Pestle in Ict Govt
Pestle in Ict Govt
Pestle in Ict Govt
Version V01
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Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible
for the use, which might be made, of the following information. The views expressed in this report
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.
List of Figures
Figure 1: R&D expenditure by source of funds. .................................................................... 7
Figure 2: Online availability of 20 basic public services (EU27) ............................................. 18
Figure 3: Full online availability trend 2001-2010 timeline-EU -27 ....................................... 23
Figure 4: e-Services for citizens and businesses, Montenegro ...............................................25
Figure 5: Country overall performance overview (aggregate performance in services, user
experience, life-events and key enablers) .............................................................................26
Figure 6: Full online availability in % , aggregate level ...........................................................26
1 PESTLE analysis
Specific ICT strategies do not exist across all countries. ICT is often captured as a horizontal issue among e.g.
lifelong learning and skills, support of entrepreneurship, improvement of the business environment and
extroversion of the economies. Specific ICT strategies hold for Romania (electronic communications,
broadband, eGov), Greece (Digital strategy), Austria (ICT and quality of life).In innovation terms, the main
common policies common in the region mainly relate to: increase of support towards research-relevant actors,
development of innovative infrastructure, centers of excellence, technology transfer, support to SMEs and
Entrepreneurship, participation of the private sector in R&D activities. The situation is different in the case of
Serbia and Montenegro where the innovation system is not harmonized with the EU innovation guidelines. The
most common STI policy priorities relate to the support and improvement of scientific research and
infrastructure, the support of innovation activities in SMEs as well as of the economic competitiveness of each
country. In addition, the promotion of entrepreneurship and increasing of productivity levels are further
common points.
The Electronic South Eastern Europe Initiative (eSEE Initiative) was founded as a coordinated effort to better
integrate the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe countries into the global, knowledge-based economy by
regionally supporting the development of Information Society. One of the most important documents proposed
is the “eSEE Agenda+ for the development of Information Society in SEE 2007-2012”. The Agenda1 states three
region-specific priority areas for the Information Society development: the development of a Single SEE
Information Space (high-speed broadband, rich online content, interoperability framerwork, harmonisation of
rules fo Information Society and Media), strengthening innovation and investment in ICT R&D ( curriculum for
ICT skills, vocational training in ICT, inclusion of ICT research among domestic research priorities, National
Academic and Research Networks for regional interconnection) and achieving an inclusive Information Society (
access to technology, ICT-enabled public services and e-Government, e-Business, digital libraries and e-
Participation.
Since its adoption, all eSEE governments reported significant progress towards the agreed. A cabinet-level body
is already established in most SEE countries for the development of an Information Society; a central
coordination body is a condition sine qua non thus, it is rather encouraging for the whole region.
Overall funding patterns for ICT R&D and R&D/innovation and ICT innovation
In a number of SEE countries, the Structural Funds are largely the determining source for R&D and innovation,
1
The eSEE Agenda+ is signed by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYROM, Moldova, Montenegro,
Romania, Serbia, and the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo on behalf of Kosovo (in accordance
with UNSCR 1244). A copy of the signed agenda is available on the URL
http://www.eseeinitiative.org/images/stories/esee_agenda_plus_files/eSEE_Agenda_Plus_signed.pdf [last
access 2012-09-21].
Overall R&D and innovation cooperation patterns and for ICT RTDI2.
On a national scale, cooperation patterns are indicated through participation in EC funding programmes.
Greece and Austria rank very high (over 3.5% each) while the rest of the countries’ participation rate reaches
2.5% of the EU funding. On a national innovation level, most of the countries suffer from a rather weak
collaboration of the research triangle. In more specific terms, the “University-industry collaboration in R&D”3
indicator classifies Austria and Slovenia in considerable global rankings (18th and 37th respectively), which is
distinctively different from the rest of the countries. Hungary and Montenegro score in medium terms,
however Greece, Bulgaria and Romania are classified among the last ranks globally (112th, 110th and 102nd)
indicating severe structural inefficiencies within their systems. On a business level, cooperation patterns in
innovation point towards in cooperation patterns with local partners in other countries4 , market testing in
other countries and outsourcing activities. The public sector is not the preferred partner in the development of
projects for innovative firms, but suppliers of equipment, clients or customers, other enterprises within the
company group and consultants are the more frequently selected cooperative partners. Universities also have
an important role and are at the same level as consultants and commercial laboratories. In overall, knowledge
flows in the region is considered a key disadvantage.
Some further notes on the importance of these activities are shortly referenced, especially in relation to
Montenegro and Serbia. In these two countries, total R&D and innovation funding is far below that of the EU
average and awareness-raising about the importance of innovation activities is still a challenge. (ProInno
Europe, 2011). Average spending for research and science represents 0.3% of GDP on national level. This
implies poor budget allocations for RTD which brings to conclusion that state and other institutions (budget
recipients) involved in ICT RTD need to reallocate their resources in the future and put an emphasis on specific
tasks and priorities in the future. In addition, Bulgaria has still remained the country with the lowest
investments in research and innovation. In Greece, the only sources for funding of research for the period
2007-2009 were institutional funding, FP7 and a diminishing number of projects from the previous
programming period. It has to be noted that the funding for promoting innovation is based on the OP’s which
are co-funded by structural funds, meaning that innovation policy is heavily dependent on external sources of
2
Non available data for Serbia and Montenegro
3
According to the Global Competitiveness report
4
specific survey in the context of the EU innovation scoreboard
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eGovernment strategies are duly discussed in the SWOT section. However, short references are provided here
to familiarise readers with the generic framework conditions for the development of eGovernment. The
generic framework for EU economic development based on knowledge and innovation is covered by 'Europe
2020 - A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth' strategy, which sets rests on three interlocking
and mutually reinforcing priority areas: smart Growth, sustainable Growth,; and inclusive Growth. In specific
the Digital Agenda for Europe programme constitutes a flagship initiative for recovering from the financial and
economic crisis, and for lifting up the EU economy in the next decade by making the best use of Information
and Communication Technologies (ICT). The list below recapitulates the main initiatives:
The Digital Agenda (part of the Innovation Union) sets out concrete directions related to eGovernment
in particular and aims at the creation of a new digital Single Market with simpler regulations and
management and at reinforcing greater interoperability for the ICT products and services.
