Dimensions of scenario
Stable environment
Trust in government
Government focus on inclusive services
Short abstract
Government is all around. Citizens have a high confidence in government to effectively and efficiently settle issues for the common good. They are helped by a stable development of key environment variables.
The scenario characteristics in brief
| Contextual environment | Government | ICT |
|
Standardization EU-wide cooperation of governments Central EU agencies and register (eProcurement, eHealth) ICT as driver (Innovation through PPP) ePayment ubiquitous wireless technology |
Europeanization mobility Highly intelligent and personalized services Media richness Multi-channel access Inclusive society despite of aging society investments in education Secure public intranet Security standards (biometric identification, RFID chips) |
Prevention of social & digital divide Reduced physical front-office (high quality of eServices) Service-oriented architecture Internet communities (with high participation, eDemocracy) Political power at EU and local level increases, but decreases at national level Interconnectivity, interoperability, automated services Simplifying international trade, increase the size of the internal market Transparency (policy formulation) Content & knowledge management (data mining) Higher data and privacy protection Increase participation through online consultation and decision-making Automated translation technologies |
The scenario characteristics in detail
Contextual environment
Over the last years the European Union has expanded with several member states, mainly with the aim to increase the size of the internal market. The prosperity brought by the union is reflected in the high willingness of national governments to cooperate constructively with each other and the union to speed up new standardizations that make trade and entrepreneurship flow more freely around the continent. Furthermore, ICT is applied to simplify international trade. Cultures within the EU have integrated, not so much because of physical mobility, but merely as a result of people cooperating through the use of ICT and developing a shared understanding. Also, contact with cultures outside the EU is easier, because many people have experience in cross-cultural communication. Furthermore, the EU deploys automated translation technologies to communicate and interact with its citizens.
Although aging society becomes true and different income levels still exists neither social nor digital divide occurs. The penetration of ICT in every day life leads to an inclusive society and high investments in empowering people to use ICT pays off. The deployment of and penetration through ICT are only some of the reasons why advanced privacy enhanced systems and data protection means are widely positioned.
Governments and their stakeholders
A key success factor in the economic performance is ICT. Europe still has not managed to build a strong ICT sector on its own, but its innovative use of ICT for the provision of services and the increase of organizational productivity has given it a competitive edge. A famous example is the central EU eProcurement, a procedure which is almost completely automated and which is accessible to all governmental agencies within the union, up to the level of the smallest municipality. A second innovation, which has had big implications on daily life of citizens, is the replacement of physical money by eMoney. No coins and notes are being used anymore; the European Central Bank is only issuing virtual money. Micropayments, whether it is between customers and merchants or peers, are easily being executed using ubiquitous wireless technology. The pervasiveness of eServices is being stimulated by all levels of government. In most cases, physical contact with a governmental agency is not needed anymore, because all interaction can flow through online systems; the physical channel is only there for really exceptional cases.
Not only the glorious role of ICT is a success factor for government, it is also able to live up to the expectations of citizens because many social developments have run relatively stable. The world is not as polarized as it was during the turn of the century, and the social tensions between younger and older generations, as well as between low- and high-educated citizens did not grow, because of the economic boost that delivered money to ease the reforms in the social sector and to invest heavily in education. Some immigration has taken place, to fill up the empty holes in the labor force, but the integration of the new Europeans was not very problematic, because it mostly concerns knowledge workers that do not place a financial burden on society.
The role of national government is broad; it is present in all branches of society. However, its relative role has weakened. All generations feel a certain binding with the European Union, because of its clear advantages for the quality of life. On the other hand, elderly are generally more attached to geographic areas than younger people, and their high number made that the role of local government has increased. Municipalities now are primarily responsible for arranging healthcare, because they are much better able to suit the needs of their citizens, and draw up integrated policies, than the national government.
The deployment of ICT for public value creation leads to highly intelligent and personalized services, as well as to transparent decision-making processes. Furthermore, ICT promotes participation through online consultation and decision-making systems, as well as data collection and data mining systems deliver high quality and opinion poll data to politicians for supporting their decision-making.
Technology
ICT did not only bring advantages for the execution of governmental services, but it also was an answer to the diminishing participation of citizens. Innovative ways of consultation and decision-making, mainly in online communities of interest, have been being established. An exemplary case is the governance of the Internet, whose governing board partially consists of a large internet forum of internet users, directly being able to vote for or against proposed decisions. Consequently, decision-making has become very transparent, and people ? demanding as they are in all aspects of life ? also expect the government to be open when it comes to its considerations.
Specifically with regard to eServices, the European Union has taken up a leading role in developing new services, together with private partnerships. It also facilitated the market for eServices by establishing security standards and frequently keeps an eye on the health of the market for these services. Regulation of markets for ICT infrastructures and services is still based on sector-specific regulations, because its network characteristics did not allow general antitrust laws to take over the role. As a consequence of governmental attention and the establishment of a strong market, the quality of eServices is high. A main characteristic of modern services is that they are highly intelligent and personalized, so that many administrative tasks have become transparent for the average citizen. The key technology driver to achieve agility in integration and process innovation has been the service-oriented architecture, which already is being addressed as legacy architecture.
