Latest News
- PRESS RELEASE
- Commission seriously concerned about future high mobile rates in Estonia
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(16 April 2012) The European Commission put a hold on a proposal by the Estonian Competition Authority (ECA) to impose some of the highest mobile termination rates (MTRs) in the European Union from mid-2012 until mid-2015. MTRs are the rate mobile networks charge other networks for delivering voice calls. The Commission is concerned that ECA's proposed pricing methodology does not fully follow the method set out in EU telecoms rules and will lead to durably excessive MTRs and ongoing consumer harm. The 2009 Termination Rates Recommendation, requires cost-efficient rates to be in place by 1 January 2013. For example, ECA proposes MTRs at 3.89 euro cents per minute in the first half of 2013, well above the cost-efficient rate of around 1 euro cent per minute.
- PRESS RELEASE
- Delivering savings for Europe: moving to full e-procurement for all public purchases by 2016
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(20 April 2012) Electronic procurement (e-procurement) refers to the use of electronic communication by public sector organisations when buying supplies and services or tendering public works. Increasing the use of e-procurement in Europe can generate significant savings for European taxpayers. Public entities that have already implemented e-procurement report savings of between 5% and 20% of their procurement expenditure. The total size of the EU's procurement market is estimated to be more than 2 trillion euro, so each 5% saved could result in about 100 billion euro of savings per year - which is equivalent to building more than 150 large size hospitals. These savings would maximise the efficiency of public spending in the current context of fiscal constraints.
- EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
- European Data Forum 2012
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6 June 2012 - 7 June 2012 Copenhagen, Denmark
The European Data Forum 2012 (EDF2012) will offer a platform for industry, research, policy-makers and community initiatives to discuss the challenges of Big Data and the emerging Data Economy and to develop suitable action plans for addressing these challenges. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) will be given a particular focus, as they are driving innovation and competition in many economic sectors. Topics discussed will range from novel, data-driven business models (e.g. data clearing houses), to technological innovations (e.g. Linked Data Web) and societal aspects (e.g. open government data as well as data privacy and security).
- EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
- Ultra-Fast Broadband - Policy & Practice
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21 May 2012 Brussels, Belgium
Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda will hold a keynote speech at this conference, organised by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA). Some of the topics that will be discussed include: Do we need industrial policy to achieve Digital Agenda targets? Will the market deliver the Commission's broadband targets on its own or should policy-makers be more pro-active? Should we favour fibre-to-the-home or be technology neutral? Should pricing be used to incentivise investment in NGA? Should policy-makers favour "infrastructure competition" or a "one-network" approach? Delft University of Technology will present new research and other high-level stakeholders from industry and regulators debate the pros and cons of different approaches. Access pricing and non-discrimination: How could proposed new rules from the European Commission on access pricing and non-discrimination affect ultra-fast broadband deployment. Could entrants win the fibre race? Infrastructure competition and technologies: where are the limits? Enabling fibre roll-out: financing and demand - exchange of views with equity and bond investors and infrastructure funds on factors influencing investment decisions. Ownership, separation and equivalence: an assessment of outcomes achieved through different models ranging from functional separation in the UK, to "independent" utility fibre investors, to Government as the network owner to co-investment by multiple telcos.
- EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
- Smart Energy and Sustainable ICT
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3 May 2012 - 4 May 2012 Brussels, Belgium
The European Commission is organising a conference on sustainable ICT, smart grids and smart cities. The event will be opened by Vice-President Kroes and Commissioner Oettinger. It will bring together policy makers and stakeholders such as telecom companies, energy providers, regulators and consumer organisations. It will provide a platform for discussing the challenges of deploying smart grids. By exchanging best practices, the conference will look at the role ICT can play to make our cities greener. It will also touch upon the important issue of how to deliver transparent metrics around the positive contribution of ICT to solving our energy and climate problems. Registration is free of charge.
New in the Library
- AUDIOVISUAL
- E-textiles improving health and safety
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20 April 2012
It's never been easier and cheaper to sew small electronic components into wearable clothing. In this issue of Futuris, we are diving into the world of smart textiles that help improve health and safety.
- SPEECH
- Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda
- Building the companies of the future
European CIOs of the Year, Brussels, 19 April 2012
- RESEARCH RESULT
- Europe on the cutting edge: 'Organic', the new electronics revolution
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19 April 2012
An 'organic' revolution is unfolding in the electronics industry. 'Organic and large-area electronics' (OLAE) is focused on materials and devices built from organic carbon-based molecules that are able to conduct electricity. Organic electronics are lighter, more flexible and less expensive than inorganic conductors, such as copper or silicon, and they could lead to intelligent packaging, low cost radio-frequency identification (RFID) transponders, rollable displays, flexible solar cells, disposable diagnostic devices and printed batteries. EU funding is helping Europe strengthen its R&D lead in this fast-developing field by encouraging greater cooperation and coordination across national and commercial research efforts.
- RESEARCH RESULT
- Every cloud has a green lining
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19 April 2012
Climate change dominates the political agenda, but we all still use an awful lot of energy, especially with our growing number of electronic devices. And with zettabytes of data to process and deliver, data centres are becoming major power consumers. Within 15 years there will also be trillions of 'things' - devices, sensors, objects - connecting to the internet and flooding data centres with massive amounts of raw data that will have to be stored, processed and analysed. An EU-funded project is using some clever 3D design to build an energy-efficient super server chip.
- RESEARCH RESULT
- ICT to fostering inter-family relationships, naturally
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19 April 2012
From mobile phones to social networking, technology helps bring geographically dispersed people together. But most applications are designed for individuals, not groups or families. EU-funded research is addressing the issue with innovative tools designed to help families communicate and interact as naturally as possible even if they are hundreds or thousands of kilometres apart. The solution combines state-of-the-art artificial intelligence with ambient intelligence, multimedia tools and audio and video capturing, encoding, processing and transmission to enable near-natural interaction and communication between dispersed groups of people.
- SPEECH
- Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda
- What does it mean to be open online?
World Wide Web Conference 2012 Lyon, 19 April 2012
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