title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: The prospect of marriage to the Countess of Essex on the horizon, Leicester finally drew a line under his relationship with Douglas Sheffield. Contrary to what she later claimed, they came to an amicable agreement over their son's custody. Young Robert grew up in Dudley's and his friends' houses, but had "leave to see" his mother until she left England in 1583. Leicester was very fond of his son and gave him an excellent education. In his will he left him the bulk of his estate (after his brother Ambrose's death), including Kenilworth Castle. Douglas Sheffield remarried in 1579. After the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, the younger Robert Dudley tried unsuccessfully to prove that his parents had married 30 years earlier in a secret ceremony. In that case, he would have been able to claim the earldoms of Leicester and Warwick. His mother supported him, but maintained that she had been strongly against raising the issue and was possibly pressured by her son. Leicester himself had throughout considered the boy as illegitimate.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: On 21 September 1578 Leicester secretly married Lady Essex at his country house at Wanstead, with only a handful of relatives and friends present. He did not dare to tell the Queen of his marriage; nine months later Leicester's enemies at court acquainted her with the situation, causing a furious outburst. She already had been aware of his marriage plans a year earlier, though. Leicester's hope of an heir was fulfilled in 1581 when another Robert Dudley, styled Lord Denbigh, was born. The child died aged three in 1584, leaving his parents disconsolate. Leicester found comfort in God since, as he wrote, "princes ... seldom do pity according to the rules of charity." The Earl turned out to be a devoted husband: In 1583 the French ambassador, Michel de Castelnau, wrote of "the Earl of Leicester and his lady to whom he is much attached", and "who has much influence over him". Leicester was a concerned parent to his four stepchildren, and in every respect worked for the advancement of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, whom he regarded as his political heir.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: The marriage of her favourite hurt the Queen deeply. She never accepted it, humiliating Leicester in public: "my open and great disgraces delivered from her Majesty's mouth". Then again, she would be as fond of him as ever. In 1583 she informed ambassadors that Lettice Dudley was "a she-wolf" and her husband a "traitor" and "a cuckold". Lady Leicester's social life was much curtailed. Even her movements could pose a political problem, as Francis Walsingham explained: "I see not her Majesty disposed to use the services of my Lord of Leicester. There is great offence taken at the conveying down of his lady." The Earl stood by his wife, asking his colleagues to intercede for her; there was no hope: "She [the Queen] doth take every occasion by my marriage to withdraw any good from me", Leicester wrote even after seven years of marriage.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: For the first 30 years of Elizabeth's reign, until Leicester's death, he and Lord Burghley were the most powerful and important political figures, working intimately with the Queen. Robert Dudley was a conscientious privy councillor, and one of the most frequently attending.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: In 1560 the diplomat Nicholas Throckmorton advocated vehemently against Dudley marrying the Queen, but Dudley won him over in 1562. Throckmorton henceforth became his political advisor and intimate. After Throckmorton's death in 1571, there quickly evolved a political alliance between the Earl of Leicester and Sir Francis Walsingham, soon to be Secretary of State. Together they worked for a militant Protestant foreign policy. There also existed a family relationship between them after Walsingham's daughter had married Philip Sidney, Leicester's favourite nephew. Leicester, after some initial jealousy, also became a good friend of Sir Christopher Hatton, himself one of Elizabeth's favourites.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Robert Dudley's relationship with William Cecil, Lord Burghley, was complicated. Traditionally they have been seen as enemies, and Cecil behind the scenes sabotaged Dudley's endeavours to obtain the Queen's hand. On the other hand, they were on friendly terms and had an efficient working relationship which never broke down. In 1572 the vacant post of Lord High Treasurer was offered to Leicester, who declined and proposed Burghley, stating that the latter was the much more suitable candidate. In later years, being at odds, Dudley felt like reminding Cecil of their "thirty years friendship".


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: On the whole, Cecil and Dudley were in concord about policies while disagreeing fundamentally about some issues, such as the Queen's marriage and some areas of foreign policy. Cecil favoured the suit of Francois, Duke of Anjou, in 1578–1581 for Elizabeth's hand, while Leicester was among its strongest opponents, even contemplating exile in letters to Burghley. The Anjou courtship, at the end of which Leicester and several dozen noblemen and gentlemen escorted the French prince to Antwerp, also touched the question of English intervention in the Netherlands to help the rebellious provinces. This debate stretched over a decade until 1585, with the Earl of Leicester as the foremost interventionist. Burghley was more cautious of military engagement while in a dilemma over his Protestant predilections.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Until about 1571/1572 Dudley supported Mary Stuart's succession rights to the English throne. He was also, from the early 1560s, on the best terms with the Protestant lords in Scotland, thereby supporting the English or, as he saw it, the Protestant interest. After Mary Stuart's flight into England (1568) Leicester was, unlike Cecil, in favour of restoring her as Scottish queen under English control, preferably with a Protestant English husband, such as the Duke of Norfolk. In 1577 Leicester had a personal meeting with Mary and listened to her complaints about her captivity. By the early 1580s Mary had come to fear Leicester's influence with James VI, her son, in whose privy chamber the English Earl had placed a spy. She spread stories about his supposed lust for the English throne, and when the Catholic anti-Leicester libel, "Leicester's Commonwealth", was published in 1584 Dudley believed that Mary was involved in its conception.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: The "Bond of Association", which the Privy Council gave out in October 1584, may have originated in Dudley's ideas. Circulated in the country, the document's subscribers swore that, should Elizabeth be assassinated (as William the Silent had been a few months earlier), not only the killer but also the royal person who would benefit from this should be executed. Leicester's relations with James of Scotland grew closer when he gained the confidence of the King's favourite, Patrick, Master of Gray, in 1584–1585. His negotiations with the Master were the basis for the Treaty of Berwick, a defensive alliance between the two British states against European powers. In 1586 Walsingham uncovered the Babington Plot. Following the Ridolfi Plot (1571) and the Throckmorton Plot (1583), this was another scheme to assassinate Elizabeth in which Mary Stuart was involved. Following her conviction, Leicester, then in the Netherlands, vehemently urged her execution in his letters; he despaired of Elizabeth's security after so many plots.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Leicester having returned to England, in February 1587 Elizabeth signed Mary's death warrant, with the proviso that it be not carried out until she gave her approval. As there was no sign of her doing so, Burghley, Leicester, and a handful of other privy councillors decided to proceed with Mary's execution in the interest of the state. Leicester went to Bath and Bristol for his health; unlike the other privy councillors involved, he escaped Elizabeth's severe wrath on hearing the news of Mary's death.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Robert Dudley was a pioneer of new industries; interested in many things from tapestries to mining, he was engaged in the first joint stock companies in English history. The Earl also concerned himself with relieving unemployment among the poor. On a personal level, he gave to poor people, petitioners, and prisons on a daily basis. Due to his interests in trade and exploration, as well as his debts, his contacts with the London city fathers were intense. He was an enthusiastic investor in the Muscovy Company and the Merchant Adventurers. English relations with Morocco were also handled by Leicester. This he did in the manner of his private business affairs, underpinned by a patriotic and missionary zeal (commercially, these relations were loss-making). He took much interest in the careers of John Hawkins and Francis Drake from early on, and was a principal backer of Drake's circumnavigation of the world. Robert and Ambrose Dudley were also the principal patrons of Martin Frobisher's 1576 search for the Northwest Passage. Later Leicester acquired his own ship, the "Galleon Leicester", which he employed in a luckless expedition under Edward Fenton, but also under Drake. As much as profit, English seapower was on his mind, and accordingly, Leicester became a friend and leading supporter of Dom António, the exiled claimant to the Portuguese throne after 1580.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Apart from their legal function, the Inns of Court were the Tudor equivalents of gentlemen's clubs. In 1561, grateful for favours he had done them, the Inner Temple admitted Dudley as their most privileged member, their "Lord and Governor". He was allowed to build his own apartments on the premises and organised grand festivities and performances in the Temple. As Chancellor of Oxford University Dudley was highly committed. He enforced the Thirty-nine Articles and the oath of royal supremacy at Oxford, and obtained from the Queen an incorporation by Act of Parliament for the university. Leicester was also instrumental in founding the official Oxford University Press, and installed the pioneer of international law, Alberico Gentili, and the exotic theologian, Antonio del Corro, at Oxford. Over del Corro's controversial case he even sacked the university's Vice-Chancellor.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Around 100 books were dedicated to Robert Dudley during Elizabeth's reign. In 1564/1567 Arthur Golding dedicated his popular translation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" to the Earl. Dudley took a special interest in translations, which were seen as a means to popularise learning among "all who could read." He was also a history enthusiast, and in 1559 suggested to the tailor John Stow to become a chronicler (as Stow recalled in 1604). Robert Dudley's interest in the theatre was manifold, from academic plays at Oxford to the protection of the Children of St. Paul's and of the Royal Chapel, and their respective masters, against hostile bishops and landlords. From at least 1559 he had his own company of players, and in 1574 he obtained for them the first royal patent issued to actors to allow them to tour the country unmolested by local authorities. The Earl also kept a separate company of musicians who in 1586 played before the King of Denmark; with them travelled William Kempe, "the Lord Leicester's jesting player".


