Our hosts here in Berlin continue to thank us for bringing the beautiful weather that is not typical for Berlin. I accept the thanks, not wanting to tell them that Ottawa has suffered its wettest summer ever, with only brief glimpses of the sun.

The topic of this blog post moves to the question of inner city development. Re-unification of Berlin brought considerable funding for the rebuilding and revitalization of the former East Berlin. The result has been the emergence of a vibrant region with new commercial buildings, new shopping areas and new, trendy bar and entertainment districts.

An unintended result was the shift of people from the West to the East section of the old city, especially among young people. We keep hearing that West Berlin is the home of the old and the wealthy, not the youth and the entrepreneurs. There is high unemployment, the growth rate of West Berlin lags 1.5% behind the German average, and there is no Dax listed company headquartered in West Berlin.

West Berlin is privileged to have two major universities side by side, one an engineering and the other a design school. These are in the Borough of Charlottenburg, the old city centre of West Berlin. The area is known for its creation of start-ups, but these new companies soon move out, leaving an increasingly empty core.

Hardy Schmitz addressing inner city development

To respond, the city, the country and the EU have developed the NAVI Project, an effort to reinvigorate the district with Wista, the management organization for Adlershof, as the initial project managers. Building on the ideas of Richard Florida and the power of the creative class, a project plan has been developed and Hardy Schmitz is using the presence of leaders of various Science Parks to discuss these plans and the shaping of an inner city science park with the stakeholders.

Many of the early science parks were in the suburbs. This was driven by the fact that inner city land tended not to be available or prohibitively expensive, and much of the development was based on a large idyllic campus that was conducive to thought and new development (the 70s and flower power influence). Today, there is an increasing belief in the merger of technology and art as the spark for innovation. We are in a different world in which areas of technology concentration are not homes for techno freaks but rather an economic engine. There is no one model but rather a continuum of ideas.

Luis Sanz of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP). pointed out several trends. Almost all science parks are at a crossroad and looking for new ideas and ideas that work. The models are evolving. We are seeing the development of learning villages. We are seeing how local advantage can be developed into global competitiveness. We are seeing acceleration of the processes to create and grow world class companies. Governance is critical to science park success. Luis also observed that the university system must change and adapt. A world in which scientific papers count toward a professorship while creating the next great product doesn’t, is not a motivator for innovation.

Luis made several observations on this new world:

• It is global, and yet there is a growing anti-globalism movement
• What is the role of national and sub national governments as regions become the economic driver?
• Growth is based on science and knowledge
• Training, education and talent are critical success factors
• There is a changing attitude to work
• Networks are critical
• There is a new species of person, the “globalite”.

Rick Weddle, President and CEO of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park discussed some of his observations. To succeed you need to develop and gain consensus around a “grand concept”. I recall the motto of my old university, Case Institute of Technology: Make No Small Plans. Going with the grand concept, is a culture of collaboration. You have a trans generational legacy of leadership to develop. RTP is the steward to the continuing economic prosperity of the Triangle region.

He made the point that place does matter. Many cities and regions have the ingredients for success, few have the recipe. What is not important is that you have an incubator or an accelerator and that they are co-located, but rather that you have in place a system that integrates the two into your business model. Everybody wants to be on a winning team. It is therefore not only critical that you develop a successful model, but also that you have the branding and identity that takes the model to the world. Certainly something that RTP has been successful at.

My stay in Berlin ended with Helge Neuman taking Rick and I to see the real Berlin. The first thing that I learned came as a bit of a shock to me. For days I had been travelling around the City seeing the beauty and elegance of an old European city. Helge reminded us that over 90% of Berlin was destroyed. What I thought was a 300 or 400 year building was actually a reconstruction. It is a tribute to Berliners that the reconstruction was done so well that both Rick and I thought that we were looking at the original buildings.

The oldest pub in Berlin

You always ask the question “Where were you when so and so happened?”. Rick asked Helge, where he was when the Wall went up. We were shocked to hear that Helge, as a little boy, was at his grandmother’s when movement between East and West was halted. Not a problem, except to get from his grandmother’s back home by his usual route took Helge into West Berlin and then back to the East. A journey he made completely unaware of the possible consequences while his parents panicked. We also asked where he was when the Wall came down. He went later that evening to go into the West, mainly because he couldn’t believe that it would stay down and he wanted to make even a brief visit to the West!    

(Mike Darch is Executive Director of OCRI Global Marketing)

On my second day of my September trip to Berlin the schedule featured an International Colloquium on Science Parks and a dinner celebrating the 100^th Anniversary of Adlershof.

I have been taking an informal survey, definitely non-scientific, on the impact of the financial crisis on cities with a strong commitment to Knowledge Based Industries (KBI).

My thesis is that KBI cities are being affected but not to the extent of the economy in general. The graphs below illustrate that, to a large extent, the Ottawa area has survived the global recession well. A colloquium on Science Parks is fertile ground for testing my thesis. Unscientific as it is, my informal discussions were conclusive. Impact, yes, recession, no. In fact, many regions were finding positive effects as companies recognized the strength of the sector and the opportunity to be aggressive and grow.

