Key actors involved in Information Society policies generally belong to two main categories :

• Key ministries

It is apparent that a number of ministries, as defined by their objectives, are at the heart of the national strategies towards the Information Society. These ministries are generally the Ministries of Telecommunications, of Education & research, Economy. These ministries have often created specialised Commissions in charge of specific files.

• Ministries of Telecommunications and Ministries of Economy are at the heart of policies of development of infrastructures and universal access.

• Ministries of Education elaborate specific IT programs. For a few years, the provisioning of PCs and Internet access within schools and universities has become a priority in a lot of countries.

• Transverse governmental bodies

A sign of the approach of IS policies for several years has been the set up of dedicated bodies in charge of elaborating propositions and plans dealing with global IS strategies. Bodies involved are government consultative bodies, steering groups, commissions, consultative committees, etc.

Often, these bodies are inter-ministries. They count members from several ministries as well as private sector representatives. They enable a good co-ordination governmental actions.

Their tasks are miscellaneous. Some have in charge the elaboration of specific files, interesting certain sectors.

• For instance, in Lithuania, a State Information Policy Development Advisory Commission was formed by governmental decree of March 1999. It includes ministries representatives. It has been created to prepare plans dealing with the Information Society.

• Other consultative councils have in charge the preparation of national strategic plans dealing with IS.

• For instance, the Lithuanian government created the Permanent Information Society Commission. Its main functions are the investigation of IS development matters and preparation of proposals. It is constituted of governmental and Seimas members and private experts. In Hungary, sign of the willingness to unify the IS policy, the Prime Minister appointed a government commissioner in charge of IS policies orientations in 2000. In Czech Republic, the Governmental Council for State Information Policy and the Office for Public Information Systems ensure preparatory work regarding IS orientations.

Some countries have created bodies in charge of promoting Eu co-operation. Indeed, in Republic of Macedonia, the Ministry of Sciences created the Macedonian Information Society Project Office.

The case of Bosnia & Herzegovina is to be outlined. The whole scheme of institutional structure results from Dayton’s Peace Agreement, concluded in December 1995. The Dayton Agreement has created two Administrative Divisions : Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. The Office of the High Representative (OHR), appointed by the UN Security Council acts as an additional legislative body

The table below presents some key actors of the Information Society.

Some Key Actors of the Information Society

Albania	· Ministry of Public Economy and Privatisation. In particular, it deals with telecommunications · Ministry of Education and Sciences
Bosnia and Herzegovina	· Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communications, which has regulatory control and authority · Office of the High Representative (OHR), appointed by the UN Security Council, has an important impact on the legislative framework · Directorate of Telecommunications
Czech Republic	· Governmental Council for State Information Policy · Czech Forum on Information Society
Estonia	· Ministry of Transports and Communications · Ministry of Economic Affairs · Ministry of Education · Estonian Informatics Council · Research and Development Council
Hungary	· Ministry of Transports, Communications and Water Management · Government Commissioner for Information Technology
Latvia	· Ministry of Economy, Latvian Privatisation Agency · Ministry of Transport, Department of Communications
Lithuania	· Ministry of Communications and Informatics · Ministry of Public Administration Reforms and Local Authorities · Inter-ministerial State Information Policy Development Advisory Commission, created by governmental decree in 1999 · Permanent Information Society Commission including representatives of the President Office, Government, Seimas (Parliament), experts
Macedonia	· Macedonian Information Society Project Office, part of the Ministry of Sciences · Ministry of Transports and Communications
Poland	· Ministry of Sciences · Ministry of Telecommunications · Ministry of Economy · State Committee for Scientific Research
Romania	· Ministry of Communications and Informatics · National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation · Substantiation Commission for the National Strategy of Romania’s Economic Development
Slovakia	· Ministry of Education · Government Office · Ministry of Transports, Posts and Telecommunications · Telecommunications Office
Slovenia	· Ministry of Transport and Communications · Ministry of Economic Relations and Development

3.1 Umbrella policies

The promotion of Information Society takes a growing importance in Central and Eastern European countries. The influence of the European Union is determinant. The acceptance of the « acquis communautaire » or the body of EU law and « e-Europe initiative » are major elements of national strategies orientation.

