The development of the Information Society poses questions for regions regarding the opportunities it offers as well as the risks it implies, especially in terms of labour and employment. What will be the consequences triggered off by the Information Society on the economic and social development of the regions and on regional cohesion? What is the impact of Information and Communications Technologies on work organisation, on flexible time management, in terms of creation or destruction of jobs, on the emergence of new know-how and new skills?

In many European countries, employment and labour policies rely on national authorities, but regions have developed their own initiatives. Such is the case in Lancashire, a sub-region of the North West of England, which is in the process implementing a specific Information Society policy with objectives to elaborate a collective reflection and to give rise to citizens' initiatives as part of a process of sustainable development.

The factor that will influence the development of a sub-regional economy most significantly over the next decade, will be its ability to exploit the opportunity of the emergence throughout the world of a knowledge-based economy and society in which information and communication will be the new currencies.

For Lancashire to benefit from the new Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) it should develop new skills, a better educated workforce, the potential to develop new products and services, the facilitation of increased export earnings potential and access to new markets and increased business efficiency. With these, new jobs will be created and wealth creation will, in turn, foster further economic prosperity.

In recognising this, the sub-region of Lancashire has, for the last two years, been actively encouraging the development of the Information Society across all sectors. It has worked closely with other regional players and is supported by the European Union. An Information Society network has therefore developed during this time and plays its role in the developments of Lancashire sub-regional activities.

This paper examines the methodologies implemented and highlights relevant successes and failures.

Lancashire is situated in the North West Region of England, it has a population of 1.4 million people. Its economy is divers in that it has a number of major industrial (especially aerospace) and rural/agricultural areas and the largest tourist resort in Europe (Blackpool).

Lancashire - Economy

• A peripheral geographical location with respect to Europe, lack of a positive economic identity and an outmoded image of a declining industrial region.
  
• GDP per head, the most commonly used measure of economic well-being, is only 93%of the UK average and 91% of the EU average.
  
• One of the most defence-industry dependent/vulnerable regions in the European Community.
  
• A fundamental weakness in industrial structure; other than aerospace/defence, an emphasis on mature/low value added/low wage industries and services and low representation of faster growing and high technology activities.
  
• A "branch economy" with poor representation of corporate headquarters and research and development functions which has made the task of securing new rounds of investment on new products and processes harder to achieve.
  
• Major restructuring and downsizing of key industries which have formed the basis of the Countys recent economic growth.
  
• A high representation of SMEs not equipped to deal with the opportunities and challenges presented by a fast moving economic climate and in particular the Single European Market.
  
• One of the lowest rates of new business formation in the UK; below average rates of business survival.
  
• A weak financial/investment/professional service base and a failure to share fully in the nationally expanding private services employment.
  
• Dependence on the nearby conurbations for many social, cultural, business and financial services allied to a poor perception of the full range of facilities and environments available in the County.
  
• Low levels of both net new inward and indigenous investment over recent years exacerbated by structural characteristics and limited availability of grants and assistance in many areas.
  
• Under-investment in renewal of the industrial and physical capital stock: a high proportion is in need of significant renovation and repair.
  
• A shortage of high quality readily available business development sites linked to the problems associated with under-used, derelict and abused land and buildings.
  
• Restructuring of the seaside resorts required to meet continued decline of traditional holiday markets and the resorts' outdated physical infrastructure.
  
• Pockets of high unemployment combined with wage rates which remain 10% below the national average, including a high proportion of "hidden" and long-term unemployed with low levels of basic skills.
  
• Degraded urban environments, high proportions of sub-standard housing and pockets of severe social and economic deprivation.
  
• Inefficiencies arising from traffic congestion in many towns, on the motorway network and on strategic routes. This adds to the cost of industry and constrains access to employment opportunities.
  
• Inadequate east-west road and rail links, including Trans-Pennine links to the Humber Ports and deterioration in the service quality of the main north/south rail transport artery, the West Coast Main Line.
  
