Understanding the Supply Side: ICT Experience of Marmara Region, Turkey

Chapter XV Understanding the Supply Side: ICT Experience of Marmara Region, Turkey

Koray Velibeyoglu Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey

Tan Yigitcanlar Queensland University of Technology, Australia

ABSTRACT

Marmara region’s local governments in Turkey are setting the benchmark for the country in the implementation of spatial information systems and e-governance. The chapter aims to shed light on organizational realities of recent practices of information systems and technologies based on the evidences from selected local government organizations in the Marmara region. This chapter scrutinizes these practices and discusses the pivotal relationship between the information and communication technologies and its local organizational context within the region. The chapter also exemplifies challenges and opportunities of the Marmara as an emerging information and communication technology-supported region by illustrating the specific information and communication technology supply instruments. The chapter reveals that the particular success in supply side does not guarantee the sustainable information and communication technology implementation. There are other concerns including demand side that are strongly linked to a realistic understanding of end user demand, the institutional capacity of respected organizations, public-private partnership, and the joined-up policy efforts at both national and local levels.

INTRODUCTION civil society; quality of urban infrastructure; region’s human, intellectual, creative, and natural Information and communication technologies assets) as well as the best practices deriving from (ICTs) are essential components of the knowledge grounding initiatives at urban and regional levels economy, and have an immense complementary (see Friedmann, 2006). role in innovation, education, knowledge creation, An ICT-supported region can be thought of and relations with government, civil society, and as the one that capitalizes on the opportuni- business within the city-regions. The ability to ties presented by various ICTs in promoting its create, distribute, and exploit knowledge has prosperity and sustainable development. From become a major source of competitive advantage, a technological perspective, it is the region’s wealth creation, and improvements in the new capability to integrate the opportunities and regional policies. Growing impact of ICT on the challenges coming from the latest technologies economy and society, rapid application of recent to the regional development (Pfirrmann, 2003; scientific advances in new products and processes, Gricar, 2007). With promising implementations shifting to a more knowledge-intensive industry in harnessing ICTs, Marmara region’s (see Figure and services, and rising skill requirements have 1) city governments in Turkey are setting the become crucial concepts for urban and regional benchmark for the country towards an ICT-sup- competitiveness. Therefore, harnessing ICT for ported region. Therefore, the chapter aims to shed knowledge-based development has become a light on organizational and regional realities of major issue for urban and regional growth (Car- recent practices of ICT applications (i.e., informa- rillo, 2006). tion systems and e-government) and their supply Since the Helsinki European Council an- instruments based on evidences from selected nounced Turkey as a candidate for the European local government organizations in the Marmara Union (EU) full membership in 1999, the can- region. This chapter also exemplifies challenges didacy process has accelerated the speed of the and opportunities of the region’s ICT experience, regional policy enhancements and adoption of the and provides a concise review of different ICT European regional policy standards. These en- applications and strategies in a broader urban and hancements and adoptions include: generation of regional context. a new regional spatial division NUTS-II statisti- The chapter consists of three sections. The cal regions; new legislation on the establishment following section scrutinizes some background of ‘regional development agencies’ (RDAs); and concepts on urban ICT policies and ICTs for city new orientations in the field of high education, governments in developmental context. Then pub- science, and technology within the framework lic sector ICT applications and supply instruments of the EU’s Lisbon Strategy and the Bologna are elaborated in the framework of the Marmara Process standards, which posed an ambitious region. Marmara’s opportunities and challenges in new agenda in the development and application moving towards an ICT-supported region are also of contemporary regional policy in Turkey. In discussed. Subsequently the last section discusses this sense, novel regional policies in Turkey en- that particular success stories in the supply side deavor to include information society objectives do not guarantee sustainable ICT implementation. and creation of knowledge-based development There are other factors including demand side through efficient use of new technologies such that cover a realistic understanding of end user as ICTs. Such a development seeks to be based demand businesses, institutions, individuals, or on ‘tangible assets’ of the region (i.e., organized society as a whole; the institutional capacity of

