Eli M. Noam, director of Columbia Institute for Tele-Information and Professor of Finance and Economics of Columbia Business School, was at IESE (University of Navarra) to participate in the 1st Audiovisual Conference organized by SP-SP Public-Private Sector Research Center, on November 14, at the Barcelona campus.

Noam spoke about the two trends within the audiovisual world: convergence and fragmentation. Of the two trends, fragmentation has proven to be more dominant in four areas: media devices, standards (Hi-FI TV, flat screens, YouTube, mobile TV), infrastructures and audiences. Technological change has pushed the economy further into the future.

But, asked Noam, "are forces of integration enough?"

He went on to explain the governments¿ role through its integrative policies, emphasizing on their maintenance of connectivity support, network diversity and content support. Other forces, Noam suggested, come from the financial and business sectors, which share equal levels of integration.

Besides the over 400 articles in economics, legal, communications, and other journals that Professor Noam has written on subjects such as communications, information, public choice, public finance, and general regulation, he has also authored, edited, and co-edited 27 books.