19 th Bled eConference, Surveying eValues Panel Bled, 5 June 2006

1. European Commission, DG Enterprise & Industry e-Business W@tch in the context of e-business related activities of DG Enterprise and Industry Georgios KARAGEORGOS 19th Bled eConference, Surveying eValues Panel Bled, 5 June 2006

2. Overview of the presentation • Background info and policy context(slides 3-5) • What is the e-Business W@tch(slides 6-13) • Lessons learned and future plans(slides 14-16) • Support / Background info (slides 17-20)

3. Some Background History: • Peak of the internet ‘era’: a lot of hype about e-business… • …but no reliable data and analysis on its development. Therefore, launching of: • Eurostat ICT usage by enterprises survey (pilot in 2001), to provide official statistics across member and other states(more from Fernando Reis); • e-Business W@tch(since Dec. 2001) as a more flexible tool to identify, analyse and compare trends across different sectors.

4. Policy Background: Focus on a dynamic e-business environment From the eEurope 2002 and 2005 Action Plans and theCommunication 148 (2003)”Adapting e-business policies in a changing environment:The lessons of the Go Digital Initiative”, anda multi-levelset of initiativesto promote e-business among enterprises, notably SMEs, in Europe: • eBSN:e-Business -Policies- Support Network(more on Wednesday, here in Bled) • eSkillsForum • Legal aspects • Standardisation / Interoperability • Underlying analysis:e-Business W@tch

5. toi2010and the CommunicationCOM(2005) 474 final,Brussels,5.10.2005 • i2010: “Define e-business policies to remove technological, organisational and legal barriers to ICT adoption with a focus on SMEs”(an aim under Objective 2); • COM(2005)474based on systematic screening of 27 sectors: • confirmsICTan importantdriverfor innovation and a key enablerforproductivitygrowth; • outlines actions to achieve renewed Lisbon Strategy goals, incl. identifying barriers to the effective and wide take up of ICT in Europe, in order to propose policy responses; • ICT Task Force established (meeting on 6/6/2006); • continue e-BSN, e-Skills, legal and standardisation actions.

6. Mission:to monitor, analyse and compare ICT uptake and e-business development in different sectors of the European economy – not sectors themselves. Objective:to provide reliable results, based on commonly accepted methodologies, which are not readily available from other sources and would trigger the interest of policy-makers, researchers, and other e-business stakeholders for more in depth analyses. Approach:a “wide-angle” perspective, with necessary trade-offs transparently depicted in every deliverable, but “zooming-in” on selected issues for different sectors or across sectors.

7. Secondary sources: - market research - OECD, Eurostat, ... - studies, surveys - databases Industry Associations: - sector statistics - reports - interviews Network of experts and stakeholders: ~25 experts from different fields, countries and sectors • Survey: • 10 sectors • 25 countries • > 70 case studies e-Business Market Watch Function Synthesis Reports (>1000 copies each) Pocketbook (with indicators) Web Site (public, internal) Dissemination (CD, events, conference) Ad hoc Services (to DG Enterprise): - Forecasts - Short term data retrieval - Background information Database: Indicators per sector, country, company size Sectoraland Thematic Reports - sectoral implications - economic implications - policy implications (in electronic form)

8. Some results (2005):Sectoral e-Business Profiles European e-Business Scoreboard 2005: A = Connectivity of the enterprise. B = ICT use for internal business process automation. C= E-procurement and supply chain integration. D = E-marketing and sales.

9. Some more results (2005):Significanceof e-business applications Source: e-Business W@tch (E-Business Report 2005)

10. Food & Beverages Footwear Pulp & Paper ICT Consumer Electronics Shipbuilding Tourism Telecom Services Hospital Activities 2006:10 Sectorsbeingstudied Manufacturing Services • Construction

11. The plan for 2006(more from Hannes Selhofer) • late November 2005:Discussion on Sectors to be covered • December 2005: Draft Road Map delivered • Late February 2006: Agreement on RM & Questionnaire • Mar-April 2006:Survey (of about 14,000 companies) • May / June 2006:Deliver 1stDraft Sectoral Reports • June / July 2006: Delivery of Pocket Book 2006 • May - Oct 2006: Sectoral Workshops • Sept / Oct 2006:Deliver 2nd Draft Sectoral Reports • Nov / Dec 2006: Delivery of Draft Final Report • December 2006: Annual eBWEvent

12. Selection of Sectors / Topics • Roll-out Plan since 2003(see http://www.ebusiness-watch.org/about/sector_selection.htm); • Regular update of issues and topics on the basis of policy needs (e.g. input from eBSN or ICT Task Force); • Suggestionsfrom contractor at each period’s start (RM); • Intense consultation with sectoral and other Commis-sion units, as well as with industry associations(see W/S of 24 January 2006);

13. Everything on the web:

14. Main lessons learned • Fulfilling existing, real need=> Great interest from stake-holders (even university from Mexico)+support to continue; • Project unique (internationally?) in combining statistics (going one step further than ‘traditional’ surveys), qualitative analysis (incl. case studies) and policy recommendations; • Strong points = Timeliness, quality and transparency! • ‘Victims of success’: Growing expectations, demands and involvement BUTdifferent interests => Can NOT satisfy all! • Continuous trade-offs, e.g. increase sectoral focus => reduced survey’s capacity; • Increased burden for flexibility and coordination capacities.