• Population decline in some areas particularly marked by the large-scale net outward migration of younger and better qualified age groups.

Lancashire - Gross Domestic Product and Household Income

In the five years to 1991 Lancashire had one of the fastest growing economies in the UK but with the impact of recession and a less impressive aerospace out-turn, the County's growth has fallen back considerably. In spite of substantial contributions to national wealth creation, Lancashire remains a lower middle ranking region in terms of its general level of prosperity with GDP per head well below both the UK and European union averages. "Leakages" from the economy place the county in an even more unfavourable position in terms of household incomes per head.

Lancashire - Average Earnings and Hours of Work

Average weekly earnings of full-time workers in Lancashire remains some 10% below national levels and are the lowest in the North West region for both males and females (manual and non-manual combined). The rate of increase in earnings continues to slow in Great Britain, but remains above the inflation rate. Males and Females in Lancashire continue to work marginally longer average hours than in Great Britain and the North West generally.

Lancashire - Labour Productivity

Only a small number of local industries are achieving higher productivity levels than nationally and the underlying trend (excluding aerospace) points to a substantial and widening gap between Lancashire and Great Britain.

Lancashire - Economic Standing in Europe

Lancashire is a below middle ranking region in the European Union in economic terms. The European Commission's latest analysis of regional wealth or income generation per head of the population estimates a level of GDP per head for Lancashire of 91.1 (EU average = 100) (2) . This represents a fall of three percentage points from the previous estimate of three years earlier. The County ranks 83rd lowest out of the 179 regions of the Community(3), some 37% of EU population being in regions with lower levels of per capital incomes than Lancashire. These include all Objective 1 areas, the lagging or less developed areas, covering the whole of Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, southern Italy, most of Spain and the new Lander formerly in East Germany as well as the newly designated Merseyside and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. If these areas are excluded and Lancashire is compared with the developed parts of the EU only, its position is much less favourable. Only 15% of the population of the "developed" Community are in regions with lower GDP per head levels than Lancashire, half of these being in other UK regions. Among Northern England sub-regions, Cheshire and Cumbria are exceptional in having levels of GDP per head above the EU average, 104.0 and 103.0 respectively. Greater Manchester's figure is comparable to that of Lancashire.

The leading regions in economic terms in the European Union are mainly the large cities or city regions, Hamburg, Ile de France (Paris), Greater London and parts of southern Germany and northern Italy. The gap between the richest and poorest regions remains considerable: for example, in 1991 the top ten regions had an average income per head some 3.5 times greater than the bottom ten (4.5 times including the new German Lander).

The accession of Sweden and Finland to the European Union could improve the prospects for regions in Northern England, including Lancashire, which are geographically better placed than most to intensify their economic relationships with them. Overall, however, the likelihood of any major improvement in Lancashire's economic standing, relative to EU averages, is small and the probable prospect is that the County's present position will be broadly maintained.

Lancashire - Areas of Focus

Lancashire is an area with a genuine need for radical economic and social regeneration having:

• A peripheral European location.
• Lack of modern identity, and image.

• Low rate of new business formation.
• Low levels of new investment.
• Degraded urban environments, high proportions of sub-standard housing stock.

Economic development initiatives should include not only new infrastructure, and new services but most importantly real economic growth - not merely rationalisation of existing resources.

Because of this a number of key organisations decided in 1995 that the opportunity for the region to become more competitive because of the implementation of the new Telecommunications and Informations Technologies (Telematics) should be seriously considered. The IRISI programme presented a clear opportunity to do this.

The Inter-Regional Information Society Initiative grew out of the Delors White Paper which identified the large-scale adoption of applications of computers linked to telecommunications (telematics) as a key factor in the future global competitiveness of Europe. The pilot programme has been administered under contract between six regions and the EC which expired on 31 March 1997. These regions are North West (England); Valencia (Spain), Nord-Pas de Calais (France), Saxony (Germany), Central Macedonia (Greece) and Piemonte (Italy).

