0000000000968729
AUTHOR
Miren Larrea
Moving context from the background to the forefront of policy learning: Reflections on a case in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country
The article focuses on policy learning processes with the aim of sharing knowledge about how policy learning happens. In doing this, it considers conflict as a natural process in policy learning and proposes action research as a possible strategy to address it. By reflecting on a long-term action research process in the province of Gipuzkoa (Basque Country, Spain), the article proposes a change of focus in assessing the role of context. If we assume that policy learning is oriented towards changing the context, then context plays a more complex and important role than it is usually given in theory. At the core of this argument is the understanding that the cognitive frameworks of policy ma…
Think tanks for a new generation of regional innovation policies
Regional innovation policy, and related research, are being pressurized to transform by today’s grand societal challenges. Our paper acknowledges the efforts of authors in this field to address thi...
Policy learning in regions : the potential of co-generative research methodologies to help responsible innovation
Author´s submitted manuscript. This is a draft chapter. The final version is available in Regions and Innovation Policies in Europe: Learning from the Margins edited by M. González-López & B. T. Asheim, published in 2020, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789904161.00008. The material cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher, and is for private use only.
The contribution of action research to policy learning: The case of Gipuzkoa Sarean
Published version of an article in the journal: International Journal of Action Research. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1688/IJAR-2014-02-Karlsen This article is about a six year policy learning process named Gipuzkoa Sarean in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa. In the article we reflect on how action research contributed to policy learning. The process consists of three stages: 2009-2011: Initiation of the project and development of a work method; 2011-2013: Government learning and organisational change; 2013-2014: Social learning and the shift to a new approach to territorial development. For each stage we describe the background and main goal of the research pr…
Regional Innovation System as a Framework for the Co-generation of Policy: An Action Research Approach
Policy makers in regional development often relate their policies to frameworks proposed by researchers in the field. Of these frameworks, the regional innovation system (RIS) has been one of the most influential. This chapter focuses on the difficulties that arise when policy makers try to enact the RIS and other related frameworks and proposes action research—and, more specifically, a co-generative approach—to help face these challenges. The starting point for this proposal is an analysis of the differences and similarities between the observer and co-generative research approaches. Most research in this field has been developed with researchers positioned as outside observers, and co-gen…
Does a Responsible University Need a Third Mission?
AbstractThere are different positions in the discourse about how the university can contribute to innovation, economic development and regional development. One position regards regional development as a new third mission. Another position argues for the integration of the regional role within the first two roles, which are teaching and research. Both positions are normative and rest on the assumption that the university is a homogeneous organisation and that transforming the role of the university into a regional development role is simple. However, if the university is a loosely coupled organisation, the transformation is more challenging. This chapter addresses this organisational challe…