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Weekly Issue - 18 November 2011

Latest News

PRESS RELEASE

Five new cross-border online public services

(17 November 2011) The European Commission is showcasing a family of five new online public services to the "Borderless eGovernment Services for Europeans" conference of the Polish Presidency in Poznan this week. The five projects have already demonstrated concrete benefits for citizens, businesses and governments during their pilot phases. eGovernment must not stop at national borders , and these five projects prove that it does not have to, making the lives of citizens and businesses easier, while being more efficient and cost effective than existing public services . The Commission provided half the funding for the projects (EUR 62.67 million out of EUR 125.34 million). Poland, currently holding the EU Presidency, participates in a project piloting the use of eDocument, eDelivery, eSafe and eServices for people working in the travel industry, real estate or construction, through its Institute of Logistics and Warehousing in Poznan.

PRESS RELEASE

Media freedom high on European agenda

(15 November 2011) Media freedom and freedom of expression in the enlargement countries were topics of joint discussion between the Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes responsible for the Digital Agenda including media policy and Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fuele with President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek on Tuesday in Strasbourg. They focused on how to best foster Freedom of Expression in the existing legal framework.

PRESS RELEASE

Commission welcomes improvements in new IANA contract

(14 November 2011) The European Commission is pleased that its initiative to improve Internet Governance resulted in the introduction of a number of its suggested changes by the US Government for the post-March 2012 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) contract. The Commission welcomes the publication by the US Government of tender documents for the contract to manage the naming and numbering systems that keep the global Internet running smoothly. The new tender will be subject to a competitive bidding process and its specifications will strengthen the transparency, independence and accountability of the next IANA contractor within the Internet's multi-stakeholder governance ecosystem.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

ICT Procurement Workshop (Digital Agenda for Europe - Action 23)

12 December 2011 Brussels, Belgium

This workshop forms part of the work undertaken by the European Commission and Europe Economics to develop guidelines to assist public procurers in purchasing ICT that is based on standards. This is an action of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE).

NEWS ARTICLE

Introduction of Harmonised technical conditions for the terrestrial 2 GHz band

(15 November 2011) The European Commission has just launched a public consultation on the introduction of technical harmonisation measures at EU level in the terrestrial 2 GHz band (1900-1980 MHz, 2010-2025 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz). The use of this band in the EU is currently restricted only to UMTS, whereby parts of it remain largely unused. The collected feedback will be assessed in the process of preparing a Commission Implementing Decision in 2012, supported by an Impact Assessment. The consultation closes on 18 January 2012.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Promoting the shared use of radio spectrum resources in Europe

16 December 2011 Brussels, Belgium

This workshop, hosted by the European Commission, will present the results of an independent study on "shared spectrum access" carried out for the European Commission. Stakeholders are invited to discuss the key findings of the study with the authors. Interested parties can also contribute to the workshop and to the open discussion by submitting their ideas in advance to the workshop organisers. Registration is open until 30 November 2011.

NEWS ARTICLE

Parental control tools need to be more effective for today's and tomorrow's internet

(15 November 2011) Results from a study just released by the European Commission show that parental control tools tested have become more effective at blocking adult content and other harmful content since the first tests conducted last year. However the tools are less efficient at filtering content related to racism and self-harm (sites promoting anorexia, suicide or self-mutilation). In general, the tools cannot filter all the different kinds of user generated content on the internet - while they can block access to things like social networks and streaming services, only very few tools are able to filter contacts in applications such as Skype and MSN.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

ICT Standards and Patents - The public authorities and international perspective: how to increase transparency and predictability

24 November 2011 Brussels, Belgium

The conference will focus on the role, expectations and responsibilities of public authorities in relation to the use of interoperable ICT technologies in support of competitiveness and innovative applications to meet policy objectives. It will have a broad international dimension including representatives of public authorities from Europe and other world regions as well as industry and standardisation organisations with a global reach.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

European Commission officials visit member states to present the Digital Agenda for Europe

16 November 2011 - 17 November 2011 The Hague and Scheveningen, The Netherlands

European Commission officials will participate in events organised on November 16 and 17 in The Hague and Scheveningen in the Netherlands, in order to present to stakeholders and the public the Digital Agenda for Europe. The event in The Hague will focus on the Horizon 2020 programme, the future EU funding programme for research and innovation, under which ICT research activities will be conducted from 2014 to 2020. This event takes place in the context of the ICT Delta 2011 World Forum. The event in Scheveningen will focus on both the European and Dutch Digital Agendas. The visits are part of the Going Local exercise, run by the European Commission for the second year in a row, in order to foster a public dialogue on the Digital Agenda goals.

Reminders

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Future Network and MobileSummit - Call for Papers & Workshop Submissions

4 July 2012 - 6 July 2012 Berlin, Germany

In the context of convergence and innovation, the 21st Future Network and MobileSummit will address the challenges of building the Future Internet Infrastructures, based on mobile, wireless and fixed broadband communications technologies. High-quality scientific papers (up to 8 pages) and proposals for Workshop topics are invited for online submission from 9 November until 9 December 2011.

New in the Library

SPEECH

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda

"Build, Connect, Grow": The road towards borderless eGovernment

6th Ministerial eGovernment Conference, Poznan, 17 November 2011

AUDIOVISUAL

Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme

17 November 2011

The new video of the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Joint Programme explains the mission and the main goals of this European programme for active and healthy ageing.

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