Toward a European Strategy for the Globalising Learning Society

This paper refers back to a series of earlier works on knowledge based policies in Europe (Lundvall and Borras 1999, Archibugi and Lundvall 2002, Lorenz and Lundvall 2004 and Lundvall and Lorenz 2012, Lundvall and Lorenz 2014). First we make an attempt to go deeper in defining and understanding the role of different kinds of knowledge. On this basis we present nations as globalising learning societies and show how this alternative perspective points to a need to rethink theory and policy. We present new data on learning and knowledge production for the period 2000-2010 showing weakening institutional support for the learning economy in Europe. We conclude that Europe needs to establish a new vision and a program of action where the focus is upon building the capacity to learn. The first step would be to realize a solidarity-based New New Deal at the European level.