An ICT-based Network of Competence Centres for Developing Intellectual Capital in the Mediterranean Area

The rising of the knowledge economy, enhanced by the fast diffusion of ICTs, drives a wider perspective on the divide among countries, interpreting it more and more as the result of an asymmetry in the access to knowledge and in the readiness to apply it in order to renew the basics of their development dynamics. Looking at the Mediterranean Area, the positive correlation between the Networked Readiness Index and the Global Competitive Index indicates that the opposite sides of the Mediterranean Sea are performing a development path at two different paces. To support the creation of Intellectual Capital able to apply, diffuse and benefit from e-business, the e-Business Management Section (eBMS) of Scuola Superiore ISUFI – University of Salento launched in 2005 the Mediterranean School of e-Business Management. In this chapter we offer a presentation of its genesis, the most distinctive features, operational model and action plan. The preliminary results of its activities show the role and the main challenges of the School in addressing the needs of the Mediterranean Countries towards a logic of partnership for the development of their intellectual assets