Understanding the Supply Side

Figure 1. Marmara region, Turkey

respected organizations; public-private partner- education, health, and social inclusion. Addition- ship; and the joined-up policy efforts. The chapter ally, ICT can be considered as an ‘overarching concludes with a prospective research agenda. platform’ for development that reflects enabling strategy, policy, and regulatory regimes. Lastly, ICT can be regarded as a ‘shaping factor’ or power BACKGROUND: CONCEPTS AND that implies possible spatial and social impacts ISSUES on urban development and policy. According to Heeks (2005), a lot of action sur- Understanding ICT Supply and rounds the supply issues including ‘environmen- Demand for Information Society tal’ such as policies, strategies, and regulations; ‘resources’ such as network infrastructure, fi- The relationship between ICTs and development nance, building skills, capacities, and knowledge; is generally regarded as a supply issue rather than and ‘mechanisms’ such as public-private or multi- demand. ICTs are commonly conceptualized and sector partnerships. These supply instruments are viewed in economic terms. For example, ICT is used to create an applications like e-government, seen as a ‘sector’ that refers to knowledge-inten- e-health, or e-education. But little or nothing is sive industries flourishing through the support of done on the demand side. The demand side of an ICT infrastructure that constitutes the parts ICTs shows the extent of services and goods used of supply mechanisms such as production and by the society and the degree to which they have services. ICT is also regarded as an ‘enabler’ penetrated into everyday life and application. In or catalyst to help achieve social and economic this sense, indicators of demand are more social development goals, including economic uptake, than the economic ones, reflecting regional and

Understanding the Supply Side

social divide, education structure, and type and Urban ICT policy initiatives have gained credit structure of governance and policies (Gaspar, in recent decades. At the end of the 1980s, urban 2004). To measure the demand, ‘proper market ICT policy was dominated by national telecommu- research’ should be conducted beforehand and nications policy incentives mainly based on tech- ‘needs assessment’ via prototyping during imple- nical infrastructure, and regulatory and economic mentation. The latter provides a large profile of end aspects. The emphasis was on ‘information(al) user requirements and interests. Therefore, local city’, and international/national ‘telecommunica- governments should carefully measure current tions policy’ for take-up of urban economies with demand for content, infrastructure, and access little or no consideration for social and cultural before implementing ICT supply instruments. issues. The fashion of the 1980s was large, infra- Although the demand side is highly influential structure-led telecommunications strategies such for ICTs in the developmental context, the lack as teleports or ‘national-led future city strategies’ of local/urban-level data is still a big problem developed in countries like Singapore, France, in the determination of urban ICT policies and and Japan for gaining better telecommunications strategies. Since the most available data is about infrastructures (Moss, 1987; Hepworth, 1990). In the supply side, demand from business, govern- the early 1990s most research in ICT policy was ment, and households can hardly be measured either based upon secondary sources or anecdotal properly at the local level. Therefore, one of the evidence. Meanwhile, studies of Graham and tasks of this study is to describe supply instru- colleagues (1996) attracted attention of urban ments (environment, mechanism, resources) and planners and policy researchers to ICT’s impact on applications (i.e., e-governance) in the context cities. In the late 1990s, strategies aimed at using of regional/urban development in the Marmara ICTs as tools of endogenous urban development region of Turkey. and policy. Local authorities have recognized the importance of ICT, and some of them are making Urban ICT Policy efforts to accommodate these changes to mobilize ICT for general social purposes. Newcastle in the Urban ICT policy can be placed between three United Kingdom, Antwerp in Belgium, Tampere major areas of action: ICT and ICT policy, public in Finland, and Stockholm in Sweden are among urban policy, and ICT and urban development. ICT them (Firmino, 2005; Dobers, 2003; Van der Meer policy covers intersection of various policy areas & Winden, 2002; Winden 2001). including telecommunications, media, industry, and technology that can be national, regional, or ICT for City Governments: international (Crede & Mansell, 1998). Public Governance and Development in urban policy is a course of government action the Regional Context taken in response to various economic, social, and environmental issues. ICT for urban development An increasingly developmental role beyond the is considered as an enabler contributing to vari- traditional role of service provision pushes local ous social and economic development agendas. governments to be more proactive and inventive The overarching concept of urban ICT policy, in local social and economic development. In this therefore, covers these concepts and includes sense, after the end of the 1990s, local authorities ICT policies at an urban or local level and also recognized the importance of ICT in achieving other policies that policymakers may consider developmental goals under four major themes as relevant. (Odendaal, 2003):

Understanding the Supply Side

1. The creation of ‘a promotional identity’ • Social equality: ICT provides essential because of strong competition in global infrastructures to be used in establishing economy helps governments in attracting virtual networks and social equity. Many investment, knowledge workers, and visi- governments and non-governmental or- tors. ganizations (NGOs) around the world are 2. The growing need of collaboration and developing projects and initiatives for pro- ‘networking’ between city governments, viding skill training in ICTs to disadvantaged between councils and other levels of gov- groups. These efforts are helping in narrow- ernment bodies, between councils and other ing the digital divide and minimizing social institutions promotes ICT adoption. and spatial polarization within cities yet 3. ‘Transparency’ of decision making via con- hampered by some market models (Winden, sultation and participation with communities 2001; Drewe, Maldonado, & Hulsbergen, creates healthy two-way communication 2003; Falch, 2006). between city governments and the public. • Urban development: ICT also contributes Additionally, a new trend in public admin- monitoring and managing urban develop- istration covers ‘joining-up’ or ‘integrating’ ment through various e-applications (i.e., and coordinating governance efforts. e-government) and spatial information 4. A more strategic focus exists to manage and systems like GIS (Masser, 2001). monitor changes in a ‘proactive’ and ‘real- • Accessibility and quality of life: Addition- time’ manner in the context of fast-changing ally, ICT supports virtual and actual acces- macro-economic conditions. sibility to information, data, and physical locations. Quality of life is another central ICT’s potential contribution to three interre- outcome of successfully implemented urban lated roles of local governance includes (Pratchett, ICT policies (Berg & Winden, 2002). 1999): providing services via e-government, at which many governments are successful; focus- In the regional context, ICT is one of the main ing on participatory public policymaking in the pillars of the knowledge economy and in recent locality via e-participation, which a reasonable years has been recognized as an effective tool level of success observed; and promoting local for promoting economic growth and sustainable democracy via e-democracy, which only a very development (Chen & Dahlman, 2005). According few governments attempted. to Millard (2002), 5Es (entity, economy, equity, ICT for local development encompasses a environment, and e-technology) provide basic number of fields and actions. Possible contribu- conditions to achieve sustainable regional devel- tions of these technologies can be summarized opment. For example, ‘entity’ promotes territorial as follows: identity and integration; similarly, ‘economy’ is the engine for growth and efficiency, ‘equity’ • Economic development: ICT has been resembles cohesion and inclusion in encountering among the important supporting tools for the spatial digital divide and promoting welfare, economic development by: providing infra- and ‘environment’ is an important tangible asset structure, modifying firms’ and employees’ for regions inducing sustainability. E-technology spatial behaviors, increasing economic or ICT complements another four dimensions and productivity, and forming agglomeration can widen the spectrum of innovativeness and effects (Raspe & Van Oort, 2004). creativity of a region. In this sense, regional implementations of e-technology can be considered as

Understanding the Supply Side

the set of innovative actions to achieve economic NEW REGIONALISM AND and social cohesion, and to raise the technological INFORMATION SOCIETY IN level of regions through the use of ICTs. TURKEY Another emphasis for the development of the knowledge-based economy is to enhance regional Administrative System, Cities, and governance. It is widely accepted that good gov- Regions ernance and effective institutional structure are important sources of regional competitiveness. Public administration in Turkey is divided be- This requires coordinated actions of private, tween the central and local administrations. As public, and voluntary sector bodies aimed at field administration units, Turkey is divided into driving forward the region’s e-agenda. In this provinces, which are subdivided into districts, sense, the EU’s regional approach and projects which are divided into villages. In terms of territo- for information society and urban technologies rial division, Turkey has a national, 81 provinces, provide a good framework towards understanding 873 districts, and around 35,000 villages. Prov- the regional context of ICTs. These policies can inces and districts are both administrative units be outlined as follows: of central government and territorial units of local government. In Turkey, 32% of the population 1. Support the provision of ICT infrastructure lives in 16 cities with metropolitan municipality (i.e., broadband access) to reduce the digital organizations, and 22 million people live in mu- divide and regional disparities nicipal jurisdictions which comprise 41% of the 2. Stimulate new electronic services and in- country’s total population (Altintas, 2002). novative ICT applications ranging from In the 1940s, Turkey was divided into seven e-commerce to e-governance geographic regions (the Black Sea region, the 3. Invest people to ensure necessary skills and Marmara, the Aegean, the Mediterranean, Cen- capabilities via distance learning and digital tral Anatolia, the East Anatolian, and Southeast literacy (EC, 2006a) Anatolia) based on topographic and climatic conditions. This regional classification, however, In this framework, a variety of regional ICT does not correspond to any administrative divi- initiatives in the EU have been underway: Kaunas sion in a regional context (Sayan, Elci, & Avci, e-Region (Latvia), e-Region Blagoevgrad (Bul- 2004). The administrative reorganization and garia), e-Bourgogne program (France), Kuyavia spatial division of the regions have been under and Pomerania e-Region (Poland), and e-Region review, posed by the new regulations covering the Schleswig-Holstein (Germany). These initiatives establishment of Regional Development Agencies are part of the e-Europe region, which means the (RDAs) and EU-type NUTS II statistical regions information society at the service of regional (Bilen, 2005). development. In summary then, this chapter considers the National ICT Policy and Information two dimensions of the relationship between ICTs Society in Turkey for city governments in the regional context: One is about how supply instruments are accommodated Turkey’s experience with telecommunications was by national/city governments to achieve desired started with the installment of a telegraph line in governance and local/regional development 1847. Then the first automatic telephone exchange outcomes. The other is exploratory how urban in the Balkans was installed in Ankara in 1926. ICT policies and incentives can be utilized for the Turkey’s past orientation in telecommunications Marmara towards an ICT-supported region. network policy was driven primarily by public

