As a new EU member Croatia has increased opportunities to develop and strengthen vocational education and lifelong learning in our country. While overall indicators of the recently published CEDEFOP Report below are not negative, there are plenty of opportunities for improvement and for the introduction of new and better institutional arrangements and practices. Innovation in education and training is a major task of the government in preparing citizens for a new European future and the challenges of globalized world.

The following is an “open letter” to the readers of the PASCAL website.  This follows my reading of a white paper (Open Innovation 2.0: A New Paradigm) composed by Martin Curley and Bror Salmelin, which I shared in a posting on 15 July.

Northern Illinois University, located outside of Chicago,  has welcomed its second international resident scholar.  Ilpo Laitinen, Director of Administration at the city of Helsinki and Lecturer at the University of Lapland is completing research comparing the structure of learning networks in Helsinki and Chicago.  Laitinen is looking at the inclusion of community stakeholders as regions move forward in sustainable economic initiatives.  Chicago is home to some of the most well-known community organizations including those of Jane Addams, Saul Alinski and John

This paper draws on insights from the stimulus papers prepared for cities participating in the PASCAL International Exchanges that relate to the main themes of the PASCAL Cities Learning Together Hong Kong conference.