February
2001
Poland
Summary Report (1999 - 2000)
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Poland Summary Report (1999 - 2000) |
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1. National and regional IS Strategies and Action Plans
Since the publication of the Bangemann report, "Europe and the global information society" (May 1994), a lot of governmental and non-governmental documents and declarations concerning the Polish strategy for building the Information Society have been developed. Accessibility to modern telecommunication and information technologies has a direct influence on the evolution of the society in all its aspects.
Following the First Congress of the Polish ICT in December 1994, the Polish report was compiled and focused on the most important issues of IT development in Poland.
The Second Congress, 30 November- 2 December 1998, revealed that the majority of the postulates in the Polish report are up to date, and many new challenges have arisen. "Treaty for building the Information Society in Poland" initiated by the Congress participants, underlined the civilisation dimension and necessity to join efforts by all the Polish citizens. The "Information Technology Development in Poland" report after the Second Congress of the Polish Information Technology (Poznan, 30 November – 2 December 1998) is available in Polish and English version and on the Internet
http://www.kongres.org.pl/kongres/on-line/2-gi_Kongres/index.htmlThe objectives of the telecommunications development policy are included in the "Telecommunications Development Policy", approved by the decision of the Council of Ministers in 1996; "Strategies of Telecommunications Development in Poland until the Year 2000", approved by the Government at the turn of 1993; "Directions of Structural Changes in the Polish Telecommunications", and "Guidelines to the Telecommunications Development Policy in Rural Areas until the Year 2000", approved in 1995.
The governmental document prepared in September 1998 by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications "A draft of telecommunications market development for 1998-2001" includes the estimates of telecommunications development.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration has been the national coordinator of Y2K Problem in Poland. The National Action Plan concerning Y2K was undertaken by the Council of Ministers on 24 March of 1999 and all the actions on governmental lever are planned and monitored. The Ministry’s Governmental Registers, Telecommunications and Information Technologies Department conducts the information service on Y2K problem. It includes updated reports on the government's administrative preparations for Y2K, a timetable of deadlines for Y2K preparation in power supply, telecommunications, transport, banks, finances, health and social care sectors and other related issues.
http://www.dli.mswia.gov.plThe resolution of the Polish Parliament on Building Basis for Information Society in Poland was passed on July 14, 2000. The resolution stresses the necessity of national strategy for Information Society in Poland to be presented by the Polish Government. It includes the following issues: universal access to Internet, computer education for youths, long-live computer education, IST in central, regional and local administration, defence and security issues, information systems for research and university centres, thread of illegal use of telecommunication networks and the Internet, action plan of implementation of IS services in Poland Polish representation in international activities for e-economy regulations.
The Polish Parliament required the Polish Government to prepare urgently regulations concerning e-economy development including electronic signature, electronic document, information safety, cryptography, consumer protection, information protection, any matters related to e-business.
The initiative of resolution has been undertaken by Inter-sector Launch Team, including Members of the Polish Parliament representing different political options.
The Council of Ministers on the Meeting on 28 November, 2000 in its statement concerning parliamentary resolution underlined the importance of transition processes in Poland from industrial to information society. The programme document entitled "Aims and Directions of Information Society in Poland" prepared by the KBN and Ministry of Telecom was accepted and will be presented to the Polish Parliament. "Aims and Directions of Information Society in Poland" is a comprehensive document including chapters corresponding with topics mentioned in the parliamentary resolution, with defined aims and recommendations for responsible ministers and central administration.
http://www.kbn.gov.pl/cele/index1.htmlAn action plan to elaborate the document "Strategy of IS Development in Poland in 2001–2006 – ePoland" is as follows:
2. Main Programmes related to building IS infrastructure
In March 1999 Poland joined the TEN– 155 project establishing a 34 Mbps link from Poznań to Frankfurt/Main. The connection was provided by the Tel– Energo — an independent operator owned by the Polish Power Distribution Networks (PSE). The link is operated by POL– 34 — a high academic speed network created in 1997 by a consortium of the academic Metropolitan Area Networks after the State Committee for Scientific Research changed its financing scheme for the research networks, providing effective demonopolisation of that market. Representatives of POL–34 replaced the Research and Academic Computer Network (NASK) in the Trans–European Research and Education Networking Association (TERENA). On 8-11 November 1997, a pilot, experimental installation of the national ATM 34 Mb/s network was presented at the POLMAN’97 exhibition in Poznan.
