<p>The role of web 2.0 technologies has become windfall for knowledge building in higher education in the entire modern world. Web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) are being explored for collaboration, innovation, and creative purposes in digital literacy. The ICT based system (Learning Management System, Student Portal, Web mail) of Växjö University lacks web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Blogs, and Wikis) that are important for classroom learning for knowledge building. This research intends to investigate and describe the educational importance of web 2.0 (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) as a possible source to facilitate class room learning in higher education in Sweden. In this regard, role of web 2.0 in its current usage in the teaching and learning have been identified and, thereby, possible measures for more improvements have been suggested in this research. Keeping in view the potential of web 2.0 as content development and management technologies and incorporating their role in formative evaluation of students, peer assessment, collaborative content creation, and individual as well as group reflection on learning experiences, the researcher conducted a survey by asking very simple and short questions as to how far has this potential been exploited in Sweden. Based on the findings and the empirical evidences thereof a model has been proposed for maximum utility of web 2.0 technologies.</p>

<p>With the conditions of new economy such tendencies as internationalization of firms, mi-gration of high skilled workers, growing importance of the knowledge and others become relevant. Having these contextual matters in mind, the authors of this thesis identify the beneficial aspects that are related to Diasporas' inclusion into the process of internationali-zation. In broad outline, this thesis is about the competitive advantage achieved by a firm which employs foreigners to work with the process of business expansion to foreigners' countries of origin. This competitive advantage is proved to manifest itself through the knowledge and competences embedded in those employed foreigners.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to answer 'in what ways can Swedish SMEs benefit from Di-asporas' inclusion into the process of internationalization?' and thus fill the theoretical gap in the existent studies. In order to address the purpose of the research, a theoretical model which merges the research field of internationalization and Diaspora studies, considered the conditions of new economy, was constructed. With the help of this model, the role of Diasporas in the process of internationalization has been explored and explained.</p><p>For the empirical study, the qualitative method was applied and semi-structured interviews were conducted in five different Swedish SMEs. The interview guide, which was based on the theoretical model and on the main research objectives, was used when conducting in-terviews with a number of management positions fulfilling participants, as well as Diaspora.</p><p>The results of an empirical study showed that Diasporas can be efficiently used for compa-ny's expansion strategies and significantly benefit due to several reasons. First of all, fo-reigners, or Diasporas, can be considered as holding relevant knowledge base in regards to their home countries, such as language, culture, personal contacts, etc. At the same time, while staying in Sweden, they get to familiarize with the Swedish culture, social structures, and business opportunities, and establish diversified contacts. With regards to international business expansion, this knowledge of two-fold nature is proved to be highly valuable.</p>

Die Wissensgesellschaft gilt spätestens seit der im Jahr 2000 durch die EU propagierten Lissabon-Strategie als Strategie der europäischen Städte und Regionen zu mehr Wachstum und Beschäftigung. Die Masterarbeit „Europäische Metropolregionen in der Wissensgesellschaft“ greift dieses Leitbild auf und untersucht anhand der Metropolregionen Wien, Berlin und London inwieweit sich das Thema Wissen in den strategischen Planungsdokumenten der Metropolregionen wieder findet. Die Untersuchung erfolgt anhand von entwickelten Handlungsfeldern einer wissensbasierten Entwicklung von Metropolregionen. Neben den Themen Hochqualifizierte Arbeitskräfte und Wissensinfrastrukturen spielt insbesondere die räumliche Nähe eine entscheidende Rolle für regionale Innovationssysteme. Durch Kompetenzfelder und Netzwerkstrukturen an bestimmten Wissensstandorten lassen sich durch regionale Wirtschaftsförderung Clusterungen stimulieren. Anhand des Beispiels Wien wird vertiefend untersucht, ob sich die in den Strategiedokumenten (Strategieplan 2004, Stadtentwicklungsplan 2005, Wiener Strategie für Forschung, Technologie und Innovation 2007) beschlossenen Ziele auch durch Maßnahmen der Stadtentwicklung und Wirtschaftsförderung wieder finden. Darüber hinaus werden insbesondere die unterschiedlichen Governance-Ebenen der Metropolregion und ihr Beitrag zur Förderung der einzelnen Handlungsfelder analysiert.

