Europe Can Do Better With ICT, Says Reding

Viviane Reding, in charge of the Information Society and Media for the European Commission, spoke at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum in Prague late last month, saying that "Investment in ICT and technical progress accounted for about 40 percent of EU labor productivity growth over the second half of the 90s. But it accounted for 60 percent in the USA, which shows that there is an opportunity for Europe to do better." Reding went on to say that Europe's productivity gap with the USA is closely linked to the production and use of ICTs.

Reding also discussed her European Information Society 2010 agenda (i2010) which she said would promote a borderless European information space with the aim of establishing an internal market for electronic communications and digital services; stimulate innovation through investment in research, the development and deployment in ICT and by encouraging the industrial application of ICT; and make the European Information Society as inclusive and accessible as possible.