0 Understanding the Supply Side

and national security needs until the second half terms of increasing computer and Internet use of the 1980s. Those are the years of economic by citizens (SPO, 2006). liberalization policies of Turkish government In 1996, the National Information Infrastruc- which made substantial improvements in Turk- ture Master Plan (TUENA), completely financed ish telecommunications system (Kirlidog, 1996). from domestic sources, emerged as a bottom-up The austerity program crafted by Turgut Özal and approach among affiliated public sector organiza- later implemented by his administration during tions. Completed in January 2000, the TUENA the latter half of the 1980s placed a high value project was aimed at the maximization of in- on expansion of telecommunications services. In frastructure to achieve general socioeconomic this period Turkish government saw the quality benefits for sustainable human development, the telecommunications infrastructure as a vital part optimization of national/local value added for of the open economy (Wolcott & Cagiltay, 2001). Turkey’s ICT industries, and advancement of During this time the network size was being tripled Turkey’s policies and organizational structures for to cover all parts of the country with high-quality leadership in her close region in order to get a share telephone lines. of the global ICT market (BILTEN, 2002). With the end of the cold war and under external Adoption of the EU’s regional standards and pressure from the World Bank and IMF, a process information society objectives is a challenging to liberalize the telecommunications market was ambition for Turkey. The EU’s Lisbon agenda started (Geray, 1999). Reforms and investments (2000) has also come up with a similar ambitious on telecommunications initiated in the previous plan, with a strategic vision to become the most decade have been slowed down due to the high competitive and dynamic knowledge economy in political instability and economic crisis of the the world that is capable of sustainable economic mid-1990s. However, two important developments growth with more jobs and greater social cohesion came about in the telecommunications sector in (Aktas, 2005). To address these objectives, a com- 1993. Firstly, Turkey chose in 1990 the Global prehensive e-transformation program, e-Turkey, Standard for Mobile Communications (GSM) was prepared rapidly after Turkey participated as its mobile phone standard, and GSM service in the ‘eEurope+’ initiative (now eEurope) in became available in 1993 (Wolcott & Cagiltay, 2001. The main goals of this initiative include: 2001). Current indicators suggest that the GSM a cheaper, faster, and secure Internet; investing market in Turkey is growing fast, and the number in people and skills; stimulation of the use of of GSM subscribers has almost tripled the number Internet in the European region; and acceleration of fixed-line subscribers (WB, 2004). Secondly, in forming the foundations of an information the international connection to the Internet was society. In conjunction with this initiative, the first established by the Middle East Technical ‘e-transformation Turkey’ project was launched in University in April 1993 (Kirlidog, 1996). By 2002. The information society department of the the latter half of the 1990s, the number of users State Planning Organization was assigned for the began to grow rapidly. Today, the percentage coordination of the project. The prime ministry, of individuals using the Internet in the popula- NGOs, and all public institutions are identified tion is 13.9% as of 2005, and the proportion of as affiliated organizations for this project (SPO, broadband subscribers is 2% (1.5 million). A 2004). In conjunction with the short-term targets comparison of these rates to EU25 averages as of the action plans, in 2006 Turkey’s middle-term of 2004, which are 47% and 6.5% respectively, information society strategy covering 2006-10 indicates that there is still a long way to go in was declared by the State Planning Organization (SPO, 2006).

