Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

Regina Leader-Post

Taxes impact Saskatchewan across the board as spending gets cut to combat deficit Regina Leader-Post Despite the talk of moving away from being a resource revenue based economy, Saskatchewan is still expecting revenue from oil to pay for 10 per cent of its budgeted expenses. Doherty acknowledged there is volatility in natural resource prices and ... and more »

More:

Taxes impact Saskatchewan across the board as spending gets cut to combat deficit - Regina Leader-Post

National Post

John Ivison: The Liberals may have slowed their spending, but their spin is relentless National Post It never happens, for a variety of reasons the preponderance of branch plant companies; complacency bred from regulatory protection; currency depreciation; easy access to U.S. markets; our having a resource-based economy. Perhaps that should not ... Federal Budget 2017: Trudeau Government Unveils Its 2nd Federal BudgetHuffington Post Canada Actress Naturi Naughton expecting first childNews1130 Budget 2017: EI premiums, sin taxes, cheater crackdown to finance Liberal visionCanoe CP24 Toronto's Breaking News -iPolitics.ca (subscription) all 295 news articles »

Originally posted here:

John Ivison: The Liberals may have slowed their spending, but their spin is relentless - National Post

Viewpoint: What kind of budget? Saskatoon StarPhoenix Given the inevitably cyclical nature of a resource-based economy, every couple of decades the government of the day in Saskatchewan is required to address intense financial pressures. As in the past, the government today will be judged on how it ...

Read more here:

Viewpoint: What kind of budget? - Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Industry flocked to Shawinigan, Quebec in the early 1900s because of its hydro electricity. Now, the city wants to create the same draw by investing in smart technology.

This century old city, with a population of 50,000, sits on the shores of the Saint-Maurice River, about a two-hour drive from Quebec City. It built its economy around large resource-based industries such as aluminum, pulp and paper production and electrochemistry. But in the past few decades, Shawinigan fell upon hard times. A number of large employers left the region, resulting in the loss of jobs and talent.

But like Jean Chrtien, the scrappy Prime Minister who was born there, Shawinigan is fighting back. Its working with Avaya to revitalize its economy and increase job opportunities by reinventing itself as a smart city.

The Solution

The foundation of Shawinigans smart city project, which started in 2014, is its network. The city had a number of disparate systems and plenty of outdated equipment, including a network management console which no longer worked.

A big advantage of the Avaya solution was its compatibility with the old network. This allowed the city to move forward gradually to upgrade the equipment and systems linking City Hall to the library, warehouses, fire halls, and water distribution systems. The phased implementation was more manageable from a budgeting perspective and reduced disruption to ongoing operations as well as demands on IT staff.

Security is a key consideration of Shawinigan. It wanted to protect its critical communications services from unauthorized access by hackers or damage from malware or viruses. Avaya used hyper-segmentation to isolate traffic on day-to-day operational services from the communications for critical services. It proved to be a simple and cost-effective way to address the citys security concerns.

Information sharing is so ingrained into the concept of Smart Cities and we needed a reliable, secure way to manage the network that will give us the means to communicate with our citizens and extend our portfolio of services to them, says Lyne Vallires, director of Shawinigans office of information technology.

Looking to the future

The backbone of the new network is now complete and Vallires has already started introducing new, smart services for the citizens of Shawinigan.

Weve noticed undeniable savings both in time and in staffing because this allows us to complete more projects with the same team, says Vallires. The Avaya solution we implemented is also going to facilitate the introduction of innovative technologies and of new services. The type of configuration we adopted could also give us the possibility to share services with other municipalities in the near future.

Shawinigan Sans Fil, a pilot project which provides free wi-fi access downtown, was recently transferred to the new network. This not only made the service available more widely, but drastically improved its quality.

As well, Vallires says the city is deploying new urban LED street lighting which will be controlled by an automated management system. Another project in the works is an IP video surveillance system to provide greater security for citizens in key areas of the city.

The project is breathing new life into the community, says Vallire. A city that once relied on hydroelectricity is now proving that technology can be just as powerful.

Read the case study for all of the details on how Shawinigan transformed itself into a smart city.

Go here to read the rest:

How the City of Shawinigan reinvented itself as a smart city - IT World Canada

The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, says Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could grow and sustain the Nigerian economy.

