COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Digital Agenda for Europe - a good start and stakeholder feedback Accompanying the document COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Digital Agenda for Europe - driving European growth digitally
Date: 2012-12-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Internet, competitiveness, data protection, digitisation, economic growth, electronic commerce, information technology, innovation, job creation, public service, research and development, single market

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 18.12.2012  
SWD(2012) 446 final 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

Digital Agenda for Europe - a good start and stakeholder feedback 

Accompanying the document 

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

Digital Agenda for Europe - driving European growth digitally 

{COM(2012) 784 final} 
{SWD(2012) 447 final} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
Staff Working Document– Digital Agenda for 
Europe: a good start and stakeholder feedback 

TABLE OF CONTENT 

1.  Approach to stakeholder engagement ...............................................................3 
Aims, operational aspects and impact....................................................................3 
Use of Stakeholder feedback: Digital Agenda Assembly and Mid-term 

1.1 
1.2 
review 4 

2.  Feedback from the online discussions ...............................................................6 
A European Borderless Economy – the Digital  Single Market ....................6 
2.1 
2.1.1  eCommerce............................................................................................................................. 6 
2.1.2  Convergence .......................................................................................................................... 8 
 Data....................................................................................................................................... 10 
2.1.3 
Public services ............................................................................................................... 11 
2.2 
Broadband ....................................................................................................................... 14 
2.3 
Cloud .................................................................................................................................. 16 
2.4 
Trust and Security........................................................................................................ 17 
2.5 
Entrepreneurship and ICT for Jobs and Skills.................................................. 21 
2.6 
Jobs & Skills ......................................................................................................................... 21 
2.6.1 
 Social Media....................................................................................................................... 24 
2.6.2 
Innovation and Research........................................................................................... 26 
2.7 
3.  Conclusions and lessons learnt.......................................................................... 29 

2

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1.  Approach to stakeholder engagement  

1.1  Aims, operational aspects and impact  

The Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE)1, launched in 2010, is a key strand of the 
Commission's  EU2020  strategy2  –  its  aim  is  to  establish  the  conditions  for 
sustained digital growth in Europe. 

The DAE foresaw the need for an annual conference with relevant stakeholders 
to  enable  discussion  of  progress  and  challenges.  The  first  Digital  Agenda 
Assembly  (DAA2011)  was  held  in  Brussels  in  June  2011  and  featured  24 
workshops  and  two  plenary  sessions.  The  Digital  Agenda  Assembly  2012 
(DAA2012),  also  in  Brussels,  featured  workshops  in  eight  specific  key  priority 
areas and a plenary session. 

On 19 April 2012, the Commission launched a dedicated social media platform to 
prepare the DAA2012 and to gather input for the review of the DAE3 4.  

This  platform  was  the  central  hub  of  a  broad  approach  for  stakeholder 
engagement around the DAA and DAE, which aimed to: 

•  Reach out to and engaging with stakeholders, including those not normally 

involved in EU policy;  

•  Facilitate contact and collaboration amongst stakeholders; and 

•  Stimulate discussions and summarise results to generate meaningful policy 

input.  

The Commission also mobilised its social media accounts related to the DAE5 and 
the  consortium  running  the  mentioned  platform  tracked  and  participated  to 
other relevant forums (1000 posts in third party forums). 

The  core  of  the  platform  were  10  discussion  groups,  corresponding  to  the 
themes  of  the  8  DAA  workshops  and  2  additional  groups,  as  well  as  a  range  of 
functionalities:  voting,  open  brainstorming,  in-line  commentable  documents, 
video recommendations and visualisation of the debates. 

The  platform  was  managed  by  a  consortium6,  including  a  team  of  specialised 
animators  supporting  the  10  discussion  groups  in  close  collaboration  with  the 
relevant Commission staff responsible for the topics discussed. 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 

http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC0245R(01):EN:NOT 
http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm 
http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/neelie-kroes/daa-platform/ 
http://daa.ec.europa.eu/ 
#da12 

3

 
 
 
                                                        
Participation  was  considerable,  with  more  than  1,400  platform  members, 
making  more  than  2,000  contributions  over  the  course  of  two  months. 
Participation in Twitter was also high, with over 30,000 tweets by 5,000 people 
using the tag #DA12 and related thematic tags. 

The online platform attracted participants from all EU Member States and other 
countries, who belonged to various constituencies7. 

1.2  Use of Stakeholder feedback: Digital Agenda Assembly and Mid-

term review 

The results of the online discussions prepared and framed the discussions in the 
8  workshops  and  the  plenary  sessions  and  were  reported  at  the  DAA  2012.  40 
platform members, who made particularly valuable contributions, as assessed by 
the votes of other members, were invited to the DAA in Brussels, reinforcing the 
connection between the online and onsite discussions.  

80 of the 1,400 stakeholders that joined the online platform attended the DAA. 
This  indicates  that  the  online  and  onsite  activities  complemented  each  other. 
While  the  DAA2012  event  attracted  a  higher  proportion  of  "traditional" 
stakeholders, the online discussions attracted many new stakeholders. 

The positions expressed online were often different from those presented at the 
DAA. In particular, the online discussion had only a limited involvement of more 
“established”  players.  Online  participants  tended  to  be  more  active  and  vocal, 
more  inclined  to  ask  for  disruptive  interventions  and  stronger  openness  (for 
instance  on  High-Speed  Connection,  Converged  Media,  Data  and  Innovation). 
This  calls  for  further  reflection  on  the  outcomes  of  different  stakeholders' 
engagement methods and the relevance of a multi-method approach. 

This document reports and summarises the results of both the online and onsite 
discussion,  reflecting  the  issues  most  discussed  and  indicating  areas  of 
consensus.  These  qualitative  summaries  constitute  valuable  feedback,  although 
by their very nature they are not statistically representative considering that:  

•  The approach was bottom-up, open and qualitative, as opposed to a formal 
questionnaire  approach  where  all  participants  reply  to  a  standard  set  of 
questions;  

6 

7 

The consortium is formed by P.A.U. Education and Tech4i2, coordinated by David Osimo. 
Additionally  there  was  a  team  of  10  animators  composed  by:  Annalisa  de  Luca 
(Converged  Media),  Chris  Conder  (High-speed  connections),  Andrew  Griffin  (e-
commerce),  Elena  Donnari  (Social  Media),  Marc  Garriga  (Data),  Carmela  M  Asero 
(Cloud),  Prokopios  Drogkaris  (Security),  Laia  Pujol  (Innovation&Entrepreneurship), 
Stylianos Mystakidis (Jobs&Skills), Jamal Shahin (Public Services).  
The  distribution  of  members  by  type  of  organisation  is  as  follows:  Academic:  11%; 
Association/NGO:  13%;  Business:  28%;  European 
Institutions  (non  European 
Commission):  2%;  European  Commission:  3%;  Government:  12%;  International 
organisation: 3%; Private Citizen: 6%; unknown: 22% 

4

 
 
 
                                                                                                                                                               
• 

• 

It  focused  on  gathering  insightful  evidence  and  recommendations  rather 
than consensus;  

In some cases online and offline input differed substantially, because the of 
the different profiles of the contributors, as previously indicated.  