Understanding the Supply Side

PUBLIC SECTOR ICT SUPPLY and innovation supports where more than 60% of INSTRUMENTS FOR MARMARA projects supported are from the Marmara region (EC, 2004). Additionally, many public sector The Marmara region covers the area encircling (national and local governments) ICT supply the Sea of Marmara, and includes the entire Eu- instruments have been performed in the region, ropean part of Turkey as well as the northwest as mentioned in the following section. of the Anatolian plain. While the region is the second smallest of the regions of Turkey, it has Supply Environment the highest population density of all the regions. Marmara includes third-tier (or gamma) world Centralized policymaking and administration has city Istanbul, which is the economic, technologi- always been the government’s approach in Turkey. cal, and cultural capital of the country and has Therefore the priority has been given to ‘national’ a population of about 11 million inhabitants ac- development over ‘regional’ development so far. cording to the general population census of 2000 Grounding the national-level ICT policies such (TURKSTAT, 2000). The region also includes as e-Turkey to the urban and regional level is a Bursa, Kocaeli, and Sakarya, the other leading major challenge that needs to be tackled. Within provinces in terms of industrial concentration the frame of e-Turkey, Yalova province in Marmara (Sayan et al., 2004). is selected as the ‘pilot city’ for the initiative. ICT Marmara is the most developed region in Tur- projects of Yalova were presented as best practices key; it covers approximately 60% of the output of in various national and international conferences, the Turkish manufacturing industry, 37% of the meetings, and platforms. In this context, various GDP-largest regional share, and 26% of the total local ICT policies have been deployed in order to population. The region’s dominant position also enhance public Internet access (public Internet has reflections in the share of public investment kiosks), economic development (call centers), (28.7%) and the private investment incentives digital literacy (adult IT certification programs), (46.3%) (Karadag & Deliktas, 2004). As a result and online public services (local e-government). of the policy choices of the globalization-oriented Macro factors such as economic instability and market economy, new manufacturing centers change, and an ever-changing local political con- developed outside of Istanbul (see Keyder, 2005) text, however, lead to a ‘sustainability failure’ of and sprawled along surrounding regions including so-called ‘IT City Yalova’ projects (Velibeyoglu, Bursa, Kocaeli, and Gebze. 2006). Marmara has also been highly innovative in At a strategic level, two recent developments the implementation of cutting-edge ICT applica- are important in the implementation of ICT ap- tions, innovation, and research and development plications internal to local governments’ structure. (R&D). Although there are no data available on Firstly, the strategic decision of Turkey to join the regional R&D and innovation performances, as EU and the need to adopt EU principles in the field the industry that accounts for 51.8% of Turkey’s of local government have constituted a powerful total industrial value added concentrated in the driving force and accelerated local government Marmara region, it is possible to conclude that reform in Turkey (Ozkaynak, 2005; Kosecik & industrial R&D and innovation activities are also Sagbas, 2004). In the new Local Government Act concentrated in that region. This is also evident (2005), establishment of ‘geographic and urban in the regional breakdown of government R&D information systems’ (UISs) for inter-municipality

Understanding the Supply Side

tasks has become obligatory for all metropolitan sector organizations in Turkey including local municipalities. Secondly, through total quality governments. This was largely due to the problem management (TQM) strategies, some local gov- of public sector employment policy that neither ernments (Bursa, Kocaeli, Yalova) in Marmara computer skills nor individual productivity was have reorganized their departmental structures encouraged and rewarded by the administrative and processes that allowed them to accommodate system (Tecim, 2004). However, some innovative rational technical systems like GIS. In Yalova, for and careful attempts could be observed in the local example, online local-government services are governments of Marmara. In Bursa Metropolitan measured and evaluated through TQM principles Municipality, for example, the Urban Information (Velibeyoglu, 2006). System Division was founded to support function- ing of municipal services, in-house production and Supply of Resources maintenance of information, and training of the staff in ICT applications (Velibeyoglu, 2005). Local governments in Turkey have experienced As distinguished human resources and hubs serious policy bottlenecks in governing and invest- of knowledge economy, universities and research ing in their ICT infrastructures. Infrastructure centers play a critical role in the creation of provision is largely left to the national government. knowledge-based regions (Marceau & Marti- The major drawback of this situation is that it nez, 2005). In this sense, in Marmara there are a depends on the state of public finances. A ‘Broad- considerable number of universities and research band Strategy’ is currently being prepared by the centers (i.e., Marmara Research Center) that State Planning Organization aiming to cover rural help to facilitate human resources and adoption areas and socially/geographically disadvantaged capability in information systems and technolo- regions (EC, 2006a). In the current infrastructure gies. ‘Bilisim Vadisi’ (Informatics Valley), for provision, however, the geographical distribution example, is designed in the Marmara region, of the Internet service providers indicates a heavy Istanbul, to ensure development of Turkey among concentration in the Marmara region, particularly the regional countries as a center of production in Istanbul (34 out of 49), the largest metropolitan and operation for international IT corporations city of Turkey (see Sayan et al., 2004). as well as to attract foreign direct investment to The detrimental effects of the Marmara earth- the domestic IT sector (SPO, 2006). In addition, quake in 1999 had important influence on local new technology park developments in Marmara governments in Marmara as well as Turkey in have been decided to focus on R&D firms in terms of recognition of importance of telecommu- the automotive and telecommunication sector in nications infrastructure and ICT-based services. order to support ‘Specialization in Technology For example, Yalova was selected as Turkish Development Zones’ objectives of the Informa- Telecom’s pilot city for the provision of a ‘natural tion Society Strategy Action Plan (2006-2010) of disaster-resistant’ Internet infrastructure. Another Turkey (SPO, 2006). impact of the earthquake was the recognition of As Sayan et al. (2004) indicate, the lack of the vital importance of information infrastruc- appropriate secondary and tertiary education is ture that accelerated the development of spatial a significant bottleneck for information society information systems in the post-earthquake cities strategies in Turkey (human resource spending is (Sakarya, Duzce, Yalova, Kocaeli, Bursa) of the well below the EU-15 average). This retards the region (Velibeyoglu & Saygin, 2005). ICT sector as it does not produce the required Availability of skilled personnel for operating skilled human capital. In order to supply economic ICTs has one of the biggest problems in public and social revitalization and give rise to a search