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Leicester possessed one of the largest collections of paintings in Elizabethan England, being the first great private collector. He was a principal patron of Nicholas Hilliard, as well as interested in all aspects of Italian culture. The Earl's circle of scholars and men of letters included, among others, his nephew Philip Sidney, the astrologer and Hermeticist John Dee, his secretaries Edward Dyer and Jean Hotman, as well as John Florio and Gabriel Harvey. Through Harvey, Edmund Spenser found employment at Leicester House on the Strand, the Earl's palatial town house, where he wrote his first works of poetry. Many years after Leicester's death Spenser wistfully recalled this time in his "Prothalamion", and in 1591 he remembered the late Earl with his poem "The Ruins of Time".


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Robert Dudley grew up as a Protestant. Presumably conforming in public under Mary I, he was counted among the "heretics" by Philip II's agent before Elizabeth's accession. He immediately became a major patron to former Edwardian clerics and returning exiles. Meanwhile, he also helped some of Mary's former servants and maintained Catholic contacts. From 1561 he advocated and supported the Huguenot cause, and the French ambassador described him as "totally of the Calvinist religion" in 1568. After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 this trait in him became more pronounced, and he continued as the chief patron of English Puritans and a champion of international Calvinism. On the other hand, in his household, Leicester employed Catholics like Sir Christopher Blount, who held a position of trust and of whom he was personally fond. The Earl's patronage of and reliance on individuals was as much a matter of old family loyalties or personal relationships as of religious allegiances.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Leicester was especially interested in the furtherance of preaching, which was the main concern of moderate Puritanism. He went to great lengths to support non-conforming preachers, while warning them against too radical positions which, he argued, would only endanger what reforms had been hitherto achieved. He would not condone the overthrow of the existing church model because of "trifles", he said. "I am not, I thank God, fantastically persuaded in religion but ... do find it soundly and godly set forth in this universal Church of England." Accordingly, he tried to smooth things out and, among other moves, initiated several disputations between the more radical elements of the Church and the episcopal side so that they "might make reconcilement". His influence in ecclesiastical matters was considerable until it declined in the 1580s under Archbishop John Whitgift.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: During the 1570s Leicester built a special relationship with Prince William of Orange, who held him in high esteem. The Earl became generally popular in the Netherlands. Since 1577 he pressed for an English military expedition, led by himself (as the Dutch strongly wished) to succour the rebels. In 1584 the Prince of Orange was murdered, political chaos ensued, and in August 1585 Antwerp fell to the Duke of Parma. An English intervention became inevitable; it was decided that Leicester would go to the Netherlands and "be their chief as heretofore was treated of", as he phrased it in August 1585. He was alluding to the recently signed Treaty of Nonsuch in which his position and authority as "governor-general" of the Netherlands had only been vaguely defined. The Earl prepared himself for "God's cause and her Majesty's" by recruiting the expedition's cavalry from his retainers and friends, and by mortgaging his estate to the sum of £25,000.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: On Thursday 9 December 1585, the Earl of Leicester set sail for the Low Countries from Harwich and landed after a swift crossing of less than 24 hours, the fleet anchored at Flushing (Vlissingen). At the end of December 1585 Leicester was received in the Netherlands, according to one correspondent, in the manner of a second Charles V; a Dutch town official already noted in his minute-book that the Earl was going to have "absolute power and authority". After progress through several cities and so many festivals he arrived in The Hague, where on 1 January 1586 he was urged to accept the title governor-general by the States General of the United Provinces. Leicester wrote to Burghley and Walsingham, explaining why he believed the Dutch importunities should be answered favourably. He accepted his elevation on 25 January, having not yet received any communications from England due to constant adverse winds.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: The Earl had now "the rule and government general" with a Council of State to support him (the members of which he nominated himself). He remained a subject of Elizabeth, making it possible to contend that she was now sovereign over the Netherlands. According to Leicester, this was what the Dutch desired. From the start such a position for him had been implied in the Dutch propositions to the English, and in their instructions to Leicester; and it was consistent with the Dutch understanding of the Treaty of Nonsuch. The English queen, however, in her instructions to Leicester, had expressly declined to accept offers of sovereignty from the United Provinces while still demanding of the States to follow the "advice" of her lieutenant-general in matters of government. Her ministers on both sides of the Channel hoped she would accept the situation as a "fait accompli" and could even be persuaded to add the rebellious provinces to her possessions. Instead her fury knew no bounds and Elizabeth sent Sir Thomas Heneage to read out her letters of disapproval before the States General, Leicester having to stand nearby. Elizabeth's "commandment" was that the Governor-General immediately resign his post in a formal ceremony in the same place where he had taken it. After much pleading with her and protestations by the Dutch, it was postulated that the governor-generalship had been bestowed not by any sovereign, but by the States General and thereby by the people. The damage was done, however: "My credit hath been cracked ever since her Majesty sent Sir Thomas Heneage hither", Leicester recapitulated in October 1586.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Elizabeth demanded of her Lieutenant-General to refrain at all costs from any decisive action with Parma, which was the opposite of what Leicester wished and what the Dutch expected of him. After some initial successes, the unexpected surrender of the strategically important town of Grave was a serious blow to English morale. Leicester's fury turned on the town's governor, Baron Hemart, whom he had executed despite all pleadings. The Dutch nobility were astonished: even the Prince of Orange would not have dared such an outrage, Leicester was warned; but, he wrote, he would not be intimidated by the fact that Hemart "was of a good house".


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Leicester's forces, small and seriously underfinanced from the outset, faced the most formidable army in Europe. Unity among their ranks was at risk by Leicester's and the other officers' quarrels with Sir John Norris, who had commanded previous English contingents in the Netherlands and was now the Earl's deputy. Elizabeth was angry that the war cost more than anticipated and for many months delayed sending money and troops. This not only forced Dudley to raise further funds on his own account, but much aggravated the soldiers' lot. "They cannot get a penny; their credit is spent; they perish for want of victuals and clothing in great numbers ... I assure you it will fret me to death ere long to see my soldiers in this case and cannot help them", Leicester wrote home.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Many Dutch statesmen were essentially politiques; they soon became disenchanted with the Earl's enthusiastic fostering of what he called "the religion". His most loyal friends were the Calvinists at Utrecht and Friesland, provinces in constant opposition to Holland and Zeeland. Those rich provinces engaged in a lucrative trade with Spain which was very helpful to either side's war effort. On Elizabeth's orders Leicester enforced a ban on this trade with the enemy, thus alienating the wealthy Dutch merchants. He also affected a fiscal reform. In order to centralise finances and to replace the highly corrupt tax farming with direct taxation, a new Council of Finances was established which was not under the supervision of the Council of State. The Dutch members of the Council of State were outraged at these bold steps. English peace talks with Spain behind Leicester's back, which had started within days after he had left England, undermined his position further.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: In September 1586 there was a skirmish at Zutphen, in which Philip Sidney was wounded. He died a few weeks later. His uncle's grief was great. In December Leicester returned to England. In his absence, William Stanley and Rowland York, two Catholic officers whom Leicester had placed in command of Deventer and the fort of Zutphen, respectively, went over to Parma, along with their key fortresses—a disaster for the Anglo-Dutch coalition in every respect. His Dutch friends, as his English critics, pressed for Leicester's return to the Netherlands. Shortly after his arrival in June 1587 the English-held port of Sluis was lost to Parma, Leicester being unable to assert his authority over the Dutch allies, who refused to cooperate in relieving the town. After this blow Elizabeth, who ascribed it to "the malice or other foul error of the States", was happy to enter into peace negotiations with the Duke of Parma. By December 1587 the differences between Elizabeth and the Dutch politicians, with Leicester in between, had become insurmountable; he asked to be recalled by the Queen and gave up his post. He was irredeemably in debt because of his personal financing of the war.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: In July 1588, as the Spanish Armada came nearer, the Earl of Leicester was appointed "Lieutenant and Captain-General of the Queen's Armies and Companies". At Tilbury on the Thames he erected a camp for the defence of London, should the Spaniards land. Leicester vigorously counteracted the disorganisation he found everywhere, having few illusions about "all sudden hurley-burleys", as he wrote to Walsingham. When the Privy Council was already considering disbanding the camp to save money, Leicester held against it, setting about to plan with the Queen a visit to her troops. On the day she gave her famous speech he walked beside her horse, bare-headed.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: After the Armada the Earl was seen riding in splendour through London "as if he were a king", and for the last few weeks of his life he usually dined with the Queen, a unique favour. On his way to Buxton in Derbyshire to take the baths, he died at Cornbury Park near Oxford, on 4 September 1588. Leicester's health had not been good for some time; historians have considered malaria and stomach cancer as causes of death. His death came unexpectedly, and only a week earlier he had said farewell to Elizabeth. She was deeply affected and locked herself in her apartment for a few days until Lord Burghley had the door broken. Her nickname for Dudley had been "Eyes", which was symbolised by the sign of ôô in their letters to each other. Elizabeth kept the letter he had sent her six days before his death in her bedside treasure box, endorsing it with "his last letter" on the outside. It was still there when she died 15 years later on 24 March 1603.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Leicester was buried, as he had requested, in the Beauchamp Chapel of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick on 10 October 1588—in the same chapel as Richard Beauchamp, his ancestor, and the "noble Impe", his little son. Countess Lettice was also buried there when she died in 1634, alongside the "best and dearest of husbands", as the epitaph, which she commissioned, says.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: The book which later became known as "Leicester's Commonwealth" was written by Catholic exiles in Paris and printed anonymously in 1584. It was published shortly after the death of Leicester's son, which is alluded to in a stop-press marginal note: "The children of adulterers shall be consumed, and the seed of a wicked bed shall be rooted out." Smuggled into England, the libel became a best-seller with underground booksellers and the next year was translated into French. Its underlying political agenda is the succession of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the English throne, but its most outstanding feature is an all-round attack on the Earl of Leicester. He is presented as an atheistic, hypocritical coward, a "perpetuall Dictator", terrorising the Queen and ruining the whole country. He is engaged in a long-term conspiracy to snatch the Crown from Elizabeth in order to settle it first on his brother-in-law, the Earl of Huntingdon, and ultimately on himself. Spicy details of his monstrous private life are revealed, and he appears as an expert poisoner of many high-profile personalities. This influential classic is the origin of many aspects of Leicester's historical reputation.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: In the early 17th century, William Camden saw "some secret constellation" of the stars at work between Elizabeth and her favourite; he firmly established the legend of the perfect courtier with the sinister influence. Some of the most often-quoted characterisations of Leicester, such as that he "was wont to put up all his passions in his pocket", his nickname of "the Gypsy", and Elizabeth's "I will have here but one mistress and no master"-reprimand to him, were contributed by Sir Henry Wotton and Sir Robert Naunton almost half a century after the Earl's death.


