Brussels, 20/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - A new report - Unlocking the ICT growth potential in Europe: enabling people and businesses - published by the independent body, Conference Board Europe, on 16 January, confirms the importance of new technology to ensure a growing sustainable economy in the European Union. “This report - independent, but commissioned by my services - is very clear on the risks if we carry on as we are. The EU is trailing the USA when it comes to ICT-driven growth and productivity. Catch up and the rewards are rich; continue to trail, and continue with a fragmented European single market, and future potential EU companies will simply emigrate to the US, or beyond”, said European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes.
The report stresses the importance of developing the growth potential of new technologies in Europe, and calls for a strategic vision for Europe so that it might have the infrastructure needed to welcome the new wave of technology currently rolling in - mobile broadband, cloud computing, Big Data, and the Internet of Things. The report identifies four possible scenarios as part of a return to growth - scenarios that show that ICT could be a major source of growth for the EU. If global growth resumed and the single market was deepened, ICT could bring more than half of GDP growth, the report believes. In a pessimistic scenario - in which world growth slowed down again - the European economy could mitigate the shock through an intelligent policy that would see the unbridled use and circulation of new technologies within the single market. To achieve this situation, the EU must most definitely resolve the issue of major bottlenecks on the markets concerned, address regulatory fragmentation, and stimulate investment in ICT infrastructure and the lack of citizens' technological skills, the report states. “That shows just how much we need to deepen the single market in digital and telecommunications - and ensure more Europeans get quality connections on fast broadband networks. In short, [the report is] well worth a read. And I especially hope it will be read by those working on our proposals on the Connected Continent” said Kroes. (IL/transl.fl)