Issue 3 - February 2013
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Editorial |
Dear Readers,
2013 welcomes the winter edition of our Newsletter!
As we bid goodbyes to a very productive year for Gov2u, we also bid goodbye to a project which reached its finale. SPOCS, a partner project since May of 2009, was completed just this past December.
Its results however, will set the ground for future developments in the cross-border electronic procedures for setting up business in an EU country.
And while all of our ongoing projects continue strong, a couple of them got some extra merits for a job well done!
The end of the year found Gov2u busy on the conference scene as well, with "Europeone eGovernment Conference" and "TEDxYouth@Tallinn" participations sealing it off.
We hope you enjoy catching up on our latest news!
The Gov2u Newsletter Team
If there's something you wish to share or have a topic you would like to see featured in our Spring edition, be sure to drop us a line at:
info@gov2u.org
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Our Project Updates |
Botswana Speaks Parliamentary Initiative
Can citizens get better connected with their elected representatives? Botswana Speaks and says: YES!
To start off, our newcomer, the Botswana Speaks Parliamentary Initiative was the first to kick off this quarter with a distinction!
In December of 2012, our communications team submitted this project case to ePractice.eu. After review, it was granted an Editor's Choice Award 2012 by the European Commission's ePractice.eu editing team. Supported by the Commission, the ePractice community runs its own editorial line and through a large think-tank base of real life case studies submitted by members from across Europe, ePractice.eu gives access to the exchange of good practice experiences.
The project aims at making it easier for citizens of four constituencies of Botswana, to share views and policy concerns with their elected representatives. The Botswana Speaks Parliamentary Initiative, an eDemocracy initiative, will enable the MPs of these four constituencies to gather citizens' views and input on issues and policy discussed in the Parliament via text messages and via a web platform.
The ICT-based Parliamentary Communication System (PCS) aims at making it practicable for governments to improve parliamentary efficiency, increase policy responsiveness and expand good governance through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Moreover, it will enable MPs to better fulfill their functions as decision-makers and representatives, with the objective of achieving wider societal development goals. |
 In the News Scene
Kheira Belkacem, Assistant Programme Director gave an interview in November, on how the Botswana Speaks Parliamentary Initiative aims to incorporate ICT tools within the political traditions of Botswana by not looking only at online tools but at the offline world as well.
Botswana, like many African countries, has a strong history of traditional tribal leadership and administration and Kheira Belkacem from Stockholm University's eGovlab tells it all on Gov 2.0 Radio!
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In the Conference Scene
Botswana Speaks Parliamentary Initiative was part of the TEDxYouth@Tallinn "My way." Vasilis Koulolias, Gov2u founder and Botswana Speaks Parliamentary Initiative Programme Director, presented the project at the TEDx event for youth organized by the youth. The speakers, who were chosen by highschoolers, shared their ideas, visions and accomplishments in a variety of fields.
Mr. Koulolias talked about the project and how important it is to enhance participation and direct communication between citizens and their elected Members of Parliament (MPs). The Botswana Speaks Parliamentary Initiative can do exactly that as an eDemocracy project that will enable citizens, traditional leaders and local kgotla assemblies in four constituencies of Botswana (Nata/Gweta, Boteti North, South East South and Maun West) to share their views and policy concerns with their elected representatives.
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iMENTORS: The most comprehensive e- infrastructures data map of Sub-Saharan Africa
The ultimate objective of iMENTORS is to form a vibrant online community of practice made of international actors and practitioners exchanging of up-to-date knowledge and information through online social interactions and dedicated spaces for online collaboration, and encourage the community to adopt and update the platform as its own. Launched in April 2012 by Stockholm University and Gov2u, iMENTORS will map all e-infrastructures of the past five years in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the objective of providing valuable insights on the gaps and progresses made, as well as enhance the coordination of international actors involved in information and communication technology initiatives in the region. It is an e-infrastructure capacities project co-funded under the 7th Framework Programme by the European Commission's DG CONNECT.
iMENTORS is in the final phase of building the online virtual observatory platform. The public database will be launched in February 2013. If you want to be part of this you may join our Community of Practice! Register and create your own or your organisation's public profile to exchange ideas, expertise and best practices, find partners, contacts and opportunities in e-infrastructure development, or increase the visibility of your own project.
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In the Peer Scene
Real life good practice cases
The iMENTORS team submitted the project's case to ePractice.eu, the portal created by the European Commission to offer a new service for the professional community of e-Government, e-Inclusion and e-Health practitioners.
Find iMENTORS in the ePractice.eu pages!
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In the Conference Scene
Euro-African collaboration on ICT research
Louis Papaemmanuel, project director for iMENTORS, presented the project at the 2012 Africa-EU Cooperation Forum on ICT in a session called Euro African Joint ICT Research Priorities, in Lisbon.
