ACTA
UNIVERSITATIS
LODZIENSIS
FOLIA OECONOMICA 182, 2004
Witold K asperkiew icz*
T H E C O N C E P T O F AN IN F O R M A T IO N SO C IE T Y
IN T H E E U R O PE A N U N IO N
1. T he essence o f an inform ation society
The concepts o f the so-called inform ation society and post-industrial society
have developed in the econom ic writings o f econom ically advanced countries
since the 1970’s. At the heart o f these concepts lies the analysis o f the influence
which the increasing role o f inform ation and inform ation technologies exert on
the social and econom ic changes within the societies o f the T riplet countries
(W estern Europe, USA and Canada, Japan). T here develops a model o f the
‘society o f the fu tu re’ which is rich in information and in which this inform ation
is available (to a certain extent) on request and is suited to the needs o f the
citizens. A ccording to Am erican sociologist D. Bell, knowledge and inform ation
lay a foundation for a post-industrial society in that they provide the source o f
strategies and transform ations in societies, in which case they are roughly
equivalent to capital and work in an industrial society (Bell 1973).
It was the Japanese economist T. Umesao who first formulated the concept of
an ‘information society’. In his analysis conducted in 1960’s Umesao emphasised
the growing importance o f information and modem technologies in the socio­
economic developm ent in Japan (Dordick, W ang 1995). On the turn o f the 20th
century the concept o f an ‘information society’ achieved full status in various
programmes which defined3 the strategy o f a civilisation development in the best
developed countries o f the world. Amazingly fast progress in the field of
information-communications technologies has given rise to technologies which in
an almost revolutionary way modify the social system o f communication as well
as its structures and also exert a significant influence upon the economic and
political processes. The rapid development of an information theory caused the
information-communications net (as well as the system o f accumulation,
” Prof., Department o f Econom ics, University o f Lódź.
transformation, emission and distribution of information related to it) to become
the main source o f effectiveness and power (Doktorowicz (ed.) 2002, pp. 73-74).
M. Castells, the renown sociologist o f Berkeley University and the author o f
the groundbreaking book “The Information Age” , claim s on the basis o f long
standing research in over thirty countries o f the world that a new kind o f society
com es into being - the so-called ‘network society’ (C astells 1996). In such
a society a typical hierarchy is replaced by a horizontal network o f dynamic
connection which operate within global range. Large modern com panies
(corporations) do not occupy particular premises but are, to a larger and larger
extent, rather a com plex network o f connections. The same is true about the
financial capital which can be quickly transferred from one place to another all
over the world.
L. Soete who is a European Union expert on social policy is o f the opinion
that inform ation society is characterised by an unlim ited public access o f its
citizens to the technologies o f accumulation and transm ission o f inform ation on
the one hand, and by the low costs of these technologies on the other. The
widespread use o f inform ation is, according to Soete, accom panied by
organisational, legal, social and economic changes which profoundly transform
everyday life, work and society (Doktorowicz (ed.) 2002, p. 75). A rem arkable
developm ent in inform ation-com m unications technologies forces us to seek
a proper balance betw een the dem ands o f an economic grow th and social as well
as ecological values, between econom ic globalisation and ethical values,
between short-term benefits and long-term econom ic, social stabilisation. The
accom plishm ent o f these goals requires a change in the attitude to the traditional
European standards o f affluent countries, to public sector and to a widespread
access to inform ation and com m unication sources.
2. The groundw ork for an inform ation society w ithin E uropean Union
The harbinger o f the future project for setting up the U nion’s inform ation
society was the 1978 publication o f the Strategy for U nion’s Enlargem ent. O f
equal im portance was the fact that the largest European consortia (Philips, ICL,
AEG, Siem ens, Olivetti, Thom son) were invited by the European Com m ission to
enter into a discussion about the political and econom ic conceptions which
centred at the m odernisation of the European industry and technology. The result
o f these discussions were many research & developm ent program m es whose
prim ary goal was the active participation o f W estern Europe in the m ainstream
o f a m icro-electric revolution. Among these program m es three are particularly
worth m entioning: i.e. FAST, ESPRIT, RACE.
FA ST (Forecasting and Assessm ent in Science and T echnology) is the
com m unity’s program m e instituted in 1978 in order to develop a unified system
of forecasting and technology as well as to evaluate the effects o f research and
new technologies. T hree thematic fields: information technology, biotechnology,
transform ation o f jo b and em ploym ent were the subjects o f research within this
program m e (Leonard 1997, p. 173).
