Roland forwarded info on a free lecture taking place in Melbourne on 17 Sept by Charles Leadbetter. Con replied with a transcript from this guy speaking in 2006...
The Direct quote is
" Philips has a huge research establishment in Eindhoven. It’s where they invented the Philips light bulb, which is still at the heart of Philips’ wealth as a company, and it’s an amazing place surrounded by barbed wire. And there’s a security box, you have to go through a most amazing security to get in because this was a special place for special people and other people weren’t allowed in. You had to keep the knowledge inside. Finally, too late, they’ve understood that actually to create knowledge you need interaction. You need people coming and going, you need small companies in there as well. Customers, importantly, need to come in. So finally they’re taking the barbed wire down and they’re getting rid of security and opening up as a platform for regional innovation. So time and again you’ll see in profession after profession people, journalists, doctors, teachers, social workers, challenged by this sense of their professional identity, their knowledge monopoly being challenged by people who’ve now got access to new source of information and advice.
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/events/2006/symposium/economy/leadbeater.html