In March 1999 Pol-34 network connected to the high-speed research network TEN-155. These advances were monitored and referred to during the following POLMAN conferences and exhibitions.
More information on the POL–34 network (in English) is available at:
http://www.man.poznan.pl/pol34/english.The new project of IT infrastructure for research and academic environment in Poland for 2001-2005 "PIONIER: Polish Optical Internet – Advanced applications, Services and Technologies for Information Society" :
The idea of the new programme PIONIER relies on forming an advanced infrastructure along with tools, services and applications available for the scientific community, government and local administrations and citizens. This programme will ensure wide access to the Internet and its services for education sector, create a national infrastructure of a broad-band government and self-government administration network, provide scientific environment with access to advanced network infrastructure and specialised infrastructure (including computers with large computational HPC systems), enable Polish teams partnership participation in the 5th and the 6th Framework Programs and other international programs.
Services and applications are expected to appear as selected pilot realisations by which the verification of deployed technologies will be possible. The investment necessary for the development of the new PIONIER computer infrastructure based on optical network project for research community in Poland for 2001-2005 is estimated at 180 million Euro.
The first step to this programme was made in 2000 year, by building Polish Optical Internet Test bed (POIT). The test bed was presented at ISThmus 2000 and EUNIS 2000 conferences in April 2000, parallel to ‘Infosystem" and POLMAN, in Poznan, to demonstrate a heterogeneous network which can serve different applications demands.
All regional computer centres in Poland will be connected with broadband optical network.
The programme conception assumes the realisation of the targets by the HPC centres, MAN network operators, computer science and information technology telecommunication research teams and research teams developing computation sciences and information application systems, provided that the targets will be co-financed by the above-mentioned units. The realisation of the programme will also be subsidised by the State Committee for Scientific Research. For individual task realisation these units should create consortiums. The co-operation seems suitable especially in the scope of building the advanced infrastructure with the interested non-scientific institutions like telecommunication operators, hardware and software producers and the future users. A separate body consisting of the representatives of the investors responsible for the grant execution will be formed in order to co-ordinate the realisation of the programme. The grants constitute the development research projects, which are important for the social and economical reasons and commissioned by the economic entities, the government and local administration organs. The State Committee for Scientific Research can subsidise up to 50% (and in the plausible cases up to 70 %) of the expenditures.
3. Public and private initiatives
3.1 Education
The activities related to computer and Internet education at schools started with the "Internet for Schools" Programme developed in 1996-1999 by IDS. Under a project entitled "Internet Classrooms in Each Commune." (April 1998-March 1999) 2480 primary and high schools have been equipped with computers providing Internet access and containing education software. Appropriate training for teachers was provided.
As a follow-up to this project, a project called "Internet classrooms in Each High School" (April 1999-September 2000) was established. In this project 3200 high schools have been equipped with computers classrooms providing Internet access and containing educational software.
For now in over 6000 schools in Poland internet classes are installed. The new project "E-School" presented during the conference in November 2000, is aimed to Internet access provision in all the Polish schools before year 2005.
In parallel with these two projects is a project called "Interkl@sa", which has been implemented by the Ministry of National Education, the Parliamentary Commission for Education, Science and Youth, NGOs, private companies and media. One of its goals is to find non-budgetary financing-sources for education in this field. At present, there are 5 000 internet classes at Polish schools. The process of establishing new ones, especially in remote rural areas, will be continued.
3.2 IS forums
Poland is an active member of many Information Society initiatives on international, European, national, regional and local level.
In October 1998 four Polish representatives joined the Information Society Forum (ISF), an advisory body of European Commission. They are representatives of research and business computer and telecommunication organisations.