A North West IRISI Steering Group was formed in 1995 to determine as fully as possible ways in which actors in the region were already deploying telematics and information infrastructures.

Key organisations in each of the sub regions in Lancashire were asked to assist in this process by staging workshops and demonstration events. In Lancashire, a working group was set up to stage such events and identify organisations in the region who could contribute. The Tony Fawl of Enterprise plc took on the role of co-ordinator for these events and became the Convenor for the Lancashire IRISI Working Group. From its earliest beginnings a great deal of importance was placed on the development of a cross-sectoral network to support the collation of information for a North West Information Society Strategy.

This took two years to develop, through a concentrated effort of a number of sub-regional and thematic working groups. The completed document highlighted the benefits of telecommunications and information technologies and stimulated demand to the point that Government offices are now receiving proposals for major telematics projects, both large and small, from organizations across the region.

As yet however, there is no ‘Centre of Excellence’ providing examples of best practice, case study material and examples of projects from other parts of the European Union. There is no serious central coordinated effort to assist organizations in the development and implementation of effective telematics initiatives and no liaison with the government departments responsible for instigating such activities.

The other IRISI regions all have regional government with some influence and resources. It makes a considerable difference and places the North West at a relative disadvantage since there is not a recognised political infrastructure (i.e. government body) representing the North West except via its five constituent county authorities (Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Manchester) . However the North West IRISI has developed real partnerships and meaningful consensus in the implementation of telematics projects throughout the region. Unfortunately this may be lost causing fragmentation and division if the IRISI programme does not continue.

Funding is currently being sought for the continuance of the programme and it is proposed that if this activity is successful, the next three years will see a focus on the development of a vital resources in terms of direct assistance in the exploitation of opportunities identified and developed utilising the new telematics technologies. Its aim is to improve the regions’ business competitiveness and equip it to meet the challenges of the emerging Information Society. Its objectives are therefore to:

• determine the extent of current telematics activity
• identify future needs and opportunities
• seek to co-ordinate regional activity
• be regarded as the regional knowledge base
• promote the value and importance of telematics
• work with other groups including ISI/BLs

Key organisations in the North West such as the North West Partnership (a partnership of business and institutional organisations) and The North West Regional Association (a body representing all North West local government authorities) have been encouraged to introduce priorities into their economic strategies. Such action has resulted in the establishment of ‘priorities’ in economic strategy documents used in the determination of European and National government budgets.

Cross-sector consultation over a two year period enabled IRISI North West to identify key Information Society issues and to develop priority areas and actions for organisations working in partnership to implement.

These priorities are : 

1. To Develop an advanced, region-wide telecommunications infrastructure, providing broadband access and services to the region’s citizens and businesses, and which is vital to the region’s economic growth and social well-being.

 

2. The region’s businesses and communities must profit from access to information and to global markets and new opportunities for export earnings, inward investment, new ways of working and new types of enterprise.

 

3. High quality and cost-effective education and training for the region’s population holds the key to economic prosperity and social cohesion in the next century and should maximise the benefits of the Information Society.

 

4. High quality support for businesses, from each other and other agencies, through the creation of electronic learning and supply chain networks, is vital in increasing the region’s competitiveness.

 

5. The potential of telematics in improving citizens’ and visitors’ services will be exploited as a means of improving the quality of life and the environment of the region, thus enhancing the region’s image.

 

6. Widening awareness of and access to telematics is a pre-condition for truly realising an Information Society . Accordingly, the North West of England will seek to promote and develop a cross-sectoral range of services and applications to meet the needs and interests of its inhabitants.

The introduction of Telematics in the other regions is moving quickly. Five other IRISI regions (Valencia, Nord-Pas de Calais, Saxony, Central Macedonia and Piemonte) are making significant progress in the implementation of the information Society. The strengths of these regions can be summarised as follows: 

• Political & Financial backing from a Regional Government
• Secure, active and progressive Regional Information Society Units
• Management Committee Representatives who can commit full time to the development of the initiative both regionally and inter-regionally.

