Brussels, 02/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 30 March, the European Commission published an annual report on i2010, the digitally-led strategy for growth and jobs under the Lisbon strategy. The report assesses the economic impact of EU member states' efforts to deploy ICT and can be found at http: //ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/annual_report/index_en.htm. The ICT sector continues to grow faster than Europe's overall economy, according to the i2010 second annual report. ICT contributed nearly 50% of EU productivity growth between 2000 and 2004. The report also shows that businesses are investing in new and more mature ICT solutions, and Europeans are quickly embracing new online services. This is supported by a record number of new broadband connections and expansion of ICT in healthcare and other areas. "Our integrated European policy for growth and jobs is now starting to pay dividends," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "However, let's not be complacent. ICT companies in Europe are still not able to profit from economies of scale in view of regulatory fragmentation that blocks the emergence of pan-European services and hurts the chances of e-communication operators and software companies competing on the world market. The EU and its member states need, in particular, to make a greater effort to remove the remaining impediments within the internal market for online services." This year's i2010 report also sets out key policy issues for the future which will be debated during a review of the i2010 strategy later in 2007. These include investing in high speed connections; internet neutrality and security; radiowave availability; legal issues surrounding content; consumer protection; and promoting access for all to new technology (through the e-Inclusion 2008 programme). (gc)