Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Intermediate evaluation of the implementation of the multiannual Community programme to stimulate the establishment of the Information Society in Europe (PROMISE)
Date: 2001-06-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, financing, globalisation, information society, management, public awareness campaign, socioeconomic conditions

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 27.6.2001
COM(2001) 350 final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION
TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Intermediate evaluation of the implementation of the multiannual Community
programme to stimulate the establishment of the Information Society in Europe
(PROMISE)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION
TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Intermediate evaluation of the implementation of the multiannual Community
programme to stimulate the establishment of the Information Society in Europe
(PROMISE)

1.

BACKGROUND

The multiannual programme to stimulate the development of the Information Society
in Europe (PROMISE1) was adopted in March 19982 as part of the European
Information Society (IS) policy initiated by the report Europe and the global
information society - Recommendations to the European Council in Corfu3.

The programme had been conceived to complete the European Information Society
policy and to complement the policy areas on telecommunication, IS related research
and the early policy initiatives concerning the Internet.

In accordance with article 8 of the PROMISE Council Decision the programme was
subject
to an intermediate evaluation, which was undertaken by a panel of
independent experts. The experts were selected from a list established on the basis of
a call for tenders. The panel consisted of five experts with a broad view of the
information society and a wide range of experience. The composition of the panel
assured a wide geographic coverage and representation of both user and business
views.

The final report4 of the expert panel was submitted to the Commission in
January 2000.

The evaluation report has been submitted to the committee of representatives of the
member states established in accordance with article 5 of the PROMISE Council
Decision in order to assist the Commission in the implementation of the programme.
The committee has examined the report and discussed the conclusions and
recommendations
the main
recommendations of the evaluation panel are largely based on the results of the
discussions with the PROMISE committee.

intensively. The Commission’s

responses

to

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PROMISE – PROMotion of the Information Society in Europe.
A multiannual Community programme to stimulate the establishment of the Information Society in
Europe; Council Decision 98/253/EC of 30 March 1998 (OJ L 107, 7.4.1998, p. 10).
Report prepared by the High Level Group on the Information Society chaired by M. Bangemann;
Brussels, 26 May 1994.
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/programmes/evaluation/pdf/reportpromise_en.pdf.

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2.

OBJECTIVES AND MAIN RESULTS

The PROMISE programme has three main objectives:

–

–

–

Increasing public awareness and understanding of the potential impact of the
Information Society throughout Europe.

Optimizing the socio-economic benefits of the Information Society in Europe.

Enhancing Europe’s role and visibility within the global dimension of the
Information society.

A detailed description and an appraisal of the main achievements of the programme
is presented in the external expert’s evaluation report (particularly chapter 3.4.
to 3.7.), the most important of them can be summarised as follows.

Awareness-raising activities were focussing on information services (Newsletter,
Help desk, Website), surveys and studies (in particular via Eurobarometer), targeted
actions towards opinion leaders in the media (television, press) and special target
groups (in particular SMEs and local administrations/cities).

The objective “Optimising the socio-economic benefits” was mainly addressed by
pilot take-up projects for SMEs, by studies and surveys on ongoing IS activities in
the Member states, by preparatory activities for best practice dissemination and by
the support provided to the Information Society Forum. The latter issued several
reports and declarations dealing in particular with social, cultural and economic
aspects of the information society and provided key recommendations on how to
cope with the arising challenges.

The objective “Enhancing Europe’s role in the global dimension” was mainly
addressed by the stimulation and support of dialogues with a view to facilitate
networking, exchange of views, knowledge and experience and in order to create
further political dynamics for information society purposes. The main outcomes are
the ongoing active dialogue with the Central and Eastern European countries with a
view to their taking up the objectives of the eEurope initiative and the launch of the
EUMEDIS initiative in the frame of the overall MEDA programme.

3.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE EXPERT PANEL

3.1.

