With the 2006 European Recommendation on Key Competences, Digital Competence has been acknowledged as one of the 8 key competences for Lifelong Learning by the European Union. Digital Competence is a transversal key competence which enables acquiring other key competences (e.g. language, mathematics, learning to learn, cultural awareness). This report is part of a project on Digital Competence (DIGCOMP), launched by JRC-IPTS IS Unit under an Administrative Agreement for DG Education and Culture with an objective to contribute to better understand and develop Digital Competence in Europe. The report also contributes to the second work package of the project, by mapping and analyzing case studies where Digital Competence is being developed, acquired, and assessed or certified.

This white paper was prepared in order to assess the opportunities and obstacles that confront us in facilitating a translational role for bioinformatics and systems biology in drug discovery and clinical medicine. The report represents the consensus outcome of Think Tank discussions among 23 invited world-leading experts in Barcelona, Spain, on October 2011. There is potential in sub-cellular (or molecular) systems biology approaches to biomedicine, as compared to conventional methods of drug design. Despite the early stage of these approaches, and lots still to be done, they may be able to assist in more personalised approaches to drug treatment. For translational systems biology to make a major impact, the whole system of data access needs to be transformed into one based on more openness and sharing of information between hospitals, academia and industry. Various societal structures currently impede this development. Regulatory and funding agencies must be involved to overcome these obstacles.

Following to the successful completion of the event ‘eHealth & Equity in the Global Health Communities’ on 15 December in Brussels, all presentation material is now online. More than 60 participants attended this eHealth event which included many interesting presentations from important organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), the OECD, Kaiser Permanente, the Institute for Pharmacological Research, GE Healthcare as well as the Ghanaian Ministry of Health. Animated debates took place throughout the day in addition to a very fruitful panel discussion at the end of the event. Presentations are available at the bottom of the page below the Agenda and Speakers sections to download them. The workshop report will soon be available.

This publication contains a summary report and session reports from the Safer Internet Forum 2011. How to promote positive content online for children? Concerns and opportunities using mobile devices. How problematic is "sexting"? Are we approaching a more holistic approach to "online safety"? These are some of the topics covered in the summary report which is based on insights from the plenary and workshop sessions and aims at placing the debates in a wider context, giving an overview of recommendations made in this year's Forum.

The present report contains the final results for the study SMART 2009/0021 on “Enterprise 2.0 in Europe”, produced by Tech4i2, IDC and Headshift for the European Commission. The report is addresses 4 main issues: What is Enterprise 2.0? Why it matters? How is it implemented? So what should the European Commission do? The key novelty lies not so much in technological developments, but in the values of web 2.0: emergent approach, open innovation, no hierarchy, many-to-many, rapid development. In particular, we consider E20 as a key enabler of open innovation and innovative working practices (results driven, employee centered, based on open communication).

EU eInclusion policy goals reinforced in the flagship initiative ‘A Digital Agenda for Europe (2010)’ aim to both develop digital skills and competence for empowerment and emancipation and use ICT in support of social inclusion processes. The vast majority of the eInclusion initiatives in the field are carried out by the third sector and public sector organisations. In order to better understand how EU-third sector synergies could be strengthened in favour of the eInclusion process and, given the scarcity of data available about the structure, characteristics, needs and challenges of the civil society and the Third Sector Organisations (TSO), the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) has carried out an exploratory research study to shed some light on the above questions. The study, on which this report is based, starts by analysing the European policy framework for the third sector, and clarifies the nature and specificities of civil society and TSO activities and their contribution to social innovation. It analyses TSOs’ contribution to eInclusion objectives and makes an attempt to classify the different types of TSO from this perspective, providing many inspiring examples of TSO actions. Finally, it proposes some policy options to support and further develop the role that this sector plays in achieving eInclusion goals.

This survey reveals that 80% of young internet users in the 27 EU Members States are active on social media. The share of households with broadband connections has doubled since 2006, to reach 61% in 2010 compared with 30% in 2006.

The Commission launched a public consultation on the EU 2020 strategy in November 2009, which closed on 15th January 2010. Around 1500 contributions have been received from a wide range of interested parties. A more detailed analysis of the contributions is due to be issued around mid-February. All contributions will be available soon on the consultation website.

The Europe 2020 strategy will build on the successes and results obtained by the Lisbon strategy since its 2005 relaunch, which focused on growth and jobs, but also address some of its shortcomings. In this context, the Commission prepared an evaluation of the Lisbon strategy.

Evidence shows that social computing is already affecting the ways in which people find, create, share and learn knowledge, through rich media opportunities and in collaboration with each other. These practices are at the core of Education and Training, as they promote the competences needed for future jobs and enable new tools for educational institutions.

The objective of this study was to analyse the most appropriate criteria for the assessment of media literacy levels and provide the Commission with a set of such criteria.

As part of its the commitment made in the Ministerial Riga Declaration on eInclusion, the Commission has carried out a review of 470 digital literacy initiatives in Europe. It finds that Member States have invested heavily in digital literacy and much has been achieved with increasing internet use by all sections of the population. However it warns that much remains to be done, particularly for the elderly, and finds evidence of a possible secondary digital divide in terms of quality of use. As part of the Review, the Commission invited a High-Level Expert Group to propose Recommendations based on its findings.

Collection of national strategies for eInclusion in the European Union, aimed at assessing the status and exchanging practices of eInclusion policy approaches across the diversified European context. Document presented at the Lisbon Ministerial Event (2-3 December 2007)

This publication takes a look at Europeans' inclusion in the information society, more specifically at their "e-skills" to use information and communication technologies, using the results of the 2005 Community survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals.

Digital divide and death of distance

This is the second edition of Statistics on the Information Society in Europe. It provides detailed statistical information on the Information Society in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the Candidate countries. Statistical information from a variety of sources, mainly official sources, have been brought together for this publication. The publication uses data from three Eurostat sources that are focused on information society issues, namely the COINS database on communication statistics, the ICT usage and e-commerce survey of enterprises and data from the household survey on ICT usage. The publication also provides detailed data relevant to information and communication technologies extracted from broader Eurostat sources, notably Structural Business Statistics, PRODCOM, short-term business statistics, external trade and the Labour Force Survey. A number of other sources covering specific issues complete the picture.