the region of aachen as a ‘learning region’: a case study

The Region of Aachen as a ‘Learning Region’: A CaseStudy

Ellen OlbertzSercon GmbH, Eschborn, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Abstract: All economic processes are increasingly being networked across the globe. Thiseconomic globalisation has become possible through the globalisation of information andcommunication technology networks. In view of such growing globalisation of economicprocesses, the region and its enterprises can only sustain competitiveness on the basis ofcontinuous innovation processes, i.e., through continuous learning. The question, however, iswhich kind of economic framework – established by regional or transregional politics – isneeded to support such innovation and learning processes in the region. In this paper, someaspects of this framework and its structural change processes are described, leading to thestrategy to implement the concept of a Learning Region. The Learning Region is characterisedin that it recognises its own needs for change and to accept these challenges, leading to its ownlearning processes within its cooperative networks.

Keywords: Enterprise networking; Globalisation; Information technology; Regionalisation

1. Introduction

We are living in a time of continuous economic and social change which is triggered

and shaped by new information and communication technology worldwide. Economies

are becoming more and more dependent on each other owing to the complexity of

international trade and financial relations. This interdependence is made possible

through the new networked information technology. The technological progress

constantly increases the speed of this development. Economy utilises this technology in

two ways: as a tool to create networking, and as a product to create economic wealth.

At the same time, the ability of politics to control and act decreases with the

growing distance between scene of action and citizens. We are facing today the trend

of globalisation or globalism (Beck, 1999). These circumstances are intensified by

accelerating individualisation. Our change society renders forecasts more and more

impossible and leads to developments that cannot be easily planned or controlled

(Isenhardt et al., 1999).

Ownership and Copyright# Springer-Verlag LimitedAI & Soc (2002) 16:224–242

AI&SOCIETY

In parallel, strong interest concentrates on the development of regions, their

enterprises and regional social–political structures. Here, the consequences of

globalisation and the overall structural changes may be experienced at their most

lively. Hence, regionalisation marks the opposite trend to the ongoing globalisation.

Both globalisation as well as regionalisation are tendencies of one single process, the

opening up of national boundaries (Dassen-Housen, 2002).

During the last decade, considerable research activities have concentrated on the

survival and competitiveness of regions facing such structural changes (Piore and

Sabel, 1985; Storper and Scott, 1992). The emerging path of economic development

leads towards a dynamic economy. This new development determines the framework

for responsible action within the competitive society. Such economic systems can only

survive through structures that support continuous structural changes.

Thus the region and its enterprises can only sustain competitiveness on the basis of

continuous innovation processes, i.e. through continuous learning. The question,

however, is which kind of economic framework – established by regional or trans-

regional politics – is needed to support such innovation and learning processes in the

region (Olbertz, 2001). In this paper, some aspects of this framework and its structural

change processes are described, leading to the concept of the Learning Region.

2. The Region as an Economic System: Regional Cooperation andContinuous Learning

In order to ensure the competitiveness of regions and enterprises in the future a new

systemic view of economic systems and their development arises: it is necessary to

understand economies as complex open and living systems that are subsystems of

society as a whole – besides, for example, the political system and the legal system

(Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The economic system as subsystem of society.

The Region of Aachen as a ‘Learning Region’ 225

Within such complex systems of economy are the participating systems like

families, enterprises or public institutions. All such participating systems are actors in

the system; they are influenced in their development by the system environment. The

systems have continually to adapt to changes of this environment in order to ensure

their survival.

In parallel, the worldwide economic system is made up of many subsystems that are

connected with each other, e.g., via customer–supplier chains. Here the concept of

self-similarity may be applied. It is derived from chaos theory. Its main question is

how to understand and analyse complex systems. Systems in biology show that each

individual part of the whole system may represent the structure of the system as a

whole. But all these parts are merely similar to each other rather than identical to each

other (Warnecke, 1992; Isenhardt, 1994). This feature characterises complex living

systems as self-similar systems.

The economic system consists of many different subsystems. In this case, the

system’s ability to survive depends on the ability of its subsystems to survive (Fig. 2).

Furthermore, all subsystems are dependent on their participating systems for their own

survival. This view corresponds to the concept of self-similarity. Examples of self-

similar systems are the national states comprising their own regional systems, which in

turn consist of smaller entities of participating systems. This interpretation of self-

similar systems applies also to customer–supplier chains: each entity within such a

chain may represent in itself a customer–supplier chain on a different scale.

Nation-wide economic systems have only recently started to cooperate with each

other through international networks. Such cooperation by global networking,

however, is not sufficient for long-term economic survival of the nations because

the quality of geographic neighbourhood relations is additionally needed for survival

Fig. 2. The principle of self-similarity for economic systems.

