Digital Agenda for Europe Survey, Answers from Saxony-Anhalt

EU local and regional authorities contributing to the Mid-term review of Europe 2020

Assessment of the Digital Agenda for Europe flagship initiative

Three years after its launch, the Committee of the Regions will take stock of the Digital Agenda for Europe flagship initiative at a conference to be held on 2 July 2013 in Brussels. This conference will be the fifth in a series of CoR events and monitoring initiatives surrounding the mid-term review of Europe 2020 in 2014. More news on this conference can be found on the CoR website1.

By participating in this survey, you will:

- ensure that your views are taken into account in the debate held during the conference; - contribute to the fourth CoR Monitoring Report on Europe 2020, to be published in October 2013; - contribute to the CoR's consultative activity in this field over the coming months; - contribute to the mid-term review of Europe 2020 in 2014.

IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS SURVEY, PLEASE COMPLETE THIS QUESTIONNAIRE IN ANY EU LANGUAGE, USING THE SPACES PROVIDED, AND RETURN IT IN TEXT FORMAT TO: [email protected]

by 27 May 2013

For more information on this survey and for details on how to join the Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform, go to: http://portal.cor.europa.eu/europe2020/

The questionnaire is available on this website in all official languages of the EU

1 http://cor.europa.eu/en/activities/europe2020/Pages/digital-agenda-for-europe.aspx.

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Contributor information2

Name of sender: Theo Struhkamp Staatskanzlei Saxony-Anhalt Referat 46 Contact details: Hegelstr. 40 (address, telephone, email) 39104 Magdeburg Tel.: 0049 391 6682 E-Mail: [email protected] On behalf of: The Land (federal region) of Saxony-Anhalt (name of local or regional authority) City/Town/Municipality Region County/Province Type of organisation Association of local and/or regional authorities Other (please specify) Country: Germany

Member of the EUROPE 2020 Monitoring Yes No Platform:

Policy challenges and responses at regional and local level

BOX 1 – Digital Agenda for Europe: basic information

The Digital Agenda for Europe was adopted in 2010, as an integral part of the Europe 2020 strategy3, to stimulate the digital economy and address societal challenges through Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The flagship initiative aims to speed up the roll-out of high- speed Internet and reap the benefits of a digital single market for households and firms in Europe. The Digital Agenda contains 101 actions, in 7 pillars4, which will help to reboot the EU economy and enable Europe's citizens and businesses to get the most out of digital technologies.

1. Digital Single Market. The Digital Agenda will update EU Single Market rules for the digital era. The aims are to boost the music download business, establish a single area for online payments, and further protect EU consumers in cyberspace.

2. Interoperability and Standards. Europe must ensure that new IT devices, applications, data

2 Privacy Statement: The follow-up to your contribution requires that your personal data (name, contact details, etc.) be processed in a file. All the answers to the questions are voluntary. Your replies will be kept for a period of 5 years after the receipt of your questionnaire. Should you require any further information or wish to exercise your rights under Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 (e.g. to access, rectify or delete your data), please contact the data controller at [email protected]. If necessary, you may also contact the CoR Data Protection Officer ([email protected]). You have the right of recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time (www.edps.europa.eu). Please note that the questionnaire with your contribution and your contact details will be published online. Your questionnaire may be transmitted to CoR rapporteurs and other EU institutions for information. Should you not agree to this, please inform us accordingly. 3 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:2020:FIN:EN:PDF. 4 http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/our-goals/pillar-i-digital-single-market.

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repositories and services interact seamlessly anywhere. The Digital Agenda identifies improved standard-setting procedures and increased interoperability as the keys to success.

3. Trust and security. The Digital Agenda proposes a number of practical solutions, including a coordinated European response to cyber-attacks and reinforced rules on personal data protection.

4. Fast and ultra-fast access to the Internet. To match world leaders like South Korea and Japan, Europe needs download rates of 30 Mbps for all of its citizens and at least 50% of European households subscribing to internet connections above 100 Mbps by 2020.

5. Research and Innovation. Currently, EU investment in ICT research is still less than half US levels. The Digital Agenda seeks to maintain Europe's competitive edge through increased coordination and elimination of Europe's fragmented efforts.

6. Enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion. Over 50% of Europeans use the internet daily – but 30% have never used it at all. As ever more daily tasks are carried out online, everyone needs enhanced digital skills to participate fully in society.

7. ICT-enabled benefits for EU society. The Digital Agenda focuses on ICTs' capability to reduce energy consumption, support ageing citizens' lives, revolutionises health services and deliver better public services.

A specific scoreboard measuring Member State performance and progress has been especially designed to provide analysis and detailed data on all the policy areas covered by the Digital Agenda5.

You can find more information on the Digital Agenda for Europe, as seen from the local and regional authorities' viewpoint, in the Committee of the Regions' publication Delivering on the Europe 2020 Strategy Handbook for Local and Regional Authorities6. General information on Europe 2020 can be found on the strategy's official website7.

