European Telework Information Day Brussels - 28th May 1998 Report By Jeremy Millard ETD Programme Manager

Background

Nineteen-ninety-eight is an important year for European Telework, marking the launch of a European Telework Agenda which brings together the key events, such as the European Assembly on Telework and New Ways of Working (Lisbon, 23 - 25 September 1998), and activities relating to telework at European level, and culminates in the fourth European Telework Week in November 1998. This year also marks the start of the transition from the Fourth to the Fifth Framework Programme, with New Methods of Work and Electronic Commerce now emerging as an integrated Key Action in European RTD.

The European Telework Information Day on 28 May 1998 provided an opportunity to be updated on the European Commission's policy, information and stimulation activities with regard to telework and to preview the European Telework Status Report 1998. It marked also the official public launch of Telework Week 1998, at which ambitious plans were revealed for an even bigger and more comprehensive programme than the record-setting 1997 Telework Week.

A very wide range of people having a constructive interest in European telework participated in the Information Day. These included Commission staff involved in telework-related activities, regional activists, European and national project participants with activities related to telework, telework national event co-ordinators from previous years, and other key actors including suppliers working at European level and relevant officials of national administrations.

The first part of the day's proceedings consisted of an update on telework and related activities in Europe in mid 1998. This consisted of an introduction on telework and the Commission's support, now and in the future; a contribution from the Information Society Forum to the employment debate; a report on the social dialogue on telework within the European policy context; an update on the Fifth Framework Programme; and some headlines from the forthcoming European Telework Status Report 1998. These are summarised in sections 2 to 6.

The rest of the day focused explicitly on European Telework Week (ETW). This commenced with presentations of three of the winners of the 1997 European Telework Awards, followed by a Call for Nominations for the 1998 Telework Award, and a summary of overall results from ETW97. Focussing on ETW98, full briefing and information was given as to how to get involved, including a call for award nominations, an explanation of the ETW rationale, a review of support mechanisms, and an Invitation for Initiatives. These are covered in sections 7 and 8. Finally, an introduction was given to the European Assembly, summarised below in section 9.

This present report concludes with two annexes, one giving the day's agenda and the other listing participants.

Introduction: the European Policy Framework

Peter Johnston welcomed the participants and explained that telework and news ways of working are, and will remain, very important aspects of the European Commission's activities. In this context, meetings like this play a crucial role in helping to develop a strong partnership between the Commission, industry, governments and in fact all sectors of society.

Nineteen-ninety-eight marks a turning point in the development of these new working practices in Europe. Although definitions are very difficult in this rapidly changing field, current best estimates indicate that about 4 million Europeans, about 2½% of the workforce, are involved in telework activities of one type or another; approximately a doubling over the last 18 months to 2 years. Thus, new ways of working are now starting to become mainstream features of European employment, and this poses major challenges to society, to business, and to public administrations.

Although the changing employment situation in Europe is actively pushing developments towards new ways of working and of organising work, the technology itself is arguably the major enabling factor. To an important extent, the increase in the take up of telework is a consequence of the rapid development of key technologies, three of which have had a profound impact in the last few years: mobile telephony, mainly GSM, currently with 85 million subscribers globally, and with an increasing number using the systems for data communications as well as voice the Internet, and the increasing use of intranets within business organisations and extranets which allow a dispersion of the workforce the technologies underpinning call centre development, which now employ about 400,000 in Europe relying on the integration of computing and telecommunications.

This year is also a turning point in terms of European support, in two major ways. First, there is now greater support for new ways of working through Member State initiatives under the Structural Funds for innovation and development than there is for technology development through the European research programmes. This marks an important shift towards support for the deployment of technologies, and, although support for research will continue and will indeed be reinforced, the balance has now decisively tipped.

Second, the shift from the Fourth Framework Programme for Research and Technology Development to the Fifth Framework Programme. The latter, and particularly the Information Society thematic programme, is well on track for decision and implementation by the end of 1998. This is not just a change in budgetary framework but, more importantly, marks a structural change. The technology continues, of course, to evolve very quickly and is now being developed specifically for telework, so that it is no longer always necessary for teleworkers and business users to integrate technology developed for other purposes into their own specific configurations. The Fifth Framework Programme proposals contain an integrated overall package, so that Information Society Technologies (ISTs) are seen as a whole within which new methods of work is one of the main areas for focussing support. By this means, a major effort is being made in key areas in order to put Europe at the forefront of the next generation of technology development and their use for new working practices.

It is expected that the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament will agree to approximately 500 MECU of support on the Key Action for New Methods of Working and Electronic Commerce. This is an enormous financial boost, but also a strong political signal that Europe should be a world leader, not just in the numbers of people benefiting from more flexible working practices but also in the quality of working life which they then enjoy. Mr. Johnston concluded by stressing the need, not only for world best technologies, but also for world best practice and application.