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Purpose – This research study aims to answer the question of how good is the development of the extended regency, and which shows better autonomy of development—before or after expanding. The implications of this study is to answer whether expanding a regent is truly needed to improve the economic development and welfare of the remote regions and their people. This study analyzes the autonomous state of three regencies, North Aceh, Bireuen and Lhokseumawe districts, which have expanded. The analysis takes into consideration the difference in the proportion of their regional revenues, budgeting perfomance, and economic growth as indicators of regional autonomy.

Design/Method/Approach – The data used in this research are secondary data sourced from the budget realization report and the accountability report of North Aceh, Bireuen, and Lhokseumawe districts from 2006 to 2013. The data analysis methods used in this study are the analysis of financial ratios and the comparative mean of one way anova.

Finding – The results showed a significant value or a probability value more than 0.05. Thus, the hypothesis (H1) is rejected, and therefore the hypothesis (H0) is received.

Research Impication – The implication is that there is no difference in the average of regional autonomy of North Aceh Regency, Bireuen, and Lhokseumawe districts as seen from the proportion of local revenue, budgeting perfomance, and regional growth. It means that with regard to financial performance there is no difference in the level of independence in autonomy among the three regions. The proportion of local revenue, financial permormance area, and the development of North Aceh, Bireuen, and Lhokseumawe districts demonstrate no influence on the level of independence in autonomy.

The chapter discusses the characteristics of audiovisual (AV) media sectors in the Baltic Sea region. Therein it focuses on the specifics of media industries in small countries in the region as they are challenged in ways notably different from large countries with large domestic markets for media content. It discusses the differences between the AV media industries in the Nordic and Baltic countries and suggests that while in the first case long-term welfare society policies and conscious policy-driven system building have conditioned growth and international success then also in the second case innovation policy rationales have facilitated recent growth and dynamics. It then discusses the specific challenges, especially platformisation to small media industries in contemporary globalising media markets, and suggests that opportunities to resist these challenges may be in local inter-sectoral cooperation, that is, in building cross-innovation systems.

Scalar terms, such as “local” and “global,” “big” and “small” are fundamental in how academics and practitioners make sense of and respond to grand challenges. Yet, scale is so taken-for-granted that we rarely question or critically reflect on the concept and how it is used. The aim of this paper is to identify scale as an important concept in research on grand challenges and to point out why taking scale for granted can be problematic. In particular, I suggest that to date most research on grand challenges sees scale as a fundamental ontological feature of the world. Yet, scalar categories and hierarchies are not as self-evident and given as they may seem. Moreover, taking scale as an ontological fixed category limits our ability to make sense of, theorize and respond to grand challenges. As an alternative, I suggest seeing scale as an epistemological frame that participants employ in their everyday practices to make sense of, navigate and develop solutions to grand challenges. The chapter concludes with a research agenda for studying scale as socially constructed in practice.

This chapter establishes the conceptual and analytic framework for the book. It relates not only to much of the existing work in evolutionary and institutional economics, but also to work in cultural science and cultural semiotics domains as well as in media convergence and transmedia studies. The central concept it first deploys is ‘innovation systems’ as applied in national, regional, international and sectoral contexts. It then builds on the general theory of economic evolution by Kurt Dopfer and Jason Potts and reviews the tools this theory provides to carry out a meso-level analysis of industries co-innovating and converging. It then proposes a new concept – ‘cross-innovation’ – to refer to the emergence of new structures and ‘rules’ at the boundaries of existing industries.

The history of the profession in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries is not a long one; it results from their history, their size, their spending on research and innovation, their position in geopolitics and world economy. Nevertheless, what makes it exciting is the fact that we are just at the birth of the profession in the region. Historically, there have been very few professionals either related to or officially recognised as Research Managers and Administrators (RMAs) in CEE countries, resulting in their limited resources and capabilities. Nevertheless, some RMAs have found the way to start mutually beneficial collaboration for the sake of their own professional development, for their institution’s and country’s competitiveness by launching networks of RMAs or using regional or European funds for capacity building and developing training or educational programmes.

This chapter aims to provide a short summary of the profession in CEE countries while highlighting a few cases which show how the RMA profession is moving forward but still lagging behind.