Pestle in Ict Govt

e-Government: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis
Output Title Digital Content SWOT Analysis

Work Package WP4 – Foresight Methodology and Participation Enhancement
Activity Regional Foresight Methodology
Step 2 of the Regional Foresight process: theme-based SWOT
Short Description
Status draft
Distribution level Internal (Partnership)
Responsible Bulgarian Association of Software Companies

partner(s) Ministry of Education, Youth and Science
University of Montenegro
University of Macedonia , Greece
Version V01
Revision History:
Version Responsible Organization Comment

01 MEYS Document Template Elaborated
02 BASCOM Document Template Elaborated
03 Input from participating UoM, ICI, BASSCOM, UoME

partners
04 UoM Re-editing of PESTLE analysis, reshuffling of document
05 ICI, UoME Further contributions in terms of content and tables
06 Independent contributors Comments from experts and external contributors
07 UoM Final comments and editing
LEGAL NOTICE
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.
© FORSEE Partnership, 2012

Reproduction is authorised provided
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ 3

PESTLE Generic Cross-Theme Analysis .................................................................................... 5
1 PESTLE analysis................................................................................................................ 5
1.1 Political factors .................................................................................................................. 5
1.2 Economic factors ............................................................................................................... 8
1.3 Social, Cultural and Demographic factors ......................................................................... 10
1.4 Technological factors ....................................................................................................... 11
1.5 Legal factors .................................................................................................................... 13
1.6 Environmental factors ..................................................................................................... 14
2 SWOT analysis ............................................................................................................... 16
2.1 Definition of the term e-Government .............................................................................. 16
2.2 Major global ICT trends overall and in the field of e-Government .................................... 16
2.3 Impact on eGovernment development in the EU and the SEE area .................................. 18
2.4 R&D competences, resources, and performance in eGovernment in SEE ......................... 21
2.5 Major application/market trends in this domain (global, EU, SEE) .................................... 29
2.6 STI policy initiatives promoting ICT RTDI activities relevant for this domain ..................... 31
2.7 Regulations existing in this domain.................................................................................. 33
2.8 Ethical issues, social norms, behavioural patterns, and values ......................................... 35
3 SWOT MATRIX of ICT for eGovernment in SEE ............................................................... 36
4 References .................................................................................................................... 38
WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 1

List of Tables
Table 1: Major Economic factors in the area .......................................................................... 8
Table 2: eGovernment development in Southern Europe ..................................................... 12
Table 3: Basic performance of public services in the area ..................................................... 19
Table 4: Skills and competences per eGovernment role in management .............................. 22
Table 5: List of main initiatives-projects in the area ...............................................................27
Table 6: SWOT eGovernment Table ...................................................................................... 36
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

Executive Summary
The term eGovernment (or Digital Government) is defined as the employment of the Internet and the www
technologies for delivering government information and services to the citizens and businesses, so as to
improve and/or enhance on the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery in the public sector.’ The domain
encompasses delivery models diverging from government services to citizens, businesses and employees as well
as other governments. eGovernment therefore puts in use tools and systems made possible available by
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to provide better public services to citizens and businesses,
by rethinking organisations and processes, and changing behaviour.
The prominence of eGovernment on the European and SEE political agenda has been reaffirmed in connection
to a number of policies, such as the EU Digital Agenda initiative that aims to maximise the social and economic
potential of ICT and most notably the internet and spurring innovation, economic growth and improvements in
daily life for both citizens and businesses. Other initiatives such as The eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 and
Ministerial declarations on eGovernment endorse further the provision of a new generation of eGovernment
services for businesses and citizens, mobility in the internal Market, achieving a mass of technical and legal
preconditions to enhance eGovernment services and more open, flexible and collaborative delivery of public
services across Europe. The dynamics of eGovernment are finally visible on a social level, as it is perceived as
enabler to deliver policy goals across different sectors and the promotion of a common culture of collaboration
and interoperability. Finally, the “eSEE Agenda+ for the development of Information Society in SEE 2007-2012”,
signed by most of the SEE countries states eGovernment as a pillar region-specific priority areas for the
Information Society development.
Recent trends indicate that eGovernment usage by citizens (41% in 2011) remains rather stable but with
less significant progress for some smaller countries. Certain criteria, such as lack of trust of skills and the digital
divide still inhibit large take-up pilots by citizens. eGovernment usage by firms has increased steadily from 76%
in 2010 to 84% in 2011.
Lack of skills is still an important limiting factor in small enterprises but also incomplete digitalisation of
public services is an important barrier to an increasing eGovernment take-up. On the eGovernment rank
(2012), Austria and Slovenia (and Hungary to an extent) remain eGovernment leaders across the SEE area,
whereas Greece holds an interim position and the rest of the countries fall relatively behind. The scores are
congruent with the eReadiness index and infrastructure ranging from 0.4 in Montenegro to 0.7 in Austria. In
2010 the full online availability level of eGovernment services was in Austria (100%), followed by Slovenia (95%
), Bulgaria (70), Greece, (48), Hungary (66), Romania (60) and Greece (
Still, eGovernment is seen as a societal challenge, as building a vision on service-delivery and leadership are
components needed to advance the domain to unleash its societal potential. Emerging trends such as mobile
identification, mobile use and social networks and large-scale infrastructure (e.g. cloud) can supplement and
spur the development of services. Furthermore, mobility will need to encompass broader business issues, and
governments will trey to increase IT but optimize performance. Smart cities technologies integrated with
eGovernment applications will further drive eGovernment large-scale applications. Nevertheless, these trends
still stand as challenges, since current implementation does not permit full exploitation, at least before an
interoperability framework has been achieved. As an indicative example, the use of social networks and the re-
use of public sector information (having the potential to unleash huge amounts of data in several societal
domains) remain rather unexploited.
Technologies are continuing to expand at an exponential rate, but financial resources for governments and
administration are more limited than before due to the economic downturn. Therefore, Europe is facing with
new challenges on the global scene and need to adjust its competitiveness and socio-environmental
sustainability. The improvement of public services is an unstoppable trend. The public sector will always seek
ways to deliver efficient and novel services. In the same rationale, the private sector will always seek offering
better services. In this context, SEE countries can further launch technological pilots (quick wings) with a big
and fast impact to demonstrate potential.
Other current market trends include G2G sectors focusing in coordination of resources to increase the efficiency

