European Commission

Imagine we had a resource available that could stimulate new innovations, a market worth tens of billions of euros, and increase the transparency and governance of public life.

We do – it’s the data held by Europe’s public institutions. And today I announced legal proposals to unlock this treasure trove. Benefiting not just web entrepreneurs, but journalists, academics, anyone who has a smartphone or uses public services.

The test site for the Commission's own data portal - going live 2012

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Tomorrow is the International Day of People with a Disability; yesterday was its European equivalent. So now is a good time for me to talk about what Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can do to help the 80 million Europeans with a disability.

For people with disabilities, does modern information and communications technology help – or hinder? Read the full entry

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Currently only 2% of all Internet traffic is IPv6 compatible. Major companies and organisations across the world, including the European Commission, are offering their content over IPv6 for a 24-hour “test flight” today  to raise awareness about the need to deploy IPv6 as soon as possible.

The internet has been growing at a very fast pace in the last few years. Two billion people are now connected to the internet worldwide and the number of gadgets that will connect to the internet in the future will be even larger. We are in for a steep curve of demand for Internet Protocol addresses to transmit data from billions of connected people and devices in the next 100 years.

However, we are facing the complete pool depletion of IPv4 addresses. The last remaining IPv4 address was assigned in February 2011. The uptake of IPv6 can remedy this situation by making available a practically unlimited amount of Internet addresses to support the explosive growth of our fridges, cars, smart phones and many other domestic appliances connecting to the internet. IPv6 will assure the growth of the future internet and give rise to a whole generation of new smart services. Moving from IPv4 to IPv6 is therefore essential to let the internet evolve and create new apps and services. It will offer many advantages including larger address, space, support for new mobile and wireless services and built-in security.

Join the movement on IPv6 World Day today!

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Two important consultations are now live. First, we are asking citizens and businesses and other interested parties consultation on how can we guarantee access to communications services in the digital era. The key question is: are our rules appropriate for the digital age? Should they be expanded to cover broadband access, for example? The consultation will run until 7 May 2010.

Separately the Commission is asking for views on use of Radio Spectrum 2010-2015, between now and 9 April. Your views will feed into a ‘Spectrum Summit’ held jointly with the European Parliament 22-23 March. Many of our most widely used technologies depend on fair spectrum access – the question is what is most fair and effective?

Number of views: 2235