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“...let’s choose to unite the powers of markets with the authority of universal ideals.  Let us choose to reconcile the creative forces of private entrepreneurship with the needs of the disadvantaged and the requirements of future generations...”

                                          United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan challenged world business leaders to embrace and enact "The Global Compact" at the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999.  "The Global Compact" contains principles for human rights, labor, and environment.  He asked leaders to support the principles in corporate practice and public policies.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has launched a campaign to turn the "digital divide" into a digital dividend.  At its meeting in New York, corporate executives shared the floor with ambassadors, national ministers of information and heads of international agencies to develop recommendations for the UN Millennium Assembly.  For more information, visit the "IT for the World" Web site at http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ecosoc/itforum and to find out more
about the UN's new program about the "Global Compact" browse http://www.unglobalcompact.org/ Web site.
 

"Forrester Research is the leading independent Internet research firm, analyzing technology change and its impact on business, consumers, and society."

http://www.forrester.com/

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Technology Centre publishes a family of publications designed to provide information about the latest developments in a wide range of
information technologies, as well as an overview of future trends.

http://www.pwcglobal.com/tech-forecast

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) is a partnership between government and private industry to accelerate the development of high risk technologies that
promise significant commercial payoffs and widespread benefits for the economy.

http://www.atp.nist.gov/

The June 12 issue of INTERNETWEEK contained the 100 elite in E-Business in nine categories: general manufacturing, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, consumer products, financial services, high technology, retail & distribution, media & services, transportation, and travel & hospitality.  "E-Business of the Year" went to General Electric.

http://www.internetwk.com/100/

Business-to-business, community-to-community, and education-to-education collaborative partnerships are evolving, but often in an ad hoc rather than an integrated planned manner.  Business-to-business partnerships are evolving in B2B format.  How is B2B between Kimberly-Clark and Korea, or elsewhere, evolving and what is the value for community and education?  How is B2B between GE and countries evolving and the value for community and education?  How is B2B evolving within GE Medical Systems and its partners and what are the plans for extending the Internet-based marketplace worldwide?

China is the biggest emerging market.  All advanced nations are analyzing China’s potential and planning strategies for entering its markets and/or expanding market share - Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, etc.  A few issues were discussed in the December issue of STRATEGIC PLANNING.  "Surf on" for info.

The GLOBAL SMART PARTNERSHIP Conference on August 29-31 will bring together ambassadors and developers from AP countries, business leaders, and
venture capitalists to collaborate on projects.  Alliances may have been pursued prior to then on projects with the intent of meeting on partnership details.  Additional details could be refined at EC 2000 in September, Global InfoSec Summit in Washington in October, and the 7th Pacific Rim Biotechnology Conference & Expo in November.

Attendees at GLOBAL SMART PARTNERSHIP will become aware of:

NIH Biotech Breakthroughs Promise Healthier Future

http://federallabs.org/

Pennsylvania E-Commerce Developers and Organizations

http://www.madeinpa.com/ecomm-companies.asp

Venture Capitalists and Beltway Biotech Funding

http://www.pnbi.com/

http://www.washtech.com/

Washington Techway Research on Electronic Commerce

http://www.research.washtech.com/

Community-to-community collaboration takes on many forms.  Memphis In May (MIM) began a quarter of a century ago to celebrate customs and cultures of other
countries in a month of activities.  Very little economic development activity occurred in the early years.  But, that has changed.  India was honored this past May (See "Searching Offshore" in the May 22 issue of Computer Reseller News http://www.crn.com/

Projects require HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT.  Corporate universities can provide high quality state-of-the-art training.  Can culturally sensitive and developmentally appropriate education and training be provided to meet workforce needs, possibly through Global Crossing, and/or corporate or education delivery systems?  "Surf on" to see a partial list of potential education and training providers.  How can Electronic Newsletters (ENs) contribute to HRD?

"Tomorrow’s Technologies" are discussed in terms of optical networks, real-time collaboration, wireless bandwidth, and 64-bit architecture.

McGarr, Michael S. "Tomorrow's Technologies: Pushing E-Commerce to New Heights."  Electronic Commerce World, 10 (7), July 2000, 36-41.

http://www.ecomworld.com/

Corporate universities evolved rapidly during the 1990s and increased the providing of practical business knowledge and a broad range of programs and services.   Dr. Jeanne Meister has analyzed the growth of corporate universities for years and, as President of Corporate University XChange, conducts conferences for sharing the best practices  http://www.corpu.com/ .  She indicates that more than 1,600 of these learning centers exist and predicts corporate universities will outnumber their traditional counterparts by the year 2010.

