The Role of Regional Policies in Promoting Networking and Innovative Activity: Evidence from Small Finnish High-tech Firms

The success of high-technology firms is strongly dependent on their innovation capacity and network relationships. There is a growing recognition that few firms are able to innovate in isolation. Cooperation can provide access to a complementary knowledge base and resources, and speed up the innovation process of firms. Regional developers are criticized for their inadequate ability to integrate themselves into the regional networks and innovation processes of firms and their ability to determine firms' needs for innovation and networking. The research topic of this study concentrates on the possibilities of regional developers of influencing the operational environment of high-tech firms through the development of networks and innovation activity of firms. Of particular interest are the micro-level policies and concrete actions by regional developers for meeting the needs of firms. The data used are based on interviews addressed to high-tech firms located in Jyväskylä Science Park in Finland.     

The Dynamics of Regional Invention and Innovation: Innovative Capacity and Regional Change in the Twentieth Century

The twentieth century dynamics of United States regional invention trends are explored in this study. Historically, regions that become major loci of invention have always gained much influence, through innovation diffusion, their human capital infrastructures, and their national economic and political projection. The United States has experienced a remarkable inversion of regional roles on invention since the middle of the twentieth century, where the predominant position of heartland regions (the Northeast and the Midwest) is being overturned. This analysis develops a macro-level measure of inventive output, innovative capacity, to evaluate changes in regional inventive performance and the potential for innovation. The analysis of patent age cycles provides insights on the temporal structure of the national and regional innovative capacity, and on the dynamics of crisis periods for U.S. scientific and technological invention. A consideration of regional income trends over the twentieth century and of innovative capacity performance shows the potential importance of endogenously generated inventions for regional development.     

The Greek University Stranded in the Policy of Establishing Regional Universities

The paper examines the policy implemented when it comes to establishing regional universities in a developed, yet semi-peripheral, EU country (i.e. Greece) and focuses on two central issues: whether regional universities contribute to local development and whether their location in the periphery harnessed their academic performance. The establishment of regional universities has become a widely used practice for facilitating regional development throughout the developed world, and the university's third role is quite widely accepted. The paper does not intend to question the policy of establishing regional universities itself, but rather the way these universities were established in Greece (as a case of a semi-peripheral regime) and possibly in other countries that are not in the forefront of international research. Regional universities in Greece were often established for clientelistic reasons; however, they do contribute in advancing local economic growth. These positive effects on the locality are often accompanied by a high cost for the Greek university and society itself, in the sense that regional universities have often been forced to operate under difficult conditions, thus undermining their fundamental mission (educational but primarily research).     

我国旅游业研发总体水平、区域分布与政策建议

本文利用文献法和定量分析等方法,深入分析了我国旅游业技术和研发现状。针对我国旅游业研发总体水平低,研发能力集中于发达地区等问题,从观念、政府、机构、人才等方面提出了具体政策建议。     

Managing Policy Dilemmas in South Korea: The Case of the Emissions Trading Scheme

This paper analyses the policy dilemma of South Korea’s Lee Myung-bak government regarding the greenhouse gas Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the cornerstone of the government’s Low Carbon Green Growth (GG) policy. The paper analyses policy governance, with a focus on the deliberative nature of the policy process. The ETS was promoted as a way to overcome certain international, political and socioeconomic challenges facing the government, yet the process of its establishment featured severe confrontations between the stakeholders (industrialists and environmentalists), and a lack of effort on the part of the government to pursue deliberation with them, resulting in a significant policy dilemma. The government reacted passively at first, and later responded with a symbolic decision that failed to pursue deliberative processes and exacerbated the situation. This paper addresses the theoretical and policy implications of this policy process by identifying the mechanism that created the policy dilemma. The reliability and validity of the study are substantiated through a multi-strategy approach, including a review of the literature and an in-depth interview with a government economic official.     

