TACTICS TACTICSTelematics And Communication
Technologies Industrial Comparative Study
The TACTICS consortium gratefully acknowledges the financial support by European Commission DGXII within the Framework IV INCO-Copernicus programme. Without that support, this work would never have been undertaken.
Work on this project commenced in September 1998. The consortium comprises :
The project comprises a social sciences analysis of the supply and use of Advanced Communication Technology and Telematics in Bulgaria, Romania and FYR of Macedonia in comparison with Western European progress and the needs of a competitive market economy. This is a policy oriented empirical socio-economic research project, providing a comparative analysis of the effect on the transformation process and restructuring of the traditional industries under the conditions of adaptation to, and integration with, the European and world market.
The research will describe the state of art in supply and use of communication technologies and telematics in the three Balkan countries in the context of the administrative economy of the recent past. It will analyse the progress in the field of communication technologies and telematics in the 1990s, formulating the possible future strategies in the field as prerequisites for improving the conditions for innovating and modernising the countries' industries.
The study is confined to the three Balkan countries, which up to the end of 1996 belonged to the so-called 'second pattern' of East-European transition towards market economy, which unlike the 'first pattern' (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary) is characterised by slowing down the reforms, lack of privatisation, a limited access to credits and imposing suppressive restrictions on the independent economic agents. The work will differentiate the common and steady features of this 'second pattern' of delayed transformation and point to the specifics of each of these countries so as to help them follow a pragmatic policy of innovation and modernisation.
The research is based on the Techno-Economic Network (TEN) approach as an extension of network analysis to situations where technical change is a key variable. The empirical study of TEN dynamics is based on qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and will combine case-study analyses and a focused survey with text analysis and secondary analysis of available statistical and economic data.
The study will identify the key innovative technologies in the sector of computer technologies and telematics with potential for modernising of the traditional industries. It will provide representative empirical information and an assessment by the managers of this industrial sector, together with the research and development personnel, of the effectiveness of the legislative basis and the government policy, their views of the major problems and difficulties facing the modernisation of traditional industrial sectors and its integration into the European and world market. The case-studies of the behaviour of the economic agents in the selected industrial sector will reveal the patterns and strategies of a successful economic behaviour, especially of an innovation-oriented one. Expert conclusions will be produced by the project's authors, which will recommend measures for improving the policy and jurisdiction in the sphere of innovation and industrial modernisation and for encouraging effective co-operation on a regional and European level.
Foreseen results: Business leaders in the sectors addressed will press their governments to act on the project recommendations. This will lead to the adoption of policies and legislation which will enable business to thrive and accelerate two way trade between Eastern and Western Europe. Improvement in trade with the outside world is the project objective, this being the only hope for economic revival in the Balkan countries.
Further pages on the TACTICS Project available at this site are :
TACTICS TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT REPORT
This defines the scope of the work and provides an initial Assessment of the tasks and technical needs.
TACTICS NEWSLETTER No.1
This is the first project newsletter, reporting on progress to 15 February 1999.
TACTICS NEWSLETTER No.2
This is the second project newsletter, reporting on progress to 15 March 1999.
Copyright for the contents of this web page is owned by the TACTICS consortium. Reproduction is permitted without charge on condition that the TACTICS project and the support received from European Commission DGXII within the Framework IV INCO-Copernicus programme are acknowledged.
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