IP: Cohesion and the Information Society

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 14:49:14 +0000
To: farber () cis upenn edu
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Subject: Cohesion and the Information Society


Dave:


There is an official EU document now on the Web at
http://www.ispo.cec.be/infosoc/legreg/docs/cohes1.html
that might be of interest to you, though it is written in Euro-speak.


It addresses the problem of ensuring equality of access to telecomms and
data networks in Europe, which heretofore had been (officially) assumed
would be an almost automatic by-product of deregulation.


I've copied the Foreword below.


Cheers


Brian


=======
            Cohesion and the Information Society


           COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO
        THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE
                  COMMITTEE OF REGIONS
           AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE


Foreword


The Commission has recently adopted its first Report on
economic and social cohesion, under Art. 130b of the Treaty.
This Communication forms part of the follow-up to the
recommendations and analysis of the Report in the area of the
information society. It complements the Green Paper "Living and
Working in the information society - People first", (which
undertook an analysis of the issues related to social cohesion),
notably by highlighting the regional aspects of the problem.


In the context of the globalisation process and of the need to
become more competitive at the world level, the opportunities
offered by the emerging information society are huge: in terms of
competitive gains to be grasped by firms and territories; more
efficient organisational forms; new trading opportunities; new
educational and new employment possibilities. Making these
opportunities available throughout Europe is one of the central
objectives of the gradual liberalisation of telecommunication
markets. However, not all European regions, citizens or firms are
equally well equipped to enjoy these benefits because of
geographical, social and economic reasons, yet in a globalising
environment, it is clear that they have to compete not just at EU
level, but at a global level as well.


Though the opening of telecommunications market and the
harmonisation measures should in principle reach out to the
whole territory of the Union, the principal risk is that investments
in some regions will be delayed.


Thus, the development of the information society needs to be
complemented, where necessary, by policy action in order to
close the existing gaps and ensure that the information society
develops at the desired rate throughout the Union. This calls for
the participation and co-ordination of regions, national
governments and the European Institutions so as to avert a
polarisation between "information haves" and "information
have-nots" as the new technologies spread.


This document, having identified the need for action, indicates the
issues, the context and the way forward in the areas of
regulatory, investment and demand support policies. Coherent
progress in these three areas will be important for harmonious
regional development.




Dept. of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/