IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Network solutions will play a significant role in developing sustainable, future-proof buildings and cities. Currently, smart building technology sits at the confluence of two growing trends: the continual migration of populations into city centres, and the crisis of climate change motivating sustainable infrastructure choices. The climate crisis represents a threat to the future health of our planet. According to a 2021 report by the Climate Action Tracker group, the world is headed for 2.4°C warming by the end of the century, a trend which will continue to fuel more intense storms, heat waves, and droughts — driving instability at the foundations of human societies around the globe. Now is a critical time for sustainable practices to be implemented throughout our economic systems to reduce the impact of human activities on the planet.

Die Zahl der aktiven Internet-User ist in den vergangenen zwölf Monaten in Europa um zwölf Prozent auf 100 Mio. angestiegen. Das geht aus einer aktuellen Analyse des Marktforschers Nielsen//NetRatings hervor. Noch schneller als die allgemeine Internetnutzung wächst die Verbreitung von Highspeed-Zugängen zum World Wide Web. Demnach sind in Europa bereits 54,5 Mio. Menschen mit Highspeed im Internet unterwegs, also mehr als die Hälfte aller aktiven User.

E-Voting ist nicht nur in den USA ein viel diskutiertes Thema. Bei einem dreitägigen Symposion in Bregenz beraten nun Experten aus ganz Europa über die Erfahrungen und Möglichkeiten von elektronischen Wahlen.

“Squeezing more out of the doctors is not the way to go. The caregivers in the family are no longer available. Statistically there will be no people to take care of the elderly 20 years from now," Iakovidis said. "We have a problem!"

To keep up to the global competitiveness, the EU industrial sectors, e.g. transport, services, farming, manufacturing, etc. shall use more actively modern digital technologies and ICT achievements. While Commission designs a plan for building Digital Single Market for industry the Baltic States shall be prepared to implement the plan…

Industry is regarded by the Commission’s political agenda as the main driving force of Europe's economy: industrial farming, manufacturing, health, engineering, etc. employs a lot of people and make EU exports larger.

Digital Agenda: Annual scoreboard confirms need for structural economic reform across Europe and surplus of ICT jobs; big trend towards mobile services and technology

Europe's citizens, businesses and innovato r s are generating enough digital demand to put Europe into sustainable economic growth, but failure to supply enough fast internet, online content, research and relevant skills is undermining this potential. Greater data consumption and a shift to mobile technologies (such as smartphones) and mobile services (such as 3G internet, music streaming and webmail) are the most significant trends in the information & communications technologies (ICT) sector, which now accounts for 8 million jobs and 6% of EU GDP.

“There was a bit of hype during that period,” says Manuel Baptista, a consultant working on the European Commission’s eGovernment Observatory. “It was a new frontier. There was a big policy objective that we would move to a new era of e-government.”

The European Council called on member states to work together to complete the digital single market by 2015 by making three pledges, which are encouraging investments in ICT service infrastructure, integrating rules and regulations at EU level and giving a vigorous push on IT skills.

Such an ambitious initiative followed by a banking union and a single energy market, to boost further growth after the EU and the eurozone both emerged from recession in the second quarter of this year, is a crucial driver of growth and productivity across all sectors of European economies.

The linkage between information and computer technologies inspired new hopes — and fears.

Since computer technology can nowadays find you the best restaurant or the quickest route home, keep you in touch with friends around the globe, and help you in a job search, it seems common logic that it should become a routine part of the health care scene, too.

Though only up to a point, as it turns out. The logic is impeccable. The logistics are less evident.

However, Germany which recently introduced digital ID cards got stuck with security vulnerabilities and had to stop issuance pending correction of security flaws. Despite the flaws which will be corrected in due course, it is clear that the world is moving towards digital ID cards and India also has to move in this direction. (Related Article)

The Commission is also eyeing a 2020 deadline for the “widespread deployment of telemedicine services”.

The moves are part of its flagship Digital Agenda programme, which was launched earlier this year with an ambitious set of plans to drive technological progress across a range of areas, from faster broadband to narrowing the ‘digital divide’.

During that time the EU has grown in size, adding in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania – currently two of its least connected countries, but new information from the European Commission shows a steady rise in ‘e-patients’.

Last year 34% of the European Union's population browsed for health information, up from 16.1% in 2005, but there are wide variations between individual countries.

European organisations have taken the initiative to work towards digitalization of European cities

Digitalisation has become one of the major priorities of the European Union in recent years. Since 2008, the European Commission has designated the digital agenda into the portfolio of a commissioner. Since 2018, there is also a digital agenda of the Union that sets the vision for the digital transformation of the administration up to 2022.

The EU is not only its institutions. It is a unity of small parts, of regions and cities. A number of them have gathered to bring about their own digital transformation. The initiative is supported by the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions.

Everyone from the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to tiny start-ups and leading politicians gathered in Lisbon for the Web Summit conference earlier this month. Billed as a talk shop which “connect[s] the technology community with all industries, both old and new,” the event has now grown to become the largest tech conference worldwide.

But the fact that this event, dubbed by one writer as the “Olympics for geeks,” should take place on European soil this year is perhaps a little ironic, given that the continent is certainly not at the top of the food chain when it comes to new technologies. Despite its better efforts and the size of its economy, Europe still lags behind the US and China in terms of digitization.

Thom C. de Graaf, the Dutch Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations and Deputy Prime Minister, has spelled out his vision for e-government on the Commission's IDA (Interchange of Data between Administration) website.