Highest Recommendation: OREDI Newsletter

We read a lot of e-mail for the Digest. A lot of e-mail. We know that e-mail boxes are getting fuller all the time, so even thinking of recommending that you increase your reading load takes a lot of nerve, or a very good reason. This one is the latter.



For anyone interested in cultivating the fullest understanding possible of the wide world of tech-based economic development, I believe one of the best newsletters/websites is Ontario's Regional Economic Development and Innovation (OREDI) Newsletter, a free biweekly e-publication of the Ontario Network on the Regional Innovation System (ONRIS) at the Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto.



Jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology, every issue of the OREDI Newsletter is packed with links to quality articles, academic research papers, reports, proceedings, and events. The content selection is a good balance between Canadian, U.S. and other international perspectives on this field.



For example, this week's OREDI issue tipped us off for two of this week's Digest stories: Canada's Innovation Strategy and the newest Silicon Valley Index. I also wanted to look into the Guide to Developing Technology Roadmaps prepared by the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources, but time and space in the Digest didn't permit it.



If I have to have criticism, it's that the brief e-mail alert simply tells subscribers that the new full issue is posted on the ONRIS website. The email provides no headlines, no descriptions, no teasers as to what may be inside. Others may find the clean e-mail alert desirable, but there is the risk of setting the e-mail aside until one has time to spend on the web and then forgetting about it.



We appreciate the repeated comments from readers that the SSTI Weekly Digest is an e-mail that gets opened as soon as it arrives. The OREDI Newsletter is one of those for me. I encourage you to investigate it further and see if you agree. The latest issue and subscription information is available at: http://www.utoronto.ca/onris/newsletterlink34.htm

— Mark Skinner