Socio-economic evaluation of information society applications of collective interest

The European Commission, DG XIII, has published an open call for proposals for a study entitled "A methodology for the socio-economic evaluation of information society applications of collective interest". The aim of this study is to provide the Commission with a methodology ...

The European Commission, DG XIII, has published an open call for proposals for a study entitled "A methodology for the socio-economic evaluation of information society applications of collective interest".

The aim of this study is to provide the Commission with a methodology for the evaluation of the socio-economic impacts of telematic applications of collective interest (e.g. education, health, environment) in the context of the monitoring of the development of trans-European telecommunications networks. The methodology will be put into practice on a number of up-and-running applications for which summary case-studies will be provided. The results of these evaluations and the methodology itself will also be used for the future selection by the Commission of applications that may require Community support.

The study should also provide examples of "best practice" that can be applied in the context of the selection and launch of future applications. The methodology will consist of a series of indicators from which direct, indirect, and general effects can be derived. Among the socio-economic impacts that will be measured are the effects on:

- Employment and work (content, organization, regulation);
- The organization and structures of institutions and enterprises (centralization, decentralization, service management);
- The supply of services (productivity, quality, cost-effectiveness, customer base).

The study will cover applications of collective interest in the Member States of the Union, including: networks between universities and research institutes, distance learning and training facilities, health (telemedicine, remote-diagnosis), traffic management and monitoring, culture, labour market organization, environmental monitoring, new ways of working (telework); and electronic public information services.
Requests for the terms of reference for the studies may be made to:

European Commission
DG XIII
Mr. C. Garric
200 rue de la Loi (BU-24 1/21)
B-1049 Brussels
Tel. [phone]; Fax [phone]