Sociedade, Tecnologia e Inovação Empresarial - Presidente da ...

e-organisation of the welfare system and of citizens’ ways of life. Themore so if those changes can be presented as some kind of «new deal».The bulk of local European experiences that have emerged over thelast two decades suggest that such a view is not too utopian. But toconsolidate and enlarge such commitments at some national or regionallevel also requires the support of adequate logistics of intermediationwhether in finance, in communications, transports or in specialisedbusiness services. A balance has to be found between the adequacy ofthese supports of specific national needs and the advantages broughtby regional harmonisation of these logistics. In all cases a real efforthas to be made so as to give full political priority in Europe to theseissues of large social change. So far the knowledge driven society hasbeen strong on economy and poor on society. It has been driven byexpectations on the role of technology, mainly carried by an «elite» ofsymbolic professionals, to use Reich’s term, and officials, with a muchmore narrow perception by those who have experienced more hardshipin the meantime. Basically the sort of European version of a knowledge-drivensociety to live up to its promises will have to further expandits perspectives to the social realm in a much more explicitly debatedand enriched form.Luc Soete3 0 9Europe and national technology policies…