Expotech, Ramallah, Palestine – 5.10.2015 European Union's initiatives relevant to the Digital Economy in Palestine Expotech, Ramallah, Palestine – 5.10.2015 Gérard GALLER, gerard.galler@ec.europa.eu International Policy Officer DG CONNECT – Communications Networks, Content and Technology European Commission 1.10.2015

Contents The Digital Economy Ecosystem The Union for the Mediterranean The European Neighbourhood Policy Regulatory harmonisation Research infrastructure Higher Education: Erasmus+ Research & Innovation: H2020 / ICT

The Digital Economy Ecosystem Research Innovation Education Public administration / Legal framework e-Infrastructure

Union for the Mediterranean Evolution of the "Barcelona Process" / EUROMED Co-presidency: European Union & Jordan Secretariat: UfM Secretariat 43 Members States: 28 EU Member States + EU Candidates (Albania , Bosnia & Herz., Montenegro, Turkey) + Monaco + 10 South Med Countries: (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco , Palestine, Syria, Tunisia) One objective: Enhance EUROMED regional cooperation and integration through concrete projects and initiatives Six priority areas incl. Business Dvlopmt. & SMEs & Employability Allows "combining" European Commission support to: EU Member States support to projects Other donors (eg. EIB, EBRD, Arab donors, …)

Ministerial meeting on Digital Economy Brussels, 30.9.2014 Final Declaration: the Ministers recognised importance of ICT for growth & jobs identified common challenges (big data, privacy, cloud, Internet governance, …) Called for actions Proved that Digital Economy is "the" topic: where consensus is achieved which offers a positive outlook "Digital Economy Expert Working Group" DEWoG 9-10.12.2015, Barcelona

European Neighbourhood Policy-ENP EU policy towards "neighbouring" countries Bilateral focus Regional focus DG CONNECT participation to the UfM exercise is likely to go through ENP funding mechanism (tbc) May include "Twinning" mechanism to support public administrations ENP currently under revision: "Communication" on 18.11.2015 (tbc) Increased weight of Digital Economy in the revised ENP (tbc)

Regulatory harmonisation Telecom: EMERG MTIT: Ministry for Telecommunications and IT

EUMEDConnect EUMEDCONNECT1&2 (2001-10) EU Funding: 14 M€. Establishment of ASREN: 2011 EUMEDCONNECT3 (2011-15+) EU Funding 3.2M€ Currently only Algeria and Egypt connected to EUMEDCONNECT3 Other South Med NRENs have no dedicated international connectivity for Research & Education networking. Renewed interest amongst the beneficiary countries for R&E networking (explicit support of UfM ICT ministers to EUMEDCONNECT ) Ongoing discussions for development of EUMEDCONNECT after 2015

Support to Higher Education including in ICT Erasmus+ Support to Higher Education including in ICT Joint projects: New curricula & degrees, learning and teaching methodologies, staff development, quality assurance, governance, Bologna tools Structural projects: Reforms at national level with support of authorities in Partner Countries (policy modernisation, Bologna policies, governance and management of higher education systems…) Additional mobility component for ENP countries

EU programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 EU programme for Research and Innovation €80 billion, 2014 -2020 Coupling research with innovation: 'from lab to market' Focus on societal challenges: health, clean energy, transport, etc. Open to participation: companies, universities, institutes EU and beyond (eg. Palestine)

ICT in H2020 Excellent Science Industrial Leadership Frontier Research (ERC) Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Skills and career development (Marie Skłodowska-Curie) Research Infrastructures ICT ICT ICT Industrial Leadership Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies ICT Nanotech., Materials, Manuf. & Processing Biotechnology Space Access to risk finance Innovation in SMEs Societal Challenges Health, demographic change and wellbeing Food security, sustainable agriculture, and the bio-based economy Secure, clean and efficient energy Smart, green and integrated transport Climate action, resource efficiency, and raw materials Inclusive, innovative and reflective societies Secure societies ICT ICT ICT ICT ICT ICT ICT ICT ICT ICT