E. Olbertz226

in economic terms. Considering such regional economic systems, regions can only

survive if their participating systems are also able to survive – similar to considering

national economic systems as a whole. This may include that these regional

subsystems are connected with each other by customer–supplier chains.

As a matter of principle, these different systems and their sub-entities are to be

understood in their relations as of equal weight or equal importance for their survival.

This perspective is based on the understanding of any cooperation network as being

structured by close reciprocity of the relations between the partners which need each

other mutually for their own survival. It follows that such partners need to recognise

each other as fundamentally equal entities.

The following quotations by Linda Garcia and Saskia Sassen may show how

important such regional relations and alliances in the shape of customer–supplier

chains are today. They are particularly important for small and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs) in their regional struggle for survival and competitiveness. Both

Garcia and Sassen are internationally acknowledged researchers in this field. They

refer to such regional economic systems described so far as an important basis of

regional survival:

One major challenge that businesses will face in an electronically networked environment is how – in theabsence of continued face-to-face relationships and organisational sanctions – to establish trust. . . . Trust canonly be established over time, and through a process or repeated successful transactions. Hence, anincreasingly prevalent way of reinforcing trust in an electronic environment is to establish closer social tiesand alliances much like the merchant networks of earlier times, or the Japanese ‘Keiretsu’ or the Italian‘Impannatore’ of today. In contrast to the market, which is characterised by atomistic relationships andintense competition; and vertically integrated firms, which are highly structured and authoritative in nature;networks comprise indefinite, loosely coupled relationships, which exhibit strong patterns of reciprocity.(Garcia, 2000: 50)

. . . those specialised service firms engaged in the most complex and globalised markets are subject toagglomeration economies. The complexity for the services they need to produce, the uncertainty for themarket they are involved with either directly or through the headquarters for which they are producing theservices, and the growing importance of speed in all these transactions, is a mix of conditions that constitutesa new agglomeration dynamic. The mix of firms, talents, expertise from a broad range of specialised fieldsmakes a certain type of urban environment function as an information centre. Being in a city becomessynonymous with being in an extremely intense and dense information loop. This is a type of informationloop that as of now still cannot be replicated fully in electronic space, and has as one of its value-addedfeatures the fact of unforeseen and unplanned mixes of information, expertise and talent, which can producea higher order of information. (Sassen, 2000: 149)

In this context, the overall aim of economic politics should be to assist regions and

regional enterprises to survive. This includes keeping alive their competitiveness

within cooperation networks between fundamentally equal partners. Recent manage-

ment theories – e.g., as suggested by Drucker – regard enterprise cooperation between

such partners as central to survival:

. . . the Keiretsu, that is, the integration into one management system of enterprises that are linkedeconomically rather than controlled legally, has . . . given dominance in the industry and in the marketplace.. . . Increasingly, however, the economic chain brings together genuine partners, that is, institutions in whichthere is equality of power and genuine independence. (Drucker, 1999: 33)

Also Linda Garcia focuses on the equality of partners in economic cooperations:

In a highly complex and rapidly changing global economy, vertical businesses are being rushed to theirlimits. Businesses everywhere are rearranging their activities to carry them out in networks and teams. Somebusinesses, for example, are entering into highly integrated, long-term relationships with customers andsuppliers; others are setting up short-term, ad hoc alliances to address a particular problem at hand. Many ofthese networks transcend national as well as organisational boundaries. (Garcia, 2000: 49)


Within these cooperations, positive results for all participants can be created

continuously, leading to mutual gains for all partners. Such situations may be called

win–win situations. Such cooperations may be particularly supportive to producing

innovations via organisational learning that contribute to survival and competitiveness

of the enterprises. Therefore regional politics are challenged to create political and

organisational frameworks which support cooperation between the different regional

economic actors. As a result such cooperation yields win–win situations for all actors.

In this way they support regional learning processes leading to learning by

cooperating in regional networks.

Thus, a region’s ability to survive can be seen in that the region continually

develops innovation within its networks of partners where the partners are to be

considered fundamentally equal. This concept explains why those regions are

successful in economic terms which possess such cooperation networks of enterprises.

These regions are able to create win–win situations for all economic actors, leading to

an innovative milieu across the region. This is also true for successful networked

enterprises as regional subsystems because they realise networks as an efficient form

of organisation. This cooperation integrating competition enables the enterprises to

survive and strive in a world that is continuously growing more competitive. These

aspects which concern regional development in a global context are illustrated by the

following case study.

3. Case Study of the Aachen Region

3.1 The Region of Aachen as a Space of Economy and Living

The following report is based on a three-year research project integrating 15 different

project partners. They were enterprises and public institutions based in the economic

region of Aachen. This region may be seen as a successful model case of mastering the

structural changes needed today. This report illustrates the concept of the Learning

Region. The concept is based on creating win–win situations through cooperative

customer–supplier networks across the region. In this way, the region may yield an

answer to the question of survival of regions under the global challenge.

