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Europeans Discuss Digital Progress
by Winter Casey
Leaders of the European Union's communications and media industry met Monday with officials from the European Commission, the United Kingdom, which currently holds the EU presidency, and Austria and Finland, which in turn will hold the rotating EU presidency in the future. Their focus was the union's move into the digital economy.
The group, which included 10 business leaders from major European telecommunications, Internet, television and music companies, focused on policies that can be created to ensure that the surge of economic development Europe is witnessing results in the optimal amount of growth and jobs for Europeans. The meeting was part of the EU initiative dubbed "i2010 -- a European Information Society for growth and jobs."
"The challenge is clear for policymakers," Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, said in a statement. "If we want the growth that this sector can deliver we have to create a single, European information economy, with a consistent, light-touch legal framework that is free from artificial barriers to competition and the provision of services."
Alun Michael, the U.K. minister for industry and the regions, said: "If people are to benefit from the potential the digital economy offers, we need to ensure we are in a position to exploit that potential in terms of growth and jobs. The agenda agreed today is a major contribution to enabling us to do that. This sector has the potential to be a leading powerhouse of the European economy, creating wealth and jobs based on European skills, technology and creativity."
The business leaders agreed to work together with EU nations and the commission on an agenda that included an emphasis on the promotion of media markets through effective rights protection, licensing arrangements and support of legitimate content use, and the modernization of single-market rules on audiovisual content.
The group also includes on its agenda: the stimulation of investments in high-speed Internet networks and other new communications services; the promotion of competition; policy coordination on using and trading spectrum; easy content access for users by way of safe and quality software; and investing in private and public research and development on communications technologies.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the European Commission said Monday that telephone companies are charging consumers too much for using mobile phones while abroad and that it plans to publish details on "roaming" charges in hopes of spurring lower prices.
The European Union also has released its annual report on technological R&D activities from January 2003 to March 2004.
Latvia Looks To Improve R&D Initiatives
Latvia has been undergoing a push to strengthen its R&D policies and to establish stronger ties among research institutes and higher education. Latvia joined the European Union in May 2004.
"The radical changes in politics, the economy and culture that have taken place in Latvia during [the past decade] have created a totally new environment for the development of science and research," according to the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science.
Despite the emergence of biotechnology as a growing sector and improved R&D initiatives, the country still ranks low in R&D expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product. The country also ranks relatively far behind other EU nations in terms of business R&D investment.
In other news, AP reports that European antitrust regulators raided Intel's offices Tuesday. The inspection came two weeks after rival U.S. chip maker Advanced Micro Devices sued Intel for allegedly using its market dominance to stop computer makers from using AMD chips.
Also according to European Tech Wire, Microsoft's antitrust appeal now reportedly will be heard by Bo Vesterdorf, president of the Court of First Instance. Hubert Legal, the judge who has handled the case to date, recently made headlines for authoring a controversial article that said some law clerks were "ayatollahs of free enterprise" in terms of their influence on judges.
Meanwhile, the European Union's Tempus program has gone online. The program was established in 1990 and currently serves as a way for universities from EU nations to collaborate on projects with those in the western Balkans, eastern Europe and central Asia, and Mediterranean partner countries.
And last month, the European Union launched the Xplora Web portal on science education.
Rwanda Wants To Be Africa's Tech Leader
Rwanda would like to become Africa's technology leader, BBC reports.
High-speed data links are beginning to appear, and the country plans to link all five main population centers to fiber-optic cables by the end of this year. The move would give half the country access to telephone, Internet and television services.
"Lots of Rwandans haven't even left Kigali or Rwanda, so this will be able to make them aware of what's going on outside Rwanda, out of their little area," said Sandra Rwamushaija, the country's finance director. "It will be able to give them more vision of what else they can do rather than what they are used to. They'll be able to think of new ways of bringing in money other than just agriculture."
Internet Still Down In Pakistan
Pakistan's Internet problems continue as the repair of the undersea, fiber-optic cable that serves as the country's main link to the outside cyber world has no timetable for repair, TechWeb reports.
Some sources are reporting that the cable may not be fixed until the end of July, and the process of fixing the cable could require shutting the entire line, which also would disrupt Web traffic in Djibouti, India, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
The only Internet access currently available in Pakistan is through satellite stopgaps. However, those sources only supply a small amount of the bandwidth used by Pakistani businesses.
Japan, U.S. Business Leaders Discuss Priorities
Business leaders from the United States and Japan met last week in New York to discuss a global economic agenda. The leaders included CEO members of the Business Roundtable and Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of Nippon Keidanren and of Toyota Motor.
The leaders agreed to work together to strengthen the global protection of intellectual property rights. They listed priorities as including the deployment of information technology infrastructure in the healthcare system and improving patient access to information.
The leaders also support an economy that encourages and rewards innovation and R&D, and that spurs the introduction of new technologies.
In other news, the U.S. State Department and Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Investment last week released the annual U.S.-Japan investment initiative report for 2005.
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