ESPRIT (European Strategic Programm e for Inform ation Technology) was
established to enhance the com petitiveness o f w estern-European com panies in
the field o f inform ation technologies. This program me entailed the following
domains: advanced m icro-electronics, program ming techniques, advanced data
processing, com puterisation o f offices and the techniques o f com puter-controlled
production.
RACE (R esearch and Developm ent in Advanced Com m unications
Technologies for Europe) is a programme designed to develop the technologies
necessary for building a telecom m unication network from optical fibres o f wide
range. Such a netw ork could be used to transm it sound, image and com puterised
inform ation.
First Fram ew ork Program o f scientific research which was introduced in
July 1983 had a decisive meaning for the research & developm ent o f the U nion’s
policy since it initiated cyclic general program mes which contained the projects
of all m em ber countries. These program mes set the scientific as well as the
technical aim s, research priorities and planned enterprises which are
indispensable in their realisation, together with the financial means and their
division into particular research tasks.
The next stage in the process o f encouraging a greater co-operation between
the U nion’s countries in the field of В + R was extending the Treaty (which
established the European Com munity via Uniform European A ct from July
1987) by adding a new part entitled “Research and technological developm ent”
(Title VI- art. 130f-130q). These new rules defined both: the U nion’s aim s in
this field and the ways o f putting them into practice. They also granted the
European Com m ission and the European U nion’s Council authority in the
sphere o f actions which would strengthen the scientific and technological basis
of the C om m unity’s industry and enhance its international com petitiveness
(K awecka-W yrzykowska, Synowiec 2001, p. 164).
European U nion’s reaction to the rapid developm ent o f m odern inform ation
techniques during the last decade of the 20lh century was the W hite Paper
entitled “Grow th, Com petitiveness, Em ployment. The Challenge and W ay
Forward into 21s1 C entury” which was published by the European Com m ission
in 1993. The book presented for the first time the European vision o f an
inform ation society with particular em phasis placed on the need to make the
European econom y m ore liberal.
M ore factual form ulation o f the U nion’s policy which was aim ed at building
an inform ation society was presented in M. B angem enn’s report “Europe and the
Global Inform ation Society” in 1994 (Doktorowicz (ed.) 2002, pp. 78-79). This
report needs to be treated as the Com m unity’s reaction to Am erican programs
for developm ent o f data inform ation services which com prise the “ National
Inform ation Infrastructure” strategy formulated by the president C linton’s
adm inistration. M. B angem enn’s report spelled out dangers to the European
U nion’s countries which arose from cutting the investm ent to build information
infrastructure. The m ost serious o f these dangers are as follows:
> an increase in the balance-of-paym ents deficit with principal trading
partners;
> the loss o f incom e and com petitiveness in com parison with the econom ies
m aking use o f the most modern inform ation-com m unications technologies;
> the transfer o f modern branches o f industry, knowledge, patents and
workplaces (i.e. the elem ents o f future nations’ w elfare) from W estern
Europe to the USA and Asia;
> establishing dom ination over the world markets by setting standards in
different countries and as a result depriving the European com panies of
leadership in the world.
The threat o f losing com petition on the global inform ation market with the
United States and the countries from the Pacific region forced the C om m unity to
speed up the process o f establishing an inform ation society. In 1995 the
European Com m ission set up two important advisory bodies: “Inform ation
society” forum and a panel o f experts whose aim was to analyse the social,
econom ic and cultural aspects o f an inform ation society. The actions o f these
team s are focused on issues such as: the influence o f inform ationcom m unications technologies on economy and em ploym ent, virtual societies,
a change in public sphere, education, media and steady developm ent. The
outcom es o f these team s’ actions include: the com pletion o f the 1997 Green
Paper dealing with telecom m unication, media and inform ation technologies’
convergence and the form ulation o f the 1999 Green Paper devoted to m aking the
E uropean sector more inform ation-oriented.
