Transnational comparison : A retrospective study on e-health in sparsely populated areas of the northern periphery

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Technology, Trade Structure and Economic Integration - An examination of Intra-Nordic, Nordic-EC and Intra-EC trade 1961-1987

This paper discusses the impact of economic integration on production and trade in high-tech goods. The theoretical evidence is considered in section 2. The remaining part of the paper presents an empirical analysis of this relationship for two groups of countries, the Nordic countries and the EC, between 1961 and 1987. A positive impact of integration on trade in high-tech goods may be found for the Nordic countries in 1960s and early 1970s. There is no evidence of a similar relationship for the EC. This supports the view that countries with small differences in culture and language are more likely than others to experience a positive impact of integration on trade and production in high-tech goods.

Joining the information society : access issues for Europeans

Abstract not availableeconomics of technology ;

Information Society Strategies in the European Context: The Case of Greece

This article sets out to analyze the policies adopted by the Greek government in its effort to accelerate the pace of reform towards a knowledge-based economy. These policies have to take into account the position that the country occupies within the emerging information society and, of course, the opportunities created by EU initiatives that aim to promote economic competitiveness and reduce regional disparities. Within this framework Greek policy makers have recognized the need for a coordinated, coherent and integrated approach, which attempts to diminish inequalities both within the country and with respect to other European Union economies. What emerges as a distinctive feature of the Greek information society strategy is the emphasis placed on the pivotal role of the state and the adoption of active interventionist policies

The Mobile Broadband and Fixed Broadband Battle in Swedish market: Exploring complementary or substitution

The mobile broadband (MBB) in Swedish market has become a more attractive opportunity for service providers, with growing demand for ubiquitous broadband connectivity after the mobile operators got 3G license in 2000. MBB seems to have more advantage compare to Fixed broadband (FBB) in term of mobility, compatibility and quality of service. This paper aims to explore the current broadband situation in Swedish market, in particular whether the mobile broadband is a complementary or substitute by using descriptive analysis. The data is collected from the Post- och telestyrelsen (PTS) Survey and the secondary data from PTS during 2002-2009. The findings indicate that the MBB and FBB subscribers remain growing, but the issue of complementary and substitution between MBB and FBB cannot be given an answer at this stage. The crucial problem of comparing MBB and FBB is the different units of measurement. Also, the potential of avoiding regulation by service providers is discussed since the market participants in FBB and MBB services are the same players. The rapid growth of MBB together with a lower degree of regulation in mobile services may attract the market player to put their effort more in MBB market. Moreover, the gap between broadband infrastructure coverage and the usage of this service is huge. Thus, the inefficiency of BB infrastructure utilization becomes another issue that NRAs could consider. --Mobile broadband,Fixed broadband,Complementary,Substitution

Means of interorganisational co-ordination of production: The role of transport and telecommunication

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the respective role of travel and telecommunication in interactions between the economic actors involved in particular production systems. Transportation and telecommunication systems are crucial to the efficient co-ordination and organisation of production systems, and the recent technological and organisational developments in both areas (new technologies of information and communication NTIC, high speed rail etc.) have important impacts on the way that firms organise the circulation of information and people. Most analyses of their respective roles refer to the antagonist theses of substitution versus complementarity of travelling and telecommunications. Schematically speaking, two very different forms of "immaterial" (i.e. not concerning goods transport) interactions in production systems can be opposed: exchange of codified, standardised information, which is possible over long distances through telecommunication devices, and co-ordination necessitating specific knowledge and collective learning processes. We will base our theoretical discussion on the well-known distinction between information and knowledge, derived from the theory of information. According to this definition, information, as long as it is codified and explicit, can travel through various channels, independently from people. Knowledge, in the sense of tacit, non codified information, is embedded in people and cannot travel in space independently. This distinction thus determines the choice between travelling (in order to establish face-to-face interactions) and telecommunication. The distinction is also important for understanding the need for proximity (permanent or temporary) in networks of producers: interactions involving a high content in idiosyncratic of tacit knowledge usually imply proximity between the participants. We will compare empirical data on the utilisation of travel and telecommunication in intra- and inter-firm co-ordination from several industrial and service sectors, collected in a qualitative survey of production plants in the North of France. These data allow us to analyse the characteristics of interactions between plants and headquarters and between firms and their suppliers, subcontractors and customers (frequency, duration, nature of information etc.) as well as the means chosen to support these interactions (e.g. meetings, EDI, telephone etc.). The comparison of behaviour in various industries gives interesting insights in sectoral patterns of interactions. It also shows that the determinants of choice go beyond the nature of information and include also history and social aspects such as conventions (sectoral or local).

