ITC and regional development.
Two cases, two different strategies
Eduardo J C Beira
Professor, Departamento de Sistemas de Informação
Universidade do Minho
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Viewpoint
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Endogenous projects for regional development
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ITC and telecom based
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Consulting (design and implementation) professional view
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Action research academic view
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Two very different
regions and actors
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Minho
– The west side of Northern Portugal
• from the sea to the mountains
– Border with Galicia (Spain)
• Minho river is the natural border
– Main cities:
• Braga, Guimarães, Viana do Castelo, Famalicão, Barcelos
– three NUT III units:
• Minho-Lima, Cavado, Ave
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Alto Trás os Montes (High Northestearn Portugal)
– The east side of Northern Portugal
• from the mountains to the border
– Border with Castilla Leon (Spain)
– Main Cities:
• Bragança, Chaves, Mirandela, Macedo de Cavaleiros
– a single NUTIII unit
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Minho (I)
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Minho
– High density population
– >40% pop in industrial sector
• Textiles, footwear, metalware, .... traditional sectors
• But also the largest ITC cluster outside Porto and Lisbon
– Around 600 ITC companies
• 60 medium to large
• 20 nationwide operation
• Software and consulting
– Strong high education system
• Specially ITC oriented and with national relevance
– Close to Oporto metropolitan area
– Transborder cooperation
• Close to Galicia autonomous community (Spain)
• Galicia Northern Portugal community (7 M people)
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Minho (II)
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Minho
– Strong enterprise community
• Associação Industrial do Minho (2000 associates)
– Projects
• Creation of minhodigital.com company (22 companies) for cluster
steering
• To promote the national wide visibility of hightech digital Minho
– Minhocampusparty – the yearly nation LAN party
– memTSI - memory of IT and IS in P and NP
– clusters@minho – academic study of of Minho ITC cluster
• Braga Valley park - new infrastructure project
• International cooperation
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Alto Trás os Montes (I)
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Alto Tras os Montes
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–
–
–
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Low , old pop region
No industries, rural, ...
Migration traditions (to Europe, to Porto and Lisbon)
Far (from Lisbon, Oporto)
Transborder region
• Close to Zamora (Castella Leon)
• Not far from Galicia
– But
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•
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Dramatic change in the last 20 yrs
New acessibilities
New infrastructures
Impact of high education as population attractor
– Staff
– Students
• Strong local leaderships
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Alto Tras os Montes (II)
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Alto Tras os Montes projects
– callTM
• prototyping ITC distributed services units
– call centers / contact centers
– Software units
• Territorial marketing
– Changing the perception of the region in the ITC national (and
international) decision making and opinion making communities
• Promoters: Bragança, Macedo and Mirandela local councils (municipalities
• Key policy idea: need to
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Technology issues
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New IP based telecom technologies create new dimensions and
opportunities for regional development
– Distributed multichannel contact centers
• No significant additional fixed investment
• Lower operational costs
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New policy requirements for telecoms
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ITC are strong “messangers” for region marketing
ITC opportunities for both “advanced” and “peripheral” regions
– But strategies need to be tuned
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Policy issues
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Local and regional “social capital” issues
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National and regional policies issues
– The issues of regional governance and models
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Transborder issues
– Border as a “wall” versus border as a “gate”
– UE driven cooperation policies
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira
Links
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www.minhocampusparty.net
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www.memtsi.dsi.uminho.pt
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www.calltm.com
Research workshop “CBIRD cross border innovation research and development, IN+ , Lisboa, 23 Outubro 2003
Eduardo Beira