Commission Staff Working Paper Ex ante Evaluation:Multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable (eContentplus) (2005 - 2008)

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Delegations will find attached a proposal from the Commission, submitted in a letter from Ms Patricia BUGNOT, Director, to Mr Javier SOLANA, Secretary-General/High Representative.

________________________

Encl.: SEC(2004) 169

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 13.2.2004 SEC(2004) 169

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPER

Ex ante Evaluation

Multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe more accessible,

usable and exploitable (eContentplus)

(2005 ­ 2008)

{COM(2004)96 final}

  • 1. 
    I NTRODUCTION

1

This document was prepared following the ex ante evaluation guidelines to support the process leading to the proposal for a multiannual Community programme, eContentplus.

This ex ante evaluation report covers:

problem analysis and needs assessment; ·

the main objectives the proposed programme intends to achieve; ·

alternative delivery mechanisms and risk assessment; ·

added value of Community involvement; ·

lessons for the past; ·

expected impact; ·

monitoring and evaluation arrangements; ·

cost effectiveness. ·

  • 2. 
    P ROBLEM ANALYSIS AND NEED ASSESMENT 2.1. Problem analysis

The importance of digital content as a driver to network use has been progressively recognised in the past few years. The European Union took action in support of digital content with the eContent Programme

2

, covering the years 2001 ­ 2004. Barriers to the establishment

of cross border services in Europe based on digital content however remain. They are due to the multiplicity of languages, cultures and practices of companies and public administrations.

The current eContentplus proposal (2005-2008) addresses these barriers and identifies areas of public interest in Europe where market forces fail to support adequate investment. eContentplus aims at creating conditions for broader access to and use of digital content and where necessary for greater economic return from services based on access and (re)use of digital content.

What is the present situation in the market place?

The digital content market 3 is an emerging part of the information industry. It is considered to be some distance from maturity, having been adversely affected by the slowdown in the

1 Ex ante evaluation ­ a practical guide for preparing proposals for expenditure programmes ­ December 2001) 2 Council Decision 2001/48/EC of 22 December 2000, OJ L14, 18.1.2001, p. 32.

3 The digital content industry is complex and varied, comprising a disparate range of services and products across a broad range of applications, platforms, tools, and industry sectors; embracing education, information, entertainment, and consumer and business-oriented content. The world market

technology markets that took place after the year 2000. The vision of the Internet of the 90s as a delivery medium offering global distribution for digital content assets and media products did not materialise. Broadband to the home­ a key component of this vision ­ is just starting to become popular

4

.

The more cost-sensitive residential markets now account for a growing share of the initially professional and enterprise-oriented PC and internet markets. Internet penetration in the EU grew from 18% to more than 42% for citizens

5

and it exceeds 90% for businesses and

schools. There are more public services available (e.g., from government agencies and health organisations) in addition to specialised enterprise services (e.g., offering business information, corporate training and workflow, transaction & resource management) where digital content plays an eminent role.

These services make use of the networked computing environment to add value to existing content. The possibility to aggregate content from different sources, to customise content according to user requirements, to combine content with software applications and create interactive content are exploited in domains such as business information, enterprise content management, corporate e-learning and online games. Though niche areas in themselves, these are all relatively successful in terms of generating direct revenues. These are commercial markets with vested interest from content and service providers and their development should for the most part be left to market forces.

In Europe, areas very near to the public interest, yet with a strong underlying economic value, have developed slower than others due to fragmentation of legislation, markets and languages.

That market deficiencies prevail in some areas is evidenced by the lack of e-learning content to suit the multilingual and multicultural specificity of European users, and the lack of EUlevel service offerings based on cultural content (archives and libraries) to support research, education and culture. For example, while the corporate e-learning market is growing (96% per year in Europe according to IDC in 2002), a significant fraction of European users are missing out on developments ­ schoolchildren, students, researchers and private citizens ­ because they don't constitute a mass-market.

