19th Bled eConference, Surveying eValues Panel

1
European Commission, DG Enterprise Industry
e-Business W_at_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_at_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_at_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
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

• eBSN e-Business -Policies- Support Network (more
  on Wednesday, here in Bled)
• eSkills Forum
• Legal aspects
• Standardisation / Interoperability
• Underlying analysis e-Business W_at_tch

5
to i2010 and the Communication COM(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)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.

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
• gt 70 case studies

e-Business Market Watch Function
Ad hoc Services (to DG Enterprise) -
Forecasts - Short term data retrieval -
Background information
Synthesis Reports (gt1000 copies
each) Pocketbook (with indicators) Web Site
(public, internal) Dissemination (CD, events,
conference)
Database Indicators per sector, country,
company size
Sectoral and 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) Significance of
e-business applications
Source e-Business W_at_tch (E-Business Report 2005)
10
2006 10 Sectors being studied
Manufacturing
Services

• Tourism
• Telecom Services
• Hospital Activities

• Food Beverages
• Footwear
• Pulp Paper
• ICT
• Consumer Electronics
• Shipbuilding

• 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 1st Draft 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 eBW Event

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)
• Suggestions from contractor at each periods
  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 gt 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
  gt Can NOT satisfy all!
• Continuous trade-offs, e.g. increase sectoral
  focus gt reduced surveys 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/ca
  mbridge.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 more information http//europa.eu.int/comm/en
terprise/ict/index.htm http//www.ebusiness-watch.
org entr-innov-ict-ebiz_at_cec.eu.int
info_at_ebusiness-watch.org georgios.karageorgos_at_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).
• 175 members, from 30 countries, meeting at
  www.e-bsn.org 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.

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 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 2007.

19
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 (www.emarketservices.c
  om)
• 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 and financial 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).