Neelie Kroes: "to think about the future economy, you must take account of the digital revolution"

The Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda asked for an European investment in our digital future at the Conference of national parliaments in Copenhagen. Because "Internet is changing our economy, changing our opportunities, and changing our world", "the European digital Internet economy that is already bigger than Belgium’s national economy and growing faster than the Chinese economy" will be the next big thing. One thing is certain : "In every sector, whether it's tourism, teaching or television, small businesses and large, urban areas and rural: they're all going digital".

Without these investment, Europe might have some difficulties to face up to a more and more competitive world market and to get behind with "new ways of doing business, new ways to power productivity, new ways to innovate".  There is also a pity for the Europeans : "I can tell you that they're usually already at risk of socio-economic exclusion. If they were online, they could access new opportunities, jobs, social connections, government services. Indeed, if those people were all online and using eGovernment, taxpayers could save billions."

For more information about the speech "Investing in our digital future", Neelie Kroes.