The region of Aachen may be defined as the area which is economically

coordinated by its Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Fig. 3). This region is

characterised by its close neighbourhood to the Netherlands and Belgium. Due to its

strategic geographical location, the region has gained a certain political importance.

On the other hand, due to the same factor, the region has had to cope with

extraordinary economic problems during its recent economic and social history: the

region suffered particularly during the past European wars when the borders were

closed for all business, for several decades.

Only in recent decades have the partners across the borders remembered past

historical alliances. Hence the region of Aachen has become integrated into the

European Region EUREGIO, which includes the adjacent border regions of the

Netherlands and Belgium. Since then, the EUREGIO has become very visible as an

entity in its own right within Europe. As a result, it has contributed considerably to the

European Union development processes (IHK Aachen, 1989).

E. Olbertz228

Today more than one million people live in this region, about half of them in the

area of the city of Aachen. There are about 340,000 employees, about one third of

them women. There are, however, about 41,000 inhabitants of the region who are

unemployed, which results in a rate of regional unemployment of about 12% (IHK

Aachen, 1989). This figure is still valid today! The main reason for this high rate of

unemployment is that several traditional branches of industry with previously very

high employment figures have completely disappeared or they have heavily reduced

economic performance. In its wake, employment figures during the recent structural

changes in Europe have decreased at a frightening speed.

As an example, the region has lost almost all of its former 50 textile factories.

Furthermore, in connection with the crisis in coal-mining, all regional coal-pits were

closed. Not all employees have been taken over by newly established enterprises. For

traditional industries, the only way to survive has been by thorough modernisation and

automation (Zinn, 1985). Another basic strategy in the region of Aachen has been to

set up regional cooperation networks. This strategy forms the centre of discussion of

this paper.

Within this strategy, the experiences of the region of Aachen show the extreme

importance of micro-enterprises for the welfare of the region as a whole. As described

Fig. 3. The region of Aachen.


by Dassen-Housen in this issue, the development towards new working structures in

enterprises today requires, increasingly, self-responsibility and self-organisation on a

micro-level within large enterprises, as well as establishing across the region small

enterprises with one to five employees, i.e. micro-enterprises. This trend appears

central to the societal changes presently being induced through the technical–

political–economic forces of globalisation (Dassen-Housen, 2001, Trend I). The

Aachen Regional Council and the regional banks have, therefore, supported the

successful founding of hundreds of new small companies by offering cheap rent,

secretarial services and favourable bank credit, as well as by building 15 different

technology centres as incubators for these new enterprises. In addition, the Council has

invited international enterprises to establish their business in this region in order to

take advantage of this high-technology region and their young and dynamic

entrepreneurial actors: the graduates of the regional universities.

The following paragraphs give a survey of these different regional developments.

The emphasis will be on the regional cooperation networks. They characterise the

cooperative climate within the region. They have been chosen to illustrate networking

within the three main innovative branches of economy. The case study may also serve

as an example for the joint development of the following three main sectors of

economy:

. the sector of high-technology enterprises;

. craft enterprises as SMEs; and

. socially oriented projects and enterprises in the region.

In the following paragraph of this report, the role of the regional universities will be

described first because these universities are among the main economic actors of the

region.

3.2 The Universities as Regional Network Hubs

3.2.1 The University of Technology Aachen

The University of Technology (RWTH) Aachen is considered to be one of the main

actors of regional networking. The university comprises about 35,000 students and

10,000 employees including research, teaching and support staff. This means that the

university is the biggest employer in the region. In the sense of this report, the

university is seen as a special kind of enterprise in the way it is networked with other

regional enterprises.

The university budget is more than US $600 million (1999). This amount includes

about US $100 million external research funds through contracts with industry and

other research agencies in Germany and Europe. These financial figures are the highest

in Germany for any university both in absolute figures and per student. The University

of Technology Aachen (RWTH) is therefore the leading German university of

technology. It is also among the leading universities worldwide in terms of its

industry-related high-technology research. These contracts concern a wide range of

research questions which are to be solved by university researchers in order to enable

German industry to develop next-generation products, production processes and

services against worldwide competition. They concern fundamental as well as applied

research and development tasks related to both the national and the world market.

E. Olbertz230

Specific outcomes of university research are directly transferred into companies or

industrial fields. Consultancy and industrial training are offered by university staff on

a large scale in order to support industrial enterprises (large enterprises as well as

SMEs) in their transition to new work patterns, e.g. group work, networking, Total

Quality Management, environmental performance improvements.

