The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the existing studies of social capital in the framework of regional innovation systems and attempt to answer the question of whether any new insights or methodological shifts have occurred in the last few (seven or so) years. The reconstruction of empirical findings reveals a rather ambiguous picture. It seems that only radical modification of research design and methods can give new impetus and allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the role of social capital and/or its dimensions in (regional) innovation processes. Regarding the existing body of knowledge, the meta-analytical approach is appropriate in order to discern the most relevant, grounded and comparable theses and data. In the case of new research, more attention should be paid to the ethnographic approach and to triangulation.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30592605
The article discusses what an innovation system is and how innovation system is expressed in simple terms. An innovation system consists of a number of actors which by some type of collaboration achieve innovations that can be defined as new products or processes. The concepts of institutions, learning and collaboration are described as important keys in the discourse on innovation. Various representatives of innovation research have somewhat varying emphases on different concepts of innovation systems.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30216541
The publication focuses on how the concept of lifelong learning in the European Commission has developed, how it was understood and how it impacts on Member States and on those who are not member states yet, and how different countries and regions that are participating in the consortium understand it. From this perspective, a comparative aspect of political solutions and strategies are adopted by Member LLL2010 consortium, to respond to the challenges of the global economy and, in the case of post-socialist bloc, have found their place in the global division of labor and profits.
COBISS.SI-ID: 256656384