Kroes discusses the benefits of going digital
The European Commission is using its convening power to attract finance and interest to the topics of smart cities and connecting rural and regional areas to fast broadband networks.
Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, said in a statement: “Europe needs to make massive investments to secure its digital future. Those investments are often linked in interesting ways and will need to be funded from a wide range of private and public sources.”
A meeting of the High Level Group of the European Innovation Partnership for Smart Cities and Communities is one example of the Commission’s ability to bring together cities and businesses. This now includes 360 innovative plans for smart city work and some 3,000 organisations who will work together on common challenges, including standards and interoperability of systems, with a view to reduce costs and raise funding more easily.
According to Kroes: “The benefits of going digital are clear: cities need to be more sustainable and productive, and communities that are not cities need to be connected to them to be sustainable in a social and economic sense.
“And as the current Commission prepares to handover to President Juncker’s new team, we also know that the European Structural Funding Programme for 2014-2020 is just beginning with some €800bn of investments to increase Europe’s competitiveness and quality of life, reduce inequalities between regions, and improve and develop our infrastructure. Digital investment must be at the core of that spending.
“Member states, the European Parliament and the Commission have already agreed that the priorities for this programme include ICT as a growth enabler and the reduction of energy use and of CO2 emissions (where ICT plays a significant and growing role, especially in a smart city context),” she concluded.
President-designate Juncker has outlined his ambitions for a further €300bn of public and private investment, with his proposed Jobs, Growth and Investment Package focusing on investment priorities in ICT, energy and transport infrastructure, the commissioner added.
