Regional competitiveness, localised learning, and policy

The theoretical perspective of “localised learning” has been accused of not only being “fuzzy”, but also of being incapable of providing policy prescriptions. This paper sets out to discover whether deducting policy advice from the localised learning literature does in fact pose a problem, and if so, to contribute to its solution. The paper reviews recent localised learning literature and finds its policy advice scarce indeed. The paper does not adopt the view, however, that the localised learning perspective per se is incapable of providing policy advice. On the contrary, the paper attempts a first step in this direction, as it deducts from the literature some general principles for formulating a localised learning policy, and points towards some policy means at hand for adhering to these principles. Central issues in need to be addressed when designing and implementing such a policy are also treated. It is concluded that while the localised learning perspective is still in an early stage, it is well suited to inspire a much-needed new policy agenda for regional development.