European Commission vice president Neelie Kroes today in Brussels formally launched the Digital Agenda for which she is responsible.
The Agenda is a grand ICT plan for Europe intended to “maximise the potential of ICT to boost Europe's prosperity and the well-being of its citizens”.
It has seven priority areas for action:
- creating a digital single market
- greater interoperability
- boosting internet trust and security
- much faster internet access
- more investment in research and development
- enhancing digital literacy skills and inclusion and
- applying information and communications technologies to address challenges facing society like climate change and the ageing population
Currently, Europe's e-commerce is fragmented, “separated by barriers which hamper access to pan-European telecoms services, digital services and content,” said Kroes, using as an example the much greater number of music downloads in the US (a unified market) than the EU. The digital single market is intended to provide cross-border commercial services and cultural entertainment.
“The Commission therefore intends to open up access to legal online content by simplifying copyright clearance, management and cross-border licensing,” said Kroes. “Other actions include making electronic payments and invoicing easier and simplifying online dispute resolution.”
Further initiatives include streamlining ICT standard-setting and organising an EU-wide response to digital threats, such as spam and malware.
While increasing the level of digital literacy and skills among Europeans will be a priority for the European Social Fund regulation (the funding will run from 2014 to 2020), the Commission will seek to leverage private investment in ICT R&D.
To ensure the Agenda doesn't become another unfulfilled grand strategy, Kroes has planned around 100 follow-up actions and 31 directives to make the strategy concrete.
There are also specific targets with timelines, such as:
- by 2013, broadband coverage for all EU citizens and, by 2020, fast broadband coverage at 30Mbit/s, with at least half European households subscribing to broadband access at 100Mbit/s
- by 2015, 50 per cent of the EU population should be shopping online, with 20 per cent of the population using cross-border online services
- by 2015, regular internet use increased from 60 per cent to 75 per cent, and in the case of disadvantaged people from 41 per cent to 60 per cent
- by 2015, halve the proportion of people who have never used the internet (from 30 per cent to 15 per cent)
- by 2015, 50 per cent of EU citizens should be using online public services, with more than half of them returning filled-in forms via the internet
- by 2020, doubling EU Member States' total annual public spending on ICT R &D to €11bn.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Andrew Charlesworth
Quelle/Source: Computing, 19.05.2010
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