ESIS Extension / Latvia / IS Promotional Activities / Update Memo 3

This memo presents the concept in which the overall national programme of Informatics has been developed. The memo also explains the need for national initiatives which analyse the current situation and the necessity of not relying solely on international sources but to also make surveys within the country which will develop understanding about the whole concept of Information society development.

The National Programme Informatics has been developed very carefully on a conceptual macro-level. During the implementation of the programme, it has become necessary to detail separate items of the Programme. Detailed conceptual subprograms have already been developed and approved by the Cabinet of Ministers for several specific areas of the Programme, e.g. National Integrated Information Mega-system, Government Data Communications Network and Baltic Government Data Communications Network. All of them are directed to increasing quality of the state governance.

Although there are a number of common principles in provision of the public sector information to all end-users, many important differences exist. General access of any citizen to the public sector information differs from utilization of the information of national significance for state governance. The need for information composition, the level of confidentiality, the demands for completeness and correctness and updated information differs significantly between the needs of the single citizen and the government strategists. Therefore in parallel with common methodological principles, different approaches are used for development of information processing and provision of different information systems.

General electronic access to public sector information is a substantial issue for Latvia in order to increase the general level of democracy in the country, to reduce bureaucracy and danger of corruption in administrative bodies. This is a prerequisite for increased foreign direct investments in Latvia, for development of transit procedures, for preparation for free circulation of goods, services and people after accession to the EU.

An approach that is envisaged by the National Program Informatics is in principle very similar to the EU concept (COM(1998)585 Public Sector Information: A Key Resource for Europe), although the EU-concept uses a more advanced methodology. The European Union concept still does not include general access to public information in the set of universal service. At the same time, general availability of public sector information is already envisaged by implementation of the universal information service as one of the basic conceptual postulates of the National Program Informatics. National, branch and municipal information systems and sources should contain generally available non-confidential components as a constituent of the Mega-system. Development of public information services, increasing efficiency of services and availability of information is a core postulate of The Concept for Increasing Quality of Information Services Provided by Public Bodies, accepted by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Several types of information services should be provided by every public institution:

In order to ensure general user-friendly access to information for everybody terminals for public access is a prerequisite. These terminals (information kiosks) should be placed in libraries, schools, and municipalities. For this purpose the concept of the development of the Government Data Communications Network envisages connection of all public bodies to the Network, including libraries as well as research and educational institutions. The central one stop access point to all public sector information resources of the country should be installed. The function should be merged with the central core of the Mega-system (register of registers and communications server).

Verified and internationally comparable information on current status and on the results of Information Society related activities and projects is a substantial issue. This information should be used to elicit regularity of development, to analyse progress and failures and to elaborate strategy for further deployment of Information Society. Nevertheless traditional official statistics (including Eurostat strategy) is oriented mostly on manufacturing of products. Both provision of services and the content industry, that are specific and extremely important for Information Society, are poorly represented in statistical overviews. At the same time Information Society related processes are becoming of global significance. Therefore a number of surveys and inventories are made on a national base, in Latvia as well as in other countries to complement official international statistics.

One of such surveys, Information Technology Services Sector Study was implemented by Ernst & Young and the Latvian Development Agency in order to estimate opportunities for investment and/or cooperation in the information technology sector in Latvia.

The IT services sector is starting to develop in Latvia. The purpose of the study is to analyse the development of the sector and to evaluate the competitive characteristics and growth potential that it possesses. The information for this study has been acquired through interviews with industry professionals as well as documentary research.

The key competitive advantages of the Latvian IT sector are political and economic stability, favourable investment climate, highly qualified professionals, high quality of the services offered, cost efficiency of the resources and strong infrastructure. The major limiting factor for high growth of the sector is an increasing shortage of software engineers. It is an attractive sector for further development, as the major resource required for it is knowledgeable and experienced software developers. Increasing the number of graduates in IT and related sciences is the key challenge to be solved by the Latvian government in order to secure the potential growth of the sector.

The conclusion of the survey is that there are many opportunities in the IT services sector in Latvia, but there are also limiting factors for high growth. Latvia has to meet these challenges and establish its competitive position in the world as one of the leading IT competence centres.

Please note that this report has been prepared under the sole responsibility of the ESIS II contractors.
It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, nor does the Commission accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information contained herein.
The ESIS Team of contractors welcomes any additional information or corrections.