This information society is rapidly taking shape before our eyes. These changes are underpinned by technological progress and globalisation. The combination of global competition and digital technologies is having a sweeping effect on the economy. Digital technologies make it easy and increasingly cheaper to access information, store it and transmit it. Taking digital information and transforming it into economic and social value, offers huge opportunities for the development of new products and services.
Information is the key resource of the digital economy.
First concerned are of course digital industries. For instance, big mergers and acquisitions in the telecoms industry make the headlines every day. In parallel, small, innovative start-ups are mushrooming. They find new niche markets in services, content and software. Some of them may be the giants of tomorrow.