2
CSD, 2010
3
FORSEE, Bulgarian National PESTLE and SWOT Analysis (available at www..forsee.eu)
The Ministerial declarations on eGovernment (18/11/2009, Sweden), endorsing the need for a more
open, flexible and collaborative delivery of public services across Europe, the important dynamics of
eGovernment as an enabler to deliver policy goals across different sectors and the promotion of a
common culture of collaboration and interoperability. The priorities set to be achieved by 2015
involve a set of measures, such as the empowerment of user-centric needs, increased access to public
information, mobility in the Single Market, efficiency to reduce administrative burdens and the put in
place of the appropriate legal and technical preconditions.
In general, there are strong political and economic reasons for European collaboration in eGovernment. Joint
action and knowledge sharing at EU level contributes to overcoming the current economic crisis, by using
public resources more efficiently.
Most of the countries under investigation currently face some critical challenges both in terms of an emerging
economy which does not perfectly correspond to the new realities and of an industrial sector that needs to
transit to a knowledge-intensive reality. The external balance in ICT trade is negative in most of the countries
with the notable exception of Hungary, where ICT trade (exports) represent about ¼ to 1/5th of its national
trade. The data are sufficiently captured in the following table:
ICT goods 5.49% 3.58% 24.62% 2.99% 8.36% 3.79% 2.22% n/a
exports (% of
total), 2009
ICT service 6.54% 5.61% 8.26% 2.17% 18.93% 7.16% 6.69% n/a
exports , 2009
Available data do not discriminate between access to capital in general and in the case of ICT R&D, therefore
only generic information is provided.
In the EU-15 almost 80% of venture capital was allocated to buyouts, followed by 17% to the expansion and
replacement stage and 3% to early-stage development. Venture capital investment as a share of GDP is minimal.
In specific, VCI (Venture Capital Investments) at early stage is less than 0.01% for Austria, for Hungary and
Romania and 0% for Greece. No further information is provided for the rest of the countries. VCI at the
expansion stage is less than 0.06% for the same set of countries. Loans remain the most important finance
type, and high-growth firms will likely need more loans than equity finance in coming years. Banks and leasing
companies need to be prepared to be addressed as financiers for SMEs between 2011 and 2013. SMEs in
specific used bank products are in the range of 45-53% in the region.
6
The preferred type of external funding of SMEs in the region is as follows :
Bank loans ( ranging from 8.6% in Serbia to 66% in Austria and 82% in Slovenia)
Loans from other sources (stakeholders, public sources etc): about 15-22% of SMEs in the region use
loans from other sources, with the exception of Slovenia and Serbia (less than 4%)
Equity investment (including venture capital and business angels). The market is quite underdeveloped
in the region with less than 10% of SMEs participating. Equity investment appears to be higher
paradoxically, in Montenegro and Serbia (15-20% of SMEs)
Subordinated loans, participation loans or similar financing instruments. These schemes are notable in
Greece, Montenegro and Serbia (25-60%) while in the rest of the region the percentage falls under 3%.
Other economic factors (the economic crisis)
SEE countries responded differently to the crisis. Although in general, the trends indicate a decline in demand,
capital and liquidity problems, limited access to funding, falling innovation expenditures and decreasing
employment rates, some countries such as Austria have increased funding for research and innovation, while in
others it remained balanced. Cost cutting has been very widespread in Greece, due to the specific political and
6
Source: Synthesis report and The Survey on the Access to Finance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
(SAFE), 2011. European Commission and ECB data
Digital literacy is generally high in the region. There are however indications of scarcity of talent in RTDI (apart
from Romania and Austria) and medium to low index of Human Resources in Research and Technology. Most
countries suffer from high levels of unemployment in RTD personnel, despite satisfactory levels of tertiary
education attainment. The educational structures of all countries serve a long-lasting tradition in science and
therefore provide skilled workforce, especially in IT. In most of the countries the innovation RTDI systems are
not yet well-structured and mature to enable absorption of researchers and highly skilled personnel to
stimulate research careers, as shown by HSRT in total employment. This generates a skill gap that must be
addressed and further reduce brain drain outside the area .On-the-job training and quality of education consist
long-lasting challenges in most of the countries (apart from Austria and Slovenia).
