Benchmarking the information society in the long range

In this paper, a model for Information Society (IS) benchmarking in the long range is proposed. This model, called EOR, aims to support and integrate (1) the development of future visions about the IS/Information Technology (IT) industry, (2) detection of obstacles to IS/IT diffusion, (3) detection of recommendations for IS/IT diffusion, and (4) benchmarking processes focused on the IS/IT field. The EOR is based on a Delphi–Cross-Impact approach. In this work, the key principles and issues of EOR implementation are analyzed and an application of the EOR to a technology foresight process is reported.