Several approaches can be identified :

Several countries have started for several years to elaborate general national Information Society plans, sign of the fact that a unified IS policy exists, the approach is nationally co-ordinated, for example : 

• In Czech Republic, the government expressed its vision regarding IS in its strategic document « The State Information Policy » approved on May 1999.

•  In Poland, the programme « Aims and Directions of Information Society in Poland » prepared by KBN and the Ministry of Telecommunications was accepted by the government and will be presented to the Parliament. Among further steps to be taken by the ministries, we can notice that the minister of telecommunications will prepare a document « Strategy of IS Development in Poland in 2001 – 2006 / e-Poland» by May 2001.

•  At the end of 2000, in Lithuania, the Ministry of Public Administration Reforms and Local Authorities presented a programme dealing with IS policy to the government

It is important to outline that umbrella programs give substantial support to the participation to EU projects, as Phare, INCO-Copernicus, etc.

In some countries, a national co-ordinated IS strategy does not yet exist. And the different ministries are each implementing their own projects on an ad hoc basis. Nevertheless, usually overall economic and social development plans mention the necessity to promote information technologies to ensure economic growth and one can see more frequently the creation of specific bodies.

For example, this is the case for Romania. In March 2000, Romania presented at Brussels The National Medium Term Development Strategy of The Romanian Economy. The IS is not presented in a separate chapter but is reflected in a lot of sectoral development plans. Nevertheless, a Commission dealing with the Romanian Economic Development plan has conducted a report on the IS challenges in Romania. Several organisations has been consulted : professional associations, ministries, trade unions, etc.). Key topics are outlined in this report : access to governmental information, assistance to the high technology industry, etc.

In other countries, the IS policy is very closed to the Telecommunications policy. The later being seen as a transversal policy having key impacts on the future IS developments. Indeed, a strong expression of the authorities‘ determination to promote the information society is shown by policies of open competition or infrastructures modernisation, etc.

In Republic Slovak, for instance, the State Telecommunications Policy includes plans regarding Information Society promotion in a broad meaning.

In Hungary, the government has created in 1997 a Commission for Information Technologies and Telecommunications. The commission has issued documents on IS challenges.

3.2 Areas of application for Information Society

We present below Information Society projects carried out in key sectors.

3.2.1 Government and Administration

Public Administrations, governmental agencies, national and regional authorities are in the process of increasing the dialogue with the public.

Updating and replacing information systems, and computerising government departments, is one of the major strategic priorities linked to the information society.

The main objectives of IS projects include :

• Computerising the public sector : projects which involve computerising ministries and other government agencies, and implementing Intranets to enable new kind of information exchanges between departments to enhance their efficiency. This represents a major effort as the current level of computerising is very low within the area. We can observe a priority for programmes of computerising registers of private persons, ownership and cadastres (lands, buildings, etc…),

• Improving administrative information accessibility : creation of web sites and true portals by the ministries and administrations to enhance the communication with the public. It may lead to the development of on-line operations.

Examples of Governmental projects quoted in the national reports are presented below :

• There are a lot of governmental projects in Estonia. The continuation of the « Document Management Programme for Governmental Institutions » is among the priorities for 2001.
  

• In Hungary, three major governmental projects are in process :

  • Government without paperwork

  • One-counter conduct of affairs (use by the administration of specific databases)

  • Community connections (support provided by the government to communities in implementing IS tools, developing web sites, and so on)
    

• In Romania, a lot of ministries are in the process of implementing information systems. Applications dedicated to the management of local resources and budgets are also implemented by local administration. A lot of projects consist also in the implementation of « e-government » applications dedicated to the « e-management » of several issues with the public (public regulation, administrative procedures, etc.).
  

• Slovenia has created a body in charge of the informatisation of state bodies : the Government Center for Informatics. The Government Center drafted the Strategy for Providing the State Bodies with an information Infrastructure. It has been adopted by the government.
  

• In Latvia, the National Program "Informatics" indicates the need for a radical reorganisation of governmental information systems. An important priority deals with the establishment of new registrers : private persons, entreprises, real estate (ownership land, building,), transport vehicles property.
  