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: The Victorian historian James Anthony Froude saw Robert Dudley as Elizabeth's soft plaything, combining "in himself the worst qualities of both sexes. Without courage, without talent, without virtue". The habit of comparing him unfavourably to William Cecil was continued by Conyers Read in 1925: "Leicester was a selfish, unscrupulous courtier and Burghley a wise and patriotic statesman". Geoffrey Elton, in his widely read "England under the Tudors" (1955), saw Dudley as "a handsome, vigorous man with very little sense."


title: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

text: Since the 1950s, academic assessment of the Earl of Leicester has undergone considerable changes. Leicester's importance in literary patronage was established by Eleanor Rosenberg in 1955. Elizabethan Puritanism has been thoroughly reassessed since the 1960s, and Patrick Collinson has outlined the Earl's place in it. Dudley's religion could thus be better understood, rather than simply to brand him as a hypocrite. His importance as a privy councillor and statesman has often been overlooked, one reason being that many of his letters are scattered among private collections and not easily accessible in print, as are those of his colleagues Walsingham and Cecil. Alan Haynes describes him as "one of the most strangely underrated of Elizabeth's circle of close advisers", while Simon Adams, who since the early 1970s has researched many aspects of Leicester's life and career, concludes: "Leicester was as central a figure to the 'first reign' [of Elizabeth] as Burghley."


title: Chili con carne

text: Chili con carne (also spelled chilli con carne or chile con carne and shortened to chili or chilli; ), meaning "chili with meat", is a spicy stew containing chili peppers (sometimes in the form of chili powder), meat (usually beef), tomatoes and often pinto beans or kidney beans. Other seasonings may include garlic, onions, and cumin. The dish originated in northern Mexico or southern Texas.


title: Chili con carne

text: Geographic and personal tastes involve different types of meat and other ingredients. Recipes provoke disputes among aficionados, some of whom insist that the word "chili" applies only to the basic dish, without beans and tomatoes. Chili con carne is a common dish for cook-offs, and may be used as a side, garnish, or ingredient in other dishes, such as soups or salsas.


title: Chili con carne

text: In writings from 1529, the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún described chili pepper-seasoned stews being consumed in the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, now the location of Mexico City. The use of beef as the primary meat originated with Spanish colonizers. In Spanish, the term "chile con carne", consisting of the word "chile" (from the Nahuatl "chīlli") and "carne", Spanish for 'meat', is first recorded in a book from 1857 about the Mexican-American War. A recipe dating back to the 1850s describes dried beef, suet, dried chili peppers and salt, which were pounded together, formed into bricks and left to dry, which could then be boiled in pots in an army encampment in Monterrey, of what is now Nuevo León, Mexico.


title: Chili con carne

text: Chili became commonly prepared in northern Mexico and southern Texas. Unlike some other Texas foods, such as barbecued brisket, chili largely originated with working-class Tejana and Mexican women. The chili queens of San Antonio, Texas were particularly famous in previous decades for selling their inexpensive chili-flavored beef stew in their casual "chili joints".


title: Chili con carne

text: The San Antonio Chili Stand, in operation at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, helped popularize chili by giving many Americans their first taste of it. San Antonio was a tourist destination and helped Texas-style chili con carne spread throughout the South and West. Chili con carne is the official dish of the U.S. state of Texas as designated by the House Concurrent Resolution Number 18 of the 65th Texas Legislature during its regular session in 1977.


title: Chili con carne

text: Before World War II, hundreds of small, family-run chili parlors could be found throughout Texas and other states, particularly those in which émigré Texans had made new homes. Each establishment usually had a claim to some kind of secret recipe.


title: Chili con carne

text: By 1904, chili parlors were opening outside of Texas, in part due to the availability of commercial versions of chili powder, first manufactured in Texas in the late 19th century. After working at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Charles Taylor opened a chili parlor in Carlinville, Illinois, serving "Mexican Chili". Varallo's, the oldest restaurant in Tennessee, opened as a chili parlor in 1907, competing with other chili parlors that had opened in Nashville during the 1890s. In the 1920s and 1930s, chains of diner-style chili parlors began opening in the Midwest.


title: Chili con carne

text: Cincinnati chili is a dish developed by Macedonian and Greek immigrants, deriving from their own culinary traditions. Dozens of restaurants offer this style throughout the Cincinnati area. It can be traced back to at least 1922, when the original Empress Chili location opened.


title: Chili con carne

text: In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the chili parlor Chili John's has existed since 1913. As with Cincinnati chili, it is most commonly served over spaghetti with oyster crackers, but the recipe has more chili powder and a higher proportion of fat. The original proprietor's son opened a second location in Burbank, California in 1946, which is also still in existence.


title: Chili con carne

text: Until the late 2000s, a chili parlor dating to 1904, O.T. Hodge, continued to operate in St. Louis. It featured a chili-topped dish called a slinger: two cheeseburger patties, hash browns, and two eggs, and smothered in chili. As of 2014 no O.T. Hodge-branded locations remain, though Tully's Tap, a pub and restaurant in O'Fallon, Missouri, offers what it claims to be the original O.T. Hodge recipe on its menu.


title: Chili con carne

text: Beans, a staple of Tex-Mex cuisine, have been associated with chili as far back as the early 20th century. The question of whether beans belong in chili has long been a matter of contention among chili cooks. While it is generally accepted that the earliest chilis did not include beans, proponents of their inclusion contend that chili with beans has a long enough history to be considered authentic. The Chili Appreciation Society International specified in 1999 that, among other things, cooks are forbidden to include beans in the preparation of chili for official competition—nor are they allowed to marinate any meats. Small red or pink common beans are commonly used for chili, as are black beans, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, pinto beans, great northern beans, or navy beans.


title: Chili con carne

text: Most commercially prepared canned chili includes beans. Commercial chili prepared without beans is usually called ""chili no beans"" in the United States. Some U.S. manufacturers, notably Bush Brothers and Company and Eden Organic, also sell canned precooked beans (without meat) that are labeled "chili beans"; these beans are intended for consumers to add to a chili recipe and are often sold with spices added.


title: Chili con carne

text: Tomatoes are another ingredient on which opinions differ. Wick Fowler, a north Texas newspaperman and inventor of "Two-Alarm Chili" (which he later marketed as a kit of spices), insisted on adding tomato sauce to his chili in the ratio of one 15-ounce can per three pounds of meat (425 g per 1.36 kg). He also believed that chili should never be eaten freshly cooked, but refrigerated overnight to seal in the flavor. Matt Weinstock, a Los Angeles newspaper columnist, once remarked that Fowler's chili "was reputed to open eighteen sinus cavities unknown to the medical profession".


title: Chili con carne

text: Vegetarian chili (also known as chili sin carne, chili without meat, chili non carne, and chili sans carne) acquired wide popularity in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s with the rise of vegetarianism. It is also popular with those on a diet restricting the use of red meat. To make the chili vegetarian, the cook leaves out the meat or replaces it with a meat analogue, such as textured vegetable protein or tofu, quinoa, or a starchy vegetable, such as potatoes. These chilis nearly always include beans. Variants may contain corn, squash, sautéed mushrooms, pearl onions, shallots or beets.


title: Chili con carne

text: Chile verde ('green chile') is a moderately to extremely spicy New Mexican stew or sauce usually made from chunks of pork that have been slow-cooked in chicken broth, garlic, green tomatillos, and roasted green chile. The spiciness of the chile is adjusted by the use of various peppers: Hatch chile, poblano, jalapeño, serrano, and occasionally habanero. Chile verde is a common filling for the Mission burrito.


title: Chili con carne

text: White chili is made using chicken or turkey meat and broth, white beans, and green chili peppers. The resulting dish appears white when cooked. A white cheese, such as Monterey Jack, or sour cream are often added when served.


title: Chili con carne

text: The dish may be served with toppings or accompaniments; grated cheese, diced onions, and sour cream are common toppings, as are saltine crackers, tortilla chips or corn chips, cornbread, rolled-up corn or flour tortillas, and pork tamales. Chili can also be served over rice or pasta in dishes such as chili mac.


