Digital economy can lift Europe out of crisis, says Commission report

(04/08/2009) The European Commission's Digital Competitiveness report published today shows that Europe's digital sector has made strong progress since 2005: 56% of Europeans now regularly use the internet, 80% of them via a high-speed connection (compared to only one third in 2004), making Europe the world leader in broadband internet. Europe is the world's first truly mobile continent with more mobile subscribers than citizens (a take up rate of 119%). Europe can advance even further as a generation of "digitally savvy" young Europeans becomes a strong market driver for growth and innovation. Building on the potential of the digital economy is essential for Europe's sustainable recovery from the economic crisis. Today the Commission has asked the public what future strategy the EU should adopt to make the digital economy run at full speed.

Message to start-ups: Europe is broadband paradise

Written on May 22, 2008 – 10:46 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

As an European entrepreneur you might be delighted to find that you’re actually living on a continent with a rather impressive broadband penetration. A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that of the fifteen countries with the highest number of broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, twelve are European.

Denmark is the leading country with 35.1 subscriptions, the Netherlands come in second with 34.8 and Iceland is third with 32.2. Remarkable but true, the United States is only number fifteen of the list with 23.3 subscriptions. The number of broadband connections has been growing 187 percent since 2004 in OECD countries to an average of 20 subscriptions. You can look up all the results in this spreadsheet.

Nate Anderson from Ars Technica draws an interesting conclusion from OECD’s broadband data. He’s clearly worried about the lack of a broadband plan in the U.S.. He then identifies that “Canada, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Iceland all have lower population densities and yet are managing to beat us in broadband penetration. Come to think of it, all five of them are also quite cold and dark for long periods of time.” So a good way to improve the broadband density in the U.S., says Anderson, “maybe is as simple as cooling the country and blotting out the sun.”

So while they’re thinking of drastic measures in the U.S., we can rely on the thought that most of our internet users have a fast connection. Always a good thing to know when building a web-based start-up.

European Internet

More than 250 million Europeans regularly use Internet, says Commission's ICT Progress Report

More than half of Europeans are now regular Internet users, 80% of them have broadband connections and 60% of public services in the EU are fully available online. Two thirds of schools and half of doctors make use of fast Internet connections, thanks to strong broadband growth in Europe. These are the findings of a Commission report on the results achieved so far with i2010, the EU's digital-led strategy for growth and jobs. The strategy, agreed in 2005, has led to a firm commitment to promoting ICT at EU and national levels. As of 2007, all Member States consider ICT development as one of the main achievements in their structural reform programmes. In parallel, the EU institutions have encouraged the building of a single market for online services and increased research funding. A single market for telecoms, promoting cross-border communication services, is, however, still in the making.

"It is a welcome change of political direction that today, ICT, the main driver of European growth, is being promoted by all 27 EU Member States in their national policies. This helps Europe compete internationally and modernises the daily lives of Europeans," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "It is especially good news that 77% of EU businesses, 67% of schools and 48% of doctors are now benefiting from fast broadband connections. However, some parts of the EU are still lagging behind and are not fully connected. All EU countries must therefore work harder to close the gaps, to enhance cross-border communication services as well as services that also reach rural and remote regions."

As today's report shows, Europe's ICT policy strategy "i2010 – a European Information Society for Growth and Jobs" (IP/05/643), which has triggered new EU initiatives on regulation, research and public-private partnerships, is starting to deliver. The EU has the world's largest developed consumer market and 100 million broadband internet connections and is thus well placed to reap the economic benefits of ICT.

In 2007, the Internet attracted nearly 40 million new regular users in the EU (now 250 million in total). In the last five years, ICT has had a big impact on public services, especially by bringing education and health online: more than 96% of European schools are now connected to the Internet; two thirds of them to broadband, up from almost zero in 2001. In the health sector, 57% of doctors now send or receive patients' data (17% in 2002) and 46% of them receiving results from laboratories electronically (11% in 2002). 77% of EU businesses had a broadband connection in 2007 (62% in 2005) and 77% use the Internet for dealing with banks (70% in 2005).

The Commission report addresses the key challenges for 2008-2010:

    * Although the EU's ICT sector is highly research-intensive, with levels above the US in Sweden (18%), Finland (17%) and Denmark (11%), it is below 1% in Slovakia, Latvia and Poland. To boost research performance, EU-funded Joint Technology Initiatives on nanoelectronics and embedded systems (IP/08/284, IP/08/283), e-Health (IP/08/12) and risky high-tech research (IP/07/1931) will become operational in 2008.
    * Nearly 40% of Europeans do not use the Internet at all, This ranges from 69% (Romania), 65% (Bulgaria) and 62% (Greece), to 13% (Denmark, The Netherlands). To encourage use of new online technologies, the Commission will publish a Guide to EU Users' Digital Rights and Obligations later in 2008.
    * While in some countries – Austria, Czech Republic, Malta, Portugal – 100% of basic public services for businesses can be fully transacted online, others lag behind (Bulgaria, 15%, Poland, 25%, Latvia, 30%). In May, the Commission will therefore launch large-scale projects to support pan-European public services like the cross-border operation of electronic identity or electronic signatures.

Background:

In the EU, ICT use accounts for 26% of research efforts, 20% of business investment and almost 50% of all productivity growth. Today's Commission report highlights progress made in the EU and in each Member State and makes proposals to further promote competitiveness and ICT take-up. The Commission's recent progress report on the Single Telecoms Market (IP/08/460) found that 8 EU countries were ahead of the US in broadband deployment, while 2007 was the fifth consecutive year of increased investments in the EU's telecoms sector, exceeding € 50 billion.

For more information:
The Commission's i2010 report is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/i2010