The regional effects of the New Information Economy, towards a revision of regional disparities indicators
by Alberto Bramanti

A new paradigm of production and innovation has been emerging and establishing along the 20th century. It has imposed a sharp shift from the relevance of physical elements to the relational dimension of the structure and dynamics of the economic system.

Along with this new ‘relational dimension’ we have experienced the development of the information society which is not just a question of providing appropriate ‘hardware’, but of integrating technology in a coherent policy which allows firms to internalise within the production process the benefits — economic, social and cultural — of the communication and information revolution.

In addition, it is nowadays recognised that disparities in the productivity and growth have far less to do with the abundance of natural resources than with the capacity to improve the quality of human capital and production factors, to create new knowledge and ideas and incorporate them in equipment and people. This contributes to the definition of the ‘knowledge society’, to enrich and complement the ‘information society’ typically dealt with within the internet framework. This distinction allows us to stress the importance of relational factors and the distinction between information and knowledge originating from the cognitive filiere.

When people supported by information and communication technologies, interact to create and exchange new knowledge a knowledge-based society emerges. This perspective stresses the fact that the most valuable asset is investment in intangible (human and social capital), and that the key factors are knowledge and creativity.

Along the cognitive filiere the process going from information to knowledge, through ICTs, is filtered by territorial factors, such as tacit knowledge, which are regionally produced and transmitted.

As long as the relational factors of development are embedded in the regional dimension, ICTs are economically successful when they are internalised in the territorial system of production and innovation and their introduction is able to structurally change it. This perspective rises the questions if ICTs diffusion is related to a resurgence of the importance of regions, instead of its reduction to mere place for economic activities.

Regional development may be thought as process of wealth generation. During this ever lasting process, crucial knots are met, which the policy maker has to deal with. The main policy maker task is to identify those crucial knots and unravel them, to foster development.

So, European level decision maker need a helpful set of tools of instruments to affect regional development through ICT oriented policies. The most striking feature of development among European regions is in fact still related to regional disparities (RDs). While EU States appear to be increasingly similar in economic structure and dynamics, development unbalances strikingly characterise regions.

The NESIS Project — New Economy Statistical Information System — is conceived within the frame of the Information Society and Technology (IST) of the European Commission, with the task to support EUROSTAT with recommendations on a set of indicators to be implemented and to suggest guidelines for the new European Statistical System (ESS).

Within NESIS, the Bocconi University's research team has the task to work on ICTs and Regional Disparities, with the purpose to disseminate awareness of the new urgent needs of ESS in order to respond to the challenge posed by the New Information Economy (NIE).

In the light of the work undertaken CERTeT (the research Centre where the team is based) is organising an International Workshop — to be held in Milan, next February, 26th-27th — devoted to discussing and elaborating the following main issues:

1. Defining and measuring regional disparities;
2. Defining and measuring the "digital divide";
3. Analysing the role of ICT on regional industrial structure and performance (ICT, innovation and location of economic activities)
4. Analysing the role of ICT on the regional stock and flows of human capital;
5. Analysing the role of ICT on the definition and evolution of social cohesion.

Having set the task of the workshop as the re-definition of RDs subject to the influence of ICTs, the following logical structure has been set out:

1. Identify what factors do really affect RDs;
2. Choose the subset of factors directly influenced by ICTs (issues 2 to 5),
3. Detect how ICTs affect regional disparities through the abovementioned factors.

In order to reach the main workshop's goal we will bring together some thirty economists, staticistians, sociologists, as well as ‘users’ and policy makers, in order to discuss a long list of key questions. A representative from the BISER project will be present at the event.

Anyone wishing to contribute and participate to the Workshop is kindly requested to sand a short E-mail message to the organising Scientific Committee: alberto-bramanti@uni-bocconi.it

Designing the BISER regional surveys
by Tobias Huesing

The BISER Surveys
During February and early March 2003, 19,600 Interviews will be conducted in 28 selected regions throughout Europe in 14 Member States. After more than one year of conceptual work, setting up research frameworks, building, abandoning and re-building models and hypotheses, gathering, compiling and evaluating of secondary data, and spotting data gaps, one of the core tasks of the project lies in front of us.