title: Chili con carne

text: Willie Gebhardt, originally of New Braunfels, Texas, and later of San Antonio, produced the first canned chili in 1908. Rancher Lyman Davis near Corsicana, Texas, developed Wolf Brand Chili in 1895. He owned a meat market and was a particular fan of Texas-style chili. In the 1880s, in partnership with an experienced range cook, he began producing heavily spiced chili based on chunks of lean beef and rendered beef suet, which he sold by the pot to local cafés.


title: Chili con carne

text: In 1921, Davis began canning his product, naming it for his pet wolf, Kaiser Bill. Wolf Brand canned chili was a favorite of Will Rogers, who always took along a case when traveling and performing in other regions of the world. Ernest Tubb, the country singer, was such a fan that one Texas hotel maintained a supply of Wolf Brand for his visits. Both the Gebhardt and Wolf brands are now owned by ConAgra Foods, Inc. Another major maker of canned chili, Hormel, sells chili available with or without beans, made with turkey or in vegetarian varieties, under their own name and other brands like Stagg.


title: Chili con carne

text: Another method of marketing commercial chili in the days before widespread home refrigerators was "brick chili". It was produced by pressing out nearly all of the moisture, leaving a solid substance roughly the size and shape of a half-brick. Wolf Brand was originally sold in this form. Commonly available in small towns and rural areas of the American Southwest in the first three-quarters of the 20th century, brick chili has largely been superseded by canned chili. A few manufacturers, such as XLNT Foods and Dolores Canning in Southern California, continue to distribute brick chili to supermarkets.


title: Chili con carne

text: Home cooks may also purchase seasoning mixes for chili, including packets of dry ingredients such as chili powder, masa flour, salt, and cayenne pepper, to flavor meat and other ingredients.


title: Innovation

text: Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity realizing or redistributing value". Others have different definitions; a common element in the definitions is a focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies.


title: Innovation

text: Innovation often takes place through the development of more-effective products, processes, services, technologies, art works


title: Innovation

text: or business models that innovators make available to markets, governments and society. Innovation is related to, but not the same as, invention: innovation is more apt to involve the practical implementation of an invention (i.e. new / improved ability) to make a meaningful impact in a market or society, and not all innovations require a new invention.


title: Innovation

text: Technical innovation often manifests itself via the engineering process when the problem being solved is of a technical or scientific nature. The opposite of innovation is exnovation.


title: Innovation

text: Surveys of the literature on innovation have found a variety of definitions. In 2009, Baregheh et al. found around 60 definitions in different scientific papers, while a 2014 survey found over 40. Based on their survey, Baragheh et al. attempted to define a multidisciplinary definition and arrived at the following definition:"Innovation is the multi-stage process whereby organizations transform ideas into new/improved products, service or processes, in order to advance, compete and differentiate themselves successfully in their marketplace"


title: Innovation

text: In an industrial survey of how the software industry defined innovation, the following definition given by Crossan and Apaydin was considered to be the most complete, which builds on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) manual's definition:


title: Innovation

text: American sociologist Everett Rogers, defined it as follows:"An idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption"


title: Innovation

text: According to Alan Altshuler and Robert D. Behn, innovation includes original invention and creative use and defines innovation as a generation, admission and realization of new ideas, products, services and processes.


title: Innovation

text: Two main dimensions of innovation are degree of novelty (i.e. whether an innovation is new to the firm, new to the market, new to the industry, or new to the world) and kind of innovation (i.e. whether it is process or product-service system innovation). In organizational scholarship, researchers have also distinguished innovation to be separate from creativity, by providing an updated definition of these two related constructs:


title: Innovation

text: In general, innovation is distinguished from creativity by its emphasis on the implementation of creative ideas in an economic setting. Amabile and Pratt in 2016, drawing on the literature, distinguish between creativity ("the production of novel and useful ideas by an individual or small group of individuals working together") and innovation ("the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization").


title: Innovation

text: One framework proposed by Clayton Christensen draws a distinction between sustaining and disruptive innovations. Sustaining innovation is the improvement of a product or service based on the known needs of current customers (e.g. faster microprocessors, flat screen televisions). Disruptive innovation in contrast refers to a process by which a new product or service creates a new market (e.g. transistor radio, free crowdsourced encyclopedia, etc.), eventually displacing established competitors. According to Christensen, disruptive innovations are critical to long-term success in business.


title: Innovation

text: Disruptive innovation is often enabled by disruptive technology. Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani define foundational technology as having the potential to create new foundations for global technology systems over the longer term. Foundational technology tends to transform business operating models as entirely new business models emerge over many years, with gradual and steady adoption of the innovation leading to waves of technological and institutional change that gain momentum more slowly. The advent of the packet-switched communication protocol TCP/IP—originally introduced in 1972 to support a single use case for United States Department of Defense electronic communication (email), and which gained widespread adoption only in the mid-1990s with the advent of the World Wide Web—is a foundational technology.


title: Innovation

text: While Henderson and Clark as well as Christensen talk about technical innovation there are other kinds of innovation as well, such as service innovation and organizational innovation.


title: Innovation

text: The classical definition of innovation being limited to the primary goal of generating profit for a firm, has led others to define other types of innovation such as: social innovation, sustainable innovation (or green innovation), and responsible innovation.


title: Innovation

text: The word "innovation" once had a quite different meaning. The first full-length discussion about innovation is the account by the Greek philosopher and historian Xenophon (430–355 BCE). He viewed the concept as multifaceted and connected it to political action. The word for innovation that he uses, 'kainotomia', had previously occurred in two plays by Aristophanes ( – BCE). Plato (died BCE) discussed innovation in his "Laws" dialogue and was not very fond of the concept. He was skeptical to it both in culture (dancing and art) and in education (he did not believe in introducing new games and toys to the kids). Aristotle (384–322 BCE) did not like organizational innovations: he believed that all possible forms of organization had been discovered.


title: Innovation

text: Before the 4th century in Rome, the words "novitas" and "res nova / nova res" were used with either negative or positive judgment on the innovator. This concept meant "renewing" and was incorporated into the new Latin verb word "innovo" ("I renew" or "I restore") in the centuries that followed. The "Vulgate" version of the Bible (late 4th century CE) used the word in spiritual as well as political contexts. It also appeared in poetry, mainly with spiritual connotations, but was also connected to political, material and cultural aspects.


title: Innovation

text: Machiavelli's "The Prince" (1513), discusses innovation in a political setting. Machiavelli portrays it as a strategy a Prince may employ in order to cope with a constantly changing world as well as the corruption within it. Here innovation is described as introducing change in government (new laws and institutions); Machiavelli's later book "The Discourses" (1528) characterises innovation as imitation, as a return to the original that has been corrupted by people and by time. Thus for Machiavelli innovation came with positive connotations. This is however an exception in the usage of the concept of innovation from the 16th century and onward. No innovator from the renaissance until the late 19th century ever thought of applying the word innovator upon themselves, it was a word used to attack enemies.


title: Innovation

text: From the 1400s through the 1600s, the concept of innovation was pejorative – the term was an early-modern synonym for "rebellion", "revolt" and "heresy". In the 1800s people promoting capitalism saw socialism as an innovation and spent a lot of energy working against it. For instance, Goldwin Smith (1823-1910) saw the spread of social innovations as an attack on money and banks. These social innovations were socialism, communism, nationalization, cooperative associations.


title: Innovation

text: In the 20th century the concept of innovation did not become popular until after the Second World War of 1939-1945. This is the point in time when people started to talk about "technological" product innovation and tie it to the idea of economic growth and competitive advantage. Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) is often credited as the one who made the term popular - he contributed greatly to the study of innovation economics,


title: Innovation

text: In business and in economics, innovation can provide a catalyst for growth in an enterprise or even in an industry. With rapid advances in transportation and communications over the past few decades, the old concepts of factor endowments and comparative advantage which focused on an area's unique inputs are outmoded in today's global economy. Schumpeter argued that industries must incessantly revolutionize the economic structure from within, that is: innovate with better or more effective processes and products, as well as with market distribution (such as the transition from the craft shop to factory). He famously asserted that "creative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism". Entrepreneurs continuously search for better ways to satisfy their consumer base with improved quality, durability, service and price - searches which may come to fruition in innovation with advanced technologies and organizational strategies.


title: Innovation

text: A prime example of innovation involved the boom of Silicon Valley start-ups out of the Stanford Industrial Park. In 1957, dissatisfied employees of Shockley Semiconductor, the company of Nobel laureate and co-inventor of the transistor William Shockley, left to form an independent firm, Fairchild Semiconductor. After several years, Fairchild developed into a formidable presence in the sector. Eventually, these founders left to start their own companies based on their own unique ideas, and then leading employees started their own firms. Over the next 20 years this process resulted in the momentous startup-company explosion of information-technology firms. Silicon Valley began as 65 new enterprises born out of Shockley's eight former employees.


title: Innovation

text: Another example involves business incubators – a phenomenon introduced in 1959 and subsequently nurtured by governments around the world. Such "incubators", located close to knowledge clusters (mostly research-based) like universities or other government excellence centres – aim primarily to channel generated knowledge to applied innovation outcomes in order to stimulate regional or national economic growth.