Back to the real work of the day. One of the speakers was Luis Sanz, CEO of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP). He spoke of his observations on what makes science parks successful. He stressed that there must be a focus on strategy and how the park will move the region forward. Particularly in today’s environment, you need a strategy that is agile and nimble. Metrics are often over emphasized and very difficult to measure. In 25 years, he has not seen agreement on measurement. With a focus on strategy and the impact on companies, management can concentrate on long term growth and economic stability. Other points made:

Helge Neumann, the Lord Mayor of Berlin and Mike Darch

• Domestic focus not enough, need a global strategy, global networks;
• Need proactive leaders;
• Key components: infrastructure, networking, management and entrepreneurial climate;
• Be careful of sustainable development being translated as economic development, they are similar but different concepts.     

Rick Weddle, President and CEO of North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park discussed the success of RTP. Check out his presentation here. This year RTP celebrates its 50^th anniversary, and success was not instantaneous. He stressed the need for collaboration and harnessing community resources to achieve more than can be achieved by multiple agendas and objectives. The world has changed and has changed permanently and the successful are not looking back but looking forward and re-inventing. RTP views itself as more of a global innovation neighbourhood than an industrial park. A key takeaway from Rick’s talk: RTP management is not the boss but rather the shepherd of a major community resource.

Rick Weddle and the Lord Mayor of BerlinThe discussion following these talks was very interesting. From a political viewpoint, there is always an emphasis on jobs. The point was made by several speakers that successful KBIs and science parks are based on long term and permanent changes in the regional economy.  Using the metric of jobs created will tend to lead to a short term emphasis and convert a science park to a shopping mall. Perhaps a little harsh, but that analogy clearly demonstrates why the recurring themes emphasize strategy, company creation and talent development and retention. The move to KBIs and science parks is based on a strategy of developing employment that is well paying (with significant flow through in the economy) and rooted in local talent and infrastructure.

After a day of these proceedings, we celebrated the 100^th Anniversary of Adlershof with the Lord Mayor of Berlin. As a former Air Force officer, I found it hard to believe that Adlershof got its start as an Air Show in September 1909.

Hardy Schmitz, CEO of Wista

With Rick Weddle present, Hardy Schmitz the CEO of Adlershof made the point that the Wright brothers may have made their first flight in North Carolina but 60 of their 80 Wright Flyers were built in Adlershof.  The Park has definitely had its up and downs. In both the First and Second World Wars it was a major centre of manufacture for aircraft (6000 in WW1) and the home of the Luftwaffe.  It suffered significantly at end of both World Wars and after the fall of the Berlin Wall as the region became de-industrialized.

According to Hardy and the Mayor, the creation of the Adlershof Science Park in 1991 took advantage of the significant talent and research (particularly in optics) in the Park to launch its modern history and lead the economic recovery of the re-united and reborn Berlin.

(Mike Darch is Executive Director of OCRI Global Marketing)

The advantage of reaching late middle age is that you can look back at some major changes that have occurred in your lifetime. Previously, I have blogged about the amazing changes that I have seen in China. Today, it is the new Berlin.

I grew up during the Cold War. It was the time of the Berlin Wall, with frequent news stories and photos of “no man’s land”, the barren patch between the Wall and the fences of East Berlin. Other stories told of the dark and oppressive living conditions in East Berlin.

This November will mark the twentieth anniversary of the tearing down of the Wall. If you want to see the Wall today, stop at any of the souvenir shops near the site of the old Wall to get a little piece on a very expensive postcard. The new Canadian Embassy in Berlin sits right in the middle of “no man’s land”. Out front, a small section of the Wall still stands, unfortunately spoiled by graffiti. Another section still stands, protected from the souvenir seekers (photos are of the remaining Wall looking from both the West and East).

Berlin Wall from the East

Berlin Wall from the West

I have spent the day in various parts of East Berlin. Dark and oppressive, I think not! Just as Beijing had changed radically between my visits, so has the Berlin of my youth. The Adlershof Science Park where I was attending meetings, houses over 800 knowledge based companies and their supporting professional services and research institutes. Streets are wide and clean. Construction is everywhere. Streets are vibrant with people and an amazing variety of stores, cafes and restaurants. Certainly not the picture of Berlin in my youth.

And East Berlin is certainly not bureaucratic and oppressive. Adlershof is on the site of a former airport and aircraft manufacturing facility. It was Germany’s major aircraft manufacturing facility in both the first and second world Wars. On one hand, it clearly represents the decline of the industrial sector in East Berlin following WW2. Today, twenty years after reunification, it represents how knowledge based industry can rebuild an economy to be competitive in the twenty first century.

I was in Berlin while Adlershof was hosting two separate groups of European visitors. The first was a group of Science Parks that offer “soft landings” to SMEs between the various members. The second was another European Union project, bringing together the capitals of the countries bordering the Baltic Sea to discuss strengthening their economies. Adlsershof and Berlin are key players in both initiatives.

I used the afternoon to visit the Canadian Embassy in Berlin to discuss our mutual projects in Germany. The Embassy opened four years ago and as I mentioned is located in the former no man’s land. It is a beautiful Embassy in a fantastic location, but the tight security was a reminder that security needs still trump economic and social revival.

Great idea for the basement of City Hall

The dinner that evening was not only an opportunity to network with the participants of the two events, it also was a lesson in municipal financing. The dinner was in a ratskeller in the basement of the City Hall for the borough. I think that a Bavarian Beer Hall is a far better idea to meet municipal cash challenges than underground parking!

(Mike Darch is Executive Director of OCRI Global Marketing)