Esis extension / CEEC / IS Promotional Activities / Synthesis of Update Memos 5

The following document summarises the developments which occurred within the past three months (April – June 2000) in the field of IS promotional activities (conferences, seminars, forums, IS national/regional strategies…) in Central and Eastern European Countries.

Development of the national infrastructure, applications of advanced information and communications technologies will create new opportunities for enhancing the quality of life and business activities. In all CEE countries, the introduction of modern information and telecommunications technologies is lagging behind the level of US and the EU and it is therefore becoming an important component of their national development strategies.

This report is based on the national reports available on ESIS web site. It presents examples of the main IS promotional activities that occurred during the second quarter of the year 2000 are detailed below. One can also find more details in the ESIS Knowledge Database.

In Albania, it is important to note the privatisation of AMC (Albanian Mobile Communication Company) in June 2000: 85 % of the company shares have been bought by the consortium Telenor Cosmote.

Albtelecom, the historic operator, is investing in its telecommunications infrastructure to upgrade it. One can note that Siemens Germany is one of the equipment supplier ofr Albtelecom. .

In Czech Republic, a lot of operations of investments and acquisitions took place in the Internet sector. For example, foreign companies invested in the portals NetCentrum (http://www.centrum.cz), Atlas (http://www.atlas.cz) and Seznam (http://www.seznam.cz). Cesky Telecom, the historic telecommunications operator acquired 67 % of the portal company M.I.A. Company (http://www.mia.cz). Moreover, the Czech Internet providers continue to make competitive free Internet dial-up access offers to the public at large. The apparition of the new mobile operator, Cesky Mobil, forced the already existing ones (EuroTel and RadioMobil) to make massive media campaigns.

In Estonia, the "First Tuesday" meeting regroups international IT companies. Its objective is to facilitate contacts between actors (IT companies, investors). The conference "How entrepreneur could benefit from the Internet" regrouped leaders of banking sectors and IT experts.

The Association of Estonian Information Technology and Telecommunication Companies has been created in March. The association has the objective to work on a set of issues regarding IT sector (legislation issues…). It will also elaborate ethic codes for its members.

In Romania, the Motorola DSP Centre opened on 1st June in Bucharest. It is an R&D centre that aims to develop software solutions for telecommunications.

In Slovenia, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry published SLO-EXPORT, a CD-ROM containing an import/export directory of Slovene companies. Gospodarski vestnik d.d. produced also Kompass, another directory of Slovene companies. These products are available on-line.

Internet promotion through regulatory developments (digital signature, …), creation of dedicated councils, has been a main subject in a lot of countries. Thus, for example, in Czech Republic, the government adopted the Electronic Signature Act. This will support the electronic commerce development. In Hungary, the Hungarian Internet Providers created a council for the development of Internet and the "net economy". The objective is to study key issues as privacy on Internet, etc. The Telecommunications Regulatory Entity (TRE) in Albania gave to Cybernet Company an ISP license.

The presentation of new IS national strategies has also been a hot subject in a lot of countries. For example, in Latvia, the Cabinet of Ministers has adopted the national plan for the development of Information Society. It includes the creation of the National Information Society Council, whose role is to promote and co-ordinate IS developments in the country. The Prime Minister of Lithuania, Mr Andrius Kubilius presented a new program regarding the development of Information society in Lithuania : the

"New Wind" ("Naujas Vegas"). The program aims to modernise administration, to equip schools with computers, etc.

Other important topics have been the privatisation of telecommunications sector. Indeed, In Albania, the Telecommunication Regulatory Entity will open an international tender for a second mobile operator and will privatise the first one, AMC. In Czech Republic a plan has also been set up regarding the liberalisation of the telecommunications market, which will occur on 1.1.2001. In Macedonia, a tender has been made by the government to privatise the Makedonski Telekomunikacil AD (Macedaonian Telecom). The Substantiation Commission of the National Strategy of Romania’s Economic Development proposed a plan for IS development from 2001 to 2004.

Estonia is also in the forefront of public attention with several events : the approval by the government of the introduction of ID chipcards in the country, the fact that the tender for operating the optical sea fibre between Tallinn University and Helsinki, launched by the Estonian Educational and Research Network (EENet) has been found. AS Uninet Andmeside, working in the Estonian leased-line market, will collaborate with Finnet International. Another point to outline is that funds have been allocated for the creation of Internet connections of public libraries.