Vicky Phillips and Cindy Yager wrote Best Distance Learning Graduate Schools: Earning Your Degree Without Leaving Home.   800-733-3000

http://www.geteducated.com/bestgrad.htm

National Technological University Online
http://www.ntu.edu/

Western Governors University
http://www.wgu.edu/

The Midwest Common Market http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/CMCI/cmci_homepage.htm

Southern Region Electronic Campus
(Regional consortium /98)
http://www.srec.sreb.org/

Cardean U
(Chicago, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Stanford, and The London School of Economics)
Check  http://www.cardean.com/

The Community College Distance Learning Network 
(CCDLN)
http://ccdln.rio.maricopa4edu/

Kentucky Commonwealth Virtual University
(CVU)
http://www.cpe.state.ky.us/

Michigan Virtual University
http://www.mivu.org/

Pennsylvania Virtual University
(Millersville, Shippensburg, and West Chester Universities)
http://business.ship.edu/vu

University College of The University of Denver
(Check EC)
http://www.du.edu/ucol/acadprgms.html

Penn State World Campus
http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/

North Carolina State University
(Check EC in Mg of Tech)
http://www.technika.org/

The University of Baltimore Merrick School of Business
(Check MBA Global E-Commerce) 
http://ubonline.edu/

Thomas Edison State College
(13 undergrad degrees online)
(Master of Sci in Mg online)
http://www.tesc.edu/

University of Maryland University College
(Check cohort online MBA)
http://www.umuc.edu/gsmt

Capella University (formerly The Graduate School of America)
(Check EC in MBA 8263)
http://capellauniversity.edu/

Lakeland College, WI
(complete BA online in Bus Admin)
http://www.lakeland.edu/

Asia Pacific countries develop plans for economic, social, and technological infrastructure development.  Inchon is expanding its airport and seaport to become a distribution center for Asia.  Inchon National University of Education, the largest of 11 elementary K-9 teacher education programs, is continuously upgrading programs in English, technology, etc, supported by a Data Processing Center with five labs that can accommodate 170 online users simultaneously.  INUE undergraduate students and members of the Korean Information Education Association had an orientation to E-commerce in 1997 and graduate students in computer science learned about biometric, card, voice, and wireless use in EC in May, 1999.  Thus, action plans extend to education in the early years.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) provides strategies for "Planning of intelligent industrial parks and buildings of Taiwan into a technology island." Among the 12 education reform mandates by the Ministry of Education (MOE) are:

      1.    Revamping National Education Projects, K12

      2.    Diversified Vocational Education

      3.    Lifelong Learning Projects

      4.    Expanding Access to Colleges and Universities; etc.

Taiwan has a major commitment to EC.  A university hosted a conference on EC and how to deliver EC online in May, 1999.  Check "STRATEGIC PLANNING
FOR THE DIGITAL ERA," ED 432 932.  Thus, economic action and education development relate to goals to be achieved - Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

Collaboration between these two countries and the U.S.A. exists in many ways.  How can collaboration between South Korean and the U.S. lead to improved
Quality Of Life (QOL) and continue the journey toward peace with North Korea?  What economic, social, and technological Infrastructure projects and personal
care products could yield dividends?  How can these insights be converted into curriculum in both online and traditional formats for distribution worldwide?

How can collaboration between Taiwan and the U.S. lead to digital dividends with China?  Card technology developed by Unisys was tried in Taiwan in the early
1990s.  Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei and the University of California at Davis are using experimental techniques to restore sight to the blind.  How can
collaboration with these experiments be converted into curriculum for training for health care teams elsewhere in the world and career pathway development?

Both Korea and Taiwan rank #I- #2 on the K-12 international studies of math and all categories of science.  Science is where a great deal of awareness and
understanding occurs of technology if developmentally appropriate learning units are used with science pedagogy to assist the diverse learners.

      "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.  There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different languages, and to still another the interpretation of languages" (I Corinthians 12: 1, 4, 8-10).

We are privileged to live during an extraordinary time, the turning of an era.  We are surrounded with technologies that are fundamentally restructuring regions and
societies.  These technologies, undreamed of a generation ago, make it possible to transmit data, voice, and video instantaneously almost anywhere in the world and simultaneously in several different languages.  Kraemer (1994) synthesized research and concluded by stating "An historical analog would be the Industrial Revolution, but compressed into 15 years - not played out over a century."  The European Union, the Pacific Rim countries and other regions are adjusting their economies to be beneficiaries of the new world order.

However, a study by the Population Crisis Committee reported harsh suffering In 83 countries with 73% of the world-'s population in areas where conditions are
extreme such as in Mozambique, Somalia, Afghanistan, Haiti, and Sudan.  No moral and sensible country within the "SMART" classification can justifiably not
participate as a partner to turn the digital divide into a WIN-WIN digital dividend.  Three issues are (a) critical mass of intellectual capital, (b) venture capital and
technology, and (c) will.  We have the first two along with G7 and other nations.  The real issue is WILL.  It is HIS WILL and it must be OUR SPIRIT.

Access  http://www.blackboard.com/courses/webcom as a guest.  Click on "Announcements" and then on "Course Documents."  Then. click on "Warren Groff’s Newsletters."

Also, click on "External Links" and "The Friendly Forum." and BROWSE "The Friendly Forum.” Class Discussion" Browse Asia Society, Globalization and the
Family of IT Careers, Taiwan, Korea, etc.  Access a few other links.

Warren H. Groff, 3408 N. 49th St., Milwaukee, WI, 53216-3208