The  stakeholder  feedback  summarised  in  this  document  has  provided  valuable 
input to the DAE mid-term review, complementing other input gathered by the 
Commission on DAE specific issues. 

While some of the stakeholder comments reflected in this document may not be 
statistically  representative,  they  can  be  particularly  insightful  and  at  times 
provocative.  As  such,  they  provide  also  useful  input  for  future  policy  proposals 
and  implementation  activities,  as  well  as  a  valuable  base  for  future  debates  on 
specific areas. 

This  document  is  structured  along  the  sections  of  the  Digital  Agenda  mid-term 
review  document,  and  under  each  section  referring  to  the  relevant  thematic 
parts  of  the  10 discussion  groups  of  the  online  platform. Each  thematic  section 
includes: 

•  Key issues emerging from the debate;  

•  Quotes; 

•  Links  to  the  original  discussion  so  that  the  reader  can  trace  back  the 
comments  and  have  the  possibility  of  contacting  the  authors  via  the 
platform. 

5

 
 
2. 

Feedback from the online discussions 

2.1  A European Borderless Economy – the Digital   Single Market 

2.1.1  eCommerce 

(cid:153)  ECOMMERCE BARRIERS: 

How  do  small  e-tailers  (1)  get  discovered  and  trusted,  especially  cross-border? 
How do e-tailers deal with the plethora of payment methods in Europe (2)? How 
can  we  make  it  easier  to  find  online  products  (3)?  How  do  we  change  VAT  to 
create a level playing field for merchants (4)? Contract law is inhibiting some e-
commerce sector (5). How do we ensure people with sight loss have access to e-
commerce (5)? 

Trustmarks (see next challenge) are one way to address trust. Many commercial 
online payment aggregators (MyBank, iDeal, Skrill, Adyen, Wirecard, WorldPay, 
GlobalConnect,  and  many  more)  shift  VAT  shifting  from  provider  to  the 
consumer's country of origin; this reduces the impact of the provider's location 
(4).  Find  products  online  -  support  the  use  of  semantic  meta-data  that  enable 
simpler  (and  automated) 
integration  of  e-commerce  data  (for  example 
OpenFoodFacts in France (3)).  Businesses, particularly SMEs must support the 
proposed  European  Sales Law  (to  prevent  contract  law  inhibiting  ecommerce) 
(5). 

(cid:153)  TRUST & TRUSTMARKS 

Create  a  stakeholder  owned  trust  mark  scheme  for  Europe  to  level  the  playing 
field  for  small  retailers  and  increase  cross-border  e-commerce  (1).  Fraudulent 
websites  contain  the  most  “trustmarks”  (2).  Trustmarks  should  indicate  non-
fraudulent sites, or show level of service (3) (4). 

Many  trustmark  initiatives  have  been  proposed  to  the  EU  (5).  Rationalisation 
needed  –  some  countries  have  too  many  trustmarks  (NL,  for  example).  Some 
doubt the ability of a trustmark to work (7). But trustmarks have been shown to 
work in some EU countries (NL, BE). Most workshop participants  agree the EU 
has  a  role  to  define  and  police  trustmarks  (8).  There  is  a  need  for  e-commerce 
sites  to  improve  their  trustability  by  –  providing  delivery  information,  for 
instance (9). 

(cid:153)  MOBILE PAYMENTS – NEED AND PRIVACY 

Is  there  a  need?  Simple  replacement  of  cards  won’t  work.  Most  suggested 
schemes  relay  on  selling  user  data  –  what  about  privacy  (1)?  Smartphones  are 
still not ubiquitous – need to work on regular phones too (2). 

Decide  level  of  policy  intervention  needed,  if  any;  the  workshop  participants 
indicated that new needed was needed in the short term.  

6

 
 
 
(cid:153)  MOBILE PAYMENTS - METHODS 

Important elements identified include: security (1); standards and ubiquity; the 
possibility  to  communicate  via  Radio  Frequency/camera/other  or  via  mobile 
internet (pre-registered). Important role of Telco's, banks, providers, technology 
suppliers (GOOG, AAPL etc). Payment mechanism must work across Europe (i.e. 
not just be credit card linked) (2) (3) (4). 

To  enable  cashless  low  value  payments,  reduce  payments  infrastructure  cost 
rather than just moving it around the value chain. Many stakeholders suggested 
schemes 
technology  companies,  retailers.  Several 
stakeholders  indicated  that  no  new  regulation  is  needed,  but  that  the  EU  has  a 
role to incentivise innovation and help foster e/m payments in a non-regulatory 
way. 

from  banks,  Telco's, 

Quotes 

"Markets in general and Europe especially do NOT gain from this massive 
concentration of power with middlemen brokers in infrastructure taking all the 
profits (related to travel aggregation sites)." 

"If you can shop online, you need to be able to complain online." 

"Mobile phone penetration globally is now higher than electricity, clean water 
supply, and toothbrushes (3)." 

Links 

Barriers 

(1)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/e-commerce-and-open-data-0 
(2)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/different-payment-preferences-european-

b2c-e-commerce 

(3)   http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/some-ideas-about-liability-search-engines 
(4)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/tax-harmonisation 
(5)   http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/e-commerce-eu-so-whats-issue 
(6)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/accessibility-ecommerce-and-epayments 
(6) Workshop discussions 
(7) Workshop discussion Allegro 

Trust 

(1) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/cross-border-e-commerce-and-security-

online-shopping 

(2) Workshop comment EMOTA/IMRG 
(3) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/boosting-trust-e-commerce 
(4) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/trustmarks 
(5) Workshop comment Intrasoft 
(6) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/electronic-marketplace-app-store-

android-market-amazon 

7

 
 
 
http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/e-commerce-eu-so-whats-issue 
http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/de-facto-trustmark-amazon-or-ebay-
fair#comment-1752 
(7) Workshop comment Thuiswinkel 
(8) Workshop comments multiple sources 
(9) Workshop comment European Consumer Centre 
(10)  Workshop comment E-commerce Contact Point Germany 

Payment privacy 

(1)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/where-are-secure-empowered-payments 
(2)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/329#comment-329 
(3)  Workshop discussion – Roy Vella 
(4)  Workshop discussion - European Payments Council 
(5)  Workshop discussion - Consult Hyperion 

Payments methods 

(1) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/security-mobile-devices-applications-and-

transactions 

(2) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/mobile-payments-and-wallets 
(3) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/low-value-payments-elephant-room-2012 
(4) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/rightful-role-nfc-mobile-services-and-

how-get-there 

(5) Workshop discussion 
(6) Workshop discussion Consult Hyperion 
(7) Workshop discussion MassPay 

2.1.2  Convergence 

(cid:153)  Develop a sustainable EU copyright framework 

A  solution  should  be  identified  that  safeguards  content  producers  from  the 
copyright point of view, without damaging consumers or strengthening market 
oligopolies (1). This is to encourage smaller producers and, as a result, create a 
more  competitive  market  as  a  whole.  This  is  key,  as  content  is  increasingly 
becoming a strategic asset for telecommunication operators in the broader sense 
(2) (3). 

(cid:153)  Contribute to creating a stimulating business environment 

This  is  both  in  economic  and  creativity  terms  (4).  Tailor-made  public  funding 
schemes,  better  networking  opportunities  between  private  investors  and 
producers,  easier  working  conditions  across  Member  States:  these  are  all 
fundamental preconditions to entrepreneurial growth and sustainability (5). 