1) What are the main challenges currently facing your region/city in terms of (i) access to the Internet, (ii) e-Governance, and (iii) computer literacy?  Internet and mobile radio communication have changed our lives permanently. Modern information and communications technologies (ICT) have found their way into all areas of life. Online learning and e-government offer opportunities to acquire digital skills and for integration in the areas of education and administration.  This goes hand in hand with comprehensive availability of broadband internet and geo-data (including planning data, industrial land register). These create transparency and planning certainty and at the same time provide a basis for developing new applications, e.g. in the economy, healthcare and tourism.  The energy changes in Germany are leading to a paradigm shift in the energy economy. The value added chain stretches from energy customers to power stations.  The fourth industrial revolution has begun, in which software manages mechanical and electronic components on the basis of a data infrastructure and merges the physical and virtual

5 http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/scoreboard. 6 The Handbook can be downloaded from: http://portal.cor.europa.eu/europe2020/SiteCollectionDocuments/Europe%202020%20Handbook%20for%20Local%20and %20Regional%20Authorities.pdf. 7 http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/europe-2020-in-a-nutshell/flagship-initiatives/index_en.htm.

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worlds.

2) Which of the aims of the Digital Agenda for Europe (listed in Box 1) are most relevant in view of the challenges currently facing your city/region?  Fast and ultra-fast internet access  Research and innovation  Improving digital skills, qualifications and integration  Advantages of ICT for society

3) Please briefly describe what type of policy programmes/actions are being implemented in your city/region in the policy areas covered by the Digital Agenda for Europe, highlighting their specific contribution to the above aims.  Continuation of broadband development with connections and transmission rates of at least 50Mbit/s: creation of effective telecommunications infrastructure in the region and development of broadband services for an ageing society  E-government offensive: in October 2012, the ministry of finance published the Saxony-Anhalt 2020 Digital Strategy  ICT innovation offensive: identifying strategic themes for the economy and initiating cooperation, raising the profile of site-based advantages internally and externally  E-learning offensive: development of information and communications technologies for use of electronic media in schools of general and vocational education (ICT/multi- media equipment); development of suitable forms of knowledge representation which support independent navigation and task processing in knowledge fields  Geo-data offensive: extension of cascaded services to promote access to geo-data  Regional initiative "ICT-based energy system of the future"  Research centre "fourth industrial revolution"

4) CoR opinions from October 20108 and October 20119 relating to the Digital Agenda for Europe identified, among others, a particular need to: i) create local digital agendas to speed up the optimal use of ICT through orchestrated local, regional and European cooperation, ii) improve interoperability and e-government by developing new applications such as human-centred e- services, e-learning, e-health and e-administration, iii) ensure equal and affordable broadband access everywhere and lead pilot projects aimed at closing the accessibility gap and iiii) ensure that security requirements are met at every level so as to guarantee optimum levels of privacy and protection of personal data.

Has your city/region currently adopted specific policies in these fields? Has your city/region adopted a local/regional digital agenda? i) . Saxony-Anhalt 2020 Digital Strategy, 01.10.2012 . Broadband strategy of the Saxony-Anhalt region (cabinet decision of 12.03.2013); continuation of broadband development, with the aim of developing a

8 https://bvstoad.cor.europa.eu/corwipdetail.aspx?folderpath=EDUC-V/003&id=20662 9 https://bvstoad.cor.europa.eu/BrowseDocuments.aspx?type=1&folder=cdr\ecos-v\dossiers\ecos-v-015.

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comprehensive NGA network (at least 50Mbit/s) in industries and accumulation areas ii) . Single contact partner in accordance with the EU services directive . Administrative services . Legal collection proceedings . Common register portal . E-justice in the trade, cooperative, partnership and association register . Land register search process . Development planning iii) . The draft directive on promoting development of high-speed networks in industrial and accumulation areas in Saxony-Anhalt has been available to COM for information since 26 April 2013.

How is the Digital Agenda for Europe relevant to your city or region?

BOX 2 – Digital Agenda for Europe: 2012 update

The flagship initiative of the Digital Agenda of Europe, as reviewed by the Commission in December 201210, identifies several important areas where more focused action is needed in order to create growth and jobs in Europe. The review comes at a time when more needs to be done to revive Europe's economic performance and when the digital economy is growing at seven times the rate of the rest of the economy. The seven priorities/transformative actions for 2013-2014 are:

1) Create a new and stable broadband regulatory environment. 2) New public digital service infrastructures through the Connecting Europe Facility11 3) Launch Grand Coalition on Digital Skills and Jobs 4) Propose EU cyber-security strategy and Directive 5) Update the EU's copyright framework 6) Accelerate cloud computing12 through public sector buying power 7) Launch new electronics industrial strategy – an "Airbus of Chips"

In particular, Europe needs a 'wake-up call' on high-speed broadband. High-speed internet is the basis for the digital economy; without it, essential services such as cloud computing, eHealth, smart cities, audiovisual services – and the benefits thereby derived – will simply not take off.

