Central and Eastern Europe Information Society Benchmarks Summary Report September 2004 This report was prepared by a consortium led by Danish Management A/S (DK) that included the University of Sunderland (UK) and Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI (D) with financial assistance from the Commission of the European Communities. The views expressed herein are those of the consortium and do not represent any official view of the European Commission. Certain links referenced in this document connect to websites maintained by third parties and such websites may or may not present within a frame on the site. The consortium has not verified the contents of such third party websites and does not endorse, warrant, promote or recommend any services or products which may be provided or accessible through them or any person or body which may provide them. The consortium has not issued or caused to be issued any advertisements which may appear on these websites. If you have any questions regarding this report, please contact Danish Management on telephone: +45 87 340 600 Foreword Background European leaders set, at the Lisbon Summit in 2000, the ambitious objective for Europe to “become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion by 2010”. The EU’s eEurope Action Plan launched in Feira on 19-20 June 2000 aimed at bringing Europe closer to meeting the Lisbon objectives. It provided for concrete actions and targets aimed at making Internet use cheaper and faster, providing modern public services online and progressing a dynamic, e-business environment to attain these goals. In order to meet this challenge and to help accelerate reform and modernisation of their economies, encourage capacity and institutional building, the then 13 Candidate Countries launched a collective action, mirroring this Action Plan, on the occasion of the Göteborg European Council in June 2001, known as the eEurope+ Action Plan. A first picture of the status of implementation of the targets of the eEurope+ Action Plan was subsequently provided with the presentation of the first eEurope+ Progress Report, in June 2002, at the European Ministerial Conference: “Information Society - Connecting Europe” held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The presentation of the Final eEurope+ Progress Report in February 2004 coincided with the biggest enlargement ever undertaken by the European Union, both in terms of scope and diversity. Ten countries - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia were set to join the Union on 1st May 2004. The Final eEurope+ Progress Report was based upon statistical information obtained from Surveys carried out within 10 of the 13 candidate countries during 2003: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia – referred to in this report as the Central and Eastern European Countries (the CEE 10). - I - Central and Eastern European Countries Information Society Benchmarks Summary Report Summary Report This Summary Report of the eEurope+ Benchmarking and Monitoring Project presents the main findings and conclusions resulting from analysis of the results of the Surveys. The Introduction briefly describes the background and circumstances in which the CEE 10 are progressing towards the establishment of their Information Societies. This is followed by a review of the current national landscapes pertinent to telecommunications and their associated infrastructures. Aspects of Internet access are considered before an examination of the current status of ICT within the sphere of education, There is particular focus on Tertiary Education, expected to provide a highly skilled ICT workforce for the future. ICT in the workplace examines the levels of ICT skills within the context of e-Learning followed by a snapshot of the current status of e-commerce/e-business in the CEE 10 countries. With e-Health expected to offer so many opportunities for cost savings and efficiency increases, there is a review of the use of the Internet by General Health Practitioners. Security issues are examined relative to individual Internet use and that of enterprises. Throughout analysis of the data, digital divides have been defined and the factors influencing them are assessed and discussed. A simple benchmarking exercise identifies leaders and trailers amongst the CEE 10 as well as those indicators for which some CEE 10 countries have made particular progress during 2003. Policy recommendations are included throughout wherever data results suggest that further policy action is needed. A summary of the methodology used in the Surveys is included in the Annexes. eEurope Further information on eEurope can be found at: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/index_en.htm This report and other related documents can be downloaded from: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/benchm arking/index_en.htm - II - Contents Introduction.............................................................................................. 1 Telecommunications Infrastructure ......................................................... 3 Internet .............................................................................................. 5 Access and usage ........................................................................................... 5 Cost and affordability....................................................................................... 6 Usage by individuals ....................................................................................... 7 Inhibitors to individual Internet use.................................................................. 8 Places where the Internet is used ................................................................... 9 Personal use of the Internet .......................................................................... 10 Education ............................................................................................ 11 Primary education ......................................................................................... 11 Secondary education..................................................................................... 12 Tertiary education,......................................................................................... 13 The Workplace ...................................................................................... 15 ICT skills in the workplace............................................................................. 15 e-Learning ..................................................................................................... 16 Enterprises: e-commerce and e-business..................................................... 17 Teleworking ................................................................................................... 19 Health ............................................................................................ 20 e-Health......................................................................................................... 20 Security ............................................................................................ 22 Digital divides ........................................................................................ 25 Leaders and Trailers.............................................................................. 26 Annexes ............................................................................................ 27 Annex 1 Leaders and Trailers ........................................................... 29 CEE 10 Information Society Leaders and Trailers, December 2003 ............ 31 Annex 2 Information Society Development Paths ............................. 37 Annex 3 Benchmarking Survey Methodology ................................... 75 The Policy Cycle as a conceptual framework ............................................... 75 The eEurope+ Action plan objectives and indicators.................................... 76 Questionnaires and surveys.......................................................................... 76 Primary Surveys ............................................................................................ 77 Secondary surveys........................................................................................ 79 Annex 4 Error Margins ...................................................................... 83 Annex 5 Bibliography ........................................................................ 85 - i - Central and Eastern European Countries Information Society Benchmarks Summary Report - ii - Central and Eastern European Countries Information Society Benchmarks Summary Report Introduction This Report presents a summary of the main findings of the surveys carried out by the eEurope+ Benchmarking and Monitoring Project during 2003. The surveys took place within the context of the eEurope+ Action Plan, which paralleled the eEurope Action Plan until enlargement in May 2004. The methodology of the surveys is described in the Annex. Conclusions are drawn from the findings and policy recommendations suggested throughout where appropriate. This Summary Report commences with a brief description of the socio-economic background of the CEE 10 countries and establishes the context within which they are developing their Information