UK funds 'e-innovations' projects: The UK government has launched the second round of funding for its "e-innovations" initiative. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) announced a number of new projects to share STG6 million of funding under the programme, which was established to encourage the development and use of innovative technologies by local authorities. The selected projects were chosen because they address one of four themes: tackling social exclusion, creating efficiencies, promoting leadership in local government, and encouraging local authority e-business. The winning projects were chosen from among 280 proposals by the ODPM's local e-government team. Among those selected were a call centre for deaf people that uses video conferencing, a text message service that members of the public can use to ask questions of their local authority, and a scheme that allows citizens to share personal data across a range of local authority service bodies.
Government contracts should include e-accessibility: survey: ICT (information and communications technologies) products bought by public administrations should be required to be e-accessible, according to a recently released survey by the European Commission. More than 90 percent of 500 survey respondents -- representing public agencies, ICT suppliers, universities, business associations and user groups -- agreed that public procurement contracts should stipulate requirements to make ICT goods and services accessible to elderly people and people with disabilities. Eighty-eight percent of survey participants also said that EU institutions should lead the way in proposing such measures, while 74 percent agreed that ICT goods and services need to be made more fully interoperable, and 84 percent believe that technical requirements should be harmonised within and beyond the EU for this purpose. "The observations submitted by experts and stakeholders provide clear social, ethical and economic grounds for pursuing our efforts to bring the benefits of ICT to the 90 million EU citizens who are currently unable to reap them in full," said Information and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding. "Making the information society accessible for all is [...] both a social necessity and an economic objective."
First cross-border e-government service launched: Europe's first cross-border e-government service has been launched. RISER (Registry Information Service on European Residents), currently available as a pilot scheme, allows companies across Europe to obtain official address information for Germany, Austria and Ireland. By logging on and registering with the web portal www.riser.eu.com, businesses can verify the addresses of potential and current customers in these countries, as the portal provides access to EU member states' individual civil registry databases. The initiative, which is supported by the European Commission's e-Ten programme, will gradually expand to include address information from other EU member states.
State and local IT spending set to rise in US: State and local government IT spending in the US is expected to grow 45 percent over the next five years, according to market research firm Input. In its annual "State & Local IT Market Forecast" report, Input predicts that such spending will increase from around USD48 billion in fiscal 2005 to USD70 billion in fiscal 2010. Growth in IT investments is expected to continue at a moderate pace through 2005, accelerate slightly in 2006, and then flourish from the start of 2007, when an increase in employee retirements will drive spending on outsourced technical services. The market for state and local IT spending is expected to grow 15 percent in 2008 alone. "In about three years, we will see [...] state and local agencies forced to find outside expertise to replace a retiring workforce," said James Krouse, manager of state & local market analysis at Input. "The only choice many of these agencies have will be to outsource non-competencies such as information technology services, which will open vast opportunities to IT contractors." One of the chief areas of growth will be the telecoms/network sector, which will expand through an increase in initiatives to roll out advanced interoperable communications systems for law enforcement, border security and homeland security.
Venezuela aims to encourage internet use: A mere 1.3 percent of Venezuela's population uses the internet to make contact with public sector agencies, according to a new study. Online newswire Business News Americas.com reports that a recent survey by market research firm Tendencias Digitales found that an overwhelming majority of people prefer to contact government bodies in person to request information or solve problems. However, the research firm noted that the percentage of citizens who contact the government via the net is likely to rise as the number of internet users grows. While currently only 7 percent to 8 percent of the population has access to the internet (according to Tendencias), Venezuela's national IT institute CNTI expects that number to double by the end of 2005. Tendencias director and partner Carlos Jimenez points to a number of e-government initiatives aimed at encouraging use of the internet, such as online tax payment initiatives as well as agencies that only accept contact via the internet. The government also has plans to increase the number of public internet centres and has set up Wi-Fi hotspots to offer free wireless internet access to the public.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews, 06.04.2005