7
EU Telecoms Ministers. Granada Ministerial Declaration on the European Digital Agenda. Granada, 19 April
2010: Informal Meeting of Telecommunications and IS Ministers, 2010. Available from
http://www.eu2010.es/export/sites/presidencia/comun/descargas/Ministerios/en_declaracion_granada.pdf
According to the Digital Agenda Observatory, the percentage of citizens buying online is about 16.5% in
average, highest in Austria and lowest in Romania and Bulgaria. Citizens buying online cross-border average is
8% (highest in Austria, lower in Romania and Bulgaria). SMEs buying online reach about 13.6%, while SMEs
selling online reach 7.5% accordingly. Regular internet use reaches 51% in the area (33% in Romania though)
while general internet use reaches 53.6% (highest in Austria, lowest in Bulgaria). eGovernment use by citizens is
about 22.3% (with extremely low percentages for Bulgaria). Austria, Hungary, and Slovenia are more well-
prepared markets with an advanced level of maturity in internet use and eGovernment use. The level of
absorption of enabled broadband technologies does not appear to benefit Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania, as
these indicators fall behind. In e-Commerce however and buying online behavior, all countries except Austria
are lagging behind the targets set. Cross-border online commerce remains underdeveloped again with the
exception of Austria.
ICT for societal challenges is included in the Digital Agenda for Europe, one amongst the flagship initiatives
under the Europe 2020 strategy for growth. Some of the priority areas are targeted to concrete issues faced by
citizens and society as a whole, such as ageing, health, digital skills and climate change. The priorities are
articulated as better and personalised healthcare, achieving at the same time relevant cost savings for patients
and the society at large. Effective online public services for citizens and business’ interactions with public
authorities are expected to be integrated and effective, including cross-border services. Independent, active
and safe living for older people addresses the ageing population and disadvantaged groups Last but not least,
ICT will help tackling environmental issues, such as energy saving, in the perspective of a sustainable growth.
Other international organizations, such as the OECD place innovation strategy in a framework that addresses
global and social challenges. The organization outlines new challenges for STI policy priorities in line with grand
societal challenges which mainly evolve around green technology and innovation e.g. carbon pricing, taxation ,
regulation that reduce environmental externalities, encouraging green inventions, as well as technology to
manage disasters.
As new challenges arise, new communication technologies enable increasing connectivity through wired and
wireless communication. The internet of services enables accessing services and service partnerships across EU
trade boundaries. In addition, smart devices play a very important role in energy savings. The Internet of Things
The Distributed Computing Infrastructures are relevant for the level of development of ICT Infrastructions at the
1
EC, 2011
8
Countries with higher Internet speed than Bulgaria were South Korea and Romania
3
FORSEE, Bulgarian National PESTLE and SWOT Analysis
9
Open data - An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance, COM(2011) 882 final
An important characteristic of the Digital Agenda that distinguishes it from the e-Governance for example is
that the public authorities are neither the manager nor the main providers of a wide variety of information
society services. However all of the services depend on the normative base and infrastructure developed by the
Government. As an example, one can compare the issuing of ID cards, passports and driving licenses that
currently completely depend on government services, to the e-banking business which is managed and
provided by banks but also depends on the normative base (e.g. e-Signature) and the existing
telecommunication infrastructure.
While there is significant overlapping between the e-Government and Digital Agenda definitions one can
conclude that the Digital Agenda is a broader term that covers almost all aspects of the everyday life such as
democracy, government, business, economy, culture, health, learning etc. while the e-Government in most of
the cases is associated with a citizen-centric, e-Administration enabled by ICT.
2.2 Major global ICT trends overall and in the field of e-Government
Information and communication technologies support development. When that development is effective,
efficient and enduring it is called sustainable. eGovernment has direct impact on sustainable development
through the use of ICT in public sector social and economic development programmes. In this context, the
emerging imperative today is to rethink eGovernment development in order to understand how the
opportunities of new technologies promote development for the people and with their integral participation.
Among the main trends in the field of ICT supporting current orientations in e-Government development could
be mentioned:
- Service oriented architecture as support for interoperability and reusability in implementing
e-Gov services;
- e-Infrastructure as support for collaborative and participatory Governance;
- Cloud computing;
- Mobile communications
In the government context, a public service is a ‘real life’ business process, which can be provided directly - in
person, remotely or electronically - or via a ‘back-office’ of public administrations without the citizens or
The e-Infrastructure addresses the requirements to store, analyse and process unprecedented amounts of
heterogeneous data and information, regardless of their type and location in the world. Initially it has been
dedicated mainly to research communities, but its specific capabilities are increasingly interesting for other
users communities, including public administration. e-Infrastructures include services as the physical supply of
backbone connectivity, real and virtualised computing and storage resources, data repositories, IT tools for data
management, analysis and visualization [21].
The current development of e-Infrastructures are characterized by:
- service orientation making the supply of services transparent, efficient and atractive
independently of geographical distances;
- provision of own components as services that improve the accessibility and flexibility for end
users;
- adaptation to data intensive specific requirements of both service providers and users.
According to the Gartner Group, the cloud computing sets the stage for a new approach to IT enabling both
enterprises and individuals to acquire or deliver IT services. The overall architecture of ICT products and
services needs to be adapted to fit cloud computing characteristics and requirements such as the need for
availability, reliability, security, governance, scalability, etc. This paradigm is triggering many different types of
ICT industry companies to re-think their business models and to move from a “pay-to-purchase” to a “pay-to-
use” model.
