As in previous years, the European Commission DG XIII will support European Telework Week (ETW) during the first week of November 1998. ETW has grown into a major event, providing platforms for debate as well as leveraging awareness raising of new ways of working at local, regional, national and European levels. ETW’98 is the fourth such event. In previous years DGXIII and its telework constituency managed to bring together over 30 events in 1995, over 50 in 1996, and this soared to 147 registered events and over 345 reported events in 1997 (see section 3.17.4 above).
Planning for ETW’98 is already taking shape. Five European-level sponsors have already pledged their support: CISCO, France Telecom, Siemens, Telecom Italia and Tosiba. Groups and individuals across Europe that make this week the focus of so many of their activities are launching their plans and gathering their resources to generate an even greater impact than we saw in 1997. In addition to well-established activities at local and national level, which will attract even more participants this year, the Telework Awards are also expanding and it is expected that there will be many examples of excellence in telework development. In 1998, there will be seven award categories:
Support mechanisms for ETW’98 are already in place and include:
The Telework Week web site is collecting information regarding the various activities about Telework Week, as well as the awards and other items of interest. This web site is complementary to the ETD web site www.eto.org.uk where there is a substantial and rapidly growing repository of information about European, National and local initiatives concerning telework, teletrade and telecooperation. These sites will keep you informed of the latest developments, so get connected to: http://www.etw.org
Other networks exist at both regional and national levels, bringing together people to discuss and explore new ways of working. For example, national Telework Associations organise their annual events and commercial event organisers initiate thematic events. Examples of large events with a mainly national participation but an international perspective include: the event organised for the last three years in conjunction with the European Telework Week in London with a focus on business applications; the springtime European Telework Festival in Serre Chevalier, France, which has also now taken place three years running; and the intention to build a network around a yearly event in Berlin with the theme of On-line Cooperation where a multidisciplinary group of people from academia and practice, focusing on new perspectives on telework, come together. (See sections 3.17.6 and 3.17.8 above).
And there is much more. Telework is now firmly on the conference agenda as a subject of continuing interest, in an environment that has become more stable, and serving a growing community of interest. This is substantiated by the fact that multiple, large, annual events on the subject seem to be commercially viable (including sponsorship from private and/or public organisations).
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