Education and Skills Policy for the Knowledge Economy: Insights from Territorial Innovation Models and Territorial Knowledge Dynamics

Abstract

This article explores the conceptualizations of learning that underpin conventional education and skills policy for the knowledge economy and those which underpin territorial innovation models (TIMs) and the territorial knowledge dynamics (TKD) approach. The TIM literature has been very influential in the area of regional development policy and frequently discusses concepts such as learning, knowledge creation and skills or competencies. Despite this, it has had little impact on skills and education policy-making in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. This article uses the UK as a case study and explores the implications of TIMs and TKD for national education and skills policies in the context of the knowledge economy. In conventional skills policy, learning for the knowledge economy has been conceptualized primarily as individuals acquiring credentialized knowledge or skills through formal education and training, which are then transferred into the economy as they move through the labour market. This article argues that TIMs offer a quite different perspective on learning for the knowledge economy, which focuses on the relationship between firms, regions and institutions. More recently, the notion of TKD has been developed, particularly through the FP6 EURODITE project, and represents the extension and update to the TIM literature. This article argues that the TKD concept has important implications for the development of appropriate education and skills policies for the knowledge economy in European countries.

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Henrik Halkier, Jesper Manniche, Margareta Dahlström, Lise Smed Olsen, David Guile and a reviewer for their helpful comments on the earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

In the UK, regional skill development was part of the remit of the RDAs, but economic development, business investment and regeneration were the main focus of their work.

Education is a devolved policy area in the UK. In this article, policy documents published by the British Government have been analysed, but it must be acknowledged that the education and skills policy frameworks are not the same in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Sponsored by the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme (project reference 006187).