Cloud computing will have a major impact on the ICT sector overall (telecommunication networks, computing
and telecommunications hardware, consumer and enterprise software, digital media and digital content
delivery, etc). The reason for this is that cloud computing is fundamentally reshaping the way companies in this
sector can manufacture and distribute their products, the way they can offer their services, but most
importantly, the way technology is consumed, especially in relation to the advent of mobility. According to the
International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide revenue from public IT cloud services was over $21.5b in 2010
and will reach $72.9b in 2015.
Mobile communications is the most spectacular technological trend. Consumers and businesses are moving
fast to mobile. Mobile Internet take-up grew by 62%, to 217 million mobile broadband subscriptions10.
10
EU. Press Release: Digital Agenda: Annual scoreboard confirms need for structural economic reform across
Europe and surplus of ICT jobs; big trend towards mobile services and technology. Bruussels : EU, 2012
The following ICT related aspects and key trends could be distinguished in the eGovernment development:
o Good availability of the service does not correspond to the relevantly low usage of those services
The 2010 edition of the “EU eGovernment Benchmark Report” shows that availability of online public services
is less and less an issue: a wide range of basic services is available in almost all EU27 countries (Figure 1). The
use by enterprises has shown an increasing trend. However, the use by citizens remains low and this poses
questions and challenges to European policy-makers who want to make the best use of the considerable budget
invested until now in digitising their public administrations. These questions need answers more than ever in
the current time when budgetary pressure due to the ongoing crisis demands best use of available resources.
In South Eastern Europe one of the most important factors for eGovernment implementation is education and
skills of the citizens in the region.
th
Source: Cap Gemini, 9 Benchmanrk Measurement, 2010
o Human Capital is the major strength of the eGovernment development, but e-Participation is very
low.
A recent UN eGovernment survey ranks Austria and Slovenia as leaders in eGovernment development in South
Eastern Europe; at the same time Bulgaria and Romania are ranked very low, below Serbia and Montenegro
Human resources and E-readiness indexes for all the target countries are relevantly high while the e-
Participation index is quite low.
The e-Participation Index assesses the quality and usefulness of information and services provided by a country
for the purpose of engaging its citizens in public policy making through the use of eGovernment programs. As
such it is indicative of both the capacity and the willingness of the state to encourage its citizen, and to
deliberative promote participatory decision-making in public policy, and of the reach of its own socially inclusive
governance program.
Despite the good current level of the Human resource index, one can assume that it will be difficult for the
countries to keep this advantage in the future taking into account that a gap of 7 million IT specialists is
projected at EU level according to a speech by Neelie Kroes.
The following list recapitulates some basic performance indicators for basic services:
o Changing mindsets, building a vision on service-delivery and showing leadership are needed for
further progress towards eGovernment
Most people associate eGovernment exclusively with digital forms or complex back-office applications but this
is only a small part. eGovernment is as much about changing mindsets, building a vision on service-delivery and
showing leadership in getting organisations to work together, as it is about technology. It is estimated that local
authorities handle about 80% of the transactions between government and citizens. Local eGovernment
therefore has a vital role to play in transforming the quality of local services and the organisations that deliver
them, but Local Government cannot succeed alone. They have to work together with other government levels,
with research institutes, with voluntary organisations, with the business community etc. Traditional
government delivers services to people. EGovernment can work with people to deliver change in a “smart
specialisation” point of view.
o Mobile digital signature and mobile e-Identification has not been implemented by most of the
countries in the group. Lack of mobile identification can be considered as a critical barrier to
utilization of the growing mobile internet penetration
11
United Nations eGovernmnent Survey 2012
oThere is a lack of a clear goal for eGovernment regarding social media and the difficulty inherent in
determining the “best” way to use social media in government.
Social media supports the increased reliance on human networks, the need for rapid interactive
communications, the need to blur what is private and public, and the need for engaging multimedia. Whether
government can use social media will depend upon how well government can see, understand, and attend to
these needs. Social media is about fast, interactive communications. How will bureaucracies adapt to the
increased pressures for timely responses? A very different question is how can social media provide us a way to
13
do things differently than we have done before?
Based on the conceptual model, P Waters and co-authors developed three future scenarios to illustrate the
opportunities for public and private actors arising from the cloud of public services. The scenarios depart from
the ‘as is’ situation, by building on existing initiatives to illustrate the potential, which can be derived from
providing services in an open and interoperable way. They are:
1. Public Value Services: The services currently provided by the e-Health platform in Belgium could also
be used to provide additional services such as a Flu Prediction service;
2. Competition: A scenario could be foreseen in which third parties, such as banks, also deliver company
registration services currently provided by ‘one-stop-shops’ in Belgium;
12
eGovernment Resource Center - Austria. Activation of the mobile signature in all Austrian tax offices.
[Online] http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/focus-on-countries/europe/countries-europe/austria/trends-and-issues-
austria/authentication-austria/digital-signatures-austria/activation-of-the-mobile-signature-in-all-austrian-tax-
offices.html. Bulgarian Government Portal. Bulgarian Government Portal. News. [Online]
http://www.government.bg/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001&p=0212&n=1908&g=.
13
. Magro, Michael J. A Review of Social Media Use in E-Government. 2012. and Government as part of the
revolution: Using social media to achieve public goals. Landsbergen, D. 9, 2010, Vols. Electron. J. e-
Government.
14
P. Wauters, K. Declercq, S. van der Peijl, P. Davies. Study on cloud and service oriented architectures for
egovernment. s.l. : European Union, 2011.