Strategic Observations and Main Conclusions

In its overall appraisal the evaluation panel states that there are clear examples of
effectiveness of the programme, in particular, the web activities, information and data
gathering as well as the targeted initiative to develop and spread good practices
amongst SMEs.

The panel recognises also some areas which have potential and underlines
specifically the Information Society Forum. The panel states further that there was
clear progress towards a more strategic approach in the execution of the programme
through focussing on multipliers and leverages.

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The Council Decision setting up the PROMISE programme as such is called
enthusiastic and all encompassing, a cover-all response…, which the panel could
only applaud.

On the other hand the panel observed that the scope of the Council Decision is simply
too wide and the stated objectives cannot be achieved with such amounts of money.
Moreover, the Council Decision failed to anticipate the pace of change in the
Information Society.

The panel states further that PROMISE lacked clear links to the Commission’s
Information Society policy objectives and that
the work-programmes were too
disperse and clearly lacking focus.

The main recommendation of the panel to cope with these weaknesses is to set up a
strategic focus, by giving PROMISE specific policy directions to reflect policy
priorities. PROMISE should have quantifiable goals and concentrate on proven
in particular by facilitating networking and by providing access to
strengths,
information.

3.2.

Specific Recommendations

There are quite a number of specific recommendations of the expert panel dealing
with management and implementation aspects as well as with each type of
PROMISE activities (awareness raising, optimising socio-economic benefits of IS
and the global dimension).

The Commission shares to a large extent the views expressed and the basic analysis,
which lead to the panel’s detailed and very valuable recommendations.

However, most of the specific recommendations concern activities, which have been
discontinued in the meantime. Others deal with organisational aspects, which have
lost relevance since the Information Society Directorate General was re-organised on
1.12.2000.

Under these circumstances it does not appear very useful to discuss individual
specific recommendations of the panel.

4.

THE COMMISSION’S RESPONSE:

Focus on eEurope implementation support – Rationalized Management

The panel's recommendations have led to a serious reflection on the future of
PROMISE. Taking account of parallel developments
in the Community's
Information Society policy, the Commission has decided to re-focus the activities of
PROMISE in support of the eEurope policy initiative and to rationalize the
PROMISE management.

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The eEurope initiative

In 1999 the Commission proposed to the Helsinki5 European Council to accelerate
the transition to the information society in Europe. A new policy initiative was
launched, eEurope, with the general objective to accelerate the development of “An
Information Society for All”. The Lisbon6 and Feira7 European Councils endorsed
the initiative and, at the latter an ambitious eEurope 2002 Action Plan was agreed,
which set targets for the European Institutions, the Member States and the private
sector for 2002 at the latest.

New tasks were entrusted to the Commission in the framework of the so-called open
method of co-ordination, in particular concerning monitoring, benchmarking and
reporting on the implementation of the eEurope 2002 Action Plan and on progress
made towards its overall objectives.

The eEurope 2002 Action Plan proposes a series of targets, which need to be met in
order to ensure that Europe benefits from the 'new economy' as extensively and
quickly as possible.

The core objective of eEurope monitoring will be to measure progress in the access
to and use of the Internet in Europe. This exercise will enable Member States to
compare their progress and enable remedial action to be taken in those regions,
which are performing below average. It will identify good and best practice, which
will provide insight into the key characteristics of successful policy.

In addition to providing information on concrete progress towards the targets in the
action plan, eEurope benchmarking will require information on progress on key
indicators of the development of the new economy. As far as possible, existing data
will be exploited available from sources such as Eurostat and OECD.

However, the speed and novelty of many of the developments in the new economy
mean that much relevant information is not yet available from standard sources. In
addition, many existing data are only available on national level or for a limited
number of states and is not regularly updated.

Focus on eEurope implementation support: Monitoring and Benchmarking

PROMISE will help to fill these gaps through specific surveys, using the same
mechanisms as the Eurobarometer survey ‘Monitoring the Information Society in
Europe’. The scope of these surveys will be adapted to the specific needs of eEurope
benchmarking exercise.