of backbone-office systems as well as framework such as the Intra-Government Internal Efficiency and
Effectiveness (IEE) that is focussed on the efforts on creating efficient and cost effective systems, particularly
supply chain issues.
Research activities in these countries has in many cases followed the market trends dictated by EU trends. The
FP7 ICT program has supported research (ICT solutions for governance and policy modelling and - ICT for
Governance and Policy Modelling) in the period 2007-2011, with Greece and Austria absorbing a significant
rate of funds (4.5% of EU funding, EU average 0.8%)). The rest of the countries have been only been involved in
some projects.
Indicative Programmes towards the achievement of the Action Plan objectives include the ICT Policy Support
Programme, the Interoperability Solutions for public Administrations Programme (ISA). SEE countries have
successfully participated in key projects (Key Pilot A projects funded under the ICT PSP programme) such as
PEPPOL (Pan-European Public eProcurement On-Line-single market priorities), STORK (Secure idenTity acrOss
boRders linked- electronic identity), SPOCS (Simple Procedures Online for Cross-border Services-removal of
administrative barriers), eCodex (e-Justice Communication via Online Data Exchange), epSOS (Smart Open
Services for European Patients- practical eHealth framework and an Information & Communication
Technology infrastructure interconnecting national solutions). The above signify the potential and experience
held by countries to put forward expertise and solutions.
In terms of regulations and relevant reforms, most of the countries have implemented reforms of certain
extends with regards to data protection and privacy, eCommerce, e-communications, eSignatures,
eProcurement, reuse of public sector information and interoperability. E-Government frameworks and Acts are
in place for most of the countries (although for Serbia and Montenegro, relevant frameworks are congruent
with other policies or being currently implemented). In terms of infrastructure, countries do maintain online
portals either national or regional, capable of implementing relevant solutions (including Serbia and
Montenegro). The rationale of service delivery however varies significantly. For Serbia and Montenegro, we add
that significant progress has been made with the “acquis communautaire” as regards the legal basis for
effective implementation of eGovernment services. Still, inconsistencies in national legislations, cultural
aspects and administrative habitis as well as the stance to barriers to e-Inclusion have their own repercussions
on the effective take-up of future services.
Last, but not least the significance of the current economic downturn should not be underestimated, as the
current turbulent period can been seen both as an opportunity and as a threat to rationalize public finances,
ensure an efficient interoperability framework and at the same time address societal challenges at a consistent
and efficient manner.

PESTLE Generic Cross-Theme Analysis
1 PESTLE analysis
1.1 Political factors

Relevant ICT-related policies: technology, trade, research and innovation policies
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].

although there has not been much change in funding levels between 2009 and mid 2011. The dependence on
the European Community Funds appears to be very strong in the case of Greece and important for others such
as Slovenia and Romania. In other EU associated countries, such as Montenegro and Serbia total R&D and
innovation funding is far below that of the EU average. Regarding the contribution of the private sector in RTDI
funding there seems to be a big gap with countries in which its contribution is insignificant (such as Bulgaria and
Greece) on the one hand and countries in which its contribution is increasing (such as Romania, Austria,
Hungary and Slovenia). Public funding appears to be of high significance especially for Bulgaria, Romania, and
Greece. Tax incentives assist RTDI only in certain countries. Business Expenditures for R&D in ICT specifically is
quite notable in the case of Hungary and Romania (only recently-about 20%) while it is less than 10% for the
rest of the countries. The share of public funding of ICT R&D in GDP (as an indicator of ICT R&D funding
intensity) exceeds EU average in Austria and Slovenia (0.08%), while in the rest of the countries it falls below
0.04%. In more general terms, Gross Domestic Expenditure and Business R&D expenditure of R&D as % of GDP
is significant for Austria and Slovenia (1.5-2%) while in the rest of the countries in falls under 1% (less than 0.5%
in the case of business expenditure).
Relevant to eGovernment, ICT is a conduit for structural reforms and solutions to societal challenges. An
eProcurement strategy has been adopted to help modernise online public services. Member States have not yet
agreed on the list of cross-border public services, originally scheduled for the end of 2011.
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

finance. At an aggregated level, just over one third (35 %) of all industrial enterprises with innovation activity
received some form of public funding, while the corresponding proportion for services was 19 %. European
Union funding of innovation activities reached approximately half the number of enterprises compared to
these by local, regional or central governments, some 8 % of those enterprises with innovation activity in the
industrial sector and 5 % within the services sector (CIS3, 2004). Regarding the contribution of the private
sector in RTDI funding there seems to be a big gap with countries in which its contribution is insignificant (such
as Bulgaria and Greece) on the one hand and countries in which its contribution is increasing (such as Romania,
Austria, Hungary and Slovenia). Nevertheless, the issue of registries of RTDI activities should not be
undermined in this classification.
Figure 1: R&D expenditure by source of funds. 5
100%
90% GERD by Abroad %
80%
70% GERD by Private non-prof it %
60%
50% GERD - by Higher education %
40%
30% GERD f inanced by Government %
20%
10% GERD by Business enterprise %
0%
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(Source: UNESCO, 2009, 2007; source for Greece: Eurostat)
Other political factors.
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 eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 the provision of a new generation of eGovernment services
for businesses and citizens, resting upon certain priorities, such as the empowerment of citizens and
businesses, mobility in the internal Market, achieving a mass of technical and legal preconditions to
enhance eGovernment services.
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.
1.2 Economic factors

