become part of our
national conversation and we are delighted to make The Globe and Mail
his venue.

Richard is an inveterate blogger and his musings will appear on
globeandmail.com. You can find it today just under the headlines of our
home page. He will also write a monthly column in the Focus section and
a separate monthly reflection on his new hometown in the revamped and
rechristened Globe T.O. section. Today, he pronounces on the deeper
meaning of the relationship between the Buffalo Bills and Toronto.

Obviously, we live in times that are both faster moving and more
complex. We all share the frustration of being overloaded with
information but still missing understanding. Recruiting Richard to
write for The Globe is part of a broader effort to bring more context
and meaning to the world around us.

Thanks for the kind words, Ed. It’s a true pleasure to be on board.

There’s a story on our “social life” in Toronto, here.

The blog is over at the Globe and Mail, here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at 1:26 pm and is filed under Creative Class. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.