• map and quantify the new international division of labour in business services, and develop a model for forecasting its future development.

• identify the criteria used in relocating business services, and the strategic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, at regional and national levels within the EU, Canada and Australia, and at national levels in the rest of the world.

• investigate the implications for the supply and demand of skills, and the social groups most likely to be at risk of exclusion or marginalisation in the new international division of information labour.

• investigate the threats and opportunities raised for small and medium-sized enterprises by these developments.

• develop practical tools for bodies involved in economic development, to enable them to assess the specific strengths and weaknesses of any given local economy in the global context, identify their main competitors and possible strategic partners, and develop sustainable local economic development strategies.

• disseminate the results of this research and provide information and expertise to employers, trade unions, training agencies and policy-makers concerned with information society initiatives, regional development, employment, equal opportunities and social affairs, educationand training, trade in services, relations with developing countries, and relations with EU applicant countries, especially those in Eastern Europe.

 Who will benefit?

 The research problem

 The consortium

 The project’s work
 

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