— Posted by Katarzyna Gorgol & Kristiina Pietikainen, DG INFSO,  Unit for Digital Agenda’s policy coordination

According to the Digital Agenda Scoreboard released last year, 56% of Europeans already buy online, 12% do it on a cross border level. When online, we look for goods and services which we can’t get offline or which are cheaper. We buy mainly electronic equipment, books and tourist services, household goods or clothes and accessories. When we decide not to buy online, it’s because we don’t trust the quality of the goods or services, we are concerned about our personal data or we face problems with paying

These findings are highlighted in the results of consultations on electronic commerce undertaken by the European Commission.

At the same time, the e-commerce reality is evolving at the speed of light. Every day new business models are being tested; new goods and services made available online.  We still use the term “electronic commerce”, but new notions are on the horizon: mobile commerce or social commerce.  Whatever the name or scope, e-commerce is a fundamental part of the digital economy and definitely merits the attention of the Digital Agenda Assembly 2012.

This year, we will focus on two key enablers to e-commerce: consumer trust and payments. Read the full entry

Number of views: 331

— Posted by Silvia Andreescu, DG INFSO, Project Officer in the unit responsible for Nanoelectronics

Are you trying to start – up a business or already running your own company? Are you working in an SME or, on the contrary, in a big corporation? Are you a web-entrepreneur looking forward to help designing a web strategy?  Would you, for example, like to have a Startup Europe Partnership based on the Based on Startup America initiative?

This is your chance to share your thoughts on what Europe should do to help businesses move forward and promote innovation. Read the full entry

Number of views: 1094

— Posted by Paul Timmers, Director “ICT Addressing Societal Challenges” at DG INFSO

In what areas and how could EU action on social media benefit employability, jobs and growth across Europe?

These questions will be addressed during the Digital Agenda Assembly on 21 and 22 June in Brussels, more specifically in the workshop Social Media Social Networking for Economic Recovery, Jobs and Growth. We will explore the use and great potential of social media for growth and jobs in Europe from three perspectives:

1 - businesses;

2 - social media platform providers;

3 -  the public sector.

We are interested in discovering successful European cases from which lessons can be learned, be it from the business usage of social media or web-entrepreneurs’ point of view.  Read the full entry

Number of views: 905

 — Posted by Gerard de Graaf, Director “Audiovisual, Media, Internet” at DG INFSO

We would like to learn your views about accessing audiovisual content nowadays: Which innovations do you see emerging? Do you think there are enough legal possibilities to access content online? How can protection of consumers be ensured? What is the impact of convergence on media pluralism? How can we make most out of the opportunities to transfer content from one device to another? …

Content creation and consumption anytime, anywhere and on any device? Nowadays this is not an abstract vision anymore but a reality we see happening around us. Convergence brings along many opportunities for businesses and many new experiences for consumers. Devices and applications offer us new ways of enjoying content and sharing this experience with others. TV on the Internet or Internet on your TV screen – differences continue to blur and might totally fade away one day. Read the full entry

Number of views: 533

 — Posted by Miguel Gonzalez-Sancho, DG INFSO, & the team organising the Digital Agenda Assembly

You might already know that we have launched a new online engagement platform to collect feedback and ideas for the Digital Agenda Assembly 2012, which is going to take place in Brussels on 21 & 22 June.

Our goal is to collectively identify relevant evidence and inspiring stories in a series of policy actions which are relevant to the Digital Agenda for Europe. The top down part is that we have selected nine key topics this year: (1) converged media; (2) broadband; (3) e-commerce; (4) social media; (5) cloud; (6) data; (7) security; (8) innovation and entrepreneurship; (9) jobs and skills. Then, there is a discussion group (10) “other” where participants can to discuss issues Digital Agenda issues not covered by the 9 key topics mentioned. The bottom-up and horizontal part is that we count on as many people as possible to share ideas and inspiring stories.

“We could not make the Digital Agenda succeed without the active involvement of all those people who are out there and interested in making it happen”, said Neelie Kroes on her blog last Thursday. Read the full entry

Number of views: 1624

— Posted by “The DAA and Going Local Organising Team”

The 1st Digital Agenda for Europe (DAA11, Brussels, 16-17 June 2011) surpassed expectations, with more than 1600 participants onsite and many contributions online. Thank you very much to all those that contributed in one way or another.

• DAA11 recordings and results are available online.
• Much feedback was received about the event itself, which is summarised in the ‘First Digital Agenda Assembly – Report of activity’.