With these contracts, the university is able to perform large numbers of research

projects which – seen as a whole – symbolise the full complexity of today’s

questions and problems in technological development. Almost all of these projects

are taking place within regional, Germany-wide or Europe-wide university-industry

networks.

The other smaller universities of applied sciences in the region of Aachen play a

similar role as the University of Technology (RWTH), with about 10000 additional

students. These universities follow very much the same model of university–industry

cooperation as the University of Technology and they perform a large variety of

such contracts. Some strategies of these contracts are described in the following

paragraph.

3.2.2 Joint Regional Research of University and Industry: Four strategies

The strong regional cooperation of university and industry in the region of Aachen is

based on the tradition that industry in Germany tends to commission university

departments to perform research on their behalf. This tradition is one of the main

success factors of German industry. Through this strategy, industry saves money and

personnel and the university researchers get continuously challenged by new tasks

which are directly linked to the markets of today and tomorrow.

There are four components to this strategy:

. First, industry gives direct commissions to university for definite research and

development tasks. These projects are fully paid by industry. Success in previous

research projects is the basis for industry to trust the university to do a good job also

in the future.

. Second, university departments suggest to certain industrial enterprises themes of

future research. Subsequently university and industry may jointly submit an

application for research funds to the State Government, the Federal Government,

the German Research Council or the European Commission. In such research

projects the university usually applies for 100% funding, the industrial company for

30–50%.

. Third, university and industry set up joint research institutions for certain research

and development areas (e.g., the well-known Aachen Fraunhofer Institutes of

production technology, laser technology and ceramics utilisation in production,

which work in very close cooperation with the University of Aachen). These

institutes are funded through their own research projects, which may be either

genuine industry contracts or joint university–industry projects involving public

funding institutions.

. Fourth, university graduates set up their own company but keep close cooperation

with their former supervising professors and their former research departments.

Thus they make use of certain facilities and personnel of the university for their

research and development activities, on a contractual basis.


3.2.3 Joint University–Industry Contracts

Within university–industry cooperation contracts, the jointly used facilities may be

expensive technical and research equipment, including computers and multimedia

equipment, which in this way is utilised more efficiently. The personnel may be

research students, who are cheaper than fully paid industrial personnel. They perform

their Masters or PhD research work within these projects under the joint supervision of

university and industry staff. The final decision on their thesis work, however, lies

with the university.

The research results of joint university–industry projects are used by both the

enterprise (to its own technological advantage) and the university (in terms of research

progress, publications and prestige; to a lesser degree as a source of income for the

university itself). These cooperative strategies of mutual gains are characterised by

fundamentally equal power of decision making of university and enterprise within

their networks.

In the Aachen region, all different strategies of university–industry cooperation are

superimposed. This phenomenon is the core of the Aachen Model of Regional

Development. The Regional Council and the Chambers of the Region have jointly

supported this process by setting up about 15 specific technology centres (or

incubators), as mentioned above. In these centres, university graduates find favourable

conditions of rent and administration services as well as enterprise consultancy.

Additional management training is offered to those engineering graduates who later

become entrepreneurs or managers. Thus they find all the assistance needed to

establish their own enterprises.

3.3 High-Technology Enterprises: University–Industry Networking

3.3.1 Establishing Regional University–Enterprise Networks

There follow some examples of enterprises which have been established within the

regional university–industry networks All these companies are now active worldwide

and contribute considerably to the economic success of Germany. Several of these

companies are world market leaders.

. FEV is a well-known example of the close cooperation between industrial

enterprises and universities. They perform fundamental research and development

for next-generation car engines on behalf of almost all important German and

international car manufacturers.

. AIXTRON develops and produces high-vacuum equipment for small solid-state

laser systems in all possible colours, which are actually used everywhere today.

. AIXO produces software designed for production control and business commu-

nication in industry.

. AIXONIX designs Internet platforms and portals for e-business.

. ELSA designs and produces hardware and software for multimedia components in

computer systems.

. Parsytec does research and development as well as production of parallel-

processing pattern recognition systems for industrial applications, e.g. in steel and

sheet metal production.

E. Olbertz232

3.3.2 Establishing Regional SMEs Linked to the University

MA&T. The company MA&T was established in 1996 by three PhD graduates of the

University of Technology Aachen. Its starting strategy was to provide consultancy and

training to enterprises mainly in the former East German regions in order to support

their transition from a socialist to a market economy. Their main thrust was the

introduction of semi-autonomous working groups in industry in order to enhance

efficiency and flexibility of enterprises.

