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Thematic Session 3: Information Society Policy and Emerging Services at Local Level. Rapporteur: Jaak Aaviksoo University of Tartu, Estonia. How many Europes we have?. Shall there be eEurope for members and eEurope for accessors and what could be their difference?
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Thematic Session 3:Information Society PolicyandEmerging Services at Local Level Rapporteur: Jaak AaviksooUniversity of Tartu, Estonia
How many Europes we have? • Shall there be eEurope for members and eEurope for accessors and what could be their difference? • And which of the two will be the most competitive knowledge economy in the world? • Are we really different or are our problems different
11:00- 13:00 Topic: The Need for Information Society Policy for Local DevelopmentSpeakers: • Andrea Mairate, Head of Unit, DG REGIO, European Commission • Michael Niebel, DG INFSO, European Commission • Gareth Hughes, Executive Director, Eris@ • Ingrid Götzl, President, Telecities • Juris Mikelsons, Riga City Council, Latvia 16:30- 18:00 Topic: What Are The Elements of a "Best Practice" Project - A First ExchangeSpeakers: • Dušan Keber, Minister of Health (Slovenia) • Peter Ponicky, Minister of Education, (Slovakia) • Mateu Hernández, Assistant Director of Barcelona Activa • Mel Proudfoot, Senior Director of Public Services, Oracle EMEA
Role of Regional and Local Levels • The roles of local and regional administrations in building the IS are important and shall be strengthened • There is a need to combine and coordinate IS strategies on different levels
Demand vs Supply • More attention shall be paid to the demand side - our ‘e’-s should address real needs • We should analyze, evaluate and study these needs and provide feedback on how we perform • We need more citizen-centered approaches • Technology is there to solve problems, not to create problems
New Mentality • Our ‘e’-s are different from non-’e’-s in the sense that ‘e’ changes the relation between providers and consumers • E-government and e-services change the way how we manage the delivery of these services, it needs a different institutional culture • ‘e’-s shall not replace but compliment the traditional channels of delivery
Fragmentation and duplication • There is a huge number of efforts to go ‘e’ but these efforts are often fragmented and a lot of duplication takes place • There are thousands of public and private providers who invent new bicycles 24 hours a day • Extensive networking may be a solution
Infrastructure and Access • We were seriously concerned about fair access of disadvantaged groups of people • We welcomed the possibility of using Structural Funds to develop necessary telecommunication infrastructure (where markets fail to offer internet access as universal service)
Conclusion IS is on its way – it will be there soon. In North and South, in West as well as in East Our main task is to make this new society a better place to live in.In West as well as in East.