On the other hand, despite the relevantly good availability of eGovernment services, their use is relatively low
and many countries in South Eastern Europe are losing an important tool for increasing the quality of life of
their citizens and improving competitiveness of their economies. In addition, in most of the countries, the
governments are not able to take an advantage of the increasing penetration of mobile internet due to lack of
important e-Identification infrastructure. Still the social media are not integrated in the eGovernment and a
new model/ approach in that area is needed.
Experts’ insight on this issue revealed some additional key global trends:
eGovernment remains a policy at most of the countries, nevertheless in EU funding it is no longer a thematic
area. The trends in eGovernment remain, perhaps not as fundamental research in ICT R&D, still on the political
agenda in structural funds and IST. Horizon 2020 includes the improvement of public services as a priority,
although at this stage it is not clear if it will be specific calls or horizontal demonstration (use cases).
The improvement of public services is an unstoppable trend. The public sector will always seek ways to deliver
efficient and novel services. In addition, in eGovernment the ICT private sector plays an important role. Industry
trends are followed by the public sector and incorporated. In the same rationale, the private sector will always
seek offering better services.
The objective of ICT research under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) is to improve the
competitiveness of European industry – as well as to enable Europe to master and shape the future
developments of these technologies so that the demands of its society and economy are met.The EU Member
States have earmarked a total of € 9.1 billion for funding ICT over the duration of FP7; making it the largest
research theme in the Cooperation programme, which is itself the largest specific programme of FP7 (with 64%
of the total budget). FP7 research activities will strengthen Europe’s scientific and technology base and ensure
its global leadership in ICT, help drive and stimulate product, service and process innovation and creativity
through ICT use and ensure that ICT progress is rapidly transformed into benefits for Europe’s citizens,
businesses, industry and governments.
The ICT Work Programme 2011-12 under FP7 is divided into eight ‘Challenges’ of strategic interest to European
society, plus research into ‘Future and emerging technologies’ and support for horizontal actions, such as
international cooperation and pre-commercial procurement (14). Challenge 5 - ICT for Health, Aging Well,
Inclusion and Governance seems the most pertinent area. In addition, ICT research under the following themes
is also supported by the EU in FP7.
e-Infrastructures to aid researchers will also be supported through the Research Infrastructures Work
Programme of the FP7 Capacities programme.
International Cooperation
Pre-Commercial Procurement.
Inconsistencies in definition related to new job profiles, such as ‘’eGovernment public personnel’’
The R&D in eGovernment is not just an ICT- technology; it must be combined with organisational change and
new skills to fulfil the eGovernment objectives. The National eGovernment solutions should be interoperable
on EU level, for example, both companies and people will face new barriers to working and living in other
countries if the eGovernment services on national level are isolated from country to country.
A recent study by Sirko Schulz and Tino Schuppan has evaluated, complemented and specified in a survey and
workshops in Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, and Romania the core eGovernment competences and skills15.
Comparing all these results for the different skills and competences assigned to the different roles in
eGovernment transformation it is striking to see that even though eGovernment is developed quite differently
in the countries, the necessary skills and competences are rather similar across all countries. Thus it can be
stated, that a shared understanding of eGovernment competences does exist (15). The eGovernment skills and
related competences per eGovernment role are summarised in the table below:
15
COMPATeGov project, European Commission
One can conclude that the technical competences such as “IT Specialist” have a relevantly small share in the
eGovernment competence portfolio. The organizational and management competences such as “Processes
Management”, “Risk Management” and “IT Strategy” have larger share in the portfolio.
The results of the survey indicate that all targeted countries except Romania have almost the same level of
understanding of eGovernment skills for project staff. On the other hand, and on the basis of research about
skills and competencies in project managements it can be seen similarities between targeted countries and
homogenous understanding of eGovernment skills among project managers. The e skills considered the most
important for eGovernment senior managers across all project countries are IT Strategy, Organisational Design,
Project Management, Risk Management, and Change Management Skills. It can be seen that there are
similarities between project manager and senior manager skills. However, it should be noted that there’s a
difference between project managers in private and public sector where project managers in public sector are
basing their responsibilities on hierarchical way.
Therefore, it can be concluded that different IT skills and competencies are important in the context of e-
government, some target groups such as project managers or executives require specific set of technical
knowledge and social competencies. It is also expected a decrease of isolated competencies in IT application
and there’s a difference between generic and core eGovernment competencies.
Some further benchmarking indicators regarding eGovernment use in the SEE countries are listed below:
1. Digitalization aspects:
Digitalization of public services represented one of the key goals in European policies during the last ten years in
order to provide harmonized and more efficient services for citizens and business sector. However, recent
changes on the global level had influenced eGovernment concept and set new priorities in front of public sector
in Europe. Namely, these challenges can be defined as following:
Financial resources for governments and administration are more limited than before
Europe is facing with new challenges on the global scene and need to adjust its competitiveness and
socio-environmental sustainability
There are 20 basic eGovernment services and indicators in Europe that are measured over time regarding:
1. Online sophistication
4. Portal sophistication
5. Sub-national analysis
Country performances indicate two distinct trends and a “clustering of countries” in terms of performance. The
first group of countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Romania) are still below EU average regarding full online availability
th
as compared to the EU and online sophistication is quite low. These countries rank about at 40-50 position on
the UN Development Index.