Understanding the Supply Side

for new IT vision after the 1999 Marmara earth- and recovery have provided some international/ quake, the province of Yalova has implemented national donor aid in the establishment of UIS several educational incentives including the Adult in the post-earthquake cities of Marmara. The IT Certification Program, IT courses in curricula Sakarya governorship GIS center, for example, of city high schools (pilot city of Ministry of has developed several applications for emergency Education), and the CISCO Networking Academy situations (i.e., tents, prefabricated houses, food, at the Yalova Vocational School. social activities) with donations from UNICEF- In terms of material resources, currently there Turkey and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are 4.5 million personal computers in Turkey and (Tecim, 2004). over 4 million Internet subscribers (EC, 2006b). At an international level, local governments Marmara region had a higher rate of computer in Marmara have affiliated regional information ownership (11.4%) than Turkey’s average (6.5%). society initiatives in Europe. Yalova Municipal- In the region, computer ownership rate of homes ity currently is the only Turkish member of the climbed to 16.8% in the year 2000 now 23.3% Telecities network, which is a regional network (see Geray, 2000; SPO, 2005). Additionally, ac- that aims to bring together towns and cities for cording to Information Technologies and Elec- the development of urban ICT applications. tronics Research Institute’s (BILTEN) survey, At local/regional levels throughout Europe, conducted with 5,702 individuals, Marmara many cities and regions are developing their Lo- region is still the leader in Internet connectivity, cal Agenda 21s (LA21s), an outcome of the 1992 jumping from 2.2% in 1997 to 10.7% in 2000 Earth Summit, which emphasize the role of local (BILTEN, 2002). As regards the regional dispari- authorities in the implementation of sustainabil- ties, ownership rate is the highest (16.8%) in the ity principles. Through the governance process, most developed region, Marmara, whereas it is as LA21s have been implemented in some pilot cities low as 1.2% in Southeastern Anatolia, the least of Turkey. The early adopters of these initiatives developed region. Similarly, regional analysis of came from Marmara (Bursa, Kocaeli, and Yalova) telephone density exemplifies the parallel results: after the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul in 1996. Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia have less than Following the leading role of the Yalova LA21, 50% of the penetration rates of the Marmara and some e-governance projects from the region re- Aegean regions (WB, 2004). ceived various national (e-Turkey e-governance award) and international (i.e., from UNDP and Supply Mechanisms World Bank) awards.