Availability of data generated by the public sector at a pan European level is increasingly important to businesses as their interests extend across borders. Forthcoming legislation ­ see next section ­ promises to harmonise the conditions for reuse of existing public sector data and in so doing remove the legal uncertainty. There are however associated technical issues which hinder the creation of content-based services based on public sector data because of different practices among Member States in the gathering and storage, inventorying and description of the data and not least, because of the multiplicity of languages. The former is particularly true of spatial information (e.g., topography data, thematic data, co-ordinates, postal codes, etc.) which is embedded in up to 80% of all the data held by public sector institutions.

was estimated at over 178 B$ in 2001 and forecast to grow to 434 B$ by 2006, a 30% annual growth rate (PwC, 2002).

4 According to AOL (Workshop of Broadband, Brussels 15 July 2003) broadband users have increased 136% in the last 12 months in the EU. Broadband take up speed has increased in the last 12 months in Europe, reaching a significant number of users in some countries (e.g. the UK with 2 million users, National Statistical Office). 5 Internet users in Europe have grown from 72 million in February 2000, to 162 million in July 2003 5 , or

a penetration of 43% of the population ( http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats4.htm , July 11, 2003)

In summary, it can be concluded that at present the production, distribution and use of digital content in Europe is hampered a number of factors:

­ differences at Community level in the conditions for reuse of public sector information impede its cross-border exploitation; ­ different languages and cultures of the Union limits cross-border aggregation, distribution and use of content. 2.2. Emerging needs and target groups

There is a urgent need to acquire a better understanding of the implications of new legislation and technological advances related to digital content in order to fully contribute to the development of the Information Society, of which digital content is a fundamental driver.

Main emerging needs are:

­ to help overcome barriers originated by cultural, linguistic, legal, organisational and technical European specificity that hamper usability and reusability, searchability and interoperability of digital content in areas of public interest;

­ to pursue further the potential of digital content technologies for the availability of "quality" content-based information services for businesses and citizens, particularly those stimulated by the cross border re-use of public sector information consequent to adoption of the Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive 6

;

­ to accompany the roll out of broadband networks and the deployment of "3G" services by enhancing the process of development, use and exploitation of suitable content; ­ to help attaining the full potential of distributed systems such as the World Wide Web; to improve structured access to existing good practices and initiatives;to facilitate a more structured co-operation in the field of digital content at European level.

­

2.3. Target groups

Stakeholders in digital content include organisations ­ both public and private ­ involved in the creation, production, packaging, marketing and distribution of multimedia content within computer-mediated applications. There are various attempts in order to classify the content industry by expanding existing systems of industrial classifications

7

, which do not usually

comprise newly emerged sectors based on the Internet.

The proposed eContentplus programme addresses content stakeholders, such as database companies, localisation service providers, software companies, educational and cultural establishments, as well as traditional content providers like publishers, the public sector and research organisations.

6 COM(2002) 207, proposal adopted by the Commission on 5 June 2003

7 See for example several attempts by the Voorburg Group on Service Statistics

  • 3. 
    O BJECTIVES

3.1. General

The overall objective of the proposed programme is to make available broadly accessible and usable quality content-based services that facilitate the dispersing of information and diffusion of knowledge - in society and business; in education and research ­ at the Union level.

The programme focuses on the end-user ­ be it the citizen in society, the student, the researcher, business user wishing to augment their knowledge, or the `re-user' wishing to enhance and exploit existing digital content resources for economic return.

The programme has two aspects:

­ social dimension that focuses on domains where market forces are not sufficient to ensure that the citizens and user organisations in the Union can benefit from content offerings a made accessible by the latest technologies; ­ an economic dimension that helps establishing conditions for greater economic return from content-based services. 3.2. Specific

The programme aims at creating better conditions for accessing and managing digital content and services in multilingual and multicultural environments. It will broaden users' choice and support new ways of interacting with knowledge-enhanced digital content.