With the conditions of new economy such tendencies as internationalization of firms, mi-gration of high skilled workers, growing importance of the knowledge and others become relevant. Having these contextual matters in mind, the authors of this thesis identify the beneficial aspects that are related to Diasporas' inclusion into the process of internationali-zation. In broad outline, this thesis is about the competitive advantage achieved by a firm which employs foreigners to work with the process of business expansion to foreigners' countries of origin. This competitive advantage is proved to manifest itself through the knowledge and competences embedded in those employed foreigners. The purpose of this thesis is to answer 'in what ways can Swedish SMEs benefit from Di-asporas' inclusion into the process of internationalization?' and thus fill the theoretical gap in the existent studies. In order to address the purpose of the research, a theoretical model which merges the research field of internationalization and Diaspora studies, considered the conditions of new economy, was constructed. With the help of this model, the role of Diasporas in the process of internationalization has been explored and explained. For the empirical study, the qualitative method was applied and semi-structured interviews were conducted in five different Swedish SMEs. The interview guide, which was based on the theoretical model and on the main research objectives, was used when conducting in-terviews with a number of management positions fulfilling participants, as well as Diaspora. The results of an empirical study showed that Diasporas can be efficiently used for compa-ny's expansion strategies and significantly benefit due to several reasons. First of all, fo-reigners, or Diasporas, can be considered as holding relevant knowledge base in regards to their home countries, such as language, culture, personal contacts, etc. At the same time, while staying in Sweden, they get to familiarize with the Swedish culture, social structures, and business opportunities, and establish diversified contacts. With regards to international business expansion, this knowledge of two-fold nature is proved to be highly valuable.

The role of web 2.0 technologies has become windfall for knowledge building in higher education in the entire modern world. Web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) are being explored for collaboration, innovation, and creative purposes in digital literacy. The ICT based system (Learning Management System, Student Portal, Web mail) of Växjö University lacks web 2.0 technologies (Podcasts, Blogs, and Wikis) that are important for classroom learning for knowledge building. This research intends to investigate and describe the educational importance of web 2.0 (Podcasts, Wikis, and Blogs) as a possible source to facilitate class room learning in higher education in Sweden. In this regard, role of web 2.0 in its current usage in the teaching and learning have been identified and, thereby, possible measures for more improvements have been suggested in this research. Keeping in view the potential of web 2.0 as content development and management technologies and incorporating their role in formative evaluation of students, peer assessment, collaborative content creation, and individual as well as group reflection on learning experiences, the researcher conducted a survey by asking very simple and short questions as to how far has this potential been exploited in Sweden. Based on the findings and the empirical evidences thereof a model has been proposed for maximum utility of web 2.0 technologies.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the development of knowledge-based economy and related policies in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. Furthermore, a cross-country analysis of knowledge-based economy is conducted. The meaning and content of knowledge-based economy are firstly analyzed in the light of innovation theory and human capital theory. A cross-country empirical study is then conducted. The data source is 2001 World Development Indicators CD-Rom published by the World Bank. Utilizing the method of factor analysis, we extract two important factors characterizing knowledge-based economy. The first is the efficiency of communication and exchanging information, which represents the efficiency of delivering knowledge, and the level of human capital, which represents the stock of knowledge. The regression method is used to analyze the relationships between the two factors and productivity. It is found that both factors have strong positive effects on GDP per capita, agriculture value added per worker, and research and development expenditure. Individual indicators in the two factors are used to evaluate and compare the performance of Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong. It is found that Taiwan¡¦s level of knowledge-based economy is similar to the average level of APEC memberships, but better than that of East Asia, of Pacific countries, and of upper-middle income countries. China¡¦s level of knowledge-based economy is obviously not able to catch up with the average level of APEC memberships, that of East Asia, that of Pacific countries, and that of low-middle income countries. The performance of knowledge-based economy of Hong Kong is much better and equal to that of OECD and of G8 memberships. Our findings imply that the performance of knowledge-based economy of Taiwan is better than that of China, but inferior to that of Hong Kong and that of Japan, Singapore, and Korea. The reason might be that Taiwan¡¦s implementation of related national policies falls behind these countries. We suggest that the government should put more emphasis on implementing information and communication infrastructure in order to enhance the efficiency of delivering, stirring up, and diffusing of knowledge.