The information society model of Turkey is based ICT Applications on a participatory approach in which all actors are clearly mapped out including governments, The notion of ‘e-governance’ provides the in- NGOs and civil society, the business community, terface between local government and ICT. As foreign consultants, donors, universities, trade aforementioned, new EU integration initiatives unions, and the software industry (Geray, 2000). including e-Turkey have visible impacts on the Building strong partnerships in disseminating and implementation of ICT applications such as ‘local sharing knowledge between institutions such as e-government’ and ‘UIS’ in local governments. academia, the public sector, and the private sec- The national and local e-government initiative tor has become a vital issue in the transition to lies at the core of the e-Turkey project. It is seen a knowledge economy (Yigitcanlar, 2005). The as an essential part of government reform and information need of post-disaster management restructuring (SPO, 2004). Within the framework

Understanding the Supply Side

of e-government projects, the following were have been influential in the development of UIS determined as critical: restructuring of the state, in the region. raising the level of education and health of the society, strengthening scientific and technologi- Evaluating Marmara as an Emerging cal capability, developing new technologies, and ICT-Supported Region improving physical infrastructure. About 200 e- government projects are now underway. Among This section concludes with a specific SWOT them, e-local government projects in the provinces analysis of Marmara in comparison with national- of Marmara (i.e., Istanbul, Bursa, Yalova) have level and supra-national-level (EU) evaluations dominated e-Turkey’s e-governance awards that produced by making use of other relevant studies promote the best projects and initiatives in ICT in the field of Turkey’s knowledge economy and applications (Velibeyoglu, 2006). information society (see Table 1). Similarly, the metropolitan cities of Marmara (i.e., Bursa) have become the champions of the city-wide UIS projects that began to be popular CONCLUSION among the local governments in Turkey after the late 1990s. The concept of UIS is used as an The EU harmonization process has set the chal- umbrella term encapsulating all the efforts for an lenge of developing information society objectives information system whether GIS or MIS or in Turkey. In this context, there is an urgent need information technologies like the Internet within to find implementation paths to realize urban an integrated system that is supposed to be ICT policies not only at the national level, but at performed in local government operations in the regional level as well. This concise review order to support organizational rationality (Ve- revealed that city governments in Marmara have libeyoglu, 2005). In the Turkish case, although already taken place in the European urban and ICT no local government has been able to complete networks. With best-practice implementations, establishing a city-wide UIS so far, the most city governments in Marmara are accelerating promising applications have come from the lo- the challenge of the country in terms of UIS and cal governments in Marmara that is, Bursa e-governance applications. Although there are UIS because of several reasons. Firstly, local some positive indicators including short-term governments in Marmara have relatively longer individual best practices from Marmara, the experience with UIS (i.e., Istanbul 1989, Bursa public sector supply instruments moving towards 1996). Secondly, there has been a positive recep- an ICT-supported region are still operated in an tion of local governments in the implementation ad-hoc manner and largely suffer from overlaps of various technological systems and therefore and duplicated efforts. some of them rearranged their organizational As international relations have been intensi- structure for better utilization of IS (i.e., TQM or fied, and as common concerns have been shared, semi-autonomous UIS departments or centers). local governments in Marmara have required new Thirdly, financial resources have been available networking mechanisms for inter-organizational particularly as a part of large-scale infrastructure as well as international cooperation. Therefore, projects. In the Bursa UIS case, for example, fund- new ICT supply instruments should be intro- ing for UIS was obtained through an international duced by allowing public-private partnerships donation within the framework of a freshwater and community participation in decision-mak- infrastructure project (Velibeyoglu, 2005). Lastly, ing processes, and encouraging local economic the specific supply instruments outlined above development and social cohesion. This is to say

Understanding the Supply Side

Table 1. SWOT analysis of the Marmara region

Supra-National Level: National Level: Regional/Local Level: EU (*) Turkey (*) Marmara

- Relatively young society - Young, relatively well-edu- - Highest rank of seeking better education cated population Turkey’s total industrial and economic chances in - Existence of policies and value added unified Europe measures for innovation and - Istanbul as the eco- - Emerging dynamic information society nomic and technological industrial enterprises seek- - Public and private parties giant of the region, and ing closer economic ties to strongly committed to the international hub for its Strengths the EU development of IST surrounding region - Significant progress towards - Best-practice applica- the creation of legal and tions on local e-gover- institutional grounds for nance and UIS regulation - Growing population and high purchasing power, and hence, demand for ICTs - Relatively lower level - Digital and economic divide - Sustainability failure for of education of the adult (i.e., gender, affordability) implementation of public population among regions ICT projects - Lowest GDP among all - High regional disparities and - Lack of an effective EU countries lack of regional policies regional governance - Delays in ICT infrastructure system for innovation market privatization and information society - Highly centralized decision- objectives Weaknesses making process - Lack of comprehensive - Bottlenecks in meeting the urban ICT policies and demand for university educa- incentives tion and new jobs - High rates of internal migration and problems of rapid urbanization lowering the quality of urban living

