The digital market is growing so fast that governments, businesses and employees are unable to keep pace. These words were spoken by the Euro-commissioner for the digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, when presenting her annual scoreboard.
“They are clinging to the policy mentality and business models of the 20th century and this is damaging the European economy. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by failing to invest enough. If we fail to act, Europe will be overtaken by its competitors throughout the world”, was the warning issued by Kroes.
Her scoreboard shows that 95% of all Europeans now have broadband, the number of online purchases is growing substantially (though only within countries’ own borders), cross-border mobile (data) transactions are still far too expensive and almost half of all employed personnel feel they do not have sufficient ICT skills. According to Kroes, ICT is already responsible for 8 million jobs and 6% of the European economy. Her firm expectation is that by 2015 there will be another 700,000 jobs, possibly even as many as 2 million by 2050.