BITERAP, a consortium or cluster of IT oriented companies, is an “early bird” example of PPP (Public Private Partnership) in Slovakia. The aim of this PPP is to provide IT solution support for local government and state organizations in the Slovak republic. BITEAP’s activities are aligned with local government and EU programs for establishing an e-government platform and content.
BITERAP’s ASP solution offers governments bodies access to leading edge IT software solutions, as the basic tool for the daily work of those organizations. The software works in a similar manner to other ASP solutions, but is specifically tailored for the needs of the public sector:
Continue reading ‘The BITERAP cluster provides ERP support for public government in Slovakia’
A financial tsunami smashed through the world economy this month, sweeping away Wall Street titans and sending shock waves through Europe, Asia and Emerging Markets. The Hungarian stock exchange took a massive hit, dropping 40% this month. All Central European economies are affected, and analysts are asking aloud whether the region’s 10 year boom may be over, and whether the introduction of the Euro may be delayed in some markets.
It’s a confusing situation, and only when the flood waters recede will we understand how our economic landscape has been altered. While many speculate about technology recession, Google’s spectacular 3rd quarter results seems to suggest online marketing budgets are resilient.
I’d like to hear from nowEurope readers and contributors. What signs do you see? How will this recession affect your business, and what steps are you taking to meet the challenge? Please use the comments to let me know what you think.
Continue reading ‘How will the coming recession affect your business?’
the CEE-ClusterNetwork is one of several initiatives concerning cluster development within Europe, an FP6 project focused mainly on future innovation and cluster policy. One aim is also the mobilisation and support of regional innovation policy actors to carry out and design co-operation activities together with other competent public authorities.
Thus, certain correlation with the CITT project is clearly visible. Another connection is the geographical focus, as the consortium of Central and Eastern Europe cover parts of Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland and Italy.
I participated at the cross-border workshop for cluster managers of this project in Vienna in September last year. During this interesting meeting I had the possibilities to get familiar with the project and for example participate at the brain storming sessions on project ideas, such as for example cluster academy, strategy for twin cluster, joint marketing activities related to cluster building.
Continue reading ‘Survey on skills and training needs of European cluster managers’
EU Commissioner, Viviane Redding, has made few friends among mobile operators. They now have another reason to grumble, according eTREND magazine.
After her successful campaign for cheaper mobile voice roaming charges in Europe, Redding is preparing for another crusade. Her goal is to lower the European mobile operator rates for roaming text messages, e-mails and Internet.
Continue reading ‘Mobile operators have another reason to hate Vivienne Redding’
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), multinationals have been the key driver of Central European business innovation in recent years. While this innovation has brought benefits, it has not helped local companies, nor has it prepared the region for the challenges ahead.
In fact, a dependence on multinational innovation has left Central Europe’s economies vulnerable, according the EIU report entitled ‘A Time For New Ideas: Innovation in Central Europe‘, sponsored by Oracle Corporation. While a handful of local SMEs have managed to innovate, the region faces a shortage of talent and a lack of support for innovation among local governments.
Continue reading ‘EIU: Multinational innovation in CEE is not enough’
I am pleased to be able to contribute for the first time to a new nowEurope issue that so far has been quite underestimated in some European countries: Technology transfer, in particular in ICT.
The core business of CITT is to devise a strategy to establish and get running a viable cooperation between the ICT industry and research. Although a lot has been done recently on national and EU levels, Europe still gives away too much technology and know how to competing markets.
Continue reading ‘CITT: Add “Technology Transfer” to Europe’s vocabulary!’
Let me continue to post some remarks to the previous notes on the new initiative the “Centrope ICT technology transfer” which broadens the variety of activities taking place in the so called “Centrope region”. The region accounts for about six million inhabitants.
Why and how did it all start? The CITT project was initiated by the Vienna IT Enterprises Platform of the Vienna Business Agency more than a year ago. VITE is the network for IT companies, research-, development- and educational institutions which have their seat in Vienna. The main goals of VITE is raising awareness for the value of cooperation and implementing existing skills and ideas to initiatives.
Continue reading ‘The plant bears its flowers in clusters’
Slovakia belongs to the less developed countries among EU and OECD member states in usage of Internet. Today the CTK - Czech Press Agency, has presented latest OECD statistical data on Internet usage for business in all OECD member states. In Slovakia, near to 30% of enterprises (exactly 28.7%) with 10+ employees do not use Internet for business - it is the lowest position in OECD ranking. For your information, our NETIES research, which was made last year among TOP 185 highest ranked SMEs, concluded with figure 29.19% (54 of 185 slovak SMEs do not use Internet). It was presented by NETIES team also in April 2005 during eGovernment workshop in Prague.
Continue reading ‘Latest OECD Research supports NETIES Statistics in Slovakia’
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