A4-0153/97

Resolution on the development and application of new information and communications technologies in the next decade

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to its resolution of 19 September 1996 on 'Europe and the global information society - Recommendations to the European Council¨ and on a communication from the Commission of the European Communities: 'Europe's way to the information society: an action plan¨ ((OJ C 320, 28.10.1996, p. 164.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 28 November 1996 on prospects for European science and technology policy in the 21st century ((OJ C 380, 16.12.1996, p. 72.)),

- having regard to the Green Paper on innovation (COM(95)0688),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy (A4-0153/97),

A. whereas, to secure a competitive position on the global information and communications technologies (ICT) market, the European Union's industrial policy should focus on knowledge- and capital-intensive activities and products,

B. whereas it has also emerged from research that the ICT sector is developing faster in the US and in South-East Asia than in Europe,

C. whereas the 1998 US federal R& D budget for computing and communication R& D will increase by 10% while the overall R& D budget increase will be of 2.2%,

D. whereas the lack of a uniform and homogenous internal European market is threatening to put a brake on the development of the European ICT industry,

E. whereas it is difficult for new and expanding ICT firms in the European Union to attract venture capital,

F. whereas, according to recent assessments of RTD programmes in the ICT sector, the effectiveness of European Union's policy in the ICT sector is not being maximized because of the limited funding available and the lack of flexibility within what are time-consuming procedures,

1. Considers, having regard to the present situation of the European ICT sector, that the Member States must make greater efforts to coordinate their national ICT policies, in the framework of Community decision-making, with a view to promoting the establishment of single European ICT market, in particular as regards the laying down of rules on standards, trade marks and patents and accessibility of ICT infrastructure so that European products and services are compatible and interoperable within the European Union and globally;

2. Calls for speedier, more efficient and easier processing of Community trade marks by the Alicante agreement and increased efficiency and reduction of the cost of filing patents by the European Patent Office so as to encourage more patenting, especially by SMEs;

3. Calls for speedier efforts to be made concerning research, development and definition of Community standards, in particular in the area of data traffic security (encryption), financial transactions and privacy;

4. Calls on the European Union and the Member States to establish promptly a regulatory framework which, in particular, strengthens the operations of the free market forces; action needs to be taken to prevent developments being curbed by a lack of legal certainty;

5. Asks the Commission to take note of the increasing prospects of digital piracy that ICTs enable, and to provide information on the means of protection of digital information; calls on the Commission to raise the awareness of these issues to companies, especially SMEs wishing to trade electronically;

6. Calls on the European Union and the Member States to facilitate the development of a widely accessible delivery infrastructure for ICT-related applications and services, as such an infrastructure is a precondition for the wide diffusion of these services; and takes the view that, in the light of the increasing convergence of telecommunications and computing, convergence must be reflected also in European rule-making so that interconnectivity of the various technologies is not hampered; straightforward and user-friendly interfaces must be developed;

7. Calls on the Commission to prepare measures now which can enhance the operation of the internal market after 1998: account needs expressly to be taken of Internet capabilities both for the further development of the SME sector and the development of market segments such as electronic commerce, education, the environment, health care, and the like;

8. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop a new ICT policy which is in keeping with the opportunities offered by the various ICT segments and leads to a better balance between technology, on the one hand, and applications and content on the other, which would reinforce European capability;

9. Calls for a policy which encourages networking and clustering; calls also for a policy which allows better coordination of various EU policy instruments;

10. Calls on the Commission to ensure that projects involving the use of ICT and installation of ICT insfrastructure in the most disadvantaged regions are given priority in the cohesion policy and through the Structural Funds;

11. Calls on the European Union and the Member States to pursue a European ICT policy geared not only to large firms but also to SMEs which should receive more technical assistance through the various programmes and the Structural Funds; SMEs also need to have greater input in shaping and implementing RTD policy;

12. Urges the Commission and the Member States to encourage European companies to use ICT applications and services which aim to promote the European cultural, artistic, historical and linguistic heritage;

13. Notes that, in its proposal for the Fifth Framework Programme, the Commission earmarks 28% of the total financial package for the information society; points out that Parliament will decide later, under the codecision procedure, on the suitability of this proposal;

14. Takes the view that in the Fifth Framework Programme in particular, there must be better apportionment of efforts and resources between basic technologies, systems and applications; the balance between technology and content needs to be improved;

15. Points out that there are no automatic links between R& D efforts, R& D results and economic results; existing and future R& D programmes need to be analysed to establish what they have and have not achieved (in terms of economic successes); such analyses, operated through clear procedures, should result in enhanced control of research programmes and should provide 'best practices' for future R& D programmes;

16. Takes the view that Europe's ICT policy must devote more attention to voice and language technology in order to turn existing know-how and experience of multilinguilism into a global competitive advantage;

17. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to slash red tape, procedures and overheads surrounding EU RTD programmes; payments need to be made faster and programmes themselves need to be less detailed;

18. Calls on the Member States to have their public sectors make maximum use of ICT and ICT capabilities when performing their tasks and communicating with the public; to create conditions to improve the return on R& D efforts, local, regional, national and European authorities need to act as 'leading consumers' or 'launching customers' for products and services derived from R& D efforts; such authorities can bring their considerable influence to bear on market segments such as health care, policy on the elderly, traffic, transport and education in order to encourage the use of ICT;

19. Calls on the Member States to disseminate widely information on the availability of government electronic services so as to encourage their take-up;

20. Calls on the Commission to ensure that there is sufficient body of reliable statistical data concerning industry and marketplace trends;

21. Calls on local, regional and national authorities to take the initiative and incorporate ICT into their own services and thereby encourage the private sector to do so by their example; calls on the Commission to take practical measures to encourage such initiatives in the light of the example set by many local and regional authorities and bodies cooperating at inter-regional and cross-border level, which already successfully apply the benefits of ICT and link up their services to information networks;

22. Calls on the Member States to implement information technology applications (multimedia products) speedily in ordinary education; special programmes need to be launched to teach teachers how to handle new techniques; projects which have been launched so as to stimulate the use of ICT applications in education need to be vigorously continued, which will encourage educational publishers to develop more multimedia educational software; asks for an interinsitutional debate on whether the above should in future integrate regional fund actions;

23. Is of the opinion that the increasing ageing of the population in the European Union opens up considerable prospects for the ICT industry in that senior citizens will account for a large proportion of market demand; calls therefore on the Commission to draw up a research, development and implementation programme on ICT and ageing;

24. Considers that information about the capabilities of new ICTs should be more directly accessible to private individuals and calls on the Commission in cooperation with the Member States to recognize and step up the benefits of utilizing ICT capabilities, so as to create support for ICT among EU citizens; only emotional involvement can bring technical achievements to life;

25. With regard to the so-called millennium time bomb, when computers' internal clocks are expected to fail to recognise the year 2000, asks the Commission to undertake world-wide consultation with the ICT industry about a possible universal solution to the problem, and inform Parliament about its results, taking into account that the costs of this operation should be bearable for existing computer users;

26. Takes the view that growth must be qualitative as well as quantitative in nature; a European ICT policy needs therefore to be based not only on economic growth, but also, and in particular, on sustainable and ecological development and social prosperity;

27. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.