The aim of this paper is to identify the spatial inequalities in digital development (digital divide, DD) of households and individuals in Europe at regional level. Digital development is understood as the level of access to and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in households and by individuals. This study has been undertaken using the following methodology: 1) factor analysis to identify the key variables of use of and access to ICTs in households and by individuals in European regions on the basis of data provided by Eurostat; 2) construction of a synthetic index, the household and individual digital development index (HIDDI) on the basis of identified factors; 3) analysis of the spatial autocorrelation of digital development to identify, delimit and quantify spatial patterns and clusters in European regions.The results of this study lead to the conclusion that the digital development of households and individuals in European regions is founded on broadband Internet access. In this context, the level of digital development and the DD of European regions is based on households and individuals' daily use of e-commerce, e-banking and e-government services. However, the use of social networks in households with broadband shows less DD in Europe. The values obtained by using the HIDDI for each European region reveal that the maximum DD between these is 37%, with the spatial autocorrelation analysis identifying a NW-SE pattern in Europe. Thus, a region's level of digital development is directly related to that of its neighbours; and geographical proximity/vicinity is an element to take into account when analysing the disparities of the DD.

Until now, a reduced number of research is observed on the adoption and use of ICTs in enterprises and on the Digital Divide (DD) between them at regional scale in Europe. What is meant by DD are the differences in the levels of digital development of the enterprises; being the digital development the degree of adoption and use of ICTs and e-commerce by the firms. The aim of this piece of work is to characterise and measure the DD in the Spanish regions and those in the countries of the European Union based on the data of their enterprises with more than 10 employees which have used ICTs. The methodology is developed in the following stages: 1) Construction of a synthetic index of digital development (Enterprise Digital Development Index-EDDI-) for countries in the EU and Spanish regions. The production of this index is carried out based on the factors obtained with the factor analysis (FA) with the aim of identifying the key variables which define the different EDDI components. These variables come from the "Community survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises" of Eurostat. 2) Classification of Spanish regions into the groups of European countries with a similar level of EDDI components based on the discriminant analysis. Those groups are previously obtained by using cluster analysis. And 3) Comparative analysis of the DD between the Spanish regions and those in countries of the EU based on EDDI components and the identified groups. The study provides a synthetic index (EDDI) at European scale comprising 3 dimensions which permits obtaining: i) a ranking from more to less digital development of countries and regions permitting the measurement of the DD among them is established; and ii) a typology of European countries and Spanish regions is defined according to the 3 dimensions of EDDI. The main results of this piece of work show that the Spanish regions at enterprise level: i) are in a medium or higher level of digital development than their European counterparts, presenting, furthermore, a lower DD between them in relation to what happens in European countries; ii) stand out for having a higher digital inclusion than European countries in the ICTs related to infrastructures of internet access and for the interaction with the public authorities; and iii) have a digital development deficit in the integration of ICTs for e-commerce.

The TP of 193 internationalized innovative firms/establishments in Andalusia is studied with the data from a self-designed survey. The objectives: to identify the key variables of TP and technology adoption and to obtain a taxonomy of firms, thus enabling the study of the capacity to absorb technology and to transfer this to the regional market. This paper provides the key variables of TP, which are organizational capacity and the development of own technology. It has been established that the purchase of machinery predominates and that technology transfer has a limited effect in the region. It is noted that the classifications of Pavitt and Soete and Miozzo are not consistent with the performance of these firms in peripheral European regions.JEL classification: 032, C38, R10

A smart sustainable city (SSC) is a paradigm that encapsulates the latest lines of development in multiple fields of research. The attempt to converge towards a model of sustainable urban life, made difficult by increasing anthropic pressure and polluting activities conducted by man, is also reflected in the intentions of public institutions to take measures of environmental risk mitigation. The change towards more liveable cities must also include the adoption of more far-reaching measures in various sectors. The objective of our work was to provide an analysis in order to assess which of the Italian provincial municipalities were most closely related to the paradigm of SSCs. This aim was pursued through a comparison based on the results of a partially non-compensatory quantitative method, known as the Pena’s Distance method (DP2). The smartest and most sustainable cities, such as Siena, Milan and Padua, were not identified on the basis of common urban characteristics but rather derived from the combination of distinctive and functional elements in the pursuit of a strategic approach aimed at fully exploiting the resources of each area. Moreover, at a macro-geographical level, from the analysis emerged the presence of contiguous clusters, i.e., areas in which a major concentration of smart sustainable municipalities tended to form.

Estudios recientes muestran la existencia de desigualdades espaciales en la dotación y uso de infraestructuras TIC de los hogares e individuos entre el norte, sur y este de Europa. Los estudios previos se han realizado a escala país o para ámbitos rurales-urbanos, sin analizar la existencia de patrones de distribución espacial. El objetivo es identificar patrones espaciales de uso de las TIC en hogares e individuos a nivel regional en Europa. La investigación se realiza con dos variables complejas: “Disponibilidad de acceso a internet y uso diario de comercio, banca y administración electrónica” o uso transaccional; y, “Uso de redes sociales por banda ancha” o uso relacional. Con 233 NUT 2 se analiza la: a) distribución y dispersión estadística del grado de variabilidad del uso de TIC; y, 2) autocorrelación espacial con SIG para identificar patrones espaciales mediante el cálculo de los índices globales de I de Moran y Getis-Ord, Anselin local de Moran y Getis-Ord Gi*. Se obtiene como resultado que el uso relacional presenta valores similares entre las regiones europeas, mostrando una distribución territorial uniforme, donde la componente espacial no es un factor de igual magnitud que para la variable transaccional que dibuja un definido patrón espacial con gradiente noroeste-sureste.