• For Slovakia, the national report outlines several projects started at the beginning of the 90s. Among them it quotes the GovNet project, started in 1993, continues to be implemented. Currently, the majority of the central state administration bodies are connected to GovNet. The objective is now to connect regional and local state administration within the whole country.
  

• In Republic of Macedonia, a major programme involves developing a state backbone network interconnecting all governmental organisations.
  

• In Czech Republic, an important project conducted by the State Information System office is to co-ordinate the interconnection of all the state authorities different information systems. Most of the tasks that need to be complemented are included as projects in the Action Plan, for example :

  • Building the communications infrastructure that will link the governmental organisations

  • Building the real estate register information system

  • The creation of a governmental portal

In another part, two new laws, on Public Tenders and Auctions, enacted on June 1^st 2000, require administrative documents (public tenders, auctions, beyond certain amounts) to be available on-line on a specific web site « Central Address », today operated by the Czech Posts.

3.2.2 Telecommunications and Internet

Without a question, the telecommunications sector has seen the most significant transformations over recent years in Central and Eastern European countries. At the heart of national strategies, telecoms not only provide supports necessary to the implementation of information Society, but also acts as an incubator of new technological tools.

It remains difficult to talk convincingly to talk about the "information society" in countries where the economic development is still very low and where publicly-owned telecoms operators have not yet reached sufficient levels of coverage compared with developed countries. This is in particular the case of countries destructed by wars : Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia. Those countries have a very low teledensity. At the end of 1999, teledensities were 4 lines per 100 inhabitants in Albania, 23 lines per 100 inhabitants in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Republic of Macedonia. The level is also very low in Romania with a teledensity of 17 lines per 100 inhabitants by the end of 1999.

The national reports indicate that national strategies mainly consist in the implementation of important programmes of infrastructure deployment and modernisation coupled more generally with the adaptation of European directives.

Major priorities in the telecoms sector are :

• Modernisation programmes : in all the countries being studied, the telecoms ministry or the national operator has defined policies for modernising infrastructures.
  

• Development of mobile networks : in almost all the countries there are two, sometimes three mobile operators (Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland). The mobile sector has known a very important growth. Between 1998 and 1999, the average growth of mobile penetration has reached 80%. The increase was particularly noticeable in Slovenia (+237%), Bosnia & Herzegovina (+180%), Albania (+154%), Bulgaria (+113%), Romania and Poland (+108% each). Several countries have yet issued UMTS licenses or announced the forthcoming process. Poland has issued 3 UMTS licenses to existing mobile operators and announced a fourth license to be attributed in 2002. In Czech Republic, the ministry of Transports and Communications announced it would issue four UMTS licenses by 2002. It is worth mentioning that the Hungarian mobile operator, Westel Mobile, has launched GPRS services at the end of 2000.
  

• Privatisation of operators has been a major development within nearly all Central and Eastern European countries. All countries, expect Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Bulgaria (where advanced negotiations with a potential investor has failed) have partially privatised incumbent operators. The most recent development have taken place in Republic of Macedonia where, in December 2000, a consortium lead by the Hungarian operator Matav has purchased a majority share : 51% of the incumbent operator Makedonski Telekomuniakcii.

  The opening of the market has enable the growth of foreign-Western investment in Central and Eastern European countries. In fact, this involvement was strategic both for Western operators and national operators :

  • Operators present in markets already open to competition (Western Europe, United States, Asia) have faced stronger competition on their own markets. This means that international investment has been a key element of the strategy of growth.

  • For national operators, foreign investment enabled the input of capital and technical and marketing know-how.

Among the operations we can notice the strong presence of the Nordic operators (geographical proximities) that are constituting real trans-european operators.