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Table 1 continued

- Human resources allowing - Potential of being a software - Increasing trends in to develop in middle-term and services hub among high-tech manufacturing strong IST services and neighboring countries value-added share R&D sector in Euro region - Integration of information - Regional focus of R&D - The EU accession ne- society policy into a range of firms in automotive and gotiations may fasten the other public policy areas telecommunications Opportunities economic growth and infor- - Awareness of joined-up sector in new technology mation society objectives information society policies development zones - Implementation of the e- Transformation Project in the short run - Liberalized competitive market place for ICT - The admission of acquis is - Brain drain - Internal migration pres- not progressing - Failure to implement eco- sure and rapid urbaniza- - The EU accession is nomic program and structural tion strongly delayed reforms - Macroeconomic and Threats - International political and political instability risks economic uncertainty (i.e., oil prices) and instabilities in the near vicinity of Turkey

* Based on Skulimowski, 2005; EC, 2004; Sayan et al., 2004 that ICT applications need to be smoothly ad- which are very important in a developing country opted for unstable, rapidly changing socio-spatial context. On the other hand, regional ICT policies circumstances and ultimately considered soft and programs should be established and strongly organizational realities of local organizations. coordinated with the private sector in order to Supply mechanisms and ICT applications utilize the needs of the business community and should be fully accommodated in the future citizens. developments of the region. The current top- down approach may not address the rapidly changing demand of the ICT environment. To FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS overcome these gaps, for example, a coordinating (semi)autonomous regional body for ICT policy For future studies and research, regional-level and implementation needs to be established. indicators should be developed in relation to both Such a mechanism is therefore less vulnerable to supply and demand from business, government, environmental changes and political instability, and households. Similarly, the tangible assets of

Understanding the Supply Side

the region should be taken into account for the experience. Ankara: BILTEN TUBITAK (In- sustainability of information society objectives. formation Technologies and Electronic Institute Regional pilot projects, with active participation of Turkey’s Scientific and Technical Research of local actors, may help to indicate the potential Council). of ICTs. Thus, local actors, with regional authori- Carrillo, F. (Ed.). (2006). Knowledge cities. Ap- ties, play a central role in the integration process proaches, experiences and perspectives. New by being closer to the European citizens and by York: Elsevier. being key actors in the future implementation of EU policies. Chen, D., & Dahlman, C. (2005). The knowledge The best-practice applications obtained from economy, the KAM methodology and World the Marmara region should be extended, updated, Bank operations. Washington, DC: World Bank and shared with other public sector organizations. Press. But this does not mean that policies that work Crede, A., & Mansell, R. (1998). Knowledge so- well for one simply produce the same outcomes cieties in a nutshell: Information technology for for others. Yet, only a few studies focused on the sustainable development. International Develop- institutional dimension of the ICT applications ment Research Center, Canada. and the context of supply instruments. Moreover, demand-side research has received much less Dobers, P. (2003). Image of Stockholm as an IT attention in literature than the supply side. A city: Emerging urban entrepreneurship. In C. comparative research approach is useful here to Steyaert & D. Hjorth (Eds.), New movements in focus on the differences in supply and demand entrepreneurship. Aldershot: Edward Elgar. mechanisms and how to balance them. The Drewe, P., Maldonado, A., & Hulsbergen, E. important and challenging task of researchers, (2003). Battling urban deprivation: ICT strategies then, is to demonstrate the multilevel evidences in The Netherlands and Europe. Journal of Urban in recorded case studies and researches. Technology, 10(1), 23-37. EC. (2004). Annual innovation policy for Turkey REFERENCES 2003-2004 report. European Commission En- terprise Directorate-General, Innovation/SMEs Aktas, Z. (2005). Information/knowledge society Program. and Europe. Enformatica, 8, 1-6. EC. (2006a). Europe’s regions and the informa- Berg, L., & Winden W. (2002). Information and tion society. Retrieved November 2006 from communications technology as potential catalyst http://europa.eu.int/information_society/regwor/ for sustainable urban development: Experiences reg/index_en.htm in Eindhoven, Helsinki, Manchester, Marseilles EC. (2006b, October). Collaboration@Work: and The Hague. Aldershot: Ashgate. The 2006 report on new working environments Bilen, G. (2005). Novel regional policy of Turkey and practices. European Commission, European in line with EU standards. In Proceedings of Communities, Italy. the Regional Science Association Conference, Falch, M. (2006). ICT and the future conditions Denmark. for democratic governance. Telematics and In- BILTEN. (2002, March). Instruments to combat formatics, 23(2), 134-156. digital divide: An evaluation based on the Turkish

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0 Understanding the Supply Side

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