Benchmarking Transformational Use of ICTs: The Role of Social Capital

ICTs open up radically new ways in which to address the basic challenges of regional development in the Knowledge-Based Society. The transformative potential of ICTs resides, in particular, in the way they enable networking, learning and innovation, and empowerment. A horizontal theme that runs through all of these is social capital. A growing body of evidence suggests not only that strong social capital contributes to diffusion of ICTs within a region, but also that uses of ICT can produce social capital. Because of the central importance of social capital to a region’s ability to achieve progress, indicators on networking and on other types of interlinkages should be included in EU benchmarking at regional level.