More generally :

• Telia (Sweden) and Sonera (Finland), within a consortium, own part of Estonian Telecom and Lithuania Telekomas

• Sonera also owns part of Lattelekom

• Telia also has a stake in the new entrant in Poland : Netia Holding

• Telsource (Swisscom – KPN) owns part of Czech Telecom

• OTE Telecom (Greece) has invested in Rom Telecom

• Deutsche Telekom has 51% shares of the Slovak operator

A lot of operations have also taken place in the mobile area :

• DT Mobil (Germany) has a stake in RadioMobil (Czech Republic) and RadioMobil (Republic of Macedonia)

• MediaOne (ex-US West) owns part of Westel in Hungary and PTC in Poland

• Vodafone/Airtouch owns part of MobilRom in Romania, Polkomtel in Poland and Primatel in Hungary

• The Greek – Norwegian consortium Cosmote Telenor invested 85 million $ to buy 85% shares of the Albanian mobile operator

An overview of the most recent developments to have occurred in telecommunications area at country level:

• In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the war resulted in the telecommunications infrastructure partial destruction. Damage to the long distance transmission network disrupted inter-city and international communications links. Exchange capacity decreased by 25% and 40% of the transmission routes were destroyed. The focus is on reconstruction, modernisation and expansion In the past 3 years, a lot of efforts have been undertaken in that sense. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has worked in close co-operation with the responsible bodies. There are three telecommunications operators, all State-owned and acting on particular areas :

  • Telekom Srpska in Republic of Srpska

  • PTT Bosnia and Herzegovina covers the Bosniak dominated area of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • HPT Mostar covers the Croat dominated area of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

There are also three mobile GSM operators, each of them being present on the areas quoted before. Until summer 1999, the coverage was important in larger cities like Sarajevo, Zenica, Tuzla, Mostar, etc. Today, the coverage is quite good all over the country. Two new operators should launch their services in short term.

• In Czech Republic, the national operator is Czech Telecom. Telecommunications is the scene of a lot of developments. In September 2000, wireless local loop licenses have been issued to three operators : Broadnet Czech, Star One, Nextra Wireless. The ministry of Transports and Communications announced it would issue four UMTS licenses by 2002. Otherwise, the Czech government is searching for an investor in the incumbent operator as it wants to sell part or the whole of 51.1% shares it holds. One can notice that the current minority investor Telsource (33.5%) (KPN, Swisscom, Royal Dutch Telecom) had in a first time announced its interest to invest more in the operator, but finally in August, indicated it was no more interested in getting a majority stake. Since January 1^st 2001, Czech Telecom has lost the last monopoly it had on fix voice services.
  

• Republic of Macedonia incumbent operator is Makedonski Telekomuniakcii. After a yearlong privatisation procedure, a consortium lead by the Hungarian operator Matav has purchased a majority share : 51%, of Makedonski Telekomuniakcii in December 2000.
  

• The telecommunications sector in Slovak Republic has known several developments in the recent period : in 1999, Deutsche Telekom acquired 51 % of the incumbent shares. The government also announced its intention to issue three UMTS licenses by the end of 2001.
  

• In Slovenia, the adoption of a new law on telecommunications will bring the country's relevant legal provisions into line with the principles of the European Union. Furthermore, since the end of the war, a huge effort has been undertaken to reconstruct telecommunications infrastructure.
  

• Poland also knows fundamental developments :

  • a new telecommunications law harmonised with EU principles has been enacted on July 2000 and will be effective starting from 2001,

  • the continuation of the privatisation of the incumbent Telekomunikacja Polska, which had taken some delays : the strategic investor France Telecom and Kulczyk Holdings consortium signed an agreement on July 2000 to buy 35% of TPSA’s shares from the owner, the Ministry of Treasury

  • the adoption by the government of a programme aimed at developing rural telephony

  • concerning UMTS licenses, the Minister of Telecommunications has issued three licenses to the existing mobile operators by the end of 2001. Two additional licenses should be awarded in 2001 / 2002. The fee per license is 650 million Euros.
    

• In Albania, several major events have happened during the last months :

  • The adoption of a new law on Telecommunications on July 2000

  • The ratification by the Parliament of the privatisation of the mobile operator AMC. The investor is a Greek – Norwegian consortium Cosmote Telenor. It invested 85 million $ to buy 85% shares of the operator

  • Concerning the development of the telecommunications infrastructure, 55 000 new telephone lines have been implemented during the last quarter of 2000.
    

• The telecommunications sector is very dynamic in Hungary. We can notice during the last months in particular:

  • Presence of foreign companies :

    • Kiwwi Telecommunications Company, Hungarian subsidiary of Kiwwi CEE Holding AG of Vienna launched IP-based voice services, 40 – 30 % cheaper than International and domestic calls tariffs

    • Chello Broadband, UPC’s subsidiary, launched cable Internet services in Budapest

  • Launch of GPRS services : the mobile operator Westel Mobile launched GPRS services by the end of 2000, this constitutes an innovation in CEEC.
    