In D ecem ber 1999 an im portant event in the creation o f an inform ation
society was the fact that R. Prodi announced the “e-Europe - an Inform ation
Society for all” initiative. This initiative has become one o f the key elem ents of
the European Com m ission broader strategy, aim ed at m odernisation and
strengthening o f the European economy. The originators o f the “e-Europe”
initiative have accepted the assum ption that accelerating the actions for building
an inform ation society will positively influence the em ploym ent levels,
effectiveness and com petitiveness o f the European com panies. T he main aim s of
the analysed initiative are the follow ing (M arciński 2000, p. 47):
a) m aking the latest achievem ents in the field o f inform ation theory and
telecom m unication more widespread among European societies (in all spheres of
their activity);
b) m aking Europe more predisposed to put the achievem ents o f the tele- and
info-revolution to use as well as to finance and develop the scientific research
and innovations;
c) aim ing at m odernisation processes in econom y that include social criteria,
which constitutes an indispensable element in the creation o f the social capital
(trust, social balance) in the countries o f the European Union.
The fulfilm ent o f such am bitious and long-term aims is connected with
particular spheres o f activity on which efforts o f all m em ber countries should be
concentrated. The European Com m ission has pointed to ten such spheres which
are defined in the follow ing way (M arciński 2000, pp. 47-48):
• providing young people with an access to the Internet and m ultim edia;
adapting these sources to suit educational needs in accord with the standards
set by the contem porary civilisation challenges;
• accelerating the developm ent o f an electronic econom y, which is parallel to
the progress in im plem enting indispensable legal regulations, electronic
procedures in public orders and special support for small and m edium -sized
com panies;
• starting the fast Internet that would suit the needs o f researchers and students,
which in turn dem ands creating fast Internet links as well as rendering them
accessible;
• creating European infrastructure for a broader usage o f electronic cards in
m ultiple applications;
• increasing the supply o f risk capital for small and m edium -sized com panies in
the field o f high technologies;
• acknow ledging the needs o f the disabled in the process o f the developm ent of
an inform ation society;
• the developm ent o f an “on-line” healthcare, which dem ands m aking both the
net services and the electronic technologies m ore widespread in healthcare,
prom oting the most valuable experience o f operating the medical net, running
hospitals, laboratories and pharmacies as well as the standardisation in the
field o f medical inform ation theory;
• creating intelligent transport through a better utilisation o f modern technology
in this dom ain, providing optimal production planning and easy
com m unication during journey time;
• working out a system o f “on-line” governm ent which will enable the citizens
to gain access to public sector information.
During the Helsinki sum m it held in D ecem ber 1999 the “e-Europe”
initiative received approval from all members and was sent to the European
C om m ission and to a team o f experts in order to arrive at detailed solutions. The
outcom e o f the discussions which lasted for many m onths were num erous
remarks and suggestions concerning the specification o f key actions,
identification o f priorities, ways o f achieving goals and the sources o f financing
the “e-Europe” initiative.
3. L isbon - the next step forw ard
The “e-Europe” initiative has transform ed into a m ature concept, which can
be seen most clearly from the two documents: i.e. “e-Europe - an Information
Society for All Progress Report” and “The Lisbon European C ouncil - an
Agenda o f Econom ic and Social Renewal for Europe.” These docum ents were
presented by the European Commission as a basis for the discussion during
a special EU C ouncil’s session in Lisbon in M arch 2000 (Leonard 1997, p. 195).
The form er o f the two docum ents, i.e. the report about putting the
“e-Europe” initiative into practice, contained the conclusion o f the discussions
which were taking place in different European bodies and concerned the
developm ent o f an inform ation society in the European Union. The capital
m eaning o f the Internet for the developm ent o f modern and com petitive
econom y was given particular emphasis. According to the authors o f the report,
the creation o f a new model o f electronic econom y - “e-econom y” - is
indispensable if the com petitiveness o f E urope’s econom y on the world markets
is to be enhanced. It is the very introduction o f such a model that will result in a
dynam ic developm ent o f capital market. The num bers o f staff making effective
use o f tele-inform ation techniques will rise and the innovative effectiveness of
the com panies will improve.
In com parison with the original docum ent presenting the “e-Europe”
initiative Progress Report contains a new chapter devoted to the problem s of
“e-econom y” . In this chapter a com parative analysis o f the com petitiveness of
Europe and the U SA ’s econom ies has been carried out. This analysis indicates
that the main reason for the declining com petitiveness o f the EU is the delay in
em ploying tele-inform ation techniques, in particular the Internet. The major
boost in work efficiency o f the American econom y in 1990’s is attributed to
launching the “world wide web” with parallel use o f the Internet as a market
medium. In the USA 50 out o f 100 com panies which have the biggest capital are
com panies specialising in the branch o f inform ation technology and
telecom m unication whereas this percentage is much low er for the EU (it does
not exceed 35% - the m ajority o f which are telecom m unication operators). This
points to the fact that Am erican com panies enjoy superiority in the sector of
inform ation technologies (M arciński 2000, p. 48).
