i2010 DIGITAL LOCAL AGENDA Heikki Lunnas Vice-President of ELANET (CEMR) Director Information Society Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities

ELANET (CEMR) Created in European network on Information Society of Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) Members –National associations of the local and regional authorities –ICT companies owned by the local and regional authorities Tasks –Information society policy –Promote the utilisation of ICT in the local government –Development projects

The Digital Local Agenda It is a strategic instrument that helps every Local and Regional Government to: carry-out feasible and sustainable plans regarding eGovernment, other electronic public services and support of local/regional economies; create new services in the Internet through digital local networks built with other service providers and with public-private stakeholders; establish democratic forms of communication and dialogue with citizens, enterprises and other community organisations

Why i2010 in the Digital Local Agenda? Implementation of a fast-track strategy to maintain and increment competitiveness in the global market and defend our welfare system is a must in the EU; The revised Lisbon strategy has launched i2010 as a pillar of the EU strategy to transform Europe into a knowledge-based society with more qualified jobs and greater economic growth; Local and regional government plays a key role in making innovation a driving force to achieve the i2010 goals; A common framework like the i2010 digital local agenda is also what we need to work together and make good use of the large number of financial resources allocated by the EU three framework programmes; It works also as our agenda to support similar objectives in developing countries through the process launched by the United Nations in Lyon and Tunis

i2010 Digital Local Agenda: a European initiative born in the EISCO 2005 conference of ELANET (CEMR) in Cracow, where the 10 initial goals were agreed ( established by the II World Summit of Cities and Local Governments in Bilbao (Nov.’05) as main instrument to fight the Digital Divide worldwide; adopted by UNITAR (decentralised cooperation) and the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) as part of their working programmes, with a special emphasis in civil servant training and eCapacity Building of administrations to cope with the challenge; worked out by ELANET in the past year through different workshops that shall culminate in the EISCO 2007 Conference (Hämeenlinna, Finland, April , 2007), where the relevant methodology will be discussed

i2010 Digital Local Agenda in EISCO 2007 EISCO 2007 aims are: adopt a declaration supported by all the European networks and conferences, like yours, supporting the event, to establish a methodology and roadmap for the implementation of the agenda; create a European network of experts with a core group to implement the agenda in the i2010 framework and time-line; discuss with the European Commission representatives on how to provide visibility to the i2010 Digital Local Agenda in the three framework programmes, having eGovernment, eInclusion, eParticipation and e-support to local economies as main drivers of the process; establish strong cooperation between ELANET, EUROCITIES, IT4ALL, IANIS, eGov Society research network and DEMO-net for this purpose

What we expect from the Loris-ISSS conference a conference debate and relevant suggestions on the 5 main priorities of the digital local agenda set-up by EISCO 2007 and that will be the specific themes of the five sessions of our event; participation in these EISCO sessions of your conference representatives using the mechanism of “planned statements for the debate” that allows minutes to give a position; support the digital local agenda initiative in your conference conclusions and provide input on the vision of the new EU Member States regarding the priorities and the roadmap

The five EISCO 2007 priorities for the i2010DLA eParticipation in public local decision-making of citizens and relevant stakeholders; eInclusion through eCapacity building regarding both civil servants/administrations and citizens to manage properly and make the best possible use of ICT; Broadband access to everyone in Europe and support to wireless broadband solutions in towns and rural/less populated areas; Secured digital local networks among administrations and private sector for eGovernment and local development, ensuring systems inter- operability, standardised services and support to SMEs; Advanced municipal services in a multi-channel environment

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