In June 1999, during the conference – "Cities in Internet", Tarnów – The Polish Information Society Forum, SPIN, was established. This is a joint initiative of local and regional governmental associations, "Cities in Internet Association", "Information Society Journalists Club".
Poland is a member of the Central and Eastern Europe Networking Association.
Forum Polskiego Internetu Komercyjnego – The Polish Commercial Internet Forum – which aim is (among others) monitoring and documentation of the Polish Internet activities has established the information service
http://www.forum.org.plFrom October 1998 Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Centre became an associated member of TERENA (Tans-European Research and Education Networking Association).
The Self-governmental Agreement for Information Society on 16 June 2000 during the "Cities in Internet" Conference was signed by 6 nationwide self-governmental organisations and "Cities in Internet" Association.
The Polish Society of Medical Internet stimulates development of medical consultations in the Internet, promotes Internet as a tool for medical education and health promotion. Training for implementation of the Internet and computer science systems in the newest health care system in Poland, patient diagnostics and medical information services on the Internet are provided.
The Foundation for Helping Physically Disabled Mathematicians and Computer Scientists is working for the disabled community, especially in the field of the Internet access to employment, education and information. The Foundation is aimed to promote teleworking for handicapped people.
4. Awareness events and publications
4.1 Events
Numerous conferences and exhibitions, both international and nationwide, and dedicated to computer science, telecommunications, and the promotion of information society among citizens, are organised annually in Poland. The most important exhibitions are "Computer-EXPO", "COMNET", and "POLMAN". The main annual conferences are "Infosystem", "Komtel-Euroinfo-Internet", "Cities in the Internet"
The International Fairs "Komputer Expo," which take place in Warsaw in January are aimed to present Polish and international companies that are leaders in the computer software and hardware industry. The best computer products presented during the "Computer Expo 2000" are awarded.
The International Fair of Computer Software and Hardware entitled "Softarg" is organised by International Fair Office in Katowice.
"INFOBAZY’– Databases for Science" is a biannual nationwide conference organised by Gdańsk University of Technology aimed to promote the achievements in design and dissemination of databases for research and development financially supported by KBN.
The Ministerial Conference entitled "Information Society: Accelerating European Integration", organised by the Polish Government and the European Commission took place in Warsaw on 11-12 May 2000. The main subject of the conference was the significance of the Information Society as a factor in accelerating and facilitating European integration. The Conference gathered the high-level representatives of governments and key experts from area of policy, economy and social affairs, dealing with Information Society Technologies implications on European and wide-world future.
The Chairperson of the Programme Committee representing the Polish side was Ms Małgorzata Kozłowska, Under-secretary of State at the State Committee for Scientific Research. Mr Jorg Wenzel, Head of Information Society Activity Center was the Chairperson of the Programme Committee representing European Commission.
Influence of all these processes on European integration and enlargement is evident, so Warsaw Conference results are of great importance for accession countries. The Conference conclusions are accessible at
http://www.is2000.pl/conclusions.nsxThe state of art and development plans in sector of computer and telecommunications industry and in IS related services for citizen were presented. Accelerating European Integration" in Warsaw on 11-12 May 2000. Progress report of EU-CEEC High Level Committee since the Third EU/CEEC Information Society Forum presented a comprehensive overview of governmental contribution to IS development in Poland.
The plenary sessions were accompanying by three workshops. The subject of discussion during the parallel session "Regulatory Framework for Telecommunications and Information Society" were expected regulatory changes and their harmonisation in international scale. The next session was dedicated to research and industry collaboration, with special attention to small and media enterprises. The third - "Services for Citizens in the Information Society" - was an opportunity to discuss IST implications on social life.
Needless to underline the active participation of regional initiatives of citizens, self-governments. The Declaration of Global Cities Dialogue was signed by the presidents of ten CEEC cities during accompanying event organised by "Cities in Internet" Association and MUNICIPIUM S.A. on 12 May 2000 in Warsaw.