The coming of knowledge-based economy age leads to the competitive advantage of high-technology industries strongly depend on human capital and intellectual capital. In order to rise the capacity of self-innovation and obtain new technologies, for high-technology industries, in-house research and development is necessary, but acquiring technology from outside, especially from academe, becomes more and more important. The phenomena of cluster, high-technology industries build factories near by universities, is the beginning of the interaction between industries and universities¡]1951 Silicon Valley¡^. Until the 1980¡¦s, the United States government didn¡¦t start to draft the policy about promoting industry-university collaboration and technology transfer, and in Taiwan, it started at 1991. Good interaction between industries and universities can arrange the resources and make a win-win situation. By reviewing the literatures on the development of scientific parks and mechanism of industry-university collaboration of Taiwan and other advanced countries¡]the United States ,Japan, and German¡^, especially focus on technology transfer, patent management, related laws, national innovation system, etc., I found some problems and defects and have some suggestions that may help.

The embryo of higher education starts from medieval era. Along with the Renaissance, and Enlightenment, the domain knowledge in higher education comprises theology, philosophy and science. It is the most distinguish character in contemporary capitalism States that science and technology gradually becomes the leading productivity engine. The core competence of science and technology exists in the research and development (R&D) capability. Once the higher education involves in the development of science and technology, the State naturally regards it as one of key production elements. This essay is based on the theory of production relationship, studying the interaction between economy (infrastructure) and ideology (politics and education), and taking the evolution of higher education in Post-war Taiwan as an example. Here we called higher education in Taiwan in the period of 1954 to 1980 as Dominant State Apparatus. During this period the State practiced nationalism through elite politics and technocratic. In 50s and 60s, the State emphasized the political stability, so the ideology was one of the standards for selecting freshmen into higher education. In 60s to 80s, leaded by Council for Economic Planning and Development, the State adjusted the rate of higher education attainment and adjusted the proportion of different colleges/ departments in higher education according to the rational economic value. A report of manpower development by Council for Economic Planning and Development is encouraging a steady rise in the area of science, medicine, agriculture, and engineering, so called natural science in higher education. And the neglect of social science, Liberal Arts is resulted. From 80s, the higher education in Taiwan remains instrumentality, which is called Latent State Apparatus here. The higher education follows the State¡¦s strategic industry and technology policy accordingly. The State enforces higher education to develop some particular research areas by giving subsidiary. In this knowledge-based economy era, knowledge commercialized and education industrialized is going to be main trends. It is predictable that higher education would allocate its major resources in research areas, which can yield most economic value. At that moment, Higher Education would become not only the State Apparatus, but also Market Apparatus.

