Chairman, Management Technology Associates
Programme Director, European Telework Development

ETD is an initiative to stimulate and support take up of telework, teletrade (including e-commerce) and telecooperation across Europe, supported by the Commission as part of the ACTS programme (http://www.eto.org.uk). Our approach is to (a) encourage citizens, businesses and administrations to , (b) help them to understand why and how to do so, (b) once they are actively online to be a source of information and useful connections, (c) in particular, help them to understand whether and how to become successful in telework orteletrade, (d) in all cases to encourage and support telecooperation, which we see as the foundation application, relevant to everyone.

We run a fairly high profile website (over a million visits to date and some 10,000 regular users) which is very interactive (discussion lists, announcement lists etc - something over 3,000 people have participated in some way), which is the hub of a network of sites in (currently) 19 countries. We get a lot of requests for information. For the telework part of our role we also have a network of national contact points in countries. We also work with the Commission and others to help understanding of Europe's opportunities and challenges in the emerging Networked Economy and the policy, regulatory and programme responses that are needed.

The mission of your centre or support activity

Relevant to centres of competence/excellent in e-com the kind of thing we have already done in other contexts may be useful. We have a strong focus on and have assisted the establishment of networks within Europe and with other countries as follows:

1. Helping participants achieve high visibility online, on the grounds that people in Europe who are already are the potential pinoneers and we should focus on connecting with them and helping them

2. Directing enquiries to the most appropriate centre(s) of competence, on the basis of known and trusted relationships wherever possible

3. Assisting the process of active networking among activists so as to share information, experience and know how and to build synergy and confidence across Europe and with other countries and regions

We also do quite a lot of market analysis so we could be a useful source of information on opportunities and issues. I hope to cover some of this in a paper I will try to post, as suggested by Marjolein.