Today the company comprises about 10 full academic staff members, seven of

them with PhDs in engineering and work psychology. Their areas of activities include

the re-engineering of large and medium-sized production enterprises; tailor-made

software programs for communication and business processes in industry; and specific

training programmes for trade union groups and shop-floor stewards. The company is

engaged in such projects all over Germany, in several Eastern European countries and

in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Its main source of appointing new staff is the University of Technology Aachen,

which is also its main partner in projects requiring the joint commitment of a large

consortium. This cooperation includes hiring junior academic staff from the university

if certain large projects of the company need additional personnel.

AKMedia. The company AKMedia was established in 1987 by two graduates of the

University of Technology Aachen. Their aim as to make entrepreneurial use of their

academic experiences in electrical engineering and multimedia as well as in business

studies and project management. Thus they designed their company to fulfil a broad

range of regional needs in multimedia:

. to offer the most up-to-date multimedia equipment including professional video

studios with their own editing facilities; furthermore, computer-controlled and

digitised systems for web design as well as for large-scale presentation purposes,

etc.;

. to offer expert personnel for maintenance and utilisation support of all such systems

wherever and whenever needed;

. to offer high-quality production studio systems including technical supervision and

artistic support for commercial video and multimedia production in their own

production facilities.

The company developed very quickly into the leading enterprise within the region,

serving almost all large and medium-sized enterprises as well as all important public

institutions and universities of the region (and beyond). Today the company comprises

more than 25 staff members, many of them former graduates of the regional

universities. Additionally they hire undergraduates of the universities on a temporary

basis as support staff in large multimedia projects. Frequently these students have

become the next-generation full-time staff members of the enterprise.

ICON. The enterprise ICON Aachen is one of five branches of the Icon Holding

Cologne. Presently it consists of three staff members who are running the enterprise as

the hub of a large regional and international network of customers and suppliers. The

customers are governments and industry worldwide which require tailor-made training

and education programmes for their technical and administrative staff. The

programmes are to be offered in Germany according to German standards and


qualifications (e.g., for technical teachers or technical personnel from Libya, the

Caribbean, Syria, Asia, etc.). The Icon enterprise organises such programmes, which

may last for several months or up to a year. It designs the curriculum of the courses,

hires all teaching staff (e.g., from the regional technical colleges and universities) and

provides accommodation and subsistence for the participants.

Thus the enterprise symbolises today’s foremost type of enterprise which act as

facilitators and organisers rather than performing these programmes within

themselves.

3.3.3 Establishing International Enterprises in the Region

The Regional Council has offered large blocks of land to be used for dynamic

expanding enterprises. Several large international enterprises have taken advantage of

these offers. They have established their main research and development branches as

well as production plants at Aachen in order to draw into their companies young,

highly skilled graduates from the universities in the region. Therefore many graduates

tend to stay within the region after university, thus contributing to both the innovative

and economic welfare of the region, and its social and cultural life. The overlapping

cultures of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium contribute to this lively climate

within this three-country corner of Europe.

Three examples may stand for these enterprises:

. Ericsson has built up its main European development laboratory here. Its task is to

develop next-generation mobile phone systems.

. Philips has set up its main German research laboratory in the region.

. Ford runs its main research and development department at Aachen, which is

responsible for developing the next generation of cars within Ford worldwide.

3.4 The Regional Networking of Craft Enterprises and SMEs

Since the days of the guilds in the thirteenth century craft enterprises have played an

important role in Aachen and contribute innovatively to the region’s development.

After all, the Aachen craft enterprises as a whole are the biggest employer in the region. More than 45,000people work in about 4000 enterprises and attain a turnover of more than 5.5 billion German marks. (Spaete,1998: 8; author’s translation)

During recent years, several horizontal and vertical cooperation networks have been

developed that are supported by the Chamber of Craft through consultancy, marketing,

etc. The following paragraph describes some examples of such networks.

3.4.1 Schell Gruentechnik

The Schell Gruentechnik company produces large heavy-duty lawn mowers. It was

founded about 30 years ago by the present owner, Mr Schell, out of his lawn mower

maintenance craft enterprise. The aim of Mr Schell at that time was to create

completely new types of lawn mowers based on hydraulics rather than two-stroke

engine drive or similar systems. Today his technological approach represents world

leadership in lawn-cutting systems for golf courses, large parks and open grass areas

(e.g., along seashores).

The main problem to be solved was the aerodynamics of high-speed grass cutting

and removing it from the maelstrom inside the housing close to the ground, underneath

E. Olbertz234

the lawn mower. This problem was solved by the company in close cooperation with

the Department of Aerodynamics and Aircraft Design of the University of

Technology, Aachen. The solution involves cutting the grass into sufficiently small

pieces which can be left on the lawn to rot and fertilise the ground. Today almost all

leading lawn mower producers worldwide buy Schell mowing systems to attach to

their own brands of lawn mowers.