Sample
Who is going to be surveyed? There are 211 European regions at the NUTS 2 (Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques) level and clearly a project like BISER can not carry out surveys in each of these regions since accuracy of the resulting metrics requires a minimum number of observations. Within the limits of budget, it was decided to select 28 out of 211. The regions cover the range of patterns of sectoral structure (“agricultural”, “manufacturing” and “services”, depending on the share of employment in each of the sectors) and economic power (as GDP per head) as well as Member States according to the distribution of population.

Within each region the sample is set up as a random probability sample which will provide a representative picture of the resident population (aged 15+) and of the region’s business establishments. The business sample will include establishments (and thus cover also branch offices and not only autonomous enterprises) from different industries across all economic activities but exclude establishments with less than 5 employees. Sampling will be managed as a stratified approach, i.e. done separately for groups of establishments conforming with certain criteria, in order to guarantee a sample representative of the industrial structure and employment size distribution in each region. The establishment sample will be drawn from the best existing source lists available, which may be either provided by public authorities or by specialised address brokers.

The population survey will provide a person sample (rather than a household sample) and will be based on random dialling methods predominantly. Sampling in each Member States will be carried out allowing for national differences regarding organisation of telephone number allocation and unlisted telephone numbers, and taking other national peculiarities into account which may require various strategies of random drawing.

Mode
How are interviews conducted? BISER will make use of Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI). Telephone interviews offer the advantage of quick and reliable data collection from a central telephone unit. For general population surveys in former times there have been doubts about accuracy of randomisation but recent developments in sampling practices can provide for real probability samples even with rather poor list sources and the growing fractions of non-pub numbers – the shortcoming being that a very small number of households without telephone are not included. CATI also offers best field control, automated sample administration, simultaneous data entry and permits a complex branching of the interview flow depending on filter questions and thus allows to apply questions tailored e.g. to the respondent’s experiences with ICT, a firm’s equipment status etc.

Et cetera
Carrying out a survey in different countries and cultural areas poses some considerable challenges upon research. Most prominently, the translation of questionnaires is a very delicate issue to deal with. Questions are commonly regarded as stimuli that need to be set consistently for all participants if analysis should lead to reliable results – and much of questionnaire design literature attempts to meet the challenge that stimuli are understood unequivocally by respondents even if they share a common cultural backgrounds and language. This challenge is even aggravated when doing international survey research. Nevertheless, academic research referring to multi-lingual questionnaire design is definitely in its very infancy yet. BISER meets the challenge by commissioning professional survey institutes with a good experience in cross-European survey research and by monitoring translation by means of re-checking the translations carried out by the institutes with the help of national experts that have expertise both in ICT matters and in survey design. After finalising questionnaires in that way, pre-tests will be carried out using CATI. This will allow BISER to check for comprehensibility of questions, spot possible inconsistencies of the instrument and account for any other problem coming about the way they prefer to – unthought of. Interviewing is expected to finish by early March, data be ready for statistical treatment by mid April, and first results, respondent answers condensed to single figures and metrics in the course of the summer of 2003.

E-Health in the Context of Regional Development
by Karl Stroetmann and Veli Stroetmann

From a regional perspective, the health and care sector is of fundamental importance in two regards:

On the one hand, provision of adequate services is indispensable for the well being and the health of a region's population, and concerns about equity of access to healthcare services may arise from adverse geographical conditions or because of isolated rural populations.

On the other hand, the health and care sector is important from an economic point of view. The total expenditure in the healthcare sector in the EU was more than 620 billion Euro, representing more than 8% of GDP (in 1997). And it accounts for about 9.5% of total employment (in 1998) in the Union.Considering the supply side of health care services, four types of regional situations need to be considered:

• a) Regions without or with only very basic access to primary care services. These are typically regions which are very sparsely populated like some parts of northern Europe, small islands or mountainous areas.
• b) Regions with reasonable access to primary care, but difficulties in accessing secondary care.
• c) Regions with good access to primary and reasonable access to secondary care.
• d) Regions with good access to primary, secondary and tertiary care.

Obviously, eventually from all regions it will, at least in principle, be possible to reach even tertiary care, but this assumes that the patient can be safely transported. But in many instances time is the critical factor in providing the necessary health care to citizens. Therefore, in this context, access is defined not as the geographic distance measured in km as the crow flies or navigable by car, boat or aircraft, but rather in terms of time and effort/resources needed to reach health care services (or the patient to be reached at home by a nurse, a physician, an emergency service), which depends on the topography of the region, road, boat or air access, climate and weather conditions etc.

