[9] Social Cohesion/Inclusion in the Information Society - the Regional Dimension

This report is a deliverable of the BISER (Benchmarking the Information Society: eEurope Indicators for European regions), a research project funded by the European Commission under the "Information Society Technology" Programme (1998-2002). The overall goal of BISER is to define, develop and pilot a set of indicators for benchmarking the progress of European regions in respect of the eEurope initiative and the Information Society in general.

Within the BISER project, two surveys - a General Population Survey (GPS) and a Decision Makers Survey (DMS) - were conducted in early 2003 covering ten domains:

  1. Government and Public Administration,
  2. Transport and the Environment,
  3. Healthcare,
  4. Regional Identity,
  5. Business Enterprise,
  6. Innovation and R&D,
  7. Work and Labour Market,
  8. Education, Training and Skills,
  9. Social Inclusion and Cohesion, and
  10. ICT Infrastructure.

This report describes the domain of "social inclusion/cohesion and the Information Society". The objectives are to report, in a succinct format, on the results of indicator testing and data gathering, and to offer a basis for benchmarking the domain. This report has been peer-reviewed internally and by an external expert.

The target audiences for the report include (in addition to general ‘Information Society watchers’) in particular those involved in regional and EU benchmarking of the e-inclusion domain, interested parties in e-inclusion research and application, and national and regional statistical offices. 

The BISER consortium is led by Empirica (Bonn, Germany), and includes the following project partners: Danish Technological Institute (Taastrup, Denmark), Local Futures Group (United Kingdom), Salzburg Research (Austria), University of Rome (Italy), and Work Research Centre Ltd. (Dublin, Ireland).

Work Research Centre (WRC) is an independent research and consultancy organisation specialising in socio-economic aspects of the Information Society and workplace health issues. Its background includes many studies and policy-related assignments on Information Society developments, including eHealth and eInclusion.