Companies like Yahoo! are realizing how innovation can be a key differentiating factor. A company’s ability to innovate is often closely tied to the creativity of its employees. However, contrary to popular belief, creativity is not an innate gift, instead depending heavily on the work environment and conditions. Companies that maximize the potential of their workers to innovate are those that know how to generate attitudes conducive to creativity.

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Title: España 2007. Informe anual sobre el desarrollo de la sociedad de la información en España.
Source: Fundación Orange.
Abstract: Spain is making slower progress compared to the other European countries in developing its information society, ranking 22nd on the list compiled by eEspaña.
The report, which has been published yearly since 2001 (first by Fundación Auna, then by France Telecom and now under its new name, Fundación Orange), indicates that 39% of the Spanish population are frequent Internet users and 75% of the households with access use broadband services. It also highlights the Spaniards’ positive reaction to participatory Internet (social networks and other Web 2.0 resources), as well as the continued role of telecommunications as a driving force for the country’s ICT market.
The report also underlines a worrying statistic: despite the large boost from the central government (€1.187 billion invested in its Plan Avanza), Spain is sliding in the rankings, now number 20 out of the 28 European countries studied. In 2007, Spain is nearing Germany and Great Britain but is falling behind the leading countries, such as Finland and Iceland, and trailing Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Czech Republic. These conclusions have been drawn from an index that measures the environment, access and the population’s use of information and communications technologies (ICT).

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Title: Estudio sobre Comercio Electrónico B2C- 2007
Source: Observatorio de las Telecomunicaciones y de la Sociedad de la Información de red.es.
Abstract: Electronic commerce (B2C) was up 30% in 2006, nearly twice that of 2005.
In 2006, B2C in Spain reached €2.778 billion in revenues, 635 million above the previous year’s total. This means that e-commerce registered a growth of 30%, whereas in 2005 that figure sat at 16.7%.
More than five million Spaniards—which equates to 13.65% of the population over age 15 and one of every four Internet users—shopped online, making 4.72 purchases and spending €523 on average.
Most of this was for travel (36.5%), tickets for entertainment shows (16.9%), books (13.9%), hotel reservations (12.4%), and clothing and accessories (10.1%).
Six of every ten shoppers used bank cards as their form of payment and the vast majority (98.7%) were satisfied with the result, although 7.1% had problems, most of these logistics related. The reasons for choosing this platform were (51.2%) and price (42.4%).

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As has happened with so many of the Internet’s resources, many companies and institutions have perceived the popular video-sharing service as a threat to the image itself or the productivity of their employees. But now they are realizing that it is also a simple and free way to host corporate messages, from presentations and training materials, to technical assistance and marketing and event broadcasting. These messages can either be published for the whole world to see or reserved for just authorized users. Institutions such as the World Economic Forum have used this formula, which trade unions employ for publicizing their claims and protests. But it is the media itself that seems most interested. Since the start of the year, the BBC has been offering its content in an effort to increase its audience, just like Antena3, Cuatro and numerous other broadcasters have done by jumping on YouTube with their own video channel. The latest is EuroNews, which has just announced that its service No Comment TV will be distributed by YouTube.

Articles in IDG, El Mundo, Cinco Días and 20 Minutos

In 1994 came the arrival of the first wiki, a quick way to share information online, generally based on open code, with free access, and whose most famously known application is Wikipedia. This open encyclopedia has become the information source most used by Web users around the world, according to the online audience measurement system Nielsen/NetRatings. In September, its English edition reached two million entries, while in August the Spanish edition of the encyclopedia ranked first in Nielsen’s News & Communication category, with 4.876 billion unique users, surpassing Vocento Noticias Network, Elpais.com and Páginas Amarillas. But the wiki phenomenon is expanding on all fronts, from online shopping sites and travel guides to major companies such as Nokia and Sony, who use it as part of their product development process, in order to reduce internal email traffic, foster cooperation and increase production. Last year, Gartner predicted that in the coming years, half of all companies will use this technology for internal collaboration purposes. And by the end of this year, the announcement of the first version of what could become one of the most revolutionary wiki applications of all. It is being spearheaded by Jimmy Wales, the creator of Wikipedia, who is banking on the collaborative potential of the users as an alternative to the limitations presented by search-engine algorithms.

Articles in Reuters, El Pais.com, Abadía Digital, Noticias de Álava and Diario Metro