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This issue of the STI Review examines the development of ICT infrastructure in the OECD area, reveals how this powerful tool supports the work of scientists and highlights the role of government in realising the potential of ICT for science. It is based on the Global Research Village II Conference, held in Sintra, Portugal on 17-18 September 1998 and organised jointly by the Portuguese Ministry for Science and Technology and the OECD.

Universities and other tertiary institutions maintain buildings, sites and communications infrastructure worth many millions of dollars. A more strategic approach to asset management is essential for success in a new environment, where tertiary education is becoming increasingly competitive, direct public funding is being cut back and technology and globalisation are bringing new challenges. What impact will new information technology have on space requirements? What steps can institutional managers take to manage risks in rapidly-changing circumstances? In what ways is the role of facilities managers changing, and what skills and tools will be required for them to do their job more effectively in the future? This book provides some answers to these questions and shows how the resources invested in facilities can be made to work more efficiently in the pursuit of institutional objectives. It is based on the proceedings of an international workshop that examined current trends in tertiary education policy: a more open market, student-centredness and user choice, lifelong learning and the blurring of sectoral differences.

Social enterprises straddle the border between the public and the private sector and break new ground in the allocation and management of economic resources, forming what the European Commission calls the "third system". While they all take a broadly similar approach across countries, these enterprises operate along very different lines. They do, however, seek to achieve the same goals, re-integrating disadvantaged groups into the labour market and providing goods and services. Social enterprises take an entrepreneurial approach and draw on the local environment to enhance their economic and social performance. Their emergence has aroused both enthusiasm and controversy. In the interests of rational debate, this report looks at how they are likely to develop, taking stock of existing social enterprises and highlighting the more advanced experiments.

This quarterly publication complements the OECD Main Economic Indicators. It presents a wide range of monthly, quarterly and annual economic indicators covering such topics as industrial production, business surveys, construction, employment, earnings, prices, domestic and foreign finance, interest rates and domestic and foreign trade for the following 18 transition countries: Bulgaria Slovak Republic Kazakstan Tajikistan Estonia Slovenia Kyrgyz Republic Turkmenistan Latvia Armenia Moldova Ukraine Lithuania Azerbaijan Russian Federation Uzbekistan Romania Belarus Included in this issue: Annex on Labour Market Indicators Available on Diskette This supplement is the final edition of the series Short-term Economic Indicators: Transition Economies in the current format. The OECD plans to release a new publication containing a more restricted number of short-term economic indicators for key non-OECD countries on a monthly basis. The new publication is scheduled for release in the first half of 1998.

The System of National Accounts, 1993 (SNA) was a joint publication by the United Nations Statistical Division, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Eurostat and the OECD. It provides a detailed framework for producing national accounts statistics and is intended for worldwide use. However, Because of the detailed nature of the SNA, it is often difficult to identify precise definitions of the terms commonly used in national accounting. As a result, the OECD has now produced this glossary which provides a quick reference to terms commonly found in the national accounts.

This special issue of STI Review focuses on technology and sustainable development.

Between 1997 and 1999 the ECMT issued three reports and three resolutions on safety in road traffic for vulnerable users, namely cyclists, pedestrians and users of two-wheeled motorised vehicles (mopeds and motorcycles). These studies form part of a wider area of review which, in addition to road safety itself, takes into account the demographic trend in ECMT countries - population ageing - and the highly topical issues of mobility, land use planning, the environment and public health. The measures recommended (whether general or specific to each user category) show that much remains to be done to ensure the safety of vulnerable users. The aim is not to promote a single model, but to develop strategies tailored to the specific features of each country. This publication should enable all concerned to take stock of the different approaches developed in ECMT countries and to find guidance in examples of "good practice".

The service sector has grown in importance in all OECD countries over the past two decades and includes some of the most dynamic activities (such as IT, telecommunications and business services). Yet, this sector is in many ways less well measured and understood than other sectors. This publication provides annual National Accounts statistics on output (gross value added) and employment in service activities for all OECD Member countries*. Data are given at the finest level of activity detail available to OECD from national sources. This publication is designed to provide analysts with series (from 1988 to 1998) containing information on trends in the sector and to help statisticians improve the comparability of these statistics.  Countries covered include  Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

In addition to existing gas producing countries, there are several emerging countries in Southeast Asia that are promoting gas production and use. Since rising energy needs will increase Asia’s dependency on imported oil, the further development of gas resources will play an increasingly important role in improving energy security and in providing environmental protection for the region. This study, a follow-up to the IEA’s Asia Gas Study (1996), describes the current situation, uncertainties and future challenges in the gas sectors of the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar. Over the next ten years, the role of natural gas will expand steadily in these countries. The development of gas sectors could also encourage the construction of a gas pipeline network in Southeast Asia.

This annual report records trends in road accidents statistics for the period 1995-1996 in ECMT Member countries, 5 associate Member countries (Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States) and one observer country (Morocco). It provides data on the trends from 1985 to 1996 in these countries, individually and as a whole, in numbers of motor vehicles, accidents causing casualties, and in numbers of killed and casualties (killed and injured). It also highlights a number of factors to be taken into account in any analysis of road accidents and provides a dynamic assessment of the reality of our roads.

- Substantial progress has been made in improving the sustainability of transport in Europe in a number of areas and is reported in this paper. Nevertheless there remain important problems and challenges: - unsustainable rates of traffic growth, locally and in some cases at regional or international scales; - sometimes severe noise, severance and intimidation nuisances from traffic in built up areas; - persistent growth in emissions of greenhouse gases from road and air transport; - poor air quality in specific locations despite major improvements in vehicle emissions controls; - destruction and fragmentation of protected landscapes and habitats. - The European Conference of Ministers of Transport is working to improve policies and move towards solutions in many of these areas. This free brochure sets out a common approach to working towards sustainable transport systems endorsed by Ministers from ECMT’s Member and Associate countries at their Council meeting in Prague in May 2000. It is a summary of a number of detailed reports which are currently being prepared for publication.

Environmental impact assessments are an essential component of making decisions on transport infrastructure investments. Traditional procedures have proved ineffective for impacts that go beyond the scope of projects in isolation. Strategic environmental assessment has emerged in response, to address large scale effects including impacts on traffic across networks, impacts on climate change and biodiversity and the impacts of policy decisions as opposed simply to individual projects. This report examines recent experience in developing environmental assessment internationally and makes recommendations on maximising the effectiveness of this new tool.

Two-thirds of the world's poor live in Asia. The major objective for the region, therefore, must be to reduce poverty. It has become clear in the wake of the crisis that the public sector can no longer shoulder the burden of financing pro-poor growth alone. At the same time, it is also clear that official aid flows throughout the world, and particularly in Asia, have been declining since the middle of the 1990s. Therefore, the private sector must be encouraged to provide at least part of the financing. This is the major message of the book. Two ways of achieving this are proposed. One is to attract more foreign direct investment and portfolio investment, rather than to rely on borrowing, to reduce financial vulnerability. The other is to promote partnerships between the state and the private sector, rather than simply to privatise the more lucrative branches of publicly owned and operated services. This book, co-edited by the OECD Development Centre and the Asian Development Bank, presents an original and comprehensive approach to the problem of obtaining support for maintaining development projects in the wake of the global financial crisis. The book brings together varied and complementary opinions from participants -- from the worlds of business, finance, government, academia and the media -- in the sixth annual International Forum on Asian Perspectives, held in Paris in July 2000. Sustainable Recovery in Asia: Mobilising Resources for Development constitutes a reference work on Asia and provides an excellent basis for policy advice for governments and policy makers.