title: Innovation

text: In the 21st century the Islamic State (IS) movement, while decrying religious innovations, has innovated in military tactics, recruitment, ideology and geopolitical activity.


title: Innovation

text: An early model included only three phases of innovation. According to Utterback (1971), these phases were: 1) idea generation, 2) problem solving, and 3) implementation. By the time one completed phase 2, one had an invention, but until one got it to the point of having an economic impact, one didn't have an innovation. Diffusion wasn't considered a phase of innovation. Focus at this point in time was on manufacturing.


title: Innovation

text: All organizations can innovate, including for example hospitals, universities, and local governments. The organization requires a proper structure in order to retain competitive advantage. Organizations can also improve profits and performance by providing work groups opportunities and resources to innovate, in addition to employee's core job tasks. Executives and managers have been advised to break away from traditional ways of thinking and use change to their advantage. The world of work is changing with the increased use of technology and companies are becoming increasingly competitive. Companies will have to downsize or reengineer their operations to remain competitive. This will affect employment as businesses will be forced to reduce the number of people employed while accomplishing the same amount of work if not more.


title: Innovation

text: For instance, former Mayor Martin O’Malley pushed the City of Baltimore to use CitiStat, a performance-measurement data and management system that allows city officials to maintain statistics on several areas from crime trends to the conditions of potholes. This system aided in better evaluation of policies and procedures with accountability and efficiency in terms of time and money. In its first year, CitiStat saved the city $13.2 million. Even mass transit systems have innovated with hybrid bus fleets to real-time tracking at bus stands. In addition, the growing use of mobile data terminals in vehicles, that serve as communication hubs between vehicles and a control center, automatically send data on location, passenger counts, engine performance, mileage and other information. This tool helps to deliver and manage transportation systems.


title: Innovation

text: Still other innovative strategies include hospitals digitizing medical information in electronic medical records. For example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOPE VI initiatives turned severely distressed public housing in urban areas into revitalized, mixed-income environments; the Harlem Children’s Zone used a community-based approach to educate local area children; and the Environmental Protection Agency's brownfield grants facilitates turning over brownfields for environmental protection, green spaces, community and commercial development.


title: Innovation

text: Innovation may occur due to effort from a range of different agents, by chance, or as a result of a major system failure. According to Peter F. Drucker, the general sources of innovations are changes in industry structure, in market structure, in local and global demographics, in human perception, in the amount of available scientific knowledge, etc.


title: Innovation

text: In the simplest linear model of innovation the traditionally recognized source is "manufacturer innovation". This is where an agent (person or business) innovates in order to sell the innovation. Specifically, R&D measurement is the commonly used input for innovation, in particular in the business sector, named Business Expenditure on R&D (BERD) that grew over the years on the expenses of the declining R&D invested by the public sector.


title: Innovation

text: Another source of innovation, only now becoming widely recognized, is "end-user innovation". This is where an agent (person or company) develops an innovation for their own (personal or in-house) use because existing products do not meet their needs. MIT economist Eric von Hippel has identified end-user innovation as, by far, the most important and critical in his classic book on the subject, ""The Sources of Innovation"".


title: Innovation

text: The Kline chain-linked model of innovation places emphasis on potential market needs as drivers of the innovation process, and describes the complex and often iterative feedback loops between marketing, design, manufacturing, and R&D.


title: Innovation

text: Innovation by businesses is achieved in many ways, with much attention now given to formal research and development (R&D) for "breakthrough innovations". R&D help spur on patents and other scientific innovations that leads to productive growth in such areas as industry, medicine, engineering, and government. Yet, innovations can be developed by less formal on-the-job modifications of practice, through exchange and combination of professional experience and by many other routes. Investigation of relationship between the concepts of innovation and technology transfer revealed overlap. The more radical and revolutionary innovations tend to emerge from R&D, while more incremental innovations may emerge from practice – but there are many exceptions to each of these trends.


title: Innovation

text: Information technology and changing business processes and management style can produce a work climate favorable to innovation. For example, the software tool company Atlassian conducts quarterly "ShipIt Days" in which employees may work on anything related to the company's products. Google employees work on self-directed projects for 20% of their time (known as Innovation Time Off). Both companies cite these bottom-up processes as major sources for new products and features.


title: Innovation

text: An important innovation factor includes customers buying products or using services. As a result, organizations may incorporate users in focus groups (user centered approach), work closely with so-called lead users (lead user approach), or users might adapt their products themselves. The lead user method focuses on idea generation based on leading users to develop breakthrough innovations. U-STIR, a project to innovate Europe's surface transportation system, employs such workshops. Regarding this user innovation, a great deal of innovation is done by those actually implementing and using technologies and products as part of their normal activities. Sometimes user-innovators may become entrepreneurs, selling their product, they may choose to trade their innovation in exchange for other innovations, or they may be adopted by their suppliers. Nowadays, they may also choose to freely reveal their innovations, using methods like open source. In such networks of innovation the users or communities of users can further develop technologies and reinvent their social meaning.


title: Innovation

text: One technique for innovating a solution to an identified problem is to actually attempt an experiment with many possible solutions. This technique was famously used by Thomas Edison's laboratory to find a version of the incandescent light bulb economically viable for home use, which involved searching through thousands of possible filament designs before settling on carbonized bamboo.


title: Innovation

text: This technique is sometimes used in pharmaceutical drug discovery. Thousands of chemical compounds are subjected to high-throughput screening to see if they have any activity against a target molecule which has been identified as biologically significant to a disease. Promising compounds can then be studied; modified to improve efficacy and reduce side effects, evaluated for cost of manufacture; and if successful turned into treatments.


title: Innovation

text: The related technique of A/B testing is often used to help optimize the design of web sites and mobile apps. This is used by major sites such as amazon.com, Facebook, Google, and Netflix. Procter & Gamble uses computer-simulated products and online user panels to conduct larger numbers of experiments to guide the design, packaging, and shelf placement of consumer products. Capital One uses this technique to drive credit card marketing offers.


title: Innovation

text: Programs of organizational innovation are typically tightly linked to organizational goals and growth objectives, to the business plan, and to market competitive positioning. Davila et al. (2006) note, "Companies cannot grow through cost reduction and reengineering alone... Innovation is the key element in providing aggressive top-line growth, and for increasing bottom-line results".


title: Innovation

text: One survey across a large number of manufacturing and services organizations found that systematic programs of organizational innovation are most frequently driven by: improved quality, creation of new markets, extension of the product range, reduced labor costs, improved production processes, reduced materials cost, reduced environmental damage, replacement of products/services, reduced energy consumption, and conformance to regulations.


title: Innovation

text: Different goals are appropriate for different products, processes, and services. According to Andrea Vaona and Mario Pianta, some example goals of innovation could stem from two different types of technological strategies: "technological competitiveness" and "active price competitiveness". "Technological competitiveness" may have a tendency to be pursued by smaller firms and can be characterized as "efforts for market-oriented innovation, such as a strategy of market expansion and patenting activity." On the other hand, "active price competitiveness" is geared toward process innovations that lead to efficiency and flexibility, which tend to be pursued by large, established firms as they seek to expand their market foothold. Whether innovation goals are successfully achieved or otherwise depends greatly on the environment prevailing in the organization.


title: Innovation

text: Failure of organizational innovation programs has been widely researched and the causes vary considerably. Some causes are external to the organization and outside its influence of control. Others are internal and ultimately within the control of the organization. Internal causes of failure can be divided into causes associated with the cultural infrastructure and causes associated with the innovation process itself. David O'Sullivan wrote that causes of failure within the innovation process in most organizations can be distilled into five types: poor goal definition, poor alignment of actions to goals, poor participation in teams, poor monitoring of results, and poor communication and access to information.


title: Innovation

text: Diffusion of innovation research was first started in 1903 by seminal researcher Gabriel Tarde, who first plotted the S-shaped diffusion curve. Tarde defined the innovation-decision process as a series of steps that include:


title: Innovation

text: Once innovation occurs, innovations may be spread from the innovator to other individuals and groups. This process has been proposed that the lifecycle of innovations can be described using the 's-curve' or diffusion curve. The s-curve maps growth of revenue or productivity against time. In the early stage of a particular innovation, growth is relatively slow as the new product establishes itself. At some point, customers begin to demand and the product growth increases more rapidly. New incremental innovations or changes to the product allow growth to continue. Towards the end of its lifecycle, growth slows and may even begin to decline. In the later stages, no amount of new investment in that product will yield a normal rate of return.


title: Innovation

text: The s-curve derives from an assumption that new products are likely to have "product life" – i.e., a start-up phase, a rapid increase in revenue and eventual decline. In fact, the great majority of innovations never get off the bottom of the curve, and never produce normal returns.


title: Innovation

text: Innovative companies will typically be working on new innovations that will eventually replace older ones. Successive s-curves will come along to replace older ones and continue to drive growth upwards. In the figure above the first curve shows a current technology. The second shows an emerging technology that currently yields lower growth but will eventually overtake current technology and lead to even greater levels of growth. The length of life will depend on many factors.


title: Innovation

text: Measuring innovation is inherently difficult as it implies commensurability so that comparisons can be made in quantitative terms. Innovation, however, is by definition novelty. Comparisons are thus often meaningless across products or service. Nevertheless, Edison et al. in their review of literature on innovation management found 232 innovation metrics. They categorized these measures along five dimensions; i.e. inputs to the innovation process, output from the innovation process, effect of the innovation output, measures to access the activities in an innovation process and availability of factors that facilitate such a process.


