Discussion questions of the concept "learning region"

Actualization of interest in problems of "learning region" in the contemporary socio- humanitarian discourse is associated with the transition from an industrial to a postindustrial information society. The main source and resource of development is no longer the industry as it used to be in the industrial age, but knowledge and innovation which have a decisive influence on all spheres of human life, which suggests the emergence of a new type of sociality, "knowledge society", and a new type of economy, "knowledge economy". Determining trends in the development of "knowledge societies" are, on the one hand, globalization expressed in the unification of cultural, socio-economic, legal norms and values, market mobility of labor and capital, on the other hand, individualization which, on the contrary, suggests desire to preserve one's autonomy (economic, political, religious, etc.) and cultural identity, both at the individual and at the regional and national state levels. In this situation, the key theme is the question of regional development strategies that enable the region to effectively fit into the context of the global world and become a real subject of economic, political and cultural activities. This article analyzes the controversial questions of the concept "learning region". The concept of the "learning region" is thematised in the context of the "new economic geography" ("knowledge economy"), namely in the evolution of regional development strategies, such as industrial districts, economic clusters, innovative environment and networks. The article presents a comparative analysis and critique of these programs, their problem areas are identified. The models of innovative regional development allocated under the new economic geography are divided into two groups: models based on the idea of networks as a new form of organization of production, and models based on the idea of knowledge as a source resource of development. A constitutive idea for the model of the first type is the idea of proximity. Social and spatial proximity between actors promotes more intensive exchange of knowledge and appears a necessary condition for innovation processes. Models of the first type include concepts of industrial areas, specialized economic clusters and innovative environments. The central idea for models of the second type is the idea of "learning economy", knowledge-based economy, where economic efficiency is directly linked with the ability to learn, respectively, the emphasis is on building both the infrastructure of knowledge and social and political infrastructure that should support innovation and training at all levels. The second type of models includes the concept of the "learning region". At the same time this concept occurs as a result of evolution and certain synthesis of models of the first group.

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