At the beginning of 1997, ISPO, the Information Society Promotion Office of the European Commission has launched a project called ESIS (for European Survey of Information Society), with the objective to build an Inventory of projects as well as to assemble European data concerning promotional activities undertaken by public authorities and private actors, be they European, national, regional or local. Other aims were to monitor and to analyse new regulatory developments in the field of telecommunications and Information Society as well as to present a mapping of the actors, notably the public or private network facilities offering Information Society infrastructure, services and applications

Due to the success of this project and following several requests from local actors, it has been decided to extend ESIS to Central and Eastern European and Mediterranean countries and areas, in particular:

• at the 3rd EU/CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) Information Society Forum that took place in Brussels on October 9-10, 1997 where it was decided to "fund the extension of the European Survey on the Information Society to CEECs and, in particular, to identify and analyse regional disparities in terms of basic telecommunications services, information infrastructures and applications."
• and at the Euro-Med Net 98 Conference which took place in Cyprus on March 4-7,1998, where it was also decided to "support the participation of Mediterranean countries in the European Survey of Information Society (ESIS) through the extension of the project to the Mediterranean countries".

This phase of the project started in March 1999 and will last until 2001, under the PROMISE programme. It is called ESIS 2 and concerns 25 countries and areas of the Central, Eastern and Mediterranean countries. The work is performed in a decentralised manner by contractors who have been selected by the Commission following an open call for tender.

	For the Central and Eastern Area
	Albania Bulgaria Bosnia Czech Republic Estonia Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Hungary	Latvia Lithuania Poland Romania Slovakia Slovenia
	For the Mediterranean area
	Algeria Cyprus Egypt Israel Jordan Lebanon	Malta Morocco Palestine Syria Tunisia Turkey

ESIS combines a series of information:

The core of ESIS is the inventory of Information Society projects. Projects which are targetted must use ICT in an innovative, interactive way and provide remote access. They may concern a large number of social and economic sectors and be initiated by national, regional, public and private organisations, or through partnerships set up between public and private groups. This inventory is conducted on the basis of a standardised questionnaire, available in all national languages, to be filled in by project promoters.

The data collected on IS projects through the questionnaires are entered into the ESIS database, available on-line in two languages (English, national language or French). The ESIS database contains a dedicated search engine which permits the selection of projects by combining different criteria: e.g. country, key words included in the project's description and objectives, application areas (education, manufacturing, healthcare, etc.) and sub-sectors (e.g. primary, secondary, adult education), technologies used, funding, etc. This approach based on standardised data will also permit statistical analysis which will be released on the ESIS II web site.

• A permanent overview of public and private promotional actions and initiatives aimed at favouring the development of the Information Society: call for projects, conferences, surveys, publications, experts groups, etc. This information will be disseminated every three months, in two languages (English, national language or French) via the ESIS II web site: a database of promotional activities and accompanying memos are available on line.

• A regular overview of main changes concerning key people and organisations involved in the Information Society in the Central, Eastern and Mediterranean countries: bodies associated to Information Society within national and regional governments, regulatory authorities, IS "forums" and expert groups, associations, telecoms operators, etc. Also, these data will be entered in the database allowing to find information and contact details on a person contact or organisation as well as to reach all available information on the projects or promotional activities in which this person or organisation is involved (Who's who).

• The monitoring and regular analysis of regulatory developments and liberalisation evolution. Quarterly reports are published on the ESIS II web site providing information by country and synthesis by geographical areas.

• A collection of basic facts and indicators on Information Society and telecommunication developments in the countries covered. This has constituted the first delivery of the ESIS II project (end of May 1999). They have been updated at the end of 1999 and will be next updated at the end of the year 2000.

• The mapping of the actors, notably the public or private network facilities offering Information Society infrastructure, services and applications (e.g. gas, railways, water supply, cable TV, highways, electric networks etc.). A quarterly report on these alternative networks are published on the ESIS II web site providing information by country and by area, together with synoptical tables.

• Quarterly overview of the number of web sites in a number of users categories (schools, universities, ministries, regional and local authorities, museums, libraries, hospitals, etc.).

Every three months, the inventory of projects will be updated and additional reports will be published.

One of the main interests of this survey is to make available in a synthetic way, to a very large public, information that is presently often disseminated. The potential audience is wide: public actors such as like policy makers as well as private ones (operators, investors...) will be able to compare their actions, projects and results with other countries, and then prepare new programmes or take part to existing ones.

Thus, ESIS can be considered as a very operational tool for benchmarking, knowledge, communication, partnership, and promotion of the information society. Also, the extension of ESIS to CEEC and Mediterranean countries, in addition to meeting the demand expressed by representatives of the countries concerned, appears as a valuable instrument in the framework of the dialogue and co-operation which develops between the EU and these countries.

All contractors will carry out promotional activities concerning ESIS within their respective country: conferences, workshops, publications, national web sites, etc. These initiatives will be regularly publicised on the ESIS II web site. An ESIS II conference is also planned during the duration of the project.

The ESIS II project is conducted by ISPO and IS2, the Information Society DG department for international aspects of information society and telecommunications. Project management is supported by an external project management team.

For additional information, do not hesitate to contact the ESIS II project management support team or the contractor in charge of the ESIS survey in your country.