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Learning and innovation in organizations, sectors and regions
Increasingly districts and regions appear as focal points for learning and knowledge creation in this new age of global, knowledge-intensive capitalism and, done well many look to them as increasingly important sources of innovation and economic growth. This increasing role of the region is based in "untraded interdependencies" which underpin their "relational advantages". This is social capital, formal and informal norms and rules which can foster reciprocal understanding and mutual confidence among the agents of the regional economy.
- Indicator: Culture of Learning and Innovation Organizations in all sectors—business, government, not-for-profits, and education—are implementing new organizational forms designed to help them thrive in a rapidly changing Digital Age. These new structures, most often referred to as "learning organizations," "knowledge organizations," and "network organizations," involve extreme shifts from traditional institutional models of the past. Education leaders, therefore, must understand the cultural characteristics of innovative learning organizations, how they differ from traditional organizational cultures, and the critical enablers necessary to realize change.
- Social Capital and Systemic Competitiveness This paper by Klaus Nielsen uses the concept ‘social capital’ in a attempt to develop more concrete and operational ideas about the role of such meta-level factors for international competitiveness. The increasing discussion and application of social capital reflects a general tendency to focus at the connection between economic performance and the invisible social 'glue' which facilitates coherence and coordination of economic behavior.
- The evaluation of regional innovation and cluster policies: looking for new approaches This paper by Maria Angeles Diez and Maria Soledad Esteban points out that from a learning perspective regions appear as focal points for learning and knowledge creation in this new age of global, knowledge-intensive capitalism3 and, as a consequence, earning regions are increasingly important sources of innovation and economic growth. The paper then looks at the role of evaluation in supporting and learning lessons from this approach so policy can be increasingly targetted.
- The evolution of business, learning, innovation and sustainability in the 21st century This paper explores new frontiers for business. In a rapidly changing global environment, corporations can become evolutionary change agents for the creation of a sustainable global civilization by fostering financial, social, and environmental results. The contemporary metaphors used to describe the business world can be limited in times when an emergent paradigm calls for new visions and actions. An evolutionary understanding, grounded in evolutionary systems theory, can open possibilities for leadership and innovation toward sustainability. Complex systems, such as organizations, need to learn to learn in harmony with the dynamics of their mileu in order to co-evolve and create value. The paper concludes with a reflection on the implications of the evolutionary paradigm for business education.