Regions for economic change Theme 2.6: Better ICT connections between regions UPDATE 14/11/2008 1.

DESCRIPTION In the Communication for the Regions of Economic change it was stressed that both access to a broadband infrastructure and services and the strategic use of ICT constitute one of the main drivers for economic growth, social development and inclusion. They are a key element to improve quality of life and to redress the balance between urban and rural areas. This message is reflected in the Cohesion strategic guidelines for 2007-2013, which highlight the importance of a balanced approach to the development of the information society including the provision of an affordable broadband infrastructure. Proposals under the theme "Better ICT connections between regions" are meant to reinforce the capacity of regional authorities to plan, manage and implement ICT strategies and projects that support EU policy objectives in the context of the digital divide in particular in rural and remote areas and less developed regions. Main aims Regions are invited to put forward proposals within this initiative that promote the adoption of a balanced and integrated approach to increase access and use of ICT/broadband in underserved areas. Proposals should focus on increasing broadband for all, on supporting ICT take up for building digital capacity and endogenous local development, and or on enabling enterprise networking and personalized ICT services to citizens and businesses for example through the deployment of Digital Ecosystems. The network shall ideally include regions that have implemented or are implementing relevant ICT projects in underserved areas and wish to proceed with further developments, and less developed regions that have foreseen such projects in their Operational Programmes (2007-2013) and are now proceeding to their planning phase. The proposal should facilitate the networking among the two sets of regions with a view to facilitate the design of projects that adopt the most appropriate and efficient approach on the basis of local context. Proposals that focus primarily on increasing access and use of broadband should take into account both broadband infrastructure requirements and measures that are aimed at the efficient adoption of ICT in businesses (in terms of technology mix, procurement strategies, e-business models, support schemes for ICT/eBusiness take up etc.). Work shall lead to the development of projects that adopt a balanced and integrated approach aimed at increasing ICT/broadband access and use in underserved areas. Regions adopting this approach and looking for partners may wish to consult the list of projects that took part to the exhibition of the conference on Bridging the Broadband Gap. Relevant EU policy documents and other pertinent information can be found under: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/digital_divide/index_en.htm . The European Broadband Portal offers tools for effective sharing of experiences and good practices for policy-makers and practitioners: www.broadband-europe.eu. Cooperation and synergy with the activities European Broadband Portal to increase interaction among public authorities will strengthen the networking features of proposed projects and will be seen as an additional positive element. 2. PROPOSALS THAT FOCUS PRIMARILY ON MEASURES ENABLING ENTERPRISE NETWORKING AND PERSONALIZED ICT SERVICES TO CITIZENS AND BUSINESSES THROUGH THE DEPLOYMENT OF DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS WILL BE EXPECTED TO

WORK ON THE INTEGRATION OF THE LOCAL SMES WITHIN THE GLOBAL MARKET. WORK SHALL LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECT BASED ON A VARIETY OF ICT-BASED SERVICES AND BUSINESS MODELS ADAPTED TO LOCAL CONDITIONS. RELEVANT DOCUMENTS AND OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION IN THIS CONTEXT CAN BE FOUND UNDER: HTTP://WWW.DIGITAL-ECOSYSTEMS.ORG/ REGIONS ADOPTING THIS APPROACH AND LOOKING FOR PARTNERS MAY WISH TO CONSULT THE LIST OF PROJECTS OF THE TECHNOLOGIES FOR BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM CLUSTER AND THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM DEPLOYMENT GUIDES AND CONSULT THE GUIDELINES ON STRUCTURAL FUND SUPPORT FOR E-INFRASTRUCTURE.REGIONS FOR ECONOMIC CHANGE FAST-TRACK OPTION NETWORKS

The next INTERREG IV C call for proposals will be launched in October 2008 with a closing date in January 2009. Details of the calls for proposals will be published on the Interreg IVC site once decided by the programme authorities. The Commission uses a set of assessment questions to decide whether a network should be labelled as fast-track option project. These questions are published on the Regions for Economic Change website. 2.1 B3 Regions - Regions for Better Broadband connection