Presently the company has 25 employees. It has its own network of regional

suppliers as well as subcontractors for pre-assembled system components across

Europe, and as far away as China. The next step of technological development will be

remote-control and unmanned automated lawn mowers.

3.4.2 Network for Comprehensive Craft Services

A group of regional craft enterprises have come together in order to offer their services

to their customers in a new way. The setting up of this network has been supported and

structured by young research staff at the university. All SMEs in this network are

involved in building and refurbishing of houses. They have agreed to offer their

services as a networked virtual enterprise: building the houses, wallpaper renovation

and wall painting, renovating tiles and floors, carpentry and furnishing, etc. Hence

customers can order the building or refurbishing of their houses to be performed

through one single contractor. All craft enterprises in this virtual enterprise are linked

in such a way that the different tasks are performed as a continuously flowing process.

Customers do not need to contact the different craftsmen or companies individually.

One specific aim of this virtual enterprise is to offer most advanced services related to

environmental issues and optimum resource savings (energy, water, etc.).

This network set-up of independent craft SMEs is characterised by cooperation of

all partners on equal terms, one enterprise performing its tasks or services in such a

way that the subsequent service provider can continue without delay or rework. Thus

the enterprises understand themselves as being linked with each other, similar to

customer–supplier chains which are characterised by fundamentally equal actors.

3.4.3 Network of Electricity Craft Shops for Comprehensive Regional Customer Service

A certain number of independent electricity craft and repair/maintenance enterprises

have set up a specific cooperative network in order to guarantee regional 24-hour

services for any customers, and for any tasks of domestic maintenance and repair. The

enterprises are linked by mobile phone and email. On the basis of a flexible set of

rules, the entrepreneurs decide through direct communication who is to respond to the

different demands of customers. These demands would otherwise over-stretch any

single enterprise both in time and travel.

3.4.4 Network to Involve SMEs in Using the WWW for Joint Business

Several regional SMEs have agreed to set up WWW-based links in order to utilise the

possibilities of offering services and winning customers, as a joint effort. Their WWW

pages are developing towards a structure similar to a stock exchange. This cooperation

network is supported by the regional technical colleges to train SME managers and

employees in using the WWW. University research teams have designed specific

computer interfaces for optimum use of the Internet by the SME personnel within this

network.


3.4.5 Network for Regional Professional Training in Information Technology

The aim of this innovative network is to place young people in SMEs so that they

experience first-hand practical training in working with and maintaining IT equipment

(both software and hardware). This network of enterprises comprises several leading

IT companies in the Aachen region which are highly cooperative in order to educate

(and subsequently recruit) new qualified personnel.

There are many other networks of craft enterprises in the Aachen region. They have

often developed out of informal personal relationships. Within these networks, the

partners realise continual win–win situations by jointly offering their services to their

customers. A different kind of network is described in the following paragraph.

3.4.6 Networking for Environmental Improvements: The Environmental Technology

Park

The concept of technology or industrial (business) parks is not uncommon: different

companies settle within an enclosed geographic area generally as a result of industrial

and regional government policy. Those companies which are more resource intensive

(in terms of consumption of energy, water, equipment, waste production, etc.) are

usually unwanted on such sites. It is, however, possible to incorporate these companies

by establishing parks which allow the shared and effective use of infrastructure and

resources. One example may illustrate this concept.

The first Environmental Technology Park was established at Bielefeld as an

innovative industrial network in Germany. It was originally suggested by Aachen

University in cooperation with an industrial company. It is centred around a large

textile finishing plant which had to give up business at that time. Today it consists of a

cluster of specially selected companies taking up residence in unused areas of the site.

The basic features of re-establishing the companies on this site are: shared use of

electricity generated on site; fresh water supply from the site’s own wells; utilising the

existing but underused sewage treatment plant; shared use of maintenance as well as

other facilities, etc. Thus more than 30 companies have been relocated onto this site

since 1997. Among them are two large commercial laundries and a car-wash business,

several trading, marketing and software companies, etc. They have experienced cost

reductions of up to 80% through shared use and reuse of resources.

The same concept of the environmental technology park is presently being

reworked for the whole of the Aachen region in close cooperation of the Regional

Council, the Chambers, several enterprises and the university. This project of the

Environmental Technology Park is an example of how economic and environmental

objectives can be brought together in order to improve environmental performance in

industry and service through regional networking. It is again an example of a win–win

situation of mutual gains in cooperation and networks which are characterised by

cooperation between fundamentally equal partners.

3.5 Establishing Networks of Socially Oriented Enterprises and Projects

During the last two decades, new projects, institutions and small enterprises have

developed which are specifically committed to improving employment conditions in

the region. They care especially for the integration and participation of socially

disadvantaged people and they fight against unemployment of less qualified personnel.