The ultimate purpose of this study was to investigate how to best prepare Singapore students for the Knowledge-based Economy (KBE). Investigating the possible need for the realignment of the primary science assessment to the KBE was of utmost interest as assessment was viewed as the driver of the actual curriculum. This was a mixed methods design study (Creswell, 2005). Fifteen teachers were first interviewed to ascertain the major features of primary school science assessment in both Perth, Western Australia and Singapore. A list of twelve questions was prepared for the eight teacher interviewees in Singapore and the seven teacher interviewees in Perth. The NUD*IST program was used to help organise trends in these teacher responses. Definitions of KBE skills were synthesised from literature reviews and validated by the fifteen teachers for the subsequent survey. The survey involved a list of demographic questions and two matrices. The first matrix required the teachers to rate, on a four-point scale, the use of the eleven assessment modes for the twelve 'process' and KBE skills. The second matrix was a frequency check to determine if the teachers had used a particular mode to assess a particular skill. One hundred and forty-five usable surveys were analysed. The Rasch analysis was performed through RUMM2020 program and unfolding model was sought through the program RateFOLD. The interviews first established that KBE skills and a variety of assessment modes were needed for today's classes. The survey confirmed these needs and found that the paper and pencil test was the most frequently used assessment procedures in Singapore and Perth. In both interviews and the survey, teachers were requested to match the skill(s) to the appropriate assessment mode(s) though the details and justification of such tasks were explained by the teachers in the interviews. In the process, other factors such as 'time constraints' and 'ranking of the teachers' were uncovered as 'hindrances' to teachers assessing the students appropriately for learning. The problems identified by the Singapore teachers were a lack of time, overloaded syllabi and the crucial perceived need of assessment of learning (high-stake summative tests). The results of both the interviews and survey supported the need for a variety of assessment modes (Gray & Sharp, 2001; Hackling, 2004; National Research Council, 1996, 2001 & 2003; Sebatane, 1998; Sterenberg, 1998) to help students learn science in today's contemporary classes. The Singapore teachers in this study were also appealing for help from the policy-makers to use a variety of assessment modes as the system that stipulated the use of the paper and pencil testing was beyond their control and jurisdiction. Recommendations that stemmed from this study include allowing teachers to use a variety of assessments to assess the students' learning in the high-stake Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and not just the paper and pencil mode that has been in used for at least the last thirty years. There are important implications as the learning theories that are currently used to support the assessment of learning are no longer sufficient nor in total alignment with the needs for today's class. For example, a behaviourist taxonomy of skills emphasises the measurable output and not the process of learning. Socio-constructivist approaches that focus on the individual constructing meaning in hislher context such as the use of ongoing formative assessment to encourage feedback (Black & Wiliam, 1998a & b) may assist in engaging the students in lifelong learning which is required in the KBE. Lastly, the significance of this study lies in two aspects, the practical and the scholarly. This study provides the evidence for the need primary science assessment to be more aligned to contemporary needs. This in turn will assist in better preparing the young of Singapore, who are the nation's only natural resource, for the workforce. This study also aims to contribute to the body of knowledge in three ways. Firstly, KBE needs will be connected to the primary science classroom via assessment of skills. Secondly, both KBE and process skills were found to be more appropriately assessed by assessment modes such as portfolio and paper and pencil respectively, as demonstrated through the analysis by Rasch and unfolding models. Thirdly, the gap between the implemented and official curriculum will be narrowed with this proposed change in assessment processes.

Orientador: Ruy de Quadros Carvalho / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T04:04:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lenhari_LucianaCristina_M.pdf: 730869 bytes, checksum: 5b28bc6c04146a4b8cb32f8b13100c68 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Esta Dissertação de Mestrado discute o papel do conhecimento na economia, a partir da reflexão sobre o argumento amplamente difundido por instituições internacionais multilaterais, especialmente a Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômico (OCDE) e o Banco Mundial, de que as economias industrializadas estariam caminhando na direção de uma Economia Baseada no Conhecimento (EBC), na qual o conhecimento teria papel de principal insumo produtivo na criação de valor. O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir para o melhor entendimento desse debate, buscando discutir o conceito de EBC e seus possíveis significados. A preocupação em estudar e entender melhor o papel do conhecimento na economia, justifica-se pela atuação significativa que estas instituições têm na definição das agendas políticas dos países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento. O estímulo de estudar esse tema vem de uma certa vulgarização da idéia de que