Structural funds contribute significantly to information society in Europe, says Barnier
Structural funds make a significant contribution to the development of the information society in the EU, in particular to the objectives and goals of the e-Europe initiative. This was the conclusion of a recent report presented by the Regional Policy Commissioner, Michel Barnier, on 18 March. Mr Barnier underlined the importance of information society for regional development, saying that a region's competitiveness lies in its potential for innovation and that new technologies can be an instrument for social integration or a source of exclusion if not available to all. 'For this reason I have sought to ensure that every regional development programme supported by Europe has an information society dimension in one form or another,' he added. The report bases its analysis on a comparative study of 150 regional and three national programmes which cover the period 2000 to 2006. It is estimated that the EU will contribute some 10 billion euro of structural funds to information society related activities in Europe within this period. Further channelling of funds in this area has been made possible with the Commission's recent announcement that public support for broadband and mobile telephone infrastructures does not break competition rules. Mr Barnier noted that 'as a result, the share of structural funds dedicated to the information society should increase from 2 per cent in the period 1994-99 to 7.3 per cent in the current period.' According to the report's findings, regions tend to adopt coherent and strategic approaches to information society planning: Amongst the 74 regions that were identified as prioritising information society development in their programming, almost three quarters have adopted a coherently planned and strategic approach. Other results suggest that cities are, in some cases, the main focal point for promoting technology development in regions. However, another finding reveals that information society expenditure per capita tends to be higher in isolated or less populated regions. In terms of recommendations, the report calls for, in particular, a more coherent framework for regional information society development in order to formulate an approach to indicators and benchmarking.