Abstract The development of Taiwan automotive industry has the long history. The output of Taiwanese automotive component industry had reached the new peak in 2002, after that the new highest record in history is that the output reaches NT 171,400 million. We found a lot of studies are about automotive industry not automotive component industry. Therefore, this study probes into the network relation among industries, the state in the network¡Ketc. which are important factors to explain these relations in the automotive component industry. This study used the view of the Learning Region to integrate the diversifying point of innovate learning and network relation¡Xlocation factors, learning systems and network relations that research innovate learning and real learning systems in Taiwanese automotive component industry. This study found Taiwanese automotive component industry possesses close geography so that auto makers and automotive component firms have the common competitiveness foundation and production system, manufacturing infrastructure are their common foundations. Because automotive makers are so near to supply help and this long-term relation formed a close industry network. The innovate learning activities of Taiwan auto parts firm are student system, production innovation mechanism, and cooperation with others departments of intra-firm, cooperation with suppliers and consumer¡¦s industries among the industries of the learning mechanisms, but other learning mechanisms (e.g. seminar, university, and administrative center of industrial area )didn¡¦t have high relations that weakens the learning of tacit knowledge and the creation of the synergy. It is easy to replace by other regions under the global competition. How to strengthen the learning mechanism of the innovative activity on the basis of original industry network to achieve the stronger system will be a challenge for automotive component industries to develop the learning region.

This study aimed to investigate the innovation practices and the factors contributing to innovativeness in Bah&ccedil / eSehir Science and Technology High School (BSTHS). The study was designed as a case study and different qualitative data collection techniques were used to collect the data. 17 participants of this study were chosen among administrators, science and mathematics teachers and 4 students. The study documented both managerial and academic innovations at the School. Besides, the factors contributing to innovativeness at BSTHS were documented. Research findings show that the BSTHS was successful in establishing a place within the Turkish Education System as a new and original education institution. The BSTHS administration is working on, based on an effective leadership, providing most suitable conditions for education and learning, and they are doing that with a participatory administration approach. Beyond that, they constructed an effective network with the support of the Bah&ccedil / eSehir University towards the development of the school in line with its targets. According to the research findings, foremost aspects that make the BSTHS innovative and original are a new curriculum, an individual-based education system, application of new technologies in education and learning processes and the establishment of the institution as a self-learning organization. It is argued that different factors (e.g., leadership, participative management, social interaction, knowledge share) are combined with quality inputs (e.g., students, staff, technology, physical infrastructure) have contributed to the creation of a culture of innovation. Hence, it is concluded that extensive physical or financial resources are not enough to accomplish innovativeness. Besides, a culture of innovation needs to be cultivated in order to accomplish innovation.

This study explores the relatively new concept of &ldquo / The Learning Economy&rdquo / in the context of system of Innovation, which provides a basic understanding of all elements and their relations necessary to enhance the innovative capacity. This thesis aims to examine the structure and characteristics of ASELSAN (Electronic Industries Inc.) including i.e., firm-level technological activities. In the &lsquo / Learning Economy&rsquo / , rapid learning is the key factor for accelerating innovative capabilities and competitiveness for firms and nations. On the other hand, this concept is closely correlated with the &lsquo / New Economy&rsquo / , ICT (Information communication Technologies) that enhances the knowledge dissemination and learning. In this perspective, ASELSAN acquired high-level technological capabilities and rapid development such that it can be considered as a model for other firms in Turkey. Furthermore, this research aims to point out the &lsquo / Learning Process Model of ASELSAN&rsquo / comparing it with the catching-up firms in South Korea and emphasize transformation of technology and institutional structure in the period from 1980 to 2002. As an individual firm, &lsquo / ASELSAN&rsquo / is a leading firm in the defense industry as a system integrator / and the next step may be &lsquo / network-based&rsquo / learning process model. In summary, there could be policy lessons to be taken for other firms to become a &lsquo / learning organization and &lsquo / innovative firm&rsquo / .

