Learning from abroad: the Austrian Competence Centre Programme Kplus

Abstract

"In 1998 the first competence centre programme was introduced to Austria. The programme was a major policy innovation for the country, not only due to its novel instruments and goals, but also because it was created in a new way, breaking with the policy style dominant in the RTD policy field before. The paper looks into the question why this major policy innovation could take place. This analysis applies a policy learning approach, and considers the knowledge resources utilized for the programme creation, implementation and evaluation as well as the forms of learning which took place." (author's abstract)