General Economic Indicators
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:
Table 1: Major Economic factors in the area
Austria Bulgaria Hungary Greece Romania Slovenia Serbia Montenegro
Employment 1% -5.9% 0.2% -2.1% -1.8% -2.2% 1% Jobless

Growth (%) (2008) growth
Unemployment 4.4% 10.2% 11.2% 12.6% 7.3% 7.3% 20% n/a

rate
(17.6 for
2007)
M= 4.6% 10.9% 11.6% 9.9% 7.9% 7.5% 19.2% n/a
F= 4.2% 9.5% 10.7% 16.2% 6.5% 7.1% 21% n/a
GDP (100 base 139 20 40 83 23 72 n/a 41

value)

Trade balance 0.10% -2.6% 3% -3.9% -2.6% -2% n/a
(2009)
ICT goods 5.49% 3.58% 24.62% 2.99% 8.36% 3.79% 2.22% n/a
exports (% of
total), 2009
ICT goods 7% 6.4% 78.83% 5.87% 9.4% 5.6% 5.36% n/a

imports , 2009
ICT service 6.54% 5.61% 8.26% 2.17% 18.93% 7.16% 6.69% n/a
exports , 2009
High-tech 11.48% 8.2% 24% 11.25% 10% 6.5% n/a n/a

exports (% of
manufacturing
exports, 2009
Source: Forsee synthesis report
Access to capital in general and for ICT RTDI
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

economic circumstances that may have undermined business and market confidence in the country. Bulgaria
and Romania responded with unprecedented cuts. In Hungary, there was a disruption in funding, and in many
countries, funding provided to innovation agencies and departments has been maintained whilst in others,
institutional budgets have been cut. Reallocations and consolidations between different government
departments or agencies can also be observed. The ICT sector experienced a decline during the past years and
therefore ICT policies need refinement in the crisis for quick recovery. On a European level, differentiation
strategies, the optimisation of assets and the fuelling of the national systems with young researchers have been
proposed alleviate countries on the long-term. It is also recommended that structural reforms need to be
oriented to supporting employment and improving flexibility and reducing administrative and regulatory
burden on businesses, promoting entrepreneurship and enhance access to finance for businesses (loan
subsidies, guarantees, start-ups and micro-enterprises).
In particular to eGovernment, global recession might raise austerity measures and restrictive public spending.
Spending cuts are expected in the administration. The reforms necessary for the implementation of
eGovernment instruments will inevitably lead to a reduction of the costs for administrative services to the
citizens and business. Greece is among the countries where the responsiveness of R&D to the business cycle
entail a response in R&D expenditure 1.5 to 3.5 times the change in GDP, meaning that the current crisis could
lead to significant drops in R&D intensity after 2009. Economic projections for the subsequent years (2010-
2013) show a slow recovery, based on the ongoing developments in the global economy as well as new fiscal
policies adopted by the Serbian Government. According to the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro, during 2010
and 2011 it achieved a slight economic growth (2.5% on annual level). Even though there have been
implemented significant changes in the economic policy it can be stated that Montenegro is quite vulnerable
regarding external economic turbulences and challenges.
1.3 Social, Cultural and Demographic factors

Empowering citizens to be active and confident in the new digital society, which must deliver sustainable
economic and social benefits, is of prime importance to Europe. EU Information Society Ministers are adamant
7
in the Granada Declaration that electronic identity (eID) will be a key driver of economic recovery in Europe.
The number of identity-based transactions, both on and off the Internet, has grown significantly and will most
likely continue to do so. This trend is linked to the increasing prevalence and multiplicity of eID systems that
feed on such data, channelling personal identity data into identification, authentication and access to goods,
services and resources. Though eID systems and processes have been developing over decades, they are still
not particularly trusted or fit for the many activities that European citizens expect to conduct in their everyday
digital lifestyles.
Human resources for ICT and ICT use
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

The links between education and RTDI can be better reflected in the percentages of employment in
Knowledge-Intensive high technology services as well as R&D personnel. The percentage of employment in
knowledge-intensive activities in high technology represents a fraction between 1.5-3% on a country level. The
development of e-skills is placed high on the political agenda, but without specific ICT national curricula.
Scientists and engineers in total Human Resources in Science and Technology fluctuate around 20%, except
from Austria (10%). R&D personnel is higher in Austria and Greece (1.5-2% of total workforce) while in the rest
of the countries less than 1.5%. The number or researchers in the area in general falls between 15.000-25.000
researchers per country, but the percentages are incomparable to the EU’s innovation leaders. In general, the
annual growth in business researchers in the EU-27 has been higher than that of business R&D expenditure,
but no country-level data can confirm this statement for the region. 2005 Eurostat data illustrate that in
Science and Engineering, tertiary graduates have been growing at about 5% in region (high extreme for
Romania and low extreme for Hungary). Doctorate candidates in 'science, mathematics and computing',
awarded in EU-27 increased by 2.8 % per annum.
Statistics on ICT use.
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
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.
1.4 Technological factors

