ICTs can also drive forward the digitisation of Europe's cultural heritage providing online access for all.

ICT-enabled benefits for EU society

Smart use of technology and exploitation of information will help us to address the challenges facing society like climate change and the ageing population.

The digital society must be envisioned as a society with better outcomes for all. The deployment of ICT is becoming a critical element for delivering policy objectives like supporting an ageing society, climate change, reducing energy consumption, improving transportation efficiency and mobility, empowering patients and ensuring the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

ICT for environment

The EU has committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels and to improving energy efficiency by 20 %. The ICT sector has a key role to play in this challenge:

• ICT offer potential for a structural shift to less resource-intensive products and services, for energy savings in buildings and electricity networks, as well as for more efficient and less energy consuming intelligent transport systems;
• The ICT sector should lead the way by reporting its own environmental performance by adopting a common measurement framework as a basis for setting targets to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of all processes involved in production, distribution, use and disposal of ICT products and delivery of ICT services.

Cooperation between the ICT industry, other sectors and public authorities is essential to accelerate development and wide-scale roll out of ICT-based solutions for smart grids and meters, near-zero energy buildings and intelligent transport systems. It is essential to empower individuals and organisations with information that will help them to reduce their own carbon footprint . The ICT sector should deliver modelling, analysis, monitoring and visualisation tools to evaluate the energy performance and emissions of buildings, vehicles, companies, cities and regions. Smart grids are essential for the move to a low carbon economy. They will enable active control of transmission and distribution via advanced ICT infrastructure communication and control platforms. For the different grids to work together efficiently and safely, open transmission-distribution interfaces will be needed.

For instance, almost 20% of electricity consumption worldwide is used for lighting. About 70% of electricity consumption can be saved by combining an advanced technology known as Solid State Lighting (SSL) with intelligent light management systems. SSL lighting is based on technologies developed by the semiconductor industry, in which Europe has a strong position. To achieve emissions reductions, a mix of awareness-raising, training and multi-stakeholder cooperation is required.

Sustainable healthcare and ICT-based support for dignified and independent living

The deployment of eHealth technologies in Europe can improve the quality of care, reduce medical costs and foster independent living, including in remote places. An essential condition for success is that these technologies incorporate the right of individuals to have their personal health information safely stored within a healthcare system accessible online. To exploit the full potential of new eHealth services, the EU needs to remove legal and organisational barriers, particularly those to pan-European interoperability, and strengthen cooperation among Member States.

The eHealth Lead Market Initiative will promote standardisation, interoperability testing and certification of electronic health records and equipment. New telemedicine services such as online medical consultations, improved emergency care and portable devices allowing monitoring the health condition of people suffering from chronic disease and disabilities have the potential to offer a freedom of movement that patients have never previously enjoyed.

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) technologies put ICT within the reach of all. The EU AAL-dedicated Joint Programme with Member States and related advanced research, as well as applications such as telecare and online support for social services will be reinforced: to cover the certification of carers (i.e. so that they can provide an interface to information services for people that would otherwise have difficulty to use the internet); and to establish new ways to put ICT at the service of the most vulnerable members of society. This programme will make sure that the digital society permits a more independent and dignified life for people who are frail or suffer from chronic conditions and for persons with disabilities. The AAL will promote innovation and the deployment of ICT solutions in key areas such as fall prevention (which affects more than one third of people over 65) and support for sufferers of dementia (touches more than 7 million people in the EU), with a target of doubling the take-up of independent living arrangements for the elderly by 2015.

Promoting cultural diversity and creative content

The 2005 UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity (ratified at EU level in 2006), provides for the promotion and protection of cultural diversity across the world and applies equally to new digital environments. In fact the new digital media can permit a wider distribution of cultural and creative content, because the reproduction is cheaper and quicker and creates more opportunities for authors and content providers to reach new and larger – even global - audiences. The internet is also a driver of greater pluralism in the media, giving both access to a wider range of sources and points of view as well as the means for individuals – who might otherwise be denied the opportunity – to express themselves fully and openly.

In Europe, digital cinema take-up has been slower than foreseen because of technical (standards) and economic (business model) issues. Some types of cinemas are even threatened with closure because of the high costs of digital equipment. Therefore, support to digitisation of cinemas is necessary to safeguard cultural diversity.

Fragmentation and complexity in the current licensing system also hinders the digitisation of a large part of Europe's recent cultural heritage. Rights clearance must be improved, and Europeana - the EU public digital library - should be strengthened. Increased public funding is needed to finance large-scale digitisation, alongside initiatives with private partners provided that they allow a general accessibility of Europe's common cultural heritage online. Europe’s cultural heritage should also be made better accessible to all Europeans by advancing and using modern translation technologies.

The Audiovisual Media Services Directive governs the EU-wide coordination of national legislation on all audiovisual media; both traditional TV broadcasts and on-demand services. It includes provisions for the promotion of European works both in TV-like and on-demand services.

eGovernment

eGovernment services offer a cost-effective route to better service for every citizen and business and participatory open and transparent government. eGovernment services can reduce costs and save time for public administrations, citizens and businesses. They can also help mitigate the risks of climate change, natural and man-made hazards by including the sharing of environmental data and environment-related information. Today, despite a high level of availability of eGovernment services in Europe, differences still exist amongst Member States and the take-up of eGovernment services by citizens is low. In 2009, only 38% of EU citizens used the internet for accessing eGovernment services, compared to 72% of businesses. General internet take up will be lifted if the usage and quality and accessibility of public online services rises.

European governments are committed to making user-centric, personalised, multi-platform eGovernment services a widespread reality by 2015 . To that end governments should take steps to avoid any unnecessary technical requirements, for example applications that only work in specific technical environments or with specific devices. The Commission will lead by example in implementing smart eGovernment. These services will support streamlined administrative processes, facilitate information sharing and simplify interaction with the Commission, thereby empowering users and improving the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of the Commission.

Most public online services do not work across borders to the detriment of the mobility of businesses and citizens. Public authorities have so far focused on national needs and have not sufficiently taken into account the single market dimension of eGovernment. Yet several single market initiatives and legal instruments (such as the Services Directive or the eProcurement Action Plan) rely on the possibility for businesses to interact and do business with public administrations by electronic means and across borders.

Therefore Europe needs better administrative cooperation to develop and deploy cross-border public online services. This includes the implementation of seamless eProcurement as well as practical e-identification and e-authentication cross border services (including mutual recognition of security levels for authentication).

eEnvironment services, as a category of eGovernment services, are either still under-developed, or fragmented along national borders. Community law in this area should be reviewed and modernised. Secondly, innovative solutions such as advanced sensor networks, can help fill gaps in the required data.
 
Intelligent Transport Systems for efficient transport and better mobility

Intelligent Transports Systems (ITS) make transport more efficient, faster, easier and reliable. The focus is on smart solutions to integrate passenger and freight flows across transport modes and provide sustainable solutions to infrastructure bottlenecks affecting roads, railways, sky, sea and waterways.
 
For road transport, and its interfaces with other modes, the ITS Action Plan and its associated Directive support the deployment of real-time traffic and travel information and dynamic traffic management systems to relieve congestion and encourage greener mobility, while improving safety and security. The Air Traffic Management Solutions for the Single European Sky (SESAR) will integrate air navigation services and supporting systems. River Information Services (RIS) and e-Maritime services allow for better, safer and more efficient river and maritime transport. The European Rail Traffic Management System aims at a Europe wide automatic speed control system, while telematic applications for rail freight services and passenger services will support cross-border services, providing passengers with journey planning tools (including connections to other trains and modes, support for reservation, payment and luggage tracing) as well as real time updates.