ABSTRACT
The almost eclectic agenda and nature of the responsibilities of TECs resulted in their study quickly becoming ‘salami-sliced’ by academic researchers and other commentators into numerous interrelated sub-disciplines of economics, politics, geography and social policy. However, TECs were first and foremost introduced to assist the regeneration of local economies through an emphasis on training and enterprise development, and a core of relevant literature was generated in relation to this issue. This chapter reviews this literature in order to assess the emergence of TECs during the early 1990s as facilitators of local economic development, and how this was approached through the creation of local networks. Facilitating involved encouraging other institutions, from both the private and public sector, to participate and undertake activities, thus producing a multiplier effect. Therefore, the capacity of a TEC to lever change, through its role as a facilitator, was to a large extent dependent on the commitment to such changes by other local organisations (Bennett et al., 1994).