The White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) in the Ancient Peruvian Ceremonial Centre of Huaca Pucllana

New data regarding the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) at the archaeological complex Huaca Pucllana (200–700 ad ) are presented on the basis of the recent discovery of teeth in ritual offering features. Previous information of this species from fossil, archaeological and modern records is reviewed. The use of the white sharks as an El Niño indicator is rejected. Past and present white shark distribution in the South East Pacific is reviewed, and the extermination of pinniped colonies as a factor in the poor modern record is discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preventive Intervention for a Group of Buildings in the Historic Centre of Manresa (Barcelona)

The preservation of old downtowns has become a necessity of growing interest. New urban policies have been approved in different countries in order to revive the old city centers and make them economically sustainable. In this global trend, the municipality of Manresa (Barcelona) developed an important urban planning operation in the old district that included the demolition of a group of existing buildings and the construction of a new modern one in close proximity to a group of old residential buildings which are cultural heritage of the city. As a consequence, specific areas of risk were generated which lead to the adoption of precautionary measures to ensure safety. This article presents the preliminary analysis, diagnostics and monitoring carried out on this group of heterogeneous old buildings, as well as the results and precautionary measures taken to ensure their safety. The article also provides a translatable methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative aspects.     

Facing Up to the Centre: The Emergence of Regional Elite Associations in Angola's Political Transition Process

This article compares two regional elite associations in Angola's southern Huíla province — the Associação dos Naturais e Amigos de Kuvango, Jamba e Chipindo (Anakujachi — Association of Natives and Friends of Kuvango, Jamba and Chipindo) and the Associação Solidariedade Nyaneka‐Humbi (SNH — Nyaneka‐Humbi Solidarity Association). It demonstrates how these associations have gained increasing political significance through their representation of local interests. This is facilitated by deeply felt social and political exclusion resulting from war and a centralized state that hardly reaches the periphery where these associations are based. Until now, the central Angolan state has refused to grant the regions more autonomy despite an official gradualismo decentralization policy which introduces elected bodies at district level. In response, the strategy of these associations has been to ensure that their representatives obtain positions within the state, both nationally and locally, so that they could represent the interests of their specific region. Using the example of these regional elite associations, the article retraces the struggle over resources and citizenship, which is embedded in contemporary urban–rural interactions that mark political change in Huíla province.     

Preservation Plan Applications for the Historical City Centre,Kemeralti (Izmir,Turkey)

The necessity of preserving traditional environments, as a part of cultural heritage, is recognized and accepted in Turkey. Nevertheless, due to the abundance of archaeological sites and areas that are deemed historical, several problems exist regarding the preservation of these areas. The improvements made world-wide, specifically in Europe, regarding urban preservation have also had an impact on Turkey. Yet, as the “awareness of preservation” notion indirectly showed its impact affecting only a small group, the integration process was inherently impeded. Consequently, both regulations and successful plan studies on preservation were delayed. Conversely, the issue of preservation has always been considered a secondary priority for Turkey. Whenever a conflict of interest occurs between development and preservation, development is usually preferred. Due to the fact that preservation does not rank high among our priorities suggests that social awareness regarding preservation is not at a desired level. In this article, the applications of the preservation plan studies of the historical city centre of Izmir (the third largest city in Turkey) will be evaluated. Kemeralti, due to its history, size, archaeological, historical and natural values, and being in Izmir, which is an exceptional city in terms of the emphasis on preservation compared to other cities, is considered to be privileged and, therefore, presents a significant example for study. Besides maintaining the identity of the city as well as national identity, preserving areas which may be considered a part of world heritage depends, above all, on raising social awareness. Furthermore, in addition to the concerns regarding the preservation of historical environments in urban areas in Turkey, this article also discusses the promising developments produced by the gradual increase of positive efforts made concerning this matter. These efforts along with the initiatives and experience that played a successful role in overcoming these concerns may also set an example for other similar fields.     

Territorially unequal rural development: the cases of the LEADER Initiative and the PRODER Programme in Andalusia (Spain)

This paper studies the territorial effects of the LEADER approach in Southern Europe, by analysing the region of Andalusia (Spain). Our research has revealed that, in many cases, projects were concentrated in the most dynamic, most populated areas, with a well-established business network with the financial and organizational capacity required to access European funding. In these areas, the economic leadership of the most dynamic municipalities has been reinforced at the expense of more depressed areas with little social capital and few businesses. These programmes have not, therefore, helped to mitigate territorial imbalances. In a minority of rural areas, however, this trend was not observed, which shows that although territorial inequality is a widespread problem in the practice of neo-endogenous rural development, it does not affect all areas to the same degree.     