(cid:153)  Encourage files, platforms and technology interoperability 

limit 

should 

This 
create 
strategies 
monopolies/oligopolies  and,  on  the  other  hand,  should  encourage  market 
players to compete on the quality of content (7). Interoperability (8) should also 
increase users' possibility to preserve digital documents over time (6). 

contribute 

lock-in 

that 

to 

8

 
 
 
(cid:153)  Make safety a priority 

This  is  seen  as  a  key  aspect,  with  reference  to  minors  and  their  exposure  to 
content  as  well  as  to  breach  of  privacy  and  users'  control  over  sensitive 
information. 'Digital safety' must be a priority, especially in consideration of the 
rise of media convergence and with the increasing adoption of cloud computing. 
This is felt as an important issue, not only important from a users' perspective, 
but also from a business point of view (10): a safer and more inclusive Internet 
helps  create  a  faster  developing,  more  flexible  and  dynamic  business 
environment. 

Quotes  

"If there was a clear and legal pan-European framework to license digital content, 
the number of new enterprises could blossom and this would be the biggest 
challenger to piracy. The difficulty is in convincing the rights' owners to embrace 
the new technological developments, and building a framework that works across 
multiple territories." 

"Legislation is not always the Anathema to innovation. In fact properly applied it 
can spurn new markets to reach unimaginable heights. 

A framework that has a mission solely to ensure that consumers (viewers) always 
have the power of choice is definitely needed." 

"Regulators are going to have to facilitate self-regulation in the various industries 
concerned (CE manufacturers, app developers, Opera, second screen 
entrepreneurs, etc.) rather than try and write top-down laws and allow for the 
communities to clamp down on those that seek to take advantage of the 'Wild 
West' of an industry that is now unfurling." 

Links 

(1) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/eu-copyright-policy 
(2) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/are-you-willing-pay 
(3) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/are-you-willing-pay 
(4) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/start-ups-and-competition 
(5) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/pan-european-services-netflix-should-

exist-now 

(6) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/should-government-do-something-about-

technology-fragmentation-0 

(7) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/should-government-do-something-about-

technology-fragmentation-0 

(8) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/data-interoperability-and-lock-prevention 
(9) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/broadcast-regulations-and-connected-tv 
(10)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/security-objective-%E2%80%93-

transaction-isolation 

9

 
 
 
2.1.3   

Data 

(cid:153)  From Open Data publication to education and harmonisation 

Open  data  leads  to  economic  activity  and  therefore  increased  tax-revenues. 
These  revenues  will  be  far  higher  than  the  direct  income  the  public  bodies 
generate  by  selling  their  data.  The  European  Commission  and  Member  States 
should  provide  a  small  amount  of  funding  to  identify  European  Open  Data 
success  stories.  (6).  The  Commission  should  fund  work  to  identify  a  relatively 
small  set  of  Core  Reference  Data  and  should  then  work  with  Member  States  to 
encourage  its  release  under  Open  Data  licenses.  Early  examples  suggest  that 
national taxation systems will earn more revenue from all the new data-powered 
businesses  than  national  treasuries  lost  through  not  charging  for  the  data  any 
more. (4), (9) 

Investigate requirement for a European Data License - there are lots of licenses 
used to describe what people can and cannot do with data. (2). In order to create 
a European Data Market we need to harmonize our data offering. First, we need 
to harmonise our Open Data market. 

There is a need to take (open) data to the education systems, our children must 
understand  the  importance  of  data  handling,  as  must  teachers,  and  that  open 
data is a good (and cheap) way to have and updated content. (1). 

(cid:153)  Invest in Big Data while preserving the “Data Balance” 

Big  Data  provides  huge  opportunities  for  government  (10)  and  business  (11). 
We  need  to  find  the  "right  place"  between  open  data  and  privacy,  between  old 
business and new business in the European data market. Also, we need to ensure 
that laws and regulations don't inadvertently block the creation of new business 
models. Those laws and regulations must also avoid unfairly sustaining outdated 
business models. (7), (8) 

(cid:153)  Grasp the richness of languages  

There  are  a  lot  of  languages  spoken  across  Europe.  How  do  we  take  that 
diversity,  and  turn  it  from  stifling  Europe-wide  innovation  to  become  an  asset 
that  strengthens  our  role  in  the  global  market?  Language  technologies  are  ripe 
for delivering real and lasting benefits. (5) 

Quotes 

"The open data policies are useful in the context of a society that knows how to 
extract value from data. The educational system must take a leading role." 

"Most of the tools for data provision and sharing are still difficult to use by people 
who do not have a high-ICT profile, what keeps us still in a Web1.0-like context, 
with data providers being the ones that publish data sources and making it difficult 

10

 
 
 
for others with no data sources available but with willingness to collaborate in 
such publication." 

"Big data is often associated with all the data on the internet but one of the major 
data producers is the medical world with e.g. a kaleidoscope of imaging from X-
rays, MRI's and other scanners, genetics, pathology, sensors and research data. 
Over 30% of all data stored on earth is medical data and it is growing rapidly." 

Links 

(1)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/new-educational-content-data-society 
(2)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/single-opendata-license-all-eu-great-
action-improve-our-open-data-sector 
(3)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/best-practices-open-data 
(4)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/common-datasets-government-or-
country 
(5)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/cross-lingual-technologies-are-open-
opportunity-eu 
(6)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/data-should-be-easy-provide-and-share-
non-ict-skilled-citizens 
(7)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/big-data-and-big-privacy-debate 
(8)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/how-increase-trust-about-personal-data 
(9)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/open-data-topics-eu-wide-relevance 
(10)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/big-data-open-data-and-ehealth-
ecosystem 
(11)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/data-and-threefourfive-vs 

2.2  Public services 

(cid:153)  Building EU actions and local level capacity 

Europe  has  already  developed  many  of  the  building  blocks  to  start  working  on 
operationalizing the next phase of digital public services development. However, 
there are still some actions that need to be taken up at a European level in order 
to  ensure  that  the  Digital  Single  Market  does  not  fragment,  and  the  services 
delivered  maintain  sustainability.  This  includes:  opening  up  data  in  a  coherent 
fashion,  in  ways  that  governments  can  see  what  they  need  to  do  in  order  to 
ensure  accessibility  and  inclusion  (1).  Furthermore,  we  need  to  encourage 
bottom up innovations through enabling frameworks that engage with the idea 
of  co-creation:  this  works  towards  stimulating  growth  and  uptake  of  services, 
whilst legitimizing them at the same time. 

In order to build up capacity across Europe, we need to encourage more use of 
existing  platforms  such  as  epractice.eu  and  improve  their  innovativeness  in 
helping  users  engage  with  best  practices  and  successful  stories  from  various 
countries and regions. 