Management Committee Representatives from Valencia, Nord-Pas de Calais, Saxony, and Central Macedonia are full time employees of IRISI in their respective regions.

The innovative aspect of the IRISI approach rests on the institutional mechanisms by which the strategy has been developed, i.e. a partnership between regional and local institutions and the business associations plus representatives from training and education institutions, trade unions, chambers of commerce, the co-operative movement and the voluntary sector.

The research into the requirements of organisations in the North West in terms of priorities and actions and the resultant development of major Telematics projects such as Telecities, GENESIS, North West Regional TechWeb project, Future for Change, and GEMESIS as well as programmes in the North West which have won Bangemann Awards all demonstrate that IRISI has been successful to date and that there is a clear need for the initiative to continue.

The RISI project, with a budget of 6 million ECUs, concerns 23 regions across Europe and is seen by many as having broadly the same objectives. This means that, overall, nearly 25% of all eligible regions under the Structural Funds are currently engaged in the process of strategy building and of its translation into an action plan. Moreover, the Commission is launching pluri-regional pilot applications under Art. 10 of the ERDF and Art.6 of the ESF, with a budget of 15 million ECUs, for demonstrating best practice in the regional deployment of the information society (RISI).

It is necessary to encourage the implementation of telematics by the general public which can have a catalytic effect for the region and trigger many private sector initiatives. The Commission is already co-financing some actions, e.g. for setting up tele-cottages in rural areas, under Objectives 1, 5(b) and 6, and local telematics projects under the Community Initiative LEADER II. There are many other Community actions related to the information society for example, WOLF, with a budget of 530 000 ECUs financed under the Article 10 of the ERDF and IMPLACE initiative to stimulate the use of advanced ICTs by manufacturing SMEs in LFRs and the MARSOURCE initiative to favour the use of electronic trade systems for fishery products thereby contributing to overcome the disadvantages of remote areas.

The threat of globalisation and its effects on jobs and the development of a successful economy indicates that now more than ever, we must encourage the community as a whole to reach out to a wider audience, we must be aware and be wary of the threat of new entrants into our markets. This extends further than Europe, we must guard ourselves from the significant competitive advantages gained by advances in the development of the information society in Asia and the Americas.

The previous two years have concentrated on the development of the North West Information Society Strategy. This, through a concentrated effort of a number of sub-regional and thematic working groups, has highlighted the benefits of telecommunications and information technologies and stimulated demand to the point that Government offices are now receiving proposals for major telematics projects, both large and small, from organizations across the region. As yet however, there is no ‘Centre of Excellence’ providing examples of best practice, case study material and examples of projects from other parts of the European Union. There is no central coordinated effort to assist organizations in the development and implementation of effective telematics initiatives and no liaison with the government departments responsible for instigating such activities.

In recognizing this, the work of IRISI in the North West will, in the future, re-focus. It will provide for direct assistance in the development and implementation of projects applying the objectives of the North West IRISI Strategy Document and the utilization of experience determined through best practice and case studies material. IRISI will become more ‘output’ driven, in that it will take a more active role in direct assistance both to government departments (in helping them establish market needs and best practice) and to project managers in identifying project resources, partners, technical information and funding opportunities (both private and public) for their projects.

In February 1995, a workshop was staged in Lancashire to promote awareness of the IRISI Initiative. There was wide representation (approximately 150 people), from all sectors including business groups, local authority departments, emergency services, airport authorities and representatives from educational establishments from Primary schools to Universities.

The workshop highlighted the importance of developing a telematics infrastructure in the region. It concluded that business will increasingly use telematics, and public organisations (administration, education and community bodies) will play a major part. In assisting these organisations with their telematics requirements the region will, in turn, develop a more rapid take-up from the business community helping them become more competitive and enabling them to market their products and services more effectively throughout the world. It concluded that the Lancashire community as a whole must be encouraged to embrace the new communications technologies if infrastructure is to improve. Businesses will not incorporate the technology until their customers and suppliers insist that they do so. The sooner it happens the more competitive that businesses will become. They will steel a march on the competition overseas and increase their chances of reaching new markets.

