Brussels, 16/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 13 March, the European Commission proposed a new strategy which aims to make Europe the world leader in information and communication technologies (ICT). With Europe representing 34% of the global ICT market, a value growing by 4% per year, the lack of a European strategy sees Europe lagging behind its global competitors in research and in the production of innovative ICT-based products and services. The strategy proposed calls on member states and industry to pool resources and work together more in ICT research and innovation. It will also showcase ICT innovation projects to deliver modern services infrastructures in areas like healthcare and energy efficiency. “For decades to come, ICT will underpin the competitiveness of our economy, the efficiency of our public services and our quality of life. If Europe wants to be ambitious and take the lead, we should double both private and public investments in ICT research by 2020,” said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for the Information Society and Media.
ICT may represent 12 million jobs in Europe and the ICT sector 6% of EU GDP, but EU investment in its capacity to research, develop and market innovative ICT is not only less than that of its competitors, it is also fragmented. Public and private investment in ICT research in Europe is less than half that of the US and the EU attracts five times less venture capital than the US. The new ICT research and innovation strategy put forward by the Commission sets three objectives: 1) doubling Europe's investment in ICT research and innovation over the next decade: the Commission will increase the annual funding available under the ICT part of its overall research programme from €1.1 in 2010 to €1.7 billion in 2013; member states should match this budget increase at national level; 2) making ICT research careers more attractive to bridge the current skills gap: member states should share strategies and better coordinate resources to make sure that research and innovation take place on the cutting edge; 3) putting in place the right conditions for market developments and for new public private partnerships: ICT research and innovation should pursue goals such as improving healthcare, energy efficiency, transport rationalisation and modernisation of public services, says the Commission, calling for pan-European projects in this area. The full text of the Communication can be found at: http: //ec.europa.eu/information_society/tl/research/documents/ict-rdi-strategy.pdf (I.L./transl.rt)