Commission proposes funding programme to help Europe attain Lisbon goal
In view of the EU's Lisbon objective of becoming the most competitive knowledge based economy in the world by 2010, the Commission is proposing the establishment of a financial support programme to assist national efforts towards the attainment of this goal. In 1998, the PROMISE programme was created to promote the information society in Europe. This coincided with the eEurope 2002 action plan, which set 64 targets to be achieved by the end of 2002 under the umbrella of three overall objectives: cheaper, faster and secure Internet, investment in people and skills and the stimulation of Internet use. The eEurope 2002 action plan and the PROMISE programme will however both expire by the end of this year, whereas the objective of the Lisbon Council extends to 2010. The Commission proposal relates to a multi-annual programme for the monitoring of eEurope, dissemination of good practices and the improvement of network and information security (MODINIS). The programme would run for three years with a budget of 25 million euro. Under the programme, the performance of the EU Member States will be compared with the best in the world. The programme will also fund mechanisms to exchange experiences gained at national or regional level, analyse the economic and social consequences of the information society with a view to appropriate policy responses and support existing efforts for the tightening up of network and information security. The 25 million euro budget will be directed towards data collection and analysis, studies to identify good practice, workshops and studies to analyse industrial change instigated by digital technologies, an information society forum, conferences to promote cooperation and specific surveys on security, particularly on emerging threats.