The eContentplus proposal envisages three specific objectives:

­ Supporting the emergence of pan-European frameworks (services, information infrastructures, etc.) facilitating discovery and access of digital content in Europe, its use and exploitation. Stimulate the establishment of networks and strategic alliances between stakeholders, encouraging the creation of new services and their organisational underpinnings thus improving users' choice and unlocking them from proprietary systems. ­ Facilitating the identification and wide diffusion of best practices in respect of methods, processes and operations to achieve higher quality, greater efficacy, efficiency and economy in the production, use and distribution of digital content. Augmenting usability and reusability, searchability and interoperability of digital content in multilingual and multicultural environments. ­ Accompanying relevant legislation relating to digital content (PSI), and supporting collaboration between public sector actors as well as benchmarking, monitoring and analysis tools, the impact assessment of the programme and the dissemination of results. These objectives are then translated into operational objectives covering well defined areas of action and instruments for their implementation.

3.3. Operational

The programme will finance projects designed to improve tools, processes and services related to the production, access, use and distribution of digital content. It will facilitate the

transfer of knowledge, experiences and good practices; co-ordination activities; crossfertilisation between content sectors, content providers and users. To this end, the programme encompasses the use of best practice actions normally conducted in thematic clusters as well as thematic networks bringing together a variety of stakeholders around a given technological and organisational objective.

The operational objectives are:

Facilitating access to, use and exploitation of digital content ·

Improving quality and facilitating best practice related to digital content ·

Reinforcing co-operation and awareness ·

In order to achieve these objectives, the Commission proposes to concentrate on actions which do not duplicate but complement or multiply the effects of other existing initiatives at Community of Member States level, and focus on sectors of public interest.

In all cases, the approach will take into proper account and build upon existing initiatives in order to draw benefits for a leverage effect.

  • 4. 
    A LTERNATIVE DELIVERY MECHANISMS AND RISK ASSESSMENT The following alternative options were considered:

­ Discontinue the current actions.

­ Extend the current eContent programme without change. ­ Create an enhanced follow-on programme. 8

From the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the

European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions concerning the mid term evaluation of the eContent programme and the results of other specific consultations, it emerges clearly that the theme is considered to be highly relevant to a number of economic and social actors, and that barriers that still exist in a number of areas make public intervention at Community level desirable. For this reason the first option was considered to be not appropriate.

Recent developments in knowledge and content technologies open up opportunities to improve the accessibility of digital content and to greatly simplify its aggregation and reuse in products and services. In parallel with these developments, new legislation has been enacted in the Union, including the Public Sector Information (PSI) Directive and the Copyright Directive, both of which aim to facilitate an internal market for digital content products and services. These trends are expected to deliver benefits through digital content-based applications, in the form of increased productivity and innovation, and better information products and services. On the other hand, the main shortcoming of the eContent programme was considered to be its lack of focus. For these reasons the second option was considered to be not appropriate.

8 COM(2003) 591 final, adopted by the Commission on 10 October 2003

The chosen approach was therefore to promote an enhanced follow-on programme, giving due attention to the achievements of the eContent programme and to the evolution of technologies, markets and the legislative environment, and further changes in course which are likely to occur, while bringing a number of qualifying elements that increase focus, concentrate the action without reducing the relevance to the target population.

The main trade-offs associated with the chosen approach are:

The first compromise was taken in the choice of the areas. eContentplus deals with four types of digital content: public sector information, with emphasis on spatial information, educational content, cultural content, and scientific and scholarly content. This approach contrasts with the one taken previously where the qualifying element of projects were restricted to the type of partnership rather than the area of the content dealt with. Other types of content (e.g. online news, gaming, etc.) ­ where it is considered that the market will develop on its own ­ are not addressed in the current proposal. ·

The second compromise is in terms of quality versus quantity. Rather than simply aiming at increasing the availability of content, eContentplus supports content with a strong methodological and technological element embedded to raise the quality of the services that can be obtained from the raw data. ·

Based upon the preferred framework of an enhanced follow-on programme, the following delivery mechanisms are considered:

­ Projects designed to augment knowledge to improve existing products, processes and/or services and/or to meet the needs of Community policies.

­ Best practice actions to spread knowledge. They will normally be conducted in thematic clusters and linked through thematic networks.

