Dear colleagues and fellow ICT professionals,
I am delighted to have been invited here
today to address you all in Athens at today’s special conference, the first of
its kind in Greece. It is an honour for me to present the opening address to
you this morning on behalf of CEPIS. First and foremost I would like to thank
HePIS, who are co-hosting Digital Trends with CEPIS, for all of their hard work
and dedication in organising this event.
Digital Trends 2011 is a forum that I believe
is important, to encourage valuable discussion between all of you here today,
on increasingly vital topics related to the contribution that the ICT sector
has on economic growth and for increased productivity. I hope that today’s
forum which brings together participants from all over the world will encourage
relevant discussions towards promoting the development of the Information
Society in Europe. CEPIS and its Member Societies have been working hard
towards achieving this aim over the last 20 years, by focusing on a number of
different strategic areas including Professionalism, e-Skills, Green ICT and
through our Legal & Security Issues Special Interest Network we have
published a pan-European recognised paper on Cloud Computing.
It is clear that in recent years we have all
experienced the incredible impact that ICT has brought to our daily lives. I
think some of us can remember when no one even had a mobile phone, but now with
the widespread use of not just laptops but also smart phones and tablets the
world is truly entering a digital age where almost everything can now be
undertaken online using these devices and many more to come. This digital age
needs to be embraced not just by ICT professionals but also all other sectors
of society to use ICT to their advantage, and for the benefit of the recovering
economy, productivity and smart growth.
Boosting smart growth is a very significant
and important initiative that the European Commission launched in 2010 as part
of its Europe 2020 strategy. Smart growth essentially means improving the EU's
performance in using ICT, creating new products/services that generate growth
and jobs and encouraging people to use new skills, learn and study. As you can
see the ICT sector will be and is already a significant contributing factor in
all of these areas. CEPIS and its Member Societies especially have teamed
together to form a coherent strategy around the contribution that this sector
can have on society, and I encourage all other stakeholders across Europe to do
the same. The ICT sector is of such importance nowadays that without a proper
strategy in place that embraces the overwhelmingly positive contribution that
ICT can have, you will be left behind.
One of the phrases that I have heard a lot
recently is “How Green are You?”. As we start to realise that the way of the
future is indeed digital, we must also start thinking about how we can limit
the way the ICT sector is itself contributing harmfully to the environment, and
more optimistically about the extremely positive impact that the ICT sector can
have in reducing Europe’s carbon footprint.
Recent figures published by the European
Commission show that today ICT equipment and services are estimated to be
responsible for somewhere between 2,5 and 4% of the EU's carbon emissions and 8
to 10% of our electricity consumption. As part of the Digital Agenda for Europe
flagship initiative, the European Commission will focus on the energy
efficiency of the ICT sector in at least two actions. CEPIS praises the
European Commission for these actions but I believe that they can only be
successful if all European ICT companies, stakeholders and beyond become
involved and join together to carry out these actions. For the recovery and growth
of our economy it is essential that the ICT sector and other major emitting
sectors such as transport, building and construction etc. band together to
fully take advantage of the energy saving capacity of ICT. The use of Green ICT
needs to be encouraged and promoted for even further organisations though also
like SMEs and with European citizens’ own personal use of ICT.
CEPIS, as the leading organisation of
European ICT professionals, is committed to mobilising its members to promote
the ideas of Green ICT and contribute to the environment's protection. Last
year we launched the Green ICT Task Force which now consists of more than a
dozen experts in the area of Green ICT representing 10 different countries, and
11 informatics associations from across Europe. Byron Nicolaides, CEPIS
Honorary Secretary and Vice President of HePIS will present more information
about the Task Force, and will reveal the results of a recent pan-European
survey for ICT Managers created by the Task Force, in the next session.
Regarding Green ICT and its influence at a
more local level, it is clear that both the public and private sectors have a
responsibility in controlling their power consumption and wasteful usage of ICT
resources in many European countries. CEPIS believes that public authorities
must adopt actions on both a national and a pan-European level in order to
enhance public e-services. The private sector, being more flexible, could also easily
adopt practices that contribute to energy efficiency and reduction of power consumption.
Many of you here today are part of various sectors of industry and business
including but not limited to the ICT sector, but I believe all of us should
implement Green ICT practices in our personal and professional lives and
contribute to the environment’s protection in this way.
Cloud Computing is an advancement in ICT that
has started to revolutionise the way in which citizens, businesses and governments
in Europe operate. With a simple Internet connection anything is possible. As
such Cloud Computing has also been an important focus of CEPIS’ strategy over
the last number of years. European citizens are utilising cloud computing in a
number of different ways either via web-based emailing or for saving
information on a remote database with practically endless storage space
available. It is true that the advantages of Cloud Computing include also most
importantly cost savings, especially for SMEs, but the fact is cloud computing
also carried implications of data protection particularly across borders. I was
encouraged to see the European Commission launch a public consultation this
year where all Europeans could respond and share their opinions about this
issue. I’m looking forward to the Cloud Computing strategy that is to be
launched next year by the Commission, based on the results of this
consultation.
CEPIS and its Member Societies also published
its first paper on Cloud Computing. The paper is available in both English and
Greek on our website, www.cepis.org. We
appreciate and gladly welcome the incredibly positive impact that Cloud
Computing has had on all of our daily lives, but before any major developments
continue in this field both positive and indeed negative sides have to be
examined. That is why our statement explores the security and privacy
implications associated with Cloud Computing. The CEPIS working group in charge
of legal and security issues examined areas such as the loss of control over
data and dependence on the Cloud Computing provider and outlines the related
issues in this paper. We also provide 15 recommendations on measures that
should be taken to deal with the risks and privacy invasion factors of Cloud
Computing. I look forward today to seeing involving and active discussions about
the huge value that Cloud Computing can provide in the corporate world and
beyond, but also some of our concerns need to be considered too.
One concern is Digital Divide with the need
to consolidate the four pillars of its bridge: appropriate ICT Infrastructure,
accessible and affordable Internet access, generalized ability to use IT,
availability of useful content. The predominant narrowband access vs. broadband
applications produces a new divide in the use of transactional applications eGovernment,
eCommerce, etc., but also in use of cloud computing.
I am glad to be here at Digital Trends today
which is the perfect setting for open and active discussions to take place on
all these topics.
CEPIS is extremely proud to be co-hosting of
Digital Trends with its Greek Member Society, HePIS. Today’s forum is a
relevant and significant event that is catered towards European ICT
professionals, businesses and citizens alike and we hope that you will be
enlightened and more importantly, we hope that this event will inspire you to
realise the importance of two influential topics currently having an impact on
ICT.
You may further contact us, follow us on
social networks or visit our portal www.cepis.org
Thank you!
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