Performance evaluation to support European regional development – A university–industry perspective

Regional-level innovation policies and development activities, which are not only technology oriented but that also address intellectual issues, knowledge and absorptive capacity enhancement as sources of innovation and economic growth, are posing challenges regarding their management. One of the main challenges that arises with these new types of regional-level development activities relates to their evaluation because insufficient attention is paid to the design and building of the current evaluation frameworks suggested for the context of regional development. This study presents a framework to design and build a performance evaluation system to support the performance measurement of regional development activities. Utilizing operational-level development activities as an empirical example, this study aims to improve the understanding of performance evaluation in university–industry collaborations in the context of regional development. The presented framework highlights the role of evaluation as part of the learning process in regional development activities between universities and industrial and public-sector organizations. The results of the study show that it is also possible to use the evaluation system to increase understanding of the interplay between operational level development activities and regional development programmes.     

Engaging with nature: nature affords well-being for families and young people in Finland

ABSTRACT

Contact with nature is increasingly being recognized as contributing to humans’ mental and physical health. This study explores how Finnish children, young people and families engage with nature during outdoor recreation. We apply a relational approach with the concept of affordance to understand better how engagement with nature affects their well-being. The study is based on thematic writings of 15- to 21-year-olds and on an ethnographic study of camping. Findings indicate that engagement with nature enables young people to calm down and to get away from the pressures of everyday life and affords close interaction for families. The relational approach makes visible that the more young people and families spend time in nature, the more they are able to perceive affordances that enhance their well-being. In future research and policy, the focus should be on how to support families’ engagement with nature by securing time and places for encountering nature.