The purpose of this PASCAL Special Interest Group (SIG) is to examine the interface between PASCAL and the public policy sectors. While this topic is a very broad, it cuts across sectors and issues, including innovative resource sharing and the role of institutions of higher education, and those organizations that develop policy. It includes the development of intercultural activity.

In this third issue, the themes of regionalism and the changing role of universities are considered.

Ilpo Laitinen, of the city of Helsinki (Finland) and Chair of the SIG, gives an introduction to Garcia’s paper by reviewing Knowledge Management (KM) and Organisational Learning (OL), including the process of situated learning and ‘social economy’ how these concepts are interrelated to one another and very much connected to learning regions. He concludes by suggesting different roles for Higher Education Institutes (HEI) within knowledge based development and provides challenges for PASCAL to consider. The article led me to read more about Ezio Manzini and his ideas on sustainable design, including cosmopolitan localism, creative communities, collaborative networks and convergence.

Blanca C Garcia(Mexico) focuses on Complex Learning Systems and discusses how Knowledge Management was triggered by notions such as learning regions, intellectual capital systems, innovation cluster, global networks and capacity building strategies and Knowledge City concepts. No matter what terms are used I found myself drawn to the ‘old’ ideas that research, brain power, training and education are worthwhile investments for cities and regions. I was also glad to see emphasis on learning in and for the workplace and how the model of Technological Universities in Mexico provides diversification of technology training across the country – in rural and urban locations.

Dr Leone Wheeler

Content Editor

Previous Issues:

ISSUE ONE: PUBLIC SECTOR INTERFACE March 2016 – Competitiveness and the Economy

http://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/pascal-activities/news/pascal-sig-public-sector-interface-competitiveness-and-economy-issu

ISSUE TWO: PUBLIC SECTOR INTERFACE – Summer 2016 – Cities as Platforms and Smart Cities

http://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/pascal-activities/news/cities-platforms-and-smart-cities-issue-two-summer-2016-pascal-sig-