ICT infrastructure
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

enables addressing societal challenges efficiently and augments the potential of future internet to provide
useful services. SEE countries on average dedicate 3-4% of their GDP to communications expenditure.
Broadband penetration rate varies from about 15% in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece to just over 20% in
Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. Romania, Bulgaria and Greece mark the lowest percentage of households using a
broadband connection (from 20-30%), nevertheless these countries have placed broadband and connectivity
policies as instruments to foster economic growth. in the same countries, DSL national and rural coverage rates
are quite different. Still, most of the countries have developed R&D infrastructure, such as national RTD
networks, portals of public administration, MANs and supercomputing and eScience centers to accommodate
their future R&D needs. Some efforts are put in developing hard R&D infrastructures in the area, lead by
Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, mainly in the area of communication networks (GEANT).
GÉANT uses innovative hybrid IP/optical networking technology and directly connects to the National Research
and Educational Networks (NRENs) in 36 partner countries and enables data transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps
across 50,000 km of network infrastructure and over 12,000 km of lit fibre. The network presently serves
around 30 million users in over 3500 universities and research centres in 36 partner countries. GÉANT is co-
funded by the European Commission and Europe's NRENs.
In South Eastern Europe strong increase in broadband development and good internet use can be noticed. The
Digital Agenda Scoreboard Indicators such as “New entrants' share in fixed broadband lines”; “Share of fixed
broadband lines equal to or above 2 Mbps” and “Share of fixed broadband lines equal to or above 10 Mbps”
positioned Bulgaria among the countries with the highest values in the EU. 1 Bulgaria claimed the third highest
speed of Internet - 1,611KBps8 (Pando Networks, 2011). The Bulgarian Internet providers have used innovative
approach in providing broadband Internet through public LAN. 3
Table 2: eGovernment development in Southern Europe
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

EU and SEE levels. The European Grid Initiative (EGI) brings together resource providers and users from more
than 140 institutions in 50 countries world-wide (including all SEE countries) to provide a seamless grid
infrastructure that is available 24 hours-a-day. Its operation and maintenance is supported by the European
project EGI_InSPIRE and by National Grid Initiatives. The overall contribution of the FORSEE countries to the
EGI.eu infrastructure consists of 6753 physical CPUs (corresponding to 18700 logical CPUs). Other two
operational infrastructures at the EU level are DEISA and PRACE in the field of High Performance Computing.
The SEE involvement of this infrastructure is limited and the coordination of its development is supported by
the EU funded HP-SEE project.
1.5 Legal factors

Currently, the newly formulated action plan is focused on two major topics. The first is concerned with
elimination of the common challenges, which inhibit the optimal utilization of ICTs. The second revolves around
identifying and preventing future problems in the long run. To achieve these goals, in the framework of the
Digital Agenda the European Union has set and undertaken a number of key legislative actions.
The key actions are focused on creating a vibrant digital single market, allowing the easy exchange of
commercial and cultural content and services between countries. To achieve this, the European community
strives to remove the regulatory obstacles and to facilitate transactions and processes such as electronic
payments and invoicing. Furthermore, issues related to customer trust and dispute resolution present another
major concern.
Consumer and competition laws are quite harmonized on an EU level and articulated to strengthen the
intrernal market and the free circulation of goods and services.
According to “eGovernance and ICT Usage Report for South East Europe” (2nd edition, 2010) prepared by the
eSEE Initiative , the legal infrastructure of the non-EU SEE countries has become appropriate for the
development of an information society. Almost all these countries have adopted all of the major laws and
related regulations and the next logical steps would be the harmonization with EC directives.
The pan-European fragmented legal system on intellectual property rights protection results in low patenting
rates; the associated costs to file a patent in so many countries is prohibitively high and the market size at each
SEE country is discouraging such investments. Still, some inequalities exist: Serbia and Hungary create revenues
in their economies from patents (Austria and Romania in a lesser degree too), while Greece and Bulgaria create
marginal ones.
Data protection laws and regulations:
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. 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.
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',
Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 13 December 1999, on a Community
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.
Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 17 November 2003, on the reuse of
public sector information The term Public Sector Information (PSI) refers to documents, databases and other
information produced, collected and stored by public sector bodies. Thanks to the aid of ICTs, PSI can now be
processed in an efficient, effective and user friendly manner, creating a variety of new opportunities for its
exploitation
One of the most important issues of the eGovernment development on EU level is the interoperability between
the systems and services. In order to address this issue the European Commission has defined European
Interoperability Framework (EIF) for European public services. The purpose of the European Interoperability
Framework (EIF) is:
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.
The EIF is maintained under the ISA programme, in close cooperation between the Member States and the
Commission
The key actions are focused on creating a vibrant digital single market, allowing the easy exchange of
commercial and cultural content and services between countries. To achieve this, the European community
strives to remove the regulatory obstacles and to facilitate transactions and processes such as electronic
payments and invoicing. Furthermore, issues related to customer trust and dispute resolution present another
major concern.
A proposal for a Regulation "on electronic identification and trusted services for electronic transactions in the
internal market" was adopted by the Commission on 4th June 2012 (COM(2012) 238 final). The initiative is the
result of extensive consultations on a review of the current legal framework on electronic signatures in the
course of which the Commission gathered feedback from Member States, the European Parliament and other
stakeholders.
In line with its ‘Better Regulation’ policy, the Commission conducted an impact assessment of policy
alternatives. Three sets of policy options were assessed, dealing respectively with (1) the scope of the new
framework, (2) the legal instrument and (3) the level of supervision required. The preferred policy option
proved to be enhancing legal certainty, boosting coordination of national supervision, ensuring mutual
recognition and acceptance of electronic identification schemes and incorporating essential related trust
services. The impact assessment concluded that doing this would lead to considerable improvements to legal
certainty, security and trust in terms of cross-border electronic transactions, resulting in less fragmentation of
the market.
1.6 Environmental factors