10 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-1000_en.htm. 11 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/connecting-europe-facility. 12 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1025_en.htm?locale=en.

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5) The Digital Agenda for Europe as updated by the Commission in December 2012, sets out a "Digital Agenda Review" based on the seven priorities/transformative actions presented in Box 2 above.

Which of these actions are most relevant to your specific local/regional situation? 2) New public digital service infrastructures through the Connecting Europe Facility13 3) Launch Grand Coalition on Digital Skills and Jobs 7) Launch new electronics industrial strategy – an "Airbus of Chips"

6) Which of the actions and priorities under the Digital Agenda for Europe (set out in Box 2) are the most difficult to achieve in your city/region? Please, explain why. N/A

7) Overall, what are the strong and weak points of the Digital Agenda for Europe, as seen from your regional/local standpoint? Strengths: ambitious targets, broad-based potential of individual action areas

Weaknesses: reluctant public acceptance; requirements seen as unrealistic, since implementation is not transparent; part of the development work by the EU is too non-committal

8) Would you recommend any specific changes to the Digital Agenda for Europe, following Europe 2020's mid-term review in 2014? Concentration of development activities on removing so-called white NGA spots (through both EAFRD and ERDF) if necessary through a special programme (CEF or similar), in order to actually meet the requirement of creating a comprehensive NGA network, so that all other action areas can develop their potential.

Are your country's policies relevant to your city or region?

9) Does your country's 2012 (current) National Reform Programme14 (NRP) for Europe 2020 adequately respond to your regional/local needs in the policy areas covered by the Digital Agenda for Europe? If not, would you suggest any changes in your country's NRP for 2013? In the area of broadband development, the NRP is setting itself slightly more ambitious targets than the digital agenda. The region of Saxony-Anhalt is aiming to meet both sets of objectives. However, comprehensive provision with 50 MBit connections by 2018 seems rather unrealistic, since at present less than one sixth of the country is equipped with such connections.

13 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/connecting-europe-facility. 14 All available here: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/making-it-happen/country-specific- recommendations/index_en.htm.

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10) Do you have the opportunity to contribute to the drafting of your NRP or national policies related to the priorities set out in the Digital Agenda for Europe, even if this takes place indirectly through organisations that represent cities and regions in your country? If yes, please state how in brief. The region of Saxony-Anhalt is in contact with the federal broadband office (national coordination).

Policy and funding issues

11) What sources of funding are used to finance your actions (as provided under question 3) under the Digital Agenda for Europe? In particular: what is the role of the EU Structural Funds in funding actions related to the Digital Agenda for Europe? Are other policy/financial instruments involved? Please, explain.  EAFRD broadband development  ERDF broadband development  Joint programme on the structure of agriculture and coastal protection (GAK; federal ministry of food, agriculture and consumer protection)  Joint programme on improving the regional economic structure (GRW: federal ministry of economic affairs and technology)  STARK III for IT school equipment (ERDF)  Saxony-Anhalt regional budget

12) Have any of the pursued goals been jeopardised due to fiscal consolidation policies and subsequent financial difficulties? This cannot be assumed at present.

13) Were you directly or indirectly involved in the preparation of the forthcoming Partnership Agreement which is to be signed between your national government and the European Commission for the management of the Structural Funds under the Common Strategic Framework 2014-202015? If yes, please explain how in brief. On 17 May 2013, the state chancellery submitted its opinion to the finance ministry of the Saxony- Anhalt region, which has overall responsibility on this matter, regarding the draft partnership agreement. In the opinion, Saxony-Anhalt highlights the particular features of the east German federal states as regards the achieved level of provision, which is still clearly below that of the west German federal states, as well as the telecommunications technologies available in some places, which do not allow for an extension of broadband up to 50 MBit/s on a market-driven basis. Promoting broadband development in the framework of thematic goal II of the ERDF draft regulation is essential for Saxony-Anhalt.

14) Please add any further comments you wish to make on the issues covered in this questionnaire. It would be a good idea to push ahead with the plans for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), so that it becomes clear what specific contribution is to be made to the Digital Agenda, which could be taken into account in regional planning.

15 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/what/future/index_en.cfm#1.

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SHARE YOUR GOOD PRACTICE

As part of the preparations for the CoR conference to be held on 2 July 2013 and to showcase good practices in areas covered by the Digital Agenda for Europe, you are invited to submit examples of good practice from your local area. Please complete the form available on our website: http://portal.cor.europa.eu/europe2020/MonitoringFlagships/Pages/Welcome.aspx

JOIN THE EUROPE 2020 MONITORING PLATFORM

To help convey the voice of EU cities and regions in the implementation of Europe 2020 at EU level and in your country, join us. For details on how, see: http://portal.cor.europa.eu/europe2020/Knowledge/Pages/BecomeaMember.aspx

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

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