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

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

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 (since Dec. 2001) as a more flexible tool to identify, analyse and compare trends across different sectors.

Policy Background: Focus on a dynamic e-business environment eBSN: e-Business -Policies- Support Network (more on Wednesday, here in Bled) eSkills Forum Legal aspects Standardisation / Interoperability Underlying analysis: e-Business From the eEurope 2002 and 2005 Action Plans and the Communication 148 ( 2003 ) ”Adapting e-business policies in a changing environment: The lessons of the Go Digital Initiative”, and a multi-level set of initiatives to promote e-business among enterprises, notably SMEs, in Europe :

to i2010 and the Communication COM(2005) 474 final, Brussels, 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)474 based on systematic screening of 27 sectors : confirms ICT an important driver for innovation and a key enabler for productivity growth; 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.

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.

Survey: > 10 sectors > 25 countries > 70 case studies 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 e-Business Market Watch Function Database: Indicators per sector, country, company size Sectoral and Thematic Reports - sectoral implications - economic implications - policy implications (in electronic form) Ad hoc Services (to DG Enterprise): - Forecasts - Short term data retrieval - Background information Synthesis Reports (>1000 copies each) Pocketbook (with indicators) Web Site (public, internal) Dissemination (CD, events, conference)

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.

Some more results (2005): Significance of e-business applications Source: e-Business (E-Business Report 2005)

2006 : 10 Sectors being studied Food & Beverages Footwear Pulp & Paper ICT Consumer Electronics Shipbuilding Tourism Telecom Services Hospital Activities ManufacturingServices Construction

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 1 st Draft Sectoral Reports June / July 2006: Delivery of Pocket Book 2006 May - Oct 2006: Sectoral Workshops Sept / Oct 2006: Deliver 2 nd Draft Sectoral Reports Nov / Dec 2006: Delivery of Draft Final Report December 2006: Annual eBW Event

Selection of Sectors / Topics Roll-out Plan since 2003 (see 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); Suggestions from 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) ;

Everything on the web:

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 BUT different interests => Can NOT satisfy all! Continuous trade-offs, e.g. increase sectoral focus => reduced survey’s capacity; Increased burden for flexibility and coordination capacities.

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 ( ; 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.

For more information: & Thank you for your attention!

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). 175 members, from ~30 countries, ‘meeting’ at and 8 workshops so far:  Previous in Cambridge (Dec 2005), next in Bled (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 expression of 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 test transferability 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.

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 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 the European e-Skills 2006 Conference (5-6 October 2006, Thessaloniki). Development of a long term EU e-skills agenda: policy Communication and Action Plan to be adopted in early Promoting e-Skills in Europe (

Removing legal barriers in e-business On-line consultation on legal barriers to e-business and Conference "E-business without frontiers: the challenges ahead" (April 2004, proceedings on the Europa website) ; The B2B marketplaces portal ( In 2006, four on-going projects: 1.Validity and mutual recognition of e-documents (Sept.); 2.Benchmarking national e-business legal practices (Sept.); 3.Unfair commercial practices in B2B e-markets (April); 4.Costs and benefits of reverse auctions in B2B e-markets (June) and a Legal Conference (Brussels, November).

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 and financial support of about ~23 MEUR between 2000 and 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).