ACTIVITIES :: eGovernment :: Research

The road to eGovernment is paved with knowledge

Fulfilling the ambitious eGovernment goals agreed by the EU is a complex and challenging endeavour. Research, with the EU Framework Programmes leading the way, is the first to providing answers and workable solutions.

Research is vital for the development of eGovernment throughout Europe, but only if industry, smaller companies, academia and public administrations work closely together can research efforts bring us the tools we need to harness Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to make government services more efficient and user-friendly. Government Ministers and industry alike have underlined their commitment to implementing the EU’s eGovernment action plan, most recently at the 2009 Ministerial Conference in Malmö, but the real challenge is in translating research results into practical applications. Those objectives are being transposed by the European Commission in the Digital Agenda for Europe.

ICT research in eGovernment is focused on the underlying technologies that lead to a simplification of services – from the end-user’s point of view to the public organisations.

eGovernment services need to exploit a wide range of ICT technologies and tools across the whole spectrum of ICT research topics in addition to those specific for eGovernment.