This document summarizes structural funds provided by the EU for regional ICT development from 1994 to the present and outlines plans for the 2014-2020 period. It notes that funding increased from over €5.5 billion for 2000-2006 to over €15.3 billion for 2007-2013. Analysis found that 2007-2013 regional ICT strategies were not always evidence-based and balanced, focusing more on existing strengths than weaknesses. The 2014-2020 period will see ICT and digital growth as a thematic objective and investments must include a strategic policy framework, needs assessment, and plans for next-generation infrastructure. Open data on funded projects will also now be required.

1.
Structural Funds for regional ICT:
Reality and future programming period
2014 -2020
“ONE” Project Conference, Brussels – April 24, 2014
Luigi Reggi
Department for Economic Development and Cohesion
@luigireggi

2. • Current financial support of Structural Funds to
ICT policies
• Regional strategies for ICT
• 2014-2020 new programming period
• Open Data on EU Regional Policy
2
Agenda

3. • 1994-1999 >
Regional Information Society Initiative (RISI)
• 2000-2006 > 5.5 billion € (Source:Vincente and Lopez, 2011)
• 2007-2013 > 15.3 billion € (Year 2010. Source: Reggi &
Scicchitano based on EU Commission data. 14.6 billion in 2013. Source: EU
Commission]
• 2014-2020 > Maybe higher?
3
Financial support of Cohesion Policy to
ICT policies

4. 4
What we buy with Structural Funds in
the current period 2007-13
Broadband
networks
15%
Information and
communication
technologies
(interoperability,
security, etc.)
27%
Services and
applications for
citizens
34%
Services and
applications for
SMEs
14%
Other measures
for improving
use of ICT by
SMEs
10%
Source: Reggi & Scicchitano, Are EU regional digital strategies evidence-based? An analysis of
the allocation of 2007–13 Structural Funds. Telecommunications Policy, 2014 (in press).

5. 5
…and where we buy it
0
400
800
1,200
1,600
2,000
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
SK
FI
GR
COOP
DK
SE
IT
PO
IR
FR
LV
ND
UK
CK
SL
LT
ES
PT
MA
HU
LU
KR
RM
EE
AT
DE
BG
BE
Milions
IS
-­‐
Absolute
values
IS
-­‐
%
of
Total
Structural
Funds
3,714
Allocation of 2007-13 Structural Funds to ICT development
(categories of expenditure 10-15)
Source: Reggi & Scicchitano, Are EU regional digital strategies evidence-based? An analysis of
the allocation of 2007–13 Structural Funds. Telecommunications Policy, 2014 (in press).

6. 6
Allocation of 2007-13
Structural Funds to
ICT development
(categories of expenditure
10-15)

7. 7
Regional Strategies for ICT development
Regional planning for ICT should be guided by effective
Regional “digital strategies”:
1. consistent with the EU policy framework (Digital
Agenda for Europe)
2. place-based, i.e. based on available evidence on the
characteristics of local contexts in terms of IS
development (Barca, 2009; Tsipouri, 2002)
⇒ based on available regional indicators!
3. comprehensive and balanced

8. Telecommunication infrastructures
vs.
eServices development
Supply vs. Demand of ICT
• improve Internet penetration
• use of ICT services and
applications in households
businesses and public
administrations
• digital inclusion
• citizen empowerment
• …
• eServices provision
• availability of equipment,
infrastructures and
applications
• ICT professionals/
practicioners
• …
A balanced approach

9. -3.0 -1.5 0 1.5
-1.5
0
1.5
3.0
broadband
Dimension 1 - 36.90 %
CLUSTER 2
CLUSTER 3
SME2
SME1
ICT
e-Services
CLUSTER 1
Dimension 2 - 27.21 %
Regional Strategies for ICT development:
2007-13 allocations (CONV objective)
Cluster 1 = eServices
provision (“back office”)
Cluster 2 = Public
eServices (“front office”)
Cluster 3 = ICT in SMEs +
Broadband
Source: Reggi & Scicchitano, Are EU regional digital strategies evidence-based? An analysis of
the allocation of 2007–13 Structural Funds. Telecommunications Policy, 2014 (in press).

10. 10
• Reggi & Schicchitano (2014) have compared the financial
allocations in CONV regions (made in 2006 for the 2007-13
period) with the available indicators at the regional level
(Eurostsat, 2006):
• Households with broadband access
• Households with access to the Internet
• Individuals who ordered goods or services over the
Internet for private use
• Individuals using the Internet for interaction with public
authorities
• Enterprises who have ERP software package to share
information on sales/purchases with other internal
functional areas
• Control variables:
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
• Number of local units
• Number of employees in local units
• Total intramural R&D expenditure in the higher education sector
• Rate of unemployment
2007-13 Regional ICT strategies
…maybe not so evidence-based & balanced? :(

11. 11
2007-13 Regional ICT strategies
…maybe not so evidence-based & balanced? :(
• EU Regions investing in public eServices
development (both “front” and “back office”,
clusters 1&2) => significantly higher levels of
uptake of public eServices (“Individuals using the Internet
for interaction with public authorities”)
• Regions investing in broadband + ICT in SMSs
(cluster 3) => significantly higher values of ICT
diffusion in SMEs (“Enterprises with ERP software”) and of
Broadband penetration (“Households with broadband
connection”)

12. 12
2007-13 Regional ICT strategies
…maybe not so evidence-based & balanced? :(
Regions seek to further improve their strengths
rather than focus on the weaknesses that emerge
from the regional ICT context
- WHY? -
- Inadequate analysis of local context
(qualitative vs. quantitative analysis, shortage of
regional data)
- Path dependence (e.g. multiannual plans on large
telecomm infrastructures)
- Automatic decommission rule of Structural
Funds “N+2”
(concentrating resources on on-going projects that
ensure immediate spending)
- …?

13. 13
ICT policy in 2014-2020 Programming Period

14. 14
1. Research & innovation
2. Information and communication technologies (ICT)
3. Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
(SMEs)
4. Shift towards a low-carbon economy
5. Climate change adaptation & risk prevention and
management
6. Environmental protection & resource efficiency
7. Sustainable transport & removing bottlenecks in key
network infrastructures
8. Employment & supporting labour mobility
9. Social inclusion & combating poverty
10. Education, skills & lifelong learning
11. Institutional capacity building & efficient public
administrations
Thematic objectives

15. 15
Research & innovation +
Digital Agenda
Energy efficiency &
renewable energy Competitiveness of SMEs
ERDF Thematic concentration
€100 billion
Less developed regionsMore developed regions
80%
20%
50%
Transition = 60%

16. 16
ERDF Investment priorities
Enhancing access to, and use and quality of, ICT by:
(a) extending broadband deployment and the roll-out of
high-speed networks and supporting the adoption of
emerging technologies and networks for the digital
economy;
(b) developing ICT products and services, e-commerce,
and enhancing demand for ICT;
(c) strengthening ICT applications for e-government, e-
learning, e-inclusion, e-culture and e-health;
Art. 5 Reg 1301/2013

17. 17
A strategic policy framework for digital growth, for
instance, within the national or regional smart specialisation
strategy is in place that contains:
• budgeting and prioritisation of actions through a SWOT
or similar analysis consistent with the Scoreboard of the Digital Agenda
for Europe;
• an analysis of balancing support for demand and
supply of ICT should have been conducted;
• indicators to measure progress of interventions in areas
such as digital literacy, e-inclusion, e-accessibility, and progress of e-
health within the limits of Article 168 TFEU which are aligned, where
appropriate, with existing relevant sectoral Union, national or regional
strategies;
• assessment of needs to reinforce ICT capacity-building.
Ex-ante conditionalities:
2.1 Strategic policy Framework for Digital growth

18. 18
Ex-ante conditionalities:
2.2 NGA Plan
A national Next-Generation Access (NGA) Plan is
in place that contains:
• a plan of infrastructure investments based on an
economic analysis taking account of existing
private and public infrastructures and planned
investments;
• sustainable investment models that enhance
competition and provide access to open, affordable,
quality and future-proof infrastructure and services;
• measures to stimulate private investment.

19. 19
Open data on EU Regional Policy
FORMAT: machine readable (XML, CSV…)
ACCESSIBILITY: data accessible from a national portal
LICENCE
CONTENT:
• beneficiary name (only of legal entities; no natural persons shall be named);
• operation name;
• operation summary;
• operation start date;
• operation end date (expected date for physical completion or full implementation
of the operation);
• total eligible expenditure allocated to the operation;
• Union co-financing rate, as per priority axis;
• operation postcode; or other appropriate location indicator;
• country;
• name of category of intervention for the operation in accordance with point (b) (vi)
of the first subparagraph of Article 96(2);
• date of last update of the list of operations.
• The headings of the data fields shall be also provided in at least one other official
language of the Union.
New rules within the Information & Publicity Chapter

20. 20
Open data on EU Regional Policy

21. 21
Level of compliance to 2014-2020 rules on data publication
of current Operational Programmes
(December 2013, preliminary data)
Source: Study on Open Data & Structural Funds (ODSF), OpenCoesione team, 2014.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
BG
PL
CZ
FI
LT
HU
GR
SK
DK
SE
NL
Media
UE
AT
UK
PT
FR
IE
EE
LV
MT
RO
SI
IT
LU
BE
DE
CY
ES
2011
2013
EU
AVERAGE
2013
Open data on EU Regional Policy

22. Open data on EU Regional Policy
in ITALY
www.opencoesione.it
www.ascuoladiopencoesione.it
www.monithon.it

23. 23
Thank you!
@luigireggi
Word cloud of
2014-2020 General
Regulation Proposal