(cid:153)  Encourage innovation in the public sector through adoption of new processes 

11

 
 
 
 
Innovations  in  other  areas  of  society  (broadband,  open  data,  etc.)  should  be 
taken on board in public services. These are necessary drivers for digital public 
services  too.  Inclusion  is  a  central  issue:  ‘digital  by  default’  should  become  the 
‘new  normal’  for  public  administrations,  in  order  to  ensure  that  the  necessary 
transformations take place (2). “Is there any reason for not making eGovernment 
compulsory for those who have a broadband connection at home?” (3). Another 
element  of  the  discussion  around  innovation  focuses  on  non-economic  values: 
the ‘social economy‘ is a central issue for public authorities; we should recognise 
that  values  other  than  efficiency  are  important  also  for  public  services;  for 
example transparency (4). This should also be integrated in new approaches to 
understanding public administrations and their role in contemporary European 
society, which will need to be understood through new research agendas. 

(cid:153)  Leverage cross-border services and reinforce (sub-)national actions  

With the development of various activities in the field of cross-border services in 
the  EU,  several  steps  towards  reducing  the  barriers  standing  in  the  way  of  the 
Digital  Single  Market  are  unfolding.  However,  two  main  challenges  seem  to 
remain: 

a)  Citizens do not appear to be aware of the benefits that such projects in the 
fields  of  eJustice,  healthcare,  and  so  on  can  bring.  We  need  to  generate  a 
few  “launching  services”  to  help  overcome  hesitation  (5),  as  well  as 
showing  the  ‘business  case’  for  this  (6).  In  this  instance,  leadership  from 
the part of the Commission could help foster change at the EU level, which 
would then move into other areas (7). 

b)  Encourage national authorities to share more common standards to ensure 
interoperability  of  data  across  borders.(8)  This  should  also  facilitate  the 
further leverage of cross-border services and ensure take-up will be easier 
to carry out. Furthermore, this should lead to more reuse of data, which is 
‘key’ to democratic public e-services (9). 

Quotes 

"I don't think we should reduce co-creation to a government-controlled innovation 
in public service delivery. Co-creation is also about citizens/NGOs/private 
companies taking the initiative and proposing an effective solution and this way 
saying 'no' to the existing one." 

"Some changes should be made in our eGovernment strategies, as a deeper 
multichannel strategy, a stronger governance structure and a consolidation of 
infrastructures." 

"Perhaps one high volume service should be made available in every EU member 
state in a uniform and consistent manner, to determine the volumes that would 
result." 

Links 

12

 
 
 
(1) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/1561#comment-1561 
(2) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/egovernment-winter-our-
discontent#comments 
(3) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/1227#comment-1227 
(4) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/suggestion-discussion-daa  
(5) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/1224#comment-1224 
(6) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/1101#comment-1101 
(7) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/1012#comment-1012 
(8) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/magic-square-–-towards-“intergalactic-
guide”-ict-standards#comments 
(9) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/reuse-key-democratic-public-e-services 

13

 
 
2.3  Broadband 

(cid:153)  Broadband in rural areas 

While  cloud-based  solutions  increase  the  value  of  fast  symmetric  connections, 
the  situation  in  rural  areas  is  not  progressing  fast  enough  and  current  policy 
priority do not focus on the least reachable areas (3). Demand can increase very 
fast and in ways that are difficult to predict. Copper does not represent a future-
proof solution – arguably not even a present-proof one in many cases (1). Mobile 
technology has so far not proved a clear solution (10). 

Member  States  should  drive  their  broadband  plans  prioritising  less  covered 
areas,  to  stimulate  competition  and  a  level  playing  field  to  address  the  last 
percentages  of  uncovered  territory,  where  the  traditional  business  model  fails. 
This should be pursued through alternative solutions to subsidizing incumbents, 
such  as  bottom-up  initiatives,  truly  open  access  middle-mile  or  backhaul 
network,  a  revised  topology  of  networks  and  increasing  the  number  of  Local 
Internet Exchanges (9). 

(cid:153)  Cost reduction of broadband rollout 

Better  coordination  of  civil  works  could  help  cutting  costs  significantly  but 
remains  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule:  insufficient  joined-up  thinking  in 
government,  insufficient  clarity  on  the  different  responsibilities  for  digging, 
ducts  and  maintenance,  and  better  awareness  by  policy-makers  in  civil  works 
departments (4). 

Some stakeholders suggest developing an EU framework for utilities, simplifying 
the task of checking for existing services and for alternative networks laying new 
infrastructure.  Several  best  practices  are  ready  to  be  replicated,  in  Europe  and 
abroad, such as Catalonia and Paris (5). Innovative ideas should be explored to 
speed up building permits both for fixed and mobile, such as: benchmarking of 
cities (Telenor) ; National Regulatory Authority to play coordinating role in base 
station permits (Greece); carrier-neutral providers (Ireland), separation of civil 
works  from  services  ;  and  adopt  alternative  funding  methods  such  as  new 
spectrum, crowd funding, community shares and soft loans (4). 

(cid:153)  NGA investment 

Stakeholders  share  doubts  on  the  reachability  of  Digital  Agenda  targets  in 
relation  to  broadband.  There  is  a  lack  of  alignment  of  the  interests  of 
stakeholders:  investors,  consumers,  incumbents,  local  authorities.  There  is  a 
clear  innovative  vision  for  the  future  (common  passive  network)  but  it  is  not 
clear how to create the incentives to get there (8). 

There’s  a  need  to  clarify  in  EU  broadband  guidelines  that  public  investment  in 
Next Generation Access networks should be exceptional and meant to achieve a 
major,  not  just  incremental,  change,  justifying  where  appropriate  special 

14

 
 
 
regulatory regimes (e.g. the Italian proposal to keep broadband investment out 
of the "fiscal compact") (6), while fully maintaining network openness (11). 

(cid:153)  Empowerment of consumers 

There is not sufficient clarity on the definition of fibre and broadband services. 
Many  large  providers  are  still  claiming  important  investments  on  incremental 
upgrades such as VDSL2 deployed from street cabinets (fibre to the node/FTTN). 
Consumers  are  confused  by  ambiguous  marketing  strategies  such  as  "up  to" 
speeds. 

Stakeholders  underline  the  need  to  ensure  transparent  information  for 
consumers,  creating  a  clear  definition  of  level  of  service  provided  in  each  area. 
Some recommend an EU agreement whereby Member States' tax and regulatory 
regimes should encourage investment towards a future copper switch-off (7). 

Quotes 

“I'm always amazed at how public policymakers neglect the economic benefits that 
high-speed connections offer. Perhaps this is because they're harder to model or 
predict than the benefits of traditional infrastructure (rail, airports, roads). But 
just because they're harder to model doesn't mean they're smaller - on the 
contrary, the economic possibilities of much higher speed connectivity are vast.” 

Links 

(1)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/we-need-many-more-local-internet-

exchanges 

(2)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/2020-vision 
(3)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/how-can-we-bring-high-speed-

connections-rural-areas 

(4)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/special/crowdsourcing; DAA workshop 

morning session 

(5)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/cost-reduction-shared-infrastructure-

savings; DAA workshop morning session 

(6)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/montis-proposal-keeping-investments-

bb-and-eda-out-fiscal-compact-what-do-you-think 
(7)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/go-fibre-not-any-fibre 
(8)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/capexuser-what-are-actual-figures-hi-

speed-broadband; DAA workshop afternoon session 

(9)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/we-need-many-more-local-internet-

exchanges 

(10)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/mobile-bb-solution-m%C3%A1ximum-

extensi%C3%B3n-hspeed 

(11)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/what-questions-remain-unanswered 

15

 
 
 
 
2.4  Cloud 

(cid:153)  User Empowerment 

Users should be able to make secure transactions in the cloud environment (1). 
Citizens often find themselves confronted with the decision to either give up on 
using an online service or accept all of the providers' terms and conditions. Users 
should  be  always  kept  in  control  of  their  data  and  confident  on  possibility  to 
easily change provider and avoid vendor lock-in.  Interoperability and portability 
rules are key elements to achieve this objective (2). 

