Information and communication technologies and rural development

the long version

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) introduce a new relationship between time and space. Do the nascent possibilities of tele-work, distant access to public services and e-commerce offer both realistic and innovating perspectives for rural development? Are ICTs a threat rather than an opportunity for rural areas? Will these technologies increase the attractiveness of rural and remote areas or will they reinforce the influence of urban ones? ICTs and Rural Development sets out to answer these questions. Field research conducted in Canada, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States shows that rural development projects organised around ICTs have facilitated job creation as well as the emergence of a new environment favourable to the development of the community. Nonetheless, the success of such projects depends on a number of conditions. They are presented and analysed in this report.