EU calls on governments to promote IT

The EU has released a report on the cultivation of job opportunities in the European information society. The report, which was adopted at the joint initiative of the president, Jacques Santer, the commissioner for employment, Padraig Flynn, and commissioner for information technologies and telecommunications, Martin Bangemann, calls for all member states to draft an IS strategy.

It identifies a number of aspects in which the continent is found wanting. According to the report, Europe must do more to promote an enterprise culture in which technology start-ups can be allowed to succeed.

A spokesman for Bangemann said: "It may be a problem of mentality. People don't like to take risks in Europe. We are also slower to transform inventions into products. Member states can make more risk capital available or they can ease the processes by which inventions get closer to reality."

The spokesman added that the EU was asking its members to draft IS strategies to be presented at a summit on the European information society in Vienna on 11 and 12 December.
"Countries are preparing employment guidelines and providing strategies for making potential customers more aware of the opportunities available through technology," he said. "Education and training are also in the hands of governments to improve and develop."

The report also touched on the aspect of telecoms deregulation by pinpointing it as another potential area of employment. "This is also a tremendous employment opportunity," said the spokesman. "However some countries have been late in implementing the directives."