Factor social

organised by DG Enterprise

Brussels 26-27 May 2003

As a follow-up of the Go Digital initiative, on 27 March 2003 the Commission adopted the Communication “Adapting e-Business policies in a chancing environment”. This Communication is an important step to accelerating progress towards the Lisbon target of making Europe the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy. It is alerting Member States to the need to shift gear from e-Commerce to e- Business, i.e. to a holistic approach which includes not only buying and selling over the Internet but most important, the efficient integration and productive use of ICTs in internal and external business processes. Moreover, this Communication calls upon Member States and regions to review their e-Business strategies in support of SMEs and to adopt, on a voluntary basis, policy targets to accelerate the shift from e-Commerce to e- Business. In particular, public policies should be re-oriented at national and regional level towards measures, which have a direct or indirect impact on productivity. Namely, policies should assist enterprises in better managing the organisational changes required to reap the full benefits of ICTs and e-Business, and should set clear objectives and quantitative targets for assessing policies’ progress and impact. The Competitiveness Council of 13 May welcomed this Communication and invited the Member States and acceding countries to: ƒ further complete the Enterprise Policy Scoreboard, at general policy level;

ƒ base specific e-Business initiatives in favour of SMEs on clear quantitative and/or qualitative targets; ƒ actively engage in eBSN – European e-Business Support Network for SMEs.

In this context, the objective of the EU workshop on “Good targets for e-Business policies” was to: • Bring together eBSN members to further discuss future policy priorities:

• Present practical examples of quantitative and/or qualitative targets in different e-Business policy areas, such as awareness, training, e-Business solutions, interoperability and networking;

• Allow for an intensive dialogue among eBSN members and the exchange of practical experience.

About 80 selected representatives from the public administrations of the Member States, and acceding countries, the European Commission, business associations and the academic community attended the one-and- a-half day workshop organised by DG Enterprise, in Brussels, on 26-27 May 2003. Member State and acceding country representatives presented their national policy priorities and concrete targets for e-Business policies. Moreover, the panellists presented practical examples of SMART targets for specific e-Business policies for SMEs, mainly in the area of awareness, e-skills, e-Business solutions, networking and participation in e-marketplaces.

The lack of metrics and impact assessment: The enormous lack of statistics and metrics on the diffusion

and use of ICT by enterprises, as well as the quality of available data have been underlined as major challenges that need to be further addressed. Sufficient and reliable data would offer great value to decision-makers in formulating favourable policies for their enterprises. In this context, it remains critical to analyse the relationship between the intensity of use of ICTs, enterprise competitiveness and overall productivity. However, participants also stressed the difficulty in measuring the impact of ICT investments (including equipment, solutions, and structural changes) due to long-term impact, mainly based on empirical evidence.

National targets for e-Business policies and future challenges: Member State and acceding country

representatives presented their own key programmes, priorities and targets for actions in this area. The discussion stressed that the development of SMEs is critical for overall economic development in Europe. The e- Business policies addressed to SMEs should take into account their diversity (based on size, sector of activity, geographic location, etc.), the particular characteristics of SMEs (e.g. techno-phobia, lack of managerial understanding, lack of e-skills, etc.), as well as the changing nature of e-Business. Therefore, e-Business policies should be designed to be flexible and adaptable to the changing e-Business environment, during their entire lifetime. A characteristic feature of new policy initiatives has been the shift of emphasis from promoting Internet connections and Web presence of SMEs towards policies to enhance the e-Business implementation and

According to this analysis, the major future e-Business application will be the e-invoice, which is expected to save administrative costs of 2 billion Euro in this region only. Based on this analysis, further ideas for future actions were expressed, such as the development of free-of-charge solutions for SMEs to issue and manage e- invoices, based on common European forms. The value of EU legislation on e-invoices was also stressed. In this context, it was also suggested that public authorities should set quantitative targets regarding the use of e- invoices and should analyse the "cost of non-implementation" for SMEs, as well as the social side-effects.

Quantitative targets for specific public policies in support of e-Business for SMEs: The workshop

discussions confirmed that the need for more awareness and knowledge transfer to SMEs is still valid. Member State and acceding country representatives presented examples of SMART targets for specific e-Business policies for SMEs at national and regional level. Interesting conclusions were presented, such as:

- the value of the multiplier effect for SMEs (i.e. once a critical mass of SMEs adopt e-Business processes, the others will naturally follow);

- the need to streamline the numerous information and consultancy sources for SMEs; - the merits of face-to-face contact and best practices;

Moreover, the workshop addressed the lack of affordable e-Business solutions, adapted to the needs of SMEs. In this context, the presentations and discussions stressed:

- the importance of self-assessment tools allowing SMEs to benchmark their e-Business maturity, with comparison to their sector;

- the challenge to target specific clusters of SMEs;

- the need to consolidate the existing, and sometimes competing, standards for e-Business technologies; - the need to enhance trans-national interoperability of standards for e-Business solutions, through the promotion of interoperability test-beds.

In addressing the question of mis-participation of SMEs in e-marketplaces, the workshop emphasised:

- the importance of neutral information and consultancy services to SMEs, so they can judge which e- marketplaces would be most relevant to them;

- the need for public authorities to further support and promote e-procurement techniques, and to facilitate access to SMEs through awareness and knowledge transfer actions;

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