Economy and Work
Honing Competitiveness & Changing the World of Work
Few companies today can remain competitive without using advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
"The quality of companies’ ICT infrastructure has significantly improved in the past 3-4 years, in particular among SMEs. Companies are better prepared for more advanced forms of e-business" - European e-Business Report 2008
This is more of an opportunity than a threat - by helping European businesses link up across national borders, ICTs allow them to grow within the Single Market and compete globally. With Europe's economy dominated by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, however, much must be done to ensure that Europe is not left behind.
Investing in ICTs is therefore a key factor in introducing innovation into companies, driving productivity growth, honing competitiveness, cutting red tape and creating jobs. ICT has become a general purpose technology, widely used in all business functions. 55-70% of companies in all sectors expect that ICT will have a high or medium impact on their business. This is true across practically all areas, including primary functions (such as production, marketing and logistics) and support functions (such as controlling, human resources and accounting). (source: European e-Business Report 2008).
Many European firms, however, face a number of obstacles in adopting these technologies, while fragmented policies and regulations across Europe can prevent entire industrial sectors from reaping the benefits and staying competitive. Many of the technologies, finally, can only be developed by pooling Europe's scientific, technological and financial resources.
This theme therefore explores what Europe is doing to help:
- Promote eBusiness in Europe: ICTs profoundly change Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer relationships, influence companies' internal organisation, and modify the way governments operate ... more
- Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: The exploitation of ICTs by business remains uneven, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which dominate Europe's economy ... more
- Manufacturing Industry: ICTs can revolutionise the manufacturing process ... more
- Transport Industry: ICTs can make Europe's transport systems safer, more efficient and less environmentally harmful ... more
Ensuring Europe's workforce is able to use these technologies is also a critical part of the competitiveness equation - see the Education & Training > Digital Literacy theme
Further Details and Quicklinks
- Policies
- Activities
- See Also
- Relevant Policies
-
- The New Working Environments site covers both policy development and research activities in the field of designing new working environments and organising the world of work in the networked, knowledge-based economy;
- The ICT Industries and eBusiness site analyses the impact of ICTs on Europe's enterprises and economy, and covers policy developments;
- EU's Innovation Policy: "Putting knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU" (September 2006) covers ICT-relevant issues as diverse as digital business models, intellectual property and European research;
- Relevant Activities
-
Research: while almost all EU-funded ICT research supports
European industry (see the
IS Research theme),
the following sites are focused more particularly on increasing
the uptake of ICTs by European companies:
- The New Working Environments site covers both policy development and research activities in the field of designing new working environments and organising the world of work in the networked, knowledge-based economy;
- Issues of privacy, trust and security are crucial: see Pervasive and Trusted Network and Service Infrastructures, one of the seven main challenges under the EU's new ICT research programme (FP7, 2007-2013), and the ICT for Trust and Security site under FP6 (2002-2006);
- Companies must handle their data and information better to survive: see the Digital Libraries and Content Challenge under FP7 (2007-2013) and the Knowledge and Content Systems Strategic Objective under FP6 (2002-2006);
- See also: Relevant ICT Results Stories
Other Activities:
- eTEN > Trust and Security: One of the priority themes of the eTEN Programme, which supports the development of e-services in Europe, is Trust and Security - essential for the continued uptake of ICTs by business.
- TaskForce on ICT Competitiveness and Uptake, which met for the last time in November 2006, aimed to identify obstacles to the uptake of ICTs - read the press release;
- See Also
-
Highlights from the Economy & Work Newsroom and Library:
- News: Commission proposes a European policy strategy for smart radio tags (15 March 2007)
- News: Consumers: Commission acts to boost confidence in digital world (8 February 2007)
- Speech: An innovation-friendly, modern Europe (President Barroso, 6 December 2006)
- Brochure: Information Society and Employment (October 2006)
- Report: Aho Group: "Creating an Innovative Europe"
- For the latest Economy & Work news, publications and more from the Newsroom & Library, see right hand column, or select Economy & Work when you subscribe to the Portal Newsroom Update;
IS Policy Link: linking Information Society projects with relevant European policies - see the IS Policy Link Competitiveness Factsheets.
Last Updated March 2007