Mr. Papaemmanuel focused on how iMENTORS builds on the results of previous EU-funded projects and follows the conclusions of international conferences on the need to provide tools in support to policy development and programme implementations, by creating more networking opportunities between the various stakeholder groups involved in e-infrastructure developments.
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The last few months have been extremely busy but also extremely rewarding for all partners involved in the project! MyUniversity has reached yet another milestone - a very important one too - by launching its Super Portal. The Super Portal is an advanced platform, through which students and Universities around Europe have the opportunity to be involved in an encouraging environment that promotes dialogue and helps ideas and discussions to flourish.
All the topics discussed at the Super Portal are related to Higher Education and to the students' interests. Users of the Super Portal have the ability to choose from a variety of available participation tools like Polls, Discussions and Processes.
Gov2u, the partner responsible for the communication of the project, launched an informative campaign for the Super Portal and has sent out invitations to many other European Universities and Institutions & Groups related to Higher Education, to become a part of the Super Portal. We have been very glad to see several Universities responding positively and becoming a part of an already vibrating community.
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In the Limelight
In the meantime, these past few months, the partners of MyUniversity project have continued to organize events and participate in workshops or international meetings and present the project and its accomplishments to a wide community:
- Workshop on e-Participation and MyUniversity Platform on Campus de Vegazana, Leon, on 18/12/2012
- TEDxYouth@UdG at Girona Spain on 17/11/2012
- The project was presented at the International Symposium: The Alan Turing Legacy (Madrid, 23/10/2012), where projects related to eDemocracy were showcased
- On 14/10/2012, MyUniversity participated at the INFORMS 2012 Annual Meeting that took place in USA
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SPOCS: Taking down digital barriers to cross-border business
SPOCS successfully came to its completion with the end of 2012. Aiming to achieve an effective interaction through the digital society between public administrations, citizens and businesses, Simple Procedures Online for Cross-Border Services (SPOCS), a Large Scale Pilot project implemented by a consortium of partners from different Member States, focused on reducing the red tape involved in expanding a business into other countries, and making it easier to set up a business or provide services abroad. |
SPOCS has grown to SPOCS starter kit website
Making the SPOCS results available for future use is one of the key factors for sustainability. Gov2u developed the Starter Kit website as a guide and a means to hand over SPOCS assets for future use. Learn all about the next level of SPOCS at this Starter Kit website!
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SPOCS on YouTube
A number of videos were created explaining step by step the SPOCS piloting exercise. Take a look and experience the possibilities of SPOCS for yourself!
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Lots of activity with this partner project! STORK 2.0 (Secure idenTity acrOss boRders linKed 2.0) will facilitate borderless digital living and mobility in the EU by addressing a federated and trustworthy framework for cross-border eID services at European level. The project's building blocks and common elements will be the key to enable interoperability of the identification of natural and legal persons. Thus, STORK 2.0 is related to the policy framework of Digital Single Market for public and commercial services and will contribute to its strengthening.
STORK 2.0 is aligned with Key Actions of the Digital Agenda and will be a key-enabler to support the open, competitive digital economy envisaged in the Europe 2020 Strategy.
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To salute the New Year, STORK 2.0 made a grand appearance in the European Commission's ePractice.eu community and secured the Editor's Choice Award 2013.
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In the Conference Scene
On January 16th, 2013 STORK 2.0 partner, Eric Smith presented the STORK 2.0 project and the e-Banking pilot at OMNICARD 2013, "The world of smart ID solutions" conference held from 15th to 17th January 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Concerning the outcome of the presentation, a financial service provider with links to several Eastern European countries expressed interest in STORK 2.0 e-Banking pilot and requested further information as well as a number of other participants.
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Frank Leyman, STORK 2.0 partner and Fedict Manager of International Relations, presented STORK 2.0 project on December 3rd 2012 at Europeone eGovernment Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus. The STORK 2.0 presentation was focused on the relation of STORK and STORK 2.0 project, the project's objectives, mission, the pilots, the LSPs collaboration, the expected results and challenges.
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In the News
- "Access Luxembourg's administrative services from abroad at the touch of a button", article published online by "Wort.lu" newspaper on January 24th, 2013
- "Together with the Ministry of Treasure and Public Administrations of Spain, Indra facilitates interoperability of electronic identities with STORK project", article published by Europa Press on January 19th, 2013
- "The "Made in Europe" exhibition demonstrated the cross-border identification", article published in eID.lt on October 23rd, 2012
- "STORK 2.0 digital identification in Europe", article published in Semana Informatica on October 16th, 2012
- STORK 2.0 Newsletter Issue No.2, January 2013
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Gov2u in the Conference Scene |
European Single Digital Market: Strategies and Contribution of LSPs was the focus of Mr. Vasilis Koulolias' presentation in the "europeone eGovernment conference" that took place the 3rd – 4th of December in Nicosia, Cyprus.
