Measuring progress in e-Inclusion
Measuring progress in e-Inclusion
Riga Dashboard, 2007
The Riga Dashboard is aimed at reporting progress in the achievement of policy targets set by the Ministerial Declaration signed in Riga on 11 June 2006[i] by 34 European countries. The Declaration defined “e-Inclusion” as “both inclusive Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the use of ICT to achieve wider inclusion objective and policies aiming at both reducing gaps in ICT usage and promoting the use of ICT to overcome exclusion”. It recognised that ICTs are a powerful driver of growth and employment and that they contribute to improving the quality of everyday life and social participation of Europeans. It maintained that the fight against discrimination to improve ICT access for people with disabilities and the elderly is particularly important.
The Ministerial Declaration, using the data available at the time, agreed that ”many Europeans still reap few or no benefits from ICT and there are resilient gaps in ICT use”. For instance at the time, 57% of individuals living in the EU did not regularly use the Internet in 2005; only 10% of persons over 65 used Internet, against 68% of those aged 16-24; only 24% of persons with low education used the Internet, against 73% of those with high education; only 32% of unemployed persons used the Internet against 54% of employed persons. Only 3% of public web sites surveyed complied with the minimum web accessibility standards and guidelines, hindering access to web content and services for people with disabilities who comprise some 15% of the EU population.
The Riga Dashboard is therefore intended to measure progress towards the Riga commitments. The 2007 Riga Dashboard is the first European Commission’s report of this kind and is aimed at providing evidence for the Communication on the European e-Inclusion Initiative. It mainly draws on available Eurostat indicators and surveys. But it is also complemented by data obtained by specific assessments in other areas such as e-Government, and insights on the areas of ICT for ageing and ICT for cultural diversity.
The latest i2010 annual report[ii] included a preliminary analysis on the progress to the Riga targets and recognised that the Riga Declaration priorities are relevant at the EU level and the required policy efforts needed to reach the targets are substantial given the initial conditions. This has been further confirmed in this first Riga Dashboard exercise in preparation of the European e-Inclusion initiative.
The key resulting message is that, apart from the case of broadband connectivity not considering urban rural divides, progress towards the Riga targets is only happening at half the speed which is necessary to reach them by 2010. Without policy intervention disparities are deemed to stay and in some cases widen.
The monitoring of the Riga Dashboard will be performed regularly to continue quantifying and qualifying progress to the fully achievement of the targets by 2010, as part of the i2010 annual progress report.