A community cross sector telematics network was set-up to facilitate the use of telematics by public, community and administrative bodies. Education establishments were focused on the development and training of Lancashire people in the benefits of the new technologies spurring their use in the purchase of goods and services, the maintenance of supplier/customers relations and up to the minute information on goods and services.

On the whole we found that the region was very interested (and concerned) about the developments of the new communications technologies. While making sure that the region benefited for the developments of new applications, there was also concern that the implementation of such technology would lead to a more marked differentiation between those able to afford the equipment and those who would not (‘haves’ and ‘have nots’). A demonstration day was organised in May 1995 so that the region could take a more detailed look at working examples of telematics applications and familiarise themselves with the technologists and suppliers in the region.

Following this activity a working group was set up to act as a focal point for people in the region interested in telematics and to provide information to the NW IRISI Steering Group in their development of a North West Information Society Strategy.

Initially, the group only met to organise small demonstrations (by British Telecom and the local cable companies for instance), but there were a large number of requests for attendance and it these meeting, which were held every month, required larger and larger venues. In June 1996 there were seventy one members of the working group and the group had unfortunately become a ‘talking shop’. It was felt by the members of the group that there was an urgent need to develop a more focused activity and that the working group should provide direct assistance and resources to project managers and proposers. This was a period of intense activity in Lancashire and a number of actions were agreed to maintain the momentum and co-ordinate resources effectively.

It was decided that the working group should become the Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group and that a number of ‘project specific’ Working Groups would be set up meeting only to discuss either the development of telematics applications, proposals or implementation. Each group represented a particular sector.

The Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group comprised of leading decision makers in the communications field such as Telecom companies and the convenors of the sub-groups. The Advisory Groups main activity was to provide information, advice and resources to the sub-groups and to produce and deliver awareness events. A breakdown of the working groups and their activities are listed below. 

Internet Providers Sub-Group

Health Sub-Group

Education Sub Group

A modest sum of money to fund the administrative aspects of the programme was secured, but the vast majority of input was voluntary and dependent on goodwill and, although very encouraging at the start, it became clear that not only did the group require funds for the administration of their resources and time, but also for the projects they were working up.

By the summer of 1996 the Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group had assisted 47 telematics projects. The value of these projects exceeded £14 million and each project varied widely in scope and resource requirements. Many of these project managers had been encouraged to develop applications after attending one or more Awareness, Demonstration or Training events staged in Lancashire by the Advisory Group.

Despite this I became concerned that the IRISI project, on the whole, was ‘unseen’. It was an invisible organisation which seemed to have an air authority but no ‘teeth’. There was no guidance for the activities of the Advisory Group in Lancashire from IRISI North West or from IRISI in Brussels. A number of capable people were involved with the Initiative at all levels, but not, it seems, in the development of telematics applications in any of the regions. Some of the Lancashire Advisory Group members were at a loss why we should have associated with IRISI at all.

In the Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group a number of needs were identified that had to be addressed if the progress made was to continue. As the activities of the group became more pervasive, more and more project managers in the region were dependent on other members of the group putting a strain on the resources and ‘good-will’.

The most important of these were:

Terms of Reference

The working group convenors were being asked to set-up and develop sectoral and regional working groups without clear guidelines from either the North West or European IRISI steering groups.  

• How should a Convenor handle a request for assistance from a project manager who wants to keep the details of his project confidential. We were not able to report the details of telematics projects to other IRISI regions for assistance unless the company formally requests it in writing.
• How should programme managers be advised?
• What technical expertise, if any, were the convenors expected to have?
• What are the responsibilities of the Convenor in the production of minutes, correspondence etc?
• What are the legal implications in obtaining information on behalf of another party.