During the Conference examples of success stories of IS ideas implementation were promoted. The Information Processing Centre OPI was responsible for the "Best Practice Gallery" exhibition, when practical solutions of modern computer and telecommunication technologies were presented.
The database of interactive IS projects developed in framework of ESIS was accessible on ISPO stand.
Conference programme and lectures including those of Mr Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society EC, og Grazyna Staniszewska - Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Commission for Education, Science and Youth, Coordinator of Programme
Interkl@sa, Krzysztof Zanussi, Film Director can be downloaded at http://www.is2000.pl/lectures.nsx"Cities in Internet" conferences organised by the "Cities in Internet" Association in June (the first three in Tarnow, next in zakopane) deal with the questions related to information society development on regional and local level as well as European integration. Applications of ICT technologies for communication between public administration and citizens are presented.
Internet services of Lodz and Milicz awarded GOLDEN@ in competition for the best Internet service devoted to problems of local communities. Awards were announced during the "Cities in Internet" Conference. The Conference concluded with the Statement on Information Society.
Regional IS strategies and other issues related to IS regional development have been presented during the First Conference "Information Society Problems in Provincial Development Strategies", which took place in Warsaw on 18 January 2000. The conference was organised by the Polish Agency of Regional Development, MINICIPIUM S.A., Federation of Communes and Administrative Districts, and Association "Cities in Internet". The main targets included representatives of provincial government, district and commune authorities, and professionals interested in strategic planning. The objective of the conference was to introduce European experiences to audience so as to allow them to incorporate these experiences into provincial development strategies in Poland. Development strategies of Information Society for different regions were discussed. The regional projects were presented by experts of the European Commission, European Regional Information Society Association, European Local Authorities Network and representatives of the Polish Government.
An additional example of such events is conference entitled "Telecommunication network for public administration in Malopolska Region". It was organised on 28 June 2000 in Trzebinia. Regional telecommunication network for everyday information services, emergency communicates, promotion of both the social and economic potential of local communities were presented.
There were a lot of other events: conferences, seminars, workshops combined with fairs and exhibitions related to Information Society Technologies issues. Events dealing with information services management in the Internet and e-business including problems related to fast and secure Internet access, legal aspects and security of electronic transactions on the Internet; new regulations on telecommunications with regard to e-business solutions; legal regulations on electronic signature; information protection in the Internet
A lot of events and publications have been dedicated to telecommunications development including mobile telephony expansion, WAP and UMTS technologies as well.
4.2 Publications
"Information Technology Development in Poland" report after The Second Congress of the Polish Information Technology (Poznań, 30 November – 2 December 1998) is available in a printed version and on the Internet.
The Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications (PIIT) published a Report on Internet Services Development in Poland on November 1999.
The TELEINFO weekly issues monthly and yearly reports as well. TELEINFO 500 was issued in July. The first part of the report includes information on dynamics of the Polish computer market and ranking of computer and software companies, hardware and software dealers, companies for the enterprise application integration, service providers, schooling centres, and computer solutions receivers. The second part of the report is devoted to the Internet and telecommunications. This part includes surveys of the Polish telecommunications market and Polish Internet users, as well as information on the Internet development and investments in this field. Additionally, there are presentations of Internet providers and the largest telecommunication companies. The report includes surveys and statistical tables on the computer and telecommunication market in Poland. The 600 largest Polish computer companies, 200 computer companies operating in Poland, 150 largest Polish telecom companies and 25 top telecom companies operating in Poland in previous are listed.
Other important magazines are as follows: "Computerworld" and "Internet".
5. Other tools used for promoting the IS society development or raising awareness
The expansion of web services in Poland is significant. The most popular to date are basic services such as e-mail and WWW pages – which are mainly targeted at institutional promotion. More advanced services such as electronic commerce are at the primary stage. A number of portals is still growing. The oldest one is "Wirtualna Polska". The next one is Onet.pl. Several new portals and vortals are already implemented. Banners and other multimedia promoting and advertising tools expand. Electronic banking has already started. Several banks are beginning to provide electronic services. The number of awareness actions is growing, although there are still doubts concerning security of electronic financial transactions.
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