Scientific activities are increasingly undertaken through global collaboration on the internet, using very large
data collections, huge computing resources and high-performance visualisation. e-science (research enabled by
e-infrastructure/ICT) is essential for meeting the challenges of the 21st century in scientific discovery and
learning.
Data management is also essential for tackling environmental challenges. Examples are the processing of
energy consumption patterns to improve energy efficiency or of pollution data in traffic management. Informed
policy decisions in the areas of transport, land use and climate change depend increasingly on analysis of the

available data9.
Nevertheless the ICT sector has to adopt common measurement methodologies for the sector's own energy
performance and greenhouse gas emissions and propose legal measures if appropriate;
Considering the relevantly significant amount of carbon emissions the ICT sector itself produces, the ecological
issues need to be addressed. In this context, the Commission is encouraging the ICT sector to come up with a
framework with which to measure its own energy and environmental impact and adopt and implement
common methodologies to diminish the negative effects.
9
Open data - An engine for innovation, growth and transparent governance, COM(2011) 882 final

2 SWOT analysis
2.1 Definition of the term e-Government

eGovernment is about using the tools and systems made possible available by Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) to provide better public services to citizens and businesses. ICTs are already widely used by
government bodies, just as in enterprises, but e-Government involves much more than just the tools. Effective
e-Government also involves rethinking organisations and processes, and changing behaviour so that public
services are delivered more efficiently to the people who need to use them. Implemented well, e-Government
enables all citizens, enterprises and organisations to carry out their business with government more easily,
more quickly and at lower cost. (1)
On a higher level e-Government is directly connected with the EU Digital Agenda initiative. Digital Agenda is to
chart a course to maximise the social and economic potential of ICT, most notably the internet, a vital medium
of economic and societal activity: for doing business, working, playing, communicating and expressing ourselves
freely. It will spur innovation, economic growth and improvements in daily life for both citizens and businesses.
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

businesses’ awareness or involvement. The Service Oriented Architecture deals with online service delivery.
According to [12] the main features for the SOA are the following:
- It is based on the design of the services – which mirror real-world business activities – comprising
the enterprise (or inter-enterprise) business processes.
- Service representation utilises business descriptions to provide context (i.e., business process,
goal, rule, policy, service interface, and service component) and implements services using service
orchestration.
- It places unique requirements on the infrastructure – it is recommended that implementations use
open standards to realize interoperability and location transparency.
- Implementations are environment-specific – they are constrained or enabled by context and must
be described within that context.
- It requires strong governance of service representation and implementation.
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

2.3 Impact on eGovernment development in the EU and the SEE area
The e-Government specific technology advances and innovations are immediately used in a various ways, on
different operational scales, for different scientific processes, and under very close scrutiny. User communities
and service providers constantly analyse how the new technology fulfils its promises and clarify any
adjustments needed to render the service a better fit with user requirements. Open communication between
the users and providers of any new technology allows both groups to develop a rapid and realistic picture of
the benefits and drawbacks of the technology in question.
The following ICT related aspects and key trends could be distinguished in the eGovernment development:
Some of the eGovernment development trends in the last 5 years include:
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.
Figure 2: Online availability of 20 basic public services (EU27)
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

that are not EU members yet. The gap among the countries is quite considerable, given that Austria is ranked
11
21st and is 41 places higher compared to Romania that is ranked 62nd.
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:
Table 3: Basic performance of public services in the area
eGovernment E-Readiness Web Human Infra- E-Partic-

Country
Rank 2012 Index Measure Capital structure ipation
Austria 21 0.784 0.7451 0.9091 0.6977 0.3684
Slovenia 25 0.7492 0.6667 0.93 0.6509 0.2105
Hungary 31 0.7201 0.6863 0.9065 0.5677 0.4474
Greece 37 0.6872 0.5752 0.9332 0.5531 0.3421
Serbia 51 0.6312 0.5752 0.8484 0.4701 0.2368
Montenegro 57 0.6218 0.5098 0.8182 0.5375 0.3158
Bulgaria 60 0.6132 0.4902 0.8486 0.5006 0.0263
Romania 62 0.606 0.5163 0.8783 0.4232 0.0789
Source: United Nations eGovernment Readiness Knowledge Base
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

Austria, which is the eGovernment leader of the targeted countries introduced mobile phone signature, which
is the mobile version of the Citizen Card, in December 2009 while Bulgaria has recently started a project for
traditional (not Mobile) digital identification for administration in 2012. The project did not include
implementation of mobile solutions. Implementation of mobile solutions is a critical factor for increasing the
use of eGovernment since it is more convenient and more accessible solution for citizens and businesses12.
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?
o Cloud computing can provide serious benefits for eGovernment services.

The move towards a cloud of public services has potentially large benefits for all actors involved; however, it
also requires a certain amount of investment and poses challenges to overcome. Given the usually large
amount of actors involved (e.g. different public administrations), coordination between these organisations may
well represent a hurdle. The established legal framework governing the service delivery of these actors may also
pose a barrier to moving towards new ways of delivering services. Therefore, changes in legislation may be
needed for which political buy-in is essential. In addition, the actual take-up of services relies on the willingness
of organisations and their employees to change their way of working. This human factor also needs to be taken
into account 14.
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.

New business models: In the future, it could be possible for a single service provider to be authorised
to carry out all activities needed to acquire permits and licenses;
As the impact of those trends and questions in eGovernment, on one hand side, eGovernment is more and
more integrated in the Information Society (Digital Agenda) and directly affects all aspects of the life of citizens
and businesses.
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.
2.4 R&D competences, resources, and performance in eGovernment in SEE

EGovernment is directly depended on the general ICT development trends in R&D. Therefore the ICT objectives
in FP7 can be considered as an important factor for eGovernment development.
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.

