ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a review of the emerging 'information economy' and considers the implications for regional development. It then outlines developments in the telecommunications technology itself — in networks and services and the way that these are regulated and the likely consequence in terms of the geography of the information economy. The chapter discusses specific examples of policy initiatives that can be pursued to exploit the opportunities and to counter the many threats. It focuses on the geographical impact of advances in telecommunications technology, showing that these advances are embedded within, and are helping to facilitate the development of, a much broader and more fundamental shift in the nature of the economic base of our society. Information economy cuts across conventional methods of classifying activities, such as the well-worn distinction between manufacturing and service activities.