He spoke in Ibadan at the Eminent Person Business Lecture organised by University of Ibadan School of Business (UISB).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Shittu delivered a lecture entitled: Maximising the Potentials of the Telecommunications Industry for Reversing Recession and the Economic Growth of Nigeria.

The minister said thatthe diversification of the Nigerian economy would not be enough to take the country out of recession except the process was done by leveraging on ICT in an effective and efficient manner

The country is presently in a recession, but it is not because we are in it that we are concerned.

We are concerned because each time there is a sharp drop in prices, we enter into a recession and we want to make sure that this cycle does not continue.

And the only way we can do so is to diversify the economy by leveraging on ICT and moving the economy from being resource-based which it has been since independence, he said.

Shittu stated that the role of ICT and telecommunications was very significant and critical in any society, particularly in Nigeria, which was striving to be a new nation by leveraging on ICT.

He said that the telecom sector alone contributed over 60 million dollars to the nations economy in the last 17 years of its existence.

Given its immense contribution to economic growth, we are working assiduously with the National Assembly to declare all telecom infrastructure across Nigeria s critical National Assets, he said.

The minister said that the there was compelling need for policy intervention in the form of a digital service strategy.

Shittu also said that the high cost of governance in comparison with digital service delivery, low level transparency, accountability and considerable resource leakages must not continue.

The policy concept rests on a vision which envisaged the development of a sound digital infrastructure.

This is pivotal to effective, efficient, transparent and accountable service delivery for improved quality of the social and economic life for the citizenry, he said.

He said that the industry currently provides more employment than the oil and gas sector, adding that the industry contributed about 10 percent to the countrysGross Domestic Product.

The time has come to fully embrace ICT to enhance transparency and good governance if we really are to fulfil the change mandate Nigerians voted President Muhammadu Buhari to bring about.

It is arguably one of the fastest growing sectors of the Nigerian economy and is the second largest ICT market in Africa.

Industry analysts have extrapolated that ICT tools and devices, software solution, IT outsourcing and e-commerce sectors alone could employ over 40 million Nigerians and contribute billions of dollars to our economy, he added.

Shittu said that the mission was to deploy ICT in all the sectors in a very effective and efficient manner so as to diversify the economy in a sustainable manner.

He said that it was important to maximise the potentials and remained competitive for the economy to be strong to withstand shocks.

Otherwise, after sometime, we will relapse to what the situation used to be and the problems would start again, he said.

Dr Umar Mustapha, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, University of Ibadan, said that there was still hope for the nation, considering the contribution of ICT to GDP and the millions of job it created.

Mustapha commended the Federal Government on the proposed construction of eight ICT hubs across the nation.

Prof. Idowu Olayinka, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, stated that UISB was established with a vision to make it the most preferred fountain of knowledge in business education, research and management.

Olayinka said that the establishment was not only for regional development but for the productive integration of the African continent into the global economy.

The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdur-Rasheed Akanbi, called on government to embrace outsourcing and industrialisation of the country to ensure the transfer of technology.

The monarch enjoined government to engage more in land leasing rather than outright sale of land in the country.

See more here:

ICT can sustain Nigeria's economy, says minister - Daily Trust

March 21, 2017 at 5:00 am |

As I recall recent history the reminder of the wall of shame that was the Berlin Wall comes to mind, especially for the focal point it provided President Ronald Reagan in calling out for its removal. As we embark upon a fiscally impractical southern border the historical record looms large as to the efficacy of such great walls. Do we not read and learn from history, or is such a border wall really a device to rhetorically allay fears that are stoked by the nattering nabobs of negativism that tell us our country is crumbling? That last quotation was borrowed from Spiro Agnew as an opening salvo directed at the news media. It is relevant today but in a vice versa other way around use for the politics of fear that is spouted about our countrys demise.

Look around and observe the number of incredible entrepreneurs everywhere across the United States who did not seem to realize that we were losing or broken by a great recession. This is the country where people come who have a dream and a vision. In an ever changing market place, this is where you can come and take the risk, and possibly lose yet start again at your beginnings. It is said that nothing great exists that did not first start as a failure.