• In Estonia the exclusive rights of Eesti Telefon, the incumbent operator, regarding the provisioning of basic voice services have ended since January the 1^st 2001. The major actor is AS Eesti Telekom which has 100% ownership in Eesti Telefon and Eesti Mobiiltelefon. Eesti Telekom has been partially privatised in 1999. Currently it is held by Telia and Sonera Holding (49%), Estonian Government (27,3%) and other investors (23.7%). One can notice that Telia had to sell its 60% ownership in Starman Kaabeltelevisiooni (the major cable company in Estonia), the Cable Distribution Act indicating that the owner of a cable TV network can not control more than 40% of the basic voice telephony market. The Telia’s shares has been sold to the investment fund EECI for 10.6 M Euros (see the national report for more details). Another major event is the forthcoming privatisation of the Estonian Broadcasting Transmission Center. This will accelerate important transformations, in particular the perspective by mid term to implement terrestrial digital television. In September 2000, the Estonian Privatisation Agency could have started negotiations with the French company Telediffusion de France (TDF).
  

• Rom Telecom, the incumbent operator in Romania has a monopoly on voice telephony services until December 31 2002. Rom Telecom is carrying out an important modernisation program that should represent an investment of 500 M $ for 2000 and 2001. The objectives are the up grade and extension of the telecommunications infrastructures with a target of teledensity of 24 % by 2003 (by the end of 1999, the teledensity was of 17%).
  

• In Latvia, Lattelekom has a monopoly on fix voice telephony services until December 31 2002. The mobile sector has known competition for several years. 2 operators share the market, they are partially owned by foreign capitals : Telia and Sonera for Latvia Mobile Telephone, and 2 American companies for Baltcom : WWC and MIT.

3.2.3 Electronic commerce

The development of a regulatory framework for e-business (focusing on authentication and security) has become a great priority in most developed areas (United States, European Union, Japan …) and significant advances have been achieved.

A Directive has been adopted by the European Commission and several EU members states yet issued national laws regulating a set of aspects (encryption, digital signature, Internet regulation).

The reading of the national reports shows a very strong dynamism in the area of e-commerce, from governments as well as from private companies.

In nearly all Central and Eastern European countries, e-commerce is supported by a strong political willingness. This results in important work dealing with e-commerce regulatory issues. Indeed, most of countries have yet adopted laws or are in the process of elaborating a regulation in line with EU legislation.

Beyond the elaboration of regulatory frameworks, some countries have launched projects dealing with the creation of secured transactions systems. This is a fundamental point to enable the development of the industry. Some countries are also experiencing pilot e-business projects within specific sectors, interesting specific categories of enterprises, or interesting relationships between enterprises and administrations. Forms of pilot projects are various : they may consist in training programs, necessary to promote e-business practice as well as in the development of e-commerce applications.

This approach seems necessary to enable the involvement of actors, the take into account concrete needs of all the industry (in terms of technology, transaction security, content, ability of actors to develop web sites and e-business projects, etc.) and real first developments of e-business.

Companies are also implementing web sites, boosting Internet usage.

Important political efforts and advancements, particularly regulatory developments, have been done, and one can observe the rapid spread of Internet within CEE countries. This enable to forecast the take off of e-commerce by short term.

We present below some e-commerce developments in the Central and Eastern European countries :

• In Czech Republic, political willingness to promote E-commerce is reflected in different actions :

  • Designation of a governmental structure in charge of e-commerce : e-commerce is among the competencies of the Governmental committee for State Information Policy

  • Realisation of an action plan dealing with e-commerce

  • Realisation of Green Book on e-commerce

  • Adoption of the Digital signature act on October 2000

  • Important work to come on the whole requirements
    

• For Estonia, the national report indicates that key legislation is in the process of being adopted. The Digital Signature Act entered into force on December 15, 2000. A major impulse of the government has been the launch of the « Public Key Infrastructure » project (secured transaction system) in May 2000 to which several firms participate : Eesti Telefon, etc.
  

