IP: The Global Bangemann Challenge (GBC)

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

The Global Bangemann Challenge (GBC) is run by the City of Stockholm and 
supported by the European Commission. It is a contest for best practice and the

prime world event for pioneering information society projects. The Challenge 
opened in May 1997 and the spirit of the contest is to stimulate networking, 
sharing and emulation of knowledge and experiences and to 'build the future 
together' rather than a simple competition of one project against another. 
The final prizes are primarily intended to highlight experiences that present
some 
of the most inspirational and innovative approaches to building the information

society in their local contexts. 

This contextualised approach is important because of the large technological 
disparities existing between different areas of the world, particularly between

richer and poorer areas. 

There are 11 categories in the Challenge and some 500 submissions, from close 
to 300 cities and 65 countries are expected by the final deadline of 31st 
December 1998. The categories are as follows : 

*New business structures 
*Information technology for small and middle-sized enterprises 
*Electronic commerce 
*Information technology in all forms of education 
*Lifelong learning 
*Public services and democracy 
*Health and community care 
*Culture and media 
*Supporting the environment 
*Equal access to networking 
*Improving traffic and transport 

Visit the  web address http://www.challenge.stockholm.se for all details about
the Global 
Bangemann Challenge..