SBR-9710450 Michael I. Luger University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill This award supports travel for a small group of international scholars and U.S. graduate students to participate in a research workshop on "information and innovative finance for regional development and restructuring." The workshop will be held in conjunction with the fourth international conference on Regional Science and Technology Policy Research (RESTPOR), in North Carolina in May 1998. The research workshop will be a focus of the broader conference which will include government officials and planners. Thus, the papers and discussions of the workshop will find an immediate audience beyond the academy. In addition, the papers and interactions will be reflected in an edited volume that the investigator will produce after the workshop. The four topics for the workshop are : the potential of networked information technologies as a tool for regional development; the operation of "virtual" regions; information technology and economic development of distressed urban areas; and the financing of information infrastructure.