EGovernment can be defined through usage of ICT for better and more efficient public services and
governments. On the other hand, eGovernment concept is based on competencies which represent ‘’the ability
to fulfil a task to certain, often specially defined standard’’ (Schulz, 2012). However, competences represent
rather ‘’fuzzy’’ concept which needs to be standardized. Competencies can be defined through ICT skills and
knowledge. EGovernment is still facing with some challenges which can be defined on the basis of following:
Inconsistencies in definition related to new job profiles, such as ‘’eGovernment public personnel’’
Incompleteness of understanding of the eGovernment concept
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:
Table 4: Skills and competences per eGovernment role in management
Senior Managers Mid-level Managers Project Staff

Very important
IT Strategy Project Management IT Literacy
Organisational Design Process Management Information Processing
Project Management Risk Management IT Specialist
Risk Management Organisational Design Process Management
Change Management IT Strategy Organisational Design
Important
Process Management Information Processing Project Management
Quality Management Quality Management Quality Management
Information Contract Management Change Management
Processing
Media Change Management Management
Accounting
Policy Process IT Literacy Juridic
Other
Policy Process Marketing Risk Management
IT Literacy Media IT Strategy
Juridic Juridic Contract Management
Marketing IT Specialist Marketing
Management Management Media
Accounting Accounting
IT Specialist Policy Process Policy Process
15
COMPATeGov project, European Commission

Adapted from A European Framework for eGovernment Competences. Schulz, Sirko and Schuppan, Tino.
Potsdam : The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center, c/o University of Potsdam, 2012.
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:
Technologies are continuing to expand
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
2. Full online availability
3. User experience of services
4. Portal sophistication
5. Sub-national analysis
Figure 3: Full online availability trend 2001-2010 timeline-EU -27

Key findings in 2010 are showing that quality of eGovernment services in EU27 has been improved over time
which had a great impact on relation between citizens, business and public administration-state. For example,
full online availability in EU27 reached 82% in 2010 which represent an 13% increase in comparison with 200916.
Some countries such as Switzerland, Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia and Latvia significantly improved their eGovernment
services in 2010.
2. Country performance overview
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

Online availability in Hungary was 66% in 2010 and is below EU average (82%). Online sophistication of public
services is 80% (94% in EU27). Online sophistication for business services is 76% (94% in EU27) while online
sophistication of public services for citizens is 83% (compared with 87% in EU27). Hungary scores better (27th)
on the UN eGovernment Development Index. Online availability in Austria in 2010 was 100% which is far above
the EU average (82%). Online sophistication of public services is also 100%, and the same stands for online
sophistication for business and citizens. Hungary scores better (24th) on the UN eGovernment Development
Index. Online availability in Slovenia was 95% in 2010 and is above EU average (82%). Online sophistication of
public services is 97% (92% in EU27). Online sophistication for business services is 94% (same with 94% in EU27)
while online sophistication of public services for citizens is 100% (compared with 87% in EU27). Slovenia scores
29th on the UN Development Index.
Additional data on Montenegro:
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).
Figure 4: e-Services for citizens and businesses, Montenegro
Source: ISSP, 2007
17
E-Government Survey, Institute for Strategic Studies and Prognoses 2007

Figure 5: Country overall performance overview (aggregate performance in services, user experience, life-
events and key enablers)
Source: Digitalizing public services in Europe, 2010
Figure 6: Full online availability in % , aggregate level

3. R&D competences in terms of projects participation
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.
Table 5: List of main initiatives-projects in the area
Acronym Title Programme URL FORSEE Objective

countries
COCKPIT Citizens FP7, call 4 www.cockpit- GR To conceive, design and implement

Collaboration and (2009) project.eu public services that respond to
Co-Creation in citizens’ needs and wishes, as
Public Service increasingly expressed in Web 2.0
Delivery social media, and introduce
achievements in the services industry
to the public sector.
CROSSROAD A Participative FP7, call 7 crossroad.epu. GR To drive the identification of

Roadmap for ICT (2011) ntua.gr emerging technologies, new
Research in governance models and novel
Electronic application scenarios in the field of
Governance and governance and policy modelling,
Policy Modelling leading to the structuring of a beyond
the state-of-the-art research agenda,
fully embraced by research and
practice communities.
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

Web 2.0 Media dynamics in analyzing complex
system behavior.
+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.
UbiPOL Ubiquitous FP7, call 4 www.ubipol.eu HU, RO To develop a ubiquitous platform

Participation (2009) that allows citizens to be involved in
Platform for Policy policy making processes (PMPs)
Making regardless of their current location
and time.
WeGov Where FP7, call 4 www.wegov- GR To develop a toolset enabling to take

eGovernment (2009) project.eu full advantage of well established
meets the e-Society social networking sites when
engaging citizens in two-way
dialogues as part of governance and
policy-making processes.
CRISIS Complexity FP7, call 7 AT, HU To create an integrated set of

Research Initiative (2011) complex systems-based ICT tools for
for Systemic modeling the economy, of practical
InstabilitieS use to policy makers, to be used in
both simulation and gaming modes.
CROSSOVER Bridging FP7, call 7 www.crossover GR To establish the scientific and

Communities for (2011) -project.eu political basis for long-lasting interest
Next Generation and commitment to next generation
Policy-Making policy-making, bringing together and
reinforcing the links between the
different global communities of
researchers and experts.
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.
Live+Gov Reality Sensing, FP7, call 7 liveandgov.eu/l GR To develop a mobile government

