Governmental promotion of the Information Society in the Spanish Region of Valencia

Abstract

Regional spheres are considered essential in the governmental promotion of the Information Society at the international level. The regional initiatives in Spain aim to strengthen and complement the initiatives promoted at the national level. This article analyses ICT penetration in the Valencian Community from 1996 to 2008. The objective is to identify which of the actions carried out by the Valencian Regional Government have had a positive effect on its society. The methodology employed in this study is benchmarking. The selection of indicators is based on the policies evaluation model proposed in the Plan Avanza (Spain’s national Information Society strategy). Data were collected from official statistical sources (like Spain’s National Statistics Institute, INE). Three statistical tests were applied to verify the hypotheses (Pearson’s r2, Chi-square and Student’s t). The results indicate that it is not possible to affirm that the actions implemented by the Valencian Regional Government have had a more positive effect on its society than those implemented by the Spanish Central Government. A reason for this may lie in the specific objectives of the political strategy implemented by the Valencian Government, which has focused primarily on e-Government and does not include enough projects centred on the implementation of new technologies in the private sector. Moreover, the integration of new technologies in everyday life is placed in a second level of importance despite citizens are central actors in the international agenda.