1. Expotech, Ramallah, Palestine – 5.10.2015
European Union's initiatives relevant to the Digital Economy in Palestine
Expotech, Ramallah, Palestine –
Gérard GALLER,
International Policy Officer
DG CONNECT – Communications Networks, Content and Technology
European Commission

2. 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

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

4. 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, …)

5. Ministerial meeting on Digital Economy
Brussels,
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
, Barcelona

6. 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 (tbc)
Increased weight of Digital Economy in the revised ENP (tbc)

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

8. EUMEDConnect EUMEDCONNECT1&2 (2001-10) EU Funding: 14 M€.
Establishment of ASREN: 2011
EUMEDCONNECT3 ( ) 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

9. 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

10. EU programme for Research and Innovation
Horizon 2020
EU programme for Research and Innovation
€80 billion,
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)

11. 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