In regions a) and b) as defined above the economic relevance, as far as contribution to regional GNP (Gross National Product) is concerned, is limited, whereas in region d) it can be a major economic factor by drawing demand from other regions.

From a demand side perspective, factors like density of population, age distribution (the very young and the older population are the main users of health care), or purchasing power per capita are major determinants. Each level of supply intensity/specialisation as indicated by regional types a) to d) requires higher quantities of these demand-influencing factors to reach a critical level where enough demand can be expected to sustain such a service in the longer term.

Customer-facing e-health applications, but also some specific services like second opinion or access to specialists hold the promise of overcoming some of the above explained regional disadvantages of the various levels of advanced health care. Particularly citizens and patients in regions a) and b) - but also in c) and d) - can have improved and faster access to i) health information and data, ii) consultations with community nurses, physicians, emergency services and iii) support in vital data monitoring and home care in case of a chronic conditions.

Those who treat patients in more remote regions can more easily i) obtain peer support and a second opinion, ii) access medical specialists and support services, iii) access latest medical know-how.In this way e-health applications can

• reduce the negative impact of distance as defined above on the appropriate provision of health care anywhere,
• improve services for citizens and patients,
• improve knowledge, learning opportunities and motivation for nurses and doctors,
• increase the overall attractiveness of these regions for people who otherwise (e.g. because of small children, older age) would not settle there.

On the other hand, competition between type d) regions can be expected to increase due to global access to best medical practice and know-how. However, competition on this level will be restricted because usually improved access to secondary and tertiary care will also require a physical presence of the patient.

"Key Elements for electronic Local Authorities' Networks" – The KEeLAN Project
by Sonja Müeller

KEeLAN has been launched in January 2002 and is a project supported by the IST programme of the European Union. The main objective of the KEeLAN-project is to develop models to assist local authorities in implementing eGovernment.

The Project consists of three phases: In a first phase, which has already been completed, 700 local and regional government websites from 15 EU countries have been scanned in order to identify 50 best practices. The criteria for selecting the best practices were usability/ accessibility, level of interactivity and services and the level of response to external demand of service delivery.

The second phase, which is currently being carried out, consists of a benchmarking of the 50 selected best practice websites. The results from this online benchmark will form the basis of the site visit, during which a series of interviews will be held with key persons within the organisation.

The final phase of the KEeLAN project comprises the drafting of different models for European Union municipalities to implement e-Government service delivery, based on the organisational characteristics as well as other key-elements for success of the 50 Case Studies, as identified during the benchmarking phase. These key elements will include such issues as eGovernment strategy, infrastructure, citizen identification and authentication etc. It is hoped that, by identifying and focusing on certain Key Elements that are generally applicable, that local authorities can develop more effective eGovernment strategies. Best practices in each of these key areas will be identified and will assist in the development of the eGovernment models and roadmaps that are the main output of the KEeLAN project.

Additional, the project will take into account the development of e-government in the rest of the world: the information gathered and the results identified will be measured against those in, for example, the United States, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

In the context of BISER, the KEeLAN project is of relevance because it focuses on regional/ local eGovernment, which is one of the BISER domains. The BISER domain Government/ Public Administration deals with measuring the degree to which European regions are building new and improving existing links with the local community and business through interactive e-government services and breaking down access barriers and improving the efficiency of their government to citizen and government to government relationships. These eGovernment solutions will be fundamental to the growth and support of regional development (economic and social) and for developing a regional identity.

You can find more information about KEeLAN at http://www.keelan.elanet.org

Not just technology! The implementation of telework also depends on other factors. The case of the Abruzzo Region.
by Simona Rosati

Technological infrastructure constitutes an important factor for the implementation of telework, but certainly not the most important one. This conclusion can be drawn from the results of a survey carried out in the Italian region of Abruzzo, aimed at monitoring the penetration of telework technology as well as the propensity of corporate management for the introduction of innovative work forms.

The survey turns on the "Abruzzesi" entrepreneurs has been realized in 2001 and it has involved a sample of 1224 local firms that operate in the sector of the tourism, information technology, consultation, transports and education. The project is entitled "Study of a methodology for the development of the telework" and it has been promoted by the Region Abruzzo and has been coordinated by the Italian Research Institute "G. Reiss Romoli" (SSGRR).

The study has produced evidence that - despite of the common belief that the central southern and mountainous regions of Italy are backward in technological terms - enterprises tend to be well equipped with computer technology. Some 90% of all enterprises in the region use at least one PC and 77% are connected to the Internet, while 57% have implemented an Intranet as well. These results, naturally, are closely related to enterprise size: the higher the number of employees the more likely it is that an enterprise used an Intranet. For example, in enterprises with more than 50 employees the share using an Intranet reaches 88%, and 96% of this size class are connected to the Internet. Below average Internet diffusion is to be found in the textile and shoe industries (56%), in the agricultural sector (66%), and in welfare and personal services (67%).

The reason for these differences is the kind of work that is carried out in these sectors, where the enterprises do not recognise an added value by investing in ICT equipment. In general, it is possible to assert that "Abruzzesi" enterprises are well equipped with ICT: penetration rates are probably a little bit lower compared to those in the Lombardy or Emilia Romagna regions but not to the extent that it would be possible to speak of technological backwardness.

However, this does not imply - as the research has shown - that the willingness or capability to implement telework would be the same than in the richer regions of Italy. By stressing the issue of organizational culture, the results of the survey clearly demonstrate that enterprises' cultural superstructure is hardly influenced by the modification of its technical structure. As a consequence, enterprises in the Abruzzo region make much less use of teleworking, and are more dismissive about the potential advantages of innovative ways of working.

In fact, 60% of the enterprises interviewed don't even know the meaning of the word "telework" and the total one of the firms that show an interest toward the possible introduction of this new way of working represent only 36% of all interviewees that know the survey object.

We can conclude from these findings that the implementation of telework requires much more than simply re-locating an office job into the home of the employee - it is more than merely a technological and financial problem. The introduction of teleworking challenges the traditional organizational structure of an enterprise and, as a result, makes a rethinking of managerial paradigms a necessity. We should be wary to underestimate the persistence of logical superstructures, as control mechanisms and the way in which authority is asserted in enterprises tend to survive changes to technological conditions.

More information about the survey data are available to the Italian web-site: www.ssgrr.it/telelavoro/

Forthcoming Key Events on Regions and the Information Society
by Sonja Müeller

These are some forthcoming events which have a focus on regional development in the Information Society:

• International Conference "Sustainable Territorial Development: The Key Role of Regions" in Paris, organised by Datar (21- 23 January 2003) http://www.datar.gouv.fr
  
  
• The Fifth Biennial of Towns and Town Planners in Europe in Barcelona, promoted by the European Council of Town Planners (ECTP) (10-12 April 2003) http://www.acturban.org/biennial/
  
  
• International Conference "Reinventing Regions in a Global Economy" in Pisa, organised by the Regional Studies Association (12-15 April 2003) http://www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk/events/pisa.html
  
  
• 3rd EMERGENCE conference "Real work in a Virtual World: the human impact of organisational transformation in a digital global economy" in Vienna (8-9 May 2003) http://www.emergence.nu/events/rwvw.html
  
  
• Workshop: EuroNets - EuroChannels - EuroVisions. Towards a History of Telecommunication in 20th-Century Europe in Zürich (15- 17 May 2003) http://www.tg.ethz.ch
  
  
• Conference "Digital Communities 2003" in Stockholm, organised by the Michigan State University, Royal Institute of Technology and the Göteborg University (15- 18 June 2003) http://www.digitalcommunities2003.org
  
  
• Telecities Conference in Tampere (26- 27 June 2003) http://www.telecities.org
  
  
• 30th Congress of the International Geographical Union in Glasgow (15- 20 August 2004) http://www.meetingmakers.co.uk/IGC-UK2004
  
  
• 43rd European Congress of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA) in Jyväskylä (27- 30 August 2003) http://www.ersa2002.org
  
  
• Cities and Markets. Shifts in Urban Development in Vienna (5- 8 October 2003) http://www.ifhp2003.at
  
  
• European Information Society Conference (EISCO) 2003 in Aalborg (November 2003) http://www.eisco2002.org/
  