A new Co-ordination Council for Information Society was created in Bulgaria. It will assist the Council of Ministers to elaborate IS development policy.

In Hungary the Communication Authority (HIF) held its 12th forum on 19th May. It presented its role regarding Information Society developments.

In Poland, a Ministerial Conference was held in Warsaw on 11-12 May 2000. It focused on the importance of Information Society in order to accelerate the European Union integration. Many regional and national initiatives were presented during this conference.

In Slovenia, on 19 May 2000, the Ministry of Science and Technology wants to promote Slovene scientific and technological innovations abroad. It asked companies to present their technologies at several international fairs during the end of the year 2000, like the SITEF 2000 in France, the FITEC in Spain and IST 2000 in Belgium.

A lot of national projects focus on educational issues. From the most significant we can mention:

In Czech Republic, the State Information Policy in Education, presented by the government, aims to introduce IS in schools. For example, It plans that every Czech school should be connected to Internet at the end of 2001.

In Hungary, educational issues are very numerous. The Irisz-SuliNet program (SchoolNet) will provide new computer labs to 400 Hungarian educational institutions. The first IT faculty of the country opened in Budapest on 12th April. It is called the John Von Neumann Information Science Faculty. It will train 450 students in this first year. One can notice that the new John Von Neumann university, in cooperation with Quantum Ltd. and Psion Ltd, organised a computer software programming competition for young students. The competition focused on Internet applications.

In Lithuania, the Ministry for Science and Education announced a new strategy for IS development, among the objectives, one can notice the creation of a nationwide Educational Network, the increase of the numbers of computers in schools, etc.

In Romania, a seminar on IS in the pre-university education was organised by the Ministry for Education in Mamaia between May 24th and 27th.

The development of e-commerce is interesting a lot of actors : governmental institutions, IT companies, users as banks or other companies. A lot of conferences dealing with e-commerce have been organised in CEE countries, we mention in particular the followings :

The South-eastern Europe forum on e-commerce was organised in Bulgaria. It focused on the conditions of development of the "electronic economy" in the Balkan countries, and its potential benefits.

In the Czech Republic, the Centre for electronic commerce (CEO) provides a lot of information regarding different aspects of e-commerce. CEO also organises seminars and conferences, for example, the "First Tuesday meetings". These meetings regroup businessmen of the "Net Economy" every month. A conference called "Electronic Business – Commercial Model of the Third Millennium" was held in Prague between May 23rd and 25th.

In Latvia, the government named an experts group, which will be in charge of the development of e-commerce. It will in particular work on the development of a potential regulatory framework for e-commerce.

In Hungary, a conference on e-commerce was organised by Sun Microsystems/Fygelö.

In Romania, the seminar "E-Business; Business and National Strategy for Information Society" was organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania and Bucharest Municipality. It presented the medium term (2001-2004) strategy for e-business and electronic services.

In Slovenia, the 13th Electronic Commerce Conference entitled "The End of the Beginning" was held in Bled. It was organised by the Faculty of Organisational Sciences and the University of Maribor.

In Albania, the Telecommunications Regulatory Entity (TRE) organised a seminar regarding Internet and the positions of ISPs on May 22nd, 2000. It focused on technical issues and regrouped experts from different organisations.

In Bulgaria, the following events occurred (please consult ESIS knowledge database for more information):

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, workshops were organised by the "Media Plan Institute Sarajevo" for the young experts in the media domains. Some subjects were related to IS, as online journalism.

In Hungary, several conferences dealing with Internet applications have been organised :

In Macedonia, the Second CEENet (Central and East European Research Networks) took place in Ohrid from June 15th to 19th. It focused on the way to promote IS in Macedonia.

The main promotional activity dealing with IT issues during the last three months in Poland has been the International Fair of Electronics, Telecommunications and Computer Engineering InfoSystem 2000. This event has been organised by the Polish Minister of Posts and Telecommunications.

In Romania, the CERF is an important event for Information Society actors. This fair includes a lot of lectures and conferences, the exhibition of a large range of IT products. It has taken place from April 11th to 15^th.

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.