World's e-Envoys come together in London

e-Envoys representing nine of the world's major ICT-player countries gathered this week to compare strategies at the UK's first London e-summit.

Sitting in a line across the stage of the e-summit in Westminster, Jeremy Vine, the BBC Newsnight presenter, picked them off one-by-one to give accounts of their national e-action plans and how their efforts compared with those of our own e-Envoy, Andrew Pinder.

Norman Lorentz, the US e-Envoy, said his country had learned "the most important lesson" in providing Government services: "to listen to citizens' needs as opposed to introducing policy the Government considers important without first seeking public opinion."

Mr Lorentz said 78 per cent of US web users had used Government websites in the last 12-months.

"Extracting value from the technology is key, you have to look at where the practical value for citizens lay," he added. "Universalise the appeal of the technology and you change citizens' attitudes towards that technology."

Paulo Vigevano, Italy's e-Envoy, stressed the importance of using ICT in both national and regional Government. He said the Government's top two priorities were "increasing online education for citizens and getting family doctors online ... both of which are progressing thanks to good broadband provision."

The French e-Envoy, Gilles Brégnant, said he was concentrating on e-commerce and getting citizens to buy online. He added France had already obtained a high concentration of online PC users who had been using its pioneering 'Minitel' service since 1980.

"Fostering innovators and SMEs that provide the skills to maintain a solid ICT infrastructure is key" - Martin Cronenberg, German e-Envoy

Japan's e-Envoy, Jun Okayama, said he wanted to make all of his Government online by next year. He also used his speech to highlight how competition has affected access to cheaper broadband, which can be bought in Japan for around £12 pounds per month, as opposed to £30 pounds per month in the UK from BT.

Members of the audience made comments on the comparatively high price of broadband in the UK compared to other countries as Jeremy Vine pressed Mr Pinder on the issue.

Mr Pinder told the conference that the cost of broadband had been worked down from an initial £50 per month and increased competition would most likely lead to further cuts in price to levels enjoyed by other countries.

The German e-Envoy, Martin Cronenberg, said his Government was focusing on small to medium-sized enterprise, lowering regulatory burdens and increasing self-regulation. He said: "Fostering innovators and SMEs that provide the skills to maintain a solid ICT infrastructure is key."

Mr Cronenberg added he, like Paulo Vigevano, Italy's e-Envoy, was looking to provide a complete national online medical service to citizens, but said he had hit a wall over patient registration and the German Federal Data Protection Act.

Sweden's e-Envoy, Peter Strömbäck, said national PC ownership and access to

Gilles Brégnant, French e-Envoy (middle), said e-commerce was top priority. He is flanked by German e-Envoy, Martin Cronenberg (l) and his Italian counterpart, Paulo Vigevano (r)

broadband was nearing saturation in his country following a PC 'reform' in the 90s where company employees were offered tax-free PCs, subsidised by the Government.

Mr Pinder said employees could have tax-free PCs in the UK too, but it was "a bit of an Inland Revenue secret."

In his closing speech, Mr Pinder admitted the Government's key weakness in pushing forward national IT provision lay in its delivery of online services.

He said: "We do not need to compete internationally to be first all the time; we just need to concentrate on providing a good service to our citizens and raise productivity. To do this we must first raise productivity within the Government."