Indicators and perspectives for services of general interest
in territorial cohesion and development (SeGI).
Preliminary findings on ICT services
ESPON OPEN SEMINAR 2012
ESPON territorial evidence meeting the thematic objectives
of the draft “Common Strategic Framework 2014-2020”
Parallel workshop session 2
Dariusz Swiatek, IGSO PAS
Indicators and perspectives for services of general interest in territorial
cohesion and development (SeGI)
Applied Research Projects, conducted under Priority 1 of the ESPON 2013 Programme
TGP:
Royal Institute of Technology – Sweden (Lead Partner),
Universitat Wien - Austria,
Das Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (BBSR) - Germany,
Centro Estudos Geograficos, Universidade de Lisboa – Portugal,
University of Akureyri - Iceland,
Norsk Institutt for by- og regionforskning (NIBR) – Norway,
Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization PAS – Poland,
PlanIdea Knowledge Centre - Hungary,
Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest - Romania,
Navarra de Suelo y Vivienda S.A.U. –Spain,
University of the West of England - UK.
The aim of the project is to deliver an overview of the current territorial situation of services of
general interest in Europe, in particular focusing on:
• existing definitions and classifications
• indicators
• mapping the current situation (e.g. studying the distribution).
• studying territorial development potentials and constraints, focusing on current trends, as well as
different territorial development paths of services of general interest.
Indicators and perspectives for services of general interest in territorial
cohesion and development (SeGI) – case studies
Country
Region
Characteristics
Austria
East Austrian
Periphery
Border-area,
Mountainous, Urban/rural
Germany
Ruhrgebiet
Hungary
Dél-Alföld
Densely populated, postindustrial, inside
Pentagon
Agricultural, peripheral
Iceland
Northeast
Norway
Finnmark
Poland
Mazowsze
Romania
Northeast
Spain
Navarre
U.K.
South
Gloucestershire
Island, coastal peripheral,
rural
Outermost, coastal
Urban/rural, metropolitan,
core area
Mountainous, peripheral,
rural
Mountainous, peripheral,
urban/rural,
Peri-urban
- nine differentiated case studies
- two levels (national; regional)
Services of General Interests – ICT National context
• The disparities in the level of provision of SGI in
the studied countries and regions present the
challenge for cohesion in the European Union
(regarding the SGI subject).
• ICT services are differentiated however in some
countries differentiation is larger on countries
level (e.g. Scandinavia) and in the others in
regional level (new accession countries)
•Territorial aspects as mountainous or remote
areas influence the distribution of ICT mainly due
to the relation with demographic density.
Agglomerations and counties/towns centres
retain higher levels of access to this type of
services.
•Conditioning the proper access to services
appears to be the achievement of a
complementarity between services provided by
public and private entities. This happens in some
countries, while in others, the two types of
entities are rather competing instead of
complementing each other (Poland, Romania).
Share of households with broadband Internet connection (%)
2007
2009
2011
IS
76
87
93
UK
57
69
83
NO
67
78
80
DE
50
65
78
AT
46
58
72
EU-27
42
56
68
ES
39
51
62
HU
33
51
61
PL
30
51
61
RO
8
24
31
Agenda
Services of general interest
ICT (Mazowsze)
Number of IP
numbers per
1000 inhabitants
No. of people who
submitted tax
declaration per
1000 inhabitants
Providers of broadband Internet
per 1000 inhabitants
Agenda
Services of general interest
ICT (Mazowsze) – questionnaire survey
Quality of existing
Internet connection
ICT infrastructure
needs:
-building the
network (green)
- renovating and
building (blue)
- lack of needs
(yellow)
- no answer (gray)
-Subjective perception of quality and
availability/accessibility to ICT services is
slightly different than statistical data (generally
worse)
- No difference between provision of ICT
services for households/individuals and
businesses (question of affordability and
competences)
- Even though infrastructure is present in the
region it does not mean that provision on local
scale is sufficient (e.g. quality problem)
IDI:
- ‘Demand for ICT services is increasing, the
possibilities of supply from the public sector is
decreasing’
- ‘Need for locally/regionally shaped
mechanisms which should insure provision of
ICT services on less populate areas’
Agenda
Services of general interest
ICT (Mazowsze) – preliminary conclusions
• Quality of ICT services does not depend highly on traditional determinants
of quality of services of general interests: geographical, historical,
institutional, living standard & competences, accessibility / infrastructure
• ICT infrastructure is developing however accessibility to ICT is also
determined by affordability and competences
• In some examples local contextual ‘bottlenecks’ create access barriers for
ICT services even if they are evenly spread in the space
• ICT infrastructure is successfully complementing or substituting other
services of general interests (e.g. transport, education, health care) however
economic conditions and competences need to be taken to consideration in
this process
• Need for coordination of ICT development with various types of services
(particularly such as public transport).
Agenda
Thank you