­ Thematic networks bringing together a variety of stakeholders around a given technological and organisational objective, so as to facilitate co-ordination activities and transfer of knowledge. They may be linked to best practice actions.

­ Accompanying measures that will contribute to the implementation of the programme or the preparation of future activities. Measures devoted to the commercialisation of products, process or services, marketing activities and sales promotion are excluded.

The following table presents a comparison of the relative merits of these mechanisms.

Effectiveness Cost Risks Administrative overheads

Projects High High High High

Best practice actions High Medium Medium High Thematic networks Medium Low Low Medium Accompanying Medium Low Low Medium

measures

A conclusion of this analysis is that particular attention should be given to actions concerned with best practice to spread knowledge and networking in order to benefit from a leveraging effect. In addition it will be necessary that projects focus on defined subjects over specific target areas in order to increase the impact of the programme.

  • 5. 
    A C DDED VALUE OF OMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, competence for the actual development and production of digital content remains within Member States (industry and public sector), unless a Community intervention in certain areas is necessary. In the case of eContentplus the principle is fully respected since the cross border use and exploitation of PSI, spatial data, educational and cultural assets, multilingualism, etc. are by definition areas where action is needed at EU level, rather than at local or even at national level. In fact this is an area where ­ contrary to adjacent fields like audiovisual ­ national support initiatives are scarce and diverse from the nature of eContentplus.

A fact that increases the relevance of the programme is that there are only few national programmes comparable to eContentplus in terms of scope and remit. In most countries, digital content is part of a broader ICT strategy but not the subject of a specific policy or programme.

The following arguments may be put forward for the European Added Value of the proposed actions:

­ Several countries are already quite advanced in the use of digital content tools, methods and processes. There is a growing body of experience which could be usefully shared across Europe; ­ The activities in the target areas remain however fragmented and the actions proposed will help to align them, share resources and exploit synergies;

­ In particular, no ongoing actions at national or European level address the proposed mix of cultural, linguistic, technical, organisational and legal issues.

­ The market for digital content-based products and services is becoming global and it is important that Europe has a strong position vis-à-vis competition with the rest of world. The proposed actions will help to strengthen the European digital content sector at large and will reinforce the importance of Europe's cultural and linguistic identity. ­ The proposed actions will provide valuable input to European policy decision on the use, distribution and production of digital content in areas of public interest; ­ Projects will contain a sufficient critical mass of actions and activities as to have a significant impact at a European level. 6. L ESSONS FROM THE PAST

The eContent Programme

The eContent programme covers the period 2001 ­ 2004. The mid-term evaluation of this programme was taken into account for the design of eContentplus.

First, tackling the problem of cross border information supply based on the use of public sector information is an area where the EU can add substantial value. The attention given to the use of metadata should be reinforced.

Second, the problem of localisation of content ­ dealt with by eContent as a separate issue ­ should be embedded in all services that claim a European dimension, assuming a horizontal connotation. Attention should be focussed on specific areas where the demand for localisation has proven particularly high, such as for educational and cultural content.

Third, eContent has catalysed the collaboration of a high number of market players to realise a number of projects that would not have been realised otherwise with the same depth or breadth

9

.

A shortcoming of eContent was to address a too large constituency, thereby lacking focus. Hence, dropping some areas of support, e.g. bridging the financing gap for content firms, and focussing on a limited number of types of content was a necessity

Another important consideration that emerges from the experience of eContent is the need to become more effective in transferring the programme results beyond the direct beneficiaries.

The main lessons from the past confirmed the relevance of the action in support of digital content, and that particular attention should be given to:

­ Widespread support for the choice of PSI as source of digital content in Europe. ­ Focussing the programme actions. These outputs have been deeply discussed and taken into proper account in the definition of eContentplus.

  • 7. 
    T HE EXPECTED IMPACT

7.1. Expected impact in terms of economic and social consequences Impacts are expected in economic and societal terms.

10

The economic value of PSI in Europe was estimated at 68 billion. While legislation will

provide the basic framework for re-use, the combination of technology elements with the creation of public-private partnerships optimises PSI economic viability over the longer term.

