Ecommerce and regional innovation policies Marlies Diephaus Ministry

E-commerce and regional innovation policies: Marlies Diephaus Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labour Nordrhein-Westfalen VERITE Conference: The changing role of supply chains in regional development Cardiff, February 20 -21, 2003

E-Commerce = Internet-Commerce includes: -the value of all transactions resulting from a buyer's clicking an order button on the internet -The purchases from an individual or a business, for personal or work-related reasons -And it can be done from a PC, a Web TV or a mobile device. In short E-Commerce includes the business-to-consumer and the business-to-business commerce.

Total Western European Internet Commerce (in billion Euro) 2001 2005 171. 6 1, 682. 3 Germany B 2 C-Commerce B 2 B-Commerce 5. 3 39. 7 58. 5 388. 5 United Kindom B 2 C-Commerce B 2 B-Commerce 5. 9 32. 4 43. 8 255. 6 France B 2 C-Commerce B 2 B-Commerce 2. 5 18. 6 36. 5 241. 1

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE - Reducing costs an inefficiencies Streamlining business processes Forming tighter external collaborative networks with suppliers and customers in an attempt to built trust and loyalty maintaining and increasing market share. The big companies are realising the true value of E-Business. But the small and medium sized companies (SMEs) are still reluctant to engage in E-Business.

CURRENT SITUATION • 70 % of the medium-sized and small enterprises in Germany have their own homepage. • 21 % already use the web for electronic business. • 44 % plan to start with E-Business in the near future as they want to use the competition chances connected with it. • 54 % of the companies have already achieved a sales increase with E-Business. • 85 % believe that their web-presentation will become profitable after two years. Source: MIND 02 (IBM/Impulse-study) published in January 2002

CURRENT SITUATION OF MEDIUM-SIZED AND SMALL ENTERPRISES l. Provider and user do not speak the same language l. IT-security is totally unimportant or not very important l. IT-security risks are wrongly assessed l. The chances of using electronic business applications are partly hampered by „homemade“ obstacles

Initiative "Secure-it. nrw. 2005" -Sensitize and increase awareness in using ICT and in using it In a secure way Publish brochures like "More safety for the internet shopping" Financial support of special projects to develop new multimedia application fields with relevance to security and data protection Show best-practise Promote the development of innovative applications with a high reliability and security Support regional Security initiatives

PROMOTION OF INNOVATIVE PROJECTS - COMPETITION » safe connected « Aim: Development of new multimedia application fields with relevance to security and data protection l. Subject and application focus, above all: • procurement, production, trade and logistics • transport, travel, tourism • financial services, fiscal matters, administration of justice l. Results l 79 sketches handed in l 17 sketches are subsidizable over the Technology and Innovation Programme NRW (TIP) (=21. 5 %)

CURRENT MEASURES l. Follow-up competition beginning at the end of February 2003, called "digital + secure" l. Best practice investigations of innovative electronic business operations in medium-sized and small enterprises and public institutions in NRW Aim: Public communication

COMPETITION "digital + secure" in 2003 -promote projects which improves organizational structures and business processes in a secure way Main focus: -e-government, e. g. interfaces which allow a secure and reliable coordination between the systems of the government and the companies -Supply chain management (SCM) -Customer Relationship Management (CRM) -Knowledge Management -E-billing -Mobile security

Interest of the government to engage - strengthen the competitiveness e. g. of the SMEs by the use of innovative, secure and reliable IT-applications - Develop new fields of growth for the companies in NRW - Optimize the development of the companies in NRW - Secure and create new jobs - strengthen the attractivity of the location of NRW for start-ups and for new investors

IMPORTANT PARTIAL AIMS l. Fast expansion of E-Commerce and E-Government in NRW till 2005 l. Spread of the electronic signature by means of a Smart. Card with a high acceptance l. Establishment of legal and technical standards l. Development of a highest possible interoperability of different encryption and signature systems l. Access of medium-sized and small enterprises to technical field tests and pilot applications