  
• World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva (10- 12 December 2003) http://www.geneva2003.org/home/index02.htm

International Conference "Reinventing Regions in a Global Economy"
by Sonja Müeller

"Reinventing Regions in Global Economy" is the name of a conference organised by the Regional Studies Association (RSA), taking place on 12-15 April 2003 in the scenic city of Pisa, Italy. The conference considers the options for European regions in the new global economy. The event is structured along twelve so-called "Gateways":

• Gateway 1- Knowledge Economy
• Gateway 2- Regional Restructuring
• Gateway 3- Enlargement versus Integration
• Gateway 4- Rural Development and the New Rural Economy
• Gateway 5- New Forms of Regional Governance
• Gateway 6- Demographic Change, Education and Skills
• Gateway 7- Regional Competitiveness
• Gateway 8- Cultural Foundations of Regions
• Gateway 9- New Development in Regional Theory
• Gateway 10- Infrastructure and Planning
• Gateway 11- Community Regeneration and Social Inclusion
• Gateway 12- Evaluation and Regional Policy

Concerning the subject of regional development in the Information Society, Gateways 1, 2, 7 and 10 are of particular interest. Main topics here include 'The Knowledge Economy and the Regions', 'Knowledge Economies, Learning, Skills and Incomes', 'The rise of new firms, of new sectors, and of new industrial districts comprising those enterprises and their supporting institutions', 'Role of new firms as positive and negative channels for adapting to the forces and restructuring', 'Determinants of regional competitiveness', 'Policies and strategies to boost regional competitiveness', and 'Infrastructure and regional development'. More information can be found on the conference website at http://www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk/events/pisa.html

empirica Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Technologieforschung mbH prime contractor, private research and consulting organisation specialised in telematics, telework and new ways of work, e-commerce, telecare and telehealth.

Werner B. Korte: werner.korte@empirica.com
Karsten Gareis: karsten.gareis@empirica.com
Address: Oxfordstrasse 2, 53111 Bonn - Germany
Phone: ++49.228.985300
Fax: ++49.228.9853012
Web: www.empirica.com

Dansk Teknologisk, an independent, non-profit institution approved as technological service agency by the Danish Ministry of Business and Industry.

Jeremy Millard: jeremy.millard@teknologisk.dk
Address: Teknologiparken, 800 Aarhus C - Denmark
Phone: ++45.72.201417
Fax: ++45.72.201414
Web: www.teknologisk.dk

Dipartimento di Sociologia e Comunicazione, is a research body of the University of Rome "La Sapienza", focusing on advanced studies in sociology and communication in the framework of the Information Society.

Patrizio Di Nicola: patrizio.dinicola@uniroma1.it
Renato Fontana: renato.fontana@uniroma1.it
Address: Via Salaria 113, 00198 Rome - Italy
Phone: ++39 06 4991 8404
Fax: ++39 06 8419505
Web: www.comunicazione.uniroma1.it

The Local Futures Group is a research and strategy consultancy that provides a geographical perspective on economic and social change. We introduce this perspective into public policy and corporate strategies, both in the UK and internationally.

Mark Hepworth: mark.hepworth@localfutures.com
Lee Pickavance: lee.pickavance@localfutures.com
Address: 3 Queen Square, WC1N 3AU, London - England
Phone: ++44 020 7520 8120
Fax : ++44 020 7520 8150
Web: www.localfutures.com

Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H., a non-profit research organisation focusing on the study and the support of the development of the information and knowledge based society.

Markus Lassnig: markus.lassnig@salzburgresearch.at
Guntram Geser: guntram.geser@salzburgresearch.at
Heinz Mayringer: heinz.mayringer@salzburgresearch.at
Address: Jakob-Haringer-Strasse 5/III, 5020 Salzburg - Austria
Phone: ++43-662-2288-0
Fax: ++43-662-2288-222
Web: www.salzburgresearch.at

Work Research Centre, an independent research, consultancy and training company (IRL).

Richard Wynne: r.wynne@wrc-research.ie
Ivica Milicevic: i.milicevic@wrc-research.ie
Address: 1 Greenlea Drive, Terenure, Dublin 6W -Ireland
Phone: ++353.1.4927042
Fax: ++353.1.4927046
Web: www.wrc-research.ie