Wicked game of smart specialization: a player’s handbook

The objective of this article is to explore the theoretical foundations of a wicked game. The theoretical part is based on the notion of wicked problems, which is developed further. It is also illustrated that the latest innovation strategy of the European Union, called smart specialization, resembles a wicked game. Comparison between the two revealed several similarities gives new insights into the theory of wicked problems and into the process of smart specialization.     

The Effects of Exogenous Shocks on the Development of Regional Innovation Systems

Drawing on previous studies related to the evolutionary aspects of regional innovation systems (RIS), this paper examines how an exogenous shock reduced organizational thinness, fragmentation and lock-in and thereby facilitated path creation and RIS emergence in a peripheral region. A longitudinal case study approach, based on primary data from 39 interviews conducted between 2008 and 2012, is used to investigate how a region was affected by the sudden entry and subsequent activity of a multinational oil company. A multi-level analysis illustrates how this exogenous shock facilitated change at the firm, public authority and macro (regional) levels and thus provides a holistic understanding of the complex mechanisms that underlie regional transformation. The analysis illustrates how the entry of the oil company reduced organizational thinness by stimulating the establishment of external firms. The existing regional actors then managed to reduce their organizational lock-in by adapting their skills and resource bases to new knowledge provided through interfirm relationships (reduced fragmentation), and this reduced organizational lock-in and fragmentation ultimately strengthened the industrial structure and further contributed to regional path creation. A number of innovations were observed, and in combination with the “thickened” institutional structure, this represented the means for an emerging RIS.     

谈谈如何做好新形势下的档案工作

档案是人类社会历史发展的真实可靠的记录,是一种不可再生的重要信息资源。档案工作承担着资政育人、传承文明、保存历史、服务社会的重要职能,档案工作者的良好素质是发挥档案服务职能的关键所在。因此,本文认为,只有提高档案意识,坚持改革、不断创新,全面提高档案人员综合素质,才能充分发挥档案工作的服务职能,使档案工作在现代化建设中发挥更大的作用。     

实践是领导思维创新的动力

思维创新是领导活动发展和变革的先导,实践是领导思维创新的源泉。实践活动没有止境,思维创新也没有止境。领导思维的创新过程,是发现规律、认识规律、掌握规律的过程;领导思维的创新,必须反映社会实践发展的客观要求,并且要由实践来检验修正。那些经不起实践检验的、不能为人民群众谋利益的创新,都不能称为是真正的创新。     

Florida's Mystery Wreck

During the summer of 2005 the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary investigated an unusual shipwreck in 6 m (20 ft) of water off Marathon in the Florida Keys. Known locally as the 'Mystery Wreck' it remained relatively undisturbed for over two decades until State of Florida and Sanctuary archaeologists conducted a research project to learn more about this fascinating early shipwreck. This paper presents a summary of field investigations and a preliminary interpretation of the shipwreck.
© 2006 The Authors     

The Process of Policy Innovation: Prison Sitings in Rural North Carolina

We gauge the relative impact of economics, demographics, and politics on the decisions of 79 rural North Carolina counties whether to site a prison in the period 1970–2000. The results of this model demonstrate that, contrary to the expectation that counties site prisons in response to economic distress, the demographic characteristics of each county affect the relative likelihood of a prison siting more than its economics does. The influential demographic predictors are those inextricably bound up with development options—the education levels of its citizens—and those that limit its ability to pursue controversial projects—its not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) constituencies—rather than those that measure its racial diversity. Therefore, prison siting is neither a simple story of economic determinism nor one of environmental racism. We use a proportional hazards regression to model this innovation adoption in response to the challenge to select methods that take the potential time dependence of adoptions into account. A duration model is also particularly suitable for cases such as this one for which the innovation adoption is better understood as a process than as an event.     

The adoption of culturally contentious innovations: The case of citizen oversight of police

Cultural contentiousness is defined as an attribute of innovation due to which it encounters resistance because of its incompatibility with hegemonic cultural assumptions. I argue that culturally contentious innovations are likely to be adopted when antecedents have productive symbolic force, i.e., they reveal contradictions between dominant cultural assumptions and the material outcomes of existing institutions or empower social actors to resolve such contradictions. However, antecedents with incapacitative symbolic force tend to obfuscate the above contradictions or decrease social actors’ capacity to resolve them, encouraging the adoption of less contentious innovation. Applying these arguments to citizen oversight agencies (COAs) for the police, I examine the antecedents of contentious (i.e., investigative) as opposed to less contentious (non-investigative) COAs. In support of the above argument, I find that productive antecedents (e.g., a consent decree, an increase in civil rights nonprofits) are associated with adopting investigative COAs. In contrast, incapacitative antecedents (e.g., a Law Enforcement Officer Bill of Rights, an increase in the violent crime rate) are associated with adopting non-investigative COAs. The findings broadly demonstrate that policy adoption scholars ought to distinguish policies in terms of cultural contentiousness and account for the symbolic force of antecedents. Further theoretical contributions are discussed.     

城市文化与我国城市文化建设的思考

城市不仅是人类社会的物质集聚中心,也是人类社会的文化活动中心。本文在全面理解城市文化的基础上,系统地阐述了城市文化与城市发展的关系,并联系当前我国城市文化建设所存在的一些不足,提出了几点切合实际的建议,以期有利于我国城市文化的进一步发展建设。     

论国家创新体系的空间结构

创新是一个地区发展的内在动力。国家创新体系可分解为内部创新系统、外部创新系统、外部支撑系统等子系统,其作用在于促进知识的有序流动。本文在研究了国家创新体系的基础上,提出创新体系的空间结构应分为两个层面:虚拟空间、地理实体空间。