PASCAL INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORY ON PLACE MANAGEMENT, SOCIAL CAPITAL AND LEARNING IN THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

        What is PASCAL?

Pascal is a not for profit international Observatory to promote the exchange of cutting edge best practice research, ideas and policies about place management, social capital and learning cities and regions. Pascal draws on cross-disciplinary and trans-national ideas and practices to stimulate innovative policy development and implementation.

        Why have PASCAL?

Pascal responds to the growing international demand from cities, regional governments and other clients for expertise which can be quickly mobilised to support initiatives related to place, enhancing social cohesion and learning as well as innovation and development. There is internationally a renewed policy and scholarly interest in these issues and Pascal aims to connect the growing community of practitioners and scholars.

Pascal grew out of the OECD led international conferences on learning cities and regions and the Advisory Board includes two members from different Divisions of the OECD.

        Who can join PASCAL?

Pascal is currently made up of a number of regional governments and universities from around the globe. Initially commencing in Australia and Europe Pascal is now expanding into North America and Asia – see membership of the Advisory Board which sets the strategic agenda for Pascal.

Those involved include 

Policy-makers: for access to up to date policy development and implementation knowledge from around the globe

Academics: for opportunities for cross disciplinary research and access to the latest theories and academic debates

Researchers and Evaluators: for access to monitoring/evaluation instruments, published findings and indicators of success and failure

Senior managers: for access to international learning as well as access to management information including eg project costs; accessing funding sources; tender specifications.

        What are the main services PASCAL provides?

• An international clearing house providing details of relevant best practice, evidence-based research, and programmes matched to your policy and/or practice issues.

• Access to research and consultancy services including in-house Pascal research and consulting specialists (see Pascal research services website document)

• Practical advice on how to access funding for initiatives and the design of tender specifications and grant applications

• Regular briefings from Observatory staff on current and emerging issues

• Reports on ‘hot topics’ prepared by international experts on a commissioned basis

• Monitoring and evaluation expertise including access to relevant international evaluations and commentaries on policy and practice

• Seminars and conferences on topics of interest to stakeholders

• Direct access to key international academic and public sector experts in your area of policy/practice interests

• Expertise in assessing opportunities and risks of policy and practice transfer between jurisdictions

• Brokering of partnerships between jurisdictions and with universities

• Brokering of exchanges of personnel between PASCAL network members.

        Benefits of joining

• Real time access to international best practice – what works, what doesn’t and why?

• Opportunities to exchange ideas and learning

• Significantly reduced transaction costs in accessing best practice relevant international information and expertise

• Able to help shape the Pascal international policy development and research agenda.

        How to join PASCAL

Individuals enjoy access to Pascal website resources without cost

Pascal maintains a Register of Associates identified by invitation

There are two membership options (see website for more detail and services)

·         National, Regional and Local Public Authorities

·         Universities

Participation and membership from the voluntary sector and from business welcome.

        How to contact us

Website www.obs-pascal.com

European  Contact :  Professor Michael Osborne m.osborne@gla.ac.uk

Australian Pascal office, Mary Serafim

Chief Executive Officer ; John Tibbit

        Pascal Advisory Board

Jarl Bengtsson, Chair Sweden and France

David Adams              Australia

Paul Belanger              Canada

Chris Duke                 Australia and England

Fumi Kitagawa            Japan

Josef Konvitz             USA and France

Balazs Nemeth            Hungary

Mike Osborne             Scotland

Hans Schuetze            Canada and Germany

Tom Schuller             France and England

Chris Shepherd           England

John Tibbitt                Scotland

Peter Welsh                 England

Bruce Wilson              Australia

Working in Kent County Council

Kent County Council is a founding Member of the Observatory PASCAL and holds the vision and concept at the heart of its organisational culture. Committing to a project of this nature with these purposes requires leadership and hard work. To this end PASCAL has made and is making a real impact upon Kent and the County Council’s position as England’s number one.

Participation in PASCAL has provided KCC with a growing network of experts with whom it works to test ideas, scope projects and implement initiatives. The range of work spans the whole spectrum from soft cultural changes, such as embedding evidence-based decision-making at the heart of policy, right through to physical projects in groundbreaking education facilities. Further, Kent has replicated PASCAL at the County level, setting up the Kent PASCAL Board which includes members from across the public sector in Kent, and strives towards working together to provide better and more efficient services for the people of the county. For the growing range of KCC’s PASCAL-related projects visit http://www.obs-pascal.com

Peter Welsh, Head of Analysis and Information, Kent County Council and Chair of the Kent PASCAL Board

The Scottish Executive is the devolved government for Scotland. As such, it is concerned that developing and reviewing policy is firmly grounded on a good understanding and interpretation of the available evidence base.

A key aspect of establishing the evidence base relies on effective knowledge transfer. The Executive is devoting considerable effort to forging links of different sorts with the research community in order to facilitate the sharing, brokering, and transfer of knowledge. Observatory PASCAL offers an innovative approach in its fields of interest which brings the prospect of providing a rapid, expert and international perspective to the understanding of policy issues.

The importance of place and place management for the effective delivery of policy outcomes is increasingly appreciated; the relevance of the role of social capital in a wide variety of policy domains is increasingly recognised. A number of the ‘hot topic’ papers produced by Observatory PASCAL have been influential in taking thinking forward, and in developing an appreciation of the issues involved. 

The Scottish Executive has been pleased to support Observatory PASCAL as a foundation funding member to sustain its development as an important resource, not only for the Executive itself but also for its agencies and others in the policy community.

John Tibbitt  Senior Principal Researcher, Scottish Executive Analytical Services Division

The relevance and quality of the work of Pascal is testified by the strong interest and enduring partnership that Pascal has established with OECD. Three different parts of OECD are now involved or related to Pascal’s work, namely Governance Regulation, Higher Education and Regional Development, and the work of OECD on education through its Centre for Education Research and Innovation (CERI).

Jarl Bengtsson former Director CERI

Unbiased, authoritative information is of critical importance to policy-makers today. Pascal's approach in commissioning papers from acknowledged experts provides a unique source of information that is timely and provides useful analysis of pertinent issues - both national and international in scope. Pascal's annual conferences and publications serve as invaluable sources in identifying the 'next big issue' in the field as well as providing insight into potential policy change.

Svava Bjarnason Director of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education

Governments internationally are seeking innovative new ideas and practices to improve service delivery and increase public value. Pascal provides a valuable ‘real time’ resource to tap into best practice ideas, practices and people internationally. Public policy innovation increasingly relies up these internationally networks for the formation of new knowledge, its transfer and diffusion.

David Adams  Department for Victorian Communities Australia

As communities and sub-state regions increasingly assume responsibility for their own plans and directions, they are recognizing that community development can only be a continual ‘work-in-progress’.  Local leaders also are recognizing that community economic and social development is not simply matters of ‘business assistance’. Much more is involved, requiring the linking up of key leadership across the entire communities reaching into and across all areas of decision-making and authority - schools, city and county government, workforce development, lifelong learning and education, business, nonprofits - and this linking up process itself is best facilitated and maintained as an extension of the learning community design.  

The whole area of learning communities and learning regions is increasingly resonating with more and more people as I travel around the region. In Montana and the larger Rocky Mountain West region, these lessons and principles are being increasingly learned and applied.  But much, much, much work remains and much must be learned from similar pursuits around the world.  PASCAL is helping to connect people and organizations engaged in this work at its most sophisticated levels.

Larry Swanson University of Montana USA