PARADDIS – Information Society PROJECT TOTAL EU POPULATION REGION COUNTRY ELIGIBILITY ACRONYM BUDGET FUNDING (%) COVERED

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PARADDPARADDIS – Information Society PROJECT TOTAL EU POPULATION REGION COUNTRY ELIGIBILITY ACRONYM BUDGET FUNDING (%) COVERED

West Finland Objective 2, Paraddis Alliance of NUTS III Finland ECU 499,600 50 1,314,000 5b and 6 regions*

*Central Finland, Ostrobothnia, South Ostrobothnia, Satakunta, Tampere Region

PROJECT OVERVIEW The awareness building component of the PARADDIS project has been extremely difficult given the geo- The goal of PARADDIS is to integrate the West Fin- graphical spread involved, nonetheless over 250 indi- land Alliances’s (WFA) strategic priorities under the viduals are directly involved in the whole process and theme”Democratic Information Society” which over 10 press conferences and three regional con- relate specifically to the economic, social and dem- ferences have been organised together with two ocratic dimensions. The approach is very much a highly successful seminars with the trade unions. bottom-up one which builds on the strong partnership formed between the five regional councils REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP : CONSULTATION which make up the WFA. The main feature is to fully AND CONSENSUS BUILDING exploit the extensive information technology infrastructure that exists, for the creation of appropriate One of the key aspects of the PARADDIS pilot proj- applications which will benefit the WFA Region. ect is that it constitutes the first offical partnership between the five NUTS III regions under the auspices The strategy and action plan which is being devel- of the West Finland Alliance. The project has brought oped in the region under the PARADDIS project has about a strengthening of the co-operation between brought about unprecedented consensus, co-oper- the regional councils and has created a platform ation and commitment between key regional play- which has already lead to cooperation in other areas. ers. This genuine, effective collaboration is ensur- ing that the participating regional councils will utilise The Information Society strategy has aligned the The apprthe opporoachtunities being cr eatedis by the Information objectives and goals of development programmes Society (IS). from key stakeholders and has allowed for direct very much a and effective co-operation and discussion between KEY OBJECTIVES the main actors.

bottom-upThe key objectives theone PARADDIS project set out to Healthy co-operation has also been established achieve, during the course of the first year of oper- between experts in the universities, research cen- which ation,builds have been realised: on tres, regional development authorities. This co-operation was ensured by selecting members from dif- a) consensus building between the five regional ferent regions for each of the thematic work groups. thecouncil onstr the implicationsong of the IS; The regional partnership will be further enhanced b) awareness building across the wide geographic partnership formed with the implementation of the action plan. area utilising the six thematic working groups; betweenc) elaboration the of a strategyfive and action plan; Six Thematic Working Groups d) encourage the development of pilot applications. All Working Groups have drafted individual strategies regional councils for the specific sector they relate to, which have feed Priority Actions and Results into the overall WFA Information Society strategy.

PARADDIS was presented to the five regional coun- 1. Public Services: Chaired by the Mayor of Nykar- cils and to the regional monitoring committees for leby in Ostrobothnia; Objective 2, 5b and 6 in the five regions within WFA. 2. Content Industry: University of Tampere in Tam- The development of the Information Society is now pere Region; included in the regional development programmes for five NUTS III regions. 3. Telemedicine: Tampere University of Technology, Pori department in Satakunta; Political decision makers in all five regions have begun to realise the opportunities the Information Society 4. Distant learning: University of Jyväskylä in Cen- provides and the more advanced municipalities have tral Finland; already developed a number of applications. 5. Infrastructure: Tampere University of Technology A strategy and action plan has been produced in Tampere Region; which has been approved by all regional councils. 6. SMEs: Kauhajoki MediaNet in South Ostrobothnia.

22 DISin Finland

PILOT PROJECTS Effective inter-regional collaboration has assisted the WFA in obtaining stimulus and ideas which Among the pilot projects created and launched by aided in the elaboration of the Information Society the public administration sector and the private sec- strategy and action plan. Exchange visits by the the- tor, are the following: matic experts have taken place with foreign univer- The libraries in several cities have created an sities, research centres and regional development, advanced information service system for the public the networking for which was a direct result of the utilising the Internet as the key tool for dissemination. WFA’s involvemenent in the RISI pilot project.

Health Care Innovation Centre of Excellence (HC- AN EXAMPLE OF BEST PRACTISE ICE) project in the Satakunta Region is involved with IN EVExchangeALUATION METHODS visits the RISI 2 pilot project TEMETEN. HC-ICE is a key member of the WFA Tele-medicine work group and The WFbyA has commissionedthe thethematic Information Soci- will seek to further develop pilot projects ety Research Centre (INSOC) based in the university of Tampere to undertake an on-going and fol- RESULTS TO DATE low-upexper evaluation on the tsPARADDIS have project. Initial taken results from this exercise, following the first 10 Apart from the excellent collaboration within the five monthsplace of work, provided withthe WFA with valuableforeign regional councils the PARADDIS project has also information that was feed into their strategy and achieved the following specific results: actionuniversities, plan. • promoted co-operation within the WFA Region for the elaboration of an application for the develop- research centres ment of IS service network for Objective 5B sub- regions; and regional • additional pilot projects developed by the public administration sector will be applied across cities and municipalities; development

• intensive co-operation in the field of education and training between the universities will begin with the implementation of the WFA IS strategy;

• the national centre of excellence programme in ¨ CONTACT the WFA Region has taken several IS issues into account as key goals and actions; Project leader: Council of Tampere Region • the national Information Society programme Mr Pentti Hämäläinen commented on the WFA IS strategy, incorporated P.O.Box 76, Nalkalankatu 12 aspects in the national programme and will sup- 33201 Tampere, Finland port the implementation of the WFA action plan. Tel: +35832481111 Fax: +35832481250 E-mail: liitto.pirkanmaa@pirkanmaa.fi http://www.pirkanmaa.fi

PARADDIS office: Mr Aulis Holmala, Paraddis- project P.O.Box 76, Nalkalankatu 12 33201 Tampere, Finland Tel: +35832481282 Fax: +35832481250 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.dmi.tut.fi/paraddis