Telecentre Europe SummitTelecentre Europe Summit

Istanbul, 14 Oct Istanbul, 14 Oct 20092009

e-Inclusion e-Inclusion for for

participation participation and and

innovationinnovationPaul Timmers

Head of UnitEUROPEAN COMMISSION

Directorate General « Information Society and Media »Unit H3 – ICT for Inclusion

Social and economic challenges

• Sustainability

• Demographics

• Diversity

• Rights and benefits in the digital society

• Competitiveness

Digital divides decrease but remain and evolve

Internet regular use disparity indicator EU(1= % of regular internet users in the total population).

0,00

0,10

0,20

0,30

0,40

0,50

0,60

0,70

0,80

0,90

1,00

aged 55-64 aged 65-74 women low educated inactive unemployed rural

2005

2006

2007

2008

disadvataged groups index value at 0,66 in 2008

disadvataged groups index value at 0,60 in 2005

Maturing of the information society?

The remaining 30%...

• Ever more difficult to include?– Non-users– Ex-users– Proxy users

• Exclusion factors: age, income, education, disability, social isolation, …

• Non-use factors: not interested, too expensive, no computer/internet, ...

European Commission Digital Competitiveness Report, 2009;Oxford Internet Institute, The Internet in Britain, 2009

How to tackle the remaining and future digital divide?

• By focusing on usage situation – job, living at home, social activity, health, …– Access, skills

• Through intermediairies, case-by-case:– telecentres, third sector, family carers, home

service SMEs, local authorities• Through innovation

Moving to the next stage: inclusion and innovation

• ICT is enabler for inclusion• ICT can be catalyst for innovation:

– Social innovation– Economic innovation– Technological innovation

• Bridging the gap• Telecentres for innovation:

From: President Barroso’s Political guidelines for the next Commission

Challenge for Telecentres

Thank you for your attention

ec.europa.eu/einclusionpaul.timmers@ec.europa.eu