The IT Revolution and Europe: The European Lag and Reaction. An Analysis of ESPRIT. JMWP, No. 09.97, July 1997

Santangelo, Grazia D. (1997) The IT Revolution and Europe: The European Lag and Reaction. An Analysis of ESPRIT. JMWP, No. 09.97, July 1997.

Abstract

The Information Technology (IT) revolution has accelerated the internationalising of production by decreasing transport costs, developing telecommunications, and favouring the implementation of a flexible automated production system. At European level, the 1970s microelectronic revolution has clearly underlined the European lag in high-tech sectors since the IT European market is clearly characterised by a strong penetration of American multinationals as well as by low rates of technological innovation. After both political (i.e. member states) and economic (i.e. European companies) actors have unsuccessfully tried to fill this gap, the regional integration option (i.e. the European Union - EU) seems to be the more suitable solution. Indeed, the European IT market started developing its own features after the launch of the European Strategic Programme for Research in Information Technology (ESPRIT). Within this framework, this paper will look at the regional co-operative initiative (i.e. ESPRIT) both as the starting point of the EU high-tech policy and as a further step towards a full European integration.