15. Future Plans: a ‘new’ eBW (within the policy context described in slide 5) • Insights from on-going project, interim evaluation (by IDEA) and Cambridge conference(http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/conferences/cambridge.htm); • Emphasis on 3 themes: Impacts, impacts and impacts! • Focus on specific sectors, companies’ size classes & regions; • Approach: Maintaining quantitative (data) and qualitative (case studies) information collection, combined with high quality analysis, leading to identification of policy challenges; • ‘Common’ data coming from available official statistics (mainly Eurostat), complemented by purpose-made surveys; • More flexibility of implementation arrangements.

16. Thank you for your attention! • For moreinformation: • http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/ict/index.htm • http://www.ebusiness-watch.org • entr-innov-ict-ebiz@cec.eu.int & info@ebusiness-watch.org • georgios.karageorgos@cec.eu.int

17. eBSN: Objectives & Facts • To improve co-operation, promote exchange of best practice and discuss new challenges in the field of e-business policies in favour of SMEs • Report “eBSN:Achievements and future Action Plan” (on the portal since April 2006). • 175members, from ~30 countries, ‘meeting’ at www.e-bsn.organd 8 workshops so far: • Previous in Cambridge (Dec 2005), next inBled (Slovenia, 7 June 2006) on “e-Invoicing” and in Vienna(13-14 June 2006) on “Models and measures to support e-business uptake by SMEs”; • Open call for expressionof interest to co-organise with Commission services an eBSN workshop. • Hands-on co-operation to adapt and promote good e-business policy practice: • “Twinning” initiative, to testtransferability and tools in joint actions; • Co-operation between SMEs and ICT suppliers, to improve availability of e-business solutions; • “Train-the-Trainer” to promote high-level training through SME support networks; • Dissemination, through business associations, chambers of commerce, etc.

18. Promoting e-Skills in Europe (http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/ict/policy/ict-skills.htm) • European e-Skills Summit with the Danish Presidency and benchmarking report on national policies (Oct. 2002), followed by Council Conclusions (Dec. 2002); • “e-Skills in Europe: Towards 2010 and Beyond” synthesis report of the European e-Skills Forum and European e-Skills 2004 conference (Sept. 2004); • Supply and Demand of e-Skills in Europe report of RAND (Sept. 2005); • European ICT Skills Meta-Framework: CWA 15515 CEN/ISSS (Feb. 2006); • In 2006,two studies: e-Skills Foresight Scenarios (March 2006) and Benchmar- king policies and initiatives in support of e-learning for enterprises (April 2006), • three Calls for tenders (2Q2006): Multi-stakeholder Partnerships, e-Business Skills Survey and European ICT Skills & Career Portal • and theEuropean e-Skills 2006 Conference (5-6 October 2006, Thessaloniki). • Development of along term EU e-skills agenda: policy Communication and Action Plan to be adopted in early 2007.

19. Removing legal barriersin e-business • On-line consultation on legal barriers to e-businessand Conference "E-business without frontiers: the challenges ahead" (April 2004, proceedings on the Europa website); • The B2B marketplaces portal (www.emarketservices.com); • In 2006, four on-going projects: • Validity and mutual recognition of e-documents(Sept.); • Benchmarking national e-business legal practices (Sept.); • Unfair commercial practices in B2B e-markets (April); • Costs and benefits of reverse auctions in B2B e-markets (June) • and a Legal Conference (Brussels, 27-28 November).

20. From eSAP to the ICT Standardisation Work Programme The eEurope Standardisation Action Plan: To support standardisation work in domains of public interest, like security, e-inclusion, e-learning, e-government, etc through integrated actions of the ESOs (incl. CEN, CENELEC, ETSI) and other stakeholders; All eEurope 2002 / 2005 domains covered, by some 165 tasks andfinancial support of about ~23 MEUR between 2000 and 2005. In 2006: The ICT Standardisation Work Programme, complementing the European Standardisation Action Plan and extending the coverage in new domains (e.g. GRID, IPR and counterfeiting, e-Customs, etc); Contracts with ESOs to be signed in 4Q06 (total budget ~4 MEUR).