• In Latvia, e-commerce topic has been put under the responsibility of the Ministry of Economics.
  

• In Lithuania, the Parliament has adopted a law on digital signature in July 2000, while a government has created a working group.
  

• According to the national Consumer Protection Association, electronic commerce in Hungary developed energetically in 2000. The financial sector has been the most dynamic : 6 banks are currently providing tele-banking services to more than 40 000.
  

• In Republic of Macedonia, current developments are in the field of legislation : the government has issued a draft law for Electronic Form and Digital Signature on December 2000.
  

• In Poland, as in other countries, the draft law on electronic signature has been accepted by the government and has to be enacted by the parliament. The act could be effective by the second half of 2001. One can notice a very dynamic private sector : banks and brokers offices are launching Internet sites. It exists also a lot of auctions web sites.
  

• Romania also knows important developments, emanating from the financial sector but also from specific actors : more than 35 web sites are dedicated to e-commerce.
  

• In Slovakia, several IT companies have been proposing e-commerce transactions since 1999. The Slovak Association on Electronic Commerce, established on March, plays an important role in supporting the development of e-commerce in the country. A main support to the e-commerce development will be the adoption of the law on digital signature which is currently examined by the parliament.
  

• In Slovenia, the law on electronic commerce and digital signature has been enacted on June 2000. The law is based on the European directive. It governs the exchange of commercial information via electronic communications systems and use of electronic signature.

3.2.4 Education and Research

Research and Education are important areas both in term of their usage and development of Information Society programmes. Challenges of governments are enormous :

• Develop competencies and skills, in particular in IT sectors

• Enable accessibility of courses, schools

• Diffuse Internet access

• Slowdown brain drain and support private R&D. Innovation and R&D are key components of competitiveness. The brain drain in some CEEC constitute a real trouble. It may have impacts on long term growth and competitiveness. Some countries (Slovenia for example) have taken special measures to encourage private R&D and support scientists work (funding, R&D centres set up, etc).

In overall terms, policies being put in place tend to be long term oriented, aimed at achieving a sustainable increase in the overall education level and the qualified workforce.

The main axes are :

• Quantitative policies :

  • Equipping schools and universities with PCs, scientific laboratories and Internet access

• Qualitative policies highly complementary of equipment policies :

  • New training programmes in the area of science and new technologies

  • Specific teacher training programmes

  • Tailored professional training

  • Support to private R&D activity and creation of technological centres

Some insightful examples of key policy actions that have been implemented at country level are presented below :

• In Bosnia & Herzegovina, one of the main IS projects in the field of Research and Education is the Biharnet project, carried out by 6 universities. Biharnet consists in the implementation of a modern telecommunications network linking universities and providing high speed Internet access. The network will be the support of many applications.
  

• The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of Czech Republic has elaborated a strategic plan regarding IS issues in the area of Education and Research. It sets the following objectives :

  • The equipment of all schools with computers and Internet access

  • By the end of 2004, Information technologies should be integrated in courses and multimedia technologies should be used widely in teaching
    

• Two important developments occurred in 1999 and 2000 in Estonia, emanating from universities/companies and governmental initiatives :

  • 2 universities : University of Tartu and Tallinn Technical University, AS Eesti Telekom and the Association of Estonian Computer Companies have created the Estonian Information Technology Foundation. One of the first projects of the Foundation was the creation of the Information Technology Centre, open in the Fall 2000. The Centre provides IT training.

  • The national programme Tiger Leap launched by the government is going on. The programme is aimed at promoting the use of Information technologies in schools.
    

• An interesting project in Latvia : the Latvian Education Information System project conducted by the University of Latvia. This project is based on the idea that quantitative elements only (PC equipments, provisioning of Internet access) can not constitute a real policy. The project is aimed at providing content and methodological materials (special IT training programmes) to teachers and students regarding information technologies
  

• In Lithuania, the government includes in the main principles for Science and Education the implementation of network infrastructures and the computerisation of schools. Several key projects can be identified :

  • A tele-training project supported by Kaunas University of Technology

  • The Lithuanian Academic and Research Computer Network LITNET

  • The formulation of working programmes with various ministries
    

• In Hungary a major programme, now competed, consisted in providing all secondary schools with an Internet access.
  

• In Republic of Macedonia, several projects are in the process, initiated locally or supported by international bodies :

  • Two important universities, the universities of Skopje and Bitola, have built their own high speed telecommunications infrastructures, support of various applications : file transfer, tele-training, high speed Internet access, …),

  • The United Nations Development Program has financed the establishment of an Information technology education centre in the city of Kriva Palanka. The centre has opened on July 2000.
    

• Poland has been carrying out several important projects for several years. Among them :

  • The European project TEN-155, joined by Poland in 1999. A 34 Mbits link has been established between Poznan and Frankfurt

  • The PIONIER project : Polish Optical Internet Advanced Applications Services and Technologies for information Society this project involves establishing a fibre optic network dedicated to the scientific community. The investment for the period 2001 – 2005 is estimated at 180 M Euros.
    

• The National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, NASTI, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Research, is a main actor of the national policy in the area of Education. The main political instruments to direct scientific research are the following :

  • Participation to European projects. For example, the National Computer Network for research (NCN) started in 1993 as a PHARE programme. Currently, more than 90 R&D organisations benefit from the NCN services

  • The implementation of the Development and Innovation Programme (RDI), aims at co-financing the projects accepted in the Fifth Framework Programme of EU and co-financing other projects.
    

• In Slovakia, the Ministry of Education has started in 2000 to elaborate an action plan regarding IT and Education.
  Currently, Slovakia is implementing national programmes and participates actively to European ones :

  • For example, the Ministry of Education has launched the Infovek project aimed at providing Internet access for primary and secondary schools

  • Slovakia also participates to EU projects, for example Tempus / Copernicus
    

• Innovation and R&D activity are key components of companies and nations competitiveness. In Slovenia, as in other CEE countries, the escape of the qualified manpower is a real trouble for the development of the country. To support private R&D activity, the government has prepared a law to "Support Businesses in the Development of New Technologies, Establishment and Operation of their R&D Units during 2000-2003 period". The law aims at reviving R&D units in companies as well as creating new R&D centres. The ministry of Science and Technology should co-ordinate R&D programmes.

3.2.5 Health Care

The health sector represents a key challenge. In certain countries health care systems are very weak, few extended (infrastructures, social protection). International bodies are involved in projects in some countries (for instance, the World Bank in Romania). The impact of Information technologies may be extremely important. 

Some countries are involved in reforms of Health Care policies.

Most of the time, IS projects are in their very first phases of development. Applications are miscellaneous :

• Development of electronic medical files to optimise the saving of data per patient

• Development of medical diagnostic support tools 

• Optimal use of statistics 

•  Development of preventive strategies

•  Development of networks linking hospitals and universities

We present below an overview of major projects :

• In Albania, Soros in co-operation with the Ministry of Health has undertaken a project to computerise the Ministry of Health.
  

• The Health Sector On-Line Project is a leader project conducted in Czech Republic. It is dealing with key aspects of IS and Health Care : legal aspects, organisation, etc. Among the applications looked for :

  • Electronic medical files

  • Management of national medical registers

  • Telemedecine

  • Tele-training
    

• In Estonia, at the end of May 2000 the government approved the « Estonian healthcare project 2015 ». This project aims to reform the country’s entire healthcare system, which is currently suffering from major deficiencies, between now and 2015. As part of the project, a major programme of computerisation will be carried out.
  

• In Latvia, a major information system has been developed by the Latvian Centre for Health Statistics, Informatics and Medical technology. This tool deals with a set of data :

  • Electronic medical files

  • Registers of patients and diseases

  • Health insurance

The Drug Abuse Prevention and Healthcare Centre also developed a specific tool : the Drug information System.

• Lithuania currently knows a restructuring of the health care policy. The development of an health care information system is part of the programme : more than 10 sub-programmes are being carried out.
  

• Macedonia is carrying out a programme dedicated to the development and reconstruction of the health sector. A significant part of the programme is focus on the use of IT and implementation of modern information systems.
  

• The national report for Slovenia outlines that the basis for the computerisation of the healthcare sector will be set up by the National programme of Medical Informatics being prepared by the Ministry of Health.

Recent Laws and Documents regarding Information Society