Open data may generate significant economic value, according to a new McKinsey report. The report “Open data: Unlocking innovation and performance with liquid information” suggests that seven sectors alone could generate more than $3 trillion a year in additional value as a result of open data, which is already giving rise to hundreds of entrepreneurial businesses and helping established companies to segment markets, define new products and services, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operations.

The report “Getting Clever About Smart Cities: New Opportunities Require New Business Models’, from Forrester Research explores the role the information and communications technology (ICT) will play in creating the foundation for smart cities ‘” whether those cities are newer communities being built from scratch or centuries-old metropolises.

Dion Hinchcliffe created a new core visual for thinking about social business models. This visual captures the fundamental shifts that are happening in the global marketplace today, in particular social business, including the following fundamental transitions:

Kathy Sierra author of Creating Passionate Users blog opens a new discussion on the best model of innovation – once that is centered on ideas as against one that is focussed on execution.

The Encyclopedia of Digital Government, edited by Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko (University of Tampere, Findland) and Matti Malkia (The Police College of Finland) offers a comprehensive coverage of issues, concepts, trends, and technologies of digital government (or electronic government).

The challenges and future prospects faced by governments at different institutional levels,