TIC e Desenvolvimento Regional: a Necessidade de Repensar a Organização Económica e Social do Território no Contexto da Sociedade da Informação e Conhecimento

Abstract

The paper examines the relationship between ICT and regional development by exploring three different but complementary approaches. The first one comprises a critical appreciation of the theory lying behind both literature and policy about the role of ICT in promoting growth in less developed regions. The second approach is based upon the understanding of the spatial impact of ICT through an empirical analysis for most European countries: as one of the main problems of analysing the spatial impact of ICT relies on the paucity of information at the sub-national level, the paper shows the results of a quantitative approach developed to compensate this problem. The third and final approach is related to the policy actions needed to promote ICT uptake and to foster the ability to access, select and use information: how can such demand-side actions be developed in a market-driven environment? The main conclusion is that we need to rethink the economic and social planning of the territory in the Information and Knowledge Society context.