The new technologies and local development

European Commission Directorate-General For The Information Society And Media Directorate-General For Research And Innovation

Description

Fast Series No 22
Information technology and telecommunications
Regional policy and regional economies

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-THE-INFORMATION-SOCIETY-AND-MEDIA-DI
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Şu K/ i o, fòt
Commission of the European Communities
science and
technology policy
FAST series No 21
The new technologies and local development Commission of the European Communities
science and
technology policy
FAST series No 21
The new technologies and local development
CK. Ward
Social Science Research Centre
University College, Dublin, Ireland
Contract No ECI-1058-B-7210-83
FAST
Forecasting and assessment in the field
of science and technology
Directorate-General PARI run ?. n;vbtfc
Science, Research and Development
N.C./.-
J 1987 CLi/ EUR 10938 EN Published by the
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Directorate-General
Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation
Bâtiment Jean Monnet
LUXEMBOURG
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the Commission of the European Communities nor any person acting on
behalf of then is responsible for the use which might be made of the
following information
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1987
ISBN 92-825-6964-0 Catalogue number: CD-NA-10938-EN-C
© ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels • Luxembourg, 1987
Printed in Belgium This is an Abridged Report based on a
Three Volume Report presented in completion
of Contract ECI-1058-B-7210-83 IRL
RESEARCH TEAM
Vittoria Capecchi
Professor of Sociology, Department of Education Sciences, Uni­
versity of Bologna and Member of the Scientific Committee of
the Labour Market Observatory of the Emilia-Romagna Region.
Joyce O'Connor
Director, Social Research Centre, National Institute of Higher
Education, Limerick.
Toaas Roseingrave
Senior Research Fellow, Social Science Research Centre, Uni­
versity College, Dublin.
Adele Pesce
FLM and the Women's Centre of Bologna,
Conor K. Hard (Coordinator)
Professor of Social Science and Director, Social Science Re­
search Centre, University College, Dublin. CONTENTS
Page
SUMMARY VII
CHAPTER 1 THE TECHNOLOGICAL PROSPECT 1
C.K. WARD
CHAPTER 2 EXPERIMENTS IN IRELAND . 27
J. O'CONNOR, T. ROSEINGRAVE
CHAPTER 3 EXPERIMENTS IN EMILIA-ROMAGNA 91
V. CAPECCHI, A. PESCE
CHAPTER 4 LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE : REFLECTIONS ON THE
EXPERIMENTS 108
V. CAPECCHI, J. O'CONNOR, T. ROSEINGRAVE,
A. PESCE, C.K. WARD
CHAPTER 5 WORLD AND LOCAL TECHNOLOGIES 141
T. ROSEINGRAVE
CHAPTER 6 WORLD ECONOMIC GROWTH, POSITIVE SUBSIDIARY
AND NATION BUILDING IN EUROPE 177
H. ROSS
CHAPTER 7 SCENARIOS OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE
TECHNOLOGICAL ERA 201
V. CAPECCHI, J. O'CONNOR, T. ROSEINCRAVE,
A. PESCE, C.K. WARD
APPENDICES 21
APPENDIX I BIBLIOGRAPHY OF REFERENCES 215
APPENDIX II IRELAND by J. O'CONNOR7
APPENDIX III EMILIA-ROMAGNA by V. CAPECCHI, A.PESCE 238
- V -THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
SUMMARY
1. The first E.C. Programme of Forecasting and Assessment in Science and
Technology, (FAST 1978 - 83), concluded by emphasising, firstly, that
Europe needs a coordinated socio-economic strategy and, secondly, that
technological development by itself guarantees neither economic growth
nor long-term competitiveness, nor the welfare of individuals,
companies, regions or nations. This study set out to explore the
potential of the new technologies for local development and the
prospects for the less favoured regions of the European Community in
the technological era. The results of FAST 1978 - 83 are reviewed in
the first part of Chapter One, the design of the present study is set
out and the report is introduced.
2. Experience in a less favoured region was studied to identify possible
uses of technology and to assess the conditions under which the
potential might be exploited. Ten experiments were studied in
Ireland, the whole of which is a less favoured region. These are
described briefly in Chapter Two.
3. The study of experiments in Ireland was complemented by twelve case-
studies in Emilia-Romagna, a region of Italy which is relatively
developed, though not among the most favoured regions of the
- VII Community, and which could provide examples of experiments in which
the use of the new technologies had been promoted in isolated areas
and small enterprises. Theese experiments are described briefly in
Chapter Three.
4. The three researchers from Ireland and the two researchers from Italy
analysed the experiments in both countries. Their reflections are
reported in Chapter Four.
4.1 Approaches to using Microelectronics, Informatics and Communication
Technologies
The pilot projects of the Regional Authorities in Emilia-Romagna
illustrated the potential of the new information and communication
technologies for the development of strategic information systems for
citizens.
The rapidly developing information technology presents us with
alternative models of product development. There is the approach
based on the priorities of the manufacturer juxtaposed with the
approach which is based on the identification of the needs of users;
there is a choice to be made between interactive services and data
banks which contain information to be accessed; information services
may be made available either to homes or at points of public access.
There is a danger that a series of dichotomies could grow in the
course of technological development each involving privilege on the
one hand and exclusion on the other. Of particular concern are the
- VIII -