U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden will be speaking at the University of Illinois at Chicago as the keynote speakers for the 2009 Richard J. Daley Urban forum.
The forum aims to address the role large metropolitan areas ihave in coping with the global economic crisis. Urban leaders and experts from across the globe will discuss the issues obstructing recovery, as well as key strategies to establish a strong and sustainable economy.
While the forum will focus primarily on large cities, Clark Hulse, associate chancellor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, said smaller cities also have a stake in the themes under discussion.
“Urbana-Champaign is a smaller metro area compared to Chicago, but it’s really vetted in the knowledge economy,” he said.
This ‘knowledge economy’ refers to a new economic conception in which knowledge itself is the product, in contrast to the industrial economy of the 19th and 20th centuries. The increasing levels of education needed to participate in the global economy have resulted in the growth of ‘knowledge industries’ such as universities. In turn these industries have contributed to the national economy.
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“Universities are a key part of it,” Hulse said. “The scientific discovery that comes out of universities is part of the knowledge economic, the financial industry is a major sector, areas that require high levels of knowledge and education.”
Hulse said that the development of strong partnerships between universities, governments, and the private sector will be discussed in the forum. The focus would be to figure out how these partners can stimulate different regions. Hulse said innovation is key.
“How do governments not just re-stimulate the economy, but re-stimulate it in a way that bring us out in a different place than before, rather than restoring it to the way it was before?” he asked.
Leaders from about 30 international cities will be present for a global town hall of mayors, where the participants will discuss the various ways in which they plan to stimulate their own regions.
Hulse said key points to be addressed would be job prospects, educational funding, funding for Pell grants, funding for new facilities, and funding for scientific innovations.
Check back with thedailyillini.com for updates on Biden’s speech.
