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Cattaneo, Diop, and Walkenhorst
Encourage Structural Consolidation The small size of most professional services and ICT firms and the lack of large offshoring companies means that Tunisian professional and ICT services have low visibility abroad. A structural approach that balances a strong small and medium-size enterprise sector with scale-efficient national firms and affiliates of multinational companies seems to be called for. The government recognizes the size-related obstacles to development of the ICT sector and has been trying to establish technology clusters in order to promote information exchange and business contacts. It has established five regional cyber parks to promote the creation of ICT clusters within office complexes that can accommodate 50–80 technical employees each (box 5.1). By 2005, the five complexes together housed 48 ICT companies (software development, Web site maintenance, call centers), with a total staff of about 300. In the professions, scaling up is a necessary step to international competitiveness: trade has to play a major role in the structural consolidation
Box 5.1
Promoting Exports through a Technology Park The 65-hectare El Gazala technology park, outside Tunis, has been in operation since December 2001. It serves as an incubator for new enterprises, providing advice and financial support during the start-up phase, establishing an industry network and contacts with universities and international firms, organizing training and information exchanges, and managing the common infrastructure and property. By 2005, El Gazala housed 38 companies, including affiliates of four multinationals (Alcatel, Ericsson, Huawei, and ST Microelectronics), and employed about 1,000 people. The ICT companies in El Gazala appear to be more export oriented than the industry average. This may reflect the administrative and managerial support available as well as the greater opportunities for international contacts that the park provides. More than a third of the companies installed in the park, employing half of all staff, work exclusively for export. Another sixth export at least a third of their output. Further development of the park could foster ICT service exports and help overcome the scale disadvantage many Tunisian firms face when trying to export. Source: Elgazala Pole of Communication Technologies, http://www.elgazalacom.nat.tn.