For an overall review of ETW’97, see section 3.17.4. A full report can be found at http://www.etw.org
12 events took place during ETW ‘97 in Austria. Most focused on raising awareness regarding the opportunities provided by information and communications technologies. Activities included an event ‘@mi-after mining’ in Styria, open days at the telework centre in Landeck (Tyrol) and three telecentres located in Vienna. ETW ‘97 has stimulated several new initiatives. For example, the local authority of Rauris in the Province of Salzburg presented new ideas and projects for the initiative ‘Net-Kultur-Dorf Raurisí (Net-Culture-Village) with a follow-up event on 24th Nov 1997.
There was good media coverage, with several reports in national and local newspapers. The week after ETW ‘97 a telework report was presented on the radio.
1997 was very active in Belgium for telework centred events, particularly in the spring. This activity level extended through European Telework Week, during which the events below were registered. As in 1995 and 1996, the Belgian Teleworking Association (BTA), also collected the written commitment of 20 top political, academic, industrial and media personalities, who agreed to form the Belgian National Committee for ETW’97.
On November 5, SRBII (Belgian Royal Society of Engineers and Industrialists) organised a conference on telework with the support of BTA. The agenda was designed to cover the main telework related fields and the speakers included key experts in these fields:
On November 6, Fabrimetal (professional association of metal, electrical and electronic industries) launched a six-week roadshow to feature daily throughout the country, on "Innovate and Produce via Internet- the Winning SME". The highlight of the launch session was a live demonstration of telecooperation between two small industrial enterprises, one that designed a prototype and another that manufactured it using the CAD-CAM file telecommunicated by the former. In addition to e-mail, telephone and video conferencing were used for human interaction.
On November 7, the European Telework Awards ceremony was organised in Brussels by ETD, with support from BTA. Also on November 7 and following the awards event, BTA held its annual reception. As in previous years, this was the opportunity for BTA executives to refresh their contacts or make new ones with key people who may help in 1998 activities.
No event was reported in Luxembourg. However, the country was not inactive during the year, as a telework association was in the process of being created, with support from BTA.
‘Distance working in Storstroem County’, Vordingborg, was a series of events over a five day period. They included a touring bus and open house events. Leaflets were handed to Copenhagen bound commuters at Naestved railway station and practical demonstrations of telework by experienced teleworkers took place at the main shopping centre. Naestved is Denmark’s leading ‘spearhead region’ for the Information Society and has invested alongside Tele Danmark and Telia in developing leading edge infrastructures and services. http://www.naestvednet.dk
There were also conferences in Copenhagen, and a seminar at Aabenraa, the main city in the Danish County of South Jutland. The Danish Employers’ Federation and the Danish Trades Union Congress, discussed the different forms of telework and reviewed the many initiatives taken by the Danish social partners (employers’ and trades unions’ organisations) concerning telework over the last 12 to 18 months.
Overall the events of ETW ‘97 throughout Denmark were judged a success. They were supported by good local media coverage for the regional events. Although there has been a dramatic change in attitude to telework over the last two years, important gaps in awareness and practice remain. One is that the enterprise and organizational dimension is typically ignored, whilst discussion focuses almost exclusively on the conditions of employed teleworkers working at home.
ETW ‘97 in Finland was inaugurated by the seminar ‘The Limitless Local Economy’, held in Jarvenpaa from 3-4 November. This seminar triggered practical discussion on how to develop local economies in the Information Society. Other events included an open house in Rovaniemi (Lapland), ‘Telework and Subcontracting’ seminar, Rauma (Satakunta) and ‘Telework Open Market’, at University of Tampere.
There was an Open House all week at Ammatti-instituutti (Helsinki), the largest vocational adult education centre in Finland. Attendees learnt about the telework ‘driving licence’, which tests the person's ability to telework. Passing the test enables the person to be included in a teleworkers file (WWW), from which possible employers can seek suitable employees.
ETW’97 saw the first involvement of France in organising large scale events with major actors. A political focus was given with three events taking place at the French Senate. First, the launch of Telework Week with a welcome speech from Mr. R. Monory, President of the Senate; second a relevant presentation by Mr. P. Johnston to introduce a debate on the Information Society with two senators -MM F. Serusclat and A. Gérard organised by the French Telework Association; and finally a demonstration of the Epri-Watch system (see Annex 2). This was also the opportunity to present the Telcard project in which France Telecom was a major actor.