(cid:153)  Trustworthy, clear and effective regulatory environment 

An EU-wide cloud strategy should ensure that some key provisions are respected 
in cloud offerings across Europe especially in the area of security, access to data, 
law  enforcement  on  accountability  and  responsibility  of  service  providers, 
contractual  arrangements  and  privacy.  An  adequate  balance  of  security  by 
technology  and  security  by  policy  should  be  ensured  to  create  a  trustworthy 
cloud environment (2). Users need to know which rules will apply on their use of 
cloud services (3). Currently, it is server location defining applicable law, so the 
“stored in EU” element is crucial in a short-middle time perspective (4).  

(cid:153)  Single digital market for cloud services 

Cloud services are borderless by default. It is important that an EU-wide strategy 
for  cloud  computing  has  a  single  market  footprint  and  allow  truly  EU-wide 
competition among cloud operators (5).  

(cid:153)  Ensure fast access to data – Cheap broadband for all 

To fully exploit the benefits of cloud computing the provision of cheap and fast 
broadband  connectivity 
the 
penetration  of  mobile  devices  used  to  access  cloud-based  services,  roaming 
conditions  and  widespread  mobile  broadband  development  are  important 
enabling  factors.  Agreement  on  lower  roaming  tariffs  versus  non-EU  countries 
should also be considered (6). 

fundamental.  Furthermore,  considering 

is 

(cid:153)  Foster EU leadership in cloud computing research and development  

There are currently several initiatives going on in Europe to create home grown 
solutions and Europe has the competences and business capacity to lead in cloud 
technology  development.  Regardless  of  the  physical  location  of  cloud  services 
and  the  origin  of  their  source  code,  EU  cloud  actors  should  stay  involved  in  all 
layers (from technology to business and government) of the cloud development. 
Conversely,  Europe-based  initiatives  should  actively  invite  participation  from 
other  world  regions.  Furthermore,  they  should  focus  on  keeping  cloud 
technology open, rely on and contribute to open standards (7).  

(cid:153)  Raise awareness and information channels for SMEs on Cloud services 

16

 
 
 
Although valuable guidance is available to SMEs on how to identify and address 
possible  cloud-related  risks,  awareness  amongst  SMEs  is  still  low.    Since  SMEs 
are a key factor in European economy, increase awareness of the Cloud and its 
potential  for  SMEs  should  be  a  priority.  A  Europe-wide  awareness  and 
information campaign for SMEs on cloud should be envisaged (8). 

(cid:153)  Green Cloud 

Stimulate green cloud by encouraging data centres to adopt renewable sources 
and  innovative  solutions  to  cut  energy  impact  for  sustainable  and  yet 
competitive cloud developments. 

Quotes 

“Not "made in Europe" but "governed by our laws". [...) 

"Cloud servers in third nations make it possible for authorities in these nations to 
get legal and extra-legal access and there are no sanctions against 
business/industrial espionage because the laws of your jurisdiction do not apply. 
Certainly government services cannot be outsourced to foreign jurisdictions." 

Links 

(1)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/security-objective-%E2%80%93-

transaction-isolation 

(2)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/lifting-barriers-use-cloud-computing-

healthcare 

(3)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/cloud-storage-privacy-whats-really-stake 
(4)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/should-europe-build-its-own-cloud-

factories 

(5)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/gartner-says-cloud-adoption-europe-

will-trail-us-least-two-years 

(6)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/clouds-and-roaming 
(7)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/should-europe-build-its-own-cloud-

technology-or-use-existing-developments 

(8)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/what-are-most-relevant-obstacles-cloud-

adoption-smes 

2.5  Trust and Security 

(cid:153)  Raise Security Awareness 

Raising security awareness amongst EU citizens, SME’s and organizations is the 
first  line  of  defence  for  security  of  information  systems  and  networks.  A 
continuous effort in this direction should inform users of the importance of their 
information  assets,  their  exposure  to  security  risks  and  potential  procedures, 
technologies and mechanisms they could utilise. In the long-term such effort will 

17

 
 
 
 
 
also  contribute  to  the  development  of  an  information  security  culture  by 
encouraging users and stakeholders to act responsibly (1) (2) (3) (11). 

(cid:153)  Address Emerging Technologies’ Security and Privacy Issues 

Emerging  technologies,  such  as  cloud  computing,  apart  from  experiencing 
increasing  growth  and  acceptance,  also  introduce  new  challenges  in  terms  of 
privacy, security and auditing. It is therefore imperative to review and enhance 
the relevant legal and operative framework so as to not only address these issues 
but  also  foresee  any  additional  requirements  that  may  arise  in  the  near  future 
and establish a well-defined and solid environment (1) (7) (4). 

(cid:153)  Promote Security Standardisation  

Having  in  mind  the  acceptance  of  already  proposed  standards  (ISO  27001)  or 
procedures  from  accredited  institutes  (ENISA,  NIST),  the  EU  should  not  only 
promote  further  security  standardisation  through  the  adoption  of  existing 
standards  but  also  endeavour  for  the  proposal  and  acceptance  of  newly 
proposed ones and ensure their appliance and review. Through this, not only it 
will be possible to ensure certain levels of security and trust but will also create 
sets of guidelines for the implementation and introduction of secure information 
systems, mechanisms and procedures (1) (6) (13). 

(cid:153)  Endorse International Strategic and Operational Partnerships  

Since  the  Internet  as  a  supply  chain  is  global  in  its  nature  and  today’s  physical 
country  borders  cannot  be  easily  enforced,  the  time  has  come  for  global 
collaboration,  both  strategic  and  operational,  especially  with  cybersecurity  and 
privacy  converging.    Collaborations,  beyond  the  EU  and  the  US,  that  would 
impose  common  standards,  procedures  and  policies  for  the  protection  of 
information assets towards the preservation of cybersecurity (1) (5). 

(cid:153)  Empower citizens  

We must move on from existing identification schemes, procedures and policies 
to newly proposed ones that will ensure that users are able to control their own 
data  privacy  settings.  The  proposed  direction  should  be  towards  built-in 
security, control distribution, parameterised and interoperable identities so that 
users will be free to share throughout value chain as linking control will remain 
on the demand side. Therefore they can choose who to trust with specific liability 
and there won’t be a need to trust a specific system or an organization (1) (8) (9) 
(10). 

(cid:153)  Stimulate Investments towards a Secure and Trustworthy European ICT 

European  ICT  security  industry  should  be  propelled  to  experience  a  growth 
similar to worldwide ICT security market. This could be achieved by promoting 
ideas,  clarifying  allocation  of  security 
best  practices  and 

innovative 

18

 
 
 
responsibilities,  increasing  accountability,  harmonizing  EU  security  policies, 
lowering market entry barriers and increasing awareness (1) (12). 