As essential public services and applications of societal interest move online, considerations of the multiplicity of languages and cultures in the Union become all the more important.

9

eContent partial additionality is relatively high. 42% would also have gone ahead without EU funding, but would have undertaken their projects with reduced objectives and finances, with fewer partners and over longer time-scales. Almost 20% of the organisations which would have gone ahead with their projects, would have done so without international collaboration.

10 Market Study by Pira International Ltd, 20 Sept. 2000: Commercial Exploitation of Europe's public Sector Information

Provision of cross border services, localised for the different markets, should be deployed for societal benefit.

7.2. Additionality effect eContentplus is expected to reach a high level of additionality.

The evaluation of the eContent programme notes that in terms of pure additionality 51% of all organisations indicated they would not have become involved the work in the absence of EU funding. This applied equally to all participant categories, with the exception of universities and research institutes, where the percentage increased to 63%.

42% would also have gone ahead without EU funding, but would have undertaken their projects with reduced objectives and finances, with fewer partners and over longer timescales. Almost 20% of the organisations which would have gone ahead with their project, would have done so without international collaboration.

7.3. Impact over time

The programme will be implemented via call for proposals leading to the financing of projects, best practice exchange and accompanying and support measures. Typical duration of projects will be in the order of 24 ­ 30 months.

Impacts will mostly have two dimensions:

­ The provision of new services and availability of new information resources. This will typically be achieved at the end of the projects.

­ Increase of organisational and networking capacity of the participants. This includes the creation of lasting public-private partnerships for the exploitation of data sources.

According to the eContent mid term report `Development of new products/processes and services' is a high-ranking goal for all participants. Networking goals such as `access to complementary expertise' as well as `formation of strategic alliances' also rank very high. Goal prioritisation depends on the type of stakeholder. Access to markets, customers and improved competitiveness are most important to companies. For the public sector and universities the dissemination of content to a wider audience are central goals.

Experience indicates that while networking goals overall are ranked highly by all participant types, companies are mainly looking for complementary expertise, whereas public authorities and universities are interested in strategic alliances in order to disseminate their content to a wider audience.

  • 8. 
    M ONITORING AND EVALUATION 8.1. Implementation of the programme

The programme will be executed through indirect actions ­ calls for proposals and calls for tender as appropriate ­ comprising:

(a) shared-cost actions:

Projects designed to augment knowledge to improve existing products, processes and/or services and/or to meet the needs of Community policies.

Best practice actions to spread knowledge. They will normally be conducted in thematic clusters and linked through thematic networks.

Thematic networks: networks bringing together a variety of stakeholders around a given technological and organisational objective, so as to facilitate co-ordination activities and transfer of knowledge. They may be linked to best practice actions. (b) accompanying measures

Accompanying measures will contribute to the implementation of the programme or the preparation of future activities. Measures devoted to the commercialisation of products, process or services, marketing activities and sales promotion are excluded.

­ Studies in support of the programme, including the preparation of future activities;

­ Exchange of information, conferences, seminars, workshops or other meetings and the management of clustered activities; ­ Dissemination, information and communication activities; 8.2. Monitoring

The implementation of the programme, including monitoring, will be carried out by the Commission services.

The monitoring of the programme will be based on the information obtained directly from beneficiaries, which will submit interim and final activity and financial reports, including performance indicator criteria set out in the selection process. Audits of individual projects and/or on the programme implementation will be carried out on a regular basis, as part of the annual programming of DG Information Society.

All projects and actions will include built-in evaluation, or provision for assessment by external experts or internal sources, and contain performance indicators and guidelines for follow-up.

The Commission will establish a list of experts to help with the evaluation of proposals and with the monitoring of subsequent projects.

8.3. Ex-post assessment of the results

An interim evaluation will be carried out on the second year of the programme. This evaluation will assess the programme effectiveness and efficiency, review its implementation logic and ­ if applicable ­ to formulate recommendations to redirect the programme actions.

An ex post evaluation focused on the impact of the action will be carried out at the end of the programme. Indicators of success will be defined as part of the competitive procedures designed to award contracts to carry out this task.