 

• Identification of local, regional, national and World Bank funding opportunities.
• Funding suitability
• Assistance with proposal writing

 

• In ALL the IRISI regions, Telematics is seen to have a certain ‘desirable’ quality. There are considerable opportunities for sponsorship by many organisations. Sponsorship would not be limited to technology companies but would be available across all sectors.

• Has the project been done already.
• What can we learn from their mistakes.
• How can we improve / avoid this.

A project search facility would enable new bids to be more competitive.

There were other REAL ISSUES. Enterprise plc had embraced telematics in their day to day working environment. On a personal basis, and as a Convenor of a working group, it was important to see that key members of the IRISI organisation are using email, video conferencing etc. It has to be said that many were not.

There was an underlying inability for the IRISI infrastructure to provide the required support to the Lancashire Working Group and sub-groups and more importantly there is a perceived credibility issue. IRISI was too reliant on good will from the individuals (rather than the organisations they worked for) to develop the Lancashire Information Society. IRISI was, at a North West and European level, considered invisible and lacking in authority.

If the development of the Information Society in Lancashire was to continue effectively (and there was considerable scope for improvement) those issues needed to be urgently addressed.

The Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group decided to submit a proposal to Government Office North West for a major programme to fund the needs of the Working Groups in Lancashire and the implementation of a range of baseline telematics applications which could clearly demonstrate the benefits (or otherwise) of telecommunications and Information technologies to the community.

The challenge was to identify and introduce a range of applications which would provide a wide variety of services, enhance the efficiency of the region's public organisations, improve the competitiveness of its businesses, and provide its citizens with greater opportunity for employment and better quality of life.

The significance of the bid to the strategic objectives of the British Governments Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) was that it would support a number of initiatives across all sectors to achieve a balance of economic and social considerations. This was essential in order to ensure that benefits were spread throughout society, and did not lead to exclusion and further division.

The programme was genuinely innovative in that it was based on adding value to private sector market developments through a unique, countywide public, private and community based approach.

In particular as a county-wide initiative it would establish the foundation and infrastructure for many of the important initiatives undertaken in other District and County programmes including the other key strategic issues for the County. e.g. Education/Tourism/Manufacturing and the development of business partnerships.

A Partnership was established which would act as an advisory and development body. It brought together key private sector corporations including, the Co-operative Bank, British Telecoms, Telewest Comms, IBM UK, ICL and BAe, with all of the key public sector organisations across the County including, County Council, District Councils, District Health Authorities, Universities, FE Colleges, TECs and Business Link partnerships. Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group members would guide developments and ensure that the strategic objectives of IRISI, as determined over the previous two years, would be represented. The Partnership was called the ‘Lancashire Communications Partnership’ and chaired by Enterprise plc.

It involved the establishment of a company limited by guarantee and would be chaired by the private sector to manage the organisation and delivery of key outputs through service level agreements with sub-groups of the partnership.

The proposal was presented as a model for the North West (and other Regions in the UK) for the implementation of a major strand of the Economic Development strategy with the support and involvement of Government Office North West. It is a model which can be replicated in other sub-regions to create the co-ordinated and strategic robust funding regime essential for the successful achievement of economic benefits for the region.

To achieve this vision for the County the Lancashire Communications Partnership (LCP) first of all determined a number of strategic objectives in the key areas for the region, in which the applications of new information, communications and computing technologies would have an impact. These were:

Infrastructure : enhancement of the infrastructure to enable greater communication potential, multi-media capabilities, and increased access to information, and information services.

Business and Commerce : introduction of new methods of work organisation, employment generation, new products , services, and markets

Education : improvement of access to, the quantity and quality of lifelong learning provisions in Lancashire.

Health and Social Services : increase co-operation in health and medical care, and improve the quality of care services.

Rural Development : development of urban/rural collaboration and integrated service provision for rural communities.

Public Services : improvement of public awareness, and community involvement in accessing public services.

