The Dilemmas of Interregional Institutional Learning

In recent research and literature in which regional development concepts and regional innovation policy have been addressed, a strong interest in the role of knowledge and learning has been shown. In this, a strange phenomenon can be observed. Whereas much work is concentrated on learning within regions, and some reference is made to learning from external sources, scant attention is paid to the interregional dimension. This seems to amount to a dilemma: although development concepts and policy strategies are themselves the subject of constant exchange and learning processes at an interregional level, the interregional dissemination of such concepts, and concomitant processes of learning, are largely ignored. Even where a supraregional perspective is adopted, little is said, either analytically or empirically, about the nature and role of learning processes between regions. One basic message that follows from this, the authors conclude, is that researchers working on regional development and regional policy need to become more reflexive. In order to achieve this, a model of knowledge cycles is presented. The model not only helps our understanding of how observations taken from regional experiences can be translated into more general analytical concepts and policy prescription, it also draws the necessary attention to the way that such general abstractions are part, as well as catalyst, of processes of interregional learning.