Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Learning from European experiences is not only about adopting "best practice" models, but also about drawing lessons from the failures. In the case of the GLC we learnt that we need to develop criteria for the evaluation of local economic strategies, which became the starting point of a four-year research programme (1988—1992) on "Exploration and evaluation of local strategies in crisis areas" (IFP Lokale Ökonomie, 1990; 1991), carried out by an interdisciplinary research group which adopted its name from Sam's programmatic new journal. At that time the term "local economy" was totally unknown in Germany - in contrast with the present situation where it is widely accepted. But the great message from that small office was not only a new name, but a full new agenda: Local Economic Development has become a key phrase for employment and regeneration policies in crisis regions: And the demise of the GLC was definitely not the end of local economic strategies, but the beginning of a growing movement all over Europe
