EU and SE Asia discuss how to keep up with the runaway train that is ICT
'Technology is now like a runaway train. We don't even know which platform to stand on in order to get on the train,' said Keng Yong Ong, Secretary-General of ASEAN, at the Euro-South East Asia forum on information and communications technologies (ICT), in Singapore, on 19 June. Representing the ASEAN participants at the conference - around 550 out of the total 800 members -, Mr Ong said that he hoped that the forum would allow South East Asian countries to learn how the EU has dealt with the challenges presented by new technologies, and how to bring all of the ASEAN countries aboard the train. 'Maybe ASEAN and the EU can then have a party on the train on the way to the final destination,' he added. Many of the challenges that South East Asia is grappling with have indeed been addressed within Europe. Solutions may have been found for some, but work on others is ongoing. For example, while the regulatory environment for ICT is relatively harmonised within the EU, and the market is completely open to competition, Europe is still seeking to bring an end to the digital divide. Mr Ong declared literacy rates and access to ICT as the two areas where countries from South East Asia are behind their European counterparts. From an ASEAN perspective, Europe has dealt with its digital divide - Mr Ong compared Europe's rural communities to those living in a hamlet in the mountains in Laos. Indeed, Europe's areas are not quite so remote, but a look at Eurostat's latest statistics on the digital divide show that the percentage of households with access to the Internet ranged from 16 per cent in Romania to 85 per cent in Iceland in 2004. For the EU25, the average is 25 per cent. The EU has a number of initiatives aimed at increasing access, and Mr Ong hoped that his Asian colleagues would be able to learn from these. The figures diverge a great deal for the ASEAN region. In Thailand, which is in an average position in South East Asia, around 11.7 per cent of the population subscribes to fixed line Internet, while seven million out of a population of 63 million described themselves as Internet users in 2005. Catching up will not be easy. As the EU's Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding observed, 'ICT is advancing so quickly that even experts nearly can't follow developments.' She referred to the recent examples of the rollout of high definition television (HDTV) and third generation mobile phones (3G). Both are used far more widely in Europe than in Asia. 'Countries that don't manage to keep up will, in economic terms, be left behind. In a knowledge society, this is a problem for their citizens,' she said. Several speakers, including the Singapore's Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Vivian Balakrishnan, spoke at the opening plenary of the way in which closer ICT collaboration can facilitate research and development (R&D) cooperation. GÉANT 2, Europe's high-speed multi-gegabit research and education network brings together 34 countries, and Ms Reding said that the network will continue to expand in terms of both speed and geographical coverage. GÉANT allows researchers to work together in real time without leaving their laboratories. 'We don't want brain drain [from South East Asia], we want to leave researchers where they can be useful. We want you to come to Europe, make friends, then go back to your laboratories and use high-speed networks to consolidate what has happened here,' said the Commissioner. The invitation to visit Europe referred in particular to the IST conference taking place in Helsinki in November. Using the grid to increase collaboration does however rely on a common infrastructure, and this is not yet present in the ASEAN countries. 'Market access is a problem,' said Ms Reding. European companies are already the biggest investors in ASEAN countries. 'We would like to invest more, but we can't. This is why we need a dialogue on regulation, market opening and competition.' She emphasised that increased competition has helped to bridge the digital divide within Europe, and suggested that it could do the same in South East Asia. Mr Ong responded by drawing attention to how difficult it is to establish a common platform for ICT when penetration rates vary so greatly between countries. It is however hoped that, by the end of 2007, some sort of common legal framework should be in place. Research cooperation is in place to an extent. There are currently more than 20 EU information society technology (IST) projects involving partners from South East Asia, and it is the hope of both the European Commission and the Asian participants at the conference that this number will increase. Ms Reding told participants at the conference that the next EU framework programme for research, FP7, will be much more open to collaboration with third country researchers, and will also have increased resources to support ICT research - EUR 9 billion over seven years. Priorities will be next generation networks, embedded systems, new instruments such as Technology Platforms, e-health, ICT for independent living and intelligent transport. The Commissioner said that by building stronger relationships with their counterparts in Europe, South East Asian scientists may be able to influence the fields of research funded by the European Commission. 'We do not believe that research can be done top-down,' she said. After inviting the South East Asians present to form closer relationships with European scientists, she emphasised that ideas for research 'have to be done bottom-up by scientists', and that, for this reason, researchers from both continents must get together and discuss common priorities. Speaking on behalf of the Singapore Ministry for Information, Communication and Arts at a reception on 18 June, Yeng Kit Chan announced that 2006 marks a milestone for Singapore - it is 25 years since the country launched its first national plan. At the time, the plan was ambitious, especially when one considers that the country had only two computers when it came into force. Even in 1981 the importance of ICT for the economy and social well-being was apparent, said Mr Chan. Considering the current forecasts of growth in the ICT, now is an optimal time to deepen the Europe-South East Asia partnership, he said.
Countries
Singapore