A number of appropriate key measures were identified and the Partnership encouraged the development of these in each programme area:

Measures:

Awareness and Training, Information Services, Administration and Business Support, Community Access, Regional Facilities and Networks

In encouraging projects, the partners sought to adopt those which deliver long-term, sustainable economic impact through the development of applications. Projects which merely seek to research the technology per se were not included. In addition, projects which benefited those who are physically, economically or socially disadvantaged in the community were specifically encouraged.

Adopting this approach, the Partnership identified projects based on agreed criteria for presentation within a strategic context. This ensured that the scheme met the priorities of the British Governments own funding objectives and outputs.

The Partnership identified a Primary project and where appropriate the complementary projects in reserve for each theme in each programme area .

Each project addressed one or more of the Challenge Fund objectives in the process of delivering outputs specifically targeted at achieving the market lead and competitive advantage required to address the needs of the County.

The scope of the Linking Lancashire programme was large. It would concern all telematics project managers in the county and, no matter what the project involved, it would be influenced by the programme management structure and the consultation and monitoring process (see diagram below) would ensure that each project was adequately resourced and delivered.

It was proposed that the Lancashire Communications Partnership would become a Public Limited Company which would provide the financial control and act as the accountable body to Govenment Office North West. The Partnership would be advised by representatives of the North west IRISI Steering Group on issues such as Information Society strategies and North West Developments.

The project would be managed by a Board of Directors, and Executive Committee made up of members of major corporate institutions and the Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group. The Board of Directors would be advised on current technology, feasibility, close to market technology and implementation issues with reference to telematics project submitted.

It was important that the widest possible consultation process take place since the projects submitted would effect all sectors of the Lancashire community. Although the management structure seems bureaucratic, it is in fact ‘bottom up’. A programme manager and administrative staff would be appointed and these would report to the management committee and work closely with the working groups who would be responsible for the delivery of projects within the programme.

Once the structure of the programme was finalised, the Lancashire IRISI working Groups invited organisations in Lancashire to submit their telematics proposals. We would not judge such projects but we would insist that they matched the objectives of the Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group, and those of the Government Office. The process for bid development and collation of telematics projects submitted was carried out by Enterprise plc.

As projects were submitted it became apparent that the Linking Lancashire project would be substantially larger that first envisaged. It took three people almost three months to prepare the bid document. The total value of the project exceeded £49 million and incorporated more than seventy different telematics projects. What was particularly encouraging was that 80% of the project cost (£41 million) had been secured from public and private sector organisations and that the total amount requested from the SRB was £8 million. This demonstrated that the Lancashire community was prepared to invest a substantial amount of money in the Information Society and that the activities of the Lancashire IRISI Working Groups had generated enough awareness and interest to make this happen.

The linking Lancashire bid document was submitted to Government Office North West on September 9th 1996 with endorsement from twenty of the largest private and public institutions in the County.

Towards the end of December however the Partnership was notified that the Linking Lancashire bid had been unsuccessful in its bid for SRB funding.

This was a severe blow to the 90 organisations that took part in the development. Motivation within the network became very low with poor attendance at Working Group meeting and Awareness events. Some companies and institutions believed that IRISI had in some way been discredited and that the proposals close link with it was a negative influence.

In January 1997 a representative from Government Office North West delivered a presentation to the Lancashire Communications Partnership to explain the reasoning behind the decision to reject the bid. It seemed that the bid was too complicated and that there should have been more effective lobbying, in terms of awareness of features and benefits, to the relevant parties within the Government Office. I personally found the evaluation presentation to be subjective. Other members of the partnership were also dissatisfied with the Governments reasoning.

The Lancashire Communications Partnership is still endeavouring to implement as many of the projects in the Linking Lancashire Programme as possible. But the goodwill, relied upon previously, cannot be counted upon and working group members are finding it difficult to justify their activities in Lancashire IRISI to their companies and institutions.