Mining and (2011) ive-gov solution that allows citizens to
Augmentation for accurately express their needs to
Mobile Citizen- government by using a variety of
eGovernment mobile sensing technologies available
Dialogue in their smartphones.
MOSIPS Modeling and FP7, call 7 www.mosips.e AT To develop a user-friendly policy

Simulation of the (2011) u simulation system allowing
Impact of Public forecasting and visualization of the
Policies on SMEs socio-economic potential impact of
public policies.
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
PEPPOL Pan-European CIP ICT-PSP www.peppol.e AT, GR To make electronic communication

Public u between companies and
eProcurement On- government bodies possible for all
Line procurement processes in the EU.
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.
2.5 Major application/market trends in this domain (global, EU, SEE)

The modern concept of eGovernment is that it should provide citizen-centric services based on life events. In
eGovernment there are three main interactions between the major stakeholders:

Government to Citizens (G2C) in which the administration provides services to citizens e.g. changing of
the address registration or issuing ID.
Government to Businesses (G2B) in which the administration provide services to business
organizations e.g. registration of a company or declaring VAT.
Government to Government (G2G) that covers the services e.g. development of interoperability
framework.
In addition to those 3 interactions the eGovernment experts add:
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:
Consumers – a vibrant digital Single Market and high-speed internet access

Workers – right skills for the digital era
Patients and doctors - using ICT for sustainable healthcare
Manufacturing industry – the opportunities of an interoperable digital economy
The ICT industry – research and innovation for the digital economy
Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) – eGovernment to ease the functioning of SMEs
Artists, authors, musicians – a unique platform for creation and distribution of cultural content by
creating opportunities for authors
The environment – using ICT to reduce our environmental footprint
Researchers – increased and joined-up ICT research funding
Older and disabled people – new opportunities
People in rural and remote areas – connecting communities
Montalbano, 2012 defines the major trends in eGovernment development18
Governments and agencies will increasingly share applications using cloud.

Governments will try using social media for two way interactions with citizens and businesses as well
as they will explore options for data mining and analytics based on the social media.
Mobility will become the top IT governance issue, moving beyond device management to encompass
broader business issues.
Small data centres will be consolidated in big data centres.
Governments will try to increase the IT and business process outsourcing requests for proposals in
order to cut expanses and optimize performance. More and more efforts will be invested in
requirement development and outsourcing rather than development of own systems.
Smart cities technologies will grow and will be need to be integrated in the eGovernment platform.
18
10 Government IT Predictions For 2012: IDC. Montalbano, Elizabeth. 2012, Infoweek

ICT infrastructure will reach critical mass and will not be an obstacle for eGovernment development.
Experts insight on performances indicate the following: It is true that eGovernment services availability in the
area is relatively low and SEE governments do not demonstate a strong commitment to embracing the
increasing penetration of new technologies to their benefit.
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 Digital Agenda for Europe

The Agenda defines the critical role of ICT to pursue and achieve the development and objectives set out in
the Europe 2020 strategy. It defines initiatives to maximise the impact on the use of ICT. The Agenda covers
different aspects of eGovernment (17):
- 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

- Interoperability and standards between devices, applications, data repositories, services and
networks to improve ICT standard-setting, promoting better use of standards and enhance
interoperability through coordination
- 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:
• Single SEE Information Space

• Innovation and Investment in ICT Research and Development
• Inclusive Information Society
The iSEE Agenda + was adopted for the period 2007- 2012 and all SEE governments reported significant
progress towards the objectives set for all three priorities. The field of eGovernment significantly contribute to
the objectives set for the priorities Single SEE Information Space and Inclusive Information Society.
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

2.7 Regulations existing in this domain
еGovernment as very broad term touches all the aspects of the public services and government as a whole and
most of the regulations valid for public services are applicable to e-Government. For the purposes of the
current SOWT analysis one can distinguish the following key areas for regulations:
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

procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts The
Directives, which took effect on 30 April 2004, aiming to simplify, clarify and revise previous legislation in this
area by introducing two new legal instruments. They also provide a coherent framework for conducting
procurement electronically in an open, transparent and non-discriminatory way, establish rules for tendering
electronically and fix the conditions for modern purchasing techniques based on electronic means of
communication.
Re-use of Public Sector Information (PSI)

Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 17 November 2003, on the reuse of
public sector information, the term Public Sector Information (PSI) refers to documents, databases and other
information produced, collected and stored by public sector bodies. Thanks to the aid of ICTs, PSI can now be
processed in an efficient, effective and user friendly manner, creating a variety of new opportunities for its
exploitation. The Directive sets out a framework for the conditions of its reuse and aims to ensure equal
treatment for commercial editors within the internal market. Public sector organisations authorising this type of
reuse continue to hold copyright and related rights. They are, however, invited to exercise their copyrights in a
way that facilitates re-use. General information source: Europa, Summaries of EU legislation
European Interoperability Framework (EIF) for European public services

One of the most important issues of the eGovernment development on EU level is the interoperability between
the systems and services. In order to address this issue the European Commission has defined European
Interoperability Framework (EIF) for European public services (Bruxelles, le 16.12.2010; COM (2010) 744 final)
The purpose of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) is:
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

2.8 Ethical issues, social norms, behavioural patterns, and values
In addition to the comprehensive regulation regarding the data privacy the EU eGovernment Plan defines
special actions related to the inclusive eGovernment20:
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’.
All for one

The eGovernment Action Plan calls for “no citizen to be left behind”, arguing that “ICT-enabled public services
help to consolidate social cohesion and ensure that disadvantaged people face fewer barriers”. Member States
have already committed themselves to ensuring that “by 2010 all citizens, including socially disadvantaged
groups, become major beneficiaries of eGovernment”. Through the action plan the Commission will support
national efforts to achieve these inclusiveness objectives. In 2006, the ‘eGovernment road map’ was agreed by
the Commission together with a group of experts from Member States. The road map directs efforts to ensure
Inclusive eGovernmentdevelops in the period up to 2010, with the expert group meeting regularly to steer
efforts at European level. Stakeholders, in particular from agencies and authorities delivering eGovernment
services and groups representing vulnerable user groups at risk of exclusion, are also consulted to establish real
needs on the ground.
20
European Commission: Inclusive eGovernment - no citizen left behind. Europe's Information Society
Thmeatic Protal. [Online] 2012.