For instance, Bulgaria is still below EU average regarding full online availability and reached 70% in 2010
comparing with 82% in EU. Online sophistication of public services is 74% while the same indicator for business
is 84% which is quite lower than EU27 average (94%). The UN eGovernment Development Index remains at
44th place out of 184. Greece is below the EU average regarding full online availability which reached 48% in
2010 which is 34% lower than EU average. Online sophistication of public services is 70%, whereas e-
sophistication for business reached 78% (94% in EU27) and citizens 65% (comparing with 87% in EU27). Greece
scores 41st in the UN eGovernment index. Online availability of public services in Romania in 2010 was 60%
(comparing with 82% in EU). Online sophistication of public services reached 73% of which business services
reached 89 (EU27 average is 94%) and citizens 63% (comparing with 87% as EU27 average). Romania Scores
47th on the UN Development Index.
In Austria and Slovenia ( and partly Hungary), online availability and sophistication is quite maturing providing a
different perspective in the eGovernment strategies and implementation.
16
Digitizing Public Services in Europe, European Commission 2010
Due to lack of data for 2010 online availability in Montenegro in 2007 was 43.7%17. The most sophisticated
services for citizens were related to enrolment in higher education and job search (more than 70%), while the
most sophisticated service for business is related to e-services for custom declaration (more than 70% in 2007).
17
E-Government Survey, Institute for Strategic Studies and Prognoses 2007
The following list summarizes major FP7 and CIP ICT PSP projects and initiatives in which SEE countries
participate, providing thus a level of competence in the deployment, set-up and implementation of
eGovernment initiatives.
PADGETS Policy Gadgets FP7, call 4 www.padgets.e GR, SI To bring together two well
Mashing Underlying (2009) u established domains, the mashup
Group Knowledge architectural approach of web 2.0 for
in creating web applications (gadgets)
and the methodology of system
+Spaces Policy Simulation in FP7, call 4 www.positives GR To provide novel technologies and
Virtual Spaces (2009) paces.eu instruments that will allow
government bodies to measure
public opinion on a large scale and
seize the outcomes of prospective
policy measures by leveraging the
power of the communities.
eGovPoliNet The Policy FP7, call 7 www.policy- GR, SI To set up an international community
Community (2011) community.eu in ICT solutions for governance and
policy modelling.
FUPOL Future Policy FP7, call 7 www.fupol.eu AT, RO To automatically collect, analyze and
Modelling (2011) interpret opinions expressed on a
large scale from the Internet,
enabling governments to gain a
better understanding of the needs of
citizens.
Unite Social Media FP7, call 7 www.uniteeur AT To give the main actors of integration
Europe Analytics and (2011) ope.org – immigrants and members of the
Decision Support host societies – a voice by analysing
Tools Ena-bling public Social Media contents
Sustainable generated by citizens.
Integration Policies
and Measures
urbanAPI Interactive Analysis, FP7, call 7 www.urbanapi. AT, BG To provide urban planners with the
Simulation and (2011) eu tools needed to actively plan and
Visualisation Tools manage the urban environment.
for Urban Agile
Policy
Implementation
STORK Secure Identity CIP ICT-PSP www.eid- AT, SI To establish a European eID
Across Borders stork.eu Interoperability Platform that will
Linked allow citizens to establish new e-
relations across borders, just by
presenting their national eID.
SPOCS Simple Procedures CIP ICT-PSP www.eu- AT, GR, To remove the administrative
Online for Cross- spocs.eu RO, SI barriers European businesses face
border Services in offering their services abroad.
Intra-Government Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness (IEE) that is focussed on the efforts on creating
efficient and cost effective systems, particularly supply chain issues. IEE differs from G2G sectors in
that its focus is coordination of resources to increase the efficiency of back-office systems.
As mentioned before the G2C and G2B are the main interactions of eGovernment that provide value-added
services to the final customers – citizens and businesses while G2G and IEE are used to optimise those services.
The EU Digital Agenda states that wider deployment and more effective use of digital technologies will thus
enable Europe to address its key challenges and will provide citizens with a better quality of life through, for
example, improved health care, safer and more efficient transport solutions, less polluted environment, new
media opportunities and easier access to public services and cultural content.
The main target markets for the society by implementing the Digital Agenda and eGovernment in particular as
described in the EU Digital Agenda are:
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10 Government IT Predictions For 2012: IDC. Montalbano, Elizabeth. 2012, Infoweek
In the SEE area, it is not a sole matter of eGovernment R&D but more a political commitment and cultural shift.
A socio-technical approach is preferable to prove that eGov can be adopted. SEE countries can further launch
technological pilots (quick wings) with a big and fast impact to demonstrate potential. As an example the e-
prescription made by medical professionals in Greece was a fast pilot, demonstrating huge savings and potential
for the public sector. SEE countries do not have significant technological disadvantages (perhaps in
technological readiness and broadband) , personnel and ICT solutions are available for deployment.
The gap in certain services might be a political implication. For example, eProcurement and eTaxation were
both priorities set by the EU. Some countries have progressed significantly in taxation (e.g. Greece) by
developing efficient ICT solutions and the personnel available to run the application, whereas eProcurement is
lagging behind. Therefore, if one country can progress in even one service, it probably means that the
competencies exist to deploy in other areas as well. If motivation is given, the private sectors can cover a gap
easily and in the case of the EU or SEE, mobility helps. Cross- border and exchange of data in administration are
important elements in a common market and remain on the EU agenda. The main problems in this area are
especially linguistic and of (semantic) interoperability, etc,. Also, different laws and regulations and lack of a
common experience is a challenge.
