 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
Europe Now Leads Outsourcing Pack
by Winter Casey
Europe is now leading the world in outsourcing jobs to other countries, according to the latest quarterly index from the advisory firm TPI International.
The research found that Europe accounted for 49 percent of the value of major outsourcing contracts last year. The $28 billion in contracts awarded by European companies in 2004 were nearly double the figures from 2002.
The United States represented 44 percent of outsourcing contracts, the study showed, followed by the Asia-Pacific region at 7 percent.
"The equalization between the European and U.S. outsourcing markets comes through dramatic growth in Europe, not any significant decline in outsourcing in the Americas," said Duncan Aitchison, managing director for TPI. "European companies realize that they cannot continue to compete effectively on a global scale without utilizing the increased efficiency and flexibility they can gain through outsourcing."
TPI's research also found the value of major outsourcing contracts awarded last year marked a global high. An estimated 67 percent of the contracts given were for information technology.
In other European news, the European Commission released a report Monday that said the European Union must increase its investment in information technologies. The five-year assessment evaluated the implementation, effectiveness, achievements and impacts of information technologies and research and development within Europe from 1999 to 2003.
Compiled by a panel of independent experts, the study found that more attention must be paid to improving information technology to bolster the European Union's competitive edge in the world's economy. The panel also recommended improved communications and greater involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises and new EU nations.
"Fast-changing [IT] research is, and must remain, a key driver for the rapid, economy-wide technological innovation, on which Europe's skilled jobs ultimately depend," Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said in a statement. "I intend to respond very quickly to the panel's concerns about red tape."
The European Union currently spends more than $1 billion each year on IT research and development. The study points to bureaucracy, a lack of accountability and funding controls as areas in need of improvement.
Report Predicts Uneven Technology Revolution
The National Intelligence Council last week released its third unclassified report in the past seven years on mapping the global future. The research paid specific attention to the impact of technology on the global economy and includes a section focused solely on the technology revolution that it warns "will not benefit everyone equally."
"Rapid technological advances outside the United States could enable other countries to set the rules for design, standards and implementation, and for molding privacy, information security and intellectual property rights," the report said.
The goal of the council, which reports to the director of central intelligence, is to give U.S. policymakers insight into how world developments are likely to evolve and where potential negative and positive changes may occur.
For this particular report, the council took advantage of information technology and analytical tools, such as the launch of an interactive Web site that uses computer simulation to let users develop their own future scenarios. That tool, the International Futures Model is now available to the public.
Canada Enters Frey Over BlackBerrys
Canada has increased its involvement in a patent-infringement battle between Ontario-based Research In Motion (RIM) and the U.S.-based holding company NTP, the Ottawa Business Journal and The Globe and Mail report.
The Canadian Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case with a U.S. federal appeals court, alleging that a recent U.S. court's patent-infringement ruling against RIM, the creator of the BlackBerry handheld digital device, threatens to stifle innovation in Canada.
Canada said the decision against RIM could lead to "unfortunate and unintended consequences affecting Canada's interests, as well as the interests of Canadian companies carrying on multi-jurisdictional operations." Canada further said the judgment has the power to "negatively impact the integrity of the operations of Canadian intellectual property laws."
Canada would like the court to grant RIM's request for a rehearing. The case is significant in its future impact on how foreign patent laws apply to domestic firms that operate internationally. RIM's profits have been hurt significantly by the court's decision.
"Canada is especially concerned that the uncertainty resulting from the panel's decision, with its potential for being applied in an inappropriately extraterritorial or discriminatory fashion, may have the further troubling effect of chilling innovation by Canadian companies operating in key industry sectors in Canada, particularly the high-technology sector," the government's filing said.
The Globe and Mail also reports that the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC), a group that collects and distributes private copying levies, has announced that it will ask the Supreme Court to rule on whether buyers of the iPod digital music player should have to compensate musicians. "Creators of recorded music deserve remuneration for the use of their work," CPCC Chairwoman Claudette Fortier said in a statement.
Microsoft's Gates Wants To Meet Brazilian President
Microsoft has been lobbying Brazil's government in hopes of obtaining a meeting between company Chairman Bill Gates and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the World Economic Forum next week, Reuters reports.
Brazil has been a leading advocate for the free software movement and Linux programs as an alternative to purchasing Microsoft applications.
"Brazil wouldn't gain anything from this, but Microsoft would gain a lot," Sergio Amadeu, head of the president's national technology institute, told Reuters of the desire for a meeting. "They want to try to lobby [da Silva] in the other direction."
India To Offer Cheapest Broadband
India's state-run telecommunications giants, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam and Bharat Sanchar Nigam, are set to offer what they describe as some of the world's most affordable high-speed Internet service.
"We have been slow to adopt new technologies in the television and even Internet sphere, but in a way this will now work in our favor," Information Technology and Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran said in a press release. "Indian firms will bring the best technologies into the country at the cheapest prices."
"China and South Korea are the only countries that match our volume-based broadband offerings for [corporations]," Sinha said. "It goes without saying that we are cheaper than service providers in Europe and the United States."
Internet penetration in India is currently at only 0.4 percent of the population, and broadband penetration stands at about 0.02 percent.
Industry Groups Favor U.S.-Oman Trade Deal
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the U.S. drug industry's trade group, and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which represents companies that make construction, agriculture, mining and other equipment, on Friday announced their support for a trade deal between the United States and the Middle Eastern nation of Oman. Both groups are members of the U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Coalition Steering Committee.
Susan Kling Finston, the associate vice president for intellectual property and Middle East/North African affairs at PhRMA, said in a statement that the agreement will protect the intellectual property of PhRMA's member companies. "The establishment of the highest intellectual property standards will promote an attractive environment for foreign investment and create long-term economic growth," she said.
Others have touted the trade agreement as a way to increase the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers in the Middle Eastern market and to encourage economic reform. Last year, the United States exported $323 million worth of goods to Oman.
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
