Lernende Regionen – wissenschaftlich begleitet

From 2002 on the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will be sponsoring 80 regional networks in the context of the „Learning Regions – promotion of networks” programme. This programme will be scientifically monitored by a consortium formed by the German Institute of Adult Education (DIE), the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW), and the universities of Duisburg and Munich. The author will be in charge of the overall scientific supervision. In his article he presents aspects of scientific interest and methodological reflections relevant to research on „learning regions” and on the networks which are to be sponsored. These reflections are structured along five fields of interest which will form the core of the analytic approach.