At present, any project for IS development is associated to a technology (technology based on electronics), that is, it uses some technology as a platform.
May be, this platform is considered as innovative: because it uses open source resources or complex software; because it uses last telecommunication infrastructures, by their modern terminal devices (computers, mobiles phones, etc).
However, the technical platform is not the central property to qualify a project as Best Practice, but it is important in the sense that this platform must guarantee the access of final users to information and communication. In other words, “not everyone requires broadband and some projects will be constructed with a specific target end-user who may not need it”
Without a doubt, all Information Society projects contribute to regional development and to improvement citizens’ quality of life.
Nevertheless, some projects are developed in an isolated way, independently of other initiatives carried out in a community (a city, a region, etc). In other cases a “global strategy for the development of a community” is established and carried out for many years.
These programs define some strategic axes. To secure that these objectives are met, several individual actions or projects are launched, where each of them able to become a Best Practice. The importance of these projects relies on their intrinsic value as well as on their relation with other actions scheduled within the same strategic line and ultimately on their relation with other strategic lines contributing to the development of the region.
So, an IS project belonging to a global strategy like this has an added value.
Any Information Society Project can contribute to targeted community development (a region, a city, a school, etc).
This objective depends in part of the establishment of partnerships or alliances among the three main regional innovating actors: the Higher-Education (Universities), the Private Sector (R&D centres, industrial firms, chambers of commerce, trade associations) and the Public Sector (national and regional policy-makers); this is known as “Triple Helix Partnership”.
Although innovation may arise in any of the three sectors, to ensure that such innovation has an effective impact at regional level it is necessary that the other sectors get involved.
Competitive public procurement becomes important, with the associated market generating better value for tax payers as well as the efficient allocation of resources which will enhance the quality of public services.
Private organisations adapt their structures to meet the needs, new technologies and also new ways of working, increasing productivity, competitiveness and profit marking.
Finally, the University is transformed into the ‘Entrepreneurial University’ , adapting itself to the needs of the region, i.e. training specialised professionals, supplying partners with research capacities and coordinating the efforts of the partners to transfer in the most suitable manner the outcomes of research to the business domain, thus contributing to the development of the region.
The innovation and the knowledge, main objectives of the Information Society, come up in very dynamic environments, which main feature is the exchange of information.
That’s why is very important stimulating into a community a strong and sustainable cooperation among all agents involved on the development of Information Society in order to achieve the development of that community, going from no-coordinated and isolated work system environments towards cooperative (coordinated) environments, much more open, flexible and dynamic, which allow a much easier and fluent information flow. To achieve this, the working structures of the partners in the organization or the partnership need to be redefined.
New trans-institutional partnerships and stimulating active learning process can contribute to achieve this.
Many projects include training actions for their end-users. However, training users to use a tool or technology is not enough, and strategies should envisage the building of "continuing learning and improvement settings" . This type of setting encourages feedback and debate among the individuals. All the actors share their viewpoints and opinions, based on their experiences, and their reflections further enrich the debate. The setting where the project is being managed builds on the experiences and suggestions of all the individuals, thus improving on a continuing basis and contributing to the production of knowledge.
A simple analogy can be found in the educational sector: in this case, a teacher or trainer is expected to convey knowledge to trainees; however, the trainee is no longer a passive element, whose role is limited to receiving the training (i.e. learning how to do something), and takes on an active role. In this new role, the trainee starts questioning why things are done in a certain way, and proposes changes in the training and new training areas. All this helps the trainer adapt & improve the training. The trainer becomes a trainee, and the trainee in turn becomes a trainer.
It is assumed that any Information Society project is transferable, albeit with modifications. This parameter outlines what is required of any community seeking to adopt a project, distinguishing those which can be adopted by a SME or Research Institutes, from those which require the organisation and financial power which we would associate with regional development agencies or large firms.