E. Olbertz236

Their aim is to bring more people into qualification processes and to raise their

qualification standard in order for them to regain jobs. This is mostly realised by the

development of new services in the range of low-skill jobs. Most of these enterprises

and projects are cooperating with each other through their own special regional

association in order to gain more political power and to coordinate their public

relations strategies. Some examples follow here to illustrate the different networking

structures.

3.5.1 HolzCoop

The company HolzCoop (Wood Cooperative) was established by two young

unemployed carpenters about 20 years ago. The aim was at that time to offer to

other young unemployed people the opportunity to learn basic carpentry as an initial

experience for their own professional careers. The project was supported by the

regional church and the regional council. The project developed into a flourishing

carpentry shop which for many years has stabilised its size at about 15 employees.

This craft enterprise derives some of its regional success and appreciation from

communication and management training courses organised for them by some young

teachers of the University of Technology Aachen.

3.5.2 Network to Improve Service Orientation of Low-Qualification Personnel

This network has been instigated by the Aachen Church jointly with the Chambers of

Craft and Trade, and the regional Labour Union. It aims at defining and implementing

standards of employment and qualification of unemployed personnel. Through this

process, new opportunities have been opening up for such people to find medium-

qualification employment in service tasks, e.g., office jobs, catering and maintenance.

3.5.3 Relektra: Recycling of Electrical/Electronic Products after Use

A group of entrepreneurs (graduates from the universities of the region) has set up a

company to manually disassemble and pre-sort, on a large scale, computers and TV

equipment etc. Their aim is to reclaim raw materials in order to deliver them to certain

production factories for reuse and further exploitation. These materials include copper

wiring, glass tubes, condensers, circuit boards, plastic materials, etc. The computers

are collected region-wide.

Workers on the plant gain both a new qualification as craftsmen, and personal

satisfaction to be needed for a task which they themselves consider valuable in terms

of both environment and society. As a side job, some of these workers create strange

and beautiful works of art out of the waste material.

The company is part of a network of regional political administration, university,

industry and the institutions and chambers responsible for employment and

qualification. Their common aim is the lasting integration of structural economic

improvements and improved labour market policy. Figure 4 shows the basic structure

of the network. The following quotation is taken from the official report of the review

team who visited the company on behalf of the partly funding government institution:

Here, new ways of removal and utilisation of electronic waste have been developed in parallel which havetriggered a process of structural change into a good direction.. The Aachen network of electronic wastetreatment is a model of a new integrative strategy that is economically as well as ecologically viable. (vonWeizsaecker, 1999: 4)


In this particular kind of network, however, the limits of such cooperative networks

may become visible if the partners do not really recognise each other as being

fundamentally equal. As an example, certain administrative bodies occasionally tend

to see these socially oriented enterprises and projects not so much as partners or

suppliers on equal terms but rather as applicants who are not always welcome when

they negotiate about financial support for socially oriented regional activities.

4. Some Lessons to be Learned from the Aachen Experience

This report has described examples of cooperative economic structures in the region of

Aachen. The region has been successful and competitive in its European and global

context. The core of its success are its cooperation networks, which are based on the

understanding that all cooperation partners are fundamentally equal. These networks

are mostly structured through regional customer–supplier chains. The terms successful

and competitive mean that the organisations that cooperate in such networks achieve

both aims: to survive and to ensure their profits as well as the jobs of their employees.

These processes of cooperation in the region have created win–win situations

between the network partners in the sense of experiencing mutual gains. In parallel,

they contribute to the learning processes of the whole region and instigate new

regional activities of innovation. This ability to cooperate and to learn may be seen as

a precondition to create innovations at all levels. The cooperation networks innovate in

products, production and services: develop new products, establish new enterprises

(e.g., high-technology craft enterprises), work out new qualification profiles for their

employees and offer new services (e.g., comprehensive building contracts).

Fig. 4. Structure of cooperation network for recycling of electrical/electronic products in the region ofAachen.

E. Olbertz238

Continual support and instigation of new cooperation networks, however, are

necessary to maintain such competitiveness of enterprises and to guarantee the ability

to innovate for the whole region of Aachen. This requirement of regional development

characterises the role of regional politics. From the view of system theory, such

processes and their results cannot be controlled and directed through a central political

office in the sense of top-down economic intervention. Through political intervention,

it is only possible to stimulate and coach these processes continually while ensuring

both competition on the market and autonomy of enterprise development.

These cooperating entities are to understand themselves as fundamentally equal

across all regional actors coming from all hierarchical levels of decision making, and

from all kinds of institutions, e.g.:

. university and high-technology enterprises;

. internationally based companies;

. craft enterprises;

. socially oriented enterprises and projects;

. the different Chambers and regional political powers, etc.