At the heart of EU efforts to develop Inclusive eGovernment is the conviction that harnessing ICTs in new ways
enables government to better serve marginalised groups in society, including the elderly, disabled, unemployed
and those with limited education. ICTs may be used directly by such people or by intermediaries who assist
them, in government agencies, local service providers and charities. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness
of government services for the widest range of the relevant population will, however, often require the use of
parallel channels. In 2009, the Commission published a study on strategies to deliver government services
through multiple channels.
3 SWOT MATRIX of ICT for eGovernment in SEE

The SWOT matrix takes into consideration the following elements:
Table 6: SWOT eGovernment Table
Strengths Weaknesses
Prepared human resources Significant eGovernment implementation

Relevant good IT infrastructure and e- gaps. Bulgaria and Romania are lagging
readiness indexes of the target behind other countries in South Eastern
countries Europe (
E-Government leaders (i.e. Austria, E-Participation measured through quality
Slovenia) are present in the South and usefulness of information and services is
Eastern Europe very low
Developed legislation and strategic Insufficient implementation of the existing e-
framework in the target countries and Government legislation and strategies.
on EU level Limited e-Government use of social media
Developed legislation and strategic does not result in governmental change.
framework in the target countries and Mobile identification is not widely used in
on EU level the SEE countries with the exception of the
Experience in developing and regional leader - Austria
implementing cross-border Lack of principles in structuring the
eGovernment experience in information on eGovernmental portals (e.g.
developing and implementing cross- life events principles which is used only in
border eGovernment services Slovenia).
(partners from the SEE region are Limited use of Open Government and open
participating in some key projects like data approaches that can permit the greater
“STORK” “PEPPOL”, “SPOCS”, “epSOS” availability of government data for re-use
and ”e-Codex” and exploration by third parties.
Inconsistencies in national legislations,
cultural aspects and administrative habits.
Digital divide and barriers to e-Inclusion
Opportunities Threats
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.

cooperation Increasing e-Crime and big failures in the
Introducing effective partnership and eGovernment information security
outsourcing strategies Government-centric approach to public
Availability of IT with high potential to services
be used in relevant services: cloud Failure to develop effective interoperability
computing, mobile technologies, between the systems and organizations.
social networks Delayed regulation of new technologies and
Availability of service oriented business models such as cloud computing
architecture approach with and public services outsourcing.
significant opportunities in providing Digital divide and barriers to e-Inclusion.
eGovernment services eGovernment efficacy considering
Significant development of differences between services and maturity
applications that will enable the at national, region and local levels
transformation of e-governance in
mobile (m-government) by increasing
the mobility of civil servants as well as
facilitating citizens' access to services,
such as alert mobile (m-alerting),
updated mobile (m-info)

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Integration of the INNO Policy TrendChart with ERAWATCH (2011-2012). Technopolis Group.

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e-Government: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis

Output Title Digital Content SWOT Analysis

Responsible Bulgarian Association of Software Companies

Version Responsible Organization Comment

02 BASCOM Document Template Elaborated

03 Input from participating UoM, ICI, BASSCOM, UoME

05 ICI, UoME Further contributions in terms of content and tables

06 Independent contributors Comments from experts and external contributors

07 UoM Final comments and editing

© FORSEE Partnership, 2012

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ 3

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 1

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 2

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 3

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 4

1.1 Political factors

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 5

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 6

Figure 1: R&D expenditure by source of funds. 5

90% GERD by Abroad %

70% GERD by Private non-prof it %

50% GERD - by Higher education %

30% GERD f inanced by Government %

10% GERD by Business enterprise %

(Source: UNESCO, 2009, 2007; source for Greece: Eurostat)

Other political factors.

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 7

1.2 Economic factors

Table 1: Major Economic factors in the area

Austria Bulgaria Hungary Greece Romania Slovenia Serbia Montenegro

Employment 1% -5.9% 0.2% -2.1% -1.8% -2.2% 1% Jobless

Unemployment 4.4% 10.2% 11.2% 12.6% 7.3% 7.3% 20% n/a

M= 4.6% 10.9% 11.6% 9.9% 7.9% 7.5% 19.2% n/a

F= 4.2% 9.5% 10.7% 16.2% 6.5% 7.1% 21% n/a

GDP (100 base 139 20 40 83 23 72 n/a 41

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 8

ICT goods 7% 6.4% 78.83% 5.87% 9.4% 5.6% 5.36% n/a

High-tech 11.48% 8.2% 24% 11.25% 10% 6.5% n/a n/a

Source: Forsee synthesis report

Access to capital in general and for ICT RTDI

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 9

1.3 Social, Cultural and Demographic factors

Human resources for ICT and ICT use

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 10

ICT for societal challenges

1.4 Technological factors

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 11

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 12

1.5 Legal factors

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 13

1.6 Environmental factors

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 14

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 15

2.1 Definition of the term e-Government

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 16

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 17

Some of the eGovernment development trends in the last 5 years include:

Figure 2: Online availability of 20 basic public services (EU27)

WP4 – Activity 4. PESLE & SWOT Analysis 18

Table 3: Basic performance of public services in the area