Both the interim and the final evaluation will be carried out by independent firms specialising in evaluations, following tendering procedures in line with Commission standard practices.

  • 9. 
    C - OST EFFECTIVENESS

A broad estimation of the cost of the proposed intervention is shown below:

Breakdown Type of outputs (projects. Files) Number of outputs over 4 years Average unit cost Total cost

(total for

4 years)

Facilitating access to. and use and exploitation of digital content Public sector information 6 2.000 12.000 Geographic information 5 3.100 15.500

European knowledge pools 5 4.100 20.500

Access to cultural and scientific resources 5 3.000 15.000 Total 21 63.000

Improving quality and facilitating best practice for digital content Best practice 4 8.000 32.000 Thematic networks 5 5.300 26.500 Projects 9 3.000 27.000

Total 18 85.500

Reinforcing cooperation and awareness Accompanying measures 8 0.800 6.400 Exchange of information. studies 8 0.500 4.000 Conferences. Workshops 2 0.300 0.600 Programme evaluation 2 0.250 0.500 Total 20 11.500

TOTAL COST 160.000

eContentplus encompasses, only in part, a continuation of the predecessor eContent programme (public sector information). New emphasis is being put on the use of geographical information for cross-border (mobile) services. Certain activities were dropped (actions related directly to the market) or are continued with a changed approach (actions to foster specifically multilingual content). New emphasis and focus is being put on multilingual aspects of cultural and educational content, as well as scientific and scholarly content.

The changes have been introduced to respond to political priorities (as described in the context of eEurope) and technological advances.

The programme, in fact, reflects the ongoing rollout of broadband infrastructures and 3G mobile networks, as well as the fact that this critically depends on the availability of suited content.

As compared to the predecessor programme, further to a smaller number of demonstration projects in highly focussed areas, an adapted approach is proposed, namely thematic networks of best practice experiments which would allow to better integrate resources and knowledge (less projects, increased multiplier effect) and thus to maximise the impact of the programme.

  • a) 
    Under the Line of Action "Facilitating access to, use and exploitation of digital content", continuity is being assured as regards Public Sector Information. However, a number of actions are necessary to target certain aspects of the production, distribution and use of digital content for education and culture, not covered with other Community actions, including the predecessor eContent programme.
  • b) 
    A new set of actions has been introduced under the Line of Action "Improving quality and facilitating best practice for digital content ". These actions, based on experimentations, will support the enhancement of digital content propagating the use of knowledge technologies in relation to its creation, use and distribution. The Line of Action is focused on specific target groups, and include notably educational and cultural content.

These are the reasons that underpin the "conservative" breakdown of costs as shown above. As part of the lessons learnt in previous programmes, we can derive the conclusion that the same results cannot be achieved by a lower cost by using a different approach or other instruments.

For the purpose of effective evaluation and assessment of cost-effectiveness the following indicators have been identified:

General objectives Indicators

to make digital content in Europe more accessible, ­ Quantitative/qualitative data on actions, reports and other results of these actions usable and exploitable,

facilitating the creation and diffusion of information and knowledge­ in areas of public interest­ at the Union level

­ Quantitative/qualitative data on participants' perceptions as to the impact of the programme;

Operational Objectives Indicators

  • 1. 
    Facilitating access to, use and exploitation of digital content Quantitative/qualitative data on the establishment of networks and alliances between stakeholders, and the creation of new services in the field of public sector information (PSI), spatial data, digital learning and cultural content.
  • 2. 
    Improving quality and facilitating best Number and coverage of best practice in methods, processes and operations to achieve higher quality, greater efficacy, efficiency and economy on the creation, use and distribution of digital content in the field of public sector information (PSI), spatial data, learning and culture. practice for digital content

Number and coverage of experiments demonstrating searchability, usability, reusability, composability and interoperability of digital content in multilingual and multicultural environments in the field of access to public sector information (PSI), spatial data, learning and culture.

  • 3. 
    Reinforcing co-operation and Extent of awareness-raising activities, awareness benchmarking, monitoring and analysis tools, as well as dissemination of results.

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