Quotes 

"Legislation shall protect users also from harm caused by data they willingly 
contributed to the public domain." 

"One of the problems with privacy on the Internet is that people had a false sense of 
security". 

"All kind of embedded systems are being connected, and this will have a big impact. 
House appliances, cars, trains, smart cities, health monitoring devices, etc. very 
soon. The potential damage of someone controlling our washing machines, 
someone able of changing our car direction, health damage, and so on is also worth 
mentioning." 

Links 

(1)  Digital Agenda Assembly Security Workshop: 

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/daa2012/item-
display.cfm?id=8282 

(2)  Raising Security Awareness and Avoiding Misuse: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/raising-security-awareness-and-
avoiding-misuse 

(3)  SMEs Security Awareness Level: http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/smes-

security-awareness-level 

(4)  Trade-offs and Security Challenges in the Cloud: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/trade-offs-and-security-challenges-cloud 

(5)  From "Titan Rain" and "Estonia 2007" to "Greece 2012" - The Case of 

Hacktivism: http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/titan-rain-and-estonia-2007-
greece-2012-case-hacktivism 

(6)  Data Privacy and Security proposed EU regulations: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/data-privacy-and-security-proposed-eu-
regualtions 

(7)  Cloud-based Public Administration: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/cloud-based-public-administration 

(8)  Focus on change instead of invention: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/focus-change-instead-invention 

(9)  From Web 2.0 to Citizen Empowerment: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/web-20-citizen-empowerment 

(10)  The Security Objective – Transaction Isolation: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/security-objective-%E2%80%93-
transaction-isolation 

(11)  Easy to use mechanisms enabling awareness & privacy control: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/easy-use-mechanisms-enabling-
awareness-privacy-control 

19

 
 
 
 
(12)  How to Stimulate Investments in Secure & Trustworthy ICT?: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/special/how-stimulate-investments-
secure-trustworthy-ict 

(13)  Wi-Fi security issues and legal certainty: 

http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/wi-fi-security-issues-and-legal-certainty 

20

 
 
2.6  Entrepreneurship and ICT for Jobs and Skills 

2.6.1  Jobs & Skills 

(cid:153)  Accelerate massive constant up-and re-skilling: 

Life-long  learning  and  the  steady  acquisition  of  new  -  ICT-related  and  other- 
skills  is  closely  associated  with  sustainable  employability  (1).  This  is  acute  and 
urgent  both  for  the  unemployed  and  the  business  that  face  shortage  of  skilled 
workforce.  More  specifically  e-skills  deficiencies  have  been  proven  to  cost 
billions to European economy (2). 

(3),  distance 

Stakeholders  suggest  the  use  of  disruptive  innovation  training  &  learning 
schemes  to  facilitate  massive  uptake  of  e-skills.  These  can  include:  open 
education 
learning,  apprenticeship,  volunteering  work, 
teaching/helping,  start-ups,  informal  learning,  the  formation  of  sustainable 
communities  of  practice,  creation  and  sharing  of  useful  open  educational 
resources  (4),  flexible  skills  certification/accreditation  methods.  It  is  also 
recommended  to  use  existing  cost-effective  infrastructure  such  as  public 
libraries for training activities (5). More suggestions include the broad adoption 
of  flexible  working  methods  including  co-working,  teleworking,  homeworking, 
the  use  of  Corporate  Social  Responsibility  to  shift  the  balance  of  power  that 
exists between the corporate world and the individual (6) and the development 
of virtual work and virtual factories (7). 

In the same context, it was suggested at the DAA2012 workshop to facilitate the 
development of skills for future leaders; humanistic managers who are not only 
expert in technology and management techniques, but also have the capacity to 
understand and deal with cross-disciplinary, moral and inter-cultural issues. 

(cid:153)  Training initiatives performance indicators 

Learning  and  training  actions  are  meaningful  to  the  degree  that  they  lead  to 
tangible  employment.  It  was  stressed  the  importance  of  introducing  reliable 
metrics  such  as  job  placement  monitoring  methods  in  training  and  learning 
interventions to prove the quality and quantify the direct impact of the action on 
employment (job finding/creation) (8). 

(cid:153)  Create Centres for change and innovation 

Stakeholders  identified  a  variety  of  options  and  opportunities  for  people  to 
shape, restart or refocus their career. One proposed action was to encourage the 
creation  of  working,  meeting  and  learning  places  (e.g.  Telecentres)  where 
citizens  go  in  order  to  connect  with  other  people,  resources  and  technology, 
learn,  collaborate  and  develop  ideas  creating  social,  cultural  or  economic  value 
for the local or the wider community (9). 

(cid:153)  Skills mapping: Monitor market needs and link them to training 

21

 
 
 
Stakeholders  highlighted  the  need  to  identify,  monitor,  analyse  and  document 
efficiently  current  and  future  national/regional  level  sector  skills  (10)  and  use 
them as input for dynamic new job profile descriptions (11) and respective agile 
training  programs.  The  implementation  of  this  process  based  on  successful 
practices from different member states is a suggested task of the European-wide 
multi-stakeholder alliance for ICT jobs. 

Quotes 

"Despite the high unemployment rate in many developed economies, companies are 
struggling to fill manufacturing jobs with the right talent. And emerging economies 
cannot fuel their growth without more talent. Access to talent will become more 
important and more competitive." 

"Shouldn't the production system (let's call like this, i.e. existing companies, 
employers) try to be more jobs-friendly, then supporting (re)skilling rather than 
just expecting the education system (public or private) to deliver the perfect 
employees?" 

"Telecentres are no longer training spaces for digital skills. Now, [...) telecentres 
are places where citizens go in order to connect with other people, resources and 
technology and to develop their idea creating social, cultural or economic value for 
the community." 

"[Many] people have no clue what their real skills are. They focus on 'formal' eSkills 
and miss out on mentioning their qualifications in management, commercial and 
communication skills. I.e. skills also needed to sell their own eSkills. I.e. could it be 
that we might have more eSkills available than we assume?" 

Links 

(1)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/youth-employment-crisis 
(2)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/digital-skills-deficiencies-cost-europe-

billions 

(3)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/open-education-learning-e-skills-

ecosystems 

(4)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/mass-creation-skills 
(5)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/public-libraries-employment 
(6)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/csr-corporate-social-responsibility-and-

employment 

(7)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/more-manufactoring-general 
(8)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/policy-action-help-search-inspiring-

initiatives-fit 

(9)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/telecentres-and-social-innovation-

employability-and-innovation 

(10) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/new-professional-profile-e-facilitator-ict-

space 

(11) http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/iwa-italy-web-skills-profiles 

22

 
 
 
 
2.6.2   

Social Media 

(cid:153)  Need for an ‘innovation culture’ that makes use of social media in SMEs and 

start-ups to enable a contribution towards growth and job creation. 

Stimulating  innovative  start-ups  and  SMEs  that  use  social  media  will  help 
contribute  towards  this  fast-growing  element  of  the  economy.  However,  this 
cannot simply be a matter of implementing social media technologies: education 
is  a  central  element  of  the  puzzle  (1).  We  need  to  encourage  organizations  in 
Europe  to  capitalize  on  their  greatest  asset:  knowledge.  For  this,  education  in 
new  (social  media)  practices  is  central  to  the  sustainability  and  success  of  the 
technology  and  the  processes  it  engenders  in  European  businesses  and  public 
organizations. Additionally, job creation can also emerge in the voluntary sector 
(2). 