Focussed surveys on particular aspects or groups and in-depth studies on qualitative
issues (best practice) will also be undertaken in the areas covered by the
eEurope 2002 Action Plan.

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Helsinki European Council, 10-11 December 1999; Presidency Conclusions.
Lisbon European Council, 23-24 March 2000; Presidency Conclusions.
Santa Maria da Feira European Council, 19-20 June 2000; Presidency Conclusions.

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In terms of the objectives set up by article 1 of the 1998 Council decision, the
Commission will concentrate its efforts on actions towards“Optimizing the socio-
economic benefits of IS in Europe”.

Serving this generic PROMISE objective the focused objectives in the context of
eEurope implementation support will be:

–

–

to enable the monitoring and benchmarking of the developing information
society, in particular the implementation of the eEurope 2002 Action Plan.

to facilitate the identification and deployment of good practices related to
priority areas of the eEurope 2002 Action Plan.

To achieve these objectives the Commission intends to focus the execution of the
PROMISE programme on several types of measures related to art 2 of the 1998
Council decision, like:

–

–

–

“the monitoring of people’s awareness of and familiarisation with the
Information Society services and applications,
through the
fostering of regular surveys and the integration of national surveys into a
European picture” (art 2(a) (4));

in particular

“the contribution, on the bases of identified best programmes and practices, to
the European wide take-up of successful examples in Information Society
policies, projects and services” (art 2(b) (4));

“the promotion of exchange of expertise and experiences between ongoing
studies and activities at European and national level” (art 2(b) (5)).

Other Activities

PROMISE will continue with successfully developed information services and tools,
in particular by the further development of the ISPO Website and its integration to an
Information Society Web Portal under the banner of eEurope. This will include the
integration of more interactivity.

The Information Society FORUM was created on the base of the 1994 Action Plan
It has delivered several reports
“Europe’s Way to the Information Society”.
the IS
containing key recommendations,
challenges. The IS FORUM was recognised by the evaluation panel for its results
delivered and judged to be high in potential.

in particular on societal aspects of

Rationalised Management

The responsibility for the management of PROMISE has since the pilot and
preparatory phase of 1996/97 rested with the Information Society Activity Center
(ISAC).

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Following the results of the intermediate evaluation by the independent experts and
the results of a strategic resource allocation review the Commission has discontinued
certain promotion activities which had been run and undertaken so far under
PROMISE and managed by ISAC. The re-focussed PROMISE activities have been
structures within the
subject
Information Society Directorate General.

rationalisation of management

to a substantial

Budget

In particular activities in the field of IS Monitoring will be integrated into overall
eEurope management. The different Web-sites will be consolidated into a new IS
related thematic Web Portal under the banner of eEurope and managed under the
responsibility of a single entity.

Overall, the human resources available for the management of PROMISE activities
were reduced substantially, in line with the results of the Commission’s strategic
human resource allocation review.

The rationalisation and restructuring of the PROMISE management has addressed as
a generic measure a series of conclusions and recommendations of the panel in the
area of management structures.

Article 4 (2) of the Council Decision establishes 25 Mio Euro as reference amount
for the whole programme period 1998 to 2002. The budget available in 2001 is
5 Mio Euro.

With regard to the three categories of action of the programme decision,
the
budgetary means will be concentrated on the category 2 ‘Optimising the socio-
economic benefits of the Information Society’. However, some of the actions will
have a character serving both the objective ‘Optimising the socio-economic benefits’
and ‘Awareness raising’. These actions shall be accounted proportionally to both
categories of actions.

The third objective of the PROMISE programme, i.e. ‘Enhancing Europe’s role and
visibility within the global dimension of the information society’ will be served
indirectly. No new specific actions are envisaged under this category.

The Council Decision on the PROMISE programme sets up a maximum share for
both awareness raising and enhancing visibility, but establishes a minimum share for
activities serving the objective‘ Optimising the socio-economic benefits’. The
planned focus on the latter will allow to meet these allocation criteria.

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