EH PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE Dr Istvn STUMPF Minister

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Dr. István STUMPF Minister Prime Minister’s Office 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Outline: 2 • • Overall challenges Hungary is facing Building modern economy, toward KE Government programs for KE Economic-institutional regime R&D and skilled professionals On information infrastructure Problems, obstacles, more efforts needed Tackling these problems 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Motto: Have you plans for one year: do farming; plans for a decade: plant trees; plans for a century: educate your people. Ancient Chinese proverb 3 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Overall challenges Hungary is facing 4 • Creating competitive • economy on global market - Globalisation • European accession/integration • Building and operating Knowledge Economy, Knowledge Society Triple challenge: short-term - “farming”: Hungary as part of present global market midterm - “tree-plant”: restructuring economy long-term- laying foundations for real Knowledge Economy 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Building modern economy 5 • Economy structure, competitiveness impact of few-decades of historical lagging back, good education system, skilled professionals • 1990 -2000: successful privatisation, economy restructuring, attracting foreign investors • Modern telecommunication services, fast developing IT and software industry, 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Developing Knowledge Economy • Foundation has been laid down: *private market players, competitive market *infrastructure and ICT services, IT industry *skilled professionals *developed education and R&D system/network • Problematic areas: *low 6 Internet penetration *digital divide, regional differences *SME-s lagging back *lot to do to change the way of thinking 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Governmental programs toward Knowledge Economy 7 • Economic Development program 2001 -2006 the Széchenyi Plan with: Information Society chapter, and SME development chapter • National Information Society Strategy (NITS) with lot of application funds • e. Europe+ action plan • R&D funds (IKTA: as part of FW 5) 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Economic-institutional regime 8 • Competitive market • ICT is one of the sectors • Legislation: liberalised that acts as engine for building KE environment, • ICT sector is liberalised encouraging selfwith harmonised regulation legislation • Competition authorities • IT is the transformation • Development strategies technology to build KE, • Result: attractive for but it is not yet KE high-tech and R&D 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE The share of ICT sector 9 Source: Financial Times, 29. Oct. 2001, Source: OECD STI Scoreboard, 2001 evaluation on the base of 10 OECD data categories. 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE R&D and skilled professionals 10 • University and secondary education traditionally excellent • R&D expenditure low but increasing • More and more multinationals with R&D centres in Hungary Source: Hungarian Statistical Bureau, 2000 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE The share of IT industry 11 Source: OECD STI Scoreboard, 2001 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Information infrastructure 12 • National Information Infrastructure Development program from 1986 • Provides services for universities, R&D institutes, public access points, etc. • Part of the GEANT network, with high bandwidth, offering EU-level services • e-Governmental services launched (via portal) since 2001 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Problems, obstacles, more efforts are needed 13 • Not enough Internet penetration (20%) • Most Internet users from universities, work places, few households (8%) • Not active use of Internet by SMEs • Regional differences are very high (more advanced in capital, large cities, western regions) Source: TÁRKI-WIP, Sept. 2001 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Plans to tackle these problems 14 • Well defined and oriented funding programs: for communities with needs (handicapped) • Global educational programs (Sulinet, for teachers, for soldiers, public programs) • Economy development aiming at SME-s • Programs for regions lagging back • Encouraging international co-operation 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on

EH PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE Final message: Not the microchip, neither global info-communications network form the new economy, it is realised by the human intellect. I am convinced the efforts of this conference, all the participants strongly contribute to the task of building Knowledge Economy. 15 20. febr. 2002. , Paris WB-conference on