Many long-term changes of economic concepts of actions can only be developed by

integrating the different interests and opinions of these actors into one discourse. Such

processes need to take into account the importance of customer–supplier chains. This

means searching for the highest mutual gains and profits of all actors.

Such a comprehensive view of the region is illustrated in this report. Its integrated

process of development is essential for the survival and competitiveness of the region

as a whole. In this sense regional learning can be understood as enhancing the ability

to act cooperatively across the region. It includes accepting the continuous changes

caused by complex economic and political processes around the region.

One result of the Aachen-based project discussed so far has been the new large

project SENEKA, which extends this way of political and economic acting from one

restricted region over the whole of Germany as one Learning Region within Europe.

This project is briefly described in the following paragraph.

5. The Service Network for Training and Continuing Education:SENEKA

The goal of SENEKA is the improvement of innovation competence of small and

medium-sized enterprises through cooperation and networking. This strategic

approach is presently becoming important as the globalisation of economy endangers

the economic stability of entire regions and countries. With this project, the

experiment has been started across Germany to improve regional economic stability

by strategies of networking which focus on exchanging knowledge and experiences

among enterprises and research institutions.

In SENEKA, more than 30 enterprises and research institutions are designing

marketable products in the fields of knowledge management, networking and

competence development. Some of these project results are briefly presented here.

They integrate the social, organisational and technical aspects of knowledge


management and represent a cross-section of the SENEKA output which currently

covers 30 of such products.

. Regional networking support. With the regional networking of enterprises, the joint

utilisation of resources and skills is becoming important. The mutual learning

processes and exchange of experiences between the different enterprises need to be

independent from space and time. Thus an electronic platform has been introduced

into the SENEKA framework. The platform is centred in the region of Bremen. It

supports the emerging business network across the region. It is the prototype of

technology support for regional enterprise networking which may become essential

for more regions, in due course.

. Best-practice quality function deployment (QFD). QFD is a quality management

method which is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for successful product

development. Within SENEKA, a new tool has been developed which has been

named Best Practice QFD. It describes a systematic approach of Preventive Quality

Management to be applied in the early phases of the product life cycle. It may prove

to be an essential contribution towards improving quality of industrial production

and service in view of global competition.

. Customer and Strategy Workshops. Customer orientation of business strategies is

one very important issue of improving industrial performance in Germany. Thus

SENEKA aims at integrating customer orientation into strategic planning of

enterprises: for this aim SENEKA has developed and tested the concept of specific

customer and strategy workshops. These workshops enable the analysis of deficits

and problems in the company, addressed by and oriented towards the customer.

Thus this integrated approach triggers new strategies of enterprise change and

improvement.

. Inter-company cooperation workshops. Managers of different enterprises tend to be

detached in their attitude towards each other. Usually there is little scope for

cooperation and exchange of experiences on a personal level. Hence SENEKA has

developed and tested the concept of a special workshop for leading managers

promoting exchange of personal know-how between companies of different

branches. It aims at including the experiences gained through such knowledge

transfer, into the work processes of the enterprises. Thus the concept supports the

networking of independent companies through integrating the leading managers.

The joint commitment of these managers is to instigate and promote changes within

their own companies.

. Network analysis in customer–supplier chains. The large company DaimlerChrysler

is the hub of a widespread network of customer and supplier enterprises which are

also partly networked among each other. As one contribution to SENEKA aims,

DaimlerChrysler is presently setting up a consultancy network of their cooperating

SMEs. The emphasis is on gaining and exchanging data about operations and

processes within and across this network. Data analysis within the network leads to

recommendations for the structure and the organisation of such networks as well as

for the organisation and optimisation of cooperative processes in customer–supplier

chains. In this way, SENEKA is contributing to the development of new approaches

for future network management.

E. Olbertz240

These four examples may illustrate how across the whole of Germany industry has

been drawn into networking and cooperation in order to jointly and innovatively

improve economic performance. Thus the strategy suggested by the Learning Region

Aachen has proved its viability on a larger scale beyond one single region.

6. Conclusions

The need to invent the concept of the Learning Region has been triggered by the

changes of global economy under the impact of new information and communica-

tion technology. The Learning Region is characterised in that it recognises its own

needs for change and to accept these challenges leading to its own learning

processes within its cooperative networks. It also means learning to learn

continuously. A regional economic system wishing to ensure such sustainable

ability of learning, innovation and competitiveness would need to promote

cooperation in networks of fundamentally equal partners. Against this background,

the described projects of the Learning Region Aachen and the follow-up project of

the Learning Region Germany (SENEKA) are presently being continued through the

submission to the EU of a comprehensive inter-regional and international project

carrying the same name.

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