title: Innovation

text: There are two different types of measures for innovation: the organizational level and the political level.


title: Innovation

text: Other ways of measuring innovation have traditionally been expenditure, for example, investment in R&D (Research and Development) as percentage of GNP (Gross National Product). Whether this is a good measurement of innovation has been widely discussed and the Oslo Manual has incorporated some of the critique against earlier methods of measuring. The traditional methods of measuring still inform many policy decisions. The EU Lisbon Strategy has set as a goal that their average expenditure on R&D should be 3% of GDP.


title: Innovation

text: Many scholars claim that there is a great bias towards the "science and technology mode" (S&T-mode or STI-mode), while the "learning by doing, using and interacting mode" (DUI-mode) is ignored and measurements and research about it rarely done. For example, an institution may be high tech with the latest equipment, but lacks crucial doing, using and interacting tasks important for innovation.


title: Innovation

text: A common industry view (unsupported by empirical evidence) is that comparative cost-effectiveness research is a form of price control which reduces returns to industry, and thus limits R&D expenditure, stifles future innovation and compromises new products access to markets.


title: Innovation

text: Some academics claim cost-effectiveness research is a valuable value-based measure of innovation which accords "truly significant" therapeutic advances (i.e. providing "health gain") higher prices than free market mechanisms. Such value-based pricing has been viewed as a means of indicating to industry the type of innovation that should be rewarded from the public purse.


title: Innovation

text: An Australian academic developed the case that national comparative cost-effectiveness analysis systems should be viewed as measuring "health innovation" as an evidence-based policy concept for valuing innovation distinct from valuing through competitive markets, a method which requires strong anti-trust laws to be effective, on the basis that both methods of assessing pharmaceutical innovations are mentioned in annex 2C.1 of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.


title: Innovation

text: Common areas of focus include: high-tech companies, manufacturing, patents, post secondary education, research and development, and research personnel. The left ranking of the top 10 countries below is based on the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index. However, studies may vary widely; for example the Global Innovation Index 2016 ranks Switzerland as number one wherein countries like South Korea, Japan, and China do not even make the top ten.


title: Innovation

text: In 2005 Jonathan Huebner, a physicist working at the Pentagon's Naval Air Warfare Center, argued on the basis of both U.S. patents and world technological breakthroughs, per capita, that the rate of human technological innovation peaked in 1873 and has been slowing ever since. In his article, he asked "Will the level of technology reach a maximum and then decline as in the Dark Ages?" In later comments to "New Scientist" magazine, Huebner clarified that while he believed that we will reach a rate of innovation in 2024 equivalent to that of the Dark Ages, he was not predicting the reoccurrence of the Dark Ages themselves.


title: Innovation

text: John Smart criticized the claim and asserted that technological singularity researcher Ray Kurzweil and others showed a "clear trend of acceleration, not deceleration" when it came to innovations. The foundation replied to Huebner the journal his article was published in, citing Second Life and eHarmony as proof of accelerating innovation; to which Huebner replied.


title: Innovation

text: However, Huebner's findings were confirmed in 2010 with U.S. Patent Office data. and in a 2012 paper.


title: Innovation

text: The theme of innovation as a tool to disrupting patterns of poverty has gained momentum since the mid-2000s among major international development actors such as DFID, Gates Foundation's use of the Grand Challenge funding model, and USAID's Global Development Lab. Networks have been established to support innovation in development, such as D-Lab at MIT. Investment funds have been established to identify and catalyze innovations in developing countries, such as DFID's Global Innovation Fund, Human Development Innovation Fund, and (in partnership with USAID) the Global Development Innovation Ventures.


title: Innovation

text: The United States has to continue to play on the same level of playing field as its competitors in federal research. This can be achieved being strategically innovative through investment in basic research and science".


title: Innovation

text: Given its effects on efficiency, quality of life, and productive growth, innovation is a key driver in improving society and economy. Consequently, policymakers have worked to develop environments that will foster innovation, from funding research and development to establishing regulations that do not inhibit innovation, funding the development of innovation clusters, and using public purchasing and standardisation to 'pull' innovation through.


title: Innovation

text: For instance, experts are advocating that the U.S. federal government launch a National Infrastructure Foundation, a nimble, collaborative strategic intervention organization that will house innovations programs from fragmented silos under one entity, inform federal officials on innovation performance metrics, strengthen industry-university partnerships, and support innovation economic development initiatives, especially to strengthen regional clusters. Because clusters are the geographic incubators of innovative products and processes, a cluster development grant program would also be targeted for implementation. By focusing on innovating in such areas as precision manufacturing, information technology, and clean energy, other areas of national concern would be tackled including government debt, carbon footprint, and oil dependence. The U.S. Economic Development Administration understand this reality in their continued Regional Innovation Clusters initiative. The United States also has to integrate her supply-chain and improve her applies research capability and downstream process innovation.


title: Innovation

text: Many countries recognize the importance of innovation including Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research; and the Ministry of Science and Technology in the People's Republic of China. Russia's innovation programme is the Medvedev modernisation programme which aims to create a diversified economy based on high technology and innovation. The Government of Western Australia has established a number of innovation incentives for government departments. Landgate was the first Western Australian government agency to establish its Innovation Program.


title: Innovation

text: Some regions have taken a proactive role in supporting innovation. Many regional governments are setting up innovation agencies to strengthen regional capabilities. In 2009, the municipality of Medellin, Colombia created Ruta N to transform the city into a knowledge city.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: A sedan or saloon (British English) is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: The first recorded use of the word "sedan" in reference to an automobile body occurred in 1912. The name derives from the 17th-century litter known as a sedan chair, a one-person enclosed box with windows and carried by porters.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: Variations of the sedan style include the close-coupled sedan, club sedan, convertible sedan, fastback sedan, hardtop sedan, notchback sedan, and sedanet/sedanette.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: A sedan () is a car with a closed body (i.e. a fixed metal roof) with the engine, passengers, and cargo in separate compartments. This broad definition does not differentiate sedans from various other car body styles, but in practice, the typical characteristics of sedans are:


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: It is sometimes suggested that sedans must have four doors (to provide a simple distinction between sedans and two-door coupés). However, several sources state that a sedan can have two or four doors. In addition, terms such as sedan and coupé have been more loosely interpreted by car manufacturers since 2010.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: When a manufacturer produces two-door sedan and four-door sedan versions of the same model, the shape and position of the greenhouse on both versions may be identical, with only the B-pillar positioned further back to accommodate the longer doors on the two-door versions.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: A sedan chair, a sophisticated litter, was an enclosed box with windows used to transport one seated person. Porters at the front and rear carried the chair with horizontal poles. Litters date back to long before ancient Egypt, India and China. Sedan chairs were developed in the 1630s. Etymologists suggest the name of the chair very probably came through varieties of Italian from the Latin "sedere", meaning "to sit".


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: There were fully enclosed automobile bodies before 1912. Long before that time the same fully enclosed but horse-drawn carriages were known as a "brougham" in the United Kingdom, "berline" in France, and "berlina" in Italy (the latter two have become the terms for sedans in these countries).


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: It is sometimes stated that the 1899 Renault Voiturette Type B (a 2-seat car with an extra external seat for a footman/mechanic) was the first sedan, since it is the first known car to be produced with a roof. A one of instance of a similar coach work is also known in a 1900 De Dion-Bouton Type D.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: However, a sedan is typically considered to be a fixed roof car with at least 4 seats. Based on this definition, the earliest sedan was the 1911 Speedwell, which was manufactured in the United States.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: In American English, Latin American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese, the term sedan is used (accented as sedán in Spanish).


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: In British English, a car of this configuration is called a saloon (). Hatchback sedans are known simply as hatchbacks (not hatchback saloons); long-wheelbase luxury saloons with a division between the driver and passengers are limousines. An equivalent term for Sports sedan in the United Kingdom is "super saloon".


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: In Australia and New Zealand sedan is now predominantly used, they were previously simply cars. In the 21st century, saloon is still found in the long-established names of particular motor races.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: In other languages, sedans are known as berline (French), berlina (European Spanish, European Portuguese, Romanian, and Italian) though they may include hatchbacks. These names, like the sedan, all come from forms of passenger transport used before the advent of automobiles. In German, a sedan is called Limousine and a limousine is a Stretch-Limousine.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: In the United States, two-door sedan models were marketed as "Tudor" in the Ford Model A (1927–1931) series. Automakers use different terms to differentiate their products and for Ford's sedan body styles "the tudor (2-door) and fordor (4-door) were marketing terms designed to stick in the minds of the public." Ford continued to use the Tudor name for 5-window coupes, 2-door convertibles, and roadsters since all had two doors.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: The Tudor name was also used to describe the Škoda 1101/1102 introduced in 1946. The name was popularized by the public for a two-door model and was then applied by the automaker to the entire line that included a four-door sedan and station wagon versions.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: In the United States, notchback sedan distinguishes models with a horizontal trunk lid. The term is generally only referred to in marketing when it is necessary to distinguish between two sedan body styles (e.g. notchback and fastback) of the same model range.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: Several sedans have a fastback profile, but instead of a trunk lid, the entire back of the vehicle lifts up (using a liftgate or hatch). Examples include the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, BMW 4 Series Grand Coupe, Audi A5 Sportback, and Tesla Model S.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: The names "hatchback" and "sedan" are often used to differentiate between body styles of the same model. Therefore the term "hatchback sedan" is not often used, to avoid confusion.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: Hardtop sedans were a popular body style in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s. Hardtops are manufactured without a B-pillar leaving uninterrupted open space or, when closed, glass along the side of the car. The top was intended to look like a convertible's top but it was fixed and made of hard material that did not fold.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: All manufacturers in the United States from the early 1950s into the 1970s provided at least a 2-door hardtop model in their range and a 4-door hardtop as well. The lack of side-bracing demanded a particularly strong and heavy chassis frame to combat unavoidable flexing. The pillarless design was also available in four-door models using unibody construction. For example, Chrysler moved to unibody designs for most of its models in 1960 and American Motors Corporation (AMC) offered four-door sedans, as well a four-door station wagon from 1958 until 1960 in the Rambler and Ambassador series.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: In 1973 the US government passed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 216 creating a standard roof strength test to measure the integrity of roof structure in motor vehicles to come into effect some years later. Production of hardtop sedan body style ended with the 1978 Chrysler Newport. For a time roofs were covered with vinyl and B-pillars were minimized by using styling methods like matt black finishes. Stylists and engineers soon developed more subtle solutions.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: A close-coupled sedan is a body style produced in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Their two-box boxy styling made these sedans more like crossover vehicles than traditional three-box sedans. Like other close-coupled body styles, the rear seats are located further forward than a regular sedan. This reduced the length of the body, so close-coupled sedans (also known as town sedans) were the smallest of the sedan models offered.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: A two-door sedan for four or five passengers but with less room for passengers than a standard sedan. A Coach body has no external trunk for luggage. Haajanen notes it can be difficult to tell the difference between a Club and a Brougham and a Coach body as if manufacturers were more concerned with marketing their product than adhering to strict body style definitions.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: Close-coupled saloons originated as four-door thoroughbred sporting horse-drawn carriages with little room for the feet of rear passengers.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: In automotive use, manufacturers in the United Kingdom used the term for the development of the chummy body where passengers were forced to be friendly because they were tightly packed. They provided weather protection for extra passengers in what would otherwise be a two-seater car. Two-door versions would be described in the US and France as coach bodies. A postwar example is the Rover 3 Litre Coupé.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: Produced in the United States from the mid-1920s to the mid-1950s, the name club sedan was used for highly appointed models using the sedan chassis. Some people describe a club sedan as a two-door vehicle with a body style otherwise identical to the sedan models in the range. Others describe a club sedan as having either two or four doors and a shorter roof (and therefore less interior space) than the other sedan models in the range.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: The term "club sedan" originates from the club carriage (e.g. the lounge or parlour carriage) in a railroad train.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: From the 1910s to the 1950s, several United States manufacturers have named models either Sedanet or Sedanette. The term originated as a smaller version of the sedan, however it has also been used for convertibles and fastback coupes.


title: Sedan (automobile)

text: Models which have been called Sedanet or Sedanette include: 1917 Dort Sedanet, King, 1919 Lexington, 1930s Cadillac Fleetwood Sedanette, 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Sedanette, 1942-1951 Buick Super Sedanet and 1956 Studebaker.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The Škoda Octavia is a small family car produced by the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto since the end of 1996. It shares its name with an earlier model produced between 1959 and 1971. Four generations of the modern-era Octavia model have been introduced to date, delivered with five-door liftback or five-door estate styles only. The car is front engined, both front- or four-wheel drive are offered. Around five million units have been sold in its two decades of presence on the market. The Octavia is Škoda's most popular model; about 40% of all newly manufactured Škoda cars are Octavias.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The current generation is available in a wide range of derivatives, i.e. sporty Octavia RS, estate Octavia Combi, four-wheel drive Octavia Scout, frugal Octavia GreenLine and CNG-powered Octavia G-TEC.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The first generation Octavia was released in November 1996 and was built at the modernised Škoda factory in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. This generation was made available in liftback or estate styles.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In the United Kingdom, sales began in 1998 and the mid-size car was a success, nearing the success of established large family car favourites such as the Ford Mondeo and Vauxhall Vectra.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The first generation Octavia had a facelift in 2000, and was still manufactured and marketed in some markets, even after the second generation was introduced in 2004. In Germany, and other parts of West Europe, as well as Asia, the first generation model was marketed as the Octavia Tour, while the newer model is marketed as the Octavia. In some markets, the first generation Octavia was still known as Octavia, and the newer model was referred to as the new Octavia, Octavia5 (Greece) or Laura (India).


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In India, the Octavia was launched in 2002 and was an instant hit for its frugal engines and solid build. It became a huge success in India, selling 44,900 units.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The facelifted Octavia featured a 4x4 wheel drive version both for the estate and more popular liftback models, and used the Haldex Traction clutch, like other Volkswagen Group A platform based cars (Volkswagen Golf Mk4, Audi A3 and SEAT León Cupra R4). It had higher ground clearance and a bigger fuel tank carrying compared to the standard front wheel drive versions.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The 4x4 option was only available with the 1.8 T petrol engine, the 1.9 TDI diesel engine, or the 2.0 L petrol engine, all coupled with a 5-speed manual gearbox, and with the 1.9 TDI-PD (Pumpe-Düse) diesel engine which came with a 6-speed manual gearbox.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The RS (vRS in the UK) was the top-level and quickest specification and used a 1.8-litre straight-4 turbocharged engine which produced . Škoda made a limited number of 100 WRC Replica Cars worldwide in 2002. These differ from normal RS Octavias, as they are produced in white, have rally decals and have additional accessories as standard (such as ESP, xenon lights, heated front seats).


title: Škoda Octavia

text: A special version of the Octavia, lengthened by 8 cm, was produced in 2001 and only intended for government purposes. It was available in the Laurin & Klement trim (which included air conditioning, leather and cruise control among others), but also equipped with other features such as a telephone, reading lights and folding tables. The length was achieved by widening the center pillar, increasing space for the rear seat passengers.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: Supposedly, Škoda delivered only 25 automobiles to the state administration, five of them in the facelifted version. All were hand-built and the factory sold them below the build price.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The second-generation Octavia was introduced in March 2004, based on the Volkswagen Group A5 (PQ35) platform also used by other Volkswagen Group cars, such as the Audi A3 Mk2, Volkswagen Golf Mk5, Volkswagen Jetta Mk5, SEAT León Mk2, etc.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: Responsible for the design were Thomas Ingenlath and Peter Wouda. Along with a new internal-combustion engine range, also shared with other models of the Volkswagen Group, body changes included more legroom for rear-seat passengers (a weak point in the original model) and increased ground clearance at front and rear to reduce the risk of grounding on steep ramps or facing kerbs.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In addition to the Czech factories in Mladá Boleslav and Vrchlabi, from 2008, the Octavia has also been produced at a factory in Bratislava, Slovakia, and in Shanghai, China, under the joint venture of Shanghai Volkswagen. In Russia, the Octavia is assembled at the Volkswagen plant in Kaluga.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In India, the second-generation Octavia was marketed as the Laura to distinguish it from the first generation. The car was marketed in a higher-income segment, and was sold alongside the previous-generation Octavia. However, the first generation ended production in India in 2010, and as of 2012, the Laura's price was reduced and was competing in its predecessor's segment.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: Two four-wheel-drive versions of the Octavia are made: the 4x4 and the Scout, both featuring a Haldex Traction four-wheel-drive system, based on a computer-controlled clutch centre coupling. The two models both have higher ground clearance than the standard Octavia, increased by for the 4x4 and by for the Scout.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The Scout, announced in 2006, is only available with the estate body style, and has several crossover-style exterior modifications, such as larger bumpers.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In August 2011, a special Škoda Octavia RS hit the world record on the American Bonneville Speedway and became the fastest car in the world with an up to two-litre engine, when it hit .


title: Škoda Octavia

text: Several engine options are available. All engines are inline-four cylinder designs, water-cooled and use multipoint fuel injection. All diesel engines are turbocharged direct injection (TDI) engines.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In the United Kingdom, the Octavia is available in these trim levels: Classic (now called S), Ambiente (now called SE), 4x4 (estate only), Elegance, Laurin & Klement, Scout 4x4 (estate only), and vRS. All models come with four airbags, electric front windows, air conditioning, central locking and antilock braking system. In some markets, including British and Czech, a version aimed to lower fuel consumption called Greenline is also available. As of September 2011, trim levels have been renamed to Active (Classic) and Ambition (Ambiente).


title: Škoda Octavia

text: A facelifted version was launched in 2009, after being formally unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The modifications of the facelifted version include aesthetic exterior changes, mechanical changes, and interior features. Externally, the designs of the headlights and bumpers were revised. Some changes were made to the range of available engines and manual and automatic gearboxes, with the 1.4 TSI and 1.8 TSI engines and the seven-speed direct-shift gearbox transmission available for the first time. Inside the car, the stereo and steering wheels were revised, along with some of the interior trim.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The third-generation Octavia was revealed on 11 December 2012 at the Škoda Museum in Mladá Boleslav. The car began to appear in showrooms in key European markets in February 2013.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: Previously, photos of the car covered in light camouflage were released to the media in late October 2012, after other pre-production cars had already been spotted on several occasions during the same month. It was once again spotted, this time without camouflage, on 18 November 2012 in Santiago, Chile, in both liftback and estate body styles, during the filming of a TV advertisement.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The car, designed by Jozef Kabaň, recalls the VisionD concept car presented in 2011. The new model is longer and wider than the second generation and the wheelbase lengthened by . It is also up to 102 kg lighter than the previous model. The interior length of the third-generation Škoda Octavia has grown - in comparison to its predecessor - by to , while the legroom for the backseat passengers grew by to now . The headroom in the back was increased to (Octavia II: ). The elbow width was also increased, in the front by to , and in the rear by to . Similarly, the shoulder room was optimised, in the front to by adding , and in the rear to , a plus of . The luggage compartment volume is a class leading , slightly more than the of the previous generation model or of the larger Volkswagen Passat. From May 2013, Octavia customers wishing to carry more can opt for the Combi (estate) version with its luggage capacity.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The third-generation Octavia is the first Škoda car to feature front radar and a multifunction camera. The radar sensor in the front bumper monitors the area in front of the vehicle and continually evaluates the distance, direction, and speed of all nearby objects (not only traffic). This radar provides data for two assistants in the Octavia: Front Assistant (forward collision warning and emergency braking) and Adaptive Cruise Assistant (adaptive cruise control). A monochromatic fixed-focus multifunction camera is mounted on the windscreen in front of the rear mirror and allows the function of Lane Assistant (lane-keeping system), Intelligent Light Assistant (automatic control of the high beams), and Traffic Sign Recognition (recognises and shows traffic signs on displays of both on-board computer and satellite navigation). Added to this are assists, whose functionality is based on evaluating data provided by ESC or steering sensors: Crew Protect Assistant (proactive passenger protection), and Driver Activity Assistant (fatigue detection).


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The Octavia features numerous so-called ‘Simply Clever‘ details, i.e. an ice scraper inside the fuel filler flap, a rubbish bin inside the door panel, a parking ticket holder and a double-sided (rubber/textile) floor mat in the boot. A tilting/sliding panoramic sunroof is available as an option – a single-piece for the Octavia liftback and two-piece for the Octavia Combi. The Bolero, Amundsen, and Columbus car radios are protected against theft by the physical separation of the central display and the multimedia system's own central unit. The Octavia also offers a Phone Box, a storage compartment for a mobile phone with a planar antenna at the bottom of the compartment, which permits a so-called inductive exterior antenna connection.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: For the front-wheel drive Octavia, engine outputs are offered of 63–132 kW (86–179 PS) on petrol/gasoline cars and 66–110 kW (90–150 PS) for the diesel engines. The two environmentally friendly versions of the Octavia are: the GreenLine version with 1.6-litre diesel produces only 85 grams of CO per km; the G-TEC is fitted with 1.4-litre TSI engine running on CNG and emitting 97 grams of CO per km. The all-wheel-drive Octavia Combi can be powered by one petrol (1.8 TSI/132 kW) and three diesel engines (ranging from 77 to 135 kW).


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The Octavia RS, available in both the liftback and estate body styles, was premiered at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2013. It features the 162 kW (220 PS) 2.0 TSI engine from the newly launched Volkswagen Golf GTI and the 135 kW (184 PS) 2.0 TDI engine from the Volkswagen Golf GTD. With a top speed of , the Octavia RS with petrol engine and manual gearbox was acclaimed to be the fastest production Octavia ever. In comparison with the standard car, the sports Octavia features progressive steering (variable-ratio steering), sports chassis, electronic differential lock (XDS), and so-called ‘Performance Sound Generator‘, that enhances the sporty sound of the engine. The source of sound vibrations is the electromagnetic pulse generator placed in the area under/in front of the windshield. The sound vibrations are spreading into the car's cabin through the body and the windshield. The frequency and intensity of the sound are dependent not only on the profile chosen but also on the engine revolutions, driving speed, and engine load (the throttle pedal position). The generated sound is directed inside the cabin, especially to the front seat area. Škoda used the 2015 Geneva Motor Show to shine the spotlight on its new and more powerful Octavia RS 230. The car has 230 PS (10 PS more than stock) and this helps it shave a tenth off its benchmark sprint time and adds 2 km/h to the car's top speed which increases to 250 km/h (155 mph); it also gets a standard electronic differential in this version and lower, stiffer springs.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In early 2014, Škoda revealed the Scout; it has raised suspension, plastic cladding, and four-wheel drive.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In early 2017, the third-generation facelift Octavia arrived in the showrooms, with the main visible difference being the split front headlights looking like the pre-facelift Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W212).


title: Škoda Octavia

text: Overview of engines available for the third-generation Octavia (A7, Typ 5E) with front-wheel drive, including the "RS" version.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: Overview of engines available for the 3rd-generation Octavia Combi 4×4 (A7, Typ 5E) with all-wheel drive, incl. the Scout version.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: On 10 January 2017 in Vienna, Škoda presented the third-generation Octavia facelift. The main changes brought mainly split front headlights, a solid centre section between the front grille, and a new system for predictive pedestrian protection. Plastic (exterior) side door mouldings were absent on the facelift Scout model. The first cars were delivered to customers before spring. The Chinese version leaked in March 2017 and a totally different taillight design and similar to its bigger counterpart, Škoda Superb.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The fourth-generation Octavia was revealed in Prague on 11 November 2019. It was scheduled to be delivered to customers starting from June 2020.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The fourth generation Octavia features many new technologies. It is the first Škoda model to use a heads-up display. Other new technologies include two 10" displays, wireless smartphone charging, up to 5 USB-C ports, a new Sound System by Canton, and the classic shifting stick for the automatic gearbox has been replaced with a small joystick. New safety features include taking control of steering in case of a possible accident, checking for oncoming vehicles when opening doors, and detection of the driver falling asleep or losing consciousness.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: Since June 2020, the Octavia is sold as an estate and liftback with standard petrol and diesel engines. As well as a plug-in hybrid Octavia iV estate and liftback sport Octavia RS estate and liftback, CNG/petrol Octavia G-Tec estate and liftback.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The liftback version was also sold in China since 2021 as the Octavia Pro and sold alongside the third-generation models. Design wise, the Octavia Pro features an identical exterior design with the Octavia RS. It is longer compared to its European counterpart by with a longer wheelbase.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: In January 2021, the Octavia Estate 1.4 TSI iV SE Technology was named Plug-in Hybrid of the Year by What Car? magazine. What Car? awarded the Octavia Estate five stars out of five in its review of the car.


title: Škoda Octavia

text: The Škoda Octavia has been used in the European Touring Car Championship, the World Rally Championship and the FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: In the Philippines, provinces () are one of its primary political and administrative divisions. There are 82 provinces at present, which are further subdivided into component cities and municipalities. The local government units in the National Capital Region, as well as independent cities, are independent of any provincial government. Each province is governed by an elected legislature called the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and an elected governor.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: The provinces are grouped into seventeen regions based on geographical, cultural, and ethnological characteristics. Thirteen of these regions are numerically designated from north to south, while the National Capital Region, the Cordillera Administrative Region, the Southwestern Tagalog Region, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are only designated by acronyms.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: Each province is a member of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, an organization which aims to address issues affecting provincial and metropolitan government administrations.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: A provincial government is autonomous of other provinces within the republic. Each province is governed by two main elected branches of the government: executive and legislative. Judicial affairs are separated from provincial governance and are administered by the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Each province has at least one branch of a Regional Trial Court.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: The provincial governor is chief executive and head of each province. Elected to a term of three years and limited to three consecutive terms, he or she appoints the directors of each provincial department which include the office of administration, engineering office, information office, legal office, and treasury office.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: The vice governor acts as the president for each "Sangguniang Panlalawigan" (SP; "Provincial Board"), the province's legislative body. Every SP is composed of regularly elected members from provincial districts, as well as "ex officio" members. The number of regularly elected SP members allotted to each province is determined by its income class. First- and second-class provinces are provided ten regular SP members; third- and fourth-class provinces have eight, while fifth- and sixth-class provinces have six. Exceptions are provinces with more than five congressional districts, such as Cavite with 16 regularly elected SP members, and Cebu, Negros Occidental and Pangasinan which have twelve each.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: Every SP has designated seats for "ex officio" members, given to the respective local presidents of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC), Philippine Councilors' League (PCL), and "Sangguniang Kabataan" (SK; "Youth Council").


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: The vice governor and regular members of an SP are elected by the voters within the province. "Ex officio" members are elected by members of their respective organizations.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: National intrusion into the affairs of each provincial government is limited by the Philippine Constitution. The President of the Philippines however coordinates with provincial administrators through the Department of the Interior and Local Government. For purposes of national representation, each province is guaranteed its own congressional district. One congressional representative represents each district in the House of Representatives. Senatorial representation is elected at an at-large basis and not apportioned through territory-based districts.


title: Provinces of the Philippines

text: Those classified as either "highly urbanized" or "independent component" cities are independent from the province, as provided for in Section 29 of the Local Government Code of 1991. Although such a city is a self-governing second-level entity, in many cases it is often presented as part of the province in which it is geographically located, or in the case of Zamboanga City, the province it last formed part the congressional representation of.