This volume analyses some of the major current trends and policy challenges in the 'new economy' from the point of view of technical innovation and competence building. It brings together the leading European expertise on different topics in this field. Together the authors give a picture of the most dramatic new challenges in a world where competition is becoming increasingly knowledge-based and global. Why has the US economy been able to realise a so-called new economy based on the effective exploitation of information technology while Europe still suffers from chronic high rates of unemployment? How is it that contemporary economic systems have become more knowledge-intensive but social inequality, both within and across countries, is increasing? The contributors to this volume share the belief that knowledge is a fundamental component of economic growth and welfare. However, the ways in which knowledge is transmitted and distributed among economic agents requires shaping by public policies. The individual chapters report on the most significant policies adopted and assess them in the light of the European experience in comparison with the United States and Japan.

An international gathering of leading scholars, policymakers, and educators takes on some of the most difficult and controversial issues of our time in this groundbreaking exploration of how globalization is affecting education around the world. The contributors, drawing from innovative research in both the social sciences and the neurosciences, examine the challenges and opportunities now facing schools as a result of massive migration flows, new economic realities, new technologies, and the growing cultural diversity of the world's major cities. Writing for a wide audience, they address such questions as: How do we educate all youth to develop the skills and sensibilities necessary to thrive in globally linked, technologically interconnected economies? What can schools do to meet the urgent need to educate growing numbers of migrant youth at risk of failure in societies already divided by inequality? What are the limits of cultural tolerance as tensions over gender, religion, and race threaten social cohesion in schools and neighborhoods alike? Bringing together scholars with deep experience in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, this work, grounded in rich examples from everyday life, is highly relevant not only to scholars and policymakers but also to all stakeholders responsible for the day-to-day workings of schools in cities across the globe.

‘The Learning Economy and the Economics of Hope’ brings together contributions by an expert on policies, management and economics of innovation and knowledge. It offers original insights in processes of innovation and learning and it draws implications for economic theory and public policy. It introduces the reader to important concepts such as innovation systems and the learning economy. It throws a new light on economic development and opens up for a new kind of economics – the economics of hope. It offers a fresh perspective on many of the most important global challenges of today showing how full attention to the characteristics of the learning economy needs to be combined with innovation in global governance if we want to be able to handle these challenges. ‘The Learning Economy and the Economics of Hope’ presents work published between 1985 and 1992 and introduces the core concepts innovation as an interactive process. The analysis demonstrates that new technology is developed in an interaction between individuals and organisations and that innovation would not thrive in an economy similar to textbook models of pure markets and perfect competition. It also presents articles that were published between 2004 and 2010. These may be seen as further developments and evidence-based consolidation of ideas that were presented more than ten years earlier. It presents the learning economy through the perspective of the economics of knowledge. The concluding part of the book includes three papers that make use of the conceptual frameworks developed in an analysis of China’s innovation system and policy, Europe’s crisis and Africa’s underdevelopment.

This volume analyses some of the major current trends and policy challenges in the 'new economy' from the point of view of technical innovation and competence building. It gathers leading European expertise on different topics in this field.

Written by the scholar who, together with Chris Freeman, first introduced the concept of the innovation system, this book brings the literature an important step forward. Based upon extraordinarily rich empirical material, it shows how and why competence building and innovation are crucial for economic growth and competitiveness in the current era. It also provides a case study of a small, very successful European economy combining wealth creation with social cohesion.

The rapid development and adoption of technology along with open economies has created an integrated global economy. The globalisation process has brought with it significant changes in all areas of life, including tertiary education. This book outlines the features of the new wave of globalisation and draws out specific trends and challenges associated with this new wave for universities and policy makers.

This book represents a significant contribution to the debates surrounding globalization and local systems of innovation. The diverse perspectives on global and local processes combined with original insights on developing countries should be of value to scholars and students of economics, social science, political science and business administration. The book should also be of interest to policymakers in governmental and non-governmental bodies, particularly international development agencies.

This book presents a radically innovative view on trade shows as knowledge-rich places, where firms learn through observation and interaction with other economic actors, and as enablers, rather than mere consequences, of globalization. Traditionally seen as marketing tools, trade shows are conceptualised as temporary clusters that facilitate the creation and diffusion of knowledge across geographical distances, even in the age of social media. The book is organized in four parts. Part I lays out the conceptual foundations of the knowledge-based perspective, from the early development of trade fairs to modern-day events. Part II analyses specific global developments, focussing on the trade show ecologies of Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region. Part III investigates differences in the nature of knowledge generation practices across international hub shows, exports shows, and import shows in different industries, and investigates competition between such events. Part IV discusses the implications of a knowledge-based conceptualisation of trade shows. The book will be of interest to scholars and students in economic geography, management, marketing, organization studies, political science, and sociology. It also has practical implications for trade show organisers on how to make their events more competitive through knowledge-based strategies; for industry associations and cities, on how to use these events for collective/place marketing purposes; and for policy makers, on how to use trade shows for export promotion and innovation policies.

For every person who reads this text on the printed page, many more will read it on a computer screen or mobile device. It’s a situation that we increasingly take for granted in our digital era, and while it is indicative of the novelty of twenty-first-century capitalism, it is also the key to understanding its driving force: the relentless impulse to commodify our lives in every aspect. Ursula Huws ties together disparate economic, cultural, and political phenomena of the last few decades to form a provocative narrative about the shape of the global capitalist economy at present. She examines the way that advanced information and communications technology has opened up new fields of capital accumulation: in culture and the arts, in the privatization of public services, and in the commodification of human sociality by way of mobile devices and social networking. These trends are in turn accompanied by the dramatic restructuring of work arrangements, opening the way for new contradictions and new forms of labor solidarity and struggle around the planet. Labor in the Global Digital Economy is a forceful critique of our dizzying contemporary moment, one that goes beyond notions of mere connectedness or free-flowing information to illuminate the entrenched mechanisms of exploitation and control at the core of capitalism.

The growth of the global knowledge economy is transforming the demands of the labour market in economies worldwide. It will require workers to develop new skills and knowledge, whilst education systems will need to adapt to the challenges of lifelong learning, and these changes will be as crucial in transition and developing economies as it is in the developed world. This publication explores how lifelong learning systems can encourage growth, discusses the changing nature of learning and the expanding role of the private sector in education, and considers the policy and financing options available to governments to address the challenges of the global knowledge economy.