terça-feira, março 01, 2011

"Em que lugar estamos na 'Agenda Digital'?"

Acaba de sair um press release da Comissão Europeia, mais concretamente da vice-residente da Comissão Europeia para a Agenda Digital, Neelie Kroes, que faz o ponto de situação do plano 'Agenda Digital', um programa que procura dotar a Europa de melhores recursos e competências digitais. Aqui ficam algumas ideias desse relatório:

Enquadramento...

«The agenda was adopted nine months ago, and reflects an important change of mindset for the European Union. It is a very blunt recognition of the need for the EU's institutions to work in new ways to add the value that industry, national governments and others rightly expect from us. Essentially we are working horizontally now. I mean this not only across the European Commission and other European institutions. We are working in partnership with others – be it industry, other government bodies, innovators and all those building up our skills base. We have developed a framework for the Digital Agenda to meet our goal of "every European Digital", but what we intend is a truly shared agenda. This is something that can only be delivered with your involvement.»

As sete áreas do plano...

«The seven pillars are:

•Digital Single Market
•Interoperability and Standards
•Trust and Security
•Very Fast Internet
•Research and innovation
•Enhancing e-skills
•ICT for Social Challenges»

Sobre a situação actual do programa...

«As is essential in such a setting, my team and I are systematically monitoring progress. Therefore I can tell you that right now we are where we should be with 90% of the actions: 10% are already completed, and 80% are on track. Unfortunately the remaining 10% percent are delayed. We are not letting problems fester. We are working hard to get the delayed actions back on track and deliver as soon as possible. For the others, we will make the nature of the progress and challenges very clear in the first Digital Agenda Scoreboard, due out in May. But even for actions which are completed we have seen that sometimes the real work only starts when we have already ticked the box. For example in September last year we adopted the Broadband package. Broadband is Europe's digital oxygen, essential for our prosperity and well-being and it is the solid foundation that can get everyone online. A million jobs may depend on successful roll out of broadband. Not to mention Europe's wider prospects for economic growth and social cohesion. But having a broadband plan is different from having first class networks we can all use all the time. Europe needs better investment incentives and competition to get these networks rolled-out. Only a mix of the two will concentrate the resources and the energy needed for these investments and competitive broadband services.»

Próximas tarefas...

«In that spirit I place great importance on our publication in May of the first annual Digital Agenda Scoreboard. Here you will find greater detail on our progress, and where Member States are providing the engagement and support needed to make each policy a success. The picture is generally positive, but the details are also bound to cause a healthy debate about the years ahead. Related results are also encouraging. I'm particularly delighted that the proportion of the population regularly using the Internet has increased by 5% in a single year to 65%. The percentage of non-users has decreased from 30% to 26%. And significantly disadvantaged groups are also progressing. The digital divide may well be closing. Indeed, continuing progress at the current rate would result in achieving our targets in both areas well ahead of 2015.»

Para consultar o relatório completo, aqui.

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