Décembre 1993
sommaire
Réalités industrielles
Information and networks in the european economy
Message
Par Jacques Delors
President of the European Commission
Information and communication technology, structural factors of European unity
Telecommunications and telematics networks in Europe
Par Michel CARPENTIER
Director General CEC - DG XIII (Telecommunications, Information Market and Exploitation of Research
Interconnecting national telecommunications networks, developing a high density trans-European Infrastructure, promoting new telematic services are essential to controle economy in Europe. These goals were already taken into account in the first framework programmes of research, which stimulated cooperations between industry, telecommunications organisations and users of new telematic services. Their importance was reinforced by the Maastricht Treaty, leading to a IV Framework Programme which is envisaged to be approved before the end of this year.
Technology policy and information industries in the European Community
Par Michel CATINAT
Head of Division “Information industries and telecommunication equipment. Analysis, Forward studies and Strategy”, DG III (Industry), CEC
Preserving a European sense of identity is tied up with the well-being of the European information industry. But this industry, in the throes of a crisis, faces stiff competition from Japan and the United States. Does the European sense of identity risk being diluted? Not if Europe implements a technological policy like the one defined by the European Union Treaty.
New challenges facing the Community's industrial policy
Par Alex JACQUEMIN
Professor at Louvain Catholic University, CEC Adviser
et Jean-François MARCHIPONT
Head of division “Competitiveness and General questions of industrial and technological policy”, DG III (Industry), CEC
Economic debate about the grounds for an effective EEC industrial policy and the forms it could take has been making news. What are the stakes in a new policy based on competing markets? A preliminary answer can come from analyzing public authorities' recent actions in the light of developments in this industry.
The Europe of big networks: infrastructures and regional planning in the EC
Regional development in Europe
Par Eneko LANDABURU
Director General for Regional Policy, Commission of the European Communities
Does the creation of a single market not risk increasing economic and structural disparities not only within the EEC but also with neighboring lands? Attentive to this territorial dimension, the Commission, in close cooperation with national administrations, has inquired into regional development policy within the EEC.
Europe and the major networks
Par Christian STOFFAËS
Deputy Director, Economics, Forecasting and Strategy Division, at Électricité de France (EDF), Chairman of “X-Europe/Networks”
Till recently, the firms managing networks in Europe were monopolies, usually public ones. Their activities mainly took place within a nation state, where they were subject to governmental regulations. Irreversibly "internationalized", these firms must now adapt to "deregulation" and European unity. The new European system of networks has not yet been designed, but nothing is the
Trans-European administrative networks
Par Jean-Paul BAQUIAST
General secretary, Interministerial committee on information technology and office automation in the administration (CCIIBA), France
After the creation of a European economic space, is a European administrative space coming into being? Data-communication networks - indispensable for exchanging data and coordinating administrative actions in various countries - are being set up. Plans are being made; and funds, brought together.
Electronic information and computers in the European economy: supply, demand, products
New data towards computerization
Par Albert BENVENISTE
Research Director at INRIA
Computers link together the various components of increasingly complex systems. They are now essential to rail transportation, aeronautics and the automobile industry. To satisfy clients, the systems experts who exercise general control over computer science engineering are developing ever more efficient and sophisticated methods, ranging from real time programming to computer-assisted design.
The development of the information technology scene
Par Gérard BERRY
Research Professor at the École des Mines in Paris (Sophia-Antipolis), scientific adviser to INRIA
Recent advances in computer science are characterized by the growing importance of software in comparison with hardware. Control over software is the way to strengthen one's position in the computer products market. Software technology is much more complicated than most other industrial technologies. It is hard to identify errors and foresee their subtle consequences. Taking computer science seriously means training large numbers of qualified engineers and convincing users about the difficulty of computer techniques.
Whatever my profession, I will be using information
Par Daniel DEBERGHES
Docteur Ingénieur IDN, Principal Administrator of the European Commission, Administrator of the Fondation Norbert-Segard
The application of computer technology used to be limited to providing help with management and eliminating repetitive tasks. Nowadays, computer applications perform complicated functions in all occupations. Europe must take computer science seriously. It must recognize that this science depends on research and training and that it can help improve competitiveness and the quality of life.
The future of the information supplier
Par Z.J. KIST
Former member of the Management Board of Wolters Kluwer N.V., Netherlands
No doubt about it: books and magazines will still be printed on paper. Nonetheless, new techniques for storing and communicating data will have an impact on the publishing industry. A new concept is emerging: the "multimedia editor" who, in various mediums, will supply preprocessed information to segmented markets. His networks will be hooked up with clients'.
Scientific and technological know-how: the basis of economic actions
The laws of chaos
Par Ilya PRIGOGINE
Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, Instituts Internationaux de Physique et de Chimie Solvay, Brussels (Belgium), Center for Studies in Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems, The University of Texas at Austin
Our traditional world-view is grounded in the duality between the scientific world with its reversible, deterministic laws and the phenomenal world characterized by uncertainty and irreversibility. But modern science has discovered the uncertainty and irreversibility of chaos at the very center of nature.
Information and competitiveness
Par Daniel CONFLAND
Head of the Department of scientific and technical information, Ministry of Higher Studies and Research
Official reports now consider "information" to be a determinant of a nation's rank in economic competition. Given an increasingly complex environment, the "information sciences" can help reduce uncertainty. Their functions of regulation, formalization, assistance in production and diffusion make them an important factor in competition between firms.
Information and communication sciences: knowledge for action
Par Richard DELMAS
Commission of the European Communities
Knowledge in the information and communication sciences is diverse and dispersed. This technology can be put to limitless uses. But should we give up on the effort to find a global, overall approach? In the 1990s, a truly European consciousness may develop thanks to the evolution of information sciences and the enlightened use and understanding of techniques that can help reconcile technology and society.
Information processing and development: Europe confronted by seven major challenges
Par André DANZIN
Club de Rome
Although the economy is being "dematerialized", Europe's information technology has not been very successful. Europe must also face other problems: the drift toward a short-run civilization (or "mediacracy"), the emergence of new forms of democracy, and doubts about educational systems and the use of mother tongues.