Building the Information Societyin the Balkans

Thessaloniki, 29 June 2001

George Metakides

Moving Forward

The e-Economy?

Volatile Financial Markets

Nasdaq

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

5500

1999 2000 2001A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M

Time to Double

• Chip complexity: 18 months

• Communications bandwidth: 9 months

• Disk storage capacity: 17 months

• Number of Internet users: 17 months

• Number of websites: 5 months

Time to Double

• Chip complexity: 18 months

• Communications bandwidth: 9 months

• Disk storage capacity: 17 months

• Number of Internet users: 17 months

• Number of websites: 5 months

Technology Advance

Different Starting Points

0 10 20 30 40

EU-mean

Albania

Bosnia

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

FYROM

Greece

Romania

Turkey

Yugoslavia

2000

1999

Internet Penetration%

Source: International Telecommunication Union, December 2000

0 20 40 60 80

EU-mean

Albania

Bosnia

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

FYROM

Greece

Romania

Turkey

Yugoslavia

2000

1999

Mobile Penetration%

Time

Performance

Technology

Applications &Services

The Galloping Technology

MainframeStandalone PC

Networked Devices

Ubiquitous Computing

What will be?

Satellite

Global

Suburban Urban

In- Building

Pico-Cell

Micro-Cell

Macro-Cell

Home-Cell

Seamless & Rich Connectivity

‘P-Com’User-Centered

Radical Simplicity

Initiatives andFunding Opportunities

CARDS ProgrammeCARDS ProgrammeINCO II

eSEEeSEE

National e-Initiatives

National e-Initiatives

• Commonalities - differences

• Link with eEurope+

• Timeframes

• Co-operation opportunities (variable geometry?)

Speakers

Agim Minxhozi Ministry of Education and Science, Albania

Sinisa Petrovic Communications Regulatory Agency of BiH, Bosnia

Nelly StoyanovaMinistry of Transport and Communications, Bulgaria

Mladen Mauher Government Office for ICT Development, Croatia

Marilena ParaskevaResearch Promotion Foundation, Cyprus

Antoni Pesev Ultra Computing, FYROM

Doina Banciu ICI, Romania

Cemil Arikan TBV, Turkey

Borjan PopovicFederal Bureau for Informatics, Yugoslavia

Tomorrow Sessions

• Understanding national contexts => convergence of regulatory systems and

policies

• Identifying concrete objectives, regional actions and actors

e-Governmente-Government e-Businesse-Business e-Educatione-Education

Project ProposalsProject Proposals