ICT for Europe’s Recovery and Other News from CEPIS – May 2012

In this issue

Learn more about arrangements for the upcoming 48(12) CEPIS Council this Friday evening and Saturday in Milan. We bring you news about CEPIS’s support of the Copenhagen Declaration, which was announced during the e-Skills Week Closing Event in March. Updates on the Digital Agenda for Europe and other initiatives by the European Commission such as a new Employment Package are also included. You can also read about an interesting call for papers for an event organised by the CEPIS Polish Member PIPS. If you have any feedback or you would like to send contributions from your society for the next update to be published in June 2012, please email Carol-Ann Kogelman.

48(12) Council in Milan – Saturday 5 May

The 48(12) CEPIS Council will take place this Saturday 5 May in Milan, Italy, at the Radisson Blu Hotel. The Council Meeting will take place from 08:30 to 16:00 with registration opening at 07:30. The former Saturday night dinner will be replaced this year by a welcome reception and networking opportunity on Friday evening. This welcome reception will take place in the Penthouse Suite of the hotel from 19:00 on Friday, May 4. The Members Area of the CEPIS website has been updated with the draft agenda and additional documents for the meeting including directions from both of Milan’s airports to the hotel. Please contact Carol-Ann Kogelman if you have any queries relating to Council.

ICT Sector is Key for Europe’s Job-rich Recovery

With unemployment levels reaching new highs in the EU, the European Commission recently proposed an Employment Package that includes the Communication ‘Towards a Job-rich Recovery’ at its core. Within this Communication, ICT has been identified as one of the crucial factors for job creation in the future, and as a result of the increasing demand for ICT professionals, more needs to be done to make European businesses and workers more ICT literate and competent. An additional document to the Communication outlines the employment potential of ICT, and examines the ICT workforce as well as labour market challenges.

Download the EC Communication ’Towards a Job Rich Recovery’
Download the EC Working Document ’Exploiting the employment potential of ICTs’

CEPIS Signs the Copenhagen Declaration on Growth and Jobs

CEPIS has signed the Copenhagen Declaration for e-skills and jobs along with 37 other selected high-level representatives from governments, industry, NGOs and academia. The Declaration was publicly announced at the 2012 e-Skills Week Closing Event on 30 March. The signatories call for further implementation of the Digital Agenda for Europe to deliver growth and to ensure that all European citizens enjoy the benefits of the digital economy. The Copenhagen Declaration is a complement to a new e-Skills Manifesto which will be published later in 2012. Read the Copenhagen Declaration

Get Involved in the Second Digital Agenda Assembly

The Digital Agenda Assembly (DAA) is an annual event that brings together representatives from stakeholders to discuss challenges and assess progress in the implementation of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE). In preparation of the second edition of the DAA, which will take place in Brussels on 21-22 June 2012, the European Commission recently launched a new online platform where interested parties can debate and post contributions on the DAE. These discussions will feed into the ongoing policy debate around the review of the DAE foreseen at the end of 2012. CEPIS invites Members to join this platform and to share their position on the progress of the DAE in their country. Visit the Digital Agenda Assembly Website

Attracting Young People to ICT Careers

A poll was recently introduced on the homepage of the CEPIS website. The first topic of this poll for website visitors is about whether enough is being done to attract young people into ICT careers. The results so far reveal that more than two thirds of voters believe that more should be done to attract young people to ICT careers. CEPIS is committed to promoting the benefits of ICT careers to a young audience and has recently awarded educational grants to young students from Greece and the Czech Republic as part of the 2012 e-Skills Week Competition category for Girls in IT. If you would like to suggest a topic or question for our next poll, please contact Carol-Ann Kogelman.

Call for Papers - 2012 Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems

The 2012 Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (FedCSIS) organised by the Polish Information Processing Society (PIPS) will take place in Wroclaw, Poland from 9-12 September 2012. This conference consists of a series of events that provide a common platform for researchers, practitioners and academics to discuss ideas, challenges and solutions related to computer science and information systems. Interested parties are invited to submit papers to one of the 25 different sessions that will take place during FedCSIS. This Call for Papers is open until 14 May 2012.

EC Research Reveals Decreasing Share of ICT Students in Europe

A recent report from Eurostat reveals that the share of ICT graduates in Europe has fallen from 4% in 2005 to 3.4% in 2009. The largest decreases were registered in Portugal (5.1% to 1.7%) and in the United Kingdom (5.9% to 4%). However this downward trend is not observed everywhere in Europe. Indeed countries such as Malta and Hungary have registered an increase of computing graduates. The report also highlights varying degrees of computer skills among EU citizens. More than three quarters of those aged 16-74 in the EU have used a computer, with the highest shares observed in Sweden (96%), Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (all 94%). However countries like Romania (50%), Bulgaria (55%) and Greece (59%) are still lagging far behind. Find Out More about Computer Skills in Europe

Electronic Procurement to Save €100 Billion per Year

The European Commission recently launched a strategy to achieve a full transition to electronic procurement (e-procurement) by mid-2016. This strategy is in line with the goals of the Digital Agenda for Europe to enable the private sector to access public tendering throughout the Union. In the current context of fiscal constraints and public spending cuts, e-procurement appears to be an efficient way of achieving significant savings. Public entities that have already implemented e-procurement have reported savings of between 5% and 20% of their expenditure. This could result in at least 100 billion euro of savings per year if e-procurement is used by all public administrations. E-Procurement can also stimulate economic growth, especially for SMEs, because it reduces the procedures and the costs for participating in tenders. Find Out More about e-Procurement

Call for Proposals - Knowledge Alliances

The European Commission is encouraging partnerships between business and academia through the creation of Knowledge Alliances to address innovation skills gaps. A Call for Proposals is currently open and offers the opportunity to develop partnerships around Europe on a wide range of areas such as new learning methods. This initiative is linked to the need for fostering cooperation between industry and universities to ensure that ICT graduates’ skills match industry needs. CEPIS Members are encouraged to take part in one of these partnerships and act as a bridge between universities and ICT companies. This Call for Proposals is open until 28 June 2012. Learn More about this Call for Proposals

Give Your Opinion on the Internet of Things

Mobile Internet and Wi-Fi connections have made it possible to access online services and web pages on many different devices. The natural evolution of this will be increased connectivity between objects of our everyday lives and their ability to react to events. For instance, your car could send information about the status of its subsystems to your local garage and schedule an appointment if necessary. The European Commission recently launched a consultation to gather opinions on this new range of networked devices which is also more commonly known as the ‘Internet of Things’. The consultation focuses on issues such as privacy, security, data protection, ethics matters as well as interoperability and governance. The consultation is open until 10 July 2012.

Important Upcoming Events

5 May 48(12) CEPIS Spring Council Milan, Italy. Organised by: CEPIS. A welcome reception will take place from 19:00 on Friday 4 May.

10 May e-Health 2012 Vienna, Austria. Organised by: OCG

21 May GOTO2012 Copenhagen, Denmark. Organised by: Dansk IT

21-22 June Second Digital Agenda Assembly Brussels, Belgium. Organised by: European Commission

19 - 21 September CONFENIS 2012 Ghent, Belgium. Organised by: FBVI-FAIB