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.

Problem-Based Learning

In some occasions 21st Century has been nominated as the Century of Cities. One reason for that is the ongoing definite urbanization. At the same time 21st Century has been nominated as the Century of Knowledge. (Carillo, 2011.) Information exploitation, learning, readiness to change, competence and innovative capability have become the core concepts of
knowledge cities and communities.

That development may be seen in the challenges to develop knowledge-based societies and economies and regions. That has seen possible by eg. enhancing industry – university interaction by building an innovation system around them. The major paradigm shift has changed to ‘open systemic thinking’. From this perspective, regional development is a constantly
developing interactive process, where reformation and learning are based on broad information flows, experience, and in-process learning. That refers also to empowerment of the economy and community life.

Open systems refer to novel processes where end users become service designers, service co-producers and assessors. That is supported by open data and information flow. From this perspective, services are constantly developing, interactive processes, where reformation and learning are based on information, experience, and inprocess learning, regarding
the realization of services as well as the planning of service processes, which employ the concepts of co-production and co-creation, for instance. Technological solutions are a part of open systems. Thus the new technological advances change those knowledge cities and regions and are transforming the organisational structures within those. The models
that drive continuous improvement and engagement have are shaping our thinking; we no longer expect there to be just one correct way of doing things. In the digital age, we now have new models for learning, social innovation and for co-designing and co-creating new services in collaboration with the citizens. (Laitinen, 2016.)

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-

ISSUE THREE: PUBLIC SECTOR INTERFACE - April 2017 Regionalism and the Changing Role of Universities

http://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/blogentry/news/pascal-sig-public-sector-interface-newsletter-issue-three-regionalism-and-c

ISSUE FOUR: PUBLIC SECTOR INTERFACE: Issue Four: Problem Based Learning

http://pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/blogentry/news/pascal-sig-public-sector-interface-newsletter-issue-three-regionalism-and-c

Leone Wheeler

Content Editor