Regions can now take advantage of Structural Funds for ICT deployment

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On 9 October 2008 the Inaugural Meeting of the European ICT SF Council took place in Brussels.

Over 30 Council Members gathered at the Fundacion Europa-Galicia for the Inauguration of the SF-ICT Council activities on its first plenary session.

Professor Antoni Slavinski, Chairman of the Council, welcomed all members and officially launched this called-to-be cornerstone of the Regional Development and Cohesion Policy application towards promoting an open and competitive digital economy and inclusive society.

The SF-ICT Council is a group of experts promoted by SFERA Project to advice and guide the Regions on different issues that are related to the better and efficient use of ICT Structural Funds. Among their main objectives are the following:

Most of the SF-ICT Council Members also attended SFERA Annual Conference where they had the opportunity of interacting and exchanging points of view with high-level representatives from EC DG Information Society & Media and EC DG Regional Policy with regards to the strategic relevance of ICT’s R&D and their usage to help bridging the digital divide through Cohesion Policy.

Council Members commented and discussed different proposals, recommendations, alternatives and business models prepared by SFERA Consortium Partners and and EC-DG Representatives on ways, technologies, approaches, trade-offs, drawbacks and other issues regarding Regional accessibility of funding schemes to allow Structural Funds to be directed and use towards ICTs deployment.

Their main conclusion focused on the need to urgently deploy a coordinated set of pro-active actions aiming at achieving “technological neutrality” from governments and organizations responsible for the application of Operational Programmes and Funding Schemes, being the final goal the economically efficient use of available funds on ICTs network deployment. 

SF-ICT Council committed to keep on striving for transferring knowledge and assistance to European Commission, Member States and Regions, as well as to align these activities with SFERA plans for a comprehensive and ambitious action to ensure that no region within Europe is left aside of the possibility of using Structural Funds and other Cohesion Policy funding schemes for efficient ICT infrastructure deployment.

Finally, it was agreed that by mid-November 2008 the initial outcomes of the SF-ICT Council, including key recommendations and strategies to follow, will be approved and distributed among all relevant stakeholders and interested parties.

All Council-related information, documents and other useful details will be made available at www.sferaproject.eu. 

For additional information and/or assistance by the Council, do not hesitate to contact the Council Secretariat at project@basscom.org (Tsvetelina Marinova).