France telecom also organised the first Telecom Forum in Lyon with a set of conferences and debates about telework and teleservices which attracted about 3,000 people. Telework Week was also the opportunity to organise a large event in Guadeloupe (French Antilles) which covered all the aspects of the use of ICTs in daily and business life and attracted about 15,000 visitors over five days. Further, two telecentres -Telpro and Telespace du Vercors- organised on open door day and shared experiences through videoconference for the visitors. Distance learning was tackled during a half day conference at the Ministry of Education, and art was also part of Telework Week with the Chaos in Action project which involved eight cities and more than hundred artists.
Events during ETW ‘97 included a conference for insurance companies organised by Management Circle and a Cafe Mondial stand at the Software Forum Saar. http://www.cafe-mondial.com
Events in Southern Germany, included presentations on Virtual KMU Management, Solkit, CoCoTel projects and Euro. The latter included a discussion by experts about telecooperation by videoconference.
One month after ETW ‘97 (4th December) the biggest German teleworking event in 1997 took place. Attracting 650 visitors - most of them SMEs, there were 4 parallel sessions and a plenary session. Here the federal initiative 'Telearbeit fur den Mittelstand' ('Telework for SMEs') was introduced, including an award ceremony for the best concept presented to introduce telework into an SME. The goal of the initiative, where TA Telearbeit is conducting the accompanying survey and academic study, is to help up to 5000 SMEs with a total budget of about 10MECU to become teleworking enterprises as soon as possible. http://www.iid.de/telearbeit/mittelstand
There were two main events. A one day conference ‘Teleworking: sweatshop or social progress?’ was held at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin. This was opened by the Minister for Communications and attracted 85 attendees. Two 2-hour hands-on Internet courses were run at PFK Computers, Cork.
Telework Ireland - the Professional Association of Teleworkers in Ireland - held its Fifth National Conference - "Teleworking Your Business". This successful two day event was opened by the Minister for Science Technology and Commerce and included the launch by Forbairt, the Irish Government Development Agency, of its brochure "New Business Opportunities in Teleservices" written in conjunction with Telework Ireland, and the formal affiliation of Telework Ireland to the Small Firms Association (SFA), the representative body of SMEs in Ireland. Presentations considered the many facets of integrating teleworking into the organisation and using it to develop the newly formed business. Workshops, focussing on practical and specific items which are identified as issues and areas of potential by Telework Ireland, provoked much interest and involvement by delegates. The event attracted a major and unprecedented level of sponsorship from leading business interests including Telecom Eireann, The Sunday Business Post, Hewlett Packard, Hibernian Insurance and Co-Operation North. Media coverage included live coverage and 11 minute feature on national television, 15 minutes live coverage on national radio, and extensive coverage in the national, provincial and business press.
The highlight of ETW ‘97 in Ireland was excellent general media coverage. On national radio on 4 November, the Pat Kenny Today show, that attracts around 10% of the population, did a 15 minute feature on teleworking. Participants were Imogen Bertin, ETD National Coordinator, and Nicola Sheridan, a teleworker for VHI, Ireland's largest health insurer. Following the events and media coverage, over 250 telephone enquiries were received by the telework enquiry line.
During ETW ‘97 over 32 different seminars, conferences and training courses on telework were held in 15 different Italian cities. The 6th November was telecentres’ ‘open day’ throughout Italy. The new ‘Proxima’ centre in Sesto S. Giovanni was inaugurated by the Agency for local development of North Milan. The main goal of ETW ‘97 in Italy was to change the public perception of the telework stereotype of being work "at home, mainly done by woman, using a computer".
The events included a press conference at the ‘Frentani’ Congress Centre, Rome, an official opening ceremony with the participation of Government representatives and industry top managers, and conferences in Rome, Milan, Naples, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Ancona and other centres. Videoconferencing was used to connect several locations and a course was held using videoconferencing between Rome and Naples.
During the week ETD and Services On Line offered a free telephone help desk to SME managers and entrepreneurs for explaining the opportunities of telework. The service was used by over 50 firms.
Media coverage was excellent, amounting to over 70 different articles, radio and TV interviews in national and local media, including "L'onda lunga dei telecentri" (on the emergence of telecentres in Italy) in Il sole 24 ore. Many articles and reports were focused on telecentres and the two participating centres (Nexus in Rome and IFOA in Castelnuovo ne Monti) became the scenery for many TV shots.
The organising Committee estimate that at least 10,000 people were directly involved in ETW ‘97. One of the most important results was the ‘mass-discovery’ of telework and, as hoped, because of the telecentre coverage, the shift of the message away from just "working at home".
There was also an event organised jointly by the CEILL and MIRTI Consortium on ‘Telework: a perspective for new generations’, which attracted 200 participants and included speakers from the Commission as well as politicians, experts and companies.
A full report on ETW97 in Italy can be found at http://www.mclink.it/telelavoro/etw97
ETW ‘97 in Holland was marked by a single large event, organised by Focus and Quercus, that combined a large seminar, and the fourth Dutch telework award. The two day event attracted 250 participants. The prize winners were Twijnstra and Gudde for their model to define a new workplace, and Interpolis, an insurance company, for their courage in implementing a new flexible office for 1500 users, including middle and top management. There was good media coverage including slots on television and radio.
Already plans are under way for ETW ‘98. The venue will be the Mediaplaza in Utrecht, a high tech demonstration area. Each day of the week will focus on a different aspect: of telework - overall management, employment for ‘other’ groups (handicapped, women, elderly etc.), facilities management, individual aspects, and human resources.
As part of their contribution to the European Summit on Employment in Luxembourg, the Information Society Forum Group under the chairmanship of Mr. Majo issued the ‘Barcelona Declaration’. It’s key points are:
- The relationships between technology, productivity, growth and employment are complex. Any simplistic approach to the problem is dangerous.
- The promotion of the Information Society could be and has to be a key pillar of European employment policy.
- The challenge is to develop the necessary conditions to fully exploit the job potentialities of the Information Society.
- The modalities of growth in coming years should be different as different economic conditions are present.
- Growth alone will not solve Europe’s unemployment problems.
- Information Society is at the root of sustainable growth.
- Market forces alone will not solve Europe’s delay in entering the Information Society nor eliminate unemployment.
- Public authorities have a key role to play in this domain.
- Budgetary resources exist at all levels for new active employment measures related to preparing people and organisations for the Information Society.
- The Luxembourg Summit should establish lines of action for European as well as national policies in this domain.
- The Information Society Forum is ready, at the request of the Luxembourg Summit, to provide further insight.
Barcelona November 3, 1997. The full text is at: http://www.etw.org/97/news/html/barcelona.html
Over twenty different events took place during ETW ‘97. Highlights were ‘The Competence Fair’, ‘The Internet World fair, Virtual organisations the winners of tomorrow?’. There was a lunch seminar at the World Trade Centre, Stockholm: ‘Telework: practical consequences in a flexible world.’
It must not be forgotten that ETW ‘97 was somewhat overshadowed this year by the high profile pan-European Event Telework´97 held in Stockholm during September (see section 3.17.3 of this publication).
Additionally, many important activities were done internally within organisations. Such internal activities were of high quality, and according to ETD National Coordinator Lilian Holloway: "they will probably have a much deeper effect on promoting telework, since they are rooted in the organisation’s own interest."
Telework World in London was the main event of ETW ‘97, attended by over 200 delegates. Topics included the impact of teleworking on people and the way they are managed; a broad view of industrial relations across Europe; specific issues relating to tax, insurance, health & safety and employment. Speakers also covered the latest developments in remote access technology and videoconferencing, pointing to the rapid growth in these areas. The conference also practised what it preached by videoconferencing its opening sessions to over 80 ‘virtual’ delegates at five telecentres, and webcasting to 30 more virtual delegates.
During ETW ‘97, The UK Telework Platform, a co-ordinating body for organisations that promote and develop telework, launched to Members of Parliament a manifesto ‘Telework: The Opportunity’. The document urges the Government to encourage teleworking through employment legislation, tax incentives and by exemplifying teleworking. It urges the government to:
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