The Role of ICT in Interfirm Networks and Regional Clusters

Organizers

Marleen Huysman, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Jean Claude Nataf, STmicroelectronics, Rosset, France

Bernhard Nett, Fraunhofer FIT, Sankt Augustin, Germany

Markus Rohde, University of Siegen and International Institute for Socio-Informatics, Bonn, Germany

Chip Steinfield, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

Volker Wulf, University of Siegen and Fraunhofer FIT, Sankt Augustin, Germany

Objectives of Workshop

The importance of inter-firm networks, networks between academia and industry, and regional clusters continues to grow. Nuturing regional clusters becomes a major political objective in a globalizing world. The French government has, for instance, just set up a competition to allocate 1.5 billion Euro over a period of three year to foster regional clusters in high tech domains.

Much attention has been given to the need to provide adequate information infrastructures so that such regional clusters can flourish. The evidence regarding ICT usage and benefits in such clusters, both for internal coordination in the cluster (e.g. communityware, CSCW and collaborative commerce) and for contact with external markets (e.g. B2B and B2C e-commerce) is rather mixed. In this workshop, we want to explore the role of ICTs in such networks. The focus on research questions concerning ICT is driven by an overall discussion on the importance of regional clusters.

There is a growing number of studies of such networks, but it is difficult to generalize or aggregate the results of this work. We believe that a workshop such as this provides an important opportunity for researchers to share ideas and possibly coordinate their efforts. In this way, it may be possible to gain insights that would otherwise be beyond reach.

This workshop is designed to maximize interaction time among researchers who are actively engaged in research on inter-firm clusters.

Background of Organizers

Marleen Huysman is a Professor in Knowledge and Organization, Department of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research and teaching concentrates on topics such as Organizational Learning, Knowledge Management, Communities of Practice, On-line communities, Regional communities. Her research has been published in various international journals and books. Together with Volker Wulf, she edited the book on Social Capital and IT (MIT Press, 2004) and organized the first International Conference on Communities and Technologies (C&T 2003) in Amsterdam.

Jean Claude Nataf is a Development Director at ST Microelectronics. He is one of the initiators of the Côte d'Azur SCS - Secure Communication Solutions – pole which recently won a competition by the French government for funding of regional clusters (International Competitive Cluster). Before getting involved in this regional cluster initiative he headed ST University.

Bernhard Nett is a Research Associate at Fraunhofer FIT. He studied Physics, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, International Cooperation and Philosophy. His experience in consultancy and scientific research stems from his work at Mensch, Arbeit und Technik GmbH (MA&T), Aachen, the Institute of Computer Science III at the University of Bonn (ProSEC), the Institute for Computers and Society at University of Freiburg (IIG), and the Fraunhofer-Institute of Applied Information Technology (FIT-ICON), St. Augustin. He lectured at the RWTH Aachen and the universities of Freiburg and Siegen. His research foci are ethnographic studies of socio-technical systems and networks, (des-) empowerment, learning scenarios, action research, and participatory design.

Markus Rohde has studied psychology and sociology at the University of Bonn and is one of the founders of the International Institute for Socio-Informatics (IISI). At the time being he is working as a Research Associate at Institute for Information Systems at the University of Siegen. Moreover he is editor of the political science journal on New Social Movements and of the International Reports on Socio-Informatics (IRSI). Since 1991 his research focuses on the design of network systems, on virtual organizations, and on "integrated organization and technology development". Since 1994 he is working as a consultant for medium-sized enterprises and for nonprofit-organizations. His main research interests are CSCW/CSCL, HCI, organization development, non-governmental organizations and (new) social movements.

Charles Steinfield is a Professor of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University. His research and teaching focuses on the role of information and communication technologies in organizational settings, including specific interests in Computer Supported Cooperative Work, electronic commerce, and communities and ICTs. He has been a visiting researcher at the Institut National des Télécommunications, Delft University of Technology, the Telematica Instituut, and Roskilde University, and was a member of technical staff at Bellcore. He is organizing the Third International Conference on Communities and Technologies, and has written extensively about the intersection between e-commerce, ICT infrastructures, and geographically defined business clusters.

Volker Wulf is Professor of Information Systems at the University of Siegen and a senior researcher at Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Information Technology (FhG-FIT). Moreover, he heads the International Institute for Socio-Informatics (IISI), Bonn. He studied computer science and business administration at the RWTH Aachen and the University of Paris VI, got a PhD at the University of Dortmund and a Habilitation Degree in computer science at the University of Hamburg. In 2002, he spent six month as a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA. He published more than 170 papers and 9 books. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Information Systems, Human Computer Interaction, Participatory Design, Computer Supported Cooperative Learning, Knowledge Management, and Organizational Computing.