(cid:153)  Finding ways to increasing transparency regarding user data management  

One  of  the  major  barriers  to  greater  social  media  adoption  appears  to  be 
unwillingness  to  expose  too  much  personal  data  online.  Whilst  clear  rules  on 
protection  might  be  difficult  to  achieve,  transparency  and  thereby  increased 
awareness  of  what  data  is  being  published  is  important  to  increase  further 
uptake (3). In this respect, the ‘right to be forgotten’ will be a crucial element of 
building trust in the ecosystem. 

(cid:153)  Enhance and encourage more collaborative public services 

The  public  sector  needs  to  adapt  to  transformations  in  service  design, 
production, and delivery by taking on collaborative aspects into their operations. 
“…A lot of government tasks can be performed (completely or in part) by citizens 
or  companies.  That  way  government  can  become  smaller  and  hopefully  more 
agile while at the same time stimulating groups, organizations, and companies to 
come up with innovative solutions to improve services” (4). 

Opening up key public data is central to this process, and social media can be a 
good  channel  to  operationalize  this.  This  should  be  part  of  a  broader 
reconsideration  of  the goals  of  organizations  and the  processes  which  they  use 
(5).  Having  “an  organisational  culture  of  openness  and  sharing  is  a  very 
important  factor  in  putting  together  a  successful  social  media  strategy”  (6).  If 
data is opened up and available for use in the context of social media, this should 
stimulate  growth  and  employment  in  the  social  media  sector  notably  the  ‘App 
Economy’  which  has  emerged  as  a  thriving  environment  for  innovative  micro-
companies  and  SMEs  to  generate  services  and  products  (7).  The  health  sector 
could be one public service that can clearly benefit from such developments (8). 

Quotes 

23

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Transforming business with social media will #FAIL, if they don't get the education. 

Let's face it - solving the problems facing Europe is beyond any small group of 
people, regardless of how intelligent they may appear. Tackling this crisis will 
require a platform for collective intelligence that harnesses the cognitive power of 
literally millions, taking the best features of Facebook, Twitter, and Google Maps as 
a decentralized civic architecture. Going beyond this crisis will require massive 
crowd-sourced innovation in business, bottom-up decision-making in politics, new 
ways of monitoring local ecologies, and most importantly - knitting this all 
together into a new way of doing/being. 

Social media has to move from just being a social 'chatting' platform to being the 
way we communicate and collaborate: in business, in politics, in administration, in 
everything. 

Links 

(1)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/transforming-business-social-media-will-

fail-if-they-dont-get-education#comments 

(2)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/transforming-business-social-media-will-

fail-if-they-dont-get-education ; #da12social workshop DAA 

(3)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/platforms-collective-awareness-and-

social-media" http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/platforms-collective-
awareness-and-social-media 

(4)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/21st-century-media-needs-21st-century-

rule" http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/21st-century-media-needs-21st-
century-rule 

(5)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/330#comment-330 
(6)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/330#comment-330 
(7)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/successful-social-media-economy-four-
keys-success" http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/successful-social-media-
economy-four-keys-success 

(8)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/398#comment-398 
(9)  #da12social workshop 
(10)  #da12social workshop 

24

 
 
 
2.7 

Innovation and Research 

(cid:153)  Start-up Europe Partnership 

vs. 

According to stakeholders, start-ups fail to grow in Europe (1). Venture Capital 
(VC)  financing  model  is  not  common  in  continental  Europe  (2).  As  one  of  the 
stakeholders  outlined,  “in  the  last  5  years,  the  American  software  industry 
received €14 billion more VC than the European, in 2010 it was €312 million in 
EU-27 
the 
USA”Carstenhttp://daa.ec.europa.eu/users/carsten-kestermannKestermann  (3). 
There  is  a  lack  of  entrepreneurial  culture.  “There  is  a  need  for  us  in  Europe  to 
really change our attitude to risk and reward if we are to capture the economic 
growth  being  driven  by  young  entrepreneurs”  (4).  The  barriers  seem  to  be 
cultural. Many target first a local market, and then expect to be bought by a US 
company  (5).  There  is  still  a  lack  of  EU  policies  to  overcome  national 
fragmentation. 

billion 

€2.1 

in 

Proposed  solutions  about  approaches  to  raising  money  for  start-ups  were 
discussed (6). Different examples of crowdsourcing funding came up (e.g. Goteo) 
which  soon  evolved  into  the  idea  of  launching  an  EU  start-up  partnership  (7), 
similar to Start-up America in the US, to support web entrepreneurs in Europe. 
According to stakeholders, the partnership should provide the following services 
(8):  organising  events,  creating  how-to  guides,  supporting  the  networking  of 
existing accelerators and services, promoting to investors, pitching competitions, 
demo events, arranging investor meetings, creating an experienced entrepreneur 
network,  with  access  to  customers,  information  on  opportunities  per  country 
and  industry,  mentoring,  address  VC's  to  create  spill  over  effects  (to  match 
itself  to  small 
investment),  programme  should  not 
Governmental 
investments (get more growth capital to EU playground). 

limit 

(cid:153)  Innovation funding and Horizon 2020 

How  could  EU  research  and  innovation  funds  engage  the  most  innovative  EU 
actors? (9). The perception is still that management of EU fund is bureaucratic, 
time consuming and geared towards technical or academic research rather than 
consumer or web start-ups. As some stakeholders outlined, in a European R&D 
framework, the aim of the research performed has to be crystal clear; either it is 
long-term basic research or it is industrially-driven applied R&D. Academia has a 
leading role in the first and industry in the latter (10).  

The proposed solutions revolve around the possibility to introduce more flexible 
funding  mechanisms,  the  capacity  to  attract  the  “right”  people,  the  need  for 
coherence  between  basic  and  applied  research.  Some  stakeholders  propose  to 
use much more inducement prizes to promote innovation and to simplify access 
to  funding.  A  good  example  was  shared  of  an  open  funding  model:  the  Arts 
Council England (11)7, where red tape is reduced to a minimum (no deadline, no 
form, just free-form applications). Stakeholders proposed also  to implement an 

7 http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/grants-arts/. 

25

 
 
 
 
                                                        
incremental  approach:  instead  of  funding  big  projects,  to  fund  small  ones,  and 
then re-invest in furthering those that look promising. Ideally, this would replace 
a lot of ex-ante evaluation by monitoring.  

There is also a need to foster the use of output indicators on R&D that are not yet 
available  (12).  Stakeholders  share  doubts  on  the  protection  of  results:  while 
online discussions outlined that if R&D is publicly funded it should be exploitable 
by all players on the European market, in the workshop participants shared that 
if there is co-investment by private players results should be protected. Finally, 
funding should be addressed to SMEs. When SME represent 80% of the market 
they  also  need  to  get  80%  of  the  EU  research  funding  (13).  Stakeholders 
underlined  that  EU  funded  research  should  not  go  to  those  players  that  do  not 
invest in Europe.  

