19 October 2009
Collaboration is at the heart of the European project. Implementation of numerous European policies depends on cooperation between the Member States. Information technology plays a crucial role in enabling these policy goals to become a reality, and collaboration among the many stakeholders involved presents a need for technologies as well as processes that can work together.
Microsoft understands this essential requirement and is working with others to help Europe realize its policy objectives. This series of briefings will bring together European and national policy makers, industry representatives and other experts to discuss the progress and prospects for topics that relate to achievement of the Single Market.
We hope that you will be able to join us. Please contact interop@apcoworldwide.com with any questions and to register for any of the events.
9th September: eHealth
Without significant reforms, including better use of eHealth, health expenditure is expected to increase from 9% of GDP at present to around 16% by 2020 in response to an 'ageing' Europe. eHealth can link people, information and processes to improve both the patient and doctor experience, guarantee quicker response rates and reduce costs. The European Commission has therefore treated eHealth as one of its lead market initiatives. This workshop focuses on data protection policies and standards development to guarantee consumer protection, ease of use and access, and interoperable solutions.
8th October: Free Movement of Goods and Services 1: EU Services Directive
In 2006 the European Institutions adopted the Services Directive, intending to ensure that citizens and businesses across the EU27 can access markets and services in any Member State. One of the requirements of the Directive was for each Member State to provide a single point of contact to simplify interaction with the regulatory agencies of that country. To fulfil it, agencies using different technologies are finding interoperable solutions to ease communications and increase efficiency. This workshop analyses some experiences with different implementation scenarios.
12th November: Information Access and Productivity: Document Interoperability Workshop
For everyone to share, store, process and access digital documents, now and in the future, document file formats must be both open and interoperable. As part of the long-term Document Interoperability Initiative (which has included workshops in Brussels, London and Berlin in the last 12 months) this workshop focuses on the practical efforts needed to achieve interoperability between current open formats as they are being implemented in different software products. It will bring together industry partners and competitors as well as government experts and users to engage in the kind of collaborative engineering effort that is essential to continue improvements in this area.
17th November: Digital Inclusion: Achieving Interoperability in Accessible Technology
The information Technology (IT) industry and its assistive technology (AT) vendors today deliver many excellent computing solutions for use by people with a broad range of impairments and disabilities. But to achieve true digital inclusion in our society, the existing gaps in access to information must be bridged. For AT vendors, interoperability with mainstream products is critically important as it simplifies development and speeds time-to-market. For mainstream technology developers, AT/IT interoperability makes it easier to achieve accessibility compliance in their products. For consumers, AT/IT interoperability makes available a more complete selection of AT products relative to the release of mainstream products.
1st December: Future of the Internet and Economic Growth: Cloud Computing
The Internet infrastructure continues to be a vital resource for European businesses, small and large, and its evolution is a direct interest to policymakers interested in economic growth prospects. Emerging cloud computing technologies enhance the capabilities for European companies to scale up their businesses and improve their productivity. This workshop will examine interoperability and data portability issues relating to cloud computing.
13th January: Free Movement of Goods and Services 2: Electronic Identity
Information technology has created new ways to communicate and perform transactions across national borders, accelerating the evolution of the Single Market. At the same time, secure and trustworthy communications depend on the management of digital identities, which are dealt with differently across the Member States. This workshop will discuss the state of research efforts, national projects, and practical solutions to resolve the complex issues relating to electronic identity management across the Union.
14th April: Digital Media Interop: Buy Once, Play Anywhere
The media industry today is being completely transformed by new digital production technology and hybrid distribution models. Consumers now have many new ways to access video using the Internet – from Hulu and Fancast Xfinity on PCs, to Netflix Watch Instantly through Blu-Ray players, digital TVs, Xbox and other game consoles. Interoperability therefore plays an increasing role in this segment. This workshop will look at how we can address the complexity of creating a portable media format that supports everything from high definition to video more appropriate for a mobile device, dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of production and distribution.
7 June: Using Technology to Address Climate Change: Smart Grid Technology
A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using two-way digital technology to control appliances at consumers' homes to save energy, reduce cost and increase reliability and transparency. As such this innovative technology can play an important role in addressing the affects of climate change and reducing energy use. This workshop will look at how different providers are solving the issues that have arisen due to the sheer number of systems in play and discuss what regulators can do to encourage the use of similar solutions.
Events will take place at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre, Avenue des Nerviens 85, 1040 Brussels.