2.6 STI policy initiatives promoting ICT RTDI activities relevant for this domain
The political framework for eGovernment development on EU level is formed by the following documents:
Europe 2020
Europe 2020 Strategy was defined in order to address the economic and financial crisis by "preparing
Europe's economy for the next decade" The three main mutually interrelated strategic directions are: (i)
Smart growth (knowledge and innovation based economy). (ii) Sustainable growth (resource efficient,
greener and more competitive economy). (iii) Inclusive growth (high-employment economy delivering
social and territorial cohesion).
е-Government as a tool for effective and efficient electronic delivery of public services can significantly
contribute to the three directions mentioned above.
- The revision of the e-Signature Directive and legislation on mutual recognition and acceptance of
electronic identification across border
- The creation of a straightforward and open environment for online cross-border transactions,
eliminating technical and legal constraints
- Building digital confidence, guaranteeing citizens the same rights in the digital and in the physical
environment
- Reaping the benefits of eGovernment for efficient and cost-effective services for citizens and
businesses and for a participatory open and transparent government. The Agenda particularly
emphasises the cross-border dimension of e-Government. It requires improved administrative
cooperation to develop and deploy cross-border public online services as well as practical e-
Identification and e-Authentication cross border services, including mutual recognition of security
levels for authentication.
19
е-Government Action Plan 2011 - 2015 (COM (2010) 743. 15 December 2010)
The Action Plan aims at maximising the complementarities of national and European policy instruments. Its
actions support the transition of eGovernment into a new generation of open, flexible and collaborative
seamless eGovernment services at local, regional, national and European level that will empower citizens and
businesses. There are strong political and economic reasons for European collaboration in e-Government. Joint
action and knowledge sharing at EU level contributes to overcoming the current economic crisis, by using public
resources more efficiently.
The Commission's main mission is to optimise the conditions, for the development of cross-border
eGovernment services provided to citizens and businesses regardless of their country of origin. This includes the
development of an environment which promotes interoperability of systems and key enablers such as e-
Signatures and e-Identification. Services accessible across the EU strengthen the digital single market and
complement existing legislation in domains like e-Identification, e-Procurement, e-Justice, e-Health, mobility
and social security, whilst delivering concrete benefits to citizens, businesses and governments in Europe. The
Commission will lead by example in further implementing eGovernment within its organisation.
The combination of all these efforts should lead to an increase of the take-up of eGovernment services. By 2015
50% of citizens should use e-Government. The target envisaged for businesses is 80% by 2015.
In the SEE region the Electronic South Eastern Europe (eSEE) Initiative was founded as a coordinated effort to
better integrate SEE countries into the global, knowledge-based economy by regionally supporting the
development of Information Society. One of the most important documents proposed by the eSEE Initiative is
iSEE Agenda +, where three priorities were proposed as a development framework for Information Society
development:
The research framework within the eGovernment domain is described in the “Current and potential R&D
activities in eGovernment in SEE” section of this report.
19
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/action_plan_2011_2015/index_en.htm
Data Protection/Privacy
Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 24 October 1995, on the protection of
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. To remove
obstacles to free movement of data without diminishing the protection of personal data, Directive 95/46/EC (the
data protection Directive) was developed to harmonise national provisions in this field and to ensure that all
citizens have equivalent protection across the Union. Directive 97/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council, of 15 December 1997, on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the
telecommunications sector Directive 97/66/EC specifically deals with the protection of privacy in
telecommunications. It states that Member States must guarantee the confidentiality of communication by
means of national regulations. Any unauthorised listening, tapping, storage or other kinds of interception or
surveillance of communications is illegal.
E-Commerce
Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 8 June 2000, on certain legal aspects of
information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic
commerce) Promoting the development of electronic commerce is one of the key factors in the effort to make
the European Union the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. Directive
2000/31/EC sets up the basic legal framework for electronic commerce in the internal market. It removes
obstacles to cross-border online services in the European Union and provides legal certainty to businesses and
citizens alike.
E-Communications
The electronic communications regulatory framework consists of one Framework Directive (Directive
2002/21/EC, of 7 March 2002) on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and
services and four specific Directives. This framework has been supplemented by the 'Telecoms Reform', a new
package of rules originally due to be transposed into national laws of the 27 Member States by May 2011.
E-Signatures
Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 13 December 1999, on aCommunity
framework for electronic signatures This Directive establishes the legal framework at European level for
electronic signatures and certification services. The aim is to make electronic signatures easier to use and to
help them become legally recognised within the Member States. The Directive defines two new ideas: the
advanced electronic signature and the qualified certificate. The main provision is that an advanced electronic
signature based on a qualified certificate satisfies the same legal requirements as a handwritten signature. It is
also admissible as evidence in legal proceedings. Furthermore, this Directive lays down the criteria that form
the basis for legal recognition of electronic signatures by focusing on certification services, namely: common
obligations for certification service providers; common rules on liability to help build confidence among users;
and cooperative mechanisms to facilitate trans-border recognition of signatures and certificates with third
countries.
E-Procurement
Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 31 March 2004, on the coordination of
the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors
Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 31 March 2004, on the coordination of
to promote and support the delivery of European public services by fostering cross-border and cross-
sectoral interoperability;
to guide public administrations in their work to provide European public services to businesses and
citizens;
to complement and tie together the various National Interoperability Frameworks (NIFs) at European
level.
