The Information Society White Book of Corsica Corsica, France SYNTHESIS The Information Society White Book was a participative project led by the Corsican regional authorities. The project, which lasted several months, was part of an overall strategy aimed at developing an information society in Corsica. The region, the state and the European Union (EU) have been making substantial contributions to developing information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures in Corsica. In spite of such improvement, Corsica suffers from a lower diffusion of new technologies. In particular, only 78% of companies use the Internet, while the average in France is 93%. In order to foster the implementation of an information society in Corsica, it was decided to launch a collective reflection that would involve all potential actors and not only experts and policymakers. The White Book was seen as the best means for getting a clear picture of the Corsican actors and for identifying ideas, obstacles and recommendations for the future. The White Book was organised around three main activities: - a kick-off meeting organised in February 2006 in Ajaccio (150 participants); - 14 meetings held from March to May 2006 across the island; - a final meeting organised in Ajaccio in June 2006 with the previous participants from meetings as well as new participants (around 400 participants). From an organisational point of view, the project involved the Mission for Information Technologies in Corsica (MITIC) of the Regional Council of Corsica, and the Secretariat General for Corsican Affairs (SGAC), which is the French State's representative in Corsica. Both the regional authorities and the State authorities in Corsica agreed upon the process and the implementation procedures of the project. In terms of results, the project enabled: - the identification of regional actors and projects related to ICT; - the networking of regional actors working in the ICT sector or using ICT in their daily activities; - the identification of barriers and opportunities for the implementation of an information society; - the definition of proposals for helping the setting-up an information society. In terms of lessons, the project testifies that the involvement of Corsican stakeholders in a collective effort to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the island and to identify the opportunities for the future is a worthy endeavour. This was particularly the case as the stakeholder's proposal were taken into account by policy makers in defining th regional information society strategy. Corsica suffers from a negative image, as it is often described as an island closed in on itself with inhabitants not being enough open to each other or to the rest of the world. The White Book gave a different picture of Corsica that is to say an island with economic actors for whom the information society is already a reality. The project gave the opportunity to some of these actors to be identified and to voice their needs and views regarding the information society. Given the particularities of the 1 Corsican situation, one can state that the project was a success both in terms of involvement of a wide range of economic and social actors; and in terms of the leverage effect it has had on public and private funds in favour of the Information Society. Background information Country: France Region: Corsica Project title: The Information Society White Book of Corsica Key words: information society: ICT access, e-inclusion; territorial dimension of regional development: remote, rural, coastal areas and islands Duration of project: February 2006 – June 2006 Funding: Total budget €150,000 ERDF contribution €112,500 Regional budget €37,500 ERDF Objective: Objective 1 2 1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The overall objective of this project was to initiate a collective reflection on the development of an information society in Corsica. The goal was to identify the main areas on which the Regional Council of Corsica will concentrate its efforts in the coming years, especially in the context of the State-Region Planning Contract and of the programming of the European Union' Structural Fund interventions for the 2007-2013 period. The Mission for Information Technologies in Corsica (MITIC), which is under the aegis of the region, led the project. The project manager was the director of MITIC. The purpose of the White Book was: - to give the opportunity to internet users and actors to voice their comments and views; - to identify local innovative actions; - to provide the regional actors of the information society with information on Corsican, national and foreign know-how, practices, approaches, innovative policies; - to bring together actors, both institutional and private, and their national counterparts, in order to perform a collective appraisal of current and future operational projects; - to prepare, through a collective process, the strategy that the Territorial Assembly (region legislative body) will have to discuss. The project was organised around the following activities: - in June 2005, the region gave the green light for the launch of the White Book; - in February 2006, a kick-off meeting was organised with about 150 persons; - from March to May 2006, 14 meetings were held (in two waves, one in March and one in May). The objective was to cover the larger part of Corsica and to access each and every sub-territory of the island. In total, the meetings brought together more than 110 participants each time (with approximately half of new participants during the second wave); - in June 2006, a final meeting was organised that brought together past meeting participants as well as new participants. Around 400 persons attended the final meeting; - in November 2006, a first version of the White Book was completed; - in July 2007, the 6th version of the White Book was edited as a book. The results of the projects are strongly related to the regional policy-making process. They correspond to: - the formalisation of a process for identifying the innovative regional actors and projects; - the identification of a method for making proposals concerning the development of a specific sector; - the discovery of a process for identifying, in a collective manner, barriers and opportunities for the economic development of Corsica. From the point of view of the contribution of the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding covered the period from February to June 2006. The ERDF contribution was 75% of the total budget (€112,500 out of €150,000). According to the director of MITIC, the request for ERDF funding for this specific project was motivated by the wish to inform the European Commission about the regional efforts 3 toward the development of an information society. At this time, it was a good opportunity to highlight what was achieved. The region provided the rest of the funding. 2. POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC CONTEXTS Corsica is unique among French regions, in many ways: - in geographical terms, Corsica is not a homogenous territory but rather a patchwork of small territories, more or less connected to each other; - as regards economic activity, the service sector is prominent, notably tourism; - in terms of jobs, one-third of the active population is employed by the public sector, which is far higher than the national average; - as regards capital and investment, Corsican enterprises suffer from a lack of capital and are characterised by significant under-investment; - in terms of R&D efforts, public investments are significantly higher than private investments. The region, the national government and the EU have been making substantial efforts to develop the infrastructure of Corsica. To be more specific, during the 1990s, the strategy adopted by the State and the region to sustain economic development was to develop infrastructure, in particular road infrastructure. In recent years, the strategy was to continue to improve the Corsican infrastructure with a focus on the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) through improved telecommunication infrastructures. It is envisaged that, by the end of 2007, some 90-95% of the Corsican territory will be covered by high-speed Internet services. In spite of improvements in the ICT infrastructure, Corsica suffers in general from a lower diffusion of new technologies. In particular, only 78% of companies use the Internet while the average in France is 93%. Accordingly, in order to foster the development of an information society in Corsica, it was decided to identify the main barriers and the opportunities in the Corsican society and economy. To do so, the decision was taken to initiate a collective reflection that would involve all potential actors and not only experts and policymakers. This gave birth to the White Book for an Information Society. The green light was given on 3 June 2005 after a vote of the Regional Council. 3. IMPLEMENTATION 3.1. Project design and planning The Mission for Information Technologies in Corsica (MITIC)1 was responsible for initiating the White Book for an Information Society of Corsica project. The starting point was the definition of the future strategy of the public actors as regards ICT in Corsica. At this time, the MITIC was at a crossroads. Created in 2004, two years before the launch of the project, the main tasks of the MITIC included support to projects aimed at developing services and uses of ICT in Corsica. 1 http://www.mitic.corse.fr/ 4 For the next period of programming, (2007-2013), the MITIC wanted to reflect upon the focus of public action in favour of ICT in Corsica. To this end, the idea of a collaborative deliberation was discussed. This was preferred to an expert assessment report of the Corsican ICT landscape that would have proposed recommendations for actions. According to the staff of the MITIC, this option, which indeed was not formally taken into account, could have ended up with interesting prospective conclusions.