BRISEBRISE – Bremer Regionale PROJECT TOTAL EU POPULATION REGION COUNTRY ELIGIBILITY ACRONYM BUDGET FUNDING (%) COVERED

BRISE Land of Bremen Germany ECU 500,000 50 Objective 2 684,000

PROJECT OVERVIEW & KEY OBJECTIVES creation of jobs, the Bremen region hopes to be able to use available technological resources and finan- The objective of the BRISE project is to develop an cial means better. Broad acceptance of the Infor- integrated concept for Bremen’s path into the emerg- mation Society can only be achieved through an ing Information Society. This will be achieved through approach which combines the policy of the decision developing strategies and actions for the best pos- making bodies with the representation of different sible use of information and communication tech- interests, including that of the general public. nologies for the Bremen region. By ensuring the par- ticipation of all relevant actors and citizens the project Steering Committee will contribute to combining the goals of growth and employment, competitiveness, and civic involvement. • Telematics Initiative Bremerhaven; • Chamber of Commerce; In the past a large number of projects have been car- • General Hospital St.-Jürgen Straße / Centre for ried out in the Bremen region in the sphere of infor- Radiology; mation and communication technology (ICT). However, • Radio Bremen; the emergence of the Information Society is not only • Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Federal a scientific-technological process, but also involves far- State of Bremen; reaching economic, social and cultural transformations • University of Bremen / City Information System; for society as a whole. A consensual and inclusive • Ministry of Ports, Transport and Foreign Trade; approach helps to ensure that the Information Soci- • Union of further education organisations; ety will benefit the region and limits the risks of exclu- • Deutsche Telekom; sion and poor use of information technology. • MeVis – Centre for Medical Diagnostic Systems Apart from this general objective, the BRISE project and Visualization / University of Bremen; also aims to contribute to achieving the following goals. • BreKom; Establishment of an information technology foresight • ISL – Institute of Shipping, Economics and Logistics; for the Bremen region which takes into account user • DLA – German Academy of Logistics; requirements. Increased co-ordination of different • Workgroup of charity organisations; approaches to the Information Society. Mobilisation of • CNB – Communications Network Bremen; continuing support for the Information Society from • German Association of Trade Unions; economic and political groups. Contributing to the • Employer’s Associations. the project willgeneration contribute of economical benefits. Consensus build- ing on the Information Society amongst key regional INSTITUTIONAL IMPACT players.to Prcombiningomoting the availability of new means of The strategy and action plan that is to be developed communication to citizens. Promoting the use of new is meant to serve as a guideline for the introduction means of communication amongst small and medium the goals of of the Information Society for the decision makers sized enterprises. Developing public-private partner- of the region. It will be an expression of the con- ships, initially in the area of training and further train- sensual process which the projects aims to embody growth anding employment, using the Information Society. and will include the interests of all groups in soci- competitiveness,REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP ety with regard to the Information Society and its development. In particular this means: The co-operation of local ‘key players’, e.g. manu- • the definition of requirements for financing of and civicfactur involvementers, operators, consumers, and the public sec- applications by public and private agencies; tor is continuously promoted through evaluating • the establishment of a co-ordination centre to regional opportunities in the Information Society and help move the region towards the infomation through the development of a strategy and action plan. society; In other words, a regional partnership in the field of • improving access to, and use of the Information the Information Society. Particular emphasis is placed and Communication technologies by the general on ensuring the active participation of the private sec- public, researchers, enterprises and administration; tor especially through networking different actors. • contributing to employment in the Bremen region through the establishment of new services and By concentrating attention on key applications development of new products. which are decisive for regional development and the 32 Informationsgesellschaft- Strategie-Entwicklung

PILOT PROJECTS EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE

The work carried out by the BRISE project is not con- Special actions have been undertaken to raise fined to studies, recommendations, awareness rais- awareness amongst the general public and to ensure ing, and providing information. The project also aims the transparency of project work. Numerous work- to support new initiatives which contribute towards shops and events were organised on the Information shaping Bremen’s way into the Information Society. Society. One example is the event ‘Internet for all?’. Up to the present time in the course of BRISE, sev- The main objective of this event was to inform the eral ideas for ICT related projects have been identi- public at large of the possibilities and risks of the fied in the various fields. These ideas are now being internet. The event was attended by almost 500 peo- made more practical. BRISE accompanies this by ple. It was also broadcast live via the internet. The bringing together project partners, identifying possi- event was divided into two parts: it began with a pres- ble funding opportunities, further development of the entation of the internet including basic principles and project idea. This is a critical role: many of the regional some interesting web sites. The second part was a actors involved in the strategy development do not panel discussion on the possibilities and risks of the have specialised knowledge on these matters. internet with six national experts (representatives from the fields of science, media, trade unions and In terms of application sectors the following are computer clubs). The debate ended in a lively and examples of ideas currently being supported and fruitful discussion with the audience. After the dis- developed by BRISE: cussion many of participants used the opportunity to • in co-operation with the regional ‘Arbeitsamt’ a ‘surf’ the internet on the PCs provided. regional WWW Server for job offers provides labour Within the BRISE project an ‘Information Society supply and demand matching for better labour competition’ was initiated. The population of the market ‘transparency’. The internet information Bremen Region was invited to submit all ideas and about the Bremen and Bremerhaven labour mar- contributions referring to the topic ‘Information ket will consist of a variety of services: information Society’. The main objective of the ‘ENTER’ com- for companies (e.g. information on public grants for petition was to stimulate public discussion of the hiring long-term unemployed); information for job topic in the region. Through the competition, BRISE seekers (e.g. job offers, company profiles, training was on the one hand able to make the project programmes). Links to key regional actors will be Special actions have been known to the public and stimulate debate on the provided through the Internet-Service (i.e. job cen- Information Society, and on the other hand receive tres, employment and training agencies, employ- undertaken to raise feedback through competition entries about public ers´ organisations, trade unions). An online dis- awareness of the topic. cussion forum will also be provided. awareness amongst • an online-forum for disabled people by the ‘Deutscher Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband’. It the general public and will consist of different services for disabled peo- ple, e.g telelearning and teleworking. to ensure the transparency • the implementation of a regional network among all actors in the health care sector by the Public Health of project work Department. As the process of strategy development continues, further key actions and (pilot) projects for the various fields of activity will be identified.

¨ CONTACT

Thomas Brimmer, Project Manager E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.bremen.de/brise

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