This non-technical document addresses all those involved in defining, designing and implementing European
public services. The EIF should be taken into account when making decisions on European public services that
support the implementation of EU policy initiatives. The EIF should also be considered when establishing public
services that in the future may be reused as part of European public services.
The EIF is maintained under the ISA programme, in close cooperation between the Member States and the
Commission. They work together in the spirit of Article 170 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union. Under this Article, to help achieve the objectives referred to in Article 26 concerning the internal market,
the European Union should help establish and develop trans-European networks and promote the
interconnection and interoperability of national networks as well as access to such networks. The EIF
contributes to the better functioning of the internal market by increasing interoperability among European
public administrations
Equal access
The development of eGovernment is improving the delivery of public services to citizens, and it is essential that
people without access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), or without the skills to use them,
benefit from them, too. The eGovernment Action Plan seeks to ensure that no citizen is left behind, by
promoting Inclusive e-Government, under which specific measures are developed to deliver public services to
and connect vulnerable groups at risk of exclusion.
Governments at national, regional and local levels, together with their agencies and other intermediaries
(NGOs, civil societies, volunteer associations, and the third sector in general) which deliver public services, are
increasingly integrating ICTs into their processes, both behind the scenes and in their interfaces with the public.
Whilst eGovernment services should reduce the complexity of citizens’ and businesses’ dealings with
government and its intermediaries, there is a danger that people without easy access to ICTs could find it even
harder to deal with government. Public services should be available on equal terms to all, and therefore public
authorities need to take account of the interests of all potential service users, following the principle of
inclusive e-Government.
Digital divide
Around 30% of Europe’s population does not use any eGovernment services. This is due in part to the so-called
‘digital divide’, i.e. the gap between those with regular and effective access to information technology and those
lacking it. Ironically, many of these excluded citizens are amongst those who need and consequently rely most
heavily on government support – and would stand to benefit the most from accessing them on-line. For
instance, people receiving unemployment benefits or drawing pensions are more likely than the rest of society
not to have internet access or own a computer.Bridging this divide requires social and geographical differences
to be overcome, to ensure an inclusive digital society which provides opportunities for all. Government’s
incentive to introduce new ICTs, simplifying the management and delivery of public services, and reducing
costs, is clear. It is essential that the development of eGovernment must not be at the expense of citizens and –
mostly small – companies and organisations without access to ICTs.
Numerous EU initiatives are helping to transform this ideal into a practical reality. To accelerate these efforts,
one of the eGovernment action plan’s five main objectives is articulated under the banner of ‘no citizen left
behind’.
20
European Commission: Inclusive eGovernment - no citizen left behind. Europe's Information Society
Thmeatic Protal. [Online] 2012.
Strengths Weaknesses
Worldwide aggressive adoption of the Economic and financial crisis in Europe may
fast growing mobile technologies in change the priority of E-Government
the eGovernment services development.
Closing the gap between the leaders Increasing gap in the availability of ICT
and followers in eGovernment human resources projected to 7 million on
implementation through regional EU level.
2. Gemin, Cap. Digitizing Public Services in Europe: Putting ambition into action - 9th Benchmark Measurement.
, 2010.
3. United Nations. E_Government Survey 2012 - EGovernment for People. s.l. : UN, 2012.
4. Speech at the Digital Agenda for Europe: Reality or still a Challenge Conference. Kroes, Neelie. Sofia : s.n.,
2012.
7. EU. Press Release: Digital Agenda: Annual scoreboard confirms need for structural economic reform across
Europe and surplus of ICT jobs; big trend towards mobile services and technology. Bruussels : EU, 2012.
8. eGovernment Resource Center - Austria. Activation of the mobile signature in all Austrian tax offices.
[Online] http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/focus-on-countries/europe/countries-europe/austria/trends-and-issues-
austria/authentication-austria/digital-signatures-austria/activation-of-the-mobile-signature-in-all-austrian-tax-
offices.html.
11. Government as part of the revolution: Using social media to achieve public goals. Landsbergen, D. 9, 2010,
Vols. Electron. J. e-Government.
12. P. Wauters, K. Declercq, S. van der Peijl, P. Davies. Study on cloud and service oriented architectures for
egovernment. s.l. : European Union, 2011.
15. A European Framework for eGovernment Competences. Schulz, Sirko and Schuppan, Tino. Potsdam : The
Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center, c/o University of Potsdam, 2012.
16. 10 Government IT Predictions For 2012: IDC. Montalbano, Elizabeth. 2012, Infoweek.
17. Nathan Ducastel, Robbert Fisher, Daniel Gehrt, Theo Hooghiemstra, Luca Alessandro Remotti, Bas van
Schoonhoven, Tijs van den Broek, Ron van Paassen. Study on Impact assessment for legislation on mutual
recognition and acceptance of e-Identification and eAuthentication across borders SMART 2011/0075 IAV Final
Report. s.l. : Intrasoft & TNO, 2012.
20. Deloitte Consulting. User expectations of a life events approach for designing e-Government services. Final
Report. SMART 2009/0075, 3.12.2010.
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/sites/digital-agenda/files/smart2009-0075.pdf
21. ICT for R&D Infrastructures: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis. FORSEE Project, September 2012.
22. Cloud Computing: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis. FORSEE Project, September 2012.
Further references: