ICT is driving almost 50% of the EU’s growth, said an
annual European Commission report on the digital
economy.
Public and private investment in ICT “is bearing fruit”, said
the Commission's annual progress report on i2010 – the Commission’s
digitally-led strategy for growth and jobs.
Technology is fuelling innovation and productivity, and there
are signs of fundamental change in markets and user behaviour, as
Europe moves towards a knowledge-based economy, said the
Commission.
"Our integrated European policy for growth and jobs is now
starting to pay dividends," said Viviane Reding, EU commissioner
for information society and media.
She warned however, “Let's not be complacent though. ICT
companies in Europe are still not able to profit from economies of
scale in view of regulatory fragmentation that blocks the emergence
of pan-European services, and hurts the chances of e-communication
operators and software companies to compete on the world
market.”
She said that the EU and its member states need, in particular,
to make a greater effort to remove the remaining impediments within
the internal market for online services.
The report found that ICT contributed nearly 50% of EU
productivity growth between 2000 and 2004, with software and IT
services currently the most dynamic growth area (5.9% for
2006-2007).
The report also shows that businesses are investing in new and
more mature ICT solutions, and Europeans are quickly embracing new
online services.
This is supported by a record number of new broadband
connections, with 20.1 million new broadband lines connected in the
year to October 2006. There are high broadband penetration rates in
The Netherlands (30%) and the Nordic Countries (25-29%).
The online content market is forecast to grow rapidly over the
next five years, as already seen with the explosive growth of
online music sales and user-created content, said the report.
At a national level, the report reveals that Italy leads in 3G
mobile phone and fibre development, while the most households with
digital TV are in the UK.
Six countries – Denmark, The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, the
UK and Belgium – all have higher broadband penetration rates than
the US and Japan.
Recruit women or face IT skill crisis, says European
Commission
Comment on this article:
computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk