IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

The use of ICT as a driver for social and economic development is being put into practice in one area of Poland as part of the work of the Cities on Internet Association.

The core mission of the Cities on Internet Association is to support public administration, both central and local, in the process of their transformation toward modern eGovernment solutions by the means of planning, realisation and promotion of work for local and regional eDevelopment, introducing eServices and creation of knowledge society, also in a way of development of public information resources. The COI operates actively in the field of the providing public administration with the consultancy services covering the analytical preparation of the key eDevelopment documents including regional eStrategies. At the moment eStrategy - strategy for development of information society in Mazovia region - is being prepared.

The development of an eStrategy for the Mazowieckie region is a kind of undertaking that will create significant opportunities for the sustainable development of area by the use of information and communication technologies. On the basis of current circumstances diagnosis covering the development capability and the goals of regional development will be identified and the most important regional projects will be recognised. Due to the efficient use of ICT these will give the essential momentum to economic growth and education. The proposed measures allow the regional government of Mazovia to face the competition of European regions, thanks to the rationally implement information and communication technologies according to Krzysztof Glomb, President of the Cities on Internet Association.

The eStrategy for Mazowieckie region is being prepared on the basis of the experiences of the first Polish strategy for eDevelopment along with other documents. In its efforts to provide the eStrategy, the Cities on Internet Association aims to reach its conclusion by the end of this year. The document is being developed in the participation-expert model. Due to the workshop and consultation meetings the local authorities, research and development entities as well as nongovernmental organisations and business (including the ICT sector organisations) will take part and assume responsibility for the process of creation of the strategy. All the actions projected within the strategy will remain compatible with the best practices and experiences gathered by the eDevelopment leading regions of France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The map of necessary investments in the information and communication infrastructure will also be elaborated within the framework of the eStrategy. It will suggest the areas that require individual actions and expenditures aiming at levelling the development opportunities and counteracting the digital divide.

It goes especially to the rural areas. "We are expecting that the strategy will give us the answers on the influence of ICT related projects realisation on the development of the Mazowieckie region question" said Tomasz Sieradz, a member of the Board of Mazowieckie Voivodship.

The Mazowieckie region will join the elite group of regions supporting its development with the key document - the eStrategy after completion. Similar strategies of this have so far been developed for: lubelskie, malopolskie, podkarpackie, warminsko-Mazurskie and wielkopolskie.

More information on the COI activities is available at www.mwi.pl.

Quelle: eStrategies, 08.12.2005