Whether it is the accumulation of capital or capabilities that accounts for rapid development of Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) has been a focus of debate. The former, which informs approaches to development often adopted by international agencies, reflects neoclassical perspectives. The later, by contrast, reflects evolutionary approaches with deliberate learning and innovation as dominant factors. The purpose of this thesis is to understand development by exploring how it is influenced by learning and innovation focusing on the factors, mechanisms and institutional conditions that foster learning and innovation in Malawi. This thesis has adopted quantitative and qualitative methods informed extensively by theoretical perspectives on the knowledge, learning, innovation and development nexus. Using primary survey and secondary data, a conceptual framework that emerged from contrasting perspectives on theories of the firm has situated a quantitative understanding of how firms in Malawi learn and innovate and the impact of institutional conditions. A qualitative approach, however, has enabled identification of underlying mechanisms that foster learning and innovation thus, providing bases for articulating how evolutionary perspectives can enhance Malawi's development prospects. The thesis finds that successful development is conditioned on understanding it as an interactive process of learning and innovation hinged on addressing systemic failure regarding acquisition and utilization of knowledge by producers, firms especially. We find that failures related to institutional conditions on market and social capabilities, governance and communication and knowledge infrastructure have created a business environment in Malawi that does not foster firm learning and innovation. Thus, firms are more inclined to exploiting existing capabilities leading to static rather than dynamic efficiency. This behaviour reflects dominance of neoclassical perspective of development by stakeholders. We find, therefore, that Malawi's development prospects are predicated on innovation in the delivery of knowledge-related services to producers thus, innovation in public goods. At firm-level, action that: promotes firms' investment in on-the-job training, engenders dialogue, fosters collaboration; and builds knowledge stock positively influences learning and innovation capability. We find that high learning firms, under entrepreneurial leadership, exemplify an evolutionary understanding of the role of knowledge in production. They deliberately foster these behavioural and cognitive factors for which they are rewarded with superior performance. At national level, we find that contrary to neoclassical perspectives, Malawi's development is conditioned on purposive action by all stakeholders, government in particular, to mitigate constraints on learning and innovation arising from idiosyncratic aspects of the business environment. This evolutionary perspective entails entrepreneurial leadership in government and adoption of a national learning and innovation system approach to development. We argue that building coalitions focused on fostering knowledge flows to firms, especially those in the manufacturing sector which we find to be the basis for structural change of the economy, is a necessary though not sufficient pre-condition for Malawi's development.

This research investigates the role of clustering, learning and innovation in retaining competitiveness in an existing tourism area in a peripheral region of Europe. To do this it draws on the tourism resort area known as the Costa del Sol in southern Spain. Structurally, it focuses on hotel and catering businesses, which are considered to be at the heart of the tourism industry. Tourism is shown not only to be fundamental to the development ofthis coastal agglomeration, but also critical to the development of the province of Malaga (of which the Costa del Sol is a part) and the wider region of Andalucia. Hence the need to examine the evolution oftourism, the sources of competitive advantage and how such advantage can be retained in a globalised marketplace. The key proposition is that retaining competitive advantage can best be achieved through learning and innovation and that agglomerations provide a milieu in which learning and innovation are stimulated. Agglomeration theory and the role of learning and innovation are tested through an examination of the spatial and temporal evolution of hotel and catering businesses and through questionnaire surveys covering these businesses. In particular, the surveys are directed at addressing the issues of learning and innovation and assessing the extent to which the Costa del Sol operates as a 'learning region'. Questionnaire work met with severe problems of non-response despite being undertaken in conjunction with local business organisations. Nevertheless, sufficient responses were obtained to provide some tentative answers to the questions being posed and to provide the foundation for further research. The principal conclusions were that the Costa del Sol has acted as a growth pole and seedbed for business development, and that learning and innovation are promoted as much by competition as by co-operation. Finally, some public policy implications are drawn from these conclusions.

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird nach einem Kurzüberblick zum VE (Virtual Exchange) zunächst auf das zugrundeliegende Seminarkonzept eingegangen. Die Ergebnisse, welche auf einer thematischen Analyse (Clarke et al., 2015) offener schriftlicher Feedbackfragebögen (Schiek, 2014) der Studierenden beruhen, zeigen, dass die Studierenden am meisten in der Interaktion mit ihren Kommiliton:innen lernten, indem sie bedeutungsvolle Erfahrungen miteinander teilten, sich über herausfordernde Lebenserfahrungen austauschen und gleichzeitig ihre Fremdsprachenkenntnisse erweitern konnten. Abschließend werden Schlussfolgerungen hinsichtlich der künftigen (Weiter-) Entwicklung des hochschulübergreifenden interkulturellen Virtual Exchanges gezogen. [Aus: Einleitung]