In government, it would act as a "catalyst" and not manage the ICT sector, as was the case at the moment, said Labour MP Leo Brincat, who drew up the document.
The slogan behind the draft vision statement is "a more intelligent society" as regards ICT and at every level - not its "superficial" assimilation, Opposition leader Alfred Sant said. ICT progress in education, for example, was superficial, he insisted.
Dr Sant expressed his preoccupation about the growing digital divide, again due to the "superficial" approach to ICT.
Malta had to brand itself as an "intelligent island", with the ideal innovative environment for knowledge-intensive services to evolve into a nerve centre for other countries, the document, one of a series on other areas that are being published, states.
It aims to set a direction for government departments, agencies and public entities by establishing eight major ICT strategic principles that recognise the capabilities of the citizens.
The principles - which would be further defined in an ICT strategic road map, following a consultative programme with stakeholders - aim to transform the information society into a knowledge-based economy; promote e-quality, e-inclusion and e-democracy; foster entrepreneurship for high-value jobs; and promote a global hub concept on a resilient ICT infrastructure, among others.
While the government had made headway in e-government, it still required the "upskilling" of public service employees, Mr Brincat said. It was encouraging to see that Malta had progressed from the 16th to the second place in e-government online availability of basic public services, but the country now had to address other indicators that were below the EU average in the field of ICT.
Expenditure on research and development should be the key indicator of the effort by the government and the private sector to obtain competitive advantages in the industry, Mr Brincat said.
The vision statement maintains that "investment has to be planned properly as Malta cannot afford to continue spending millions in ICT and in strategic alliances, without having the means of quantifying and exploiting its investment".
The government has to outline what the tangible strategic advantages are and how it plans to achieve them.
Feedback on the draft vision statement was welcome from everyone and not just the constituted bodies, Mr Brincat said, adding that it offered over 50 proposals for discussion, including encouraging expatriates with lots of know-how to consider Malta as a base for investment; establishing Malta as a centre of excellence, where students could study ICT; and the promotion of the Maltese language and a Maltese dictionary online.
Tourism, health and the island's heritage - museums and libraries - were not making adequate use of IT, while it was suggested that a study on the viability and introduction of e-voting be carried out, Mr Brincat said, adding that it could be introduced gradually, starting from local councils.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Fiona Galea Debono
Quelle/Source: Times of Malta, 13.08.2006
