Closing day : European Forco-Précanet Leonardo project

University of Toulouse-le Mirail - ( 24th June 2005 ).

The Egocreanet of the University of Florence , in this intervention of closure will be underline the more sensible seeds of change realized through the Leonardo FORCO PRECANET PROJECT (2002-2005) as well as hallmarks indicators for forecasting the future of European Knowledge Society (K-Society) .

By the more recent definitions the Net-economy represent a driving challenge of post-industrial society based on the development of "intangible goods" by means business networking co-organization. In fact the networking approach is necessary to open the future Knowledge Economy ( K-Economy) , i.e. a new process of business globalization that can be able to get the basis on the creation of multinational production networks, aiming to realize a better co-organization to the international division of labour and production in the global market.

EGOCREANET observes, working as partner of Leonardo FORCOPRECANET Project (2002-05), that Net Economy , is a great challenge of the contemporary global development, that need to develop faster socio-economic innovation , knowledge management empowerment, new competencies and attitudes in "e. Learning" , "e.Govern" , e.Commerce , etc... where all activities are dominated by the e. work management in "digital creativity".

AS A MATTER OF FACTS THE MARKET AND MARKETING GLOBALIZATION PROCESS IS GRADUALLY TRANSFER THE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION OF GOODS TO THE EMERGENT INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES AND THIS TODAY IS ERODING THE BASIS OF DOING BUSINESS OF THE OLD INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETY. Therefore the new challenge for Europe is focused on the development of the K-Society based on K- economy strategies of development.

Today we assist, especially in Italy, a big gap in enhancing Knowledge social and business forms of development; this because the structural difficulties of the manifactural production, based on industrial and agricultural, or trading SME´s , find serious complications to drive out the obsolete way of goods production, especially if the firms are producing at low level of technology and quality of production.

However, the effects of the crisis now start to open a new fundamental rethinking of productive process,…… but really at the same time , the volume of intellectual work employment is lowering dramatically, this because the major part of SME´s tray to import manual work from underdeveloped countries to survive. Only in few cases SME´s are able to grow up the high technological quality of production developing international networking and utilizing Information Communication Technology (ITC) , in a way that the quality of residual activities of good production are undergoing forward fundamental changes in the direction of k-economy of post industrial transformation. Hence if the system of SME´s production in Italy do not will to go forward a quite complete reception and final collapse, certainly the Italian System of production need to find open European synergies to develop very quickly the "Digital Creativity", for linking advanced science with new strategy of Knowledge Economy as well as it will be necessary for improving European K- Society.

The Leonardo project FORCOPRECANET permits to EGOCreaNet , (through 150 interviews to SME’s working in the net economy and a large analysis of previous European reports and lectures on the development of NET-ECONOMY ), to underline what are the contemporary seed of change and to forecast some fundamental needs to enhance the future of European Knowledge Economy. ( see the attached CD-ROM )

In conclusion the contemporary crisis of European Union , can be seen as an regeneration key factor of developmental change, only if will be well understood that business competition, in the global market, need to be harmonized with a large multinational co-operation.

The above political strategy of world economy market harmonization starts through the understanding that world- citizens and policy decision makers need to accept a mental vision of change in the NETWORKING ECONOMY , to overcome the traditional behaviour of Firms in the market and marketing, based on single Return of Investments (RoI) calculated for any single enterprise ; this because the most successful factor of the global development today consists in a suitable networking policy of the industrial and productive structure, that need to be designed for the new international division of labour. On the contrary the actual perspective of marginalization of intellectual work , generated by the strong competition of manual cost to very low salary , can be seen as well as the crucial indicator of the failure of the world wide economy of the old industrial society.

The most important factors to avoid such failure of the obsolete industrial society , that can act as well as key elements of the future forecast of growing European K- Society are the following:

• i)- Developing "e. Learning" on networking Knowledge Management for enhancing competent work force to move into the virtual space of K- economy, driven through strong relationships among Research, Regional Govern, and Industry.
• ii)- Developing "e.Democracy" ; in fact globalization and telematisation of the K-Economy need of an extensive and less hierarchical participation of citizen; this because people in the K-Society need to get more opportunities to have a direct impact on many key aspects of political regulation and decision making and also to obtain more open access to economic resources for producing creative projects oriented to sustain the reconstruction of the industrial structure into a post-industrial K-Economy future environment.
• iii)- Developing networking business platforms for "e.commerce" ,for increasing transparence on satisfaction relationships between sellers and customers, open to a more distribution of trade’s risks and responsibilities
• iv)- Developing and disseminating conceptual tools in advanced science and technology to accelerate the life cycle of mental change .