IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

Low levels of consumer and business confidence when making transactions online is a major factor in holding back the European Digital Single Market, the Commission said.

“The cost of the lack of digital skills and incompetence to e-commerce, e-government and productivity in companies is only anecdotally known”, she said, adding that this “has to be recognized.” Without these knowledge, which is “imperative”, Europe is loosing an average of €90,3 billion per year and per country, she explained.

Speaking at the Global eHealth Forum in Hamburg Flora Girogio of the EC’s ICT for Health unit said DAE will develop the necessary infrastructure.

There are seven pillars to the strategy, which encompass issues ranging from developing interoperability and standards to ultra fast Internet access, digital literacy and eGovernment solutions.

The European Commission has called on governments to embrace open standards, after criticising the waste and lock-in associated with some proprietary technologies.

In a speech late last week at the Open Forum Europe 2010 Summit in Brussels, Neelie Kroes European Commission vice-president for the Digital Agenda reinforced the Commission’s commitment to promoting open standards across the public sector.

The technology now exists to enable governments across Europe to seize on the potential of cloud computing and develop online public services that better meet the needs of their populations, but not enough countries are taking decisive action on the issue, according to the European Commission.

Opening the EC's eGovernment 2003 conference today at Lake Como, Italy, the commissioner called upon politicians "at the highest level" to commit themselves to eGovernment and lead by example in overcoming internal resistance to political reform (so when will Tony Blair get his first email address?).

The eID system is expected to help reduce the administrative burden on mobile workers and travellers in the EU. It will also simplify cross border business transactions, company registrations, or payment of tax obligations for small businesses.

Nellie Kroes Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Digital Agenda Empowerment, said: "Longer lifespans are a triumph of medical science, and a testament to better living conditions. But they pose a challenge too: how do we keep those older people active, independent and fulfilled? How do we preserve affordable public healthcare? How do we cope with the emerging shortage of healthcare workers?

BT, Siemens and Visa will be leading a group of 23 organisations called Guide (Government User Identity for Europe) that will be examining the technology and the social and political barriers to a system.

Running until September 17th 2007, the consultation has been opened to all stakeholders and will help the EC find out more about the barriers to trade and IT business opportunities that exist globally for European firms.

The European Commission has announced the launch of two more public consultations, one on Europeans' broadband needs and the other focusing on the review of the current telecoms framework. The EC said the consultations are part of its Digital Single Market Strategy, presented in May, and follow the decisions to put in place strong net neutrality rules and end roaming charges by June 2017.

The first consultation will seek views on the review of the existing Telecoms Package dating back to 2009, since when electronic communications networks and services have undergone significant structural changes, which the EC said are characterised by a slow transition from copper to fibre, more complex competition with the convergence of fixed and mobile networks, the rise of retail bundles, the emergence of new online players (so called OTTs), and not least changing end-user expectations and requirements, including an explosion in demand for wireless data. The review intends to look at the future of spectrum management, network access regulation, universal services and telecoms governance.

The European Commission believes the the launch of a new portal will herald the arrival of the next generation of e-government services as well as help businesses in their contact with the EC.

The plan argues that the internet economy has contributed to a 21 per cent growth in GDP within the G8 economies over the past five years.

The 'European Interoperability Framework for pan-European eGovernment Services' (EIF) is the basis of interoperability guidelines for a programme to promote cross-border co-operation and the reduction of red tape between public administrations.

The vice president of the European Commission has warned that any progress in using open source and open standards in the region will have to be tempered against the possibility that the software could have downsides in terms of security.