'New Programming' and the Influence of Transnational Discourses in the Reform of Regional Policy in Italy

Recent developments in regional policy in Italy may be interpreted as outcomes of a mutual fertilization between two distinct policy discourses, concerning the reframing of regional programming in the framework of a reform of the State, and the promotion of local initiatives in a perspective of endogenous development. This paper presents a critical itinerary of the mutual evolution of these lines of discourse during the 1990s. Their provisional merging in the framework of the strategy of 'new programming' adopted in connection with the reform of the Structural Funds and with the new community support framework (CSF) for the period 2000-2006 is interpreted in light of the 'Europeanization' of Italian public policy and of the influence of its progressive embedding into transnational policy discourses.     

Improving European Union Regional Policy by Learning from the Past in View of Enlargement

This paper raises questions of centralisation versus decentralisation in European Union policy making, especially regarding regional policy. Shifts towards multi-level governance in the 1990s increased the partnership principle with sub-national governments. However, while regional disparities between countries has lessened, that between regions on some measures has increased. This will undoubtedly be an increasing feature in the context of EU enlargement. A history of centralisation in many such countries makes development of intermediary networks and institutions imperative if regional disparities are, again, to be reduced.     

Regional Policy in Transition - A Multi-level Governance Perspective on the Case of Denmark

Denmark would appear to be a radical, but overlooked, example of the general Western European trend away from national top-down schemes towards a situation where regional policy is a multi-level activity in which European and regional actors are heavily involved. In order to analyse such transformations the article first proposes a conceptual framework capable of accounting for different forms of regional policy and their interaction, and then applies it to the Danish case. The analysis of inter-organizational relations, strategies and resource dependencies show that in Denmark the new paradigm in regional policy resembles a decentralized form of industrial policy in which regionally-based actors play a major role via their organizational and informational resources, but that central government still plays a major role as a regulator of the activities of other actors within a multi-level institutional setting.     

Policy Changes With Regard to the Tibetan Language(m)

In the 50 years from 1951, whenTibet won peaceful liberation, to2000, policies for the Tibetan lan-guage experienced changes in threeseparate phases. Measures taken duringthese three periods were different,but thebasic policy remained largely the same.Ⅱ. FORMULATION OFTHE TIBETANLANGUAGE POLICY     

Policy Changes With Regard to the Tibetan Language (V)

In the 50 years from 1951, whenTibet won peaceful liberation, to2000, policies for the Tibetan lan-guage experienced changes in threeseparate phases. Measures taken duringthese three periods were different, bu thebasic policy remained largely the same.(Ⅳ) POLICY FOR USE OFCHINESE AND TIBETAN,AND THE IMPPOVEMENTOF THE TIBETANLANGUAGE POLICYTibet followed the Rules for the Impl-mentation of the Policy for Tibetan Lan-guage for seven yeare beinning 1994.     

明代地方城市的“坊”——以江西省府、县城为中心

本文主要论述唐宋坊市制崩溃以后,明代地方城市中“坊”之情形。明代地方志所记之“坊”,有牌坊、街坊、乡坊和坊图四种不同涵义。牌坊为旌表建筑物,街坊为居民居住区,乡坊之“坊”是人文地理概念,指城内外一定地理区域,坊图之“坊”等同于里、图。作为“地域实体”的街坊,其形态已不同于唐宋时期的坊市,表现为开放式的条形街区,而不是封闭的方形区域;城外街区亦得称“坊”;坊的数目增多,其规模较小。街坊与城市里甲密切相关,是城市里图区划的基本依据。     

中国社会科学院新疆发展研究中心在京成立

长文对中国社会科学院新疆发展研究中心的成立。以及相关情况作了简要报道。     

论地区平衡发展战略中的政府公共政策回应与创新

我国的地区间平衡发展战略,是在政府的推动和主导之下不断地向前演进和发展,其中作为政府调节性工具的公共政策,对地区之间的经济社会协调发展和利益分配起到了至关重要的作用。在新一轮西部开发战略实施过程中,西部各省区政府必须结合各自的实际,创造性地用好用足中央给予的一系列倾斜政策,积极推进市场化改革和加强市场体系建设,是保证中央政策的有效实施和均衡发展战略目标顺利实现的关键所在。