Based on the analysis that only about 60% of businesses and households in the remote and rural areas of the EU15 had access to broadband in 2005, compared with over 90% of urban areas, the project aims to transfer existing good practices to partner regions in the network. Through a partnership of 17 bodies representing 8 countries, this project will contribute to the economic modernisation and increased competitiveness of remote or disadvantaged areas through improving the effectiveness of regional development policies in the Information Society area. This objective will be achieved through the transfer of broadband experiences and the development of Strategic Action Plans through the 2007-2013 OPs and by a dissemination process to external stakeholders, primarily other Managing Authorities, of the benefits of the adopted good practices. Lead Partner: Piedmont Region (Piemonte, IT) Partners: CSI-Piemonte (Piemonte, IT), NYnet (North Yorkshire, UK), Broadband Foundation Hungary (Kozep-Magyarorszag, HU), Region of Sterea Ellada (Sterea Ellada, GR), University of Crete (Kriti, GR), iCentres Association (Yugozapaden, BG), Secretariat of Telecommunications and Information Society (Catalua, ES), University of Cyprus (Kypros / Kibris, CY), Maopolska Region (Maopolskie, PL), d Region (dzkie, PL), City of d - City of d Office (dzkie, PL), Region of Crete (Kriti, GR), Marshal Office of Lower Silesia (Dolnolskie, PL), Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Fundecyt (Extremadura, ES), Regional Government of Sardinia (Sardegna, IT) Web-site: www.b3regions.eu Calendar: o Kick-off meeting on 11-12 September (Turin, Italy) o 3 December 2008 (York, UK) B3 Steering group
o

4/5 December 2008 (York, UK): Thematic Workshop on Demand Aggregation

o 15/16 January 2009 (Wroclaw, PL) Thematic workshop on "E-government services and Management of Infrastructure"
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o March 2009 (Spain): Thematic Workshop "State aid regulation" o Last week of March 2009 (Turin, Italy): Launch conference o May 2009 (Greece): Thematic Workshop "Education services" o July 2009 (Turin, Italy): Thematic Workshop "ICT Observatory and integrated portals" o July 2009: first draft Interregional Action Plan Support Tool o September 2009 (Nicosia, Cyprus): Thematic Workshops "Access in the remote rural coastal mountain areas" o November 2009 (Budapest, Hungary): Thematic Workshop "EU broadband search engine" o January 2010 (Bulgaria): Thematic Workshop "Public private partnership in funding models" o July 2010 (Lodz, Poland): Final International Conference 3. EXAMPLES
FOCUS OF RELEVANT OPERATIONS

PROJECTS AND NETWORKS

BROADBAND

EU Information Society Portal DG INFSO: i2010 initiative: A European Information Society for growth and employment DG INFSO: i2010: Digital Divide (Broadband Gap policy) European Broadband Portal: www.broadband-europe.eu ePractice portal: www.epractice.eu EUROSTAT: Regional Information society statistics State aid decisions on publiclyfunded broadband projects (see also: State Aid Register) EU Funded projects o CIP/Information Society Technologies (FP7 - IST) Programme: European Broadband Portal facilitating dialogue between regional and local actors and the ICT industry to overcome the digital divide between urban and rural areas OPERA Project MUSE Project A-BARD Project BREAD project TRANSFORM SFERA (Structural Funds for European Regional Advancement)

o Innovative Actions: Midi-Pyrnes ; Catalua ; rgion Rhne-Alpes ; rgion Provence-Alpes-Cte dAzur ; Southern and Eastern region, Ireland ; Networks: o ERISA/IANIS+ o ELANET o Interreg III C: Understand
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Specific operational programmes (selected examples): o Denmark - Operational Programme 'Innovation and Knowledge' o France: Operational Programme 'Aquitaine' ; Operational Programme 'Languedoc-Roussillon' o Greece - Operational Programme 'Digital Convergence' o Lithuania - Operational Programme 'Economic Growth' o Poland - Operational Programme 'Innovative economy' electronic administration ; Operational Programme 'Mazovia' o Romania - Operational Programme 'Increase of Economic Competitiveness' Priority axis 3: ICT for private and public sectors o Slovakia - Operational Programme 'Information Society' o Spain - Operational Programme 'Knowledge-based Economy'; ; Operational Programme 'Research, Development and Innovation for and by Enterprises Technology Fund'; Operational Programme 'Extremadura'

Digital Ecosystems focus Relevant Policy documents: http://www.digital-ecosystems.org Digital Local Agenda (EISCO 2008 Napoli declaration http://www.eisco2008.eu/declaration.php ) Projects funding ICT deployment and reviewed under state aid regulation o 6FP/ Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme and CIP Project belonging to the Technologies for Digital Business Ecosystem FP6 project cluster and http://www.digital-ecosystems.org/de/refs/ref_proj.html specifically the ones which include among the objectives the regional development and capacity building: Networks: o eris@ / IANIS+: www.ianis.net o DEN4DEK/REDEN (European Thematic Network Ecosystems)/(Regional Digital Ecosystem http://www.den4dek.org 4. CONTACT DETAILS For further information, contact (mentioning the theme):
REGIO-Regions-Economic-Change@ec.europa.eu
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PEARDROP (FP6 Support http://www.peardrop.eu/Pages/index.aspx DEN4DEK (CIP) SEAMLESS and ONE (FP6 STREP Projects)

Actions)

on Digital Network):