This dimension deals with the more immediate environment of the collaboration project associated with the institutional environment or regulatory framework, the project's sector of activity or industry and the specific features of the technologies used (for projects where technology is a central element).

The institutional environment includes the nation's overall existing regulatory framework (policies, laws, regulations, procedure and standards). It directly affects the nature of the collaboration and impacts the risk associated with a specific project. It determines the nature and the importance of government intervention in various sectors of activity. These laws, regulations, and programs consist of:

• trade laws relating to brands, competition, and foreign trade; antitrust laws and laws regulating technological transfers; contracts and business collaboration
• laws regulating property ownership, their character and governance as well as foreign ownership, intellectual property rights: patents, licenses and copyrights
• laws dealing with citizens' rights such as a charter of human rights, laws regulating interest groups, protection of private information, electronic document identification and authentication
• procurement laws or laws dealing with public contracts
• level of enforcement
• other types of government intervention, including taxes, regulations, policies, grants, reforms, etc.

The project's business environment refers to the sector of activity or industry in which the project operates. The following aspects of this business dimension should be taken into consideration:

nature of the sector, its size and potential for growth; available skills

• sector structure, main players, competitors, professional and community associations, the possibility of transferring some assets on the basis of barriers to entry
• available financing and level of risk
• public service provided, its nature, universality; quality standards and criteria; substitute service and delivery methods; targeted clientele.

The technological environment plays a major role given the fact that projects included in the study use information and communications technologies (ITCs) as agents of change. The technological factors that should be considered are the following:

• nature of the technology, level of innovation, complexity, user-friendliness and reliability, maturity, strategic importance in terms of novelty and distance
• current level of ICT use in terms of availability and frequency of use
• existing technological infrastructure in government and industry as well as standards, compatibility, accessibility, etc.
• system security, integrity, confidentiality, authentication and pseudonomity, personal information

Together these 14 factors constitute the contextual elements that make up the "meso" environment of the collaboration project: the regulatory framework within which it will operate, the sector and the nature of the service provided, as well as the technology involved. Among other things, these elements help identify those activities and technologies that hold promise for partnership and set the conditions for successful transfer to other places or programs.