(cid:153)  Public-Private Partnerships- Innovation Charter 

Stakeholders  underline  the importance  of  keeping  and fostering manufacturing 
in  Europe.  This  is  a  major  challenge  that  industry  needs  to  address  by 
establishing design and manufacturing facilities in Europe.  

In  order  to  better  exploit  research  results  in  Europe  stakeholders  propose  to 
involve  venture  capital  firms  and  entrepreneurs  in  the  end  of  the  value  chain. 
There  is  also  a  need  to  change  universities  culture  to  better  exploit  research 
results: we shall promote engagement on the industry-side, but also make efforts 
on the university side to motivate researchers (14).  

(cid:153)  Cluster Policy 

Typically clusters are local, but what is the role of the EU? Should a multitude of 
clusters  be  supported,  or  should  investment  be  focused  on  selected  areas  of 
excellence across country? The cooperation between different R&I actors located 
in a region should be enhanced. Clusters need to maintain the focus on genuine 
excellence,  highly  focused  concentrated  and  selective.  They  need  to  be  locally 
embedded but competitive on the global market (15).  

(cid:153)  Entrepreneurial 

Culture 

and 

Framework 

conditions 

to 

boost 

entrepreneurship 

The  framework  conditions  are  not  conducive  to  promote  entrepreneurship  for 
start-ups in Europe. Some inspiring examples shared: UK, US or Israel. E.g. The 
UK  Government  has  launched  (16)  in  2011  determined  steps  to  unleash 
enterprise and drive new business growth, linking tax, regulation, education and 
innovation policy. 

educating 

Stakeholders underline the need to promote an entrepreneurial culture in the EU 
by: 
stimulating 
entrepreneurial  hot  spots,  or  clusters  for  specific  areas;  and  more  simplified 
intellectual property protection (17). 

entrepreneurs; 

schoolchildren 

to  become 

26

 
 
 
Quotes 

"About UK policy: great set of initiatives. Wish it had been there when we started. 
Much more important than TechCity PR nonsense #da12innov". 

"One of the things that struck me the most is how the narrative is changing from 
‘Austerity’ to ‘Growth’. There’s real hunger to support European growth, in the 
form of new start-up's, funding, improved education and skills, connectivity, and 
general policy changes that would remove obstacles from the innovation process." 

Links 

(1)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/342#comment-342 
(2)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/940#comment-940 
(3)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/978#comment-978 
(4)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/changing-entrepreneurs-culture-europe 
(5)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/article-building-next-facebook-tough-

task-europe-nyt 

(6)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/raising-money-start-ups-what-policy-

support-us-rigth 

(7)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/do-we-need-european-public-private-

partnership-support-eu-web-enterpreneurs-start-and-grow 
(8)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/what-do-you-think-european-

partnership-web-enterpreneurs-should-consist 

(9)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/sparking-innovation-europe 
(10)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/comment/48#comment-48 
(11)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/special/comment-position-paper 
(12)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/are-eu-countries-doubling-their-

investment-rd-ict 

(13)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/special/comment-position-paper 
(14)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/writing-together-digital-innovation-

charter 

(15)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/ict-clusters-europe-what-should-be-done 
(16)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/interesting-uk-policy-starting-and-

growing-business-what%C2%B4s-happening-elsewhere 

(17)  http://daa.ec.europa.eu/content/changing-entrepreneurs-culture-europe 

27

 
 
 
3. 

Conclusions and lessons learnt 

Online engagement is not a novelty in European policy-making: For several years 
the  European  Commission  has  organised  consultation  through  the  Interactive 
Policy  Making  (IPM)  2.0  tool,  which  has  been  effective  in  generating  policy-
relevant  input;  and  the  Commission  is  very  active  in  social  media,  which  is 
effective  for  communicating  but  also  stimulating  out-of-the-box  thinking.  The 
approach  of  the  DAA  is  original  insofar  as  it  tries  to  combine  the  targeted 
approach of IPM with the openness of social media, in particular through: 

-  Peer-to-peer: allowing anyone to see what other people are saying and to 

pose questions ; enabling distributed contributions by stakeholders; 

-  Federated:  two-way  integration  of  content  with  social  media  through 

"tags"; 

-  More open: publishing early draft EC documents for comments; releasing 
all the content of the discussion as open data; non-filtered discussion with 
direct participation of Commission staff; 

-  Qualitative:  focussing  on  quality  of  evidence  (number  of  “interesting” 

votes) rather than consensus (number of "like" votes). 

While  experimental  in  nature,  the  outcome  was  satisfactory  in  terms  of  quality 
and  quantity  of  participation.  The  level  of  online  engagement  was  effective  in 
achieving the goals of: 

-  Reaching out to new stakeholders: more than 90% of online participants 
did  not  attend  the  DAA.  Online  engagement  proved  complementary,  not 
redundant; 

-  Facilitating  peer  to  peer  discussion:  participants  provided  comments, 

launched discussions, posed questions and even new initiatives ; 

-  Generating  meaningful  policy  input:  new  ideas  and  inspiring  examples 

were proposed across all forums. 

The key lessons learnt can be grouped around 2 main points: 

i. 

Clear design 

Online engagement requires careful design. The policy context and goals should 
be clear from the outset, and each workshop should  have clear leadership. The 
language is particularly important, as it needs to reach out and include non EU 
specialists.  

The lack of a clear structure from the outset of the discussion was perceived as a 
barrier  to  participation  and  made  it  much  more  challenging  to  summarise  the 
results. Too many discussions were launched and this often increased the "noise" 
for  both  stakeholders  and  the  European  Commission.  While  allowing  for  open 
bottom-up discussion, there is a need to simplify the process, clarifying the key 

28

 
 
 
questions  and  focusing  the  discussion  around  these  questions;  add  new 
“navigation” tools beyond the “what’s new and what’s hot”. 

As the feedback received is qualitative rather than quantitative, it is difficult to 
report  on  the  discussion  in  terms  of  “stakeholders  think  that”.  Usage  of  the 
online  input  should  be  considered  as  a  collective  intelligence  effort,  aimed  at 
insight rather than representativeness. As such, the value-added is often more on 
the evidence and new ideas emerging, rather than on the opinion stated.  

ii.  A long-term process 

The online engagement was effective but far from perfect. Opening up lead to a 
better debate, to new ideas and brought new people to the debate. But learning 
and tweaking is necessary from both the Commission and the stakeholder’s side. 
In particular, the role of online engagement in the policy-making process should 
be  clarified,  building  on  the  experience  of  the  present.  The  process  should  be 
well  documented  to  the  Commission  and  to  stakeholders,  to  ensure  that 
participants are clear about how their input has been used.  

Established  players  were  less  likely  to  participate  because  they  have  more 
traditional channels to influence policy. Online input may have differed from the 
discussion in the workshops because of the different participants.  

The  outcome  of  the  online  engagement  does  not  end  here.  As  described  in  the 
introduction,  engagement  was  primarily  designed  to  leverage  insight  and 
evidence,  rather 
feedback.  Accordingly, 
participants provided not simply opinions about strategic policy priorities, but a 
rich  set  of  inspiring  examples  of  initiatives  that  will  contribute  towards  the 
implementation of the Digital Agenda for Europe. 

than  stimulating  representative 

29