You are here: silicon.com > Management > Law & Policy

Law & Policy

European IT investment 'lacks ambition'

Getting left behind by the US

Tags: digital economy, reding

By Steve Ranger

Published: 22 May 2006 08:15 GMT

European countries must come up with more ambitious plans to exploit IT - including more use of broadband - if they are to close the economic growth gap on the US.

In its first progress report on i2010 - the digital economy element of the European Union's strategy for growth and jobs - the European Commission warns that member states need to increase access to broadband, make it easier to circulate digital content around Europe and modernise public services.

Radio spectrum should be freed up for new applications, while more spending on IT and communications research, along with more cross-border competition in the telecom sector, will also help lift the competitive performance of the European economy, it said.

EU commissioner for information society and media Viviane Reding said Europe continues to lag behind its competitors in IT research - investing about half as much as the US. IT and communications are contributing less to European productivity growth than they did 10 years ago, she warned.

Reding said in a statement: "Only through stronger investment in ICT research and effective cross-border competition will we ensure that the great potential of ICT is used to lift our competitive performance across the economy."

Economic growth in the EU is forecast to be around two per cent in 2006 - below the annual GDP growth of 2.7 per cent in the US. The Commission argues that IT can help fill the gap - but that governments aren't acting quickly enough.

The report warned: "The EU needs to shift up a gear if we are not to see a slowdown in the transition to the knowledge economy."

  1. Zones
  2. Management
  3. Networks
  4. Software
  5. IT Services
  6. Hardware
  1. Verticals
  2. Public Sector
  3. Financial Services
  4. Retail & Leisure

Naked CIO Naked CIO: Social networks are useless for finding a job 'Quantity over quality' approach poisoning professional networks

Peter Cochrane Peter Cochrane's Blog: Uneconomics We must move away from short-termism to prevent next economic crisis


  • Jobs
Project Manager

The e-Borders scope of work is at the forefront of the UK Government's Border Transformation Programme, and will herald a new era of border ...

ICT Manager - 6 month contract

Interim Head of ICT - Local Government organisation based in London requires an experienced ICT manager to work with the current head of Service ...

BSF Consultant - ICT (Building Schools for the Future)

Building Schools for the Future Consultant - ICT A local authority within the North West of England requires a BSF (Building Schools for the Future) ...

Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.





Quick Sitemap Links: