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Jens Sörvik
Alexander Kleibrink
Mapping EU investments in ICT -
description of an online tool and
initial observations
2016
EUR 27983 EN
This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house science
service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policy-making process. The scientific
output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European Commission. Neither the European
Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made
of this publication.
Contact information
Name: Jens Sörvik
Address: Edificio Expo. c/ Inca Garcilaso, 3. E-41092 Seville (Spain)
Email: jens.sorvik@ec.europa.eu; jrc-ipts-kfg-secretariat@ec.europa.eu
Tel.: +34 954488318; +34 954 48 8318
JRC Science Hub
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc
JRC102233
EUR 27983 EN
ISBN 978-92-79-59748-0
ISSN 1831-9424
doi:10.2791/963062
© European Union, 2016
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
All images © European Union 2016, except: Cover page, j-mel, 2016. Source: Fotolia.com
How to cite: Sörvik J. and Kleibrink A. (2016), Mapping EU investments in ICT - description of an online tool and
initial observations; Luxembourg (Luxembourg): Publications Office of the European Union, EUR 27983 EN, doi:
10.2791/963062
2
Table of contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................... 3
1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 4
2. Work process .................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Case studies .............................................................................................. 6
2.2 Aggregated ESIF data analysis ..................................................................... 8
2.3 Keyword search of Operational Programmes .................................................. 9
2.4 Quality review ......................................................................................... 10
3. The ICT Monitoring tool .................................................................................... 14
4. Analysing ICT investments in ESIF ..................................................................... 18
4.1 All ICT-related categories of intervention .................................................... 18
4.2 Broadband .............................................................................................. 20
4.3 e-Government ......................................................................................... 21
4.4 Digital content ......................................................................................... 22
4.5 e-Inclusion and digital skills ....................................................................... 23
4.6 e-Health and active ageing ........................................................................ 24
4.7 ICT SME support and e-Commerce ............................................................. 25
4.8 Smart grids and smart cities ...................................................................... 27
4.9 Advanced computing, components and digital science ................................... 28
4.10 Innovation vouchers ............................................................................... 30
5. Conclusions and recommendations for the future of the tool ................................. 33
5.1 Summary ................................................................................................ 33
5.2 Recommendations for future developments ................................................. 34
Appendix 1. Categories of investment .................................................................... 36
Appendix 2. Activity areas and keywords ................................................................ 37
Appendix 3, Interview respondents ........................................................................ 41
Appendix 4. Examples of interventions to be supported ............................................ 42
List of figures ...................................................................................................... 46
List of tables ....................................................................................................... 47
3
Abstract
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are major drivers of social and
economic change. They are also one of the key Thematic Objectives (TOs) in the
European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF). The aim of these funds is to
strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion within the European Union. ICTs not
only constitute an important sector themselves, but are also an important enabler of
other sectors. This is why, analysis of ESIF data on planned ICT investments show
EUR 12.2 billion encoded in the dedicated TO, but when ICT categories in other TOs are
included, this amount almost doubles, to EUR 21.4 billion.
Finding out more about the ICT investment plans of EU Member States and regions is
not always a straightforward process. The available data for ESIF are structured in TOs
and Categories of Intervention (CoIs); however, ICT investment often funds activities
beyond the dedicated TOs and CoIs. To obtain a better picture of planned ICT
investments, the European Commission Directorate General for Communications
Networks, Content & Technology (DG CONNECT) and the JRC Institute for Prospective
Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS) have developed an online tool to display planned ICT
investment data on a regional basis. This tool will help EC officials, national and regional
policymakers working on ICT issues, and beneficiaries of ESIF, to understand what kind
of ICT activities are being planned in Europe.
The ICT monitoring tool can be searched using a number of predefined filters, or
searches of TOs and CoIs can be customised. The tool also contains a database of
keywords built up by a semantic search for keywords in Operational Programmes (OPs).
This database allows the user to identify OPs that mention a number of ICT activities
more frequently than others, and to identify if a specific topic is mentioned in a region at
all. The data set included in the tool is based on an in-depth study of individual OPs, as
well as on aggregated data sets.
When studying the available data, we found that Thematic Objective 2 (TO2) does not
account for all planned ESIF investments in ICT. Using a broader set of CoIs, planned
spending on ICT almost doubled, from 3.8 % to around 6.6 % of the combined total of
European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF),
Cohesion Funds (CF) and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
However, it is likely that even this method fails to capture all planned investments, as
respondents to our study indicated that substantial investments in ICT will be allocated
to other categories, which would increase ESIF investments in ICT to EUR 35.5 billion.
However, this estimate is not currently included in the tool, as the methods of estimating
investments are not judged to be adequate. This range of different amounts of
investment reflects the dual nature of ICT as an important sector and activity in itself, as
well as an enabling technology in other public and private activities.
Taking the moderate estimates, the EU Member States that plan by far the largest
investments in ICT in absolute terms are Poland, Italy and Spain; the regions with the
largest planned investments are Campania (IT), Sicilia (IT), Andalucía (ES), Slaskie (PL)
and Puglia (IT). For example, the region of Campania plans to invest more ESIF in ICT
than the whole of Germany. The greatest investments will be in broadband and ICT
infrastructures (EUR 6.9 billion), e-Inclusion and digital skills (EUR 3.9 billion), e-
Government (EUR 3.4 billion), and smart cities and smart grids (EUR 3.1 billion).
To get a more in-depth view of future plans, we carried out a keyword search of ESIF
data. Among the most frequently mentioned keywords are ICT innovation, e-Inclusion,
broadband and digital content. This is partly because these keywords are broad and all-
encompassing, but the findings also reflect the ambition of many regions to invest in
ICT-based innovation activities. Quite substantial ICT investments will go to ICT-based
innovation and digital content, but this will be listed under CoIs related to support of
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and research and innovation, rather than
the core CoIs for planned ICT investments.
4
1. Introduction
The objective of the European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF) is to strengthen
economic, social and territorial cohesion within the European Union. ESIF is structured
through Partnership Agreements (PAs) between the European Commission (EC) and
individual Member States (MSs). One of the prioritised Thematic Objectives (TOs) in
ESIF for the upcoming programme period is Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT). There are great expectations that ICT will be an enabler of structural
change that will improve European societies and enhance their economic
competitiveness.
Finding out more about the ICT investment plans of EU regions is not always a
straightforward process. ICT is important as a sector in itself, is an integral part of
emerging related sectors (e.g. e-Health), and is also a means to enable other activities.
The activities carried out with financing from the ESIF often have multiple aims, so,
when the OPs are programmed, it is not easy to encode ICT-related activities within the
assigned categories. The financial data in OPs are structured into Categories of
Intervention (CoIs), TOs and priority areas; there is also descriptive text on the priority
areas, as well as text on what kind of actions are to be supported.
In the guidance material for regions and MSs to support their writing of OPs, it is
indicated that planned ICT activities shall be coded primarily under Thematic Objective 2
(TO2). Furthermore, there are a number of specific CoIs that are connected to these ICT
interventions. However, ICT is multi-dimensional and planned ICT investments are also
coded under other CoIs and TOs. In order to understand where regions and MSs plan to
invest in ICT, it is not sufficient to look only in TO2 – a broader search is required.
Previous tools intended to analyse ICT investments under the ESIF have been unable to
distinguish different ICT themes or the activities of different regions. Data have been
available only at national level and on higher aggregations of categories. To overcome
this and to create a tool that would help stakeholders interested in detailed information
about how EU regions and MSs plan to invest in different ICT themes, the European
Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology
(DG CONNECT) and the JRC Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS)
have developed a monitoring tool to analyse planned ICT investments under the ESIF.
This report outlines the work by JRC-IPTS in close cooperation with DG CONNECT that
has led to the development of an online tool that allows users to identify planned ICT
investments under the ESIF.
1
The results of the search are presented as a list and also
on a map showing the data on a regional level.
2
The tool allows the user to search three broad dimensions of ESIF data:
• amounts: planned investments expressed as TOs and CoIs;
• keywords: frequency of keywords in OPs;
• financial forms: amounts of planned investments through financial
instruments.
The user can search using predefined filters or can customise searches by selecting their
own categories.
The development of this tool has been carried out in a number of steps, including in-
depth studies of OPs, keyword searches, analysis of the aggregated statistical material
and interviews with DG REGIO and DG CONNECT staff, as well as with regional and
1
Investments from ERDF, CF, ESF, Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and EAFRD are analysed.
2
The data in the tool come from the SFC2014 database and the reports derived using the business objects/Infoview software. Data
from national, multi-regional and transnational cooperation programmes are broken down at regional level, by taking their population
size into account. Data depicted are thus estimations of potential investments and do not reflect final investment figures.
5
national penholders who have written the OPs. This has established which CoIs are
relevant for identifying planned ICT investments. The work has also been informative on
how to carry out a systematised keyword search of OPs. The data set generated gives a
more in-depth view of planned ICT investments in MSs and regions, and at the same
time has given an overview, at EU level, of these planned investments.
This report describes how the tool has been designed and implemented, and highlights
preliminary findings as well as suggesting potential future developments.
6
2. Work process
JRC-IPTS has explored four main approaches in order to better understand how regions
and MSs describe their planned ICT investments in ESIF OPs and to guide the
development of the monitoring tool in terms of mapping and visualisation.
The work began as a pilot with the aim of identifying how a monitoring tool could be
designed. The initial step involved five case studies, in which the researchers explored
the structure of OPs to identify which parts and, in particular, which CoIs are relevant to
understand planned ICT investments. The objective was also to explore whether it would
be possible to use keyword searches to better quantify financial allocations of different
ICT areas. While this process was being initiated, there was also a request to develop a
visualisation tool to illustrate how this could be done in practice.
In subsequent steps the tool was gradually evolved through interactions with users, and
through the different analytical steps described below. This informed the decision
regarding which data to include, how to organise the data and how to make the data
available to the users through the online tool. The process has been evolutionary, and
there has been overlap in the development steps, but the process has led to the
development of an online tool, with additions of data sets and functionalities through
interaction with potential users.
The main steps of the process have been:
1. case studies of five national and regional OPs with initial keyword searches of
several OPs;
2. analyses of the aggregated ESIF data extracted from the Infoview/SFC2014
database;
3
3. keyword searches of actions to be supported through the ESIF;
4. a quality review of the data.
2.1 Case studies
The work process began with a detailed analysis of the structure of five OPs. The case
study OPs were selected on the basis that they were representative of different potential
OP structures in EU MSs, as well as having planned substantial ESIF investments. The
OPs were a mix of national and regional OPs (the Andalusian Growth & Jobs OP, the
Slovakian Integrated Infrastructure OP, the Slovakian Research and Innovation OP, the
Digital Poland OP and the Croatian Competitiveness and Cohesion OP).
The main aim was to explore how ESIF data can be used to monitor planned ICT
investments, using both structured financial data along the standardised CoIs and other
information categories. A secondary aim was to explore opportunities to use keywords in
a more specific analysis of how public authorities intend to invest in ICT and, possibly, to
estimate the size of planned financial investments in different areas of activity, by
connecting financial posts and keywords in the text.
There was also a strong interest in using the region as the unit of analysis in order to
aggregate data from different types of programme and gather a better understanding of
where in Europe different kinds of activities will take place and where the greatest
investments will take place. It became part of the assignment to explore how data from
non-regional levels could be attributed to regions.
Through this analysis, JRC-IPTS could identify a number of options for developing a
monitoring tool and for visualising relevant investment data.
3
The SFC platform from which the data were retrieved is a management tool for ESIF managing authorities (MAs) at national and
regional level and the four ESIF managing DGs (REGIO, EMPL, AGRI, MARE). The data are entered by MAs, verified by DGs and, if needed,
corrected by the MA. Infoview is a tool to visualise the data for ERDF, ESF, CF and YEI investments, as expressed in their PAs and OPs.
7
The case studies helped in identifying which data categories should be included in the
monitoring tool. There is substantial investment in TO2, both in ICT as a horizontal
enabler and in vertical ICT specialisations and the case studies also confirmed that large
proportions of ICT investments are frequently encoded in other TOs. The major areas of
investment related to ICT identified in the OPs included broadband, business/innovation
support, e-Infrastructure, e-Government, open data, digital trust, digital skills, e-
Inclusion, e-Education and e-Health.
The enabling aspect was seen in the prevalence of planned ICT investments in other
domains, such as research and innovation (R&I) (TO1), small and medium-sized
enterprise (SME) support (TO3) and education (TO10). There were also more direct
sectorial investments such as investments in ICT-driven multimodal transport systems
and smart grids in TO4 and TO7. Broadly outlined ICT-relevant investments in the other
TOs referred to activities such as:
TO1: key enabling technologies (KETs), e-Infrastructures, horizontal support of
technology transfer and ICT, research information system/access to databases;
as well as different forms of ICT-based smart specialisations (e.g. ICT and
tourism);
TO3: SME and business support to increase digital businesses, ICT uptake by
SMEs and e-Business;
TO4: smart grids/metering/energy;
TO7: transport, intelligent and inter-modal transport systems, smart cities/smart
mobility;
TO10: e-Schools.
The study also showed that in order to track the planned investments in ICT through the
ESIF, it is necessary to look at both TOs and different CoIs. A review of the documents
enabled the list of ICT-related CoIs to be broken down into core and non-core CoIs, all of
which were ICT relevant (see Appendix 1 for final list).
These categories have been followed up in the studies exploring the potential uses of the
Infoview/SFC2014 database (see next section). The initial list of non-core CoIs was
longer than the final one, whereas the number of core CoIs remained constant. From
reviewing the OPs, it was apparent that there will be many investments in activities that
relate to ICT but which cannot easily be tracked and quantified outside the core
categories.
With regard to the possibilities of a keyword search, it was found not to be possible to
connect specific keywords to financial amounts. A keyword search can indicate areas
where there will be investment, but cannot connect this directly to any financial
amounts. The OPs include different chapters describing the planned activities in different
investment priority areas; these also contain a section describing which actions to be
supported along with tables detailing the amounts to be invested in different CoIs.
However, these sections mention many actions (in some cases up to 40 different
objectives), as well as many different CoIs, and there are no direct links between actions
and amounts. This makes it impossible to connect keywords to specific financial data.
The analysis also revealed that for a keyword search to identify activities that regions
and MSs plan to invest in, the most relevant area for text searches is ‘Actions to be
supported’. Regions and MSs list under this heading the activities they plan to invest in
using the ESIF. Furthermore, these data can be extracted from SFC2014 in a structured
way, allowing for a tool to search all OPs in a similar fashion. Moreover, to identify
important investment areas, it will be important to carry out cross-searches, for example
to look for ICT and SMEs, as a search for SMEs alone is not relevant. However, when
cross-searching words, it is appropriate to search in a sentence and/or paragraph; a
cross-search in an entire page is too crude.
Another finding was that a keyword search has to be done in the original language, since
most OPs are in original languages and machine translations are not sufficiently
8
accurate. At the same time, many countries use the English terms (e.g. smart city), so
OPs should be searched in both the original language and English.
The case studies also allowed us to identify possible keywords for an automated keyword
search. They helped in developing keyword lists for Polish, Spanish and Slovak, and
provided additional words for the English list that we used in the first steps of the
keyword search process.
2.2 Aggregated ESIF data analysis
In the next step, JRC-IPTS analysed data from the Infoview/SFC2014 database. This
database provides information on how regions and MSs plan to invest ESIF; of main
interest were the relevant TOs and CoIs.
The analysis began by looking at the list of CoIs that was generated in the case studies.
These categories were explored by looking at the amount of investment going into them,
and determining how much was coded in the CoI under TO2, or under other TOs. From
this process a list of core CoIs emerged with typical ICT-related objectives, and also a
list of non-core CoIs that were still relevant for ICT. These lists also formed a basis for
discussion with staff from DG REGIO
4
and DG CONNECT
5
regarding which CoIs they use
in analysing planned ICT investments.
It was decided to work with these core and non-core, but still relevant, CoIs, as these
were deemed relevant for DG CONNECT’s monitoring purposes. The core categories were
those clearly dedicated to ICT and the non-core subset was chosen because they
included planned investments related to ICT that fell under TO2 (ICT). We also discussed
whether or not to include additional CoIs that had been identified in the case studies,
and if CoIs related to TO1 and TO3 should be included. These last two TOs are quite
strongly related to Smart Specialisation and in reviewing Smart Specialisation Strategies
(RIS3), the S3 Platform had identified that around 10 % of the areas selected for
investments were related to ICT (Sörvik and Kleibrink, 2015).
6
However, it was deemed
too uncertain and speculative to attempt this kind of estimation and include parts of CoIs
belonging to these TOs. For the entire list of core and non-core CoIs, see Appendix 1.
Later in the process, we created a measure that would be the best estimate of overall
planned ICT investments in ESIF. This grouping is called ‘All ICT-related Categories of
Intervention’ and includes the core CoIs in all TOs and non-core CoIs under TO2, as well
as data on the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD).
At the same time, DG CONNECT staff requested that a number of CoIs be considered for
inclusion in the tool; these were CoIs covering areas that are relevant for ICT-related
policy processes and could include ICT components, such as voucher programmes, and
skills, training and learning, even though a search in the Infoview database and the case
studies do not indicate a strong connection to TO2. These categories have been included
in the online tool’s data set, but are not included in the core or non-core CoIs.
The data for the tool are mainly drawn from the European Regional Development Funds
(ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development (EAFRD), some Cohesion Funds (CF) and the Youth Employment Initiative
(YEI). The main sources are ERDF, EAFRD and ESF, then there are some CF funds
EUR 893 million in 015 (smart grids) and 044 (smart cities) and EUR 37.2 million from
YEI included in ESF secondary theme O5 ‘Enhancing the accessibility, use and quality of
4
The unit responsible for Smart Specialisation.
5
Unit B5, which serves as a competence centre for regional issues and regional funds within DG CONNECT.
6
Sörvik, J. and Kleibrink, A. (2015) Mapping Innovation Priorities and Specialisation Patterns in Europe, S3 Working Paper Series No
08/2015, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies. available online at
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/mapping-innovation-priorities-and-specialisation-
patterns-europe
9
information. The data included from the EAFRD come from Focus Area 6C, ‘Enhancing
the accessibility, use and quality of ICT in rural areas’. The vast majority of the ICT
related investments (98 %) is planned for MO7 ‘Basic services and village renewal in
rural areas’, which is the category for broadband investments.
Furthermore, it has been an important EU policy objective to make regions try to use the
funds in a more revolving manner. Therefore, it is also of great interest to DG CONNECT
to know the financial forms of different investments in the OPs and, in particular, to what
extent regions and MSs are using financial instruments.
2.3 Keyword search of Operational Programmes
One of the original ideas for this project was to try to find ways to connect keywords to
planned investments in ICT. It originated from an effort by DG CONNECT, which
developed a Microsoft Word macro to search OPs for specific keywords.
In an initial effort to test the idea of doing a keyword search, JRC-IPTS staff used a
search word list that had been generated by a number of DG CONNECT units and
supplemented it with keywords identified in the case studies of the five OPs. The JRC-
IPTS ran multiple automated searches in 10 OPs from Greece, Poland and Spain to
explore which ICT activities are indicated in OPs beyond those which are encoded in the
normal CoIs. This process found evidence that supported the findings in the case studies
and the search of the Infoview/SFC2014 data. Most countries plan to invest in ICT both
as a horizontal enabler and as a sectoral specialisation, and the encoding of ICT activities
goes beyond TO2.
The tests also supported the case study findings that it would not be possible to connect
keywords with financial allocations for specific activities, and showed that the frequency
of keywords would not give any indication of the size of investment. A keyword search
could provide complementary information on the ICT areas that regions and MSs plan to
invest in. It could also indicate in which regions a topic is considered relatively more
important by identifying the frequency of keywords mentions in different OPs, both
internally and in comparison with other regions and MSs. Such a search could give
further details on ICT topics, as well as an overview of activity levels on an EU scale.
When exploring the keyword search, both in the case studies and in the first automated
searches, groupings of keywords into activity areas emerged. These activity areas reflect
both the different themes that DG CONNECT units are covering and also different kinds
of ICT issues. This list, together with the tool, was presented at a workshop involving
representatives from DG CONNECT. The list was updated at this meeting and through
subsequent email correspondence. DG CONNECT units were asked to provide their 10
most important keywords and synonyms to search for in OPs, which should not be too
general (as this would lead to all OPs being identified) or too specific (as no OPs would
be identified). The reason for limiting the number of keywords to approximately 10 per
activity area was to make the list manageable. The keyword list has since been sent for
revision to DG CONNECT staff, together with a survey on the functioning of the tool.
The list of activity areas is (see full list of activity areas and keywords in Appendix 2):
digital single market/digital agenda;
advanced computing;
broadband and digital networks;
components;
digital content, creative industries and digitisation of culture;
digital science;
e-Government;
e-Health;
e-Inclusion;
ICT innovation;
smart cities and smart grids;
10
trust, security and authentication.
The keywords are grouped into a number of activity areas to make them more
manageable. The keywords and activity areas are used to operate the tool and to search
the database of keywords. However, in addition to the keywords, a broader set of search
words was used to search the OPs and to generate the keyword database. For this
purpose, a number of synonyms and different kinds of inflections of words were used to
generate a hit for each keyword. We also carried out a cross-word search, in which a list
of search words related to the keywords was cross-searched to determine whether they
appear in the same sentence as different ICT terms.
The activity areas and keywords are all in English and are presented only in English in
the tool. However, the search words were translated into the original languages and then
used to search the section on actions to be supported in the OPs. All English OPs were
searched using English terms whereas the other languages were searched using the
search terms both in English and in the original language.
Furthermore, the translation of the keywords was first carried out using a machine
translation tool and the translated terms were later verified by staff at JRC-IPTS with
specific language skills. However, we suspected that, depending on grammatical
complexity, the hit rate for keywords in some languages was lower than it should be. For
this reason, the updated and corroborated keyword list was sent for professional
translation, which improved the search results substantially, in particular for Eastern
European languages.
2.4 Quality review
In order to further verify the use of codes and their relevance to planned ICT
investments, it was decided to carry out a number of interviews with penholders (the
people in regions and MSs who write the OPs) and DG REGIO desk officers interacting
with regions on how to encode the programmes. Respondents were chosen to be
representative of regions/MSs that showed the following characteristics:
a broad range of institutional set-ups;
planning to use many of the relevant CoIs;
planning to invest substantially in ICT;
investing in some of the related CoIs, in particular in 004, 015, 044 (as these are
not usually included in the two standard ICT groupings of codes);
investing in ICT core CoIs in TOs apart from TO2;
planning to invest in ICT within their TO1 Smart Specialisations.
The biggest planned investors in ICT in the main CoI are the Czech Republic, Spain,
France, Hungary, Italy and Poland. Within these countries, Andalucía (ES), Puglia (IT)
and Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur (FR) were of particular interest as they plan to invest in
relevant CoIs and also plan to invest in ICT under their Smart Specialisation strategy.
This was also the case in Poland, which showed a particular coding pattern. This was the
only country to code ICT investments under CoI 101. Furthermore, Croatia planned to
invest in a broad range of ICT-related codes, which made it interesting, and this was the
only country to plan investments in ICT and code it under CoI 121. Two French regions,
Île de France and Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, were also the only regions to include a
number of CoIs related to R&I (normally TO1 or TO3) under TO2.
This review led to a list of regions and MSs where representatives have been
interviewed:
7
Croatia: national level;
7
For the name of the respondents, see Appendix 3.
11
Czech Republic: national level and DG REGIO;
France: Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur
Hungary: national level;
Italy: DG REGIO, and the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Puglia;
Poland: national level and the region of Lodz;
Spain: Andalucía.
The answers we got from the respondents indicated that regions and MSs mainly use
what we had identified as core CoIs to describe ICT investments, but this happens
beyond TO2. ICT investments are challenging to classify as they are an end in
themselves, but also very often a means to achieve something else. The responses
showed that there will be ICT investments in almost all TOs. To capture ICT investments,
it is necessary to look beyond the TOs, as the core CoIs are more relevant. Appendix 4
lists examples of areas related to ICT that regions and MSs plan to invest in under the
different CoIs.
The standard description of the CoIs includes two sections with headings indicating ICT
and which the respondents generally use for ICT; these are in the core groups of CoIs
045–048 (broadband-related) and CoIs 078–082 (e-Government, ICT uptake, content,
SME support, services and applications). Respondents were also of the opinion that it
makes sense to include CoI 004 (SME and large company collaboration in ICT), CoI 015
(smart grids), CoI 044 (smart cities) and CoI 05 ESF (for digital skills) in the core CoIs
as most respondents view these as ICT-related categories.
Outside these ICT categories there will also be other types of investments in ICT as a
direct aim and as enablers, though these are not always classified under TO2.
All regions will invest in R&I in ICT-related activities under TO1 and TO3 and in a
number of CoIs
8
beyond the core CoIs of 004 and 082. ICT-related support to
SMEs seems to be more strongly connected to the categories of 082 and 004.
However, some regions will also choose other CoIs.
9
However, this is less
common, and these CoIs also include other investments that are not ICT related.
Similarly, there will be investments in e-Government beyond 078 in 092 and 093.
Support to digital content extends beyond 079, for example to 074, 075, 076,
and 077. Puglia here indicates that these investments for culture and tourism are
strongly related to ICT and up to 25–30 % can be ICT related.
There will be investments in smart grids and smart cities in the CoIs of 087 and
088, which go beyond 015 and 044.
There are quite different approaches to e-Health, with many of the responding
regions coding this not only in 081, which is for e-Health, but also in 053, 107,
112, which relate to health infrastructure, healthy and active ageing and
enhancing access to care services. Some regions will code e-Health only in 081
but Poland, nationally, codes it under 078, because it sees e-Health as a public
service and as part of its wider e-Government programme. Hungary will code it
all under 112. At the same time, Hungary estimates that, of all investments
under 112, approximately 25 % will be ICT related. Puglia will invest in 053, 081
and 112. As Puglia has a strong focus on ICT, a rough indication is that 60 % of
all the health-related investments is connected to ICT in all CoIs. Provence Alpes
Côte d'Azur is planning for an incubator with a health component that is partially
encoded under 053.
Various methods are used to code digital skills, mainly the ESF secondary theme
05 and CoI 080 (e-Inclusion), but also the categories 115, 116, 117 and 118 and
to some extent categories 050, 051, 051 and 109. For example, in Puglia
investment in digital skills will be coded in 051, 052, 109, 115 and 116. There are
8
Notably 002, 049, 056, 057, 058, 059, 060, 061, 062, 064, 066 and 067.
9
Notably:001, 056, 062, 063, 064, 066, 067, 072, 073, 074, 075 and 104.
12
also Polish investments within CoI 101. Poland, both in the national digital
programme and in regions, will invest under TO2 in CoI 101, ‘Cross-financing for
training on the operation and use of communication and information systems
related to investments in e-Government and open government’. This concerns
projects aimed at building e-Administration.
A further message was that regions and DG REGIO desks are working to secure the
quality of the programming so that it is consistent with correct coding practices. For
example, in the Czech Republic an expert group suggests in which categories projects
should be coded, and also reviews the final programming. The DG REGIO desks also
mention that they work actively to correct OPs so that activities are coded in the correct
way. This is confirmed by some respondents, who reported that they have changed their
coding after DG REGIO suggestions.
However, coding is difficult and may be particularly difficult for ICT, as there is the
double dimension of this being both an aim and an enabler. How can a project that has
many aims be fitted into a single category? Furthermore, the fit between existing
categories and the projects that are being planned is not always perfect. For example,
ICT-related activities such as e-Health and e-Government are being encoded in
categories that were never intended for ICT activities. Some regions also acknowledge
that in order to have flexibility over the programming period add more CoIs than may be
needed, likewise some code investments with parts both in Multi-TO and TO2 to have
flexibility.
To determine if we could find a way to quantify ICT investment classified in other CoIs,
we asked respondents to estimate the amounts going to ICT. Most respondents did not
want to give an estimate. However, Hungary indicated that around 20 % of investments
in R&I and SME support will go to ICT, based on the investments from previous
programming periods. In Puglia up to 60 % of Smart Specialisation or TO1 investments
are estimated to be ICT related, as is 25 % of SME support (TO3), as there is a strong
ICT focus in the region. Two regions estimated that, based on current plans and future
activity, around 1–3 % of all ERDF would go to ICT. As mentioned before, we had also
observed in another study of Smart Specialisation priorities that around 10 % were ICT
related.
Taking this into account, our suggestion was to include the strict core CoIs and the
relevant non-core CoIs, in particular those that are already being coded under TO2 in
the tool. We considered adding other categories to the tool and using a standard
attribution of around 10–15 % of the amounts. However, this is probably not to be
recommended, as these estimates are too vague. However, in Table 1, we use this
approach to give a narrow estimate, a best estimate and a broader estimate.
In the tool we have also created a predefined filter, to gather the amounts of investment
that we found most strongly connected to ICT; this consists of the core ICT CoIs, the
non-core CoIs under TO2 and the EAFRD and ESF ICT investments. This is what can be
more securely attributed to ICT, but one should bear in mind that ICT-related
investments are higher, in particular for TO1, R&I, and probably also for health-related
investments. However, it is not possible to estimate these other numbers in an accurate
way, so we will abstain from including this form of estimate in the tool for the time
being.
13
Table 1. Summarising overview of codes used for different ICT activity areas
Activity area
Narrow definition
Best estimate
Broad estimate
CoIs under
TO2
Funding
(million
EUR)
Main CoIs under all
TO* or non-core
under TO2 only**
Funding
(million
EUR)
Including 10 % of
these additional
CoIs
Funding
(million
EUR)
Broadband
and ICT
infrastructure
045, 046, 047,
048, EAFRD
5 956
045,* 046,* 047,*
048*, EAFRD
6 877
-
6 877
e-Government
078
2 811
078*
3 428
092, 093
3 565
Digital content
079
745
079*
971
074, 075, 076, 077
1 140
e-Inclusion
and digital
skills
080, 101, 096,
121
1 134
080,* 05* (ESF),
096,** 101,** 121**
3 853
050, 051, 052, 109,
115, 116, 117 and
118
8 457
e-Health and
active ageing
081
772
081*
1 006
053, 107, 112
1 885
ICT SME
support and e-
Commerce
004, 056, 062,
063, 064, 065,
066, 071, 082
802
004,* 082,* 056,**
062,** 063,** 064,**
065,** 066,** 071**
2 112
001, 056, 062, 063,
064, 066, 067, 071,
072, 073, 074, 075,
104
7 424
Smart grids
and smart
cities
015, 044
0
015,* 044*
3 138
087, 088
3 882
Advanced
computing,
components,
digital science
049, 059, 061
4
049,** 059,** 061**
4
002, 049, 057, 058,
059, 060, 061
2 070
Total
12 225
21 389
35 300
14
3. The ICT Monitoring tool
The outcome of this process is the ICT Monitoring tool that allows the user to search
ESIF data (ERDF, CF, ESF, YEI and EAFRD) by MS (‘country’), region, CoI, TO, activity
area (keywords) and financial form and to view the search results in the form of a map
or as a list of data.
10
The development of the tool is based on the background studies described in Chapter 2
and also through continuous interaction with users from DG CONNECT, beginning with a
simpler tool that has evolved over time to a full-scale one.
Users can carry out three main types of searches:
searches for amounts: to identify planned investments through ESIF, based on
TOs and CoIs;
keywords searches: to determine the frequency of keywords in OPs’ actions to be
supported;
searches for financial forms: to identify amounts of planned investments through
financial instruments.
In each dimension, the users can make simple searches selecting ‘country’, ‘region’, or
one or more of the predefined filters. There is also the option for users to create more
advanced, tailor-made, searches. The predefined filters for each search form are
described below.
The search result is presented on a map and in tables. The parameters of each search
are depicted on the right-hand side of the tool.
Figure 1. ICT monitoring tool front page.
10
The tool can be accessed through this link: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ict-monitoring
15
Below the map a summary table presents ranked results depending on the chosen
dimension. The data are grouped according to country, region, OP, TO and CoI, or
activity area and keywords. Another table shows all single data posts but not grouped.
The OPs are presented with active links (only ERDF and ESF OPs and not the EAFRD
ones). The active links take the user to a dedicated webpage on the Inforegio site or the
ESF site, where more information on the OP can be found, in most cases accompanied
by links to the entire OP text.
The search results can be shared with other users by clicking the ‘share’ button, which
generates an email with a web link to the current search result. The user can also export
the search result as a Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word or PDF file.
Figure 2. ESIF ICT tool search results.
The predefined filters differ for each of the three dimensions described above. Users can
also select advanced filters in each dimension to carry out a more refined search.
Amounts
When searching in amounts, the user can select countries, regions and one or many of
the predefined filters in the simple search. The predefined filters for amounts include the
following CoIs:
all ICT-related CoIs (displays data from TO2 and CoI 004, 015, 044–048, 078–
082 in the other TOs, as well as 05 from ESF and EAFRD);
ERDF broadband and digital networks (CoIs 045–048);
ERDF government (CoI 078);
ERDF digital content (CoI 079);
ERDF e-Inclusion (CoI 080);
ERDF e-Health and active and healthy ageing (CoI 081);
ERDF ICT SME support and e-Commerce (CoIs 004 and 082);
ERDF smart grids (CoI 015);
ERDF smart cities (CoI 044);
ERDF non-core CoIs in TO2 (including CoIs which are in TO2, but not one of the
core CoIs: 049, 056, 059, 061, 062, 063, 064, 065, 066, 071, 096, 101, 121);
EAFRD ICT in rural funds (displays planned investments in ICT under the EAFRD
FA 6C);
ESF digital skills (ESF secondary theme 05);
16
ERDF R&I innovation processes in SMEs/vouchers (CoI 064);
ERDF skills and lifelong learning (CoIs 115–118).
In the advanced search under ‘amounts’, the user can choose which TOs and CoIs to
include in the search. All TOs and core and non-core CoIs for ICT are included in the
data set. CoIs included in the data set are described below.
Keywords
When searching in keywords, the user can select in the simple search countries, regions
and one or many of the predefined filters. The predefined filters consist of activity areas,
which are groupings of keywords in common themes. The activity areas are:
digital single market/digital agenda;
advanced computing;
broadband and digital networks;
components;
digital content, creative industries and digitisation of culture;
digital science;
e-Government;
e-Health;
e-Inclusion;
ICT innovation;
smart cities and smart grids;
trust, security and authentication.
In the advanced search under keywords, the user can choose to select one or many
keywords from a list and whether to do an additive search, using these words, or a
cross-search, looking for the combination of keywords, by choosing ‘all selected
keywords’ in the section ‘OPs should match’.
The user can also choose to use the free text field, where any keyword can be specified
and the tool will suggest which keyword the user might be looking for based on the
search words that have been used to build up the keyword database.
The keywords and activity areas indicate which countries and regions aim to invest in
different themes, as a result of these keywords being mentioned in OPs that cover the
territory. However, there is no connection to any amount of investment, TOs or CoIs.
For the entire list of activity areas and keywords, see Appendix 2.
Financial forms
When using the financial forms search, the user can search countries, regions and
predefined filters in the simple form. The predefined filters include:
all forms of finance in ICT (categories of forms of finance 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06
and 07 in TO2);
financial instruments in ICT (categories of forms of finance 03, 04, 05 and 06 in
TO2);
grants and prizes (categories of forms of finance 01, 02 and 07 in TO2).
The financial forms data are applicable only to ERDF, ESF, YEI and CF OPs; EAFRD is not
included. In the advanced search for financial forms, the user can create a specific
search based on countries, regions, TOs and different forms of finance, which include:
01: non-repayable grant;
02: repayable grant;
03: support through financial instruments: venture and equity capital or
equivalent;
04: support through financial instruments: loan or equivalent;
05: support through financial instruments: guarantee or equivalent;
17
06; support through financial instruments: interest rate subsidy, guarantee fee
subsidy, technical support or equivalent;
07; prize.
All the data in the tool have been regionalised. The amounts in the national OPs and
interregional OPs have been divided for the regions that are covered by the
programmes. In the case of transnational collaboration programmes, amounts have
been broken down according to the population size of participating regions; amounts
pertaining to non-EU regions are not included. The following programmes have not been
included: 2014TC16RFIR002, 2014TC16RFTN010, 2014TC16RFTN008,
2014TC16RFTN009 and 2014TC16RFCB043.
In the case of keywords, the presence of a keyword in a multi-regional programme
assigns this keyword to each region covered by the programme. For example, if a
national programme mentions e-Health five times, each region will have an indication of
the keyword mentioned five times. However, these numbers are not aggregated for MS
accounting.
For most MSs, the geographical level used is NUTS2, with the exception of Belgium,
Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, where it is NUTS1, and Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia, where it is the national level.
The data in the tool are estimates, it is planned investments that depend on many
factors to be realised. National and interregional OP amounts have been distributed on a
per capita basis, which may not be the actual outcome. To avoid presenting estimated
data as exact, all the amounts of planned investments in individual posts have been
rounded up in the following way:
EUR 0–0.49 million rounded to EUR 0.5 million;
EUR 0.5–0.99 million rounded to EUR 1 million;
EUR 1–1.49 million rounded to EUR 1.5 million;
EUR 1.5–2.49 million rounded to EUR 2 million;
EUR 2.5–3.49 million rounded to EUR 3 million;
EUR 3.5–4.49 million rounded to EUR 4 million;
and so on.
Some examples of analyses that can be made with the tool are explained and illustrated
in the next chapter.
18
4. Analysing ICT investments in ESIF
In this chapter we describe an analysis of the major ICT investment areas as revealed by
the tool. We use the tool to analyse what ICT investments look like on an overarching
level, and compare the tool’s two major data sources of planned amounts in ESIF and
keywords for each of these thematic areas. Finally, we describe a special analysis of
financial instruments.
The data described above for both planned amounts and keywords are estimates rather
than exact amounts. Estimates are particularly uncertain at the regional level. As
described in Chapter 3, the amounts planned in national, multi-regional and transborder
collaboration programmes are divided by region, based on their population size and level
of development, as indicated in the programmes.
The analysis in this report is based on data extracted from the Infoview database on 5
February 2016. At that point not all OPs had been approved; however, it is likely that
the final numbers will be similar to those in this report.
The keywords are also based on estimates, and the presence of a keyword in a multi-
regional programme assigns this keyword to each region covered by the programme. For
example, if a national programme mentions e-Health five times, each region will have an
indication of the keyword mentioned five times. However, these numbers are not
aggregated for MS accounting. Furthermore, the translation of the keywords can depend
on grammatical complexity, which can result in different hit rates depending on the
language used.
4.1 All ICT-related categories of intervention
The tool includes a filter that captures all the main data posts related to planned ICT
investments in the ESIF. It consists of the core CoIs in all TOs and the non-core CoIs
under TO2, and includes the EAFRD planned investments for ICT. At the time of writing,
the planned amount of investment is approximately EUR 21.4 billion. This is almost twice
as much as is currently encoded under TO2 (EUR 11.3 billion). The share going into ICT
rises from 3.8 % to around 6.6 % of the combined total from ERDF, ESF, CF and EAFRD.
The MSs that plan by far the largest investments in ICT in absolute terms under this
measure are by Poland, Italy and Spain, with substantial investments seen in Hungary,
France, the Czech Republic, Greece, Slovakia and Romania (see Table 2).
The regions with the largest planned investments are Campania (IT), Sicilia (IT),
Andalucía (ES), Slaskie (PL), Puglia (IT), Malopolskie (PL) and Západné Slovensko (SK).
The region of Campania, for example, will invest more in ICT than Germany.
When looking at the planned investments under the core CoIs, it becomes apparent that
the most important categories are as follows: e-Government services and applications
(078); high-speed broadband (≥ 30 Mbps) (046); ESF second theme digital skills (05);
intelligent transport systems (044); ICT services and applications for SMEs (082); very
high-speed broadband (≥ 100 Mbps) (047); e-Inclusion, e-Accessibility, e-Learning and
e-Education (080); intelligent energy distribution systems (015); and healthy active
ageing and e-Health (081). If grouping the categories, then broadband and ICT
infrastructures attract the most investment.
When looking at the TOs, the most important one is obviously TO2, as it is dedicated to
ICT, though the multi-TO also is very important, followed by low-carbon economy, skills
and lifelong learning, sustainable transport and investments under EAFRD. There is
substantially less investment in TO1 and TO3.
19
Figure 3. All ICT-related categories of intervention.
Source: ESIF tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
When exploring the activity areas (groupings of keywords) and keywords are examined,
a somewhat contrasting image appears. In the actions to be supported under ESIF, the
most frequently mentioned keywords relate to ICT innovation: e-Inclusion; broadband
and digital networks; digital content; e-Government; and components. For single
keywords, the most common examples are related to the following: digital products,
services and applications; R&I; start-ups and venture capital; e-Infrastructure and
information systems; digital skills and literacy; training and education; and innovation
clusters, hubs and incubators. This indicates that it is possible that more ICT activities
will take place under TO1 and TO3 than is being revealed by TO and CoI encoding.
Table 2. Overview of major investor countries and regions, most important CoIs and
TOs, most frequently mentioned areas of activity and keywords
Country -
amount (million
EUR)
Region/MS –
amount (million
EUR)
CoI - amount
(million EUR)
TO – amount (million
EUR)
Activity area –
frequency of
keywords
mentioned
Keyword–
frequency of
keywords
mentioned
Poland
4 044
Campania
(IT)
734
078: e-
Government
services and
applications
3 427
02: Enhancing
ICT
11 401
ICT
innovation
5 033
(6 817*)
Digital
products,
services and
applications
2 020
Italy
3 378
Sicilia (IT)
717
046: ICT:
high-speed
broadband
(≥ 30 Mbps)
3 321
Multi-TO
3 288
e-Inclusion
2 172
Research and
innovation
1 700
Spain
2 480
Andalucía
(ES)
712
05: ESF
second
theme ICT
2 297
04: Low-
carbon
economy
1 642
Broadband
and digital
networks
1 637
Start-ups and
venture
capital
1 241
Hungary
1 316
Hrvatska
(HR)
574
044:
Intelligent
transport
systems
2 042
10: Skills and
lifelong
learning:
1 155
Digital
content,
creative
industries
and
digitisation
of culture
1 287
e-
Infrastructure
and
information
systems
1 063
France
1 293
Slaskie (PL)
482
082: ICT
services and
applications
for SMEs
1 740
EAFRD–ICT in
rural funds
922
e-
Government
802
Digital skills
and literacy
749
20
Czech
Republic
1 284
Puglia (IT)
461
047: ICT
very high-
speed
broadband
(≥ 100
Mbps):
1 500
07: sustainable
transport
856
Components
764
Training and
education
695
Greece
1 222
Malopolskie
(PL)
452
080: e-
Inclusion, e-
Accessibility
, e-Learning
and e-
Education
1 248
11:
Institutional
capacity of
public
authorities
621
Advanced
computing
737
Innovation
clusters, hubs
and incubators
636
Slovakia
1 069
Západné
Slovensko
(SK)
406
015:
Intelligent
energy
distribution
systems
1 080
03: SMEs
565
e-Health
721
Broadband
498
Romania
1 022
Mazowieckie
(PL)
367
081: ICT
solutions
healthy
active
ageing and
e-Health
1 00
09: Social
inclusion
386
Smart cities
and smart
grids
616
e-Culture and
digital culture
339
Portugal
754
Východné
Slovensko
(SK)
356
079: Access
to public
sector
information
970
08:
Employment
and labour
mobility:
346
Digital
science
479
Vouchers
315
Germany
596
Lietuva (LT)
351
EAFRD: ICT
in rural
funds
922
01: Research
and innovation
166
Trust,
security and
authenticati
on
456
e-Government
313
Croatia
574
Norte (PT)
333
048: ICT,
Other types
of ICT
infrastructur
e/large-
scale
computer
resources/e
quipment
915
06: Preserving
and protecting
the
environment
64
Digital
single
market/
digital
agenda
433
e-Health
311
*The activity area ‘ICT innovation’ includes a number of categories that are searched in a specific ICT context and some that are not
delimited to ICT. . The first indicated value does not include the broader definitions. The value in brackets includes all categories. These
keyword categories are as follows: start-ups and venture capital, SME support, service innovation, social innovation, vouchers, ICT start-
ups and venture capital, service innovation in ICT, social innovation in ICT and ICT vouchers.
4.2 Broadband
Planned investments in broadband amount to approximately EUR 6.9 billion. In this case
we are looking at CoIs 045–048 and the EAFRD which, according to DG AGRI staff, will
almost entirely go to broadband investments (98.5 %).
The largest investors are Italy (EUR 1 444 million), Poland (EUR 1 025 million), France
(EUR 680 million), the Czech Republic (EUR 563 million) and Spain (EUR 467 million).
The largest regional investors are Hrvatska (HR) (EUR 335 million), Sicilia (IT) (EUR 300
million), Campania (IT) (EUR 294 million), Calabria (IT) (EUR 153 million), Slaskie (PL),
(EUR 132 million) and Puglia (IT) (EUR 126 million).
The most important TOs are TO2 (EUR 5.1 billion), EAFRD (EUR 922 million) and multi-
TO (EUR 567 million). The largest CoIs are broadband network (access/local loop; ≥ 30
Mbps; 046) with EUR 3.3 billion, followed by very high-speed broadband network
(access/local loop; ≥ 100 Mbps; 047), at EUR 1.5 billion, then other types of ICT
infrastructure/large-scale computer resources/equipment (including e-Infrastructure,
data centres and sensors, even when embedded in other infrastructure such as research
facilities, environmental and social infrastructure; 048) with EUR 915 million, EAFRD with
EUR 869 million and backbone/backhaul network (045) with EUR 314 million.
The results for countries using broadband keywords in their OPs were similar to the
results for financial amounts, with the addition of Ireland and the UK; Poland was an
exception, mentioning broadband relatively rarely. The regions are also similar, with
Sicilia (IT) mentioning broadband keywords most frequently. The most common
keywords connected to broadband relate to e-Infrastructure and information systems,
(mentioned 1 063 times), broadband (mentioned 498 times), data centres and storage,
(mentioned 34 times), wireless (mentioned 25 times), GÉANT and networks for
research, (13 times) and broadband and engineering projects (mentioned four times).
21
Figure 4. Broadband.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
4.3 e-Government
The main category for e-Government is CoI 078, ‘e-Government services and
applications’ (including e-Procurement, ICT measures supporting the reform of public
administration, cyber-security, trust and privacy measures, e-Justice and e-Democracy).
MSs are planning to invest EUR 3 427 million in this CoI, and almost everything is coded
under TO2 (EUR 2.8 billion) and multi-TOs (EUR 509 million).
The largest investor countries are Poland (EUR 1 054 million), Spain (EUR 544 million),
Italy (EUR 402 million), Slovakia (EUR 352 million) and the Czech Republic (EUR 317
million). The more important regions are Malopolskie (PL) (EUR 135 million), Západné
Slovensko (SK) (EUR 135 million), Andalucía (ES) (EUR 133 million), Východné
Slovensko (SK) (EUR 118 million) and Slaskie (PL) (EUR 115 million).
For keywords, the countries mentioning e-Government most frequently are Italy (330
times), Spain (135 times), Portugal (65 times), France (60 times) and Romania (40
times) The top 15 regions in terms of numbers of mentions of e-Government are all in
Italy; the top five are Veneto (97 times), Calabria (96 times), Puglia (92 times),
Sardegna (92 times) and Sicilia (90 times). This phenomenon can probably be attributed
to common e-Government activities in a national or multi-regional programme, as a
result of which it is mentioned frequently. The most important keywords are e-
Government, (mentioned 313 times), open and big data (mentioned 128 times),
interoperability of public data (mentioned 122 times), e-Invoicing (mentioned 72 times)
and online payment (mentioned 55 times).
There is also a predefined filter for trust activities, which also relates to the e-
Government CoIs. As for e-Government, Italy is the MS with the most regions
mentioning trust-related keywords. The countries most frequently mentioning trust-
related keywords are Italy (177 times), Spain (76 times), Portugal (52 times), France
22
(50 times) and Croatia (17 times). On a regional level, those most frequently mentioning
trust-related keywords are again five Italian regions: Sardegna (50 times), Calabria (49
times), Puglia (48 times), Sicilia (46 times) and Basilicata (44 times). The more
important trust-related keywords are security and data protection (mentioned 202
times), interoperability, interconnection (mentioned 142 times), electronic identification
(mentioned 31 times), privacy mentioned 27 times) and secure infrastructure
(mentioned six times).
Figure 5. e-Government.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
4.4 Digital content
The main CoI for digital content is 079, ‘Access to public sector information’ (including
open data e-Culture, digital libraries, e-Content and e-Tourism). Under this category
EUR 970 million of investment is planned, which is mainly coded under TO (EUR 746
million), multi-TO (EUR 167 million) and TO6 (EUR 38 million).
The main investing countries are Poland (EUR 403 million), Italy (EUR 114 million),
Spain (EUR 79 million), Portugal (EUR 73 million) and Latvia (EUR 55 million). The
regions with largest planned investments are Lubelskie (PL) (EUR 64 million), Latvija
(LV) (EUR 55 million), Andalucía (ES) (EUR 48 million), Lietuva (LT) (EUR 45 million) and
Warminsko-Mazurskie (PL) (EUR 44 million). Compared with the other categories, here
the Baltic States are more prominent, but they are not the MSs most frequently
mentioning digital content in their keywords. This, once again, is Italy.
The countries most frequently mentioning keywords related to digital content are Italy
(552 times), France (195 times), Spain (149 times), Poland (112 times) and Greece (95
times). The regions mentioning digital content keywords most frequently are once more
all Italian: Sicilia (122 times), Puglia (121 times), Veneto (111 times), Calabria (103
times) and Lombardia (102 times). The most common keywords are e-Culture and
digital culture (mentioned 339 times), digitisation (mentioned 187 times), creativity and
23
design (mentioned 173 times), ICT and tourism (mentioned 137 times), and digital
content and media (mentioned 121 times).
Figure 6. Digital content.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
4.5 e-Inclusion and digital skills
With regard to e-Inclusion and digital skills, the tool provides data on planned
investments through three main groups of data: (1) CoI 080 on e-Inclusion, e-
Accessibility, e-Learning and e-Education services and applications, digital literacy; (2)
ESF Second Theme ‘Enhancing the accessibility, use and quality of ICT’ (05); and then
the user can also search the four CoI 115-118; only the two first ones are included in
the main ICT related CoI. (1) and (2) together amount to EUR 3.5 billion, with EUR 2.3
billion for the latter and EUR 1.2 billion for the former. The first two categories are most
commonly coded in TO10 (ESF), and then TO2 (080), but also substantially in TO11,
multi-TO, TO9 and TO8.
The main countries planning investments in e-Inclusion and digital skills are Spain
(EUR 635 million), Italy (EUR 475 million), Poland (EUR 469 million), Romania (EUR 360
million) and Hungary (EUR 311 million). The main regions are Andalucía (ES) (EUR 189
million), Hrvatska (HR) (EUR 124 million), Norte (PT) (EUR 120 million), Malopolskie (PL)
(EUR 100 million) and Ciudad Autónoma De Ceuta (ES) (EUR 86 million).
In addition to the main CoI of ESF 05 and 080, the skills-related categories of 115–118
are also important. However, we do not know at this point to what extent digital skills
beyond the ESF secondary theme are included in these data. For CoIs 115–118, there
are total planned investments of EUR 27.3 billion, with EUR 23.2 billion under TO10 and
EUR 4 billion in multi-TO and minor posts in T01, TO8, TO11, TO6 and TO9. The main
countries are Poland (EUR 4 086 million), Portugal (EUR 3 846 million), Italy (EUR 3 099
24
million), Germany (EUR 2 527 million) and the UK (EUR 2 002 million). The main regions
are Norte (PT) (EUR 1 918 million), Centro (PT) (EUR 1 230 million), Andalucía (ES)
(EUR 693 million), Wales (UK) (EUR 540 million) and Puglia (IT) (EUR 539 million).
For keywords, the countries most frequently mentioning e-Inclusion are Italy (902
times), Spain (348 times), France (231 times), Poland (167 times) and Croatia (144
times). The regions most frequently mentioning e-Inclusion are five Italian ones: Puglia
(258 times), Veneto (245 times), Sicilia (230 times), Calabria (228 times) and Sardegna
(226 times). The most commonly used keywords are digital skills and literacy
(mentioned 749 times), training and education (mentioned 695 times), eLearning
(mentioned 221 times), jobs (mentioned 205 times) and digital inclusion (mentioned
140 times).
Figure 7. e-Inclusion.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
4.6 e-Health and active ageing
e-Health and Active and healthy ageing should primarily be coded in CoI 081, ICT
solutions addressing the healthy active ageing challenge and e-Health services and
applications (including e-Care and ambient assisted living). This CoI includes slightly
more than EUR 1 billion of planned investments, mainly coded under TO2 (EUR 772
million) and multi-TO (EUR 173 million).
The main countries planning investments in this area are Poland (EUR 351 million),
Spain (EUR 257 million), Slovakia (EUR 70 million), France (EUR 65 million) and Italy
(EUR 76 million). Among the regions, Spanish and Polish regions predominate:
Mazowieckie (PL) (EUR 69 million), Andalucía (ES) (EUR 57 million), Comunidad
Valenciana (ES) (EUR 52 million), Slaskie (PL) (EUR 45 million) and Malopolskie (PL)
(EUR 41 million).
25
Under CoI 107 (active and healthy ageing), which may contain additional e-Health
investments, EUR 561 million of investment is planned. However, none of this is coded
as TO2, being mainly coded as TO8 and multi-TO. In this CoI, Poland is once again the
largest investor (EUR 336 million) and France is among the largest (EUR 37 million), but
a number of MSs that have not previously appeared as the largest investors emerge: the
Netherlands (EUR 101 million), Slovenia (EUR 35 million) and Austria (EUR 24 million).
The regions are dominated by those from Poland: Slaskie (PL) (EUR 55 million), West-
Nederland (NL) (EUR 48 million), Wielkopolskie (PL) (EUR 37 million) and Dolnoslaskie
(PL) (EUR 33 million).
For keywords, the countries most frequently mentioning e-Health and active ageing are
France (131 times), Italy (123 times), Spain (122 times), Poland (71 times) and
Portugal (41 times). The main regions are Hrvatska (HR) (39 times), Malta (MT) (34
times), Comunidad De Madrid (ES) (32 times), Andalucía (ES) (30 times) and Islas
Baleares (ES) (30 times).
The most commonly used keywords are e-Health (311 times), telemedicine and
telemonitoring (85 times), integrated care (62 times), independent living (56 times) and
active and healthy ageing (54 times).
Figure 8. e-Health, and healthy and active ageing.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
4.7 ICT SME support and e-Commerce
For ICT SME support, we use two CoIs: 082, ‘ICT services and applications for SMEs’
(including e-Commerce, e-Business and networked business processes), living labs, web
26
entrepreneurs and ICT start-ups); and 004, ‘Productive investment linked to the
cooperation between large enterprises and SMEs for developing ICT products and
services, e-Commerce and enhancing demand for ICT’. These represent EUR 1.7 billion
and EUR 304 million of planned investments, respectively, or EUR 2 billion in total. The
amounts are coded under multi-TO (EUR 810 million), TO2 (EUR 790 million) and TO3
(EUR 349 million) and to a much lesser extent under TO1 and TO8.
Greece and Hungary figure more prominently than in previously described categories.
The main investing countries are Greece (EUR 529 million), Spain (EUR 394 million),
Hungary (EUR 265 million), Poland (EUR 191 million) and Italy (EUR 189 million). The
main investing regions are Kentriki Makedonia (EL) (EUR 147 million), Andalucía (ES)
(EUR 135 million), Attiki (EL) (EUR 106 million), Észak-Alföld (HU) (EUR 56 million) and
Thessalia (EL) (EUR 55 million).
For keywords, the countries most frequently mentioning ICT SME support and e-
Commerce in most categories are Italy (2 004 times) and Spain (1 065 times), followed
by France (1 017 times), Greece (505 times) and Portugal (473 times), which mentions
investment plans in ICT innovation. The regions most frequently mentioning ICT
innovation keywords are all Italian: Puglia (418 times), Veneto (413 times), Calabria
(399 times), Sicilia (386 times) and Sardegna (357 times).
The most common keywords are digital products, services and applications (mentioned
2 020 times), research and innovation (1 700 times), start-ups and venture capital,
1 241 times), innovation clusters, hubs and incubators (636 times) and vouchers (315
times).
Figure 9. ICT SME support and e-Commerce.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
27
4.8 Smart grids and smart cities
For smart grids, the most relevant CoI is 015, ‘Intelligent energy distribution systems at
medium and low voltage levels’ (including smart grids and ICT systems). Here there are
planned investments of around EUR 1 billion, of which the majority (EUR 947 million) is
planned under TO4 (low-carbon economy), followed by some investment (EUR 121
million) in multi-TO and a small amount in TO7 (sustainable transport).
The major investors are Italy (EUR 445 million), Portugal (EUR 120 million), Poland
(EUR 103 million), the UK (EUR 89 million) and Germany (EUR 67 million). The main
investors among the regions are southern Italian regions: Sicilia (EUR 149 million),
Campania (EUR 143 million) and Puglia (EUR 77 million). However, two Portuguese
regions also plan significant investment: Norte (EUR 42 million) and Lisboa (EUR 32
million).
Figure 10. Smart grids.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
Investment under smart cities, is coded under 044, ‘Intelligent transport systems’
(including the introduction of demand management, tolling systems, IT monitoring,
control and information systems). There are planned investments of EUR 2 billion,
mainly in TO7 (transport) (EUR 845 million) TO4 (low-carbon economy) (EUR 695
million) and multi-TO (EUR 497 million) as well as some in TO1 and TO11.
The picture of the main investing countries is slightly different than in other ICT
categories, as Hungary is the largest investor with EUR 325 million, followed by Poland
(EUR 323 million) and Italy (EUR 298 million), with Romania (EUR 209 million) and the
Czech Republic (EUR 172 million) also large investors. The regions with the largest
planned investments are Campania (IT) (EUR 73 million), Közép-Magyarország (HU)
(EUR 64 million), Sicilia (IT) (EUR 64 million), Slaskie (PL) (EUR 59 million) and Lietuva
(LT) (EUR 58 million).
28
However, in terms of keywords use, the UK, Hungary and Romania are less prominent.
The countries most frequently mentioning keywords relating to smart grids and smart
cities are Italy (226 times), France (99 times), Spain (79 times), Poland (50 times) and
Germany (33 times). Five Italian regions account for the most frequent use of keywords
in this area: Puglia (67 times), Sardegna (52 times), Sicilia (48 times), Veneto (47
times) and Lombardia (43 times).
Among the keywords, smart cities, mobility and transport appear more frequently than
smart grids and energy. The most commonly mentioned keywords are smart mobility
(145 mentions), smart energy (97 mentions), smart cities (91 mentions), intelligent
transport systems (87 mentions) and smart grids (57 mentions).
Figure 11. Smart cities.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
4.9 Advanced computing, components and digital science
The three categories of advanced computing, components and digital science do not
have any specific CoI, but they have their own predefined filters of keywords in the tool.
However, using some of the non-core CoIs that are research related and searching for
them in all TOs can give a broader picture of investments in ICT (see Table 1 and
Chapter 3). Here, an analysis of CoIs 049, 058, 059, 060, 061 has been undertaken. A
rough estimate is that 10 % of these funds would go to ICT-related investments.
If this estimate of 10 % is correct, there will be investments of around EUR 1.6 billion in
ICT-related R&I. The most important TO is TO1 (EUR 1.4 billion), followed by multi-TO
(EUR 136 million), TO10 (EUR 105 million) and TO3 (EUR 18 million). There are minor
investments coded under TO4, TO6, TO2, TO11 and TO8.
29
The countries with the largest investments in these categories are Spain (EUR 205
million), the Czech Republic (EUR 202 million), Poland (EUR 195 million), Germany
(EUR 163 million) and Italy (EUR 111 million). The regions planning the largest
investments include Andalucía (ES) (EUR 63 million), Hrvatska (HR) (EUR 52 million),
Lietuva (LT) (EUR 44 million), Norte (PT) (EUR 40 million) and Latvija (LV) (EUR 38
million).
The keywords are divided in three activity areas: advanced computing, components and
digital science. The activity area most frequently mentioned is components (764 times),
followed by advanced computing (737 times) and digital science (479 times).
With regard to planned activities in advanced computing, Italy is the country that most
frequently mentions related keywords (266 times), followed by France (88 times), Spain
(72 times), Poland (68 times) and Slovakia (38 times). At the regional level, it is again
Italian regions that most frequently use related keywords: Sicilia (77 times), Calabria
(74 times), Campania (73 times), Puglia (70 times) and Basilicata (56 times). The most
commonly mentioned keywords are cloud computing (233 times), computing (184
times), data analytics and database management (116 times), simulation and modelling
(101 times) and complex and embedded systems (40 times).
Figure 12. Research and innovation.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
For components, Italy is again the country where these keywords are most frequently
mentioned (326 times), followed by France (152 times), Spain (77 times), Portugal (44
times) and Greece (30 times). The Italian regions dominate the top five once more:
Sicilia (64 times), Campania (63 times), Puglia (61 times), Molise (61 times) and
Sardegna (57 times). The most commonly mentioned keywords are optics (mentioned
30
150 times), microsystem (125 times), KETs (117 times), microelectronics (100 times),
and hardware (81 times).
For the activity area of digital science, it is Italy which mentions related keywords most
frequently (154 times), followed by Spain (70 times), France (61 times), the UK (34
times) and Poland (32 times). It is also the Italian regions that most frequently mention
these keywords: Puglia (52 times), Calabria (48 times), Molise (46 times), Sicilia (45
times) and Sardegna (44 times). The most frequently mentioned keywords are ICT
research (226 times), open data (110 times), open access (51 times), digital science (36
times) and big data (35 times).
4.10 Innovation vouchers
During the development of this tool there was much discussion concerning the need to
use different kinds of financial instruments in the delivery of the ESIF; of particular
interest was the use of innovation vouchers. In developing the tool, therefore, a few
different categories related to innovation vouchers have been included, despite their lack
of direct relation to ICT. The primary CoI, 064, ‘Research and innovation processes in
SMEs’ (including voucher schemes, process, design, service and social innovation), is
only marginally encoded under TO2; out of the EUR 8.8 billion planned for this category,
only EUR 2 million is coded under TO2, by one region, Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur
(FR).
11
The majority of planned investment is under TO1 (EUR 6.9 billion), multi-TO
(EUR 1.1 billion) and TO3 (EUR 813 million. However, as we have previously described
for other ICT investments under TO1 and TO3, it is possible that ICT activities are being
funded in a larger proportion than the sum of EUR 2 million indicates.
Figure 13. Innovation vouchers (064) in all thematic objectives.
Source: ICT Monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
11
Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur is planning to invest in ICT related vouchers also in CoI 066. In 064 it is innovation vouchers which are
related to spin offs from academia and 066 for business related R&I.
31
The countries with the largest planned investments under CoI 064 are Poland (EUR 3.4
billion), Spain (EUR 1.3 billion), Hungary (EUR 1.2 billion), Italy (EUR 626 million) and
Germany (EUR 469 million). The largest regional investments will be in Poland: Slaskie
(PL), EUR 371 million; Mazowieckie (EUR 289 million), Wielkopolskie (EUR 277 million),
Malopolskie (EUR 275 million) and Podkarpackie (EUR 274 million).
Another source of information is financial forms that regions and MSs will use in
financing their activities. For financial instruments 03–06,
12
which are of a more
revolving character, there are planned investments of EUR 20 billion. These investments
are mainly coded in TO3 (SME support) (EUR 7.4 billion), followed by multi-TO (EUR 6
billion), TO4 (EUR 3 billion), TO1 (EUR 2.1 billion), TO8 (EUR 534 million), TO6 (EUR 446
million), TO9 (EUR 363 million), TO7 (EUR 52 million) TO2 (EUR 34 million), TO10,
EUR 25 million and TO11 (EUR 8 million).
The country that will use this form of financing the most is Poland, which plans to invest
EUR 3.7 billion in this way, followed by Portugal (EUR 2.6 billion), Hungary (EUR 2.4
billion), Italy (EUR 2.1 billion) and Germany (EUR 1.2 billion). Among the regions the
largest investments are being planned by two Portuguese regions, Norte (EUR 1.1
billion) and Centro (EUR 745 million), followed by Lietuva (LT) (EUR 729 million),
Hrvatska (HR) (EUR 622 million) and Észak-Alföld (HU) (EUR 494 million).
When it comes to ICT specifically, the numbers are very low: France plans to invest
EUR 20 million, Italy EU 14 million and Croatia a tiny amount. This investment is being
made in the two French regions of Poitou-Charentes (EUR 15 million) and Provence Alpes
Côte d’Azur (EUR 5 million) and the two Italian regions of Lombardia (EUR 10 million)
and Piemonte (EUR 4 million).
Figure 14. Financial instruments in ICT.
Source: ICT monitoring tool and Infoview/SFC2014.
12
Financial instruments: 03: Support through financial instruments: venture and equity capital or equivalent; 04: Support through
financial instruments: loan or equivalent; 05: Support through financial instruments: guarantee or equivalent; 06: Support through
financial instruments: interest rate subsidy, guarantee fee subsidy, technical support or equivalent.
32
When looking at vouchers and financial instruments from the amounts perspective, there
seem to be few planned investments related to ICT; however, when looking at the
keywords the picture changes slightly.
With regard to keywords, there are two relevant categories, one related to vouchers in
general and one which specifically identifies ICT vouchers.
With regard to vouchers with no ICT connection, Italy comes out top, mentioning these
keywords 173 times, followed by Greece (32 times), Portugal (25 times), the UK (19
times) and Poland (16 times). Italy also accounts for the top regions, which are Calabria
(22 times), Basilicata (19 times), Lombardia (19 times), Piemonte (19 times) and
Campania (19 times). When it comes to ICT vouchers specifically, Italy is again the
country mentioning these keywords most frequently, (27 times), this time followed by
the UK (19 times), France (13 times), Ireland (10 times) and Greece (eight times). The
regions most frequently keywords relating to vouchers with no ICT connection are Wales
(UK) (10 times), Scotland (UK) (seven times), Puglia (IT) (seven times), Ipeiros (EL)
(seven times) and Hrvatska (HR) (seven times).
Taking these data on vouchers into account, the countries with the largest planned
investments are Poland, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Italy and Germany. The countries
opting for vouchers connected to ICT are France, Italy and Croatia. However, from the
keyword analysis, it is likely that more countries and regions will use vouchers for ICT
investments; all 28 MSs mention ICT vouchers in an OP and 209 regions are covered by
an OP that mentions this planned activity. So it seems likely that there will be more
investments in ICT using vouchers than is indicated by CoI 064 in TO2 or the financial
instruments in TO2. Thus, it is likely that voucher schemes that will also invest in ICT
will be coded in TO3, multi-TO, TO4 or TO1.
33
5. Conclusions and recommendations for the future of the
tool
5.1 Summary
The ESIF monitoring tool displays planned investments in ICT under the ERDF, ESF, CF,
YEI and EAFRD funds. It depicts investment areas related to ICT and breaks down the
data at a regional level. It can be searched using a number of predefined filters, or users
can create customised searches of TOs and CoIs. The tool also contains a database of
keywords built up by a semantic search for keywords in OPs. This database allows the
user to identify which OPs mention a number of ICT activities more frequently than
others, and to determine if a specific topic is mentioned in a region.
The data set included in the tool is based on a study of the structures of OPs and of
which categories of data are most relevant, as well as interactions with DG CONNECT
staff
13
in charge of different thematic ICT areas.
Analysis of the data showed that TO2 alone cannot account for all planned ESIF
investments in ICT, and that ICT spending goes beyond this. The study also explored a
number of core CoIs in ICT and non-core CoIs; by including these, planned investment
in ICT almost doubled (the proportion of the combined total of ERDF, ESF, CF and EAFRD
going to ICT rises from 3.8 % to around 6.6 %). However, it seems that even this figure
does not capture all planned investments, as respondents in our study indicated that
substantial investments in ICT are included in other categories. This reflects the dual
nature of ICT as both an important sector and activity in itself and a technology enabling
other public and private activities.
In this report, taking a narrow view (including TO2 and EAFRD in ICT), we estimate a
minimum ICT investment of EUR 12.2 billion investment. Taking a moderate view
(including core and non-core CoIs in ICT, ESF and EAFRD in ICT) results in a figure a
EUR 21.4 billion for ICT investment. Adopting a broad view that includes the same
categories but in addition 10 % of a number of other relevant CoIs for e-Government, e-
Health, digital content, digital skills, SME support, and R&I, the amount would rise to
EUR 35.5 billion. As the estimates in the latter category are not based on sufficiently
accurate methods, we have abstained from including this perspective in the online tool.
Based on the highest estimates, the MSs that plan by far the largest investments in ICT
in absolute terms are Poland, Italy and Spain, with substantial investments by Hungary,
France, the Czech Republic, Greece, Slovakia and Romania. The regions with the largest
planned investments are Campania (IT), Sicilia (IT), Andalucía (ES), Slaskie (PL), Puglia
(IT), Malopolskie (PL) and Západné Slovensko (SK). For example, the region of
Campania plans to invest more ESIF in ICT than Germany.
Most investments will go to broadband and ICT infrastructures (EUR 6.9 billion), e-
Inclusion and digital skills (EUR 3.9 billion), e-Government (EUR 3.4 billion) and smart
cities and smart grids (EUR 3.1 billion).
Furthermore, the categories described above are quite often very broad and include
many interesting activities. Therefore, to obtain a more in-depth view of what is planned
in regions with regard to more specific ICT topics, a keyword study was carried out. The
‘Actions to be supported’ sections of OPs (not for the EAFRD) were searched for a
number of keywords grouped in different activity areas. The keyword search helped to
identify which OPs focus on which specific topics and provided an overview of the topics
that regions consider important. It also revealed, to some extent, the relative
importance of different topics.
13
DG CONNECT staff is one of the primary user groups for the tool.
34
Among the keywords, the most frequently mentioned activity areas are ICT innovation,
e-Inclusion, broadband and digital content. This is partly because these keywords for
innovation are broad and all encompassing, but the finding also reflects an ambition
among regions to invest in ICT-based innovation activities. Quite substantial ICT
investments will go to ICT-based innovation and digital content, but under CoIs related
to SME support and R&I, rather than the core CoIs for planned ICT investments.
5.2 Recommendations for future developments
There are a few improvements that could be carried out to improve the tool. These
relate to the current data set of CoIs, additional data sets from other funds and periods
in time, as well as to data sets covering innovation and digital capability and new
functions.
To capture the broader view of planned ICT investments, the additional CoIs mentioned
in Chapter 3 could be added to the tool. Potentially, a filter could be included to capture
the additional parts of other planned investment that is related to ICT. However, in this
case, what the final estimate should be would require to be confirmed by further
analysis. A predefined filter could also be included to capture amounts related to digital
science, computing and components.
With regard to the keywords, Italian regions often came out top in searches, followed
most often by Polish regions. Although Italian regions will make substantial investments
in ICT, Poland will invest more. It is possible that the language used in the OPs, the
number of OPs and the structure of the OPs in the different countries might affect the
frequency with which keywords are mentioned. One measure to overcome these
shortcomings and enable a fair comparison of MSs could be to introduce a relative
measure, e.g. how often a word is mentioned as a proportion of the total number of
words in the OP sections on actions to be supported.
Likewise, it could be of interest to have a relative measure for planned investments that
would illustrate the size of the planned investment in the region compared with total
amounts available to the region.
In countries where there are many national and multi-national programmes, as well as
transborder collaboration programmes, such as Italy, the identified keywords are
attributed to all regions, and, as a result, these regions appear at the top of the list in
the regional rankings. It could be useful to have a function whereby it would be possible
to select or deselect different forms of OPs, i.e. to choose whether to include regional,
multi-regional, national and transborder collaboration programmes in the search.
The tool would benefit from a new map function, particularly if additional data sets are to
be added, in which case it would be of great interest to simultaneously show a number
of different indicators. It would also be beneficial to have a map tool that would allow the
user to use the map for searches in a more interactive way.
There are a number of additional data sets that could be added to the tool to strengthen
it. The most useful could be to incorporate actual spending once regions and MSs start
implementing their OPs. This would allow the tool to serve as an early warning system
that could indicate discrepancies between planned and actual investments.
It might also be possible to add data from other EU funding sources for planned ICT
investments, for example FP7/H2020, EFSI, COSME and EMFF. Another addition could be
to add more historic data to track development over time of planned and actual
investments in these funds.
35
Another interesting development would be to include indicators on ICT innovation
capabilities such as data on patents, employment and companies,
14
which could be
further enhanced by data relating to different types of Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE)
or the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) scoreboard indicators, and to relate
these to implementation effects.
In the medium term, this tool could be further developed into a portal to data on ICT-
based regional growth, thus building a bridge between ICT/digital agenda on one side
and regional development on the other, increasing its relevance to stakeholders in both
communities.
14
A potentially fruitful approach would be to merge with data that are used in the EIPE project (see
http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/ISG/EIPE.html).
36
Appendix 1. Categories of investment
The core CoIs are the those strongly correlated with ICT activities. The non-core CoIs
are not strongly ICT correlated, but some regions have indicated that these have an ICT
component by using these together with TO2, which does directly apply to ICT
investments.
Main CoIs
Other CoIs
004
Productive investment linked to the cooperation
between large enterprises and SMEs for
developing ICT products and services, e-
Commerce and enhancing demand for ICT
049
Education infrastructure for tertiary education
015
Intelligent energy distribution systems at medium
and low voltage levels (including smart grids and
ICT systems)
056
Investment in infrastructure, capacities and equipment in SMEs directly
linked to research and innovation activities
044
Intelligent transport systems (including the
introduction of demand management, tolling
systems, IT monitoring, control and information
systems)
058
Research and innovation infrastructures (public)
045
ICT: Backbone/backhaul network
059
Research and innovation infrastructures (private, including science parks)
046
ICT: High-Speed broadband network (access/local
loop; ≥ 30 Mbps)
060
Research and innovation activities in public research centres and centres of
competence including networking
047
ICT: Very high-speed broadband network
(access/local loop; ≥ 100 Mbps)
061
Research and innovation activities in private research centres including
networking
048
ICT: Other types of ICT infrastructure/large-scale
computer resources/equipment (including e-
Infrastructure, data centres and sensors; also
where embedded in other infrastructure such as
research facilities, environmental and social
infrastructure)
062
Technology transfer and university–enterprise cooperation primarily
benefiting SMEs
078
e-Government services and applications
(including e-Procurement, ICT measures
supporting the reform of public administration,
cyber-security, trust and privacy measures, e-
Justice and e-Democracy)
063
Cluster support and business networks primarily benefiting SMEs
079
Access to public sector information (including
open data e-Culture, digital libraries, e-Content
and e-Tourism)
064
Research and innovation processes in SMEs (including voucher schemes,
process, design, service and social innovation)
080
e-Inclusion, e-Accessibility, e-Learning and e-
Education services and applications, digital
literacy
066
Advanced support services for SMEs and groups of SMEs (including
management, marketing and design services)
081
ICT solutions addressing the healthy active
ageing challenge and e-Health services and
applications (including e-Care and ambient
assisted living)
067
SME business development, support to entrepreneurship and incubation
(including support to spin offs and spin outs)
082
ICT Services and applications for SMEs (including
e-Commerce, e-Business and networked business
processes), living labs, web entrepreneurs and
ICT start-ups)
101
Cross-financing under the ERDF (support to ESF-type actions necessary for
the satisfactory implementation of the ERDF part of the operation and
directly linked to it)
05
ESF second theme: enhancing the accessibility,
use and quality of information
107
Active and healthy ageing
115
Reducing and preventing early school-leaving and promoting equal access
to good quality early childhood, primary and secondary education including
formal, non- formal and informal learning pathways for reintegrating into
education and training
116
Improving the quality and efficiency of, and access to, tertiary and
equivalent education with a view to increasing participation and attainment
levels, especially for disadvantaged groups
117
Enhancing equal access to lifelong learning for all age groups in formal,
non-formal and informal settings, upgrading the knowledge, skills and
competences of the workforce, and promoting flexible learning pathways
including through career guidance and validation of acquired competences
118
Improving the labour market relevance of education and training systems,
facilitating the transition from education to work, and strengthening
vocational education and training systems and their quality, including
through mechanisms for skills anticipation, adaptation of curricula and the
establishment and development of work-based learning systems, including
dual learning systems and apprenticeship schemes
121
Preparation, implementation, monitoring and inspection
37
Appendix 2. Activity areas and keywords
Activity area
Keyword
Single terms
Combined terms:
ICT, electronic, online, on-line,
internet, web, data, DAE,
digital, mobile, cyber,
information system
Digital single
market/digital
agenda
Digital agenda
Digital agenda, DAE
Digital divide
Digital divide
Digital single market
Digital single market, DSM
Digital economy and
Information society
Digital Economy, information society, digital
society
Digital growth
Digital growth
ICT sector
ICT sector
ICT cluster
ICT cluster
Cluster
ICT for agriculture
Agriculture
ICT for manufacturing
Advanced manufacturing
Connecting Europe
facility
Connecting Europe facility, CEF
ICT and H2020
Horizon 2020, Horizon2020, H-
2020, H2020
Components
Graphene
Graphene
Hardware
Hardware
Key enabling
technologies
KETs, key enabling technology, key enabling
technologies
Lasers
Laser, lasers
Microelectronics
Micro-electronic, micro-electronics, electronics,
semi-conductor, lithograph, stepper
Microsystem
micro-system, microsystems, mems, integrated
system, smart system, smart system
integration, digital system, actuator
Sensor
Nano electronics
Nano-electronics, nano-electronic, nano-tech,
nano-technology, nano-technologies, nano-
material
Optics
Optic, optics, opto
Organic electronic
Organic electronic, flexible electronic,
stretchable electronic, printed electronic,
Organic electronics, flexible electronics,
stretchable electronics, printed electronics
Photonics
Photonic, photonics, photon, LED, SSL, OLED,
OPV
Light, fibre, fiber
Pilot lines
Pilot line
Robotics
Robotic, automation, cognitive, autonomous
driving, autonomous system, drone, UAV,
Robot, unmanned vehicle, AI, intelligent agent,
artificial intelligence
Cognition, UGV
Advanced
computing
Advanced computing
Advanced computing, high-performance
computing, HPC, distributed computing, grid
computing
Low power computing
low-power computing, low-energy computing,
low-power computer, low-energy computer
Cloud computing
Cloud, cloud services, cloud computing, cloud
technologies, SAAS, saas, SaaS, IaaS, PaaS,
cloud based data, cloud data
Computing
Computing, compute
Complex and
embedded system
Complex system, embedded system, embedded
software, cyber-physical system, model-based
engineering
Data analytics and
database management
data analytics, database management,
information management systems, decision
support, smart systems, smart data
Factory of the future
Factory of the future, additive manufacturing,
laser-based manufacturing, 3D manufacturing,
digitising industry, industrie 4.0, industry 4.0,
digitalisation of industry
Internet of Things
Internet of things, smart objects, connected
objects
Simulation, modeling,
modelling
Service architectures
Internet of services, Service architectures
Simulation and
modelling
Simulation, modeling, modelling
Open source
Open-source
Software services and
engineering
Software services, software engineering
Digital science
Big data
Big data
Citizen science
Citizen science
Digital science
Digital science
Science
Flagships
Flagships, flagship
Future and emerging
Technologies
FET, Future and emerging technologies, Future
and emerging technology
38
High performance
computing and
supercomputing
HPC, High-performance computing, Super-
computing, terabyte, petabyte, exabyte,
teraflop, petaflop, exaflop
terascale, petascale, exascale
Human brain project
Human brain project, HBP
ICT and art
Art
Open access
Open access, online access, public access
Open data
Open data
Open science
Open science
ICT research
Research
Broadband &
digital
networks
Broadband
Broadband, high-speed internet, satellite,
Fibre, Fiber, NGN, NGA, next generation
access, Next generation networks
High-speed
Broadband and
engineering projects
Engineering projects,
infrastructure projects
Data centres and
storage
Data centres and storage
Data centre, storage
e-Infrastructure and
information systems
e-Infrastructure, future network, information
system, information systems, ICT
infrastructure, EGI, telecommunications
network
Infrastructure, networks
GÉANT and Networks
for research
Networks for research, GEANT, GÉANT
Research networks
Wireless
3G, 4G, 5G, LTE, base-stations, wireless, long-
term evolution
ICT innovation
Digital service
infrastructures
Digital service infrastructures
Innovation clusters,
hubs and incubators
Hub, hubs, innovation clusters, innovation
ecosystem, incubators, innovation cluster,
innovation ecosystems, incubator
Cluster, clusters
Experimental platforms
Living lab, living labs, experimental platform,
experimental platforms, test bed, Test-beds,
demonstration facilities, open & agile, open and
agile, fab lab
Experimentation,
demonstration
Innovation
procurement
Innovation procurement, pre-commercial
procurement, innovative procurement
Digital architectures
Digital social innovation, collective awareness,
distributed architectures, distributed
architecture
Open innovation in ICT
Open innovation
Research and
innovation
Innovation, research,
development, R&D, R&I,
technology transfer
Cross-border
collaboration and
value-chains in ICT
value-chain, cross-border
cooperation , cross-border
networking
Service innovation
Service innovation
Social innovation
Social innovation
Service innovation in
ICT
Service innovation
Social innovation in ICT
Social innovation
SME support
On-line advice, on-line counselling, digital eco-
system, SME support
SME, counselling, advisory
services
Start-ups and venture
capital
Venture capital, business angels, accelerators,
access to finance, Start-Ups, Entrepreneurs,
start-up, entrepreneurial skills
Vouchers
Voucher, vouchers, technology implementation,
cheque
ICT start-ups and
venture capital
Venture capital, business
angels, accelerators, access to
finance, Start-Ups,
Entrepreneurs, start-up,
entrepreneurial skills
ICT vouchers
Voucher, vouchers, technology
implementation, cheque
Digital content,
creative
industries and
digitisation of
culture
Augmented and virtual
reality
Augmented reality, AR, virtual reality
Creativity and design
Creative, creativity, design
e-Culture and digital
culture
e-Culture, digitalisation of culture
Culture, cultural
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural preservation
Preservation of culture, cultural preservation
Preservation
Digital content & media
e-Content
Content, media
Digital collections,
libraries, archives,
museums
Digital libraries, Digital library, virtual museum,
digital collections
Libraries, Library, archives,
museums, archive, museum
Digitisation
Digitisation
Europeana
Europeana
Games & gamification
Gamification
Game
ICT & tourism
e-Tourism
Tourism
39
Multilingual and
semantic web
Machine translation
Semantic, multi-lingual
Visualisation and
simulation
Visualisation, simulation, virtualisation
e-Inclusion
Grand coalition
Grand coalition
Internet access &
accessibility
Internet access, e-accessibility, Web
accessibility
Accessibility
Jobs
Jobs
Workforce
Workforce
Digital skills and
literacy
e-Skills, digital literacy, digital competence,
digital competences, digital illiteracy, digitally
illiterate, ICT Skills
Skills, competence,
competencies
Digital inclusion
e-Inclusion, digital inclusion
Inclusion
e-Learning
e-Learning, digital learning, open learning,
distance learning, learning technologies
Learning
Training and education
e-Education, electronic education, open
education, digital classroom
Training, education
e-Health
Active and healthy
ageing
Active aging, AHA, active and healthy ageing,
active ageing, medical adherence, AFE
Aging, ageing, early detection
Electronic Health
Records
EHR, digital health record, patient summary,
electronic patient record, electronic medical
record
Health record
e-Health
e-Health
Health, care
Health Information
System
Patient data, medical data, health information,
patient summary, health data, clinical data
health card
Independent living
Independent living, assisted living, AAL, service
robot
Smart home, age-friendly
Integrated care
Integrated healthcare, integrated care,
integrated health, co-ordinated care,
comprehensive care, seamless care, transmural
care
Care
m-Health
m-Health, mobile health, health apps, health
applications
Personalised medicine
Individual health data, medication adherence,
personalised medicine, personal health system,
personalised health-care, user-generated data
Diagnostic, diagnosis
e-Prescription
e-prescription
Prescription
Telemedicine and
telemonitoring
Tele-medicin, tele-medicine, tele-health, tele-
monitoring, tele-care
e-Government
e-Democracy
electronic democracy , e-Democracy
e-Government
e-Government, public ICT solutions, systems of
public administration, Public administration
data
Government services, public
services
e-Invoicing
e-Invoice
Invoice, invoicing
e-Land management
e-Land management
Land management
e-Procurement
e-Procurement
Procurement
e-Welfare
e-Welfare
welfare services
Interoperability public
data
Interoperability of public data, interoperability
platforms
Interoperability
Online payment
Mobile payment, online payment, electronic
payment
Payment
Open and big data
Open data, government data, big data
e-Justice
e-Justice, e-legislation, electronic filing
Trust, security
and
authentication
Cybercrime and attacks
Cyber-crime, cyber-attack, cyberattack, e-
crime
Crime
Electronic identification
Electronic identification, e-IDAS, e-
Identification, EID, authentication
Interoperability,
interconnection
Inter-operability, inter-
connection
Privacy
Privacy
Secure infrastructures
Cyber incident, network security, information
security
Key infrastructure, resilience,
stability
Security and data
protection
Data protection
Secure, security
Trust services
e-Signature, digital signature, electronic
signature, electronic time stamp, e-Time
stamp, electronic seals, e-Seals, electronic
registered delivery, e-Registered delivery,
electronically registered delivery, website
authentication
Trust
Smart cities
and smart
grids
Smart cities
Smart city, smart cities, intelligent city, ICT in
cities
Urban regeneration, city
lighting, city heating, district
heating, district lighting
Smart grids
Smart grid
Distribution energy systems,
Integrated energy
40
Smart energy
intelligent metering systems, intelligent
buildings, smart buildings, Smart energy
management, smart lighting, smart houses,
intelligent lighting, control systems for
buildings, smart energy system
Energy efficiency, housing,
buildings renovation, street
lighting
Green cars
Green cars, electric vehicles
Climate data systems
climate data systems
Climate data
Intelligent transport
systems
intelligent transport systems, intelligent traffic
management systems, transport tele-matics
traffic management
Smart mobility
Smart mobility, intelligent mobility
MOBILITY
Data centres/Green ICT
Green ICT, green data centres
City planning
GIS, spatial data, geographic information
systems, intelligent maps
City management, land
management
Smart resource
efficiency
Smart resources efficiency, intelligent use of
resources
Waste management, waste
water management, resource
management
41
Appendix 3, Interview respondents
Croatia
o Jan Sulik, Ministry of Economy
o Stanka Crvik Orešković, Ministry for Regional Development and EU Funds
Czech Republic
o Petr Tůma, Ministry of Industry
o Alice Sova, DG REGIO desk, Czech Republic
France
o Christine Loussert, Direction des Affaires Européennes, Région Provence
Alpes Côte d'Azur
Hungary
o Csaba Kelemen, Head of Department, Ministry of National Development
Italy
o Bertini Silvano, Regione Emilia-Romagna
o Gaetano Grasso, Innova Puglia, Puglia Region
o Francesca Michielin, DG REGIO desk, Italy
Poland
o Mateusz Golanski, Departament Rozwoju Cyfrowego, Ministerstwo
Infrastruktury i Rozwoju
o Katarzyna Kaczkowska, Head of Unit, Departament Konkurencyjności i
Innowacyjności, Ministerstwo Infrastruktury i Rozwoju
o Małgorzata Zakrzewska, Deputy Director, Lodz
Spain
o Adolfina Martinez, Junta de Andalucia
42
Appendix 4. Examples of interventions to be supported
These examples of activities that will be supported under the different CoIs come mainly
from interviews carried out in the process of the quality review. As we were unable to
make contact with some of the regions, the specific OPs were reviewed instead. This was
carried out for Greece and the OP for public sector reform (CoI 096), Île de France (CoI
049 and 065), as well as for ESF 05, the Malopolska regional OP, the Portuguese OP on
competitiveness and Bulgarian OP on human resources development.
Category of Intervention
Examples of activities to be supported
004: Productive investment
linked to the cooperation
between large enterprises
and SMEs for developing ICT
products and services, e-
Commerce and enhancing
demand for ICT
e-Commerce and enhancing demand for ICT (CZ)
Motivation and awareness activities (events, campaigns,
consultancy) raising SME ICT readiness and introduction of new
business ICT applications and solutions (ERP, CRM, cloud, etc.) for
SMEs (HU)
015: Intelligent energy
distribution systems at
medium and low voltage
levels (including smart grids
and ICT systems)
Smart metering and grid developments (HU)
Installation of smart metering devices, provision of accurate
feedback about end-use energy consumption, introduction of home
energy management systems, including various wireless
communications options (for smart metering) which will contribute
to the specific objective by allowing users to manage and use
energy sources more carefully and efficiently and less costly (HR)
ICT for smart electricity grids, smart meters, smart distribution
systems (Andalucia)
Energy efficiency and Smart housing (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
044: Intelligent transport
systems (including the
introduction of demand
management, tolling systems,
IT monitoring, control and
information systems)
Intelligent transport system developments (HU)
Implementation of systems for monitoring and management of
transport systems (ITS) within urban areas (HR)
Actions enhancing services of railway transport to users (e-
Services, single ticketing, station and onboard (in train)
information systems), reintegration of railways within existing
urban transport systems (operations synchronization, joint/aligned
timetables with urban transport) (HR)
045: ICT, backbone/backhaul
network
Financing development of aggregation (backhaul) (HR)
NGN networks and connection of public institutions to NGN
network (HR)
Financing development of NGN/NGA networks in NGA white areas
(HR)
046: ICT, high-speed
broadband network
(access/local loop; ≥ 30
Mbps)
Development of local and backhaul new generation broadband
networks in ‘white spots’ (HU)
Development of state broadband networks and access of
institutions (HU)
NGN networks and connection of public institutions to NGN
network and financing development of NGN/NGA networks in NGA
white areas (HR)
High speed broadband guaranteeing universal coverage
(Andalucía)
047: ICT, very high-speed
broadband network
(access/local loop; ≥ 100
Mbps)
High speed broadband guaranteeing universal coverage
(Andalucía)
048: ICT: Other types of ICT
infrastructure/large-scale
computer
resources/equipment
(including e-infrastructure,
data centres and sensors;
also where embedded in
other infrastructure such as
research facilities,
environmental and social
infrastructure)
Activity data centres and shared services centres (CZ)
Development of governmental broadband networks (HU)
Establishment of the government cloud (HR)
Large-scale procurement of ICT equipment for primary and
secondary schools (procurement of ICT equipment for teaching
and learning, namely for teachers and for classrooms) (HR)
Equipping primary and secondary schools with appropriate LANs
(constructing local internet networks in schools (targeted school
locations) (HR)
Deployed data centres ready to absorb the increased demand for
e-Service and e-Content in the school cloud (HR)
ICT, specialised didactical and pedagogical equipment,
transformation and refurbishment of the premises, joint facilities
shared by VET schools and companies/local communities/centres
of competences (HR)
43
078: e-Government services
and applications (including e-
procurement, ICT measures
supporting the reform of
public administration, cyber-
security, trust and privacy
measures, e-Justice and e-
Democracy)
e-Health (PL)
e-Government developments, e.g. public administration and Civil
Service Development Operational Programme (PADOP) (HU)
e-Government, public administration (both to provide better
services to citizens and internal organisation) (Andalucía)
e-Justice, to put judges online and connect them (Andalucia)
Environment ICT (Andalucia)
Consumer protection (Andalucia)
Digital trust (Andalucia)
Smart city (Andalucia)
e-Land management (HR)
e-Justice (HR)
e-Tourism (HR)
e-Inclusion (HR)
Public ICT projects, e-Government, e-Public services (HR)
Interoperability (HR)
Common identification and authentication interface (HR)
e-Citizens email (HR)
Cyber security (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
079: Access to public sector
information (including open
data e-Culture, digital
libraries, e-Content and e-
Tourism)
Living labs (Emilia Romagna)
Network projects for innovation services (Emilia Romagna)
Start-ups in ICT and Knowledge intensive services (Emilia
Romagna)
e-Culture (HR)
Open data and big data (Andalucía)
Digital content (Andalucía)
New ways of accessing culture festivals and community building
(Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
080: e-Inclusion, e-
Accessibility, e-Learning and
e-Education services and
applications, digital literacy
Development of services and infrastructure of community internet
access points (HU)
Motivation and awareness raising activities (events, campaigns) for
e-Inclusion of lagging social groups (HU)
e-Education developments (HU)
e-Education (Andalucía)
Telecentres in remote areas, access to internet and ICT training
(Andalucía)
Digital skills, e-Learning and e-Inclusion (PL)
081: ICT solutions addressing
the healthy active ageing
challenge and e-Health
services and applications
(including e-Care and
ambient assisted living)
e-Health (HU)
Connecting hospitals- project, EUROSTAR (Andalucía)
e-Health (HR)
ICT services and applications for health, SMEs in area of health,
Domotic services (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
082: ICT Services and
applications for SMEs
(including e-Commerce, e-
Business and networked
business processes), living
labs, web entrepreneurs and
ICT start-ups)
Support the creation of new sophisticated ICT solutions (CZ)
Cooperation between ICT firms and educational institutions via
motivation and communication campaigns, events, workshops,
business consulting (HU)
Commercialization and international marketization of ICT products
and services (consulting, promotion, marketing, tender and expo
participation, software localization) (HU)
Support SMEs in production of new applications and services, such
as smart connected objects (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
Energy efficiency and Smart housing (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
Cyber security (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
ICT services and applications for health, SMEs in area of health,
Domotic services (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
05: ESF second theme:
enhancing the accessibility,
use and quality of information
Provision of intermediary services (BG)
Provision of on-the-job training (BG)
Provision of trainings for SME managers and entrepreneurs in
order to improve their managerial and entrepreneurial skills (BG)
Equipment and workplace adaptation (BG)
The specific training program comprising two parts: a general
basic training in order to standardize the level of knowledge in
transversal issues to the public administration and specific training
geared to meet the specific needs of recruitment; the actions that
are part of the program is face to face training system and/or
distance (PT)
049: Education infrastructure
for tertiary education
ICT in education (HR)
ICT in vocational education and training (VET) (HR)
Data centres ready to absorb the increased demand for e-Service
and e-Content in the school cloud (HR)
44
Equipping primary and secondary schools with appropriate LANs
(constructing local internet networks in schools (targeted school
locations) (HR)
Support to implementation of national e-Schools project (HR)
Support for creating projects, development and dissemination of
tools, services and digital content, particularly in strategic areas S3
(Île de France)
Supporting new collaborative working methods based on digital
technologies (telecentres, remote work spaces coworking, fablabs,
Medialabs) (Île De France)
056: Investment in
infrastructure, capacities and
equipment in SMEs directly
linked to research and
innovation activities
Ecosystem-strengthening innovative companies in the digital (web,
e-Commerce, internet and digital media, etc.); to help their
development, including the establishment of acceleration programs
to the targeted market of digital companies and specific tools
(incubation, seed financing, project accelerator, support for
growth, etc.), related in particular with the national initiative
FrenchTech (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
Investments into R&D&I infrastructure (RIS) (HR)
ICT-based e-Infrastructures (HR)
ICT and Engineering (HR)
058: Research and innovation
infrastructures (public)
Creation and consolidation of ICT infrastructures to support the
growth in areas of strategic interest to Andalucia, for example the
digital economy, blue and green economies, agrofood, knowledge
transfer and application in preferential socio economic areas
(Andalucia)
Distributed e-Infrastructures for shared services of a pan European
character (Andalucia)
Mobilisation of knowledge and technology transfer from research
institutions into practice (SK)
Research and development information system / access to
databases for the purposes of research institutions (SK)
Horizontal ICT support and central infrastructure for research and
development institutions (SK)
Investments into R&D&I infrastructure (HR)
Make Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur an experimental ground for
innovation and the uses of digital technology, support for
experimental projects for new digital uses (PACAlabs) and
establishment of practice demonstrators and places of uses of
innovations (from ‘Living Labs‘ territorial and thematic ‘Fablabs’
etc.) (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
059: Research and innovation
infrastructures (private,
including science parks)
Strengthening territorial digital ecosystems on relevant territories
in the region, particularly in connection with the initiative national
FrenchTech (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
ICT-based e-Infrastructures (HR)
060: Research and innovation
activities in public research
centres and centres of
competence including
networking
Key enabling technologies (KETs) – microelectronics, nano-
electronics and photonics (Andaluca)
Implementation of structural platforms and innovation projects
focused on ‘key technologies of digital’ that are strategic for
Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, (in particular: technologies without
contacts, Internet of Things, M2M networks and mobile services,
Very mobile broadband security and digital identity,
supercomputing and simulation, cloud computing, 3D technologies,
big data processing and data visualization, GIS, transmedia
(Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
061: Research and innovation
activities in private research
centres including networking
To promote the ‘digital transformation’ of companies with projects
such as: studies and diagnostics; collective action and partnership
operations of appropriation of digital technologies by businesses
(in particular SOHO SMEs) (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
062: Technology transfer and
university-enterprise
cooperation primarily
benefiting SMEs
Mobilisation of knowledge and technology transfer from research
institutions into practice (SK)
To support the development of a campus for the area of Smart
Cities connecting R&D with SMEs (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
063: Cluster support and
business networks primarily
benefiting SMEs
Shared platforms resources cloud computing (cloud) to the
SOHO/SME; platforms federative of online commerce (including
ESS, crafts, agriculture and promotion of local products) (Provence
Alpes Côte d’Azur)
Projects aimed at dissemination of digital technologies and
connected objects in industrial clusters, e.g. in traceability industry
(Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
064: Research and innovation
processes in SMEs (including
ICT innovation vouchers for R&I organisations (Provence Alpes
Côte d’Azur)
45
voucher schemes, process,
design, service and social
innovation)
e-business (HR)
Optimising the business processes using ICT (HR)
Digitalisation of business services and products (HR)
065: Research and innovation
infrastructure, processes,
technology transfer and
cooperation in enterprises
focusing on the low carbon
economy and on resilience to
climate change
Collective action to support the growth of SMEs in the sector S3 in
terms of financing of ecological and social conversion, and link
large group/SMEs (Île de France)
066: Advanced support
services for SMEs and groups
of SMEs (including
management, marketing and
design services)
ICT innovation vouchers for applications beyond R&I (Provence
Alpes Côte d’Azur)
Establishment of practice demonstrators and places of uses of
innovations (from ‘Living Labs’ territorial and thematic Fablabs
etc.) (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
Use of e-Business tools by SMEs (SK)
ICT solutions for greater SME efficiency (HR)
ICT uptake (HR)
e-Services creation and provision between enterprises (B2B) (HR)
digitalisation of business services and products (HR)
067: SME business
development, support to
entrepreneurship and
incubation (including support
to spin offs and spin outs)
Support to management of ICT processes (Andalucia)
Supporting the uptake of ICT in SMEs (Andalucia)
Tools for promotion and online commercialisation and the use of
social networks (Andalucia)
071: Development and
promotion of enterprises
specialised in providing
services contributing to the
low carbon economy and to
resilience to climate change
(including support to such
services)
Product development and innovation projects (including innovative
platforms) of digital services. e.g. in the area of risk prevention
companies providing services and education on risk in flooding,
earth quake, climate change (Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur)
096: Institutional capacity of
public administrations and
public services related to
implementation of the ERDF
or actions supporting ESF
institutional capacity
initiatives
Strengthening organisational, institutional and operational capacity
of public administration and local authorities for the benefit of
citizens and businesses (GR)
Promotion of e-Government in the public sector (GR)
Development of human resources in the public sector, through the
rational allocation of human resources, the provision of upgraded
services, and training (GR)
The development of ICT systems and applications that are directly
associated with the handling of internal processes and functions of
public bodies e.g. infrastructure development, systems and
applications
Improve the functioning of public services by upgrading their
communication by providing advanced telematic services at low
cost, and the unified civil service, with automated and user-
friendly information systems and processing transactions with the
State
101: Cross-financing under
the ERDF (support to ESF-
type actions necessary for the
satisfactory implementation
of the ERDF part of the
operation and directly linked
to it)
Cross-financing is planned for training on the operation and use of
the established communication and information systems for e-
Government and open government; this will concern projects
aiming at building e-Administration and training will mostly be
provided for beneficiary’s staff and employees of public
administration institutions (PL)
121: Preparation,
implementation, monitoring
and inspection
Secure that broadband investments development are focused,
among other on those areas where they can benefit public
administration institutions the best
Development of digital educational materials, tools and methods as
well as organizational models supporting their use on a national
level
Smart public administration
46
List of figures
Figure 1. ICT monitoring tool front page. .............................................................. 14
Figure 2. ESIF ICT tool search results. .................................................................. 15
Figure 3. All ICT-related categories of intervention. ................................................ 19
Figure 4. Broadband. .......................................................................................... 21
Figure 5. e-Government. .................................................................................... 22
Figure 6. Digital content. .................................................................................... 23
Figure 7. e-Inclusion. ......................................................................................... 24
Figure 8. e-Health, and healthy and active ageing. ................................................. 25
Figure 9. ICT SME support and e-Commerce. ........................................................ 26
Figure 10. Smart grids. ...................................................................................... 27
Figure 11. Smart cities. ...................................................................................... 28
Figure 12. Research and innovation. .................................................................... 29
Figure 13. Innovation vouchers (064) in all thematic objectives............................... 30
Figure 14. Financial instruments in ICT. ................................................................ 31
How to obtain EU publications
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2
doi:10.2791/963062
ISBN 978-92-79-59748-0
LF-NA-27983-EN-N
JRC Mission
As the Commission’s
in-house science service,
the Joint Research Centre’s
mission is to provide EU
policies with independent,
evidence-based scientific
and technical support
throughout the whole
policy cycle.
Working in close
cooperation with policy
Directorates-General,
the JRC addresses key
societal challenges while
stimulating innovation
through developing
new methods, tools
and standards, and sharing
its know-how with
the Member States,
the scientific community
and international partners.
Serving society
Stimulating innovation
Supporting legislation
