For decades, cluster initiatives and funding programmes have been used as instruments of industrial and innovation policy--addressing system failures by strengthening linkages among actors, fostering innovation, and developing more effective innovation systems. More recently, a growing segment of these initiatives are also focused on driving…

Background: Co-design is an approach to engaging stakeholders in health and social system change that is rapidly gaining traction, yet there are also questions about the extent to which there is meaningful engagement of structurally vulnerable communities and whether co-design leads to lasting system change. The McMaster University Co-Design Hub…

A restrictive practice (RP) is defined as a practice or intervention that has the effect of restricting the rights or freedom of movement of a person, and includes physical, mechanical, and chemical restraint, and seclusion. If misused or overused, RPs may present serious human rights infringements. In Australia, behaviour support practitioners…

The purpose of this study is to present the need for stakeholders to share an agreed-on Theory of Change (ToC) during the various phases of an implementation process. To this end, we draw on the Swedish Boost for Mathematics (BM), a large-scale national educational initiative, and its intrinsic 'algebra' instructional module. More precisely, we…

This study focuses on the agri-food sector in Morocco and 'drivers' of change for skills. It alerts education and training institutions to prepare workers for the jobs of the future. The Moroccan society and economy depend heavily on agriculture production, employing around one third of the population and accounting for around 12% of GDP over the…

Purpose: To develop a transformative learning process around the potential for innovation of technologies such as Conservation Agriculture. Design/methodology/approach: We applied principles of Transformative Learning and Communicative Action theories to design a learning process structured by the Qualitative Expert Assessment Tool for…

In this action research study, we describe how doctoral candidates conceptualize innovations for their dissertations and outline how we are using the results to improve the doctoral dissertation experience for our new cohort. Over the course of one academic year (2010/11) we documented our students' process of conceptualizing their…

Through the lens of place-based climate change communication, this manuscript compares results from internal and external assessments of capacity to communicate about climate change at national parks and refuges in southern Florida. The internal survey sample included agency staff, stakeholders, community partners, and concessionaires; the…

Test takers should have a voice in testing practices (Mathew, 2004). However, when incorporating their input, systematic processes to ensure the validity of testing practices must be followed. Such processes allow for test development to be a more democratic process (Shohamy, 2001), without sacrificing the value of the resulting inferences made…

Examines a critical function of organizations by investigating the stakeholder communication of 66 nonprofit organizations undergoing change. Indicates that implementers generally follow a quid pro quo "matching rule" wherein stakeholders' resource importance serves as the basis on which they are awarded communicative attention. (SG)