Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

209Development Cooperation <strong>of</strong> Norway. It refers to small business centres in the districts that areenvisioned to contain small local companies in the knowledge industry, and they would also lease<strong>of</strong>fices to teleworkers. The centre will provide the tenants common <strong>of</strong>fice services <strong>of</strong> good qualityto the extent they could not afford alone. The idea <strong>of</strong> the centres is that they will be arenas forthe exchange <strong>of</strong> experience, ideas and market contacts. On the one hand, the idea behind havingteleworkers in the same <strong>of</strong>fice area is that they will give additional impulses to the business centre.On the other hand, the teleworkers will thus be part <strong>of</strong> the local business community, which shouldprotect them against the feeling <strong>of</strong> isolation.Why telework in regional districts?There are three possible reasons to try out telework development in rural communities:1The region has inhabitants who are competent with computing systems, but there are no localpossibilities to employ this competence. The commuting distance to the nearest city is acceptable.This makes the region primarily a place for living but not working. The workers are using somuch energy on travelling that they have little to give to the local community in terms <strong>of</strong> time andeffort. In such communities, the local authorities will try to organize teleworking opportunities inconnection with the development <strong>of</strong> the local knowledge industry. They hope they can utilize thelocal competence better this way.2The region has inhabitants with competence, but lacks local opportunities for employment, andthe commuting distance to the nearest city is too long. The local trade and industry have fewpossibilities to expand their local activity and therefore people tend to move out <strong>of</strong> the region toareas with greater chances <strong>of</strong> employment.3The region has had its population decrease over a long period <strong>of</strong> time. Therefore, there is a lack<strong>of</strong> competence in the area, and the local economic life is based on primary industry. There are fewlocal initiatives, but there is a strong will to maintain the local community. It is necessary for thecommunity to find possibilities to encourage people with both jobs and competence to move intothe region.In short, there are three main objectives in using telework to support local development:• Create better possibilities for local employment and industrial development, and prevent peoplefrom moving• Establish more “modern” industry that is more adapted to the skills and education <strong>of</strong> youngpeople, which will increase the possibility <strong>of</strong> getting new inhabitants to the area.• Give new impulses to the existing trade and industry and to the community as such.