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Byline: Georgios N. Angelou, Anastasios A. Economides Information-communication technology (ICT) investments analysis using real options (ROs) has been a subject of active research during the last decade. It is a flexible method to value investment opportunities and to derive optimal timing of investments deployment taking into account uncertainties in future benefits and costs. We develop a framework for classifying the research on real ICT projects' evaluation using ROs. We analyse these projects with respect to three issues: the complexity of the ICT project; the ROs calculation method; the assumptions made. The ROs applicability on ICT projects has been successfully tested in a dozen real cases. The focus so far is on the evaluation of ICT investments that embed a single, apriori known option. Finally, we conclude and suggest directions for future research taking into account more complicated scenarios containing a number of ROs as well as the real competitive environment.

Byline: Anja Koutsoutos, Carsten Westerholt This research focuses on the business impacts of ICT, in particular on productivity, business models, investment activities, sectoral value chains, employment and skills. The idea behind this research is to illustrate how the diverse economic sectors respond to these new challenges, taking into consideration the highly complex structure of business related innovations. The purpose is to investigate, whether ICT really help to facilitate business processes or to establish new partnerships and new ways of working. Details can be found in the complete deliverables. The overall objective of investigating the business impacts of ICT is therefore the qualitative assessment of changes in business organisation and the structure of production.

Byline: Giampiero E.G. Beroggi, Volker G. Taube, May Levy The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the continuous change of technological developments, societal values and political attitudes pose major challenges to the measurability of the value of ICT for society. The Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO) addressed this problem as part of Work Package 6.1 of the EU 5th Framework Project SEAMATE (Socio-Economic Analysis and Macro-Modelling of Adapting to Information Technologies in Europe). SFSO's contribution to this international project is the development of a new conceptual scheme for identifying indicators to measure the impacts of ICT on society and the business world. The method is based on a new paradigm for developing statistical indicators, relying on an inductive and hypothesis-driven approach, where the policy makers and the users of ICT are placed at the centre of the model.

Byline: Michal Arend, Pia Steiner Due to the rapid increase in the spread and relevance of modern information and communication technologies, informational inequalities between and within nations have gained growing attention in science and policy. These inequalities are often and synonymously called 'digital divides' or 'ICT-disparities'. This paper sums up the most important empirical findings of the SEAMATE project on some forms and aspects of digital divides and ICT-disparities in Europe. It is based on a disaggregated analysis of 2001 EUROBAROMETER survey data on the access to and usage of ICT in 15 member states of the European Union. The second section is dedicated to the analysis of national and socio-demographic disparities in computer, internet and mobile phone usage. In the third section, we will analyse the home ownership of (or access to) these three information and communication technologies. The final two sections deal solely with computers and investigate the relationship between the domestic ownership (access) and factual usage of computers and the spatial contexts (places) of computer usage.