The Smartest Places on Earth : Why Rustbelts Are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation

The remarkable story of how rustbelt cities such as Akron and Albany in the United States and Eindhoven in Europe are becoming the unlikely hotspots of global innovation, where sharing brainpower and making things smarter -- not cheaper -- is creating a new economy that is turning globalization on its head Antoine van Agtmael and Fred Bakker counter recent conventional wisdom that the American and northern European economies have lost their initiative in innovation and their competitive edge by focusing on an unexpected and hopeful trend: the emerging sources of economic strength coming from areas once known as "rustbelts" that had been written off as yesterday's story. In these communities, a combination of forces -- visionary thinkers, local universities, regional government initiatives, start-ups, and big corporations -- have created "brainbelts." Based on trust, a collaborative style of working, and freedom of thinking prevalent in America and Europe, these brainbelts are producing smart products that are transforming industries by integrating IT, sensors, big data, new materials, new discoveries, and automation. From polymers to medical devices, the brainbelts have turned the tide from cheap, outsourced production to making things smart right in our own backyard. The next emerging market may, in fact, be the West. "Bloodsport is the story of the creation of America's deal culture and the battle for control of America's corporations. Told through the fascinating, complex, and often-flawed characters who created a new era, it begins as the 60's are ending with the rise of the conglomerates, those vast assemblages of corporate assets. It rolls through the crisis-wracked 70's and the birth of the hostile deal, then careens into the 80's when the deal culture of mergers and acquisitions is truly unleashed, producing a Hobbesian corporate landscape that threatened the most formidable of corporations. The 90's see backlash, retrenchment and rethinking. The new century brings bubbles and deregulation, ending in disaster. And following a quiet period after the financial crash of 2008, we are witnessing the full-throated battle once again as companies and peoples' lives are moved around as casually as piece on a Monopoly game board. Since the first hostile deal in 1975, mergers and acquisitions have unleashed powerful forces and set off a revolution in who controls and governs American corporations. The rise of the deal raiders ushered in a world where literally no company was safe. Year after year, blockbuster deals unfolded, each more spectacular or predatory than the next. Many were hostile, most were complicated, the majority were dead on arrival. Together, they tell a story about money and power and the creation of a new era in business. "-- "Bloodsport is the story of how the mania for corporate deals and mergers all began...how power lawyers Joe Flom and Marty Lipton, major Wall Street players Felix Rohatyn and Bruce Wasserstein, prominent jurists, and shrewd ideologues provided the ... energy that drove the corporate elite into a less cozy Hobbesian world...with total dollar volume in the trillions. ... Four questions whose force remains undiminished: Are shareholders the "owners"? Should control be exerted by autonomous CEOs or is [that] illegitimate and inefficient? Is the primary purpose of corporations to generate jobs and create prosperity for the masses and the nation?, or is it simply to maximize the wealth of shareholders?"-- Looks At Rust Belt Communities In Europe And The United States, Once Stagnant And Economically Depressed, That Are Now Beginning To Emerge As Zones Of Economic Strength And Technological Innovation By Producing Advanced Smart-products. Welcome To The Brainbelt: The People, Places, And Practices That Are Turning Globalization On Its Head -- Sharing Brainpower And Smart Manufacturing: How A Rustbelt Becomes A Brainbelt -- Connectors Creating Communities: Hives Of Innovation In Chips And Sensors -- Making A New Movie Of An Old Story: Dramatic Scenarios Of New Materials Development -- White Coats And Blue Collars: Cross-boundary Collaborations In Bioscience And Medical Devices -- A Smarter World: How Brainsharing Can Meet The Challenges Of The Twenty-first Century -- Awakening The Beauties: Could Your Region Be One Of The Smartest Places On Earth? -- We Meet At The End. Antoine Van Agtmael And Fred Bakker. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Describing how rustbelt cities in the United States and Europe are becoming the unlikely hotspots of global innovation, this book explains that sharing brainpower and making things smarter—not cheaper—is creating a new economy that is turning globalization on its head. -- Edited summary from book Describing how rustbelt cities in the United States and Europe are becoming the unlikely hotspots of global innovation, this book explains that sharing brainpower and making things smarterńot cheaperís creating a new economy that is turning globalization on its head. -- Edited summary from book A remarkable journey to the rustbelts of America and northern Europe, the unlikely new hotspots of innovation, where making things smart (not cheap) is the competitive advantage that is turning globalization on its head.