eContent
European Digital Content for the
Global Networks
Frans de Bruïne
European Commission
OHT 1 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
European Digital Content for the Global Networks
Agenda
 Content plays a key role
 The political context
 The next frontier
 Building on Europe’s strength
 The eContent proposal
OHT 2 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
Content plays a key role
Changing revenue sources: the view of a
technology company
E-conomy / E-World
Free Service
for Access
to Eyeballs
Media Industry
Worldwide Revenue
$1.3 Trillion
Telecom
SP
Industry
Source: Lucent Technologies
OHT 3 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
Opportunity
/ Potential
50% GDP
Worldwide Revenue
$600 Billion
Traditional “Pipe” Services
Content plays a key role
The economic importance of content
Sheer size


€412 billion - or 5% of the EU GDP
4 million employees
Growth rate


Can be up to 20% per year
Job creation engine: up to 1 million new jobs by
2005
Indirect effects



OHT 4 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
Information is a valuable asset
Driver and tradable good in e-commerce
Pushes ICT goods and services demand
Content plays a key role
Language does matter
100
86,5%
90
80
70
60
English
French
Other
51,3%
50
40
33,5%
30
20
10
0
10,5%
3,9%
2,4%
Language of users
Language of Websites
Source: Global Reach and Inktomi
OHT 5 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
The political context
Dot.com Summit
Lisbon 23 - 24 March 2000
The Union has today set itself a new strategic
goal for the next decade: to become the
most competitive and dynamic knowledgebased economy in the world capable of
sustainable economic growth with more and
better jobs and greater social cohesion.
“Content industries create added value by exploiting
and networking European cultural diversity.”
OHT 6 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
The political context
eEurope Action Plan
Feira 20 June 2000
A cheaper, faster, secure Internet
Investing in people and skills
Stimulate the use of the Internet
Three key objectives
OHT 7 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
The political context
Stimulate the use of Internet
Actions:

Accelerating e-commerce
 Government online: electronic access
to public services
 Health online

European digital content for global
networks
 Intelligent transport systems
Content plays a key role
OHT 8 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
The next frontier
“Mobility and the Internet, the two dominating
drivers in communications, will converge to
create a future which we call the Mobile
Information Society - a society where
technological innovations are used to allow
people to access applications and services
irrespective of place and time”
Jorma Ollila, Nokia, June 2000
OHT 9 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
The next frontier
The Mobile Internet
Installed base of handsets (bn)
1.60
1.40
1.20
UMTS
1.00
0.80
0.60
WAP
0.40
0.20
2000
OHT 10 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
GPRS
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
The Information Society is going mobile
Subscribers (billion)
1,4
1,2
Mobile
phones
1
Mobiles
with Internet
access
PCs with
Internet access
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0
1997
Source: Dataquest
OHT 11 - RfdB - EP September-2000
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
Building on Europe’s strength
160
140
120
Mobile subscribers (million)
EU mobile
liberalisation
EU
100
80
USA
60
40
20
0
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Source:
OHT 12 - RfdB - EP September-2000
FT Mobile Communications
USA: Cellular Telecoms Industry Association
Building on Europe’s strength
Traditional strength in content
Rich content base
 Public sector information
World ranking players
Long publishing tradition
Chances in linguistic and cultural
customisation
but:
Lagging in electronic publishing
OHT 13 - RfdB - EP September-2000
European Content for the Global Networks
eContent:
Three actions lines:




Stimulating the exploitation of Public sector
information
Enhancing linguistic and cultural
customisation
Supporting market enablers
Support actions
Time frame: 2001 - 2005
Budget: 150 MEURO
OHT 14 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
Exploitation of Public Sector Information
The problem
 Public Sector Information is hardly exploited in the EU

No common principles for storing the information

No common legal framework for using the information

Little experience of public-private collaboration
The proposal: expand the information supply
 Encourage partnerships between the public and private
sector
 Support early experimentation

Experimental projects - expand INFO2000 early trial

Pan - European Data Collections
Support growth in a potential market
OHT 15 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
Linguistic and cultural customisation
The problem
 Barriers to cross border commerce due to different
language and business cultures
 Opportunities to expand markets not realised
 Internet to become a collection of n-language islands ?
 US firms most active in localisation of software
The proposal: promote a multilingual approach
 Foster the adoption of language strategies and partnership
 Strengthen the linguistic infrastructure
A common framework for content and language
OHT 16 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
Supporting market enablers
The problem
 High-tech investment in the EU still less than in the US
 Non-mature risk culture in Europe
 Venture capital funds are aplenty, but getting the “smart
money” that puts an Internet startup on the fast track is
still a big challenge (FT, http://forums.ft.com/)
 EU wide IPR trading still a major issue
The action: enabling the market to function
 Bridge the gap between investors and entrepreneurs
 Experiment in EU wide IPR trading
Create a snowball effect
OHT 17 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
Support Measures
The Problem
 Lacking data on the converging industries
 Identifying future developments
 No link between different voices of the digital content
spectrum
The Action
 Collect and make available consistent data sets
 Strategic studies: a mirror for industry
 Digital Content Forum
Market transparency is the key
OHT 18 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
The decision making process
Tentative time table
Commission Adoption: 24 May 2000
Opinion of the Parliament, COR,
ECOSOC: October/November
Telecoms Council 3 October (presentation)
Telecoms Council 22 December (adoption)
OHT 19 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000
eContent
5 C’s for Success

Creativity

Common sense

Cash

Cooperation

Customers
A high premium on entrepreneurship
OHT 20 - MG - Luxembourg September -2000