The smartest places on Earth: Why rustbelts are the emerging hotspots of global innovation
Past Event
The smartest places on Earth: Why rustbelts are the emerging hotspots of global innovation
The conventional wisdom in manufacturing has long held that the key to maintaining a competitive edge lies in making things as cheaply as possible, which saw production outsourced to the developing world in pursuit of ever-lower costs. In contradiction to that prevailing wisdom, authors Antoine van Agtmael, a Brookings trustee, and Fred Bakker crisscrossed the globe and found that the economic tide is beginning to shift from its obsession with cheap goods to the production of smart ones.
Their new book, “The Smartest Places on Earth” (PublicAffairs, 2016), examines this changing dynamic and the transformation of “rustbelt” cities, the former industrial centers of the U.S. and Europe, into a “brainbelt” of design and innovation.
On Wednesday, April 6 Centennial Scholar Bruce Katz and the Metropolitan Policy Program hosted an event discussing these emerging hotspots and how cities such as Akron, Albany, Raleigh-Durham, Minneapolis-St.Paul, and Portland in the United States, and Eindhoven, Malmo, Dresden, and Oulu in Europe are seizing the initiative and recovering their economic strength.
Join the conversation on Twitter at #SmartestPlaces
Agenda
Introduction
Presentation
Antoine van Agtmael
Senior Advisor - Garten Rothkopf
Trustee - The Brookings Institution
Co-author - "The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation"
Response Panel
Fred Bakker
Co-Author - "The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts Are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation"
Antoine van Agtmael
Senior Advisor - Garten Rothkopf
Trustee - The Brookings Institution
Co-author - "The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation"
Rebecca Bagley
Vice Chancellor for Economic Partnerships - The University of Pittsburgh
Bob Geolas
President and Chief Executive Officer - The Research Triangle Park
Closing Remarks
More Information
To subscribe or manage your subscriptions to our top event topic lists, please visit our event topics page.