The USA is also superior to the EU countries also in the field o f
popularising the tele-inform ation technologies across the society and in the
economy. T he percentage o f citizens using the Internet in the USA is 2 -3 times
higher than in the EU society (with the exception o f Sweden, Finland and
Denmark). The USA has also reached a dom inant position in the electronic
business-to-business trade, which results in a decrease in the prices o f goods, in
a reduction o f the w arehouse stock o f goods and o f the transaction costs as well
as in the broadening o f the com pany’s market scope. Am erican com panies are
unquestionable leaders in working out their own Internet strategies, which
considerably increases their market value.
From the above-m entioned crude com parisons it follow s that the EU
countries are divided by a considerable technological distance from the USA as
far as the em ploym ent o f the achievem ents o f tele-inform ation revolution is
concerned. The need to live up to the dem ands o f m odem com petition (in which
the Am erican econom y is the leader) has contributed to assigning the “e-Europe”
initiative a prim ary role in the European strategy for building an econom y based
on knowledge. It is expected that im plem enting the idea o f an inform ation
society should result in an econom ic boom in Europe, in the expansion o f the
market as well as in an increase in the productive potential and social welfare.
The second docum ent referred to as the so-called Lisbon Agenda
(com patible with the requirem ents o f the “e-Europe” initiative) was considered
to be one o f the six action directions whose strategic aim is the transform ation of
the countries o f the “fifteen” into the most dynam ic and com petitive economic
alliance in the world by 2010. Short-term goals o f carrying out the project
focused on the creation o f an inform ation society were also stated. These goals
were sum m arised as follows: a) the form ulation o f a definite plan for
undertaking the “e-Europe” initiative, b) providing easier access to the Internet
through the reduction o f costs (by the end o f 2000), c) finalising legislative
measures in the field o f electronic trade (by the end o f 2000) and d) accepting
a new package o f regulatory directives on telecom m unication (by the end of
2001).
The participants o f a special summit held by the European Union Council in
Lisbon form ulated many postulates concerning the im plem entation o f an
inform ation society model. In the final docum ent the European Union Council
agreed on the follow ing settlem ents (M arciński 2000, p. 49).
First, the EU C ouncil recom m ended that the European Com m ission should
form ulate a detailed plan aimed at instituting the “e-E urope” initiative and
present it at the EU C ouncil session in June 2000 in Feira;
Second, the Council found it necessary for both the entrepreneurs and the
citizens in the EU countries to gain access to a m odem tele-inform ation
infrastructure. In addition, it is important for every citizen to have com puter
qualifications;
T hird, the C ouncil pointed out that inform ation technologies should be of
great benefit to local and regional developm ent, to the protection o f natural
environm ent and to the appreciation o f cultural differences;
Fourth, the C ouncil put the European Com mission under an obligation to
adopt as fast as possible (in 2000) full legislation indispensable for the
developm ent o f electronic trade, property rights and electronic financial services.
EC was also obliged to finish (by 2001) works on the new legal regulations in
the telecom m unication branch as well as to fully liberalise the
telecom m unication market;
F ifth, the council recom m ended that the European Com m ission and member
countries should step up effort to become more com petitive on local
telecom m unication markets still before the end o f 2000, which would result in
the reduction o f telephone connections and at the same time in the bigger
Internet accessibility to citizens.
At the Europe C ouncil’s session in Feira (Portugal) in June 2000 EU leaders
endorsed the plan for the institution of the “e-Europe” initiative which is an
important part o f the strategy worked out in Lisbon. M any decisions made by the
U nion’s institutions as well as by the EU mem ber countries contain postulates
which result from recom m endations concerning the im plem entation o f this plan.
These recom m endations have been reflected in the Sixth G eneral Research
Programm e which centres upon the realisation o f the “European Research
Space” and upon plans to utilise Structural Funds.
4. A ssessm ent o f the im plem entation o f the “e-E u rop e” initiative
T he assessm ent o f the implementation o f the U nion’s project to create an
inform ation society should include objective m acroeconom ic conditions which
have altered the successful course o f this process. In M arch 2000 when the EU
authorities accepted the Lisbon strategy, the European econom y was in good
condition, investors were optim istic, large profits (resulting from m aking the
latest inform ation and telecom m unication technologies more w idespread) were
expected and on the stock exchange the stock prices o f partnerships which
represented the so-called ‘new econom y’ reached record levels.