Look at the history of Sandpoint and Bonner County over the last 40 years and see the remarkable reinvention of an area that moved through a resource-based industry (now revamped with technology), through a tourist-based economy, to an amalgam of technology-based and aerospace industries. We have had the luxury of our Coldwater Creek infusion of jobs and smart people as well as the Thorne Labs and Lead-Lok focus on biomedical innovation. We have been blessed with the long lasting and stable foundation provided by the Hawkins family and quality Litehouse food products. We have had the visionary benefit of the Ambrosianis providing products reknown for quality and getting it right. We have enjoyed any number of restaurants and artists who have come to ply their trade in this beautiful, yet harsh, business environment. The point is that we have all been allowed to take the risk and constantly reinvent where needed. We did not do this by keeping people out.

When we withdraw into our closed shells and put up walls to keep others out we actually diminish ourselves by hemming in that spark of life and creativity that each possesses. We are served well by that constant interaction and mixing of ideas and perspectives. Lets refuse to be afraid of everything and the pawns that we become in the hands of the fearmongers. This is a great nation that is reinvigorated constantly by our immigrant genealogy, and we have only to look at our own town to realize that most of us here were immigrants to Sandpoint. We are now all part of that reinvigorated, and changing, core. As history demonstrates, walls invite blasting; climbing and scaling; tunneling; pole vaulting; drone invasions; or, simply going around.

Lets keep the walls down.

BARNEY BALLARD

Sandpoint

The rest is here:

There's no doubt: Walls need to stay down - Bonner County Daily Bee

The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, says Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could grow and sustain the Nigerian economy.

He spoke in Ibadan at the Eminent Person Business Lecture organised by University of Ibadan School of Business (UISB).

Shittu delivered a lecture entitled: Maximising the Potentials of the Telecommunications Industry for Reversing Recession and the Economic Growth of Nigeria.

The minister said thatthe diversification of the Nigerian economy would not be enough to take the country out of recession except the process was done by leveraging on ICT in an effective and efficient manner

The country is presently in a recession, but it is not because we are in it that we are concerned.

We are concerned because each time there is a sharp drop in prices, we enter into a recession and we want to make sure that this cycle does not continue.

And the only way we can do so is to diversify the economy by leveraging on ICT and moving the economy from being resource-based which it has been since independence, he said.

Shittu stated that the role of ICT and telecommunications was very significant and critical in any society, particularly in Nigeria, which was striving to be a new nation by leveraging on ICT.

He said that the telecom sector alone contributed over 60 million dollars to the nations economy in the last 17 years of its existence.

Given its immense contribution to economic growth, we are working assiduously with the National Assembly to declare all telecom infrastructure across Nigeria s critical National Assets, he said.

The minister said that the there was compelling need for policy intervention in the form of a digital service strategy.

Shittu also said that the high cost of governance in comparison with digital service delivery, low level transparency, accountability and considerable resource leakages must not continue.

The policy concept rests on a vision which envisaged the development of a sound digital infrastructure.

This is pivotal to effective, efficient, transparent and accountable service delivery for improved quality of the social and economic life for the citizenry, he said.

He said that the industry currently provides more employment than the oil and gas sector, adding that the industry contributed about 10 percent to the countrysGross Domestic Product.

The time has come to fully embrace ICT to enhance transparency and good governance if we really are to fulfil the change mandate Nigerians voted President Muhammadu Buhari to bring about.

It is arguably one of the fastest growing sectors of the Nigerian economy and is the second largest ICT market in Africa.

Industry analysts have extrapolated that ICT tools and devices, software solution, IT outsourcing and e-commerce sectors alone could employ over 40 million Nigerians and contribute billions of dollars to our economy, he added.

Shittu said that the mission was to deploy ICT in all the sectors in a very effective and efficient manner so as to diversify the economy in a sustainable manner.

He said that it was important to maximise the potentials and remained competitive for the economy to be strong to withstand shocks.

Otherwise, after sometime, we will relapse to what the situation used to be and the problems would start again, he said.

Dr Umar Mustapha, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, University of Ibadan, said that there was still hope for the nation, considering the contribution of ICT to GDP and the millions of job it created.

Mustapha commended the Federal Government on the proposed construction of eight ICT hubs across the nation.

Prof. Idowu Olayinka, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, stated that UISB was established with a vision to make it the most preferred fountain of knowledge in business education, research and management.

Olayinka said that the establishment was not only for regional development but for the productive integration of the African continent into the global economy.

