Factors of regional/national success in Information Society developments: Information Society strategies for candidate countries by Marc Bogdanowicz, Jean-Claude Burgelman, Clara Centeno, Elisaveta Gourova, and Gérard Carat
Bread or Broadband? The thirteen candidate countries (CCs) for entry into the European Union in 2004 (or beyond) confront difficult choices between "Bread or Broadband" priorities. The question raised in this article is how to put Information Society (IS) policy strategies at the service of social welfare development in these countries, while optimizing their resources and economic output.
The article summarises a dozen original research studies, conducted at the European Commission[base ']s Institute for Prospective Technology Studies (IPTS). It identifies ICT infrastructures, infostructures and capabilities in the CCs, the economic opportunities these may offer their ICT domestic industry, and the lessons from previous IS development experience in the European Union that could possibly be transferable.
The paper concludes that only those trajectories that offer a compromise in the Bread or Broadband dilemma, taking into account both welfare and growth issues, will be politically sustainable.
Tuesday, 7 October 2003