Deregulation and Enterprization in Central and Eastern Telecommunication - a Benchmark for the West?

The restructuring of telecommunication in Central and Eastern Europe occurs at a time when the classical structures of telecommunication are falling apart worldwide. Coming from the socialist system in which telecommunication did not exist as an independent economic activity, the Eastern European countries have created specific "post-socialist" modes of reform, often outdoing Western countries in terms of speed and radicality. Deregulation and enterprization have dominated the process in all countries, leading to advanced technical standards and a wide segmentation of telecommunication markets. The role of foreign direct investment and technology transfer was particularly important. But the reforms also lead to an increasing social gap between the prosperous users of advanced telecommunication services, and the average citizen for which even telephony has become a luxury good. Our thesis is that CEE telecommunication reform, rather than copying Western models, may become a benchmark for the West, in particular for Western Europe. Technically, the advanced reform countries in Central Europe are about to succeed the leapfrogging process, i.e. the jump from post-war socialist technologies to world-leading edge-of-technology standards. With regard to industry structures, Central and Eastern European countries show that the age of "classical" integrated telecommunication activities is definitely over. Instead, most diversified telecommunication services are integrated in the emerging information sector. Finally, the very notion of telecommunication as an "infrastructure" is put in question for the first time in Eastern Europe. We start to address the two relevant policy issues: modes of regulation, and science and technology policies to accompany the restructuring process.

The European Union Innovation Performance in View of the Lisbon Strategy

The paper is divided into four parts. First deals with the characteristics of the role of knowledge-based economy and innovativeness of the economic system in Lisbon Strategy. Second is devoted to the issue of innovativeness of the EU economies as compared to the US and Japan. Third presents evaluation of the Lisbon Strategy implementation. Fourth analyses the renewed Lisbon Strategy.Artykuł składa się z wprowadzenia, czterech części i zakończenia. Część pierwsza poświęcona jest prezentacji roli gospodarki opartej na wiedzy i innowacyjności w Strategii Lizbońskiej. Część druga zawiera analizę poziomu innowacyjności gospodarek UE na tle USA i Japonii. W części trzeciej przedstawiono ocenę realizacji głównych celów Strategii Lizbońskiej, a w czwartej założenia nowej wersji owej Strategii

Managing competences in entrepreneurial technology firms: a comparative institutional analysis of Germany, Sweden and the UK

Innovative firms face two major kinds of risks in developing new technologies: competence destruction and appropriability. High levels of technical uncertainty and radical changes in knowledge in some fields generate high technical failure risks and make it difficult to plan research and development programmes. They therefore encourage high levels of flexibility in acquiring and using skilled staff. Appropriability risks, on the other hand, encourage innovative firms to develop organisation-specific competences through investing in complementary assets, such as marketing and distribution capabilities, that involve longer-term employer-employee commitments to building complex organisations. These connections between technology risks and employment policies help to explain why different kinds of market economies with contrasting labour market institutions develop varied innovation patterns. This study focuses on subsectors of the computer software and biotechnology industries in three distinct Europea n countries, UK, Germany and Sweden, that vary in their level of technical change and appropriability.n/a