The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdur-Rasheed Akanbi, called on government to embrace outsourcing and industrialisation of the country to ensure the transfer of technology.

The monarch enjoined government to engage more in land leasing rather than outright sale of land in the country.

View post:

ICT can sustain Nigeria's economy- Adebayo Shittu - Vanguard

The gig economy, where independent consultants, contractors, and freelancers create portfolios of work in lieu of one full-time job, is transforming the way we work by disconnecting work from an office. In the traditional jobs economy, employers often require employee attendance in the office five days a week, eight hours a day. Gig economy employers, in contrast, focus entirely on performance, not attendance in the office. It doesnt matter if the idea for how to solve a problem or the insight to craft a new strategy is generated in the middle of the night, or while showering, or in yoga class. The gig economy employer values the quality of worker results, not the process by which they are created.

The most impactful lesson that traditional companies can learn from the gig economy is to judge all workers, including employees, on their results, not on when and where they do their work.

Not one study suggests that working in an office eight hours a day, five days a week maximizes employee productivity, satisfaction, or performance. In fact, any data that exists on work in an office reveals that most employees arent engaged, waste a lot of time in the office not working, and that employee underperformance persists despite the omnipresence of management. Even worse, the direct costs of maintaining the traditional office-based workplace are high. CBRE estimates that the typical company in the U.S. spends upward of $12,000 per employee per year for office space. Its hard to find a return-on-investment case for office space, and much harder still to find any company that makes a compelling one.

Focusing on employee time and location made sense when most jobs were time and place dependent. Factory workers, manual laborers, and workers in retail stores, restaurants, or hospitals have to be at their place of work at specific times to be productive. Knowledge workers do not. Sitting in an office cube or in a conference room attending endless, poorly-run meetings is unlikely to be how your companys strategic or product issues are best solved. Nor is it likely to be the most effective way to create your marketing message, manage your back office, or maintain secure information systems. Our greatest insights and most productive work are often generated outside the constraints of the corporate workweek and the cube.

Study after study after study demonstrate that independent, remote workers are more productive, satisfied, and engaged than their office-bound colleagues. Recent surveys of 8,000 workers by McKinseys Global Institute and nearly 900 independent workers by Future Workplace and Field Nation find that those workers, freed from the constraints of office life, report higher levels of satisfaction and greater productivity. These results arent surprising since remote work eliminates the wasted time of commuting, the stress of constant exposure to office politics, and the death of the workday by a thousand paper cuts of interruptions and meetings. Yet somehow, despite evidence of the many benefits of independent flexible work, our office-based, five-days-a-week, time-in-the-cube approach to work still persists at many companies.

Why is that? Managers and human resource executives at traditional office-based firms respond to this question with narratives and anecdotes about trust, collaboration, and team-building, but offer nothing in the way of evidence even from their own companies to support their stories. The evidence that does exist suggests that trust and effective teams are built primarily through interpersonal behavior and communication, not constant proximity from working in the same office space.

At least one reason to maintain an office and require employees to work in it is that most managers enjoy working at a company in which employees are managed by time and place. After all, its pretty easy to see who is at their desk between 9 and 5. Its much harder to develop, measure, and evaluate the specific value and results that each employee produces. Managers will have to work a lot harder under a system that focuses on tracking performance, instead of time in an office chair.

There is also a middle ground emerging between office-based and remote work. New studies show that workers who seek the structure of an office-based environment and the camaraderie of colleagues are much happier in co-working spaces than either a traditional office or working at home. Co-working options offer workers the best of both worlds the control, autonomy, and scheduling flexibility of remote work combined with optional access to the structure and community of an office, if and when the worker wants it. For companies, co-working spaces turn commercial real estate into a variable expense item available at a lower cost.

The rewards are great for companies that prioritize performance over attendance in the office: more productive, efficient, and satisfied workers, management focused on results and deliverables instead of face time, a healthier corporate culture based more explicitly on merit, and lower, more variable real estate and facility costs.

Labor is the most expensive and valuable resource at most firms. Managing this resource by time and place is a crude, empirically unproven, inefficient, and costly approach. The biggest lessons that companies can learn from the gig economy are to separate work from the office, and to measure employees based on what they produce, deliver and solve, not the hours they spend in the office. Put simply, companies need to stop measuring what doesnt matter, and start measuring what does.

