The Globalizing Learning Economy

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.

Table of Contents:
Daniele Archibugi and Bengt-Åke Lundvall: Introduction: Europe and the Learning Economy Part One: Europe in Global Competition 1: Luc Soete: The New Economy: A European Perspective 2: Jan Fagerberg: Europe at the Crossroads: The Challenge from Innovation-Based Growth Part Two: New Trends in Firm Organization, Competition, and Co-operation 3: Patrick Cohendet and Pierre-Benoît Joly: The Production of Technological Knowledge: New Issues in a Learning Economy 4: Pedro Conceição and Manuel Heitor: Universities in the Learning Economy: Balancing Institutional Integrity with Organizational Diversity 5: Mark Tomlinson: A New Role for Business Services in Economic Growth Part Three: The Globalizing Innovation Process 6: Daniele Archibugi and Simona Iammarino: The Globalization of Technology and National Policies 7: Lynn K. Mytelka: Mergers, Acquisitions, and Inter-firm Technology Agreements in the Global Learning Economy Part Four: New Challenges in Europe: Inequality, Sustainability, and Organizational Innovation 8: Chris Freeman: The Learning Economy and International Inequality 9: Gerd Schienstock: Social Exclusion in the Learning Economy 10: Frieder Meyer-Krahmer: Industrial Innovation and Sustainability: Conflicts and Coherence 11: Benjamin Coriat: Organizational Innovation in European Firms: A Critical Overview of the Survey Evidence Part Five: Innovation Policy in the New Context 12: Charles Edquist: Innovation Policy: A Systemic Approach 13: Margaret Sharp: The Need for New Perspectives in European Commission Innovation Policy 14: Jens Nyholm, Lars Normann, Clauss Frelle-Petersen, Matk Riis, and Peter Torstensen: Innovation Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy: Can Theory Guide Policy Making? 15: Bengt-Åke Lundvall: Innovation Policy in the Globalizing Learning Economy

About the Author :
Daniele Archibugi is a technological director at the Italian National Research Council. He has written extensively on the globalization of technology, the measurement of innovation, and the impact of innovation on economic performance. Bengt-Åke Lundvall is Professor of Economics at the Department of Business Studies, Aalborg University. He was Deputy Director of the Directorate for Science, Technology, and Industry at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development from 1992-5. Since 1995 he has been Research Manager for the nationwide Danish network DRUID (Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics).

Review :
`A very rich and coherent book highlighting, from an original perspective, the opportunities and the issues raised by the process of globalization in the context of the learning economy ... Contains many stimulating contributions by authors who have an outstanding competence in their fields.' Research Policy, 31 `addresses some important issues of the present period characterized as it is by the spread of a new technological paradigm and by an accelerated globalization of all economic activities.' Marco Vivarelli, Catholic University of Piacenza `This book should be taken seriously if globalization means anything more than doing things the American way worldwide.' Professor Keith Pavitt, Academy of Management Journal