There were a number of lessons learned from the IRISI activities and the development and rejection of the Linking Lancashire project and the conclusion to this paper is not therefore, a negative one. The stimulation of a sub-region to examine the benefits (in their own work, education and entertainment areas) has generated a substantial amount of activity. The working groups ensured that the limited resources available were used effectively and that telematics projects were implemented efficiently. Monitoring and evaluation was carried out across all sectors so Education learned from Health projects etc.

The rejection of the Linking Lancashire project by the British Government for SRB funding was severely demotivating to the working group members. They felt that their efforts to develop the regions economy and standard of life were unrecognised and that there was little hope of relying on the government for any future financial assistance.

However as the Convenor of the Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group and co-ordinator of the Linking Lancashire Programme, I have learned, in building Sub-regional networks for the implementation of cross-sectoral telematics applications, no matter how good the project, that care should be taken to make sure that projects are supportive to a wade range of community initiatives in the region and not developmental in nature.

Government representatives with influence in making decisions for funding such projects need be made aware of the benefits of the technology to existing government programmes.

For these reasons, the most effective members of a sub-regional network are the ones with a vested interest in seeing telematics applications implemented. These maybe schools utilising open learning systems, or companies wanting to publish their company details and product information on the World Wide Web. sub-regional networks cannot be sustained on ‘good will’. Members of the Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group recently agreed to invest in resources for the Group if each member was to continue to be part of IRISI. A local Business Link for instance has agreed to provide part time administrative assistance. I return, they would like to be actively involved in the delivery of telematics seminars and awareness projects matching their own corporate objectives.

The Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group will therefore become the Lancashire IRISI Partnership and will be formalised with clear Terms of Reference matching the objectives of each of the member organisations. Flagship telematics applications are being developed to encourage other organisations to join the Partnership and of course provide further resource.

A small amount of funding was found by Enterprise plc to enable existing resources (time, computer equipment etc.) to continue and others are making significant contributions throughout the region.

This would not have been possible in the early stages of the initiative since the importance of the Information Society was not recognised. At the first workshop 15 people out of the 150 delegates (including computer companies and corporate institutions) attending had email addresses. Now more than 50% actively use email and are looking at the use of the Internet, Intranets even Extranets in the development of their organisations.

The Lancashire IRISI Partnership is a sub-regional network that is still developing. It has changed substantially during the last two years but it is seen by many in the region as an un-biased focus for the development the Information Society in Lancashire. The background, history and influences on the Partnership are significant in that this model could not, in my opinion be easily transferred.

Telematics is a developing technology. Although the conditions for starting an Information Society working group today would be different, a sub-region which embraces it will be more competitive in world market places. The pervasive nature of the technology and the ease of which it can be applied across all sectors, indicates that an Information Society representative body is vital in all sub-regions if they are to benefit in the long term from such new and complex infrastructures.

Tony Fawl

Innovation Executive, Enterprise plc

COM(96)73 of 13 March 1996 on "Universal service for telecommunications in the perspective of a fully liberalised environment".

COM(96)419 of 11 September 1996, proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on the "Application of open network provision (ONP)to voice telephony, and on universal service for telecommunications in a competitive environment" (replacing European Parliament and Council Directive 95/62/EC).

Lancashire County Council. County Planning Department, May 1996 "LANCASHIRE - Population, Income, Wage Levels",

"Public access to information society services" of COM(96)73 of 13 March 1996 on "Universal service for telecommunications in the perspective of a fully liberalised environment"

"Linking Lancashire", The Lancashire Communications Partnership, Sept. 1996

"The Information Society in Lancashire", Lancashire IRISI Advisory Group, May 1996

First Report on Economic and Social Cohesion (CEC, November 1996)

COM(96)73 of 13 March 1996 Green Paper "Living and working in the information society: people first", CEC July 1996.

COM(96)332 final of 10 July 1996 on "Inventing tomorrow - Europe’s research at the service of its people"

COM(96)595 final of 20 November 1996 on "Additional elements to the guidelines for the 5th Community RTD Framework Programme".

Competitiveness and Cohesion: Trends in the Regions - 5th periodic report on the social and economic situation of the regions in the Community.