%0 Journal Article 
%A Barrios, Salvador
%A Navajas Cawood, Elena
%T The location of ICT activities in EU regions. Implications for regional policies

%D 2008
%@ 2340-2717
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10017/29972
%X The location of ICT producing industries does matter for global competitiveness and long-run growth potential. For instance, the differing contribution of ICT to economic growth between the US and the EU is often mentioned as one of the main cause explaining the diverging growth performance of these two areas since the mid-1990s. In turn, since the mid-1990s, countries with especially dynamic economic growth have tended to be highly specialized in ICT-producing and ICT-using industries, see van Ark and Inkaar (2005). More generally, ICT producing sectors, tend to promote technological change and innovative capability which are seen to be at the core of economic growth and competitiveness. When considering the EU economy, ICT industries appear to be concentrated in a limited number of regions, see Koski et al. (2002) for empirical evidence. A first objective of the present paper is to document the location of ICT producing industries in European regions in order to map existing EU clusters as well as to analyze recent changes in these industries using recent data on employment and firm location, especially in relation to the EU enlargement that has taken place in May 2004. The location of the ICT-producing sectors is not the end of the story however. A crucial aspect concerns the nature of activities that are being undertaken in different regions. Importantly, ICT industries do have different characteristics in terms of human capital, skill requirement, and knowledge content. In particular, because of the positive association between human capital, knowledge and long-run growth, it is important to analyze to what extent EU regional ICT clusters differ in according to these characteristics. The second question addressed in the paper concerns the nature of ICT activities undertaken in EU regions. Finally, the paper provides econometric estimates of the location of firms in ICT industries across EU regions. The paper considers more specifically the case of multinationals’ location. Results on the determinants of firms’ location appear to differ widely depending on the ICT sector considered as well as the type of companies considered. A number of policy implications are derived from these results.

%K ICT activities
%K EU regions
%K Regional policies
%K Actividades TIC
%K Regiones UE
%K Políticas regionales
%K Economía
%K Economics
%K Geografía
%K Geography
%K Sociología
%K Sociology
%~ Biblioteca Universidad de Alcala