Read more from the original source:

Will the Gig Economy Make the Office Obsolete? - Harvard Business Review

Earlier this month, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, gave an inspiring speech to Emirati youth at the Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis for Future Generations.

Sheikh Mohammed emphasised the singularity of the younger generation, instilling a sense of pride and commitment towards progress, personal achievement and dedication to play a role in helping to further the nation as a leader in both social and economic endeavours.

"Progress in this country cannot be made without the youth," he said.

Sheikh Mohammed cited Singapore as an example due to its achievement in "human development, education and the economy". He urged young people to learn about Singapores progress and various approaches to success, much of which is due to its thriving international partnerships.

In 2005, the UAE signed a cooperation pact with Singapore in an effort to facilitate trade, development and collaboration. More recently, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Abu Dhabi Global Market signed a cooperation agreement.

Singapore is committed to developing its most significant natural resource its people. It is for this reason that it ranks highly in the fields of mathematics and science, according to the 2015 international assessment report by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.

A structure based on generous scholarships to provide equal opportunity for children of all socioeconomic backgrounds and a fundamental commitment to meritocracy helps groom Singaporean youth for positions of leadership.

Singapores emphasis on academic performance has proved successful for the country and its efforts to build a "knowledge-based economy".

Singapore is also a host to several of the worlds premier universities and is working on developing its own high-calibre institutions.

In 2015, another report ranked Singapore as number 11 in the world in relation to human development.

The report seeks to assess long-term progress on three levels of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.

By providing its people with meaningful work that enhances human development and ensuring the well-being of its families and communities, Singapore is able to successfully track progress and shape future policy and agendas.

It is for these and many other reasons that the UAE admires Singapore. Its sustained devotion towards social and economic progression through educational commitment, human development and international partnership has put it on the path to becoming a global leader in such endeavours.

We as a nation have worked long and hard to strive towards similar fundamentals and endeavour towards consistent progress and social cohesion.

It is for this that we look forward to a bright future of partnership, accord and growth with an admirable nation that is dedicated, like the UAE is, to development, leadership and harmony.

Hend Al Otaiba is a communications expert in Abu Dhabi

Link:

Singapore provides an example for the UAE to match - The National

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has said that the diversification of Nigerias economy into agriculture and solid minerals are not enough to take the country out of recession.

He therefore stated noted the need to deploy science and technology in an effective and efficient manner, adding that if the country embraces research and innovation, it would remain competitive and the diversification would be sustainable.

The minister made the remark in Abuja at the 4th inter-ministerial planning committee meeting held ahead of the 2017 Technology and Innovation Expo scheduled for April in Abuja.

According to him, Nigeria is presently in recession but it is not because we are in a recession that we are concerned. We are concerned because each time there is a sharp drop in commodity prices, we enter into a recession and we want to put an end to it. We want to make sure that this cycle does not repeat itself after this one, and the only way we can do so is to move our economy from being resource-based, that is, being dependent on commodities which was our economy has been since independence. Onu added: At independence, our economy was resource based but at that time we depend on agricultural products. Subsequently, we abandoned agriculture and embraced petroleum products, both crude oil and natural gas are all commodities and one common feature is that these commodities we dont determine the price.

He stated that the ministry was determined to making sure that the country break away from the cycle that it presently finds itself, which has however been a common feature since independence. He continued: We are determined to make a change, to make our own contribution in a way that our economy will be diversified. Yes! We are working on agriculture, solid minerals, we are making progress.

We need to deploy science and technology in a very effective and efficient manner so as to diversify our economy in a sustainable manner. It is very important that the diversification is sustainable, otherwise after some time we will now relapse to what the situation used to be and then the problems would start again. But if we remain competitive the diversification will be sustainable and for you to be competitive you must embrace research and innovation.

Furthermore, the minister stressed that the ministry was determined and committed to ensuring that the commercialisation of research findings would be achieved in a sustainable manner through the expo. Onu emphasised that the expo would bring together inventors, innovators and investors, stressing that we can no longer afford that all our research findings on our laboratories to waste away on the shelves of our libraries.

Go here to read the rest:

Onu: Diversification into Agriculture, Solid Minerals Can't Take ... - THISDAY Newspapers