The Europeone e-Government Conference brought together experts from the Commission, the Member States, the Candidate Countries and the Private Sector. The conference focused on issues related to interoperability, key enablers, cross border services, trust and privacy, new technologies tendencies, and e-procurement. Experts discussed and exchanged ideas/experiences on how to empower European citizens and businesses in order to improve their mobility across Europe. Discussions also focused on how Governments are transforming in order to be more efficient, productive and push economic growth in these difficult global times.
With an increasing "mobile" society in today's Europe, there is an ever growing need for common and interoperable solutions to create an agreeable cooperation between the different systems and the data they process.
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During the Plenary 3 session of the event which addressed Cross Border eServices, the Director of eGovlab and Chairman of the Board for Gov2u spoke on strategies to enhance citizens' mobility across Europe.
In this session, delegates had the opportunity to discuss and exchange their knowledge and experience related to the deployment of cross-border services around Europe and what actions Public Administrations need to implement in order to push development forward. Furthermore, they were informed on the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and its potential impact on Europe's infrastructure and future growth.
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New Partnerships |
New Year and new beginnings as Gov2u shook hands on a new partnership for the MIREA survey, becoming the organization's representative branch in Athens, Greece. MIREIA (Measuring the Impact of eInclusion Actors on Digital Literacy, Skills and Inclusion goals of the Digital Agenda for Europe) is a research project which aims at better understanding the role of eInclusion intermediary actors and wants to create adequate instruments to facilitate the demonstration of their outcomes and their contribution to the achievement of European eInclusion policy goals.
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The survey is available in 15 languages and will stay online until February 15th. If you believe your organization should be part of this survey, please visit: http://www.telecentre-europe.org/?page_id=5644
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Interesting Publications |
Next Generation Society Technological and Legal Issues: Third International Conference, e-Democracy 2009, Athens, Greece
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International ICST Conference, e-Democracy 2009, held in Athens, Greece, in September 2009. The 40 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed. The papers are organized in topical sections on politics - legislation - regulatory framework I; enhancing quality of life through e-services; politics - legislation - regulatory framework II supporting democracy through e-services; identity management, privacy and trust; security, attacks and crime; e-government & local e-government; education and training; collaboration, social networking, blogs; pervasive, ubiquitous, and intelligent computing.
Find this book in Amazon
The Politics of Participation: From Athens to E-Democracy
We live in an age of democracy. Very few people challenge the virtues of "government by the people", yet, politicians and commentators are fond of decrying the "crisis of democracy". How do these views square up? This book provides the answer by surveying the philosophical history of democracy and its critics and by analyzing empirical data about citizen participation in Britain and other developed democracies. In addition to analysis of major political thinkers like Plato, Machiavelli and J.S. Mill, the book analyzes how modern technology has influenced democracy. An essential book for students of politics, history and media studies this study puts the debate about democracy into perspective and offers a solid grounding for future discussions.
Find this book in Amazon
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Call for Papers |
Trust in the Digital World
This independent two-day conference organized by EEMA & TDL, hosted by DG CONNECT, European Commission and in partnership with the SECCORD project will comprise of a variety of presentations and panel discussions covering the key challenges and strategies available to effectively manage employee, citizen and corporate trust. The conference is an essential date for those in business, public sector, research and government who are involved in the policy, security, systems and processes surrounding trust.
Brussels, Belgium 17-18 April 2013
For further information visit the website.
Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government 2013
The international Conference for e-Democracy and Open Government brings together
e-democracy, e-participation and open government specialists working in academia, politics, government and business to critically analyze the innovations, issues, ideas and challenges in
the networked societies of the digital age.
Danube University Krems, May 22-25 2013
For a more detailed description of the Conference visit their website
EGOVIS & EDEM '13
2nd Joint International Conference on Electronic Government and the Information Systems Perspective and International Conference on Electronic Democracy
Technology-Enabled Innovation for Democracy, Government and Governance
Prague, Czech Republic - August 26 - 30, 2013
For more information visit the website
Fifth international conference on eParticipation (ePart 2013)
16-19 September 2013 - Koblenz, Germany
The conference provides a ground for researchers of distinct disciplines to come together and discuss advances of eParticipation research from distinct disciplinary angles.
ePart follows the traditions of high-level scientific conferences. It is organized by key experts in the field and will be supported by a multidisciplinary program committee.
For more details on the call for papers, visit the relevant website. |
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