Already during DAA11 many suggestions were made onsite and on twitter about aspects to improve. Soon after DAA11, an assessment form was e-mailed to participants and an online feedback forum was launched.  45 ideas were submitted in this forum, 190 people commented and voted. DAA11 organisers replied to most comments, others didn’t call for a response. The answers to the most voted suggestions are: Read the full entry

Number of views: 1365

— Posted by Robert Madelin, DG INFSO Director General

During the 1st Digital Agenda Assembly I noticed that online engagement is worth the effort. We have collected hundreds of positive feedbacks and constructive ideas from stakeholders and friends on twitter and other online platforms.

I’d like to go a step further now and I would appreciate to get your views on how we could deploy online engagement activities up to a greater extent in the future; in other words: “How can we keep the Digital Agenda digital?”

I believe that engaging in a conversation on Twitter is constructive. Therefore I have scheduled a Tweetchat on Thursday 30 June from 11:45 to 12:30. Please tell all stakeholders and people committed to achieve the Digital Agenda for Europe to join the chat. I am very much looking forward to this online discussion!

My personal twitter account is @eurohumph but I will be using @DigitalAgendaEU on Thursday. If you want to give inputs or ask questions, just use #daechat when typing your tweet. The key INFSO colleagues will be joining in, too, so I’m looking forward to a strategy-building exchange on Thursday…

Number of views: 1212

— Posted by Daniel Kitscha (DG INFSO, Radio Spectrum Policy, Digital Agenda Assembly – Coordinator Workshop 17) on behalf of the author: Peter Moray (Director, EUTC).

To launch the debate on “Spectrum for wireless innovation in Europe” (Digital Agenda Assembly Workshop 17 – #daa11spectrum) Peter Moray (Director, EUTC) has provided us with his recommendations on the spectrum needs for smart grids. Please join the discussion and provide your input by commenting on this blog post until June 10!

SPECTRUM RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SMART GRIDS:

 1. The world faces major challenges in energy sector – CO2 reduction, energy security and affordability. The European Union has committed themselves to the 20-20-20 targets:

• 20% reduction in EU Greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990;
• Increase in renewable energy to 20% of all energy consumed; and
• 20% increase in energy efficiency.

Read the full entry

Number of views: 4679

— Posted by Daniel Kitscha (DG INFSO, Radio Spectrum Policy, Digital Agenda Assembly – Coordinator Workshop 17) on behalf of the author: Knut Evensen (Chief Technologist, Q-Free ASA).

To launch the debate on “Spectrum for wireless innovation in Europe” (Digital Agenda Assembly Workshop 17 – #daa11spectrum) Knut Evensen (Chief Technologist, Q-Free ASA) has provided us with his recommendations on the spectrum needs for intelligent transport systems. Please join the discussion and provide your input by commenting on this blog post until June 10!

SPECTRUM RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS:

1. Background: The ITS sector is one of the high priority policy areas in Europe on two accounts:

• Road Safety; major reduction of serious road accidents
• Sustainability; reduction in carbon emissions and increased transport efficiency

The EU has issued the ITS Action Plan and an ITS Directive. These documents call for European-wide deployment before 2017, and national implementation preparations have started. The initiative comes from DG Mobility and Transport (lead), DG Information Society and Media, DG Research, DG Enterprise and Industry, and DG Climate Action.

Read the full entry

Number of views: 1908

— Posted by Daniel Kitscha (DG INFSO, Radio Spectrum Policy, Digital Agenda Assembly – Coordinator Workshop 17) on behalf of the author: Eric Klasen (Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality, Medtronic International Trading Sàrl).

To launch the debate on “Spectrum for wireless innovation in Europe” (Digital Agenda Assembly Workshop 17 – #daa11spectrum) Eric Klasen (Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality, Medtronic International Trading Sàrl) has provided us with his recommendations on spectrum needs for wireless eHealth innovations. Please join the discussion and provide your input by commenting on this blog post until June 10!

 SPECTRUM RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WIRELESS eHEALTH INNOVATIONS:

 1. Going forward, medical therapeutic and diagnostic applications will require, at a minimum, additional spectrum on a shared basis relative to a primary service. This type of regulatory structure will protect critical wireless medical applications from interference produced by Short Range Devices, digital systems and other sources of interfering radio emissions because it provides a legal basis for spectrum authorities to take any necessary action to address the interference issue. Read the full entry

Number of views: 3497