estaríamos numa Terceira Revolução Industrial na qual agora o conhecimento é um elemento essencial para o crescimento. Existe uma Economia Baseada no Conhecimento? Para interpretar essa pergunta e saber quais os possíveis significados do que seria uma EBC, buscar-se-á responder duas questões: 1) há algo novo na relação entre ciência, tecnologia, inovação e crescimento econômico que justifique a proposição de uma nova etapa histórica de desenvolvimento capitalista, uma EBC que se diferencie das fases anteriores do capitalismo? e 2) está em curso uma mudança na estrutura ocupacional e setorial das economias mais industrializadas, onde o peso do conhecimento em alguns setores ou ocupações justificariam a idéia de uma EBC? Para atender os objetivos da pesquisa, optou-se por privilegiar os trabalhos dos Neoschumpeterianos e Evolucionistas (N&E), pelo tratamento dado ao processo de geração e reprodução de conhecimento como insumo para a produção de valor, com foco no entendimento e na importância da Economia do Aprendizado (EA), e de Fritz Machlup, por ser o autor que se dedicou à entender o valor econômico do conhecimento e seu papel nas mudanças macro-estruturais da economia dos Estados Unidos, nos anos 1960/70. O que se pretende é trazer para o debate os elementos que esses autores nos fornecem para entender o papel do conhecimento na economia e, assim responder às questões colocadas. Com base nos estudos empreendidos nesta dissertação, conclui-se que em relação à questão 1, a resposta é não, pois nem as contribuições dos N&E e nem a de Machlup trazem qualquer argumento que corrobore essa questão, pelo contrário, com base nesses autores não há nada que evidencie alguma mudança em que o peso do conhecimento hoje seja mais importante do que foi no início do século passado. Em relação à questão 2, há indicações de que a resposta seja sim. A contribuição desses autores fornecem vários elementos interessantes para pensar essa questão. No caso dos N&E, pode-se mencionar a relação entre mudança técnica e crescimento, a importância da P&D e da concorrência oligopolista baseada em inovação, o tratamento da EA e a dimensão tácita do conhecimento. Em Machlup, pode-se destacar a construção das abordagens pela indústria e pela ocupação e sua preocupação com atividades essenciais na produção e distribuição de conhecimento. Para esses autores é clara a tendência de um aumento na demanda por trabalhadores mais qualificados e aptos a interagir em ambientes onde o conhecimento tem um importante papel na geração de riqueza / Abstract: This master dissertation aims to analyse the role of knowledge in the economy. There is widespread agreement, especially from international multilateral institutions as World Bank and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) that the industrialised economies are following towards an Economy-based Knowledge (EBC) in that economic growth is driven by the accumulation of knowledge. But what exactly does this mean? In order to contribute to the understanding of this issue, the objective of this dissertation is to discuss the concept and means of Economy-based Knowledge based on theoretical framework revision. The main incentive of studying such theme comes from a certain vulgarisation and simplification of such debate. For instance the one in that we are in the Third Industrial Revolution and that the knowledge is becoming central for the economic growth. Then, the questions addressed on the study are: there is an Economy-based Knowledge? What it means? To analyse such discussion the dissertation will emphasise two main questions: Firstly, what is the novelty in the relationship among science, technology, innovation and economical growth that justify the proposition of a new historical era of capitalist development? The EBC is different from it was in the past? Secondly, there is a change in the features and structure of industrial employment and occupations from the developed economies whose major output is the knowledge that justifies the idea of an EBC? On this dissertation aim, the methodology adopted ¿ essentially a bibliographical revision ¿ focused on two main theoretical frameworks. First, It accomplishes a revision about the Evolutionary and Neo-Schumpeterian approaches (N&E) which emphasise both the knowledge generation and reproduction as an output to value creation and the importance of Learning Economy. Second, the Fritz Machlup approaches. Machlup tried to understand the economical value of the knowledge and its role in the macro-structural changes of United States economy during the in the 1960/70 years. Based on such framework and as regards owner One and Two research questions, we concluded that: neither N&E nor Machlup approaches demonstrate that the knowledge is more important today that is was in the past. There is no evidence about it. In relation to the second questions the answers can be YES. As N&E as Machlup N&E analysis emphasise such question. From the N&E perspective, some topics are detailed such as: the relationship between technical change and economic growth; the importance of the R&D and of the oligopolistic competition based on innovation; the Learning Economy approach and the tacit dimension of the knowledge. From the Machlup perspective, the industry and the occupations/skills are considered in his analysis; Machlup is mainly concern about the essential activities in the production and distribution of knowledge. In both N&E and Machlup approach there is an increasing tendency of more qualified employees with ability to continuously interact in organisations where the knowledge has one of the most important role in the wealth generation / Mestrado / Politica Cientifica e Tecnologica / Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica