An Evaluation of Benefits from Aircraft and High-Speed Train Substitution

This chapter explores opportunities for remote regions to escape the digital divide. It discusses an original empirical research on footlooseness of innovative companies and also discusses a sectoral case study of call-centre development in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom mainly based on existing literature. Using results mainly from the Netherlands, the chapter addresses the issue of whether remote regions can integrate with the global economy at a higher level than before. A concept that is at the heart of the discourse on information and communication technologies (ICTs) advantages for remote regions is footlooseness. The chapter focuses on call centre growth as an opportunity for ICT based regional development. The use of ICTs has attracted attention from many researchers and policy makers dealing with urban and regional economic development. Particularly if results from monitoring serve a regular adaptation of policies, policy making on ICT becomes a learning activity itself and may contribute to bringing high-order integration nearer.