EU Enlargement: Economic Development and the Information Society

In this book, twenty researchers and scientists from thirteen different countries of the enlarged Europe plus Turkey have joined forces to offer us their insights into the development of the Information Society in their respective countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Turkey.
These experts offer us their analyses of these developments as they occurred during the first five years of the new millennium. Their analyses encompass the issues of technological absorption, of economic growth and of cohesion across the enlarged European Union.
This book shows that the history of Information Society take-up in these countries has mainly been about catching-up under harsh economic constraints. The results are encouraging: at the turn of the century, the overall economic and social conditions of the - at-the-time - Candidate Countries were such that most analysts believed these countries were at risk of making no progress at all towards building up their Information Societies.
Furthermore, several of these countries appear to have taken the innovative path earlier than others, and, in fact, growing evidence of some leapfrogging exists today. One can observe that the countries that started the technological upgrade of their economies earlier, were often favoured by better initial legacies and domestic dynamics.
However, there is still a long way to go. The societal transformation towards a true Knowledge Society - called for by the Lisbon objectives of the European Union - requires long-lasting and important intellectual and financial investment. In essence, catching-up is not enough.
The ongoing monitoring of these innovative challenges, and how they are addressed at regional and national level, is - and will still be tomorrow - an essential contribution to these countries’ efforts to become world-class economies.

Pages - 451

• ISBN: 978-90-5487-429-4
• Publisher: VUBPress Brussels University Press
• Author: Marc Bogdanowicz and Geomina Ţurlea (eds.)
• Language: English

Price: 34.95 €

Price is exclusive shipping costs. For sales inside Belgium 6% VAT is added to the book price.