However, one year later the rate o f the economic grow th in the EU countries
slowed down; this rate indicator was in 2000 barely 0.9% , the unem ploym ent
rate was on the increase and the German econom y which was the m ajor pow er
fostering the developm ent o f the U nion’s econom y was on the brink o f
recession. Such deterioration in the favourable econom ic situation over the last
two years as well as the political divides within the EU connected with the war
in Iraq resulted in the delay in the im plementation o f the Lisbon strategy.
Despite num erous obstacles to the process o f im plem enting the creation o f an
inform ation society, European Union has considerable achievem ents in this
matter.
First, there has been a substantial im provem ent in the access to the Internet
among European households; the percentage o f an access to the Internet
increased from 18% o f households in 2000 to 43% at the beginning o f 2003; and
90% o f schools are connected to the Net (Leonard 1997, p. 195). W ide-band
access is enjoying greater and greater popularity.
Second, a new net and a new .eu address have been created. This move has
enabled to create the com m on European name for hom epage addresses and mail
boxes. The EU dom ain is a supplem ent to the existing network o f national
dom ains and also to the general type-dom ains such as .com or .org. Com panies
which are active across Europe can make use o f this dom ain. Beforehand the
W ebPages o f the EU institutions had the dom ain .int which cam e from Los
Angeles and is reserved for international bodies such as O N Z or NATO.
T hird, the conception o f the com m unity patent has been worked out, which
is o f significance for the liberalisation o f the technical thought market. In
accordance with this conception an inventor gains right to legal protection in all
EU m em ber-countries and the theft accusation put forw ard by the European
Patent O ffice is valid in any EU country.
In the past years many deficiencies in the process o f the realisation o f the
Lisbon strategy concerning the “e-Europe” project has been brought to light.
These deficiencies can be sum m arised as follows:
- an inadequate degree to which the Internet is used in trade; barely 1% of
trade transactions in the EU countries are carried out via. the Net.
- insufficient investm ent o f the European com panies in inform ation
technologies; for this reason the EU loses on average 0,3 - 0,5 percentage point
o f the annual G D P grow th in relation to the USA (Leonard 1997, p. 192);
- lack o f progress in bridging the technological gap between the European
Union and the USA; in Lisbon it was agreed that the expenditure o f the EU
countries for the research and developm ent activity would increase from current
1,9% G D P to 3% in 2010, which would enable to catch up with the USA.
The accession o f ten new countries presents a serious challenge to the
European U nion since these countries are characterised by a low er degree o f
econom ic innovation in com parison with the “ fifteen” as w ell as by an
insufficient degree o f putting the m odern inform ation technologies to use. T hat
is why after EU enlargem ent the technological gap betw een European
countries and the U SA which will have to be bridged will be greater than it is
now adays.
R eferences
B e l l D. (1973), The Com ing o f Post-Industrial Society, New York.
C a s t e l l s M. (1996), The Information Age: Economy, Society an d Culture, London.
D o k t o r o w i c z K. (red.) (2002), Społeczeństw o informacyjne. W yzwanie dla gospodarki,
polityki i kultury, Katowice.
D o r d i c k K . W a n g G. (1995), The Information Society. Л R etrospective View, London.
K a w e c k a - W y r z y k o w s k a K . , S y n o w i e c E. (2001), Unia Europejska. P rzygotow anie
Polski d o członkostw a. Warszawa.
L e o n a r d D. (1997), P rzew odnik p o Unii Europejskiej, Warszawa.
M a r c i ń s k i W. (2000), Inicjatyw a „e-Europe" ja k o narzędzie p rzyspieszan ia transform acji
w kierunku społeczeń stw a inform acyjnego, „W spólnoty Europejskie”, nr 4.
Witold Kasperkiewicz
KO N C EP C JA SPO ŁEC Z EŃ ST W A IN F O R M A C Y JN E G O
W UNII EUROPEJSKIEJ
Przedmiotem
artykułu jest analiza głównych
założeń
koncepcji
społeczeństwa
informacyjnego w Unii Europejskiej, a także ocena przebiegu jej realizacji. Uzupełnieniem tej
analizy jest charakterystyka Strategii Lizbońskiej, w ramach której zaplanowano działania
przyspieszające realizację budowy europejskiego społeczeństwa informacyjnego („e-Europe”).