AUSTRIA, back

Report of the Austrian Federal Government Working Group

Vienna, April 1997

1 Executive Summary 

1.1 The Information Society: A Federal Government Initiative 
1.2 Social Development Towards the Information Society 
1.2.1 The term "information society" denotes a process by which information and communications in changing guises are permeating every area of working and private life....
1.2.2 Scientific research makes a pioneering contribution to social developments...
1.3 Business Location and Social Security 
1.3.1 Austria's business environment underwent radical changes in the wake of the opening of Eastern Europe and this country's accession to the European Union...
1.4 Telecommunications: Linchpin of the Information Society 
1.4.1 Telecommunications are emerging more and more as a key technology in economic and social development....
1.5 Scientific Research and Universities
1.5.1 In the field of research and university education, the complexity of the development and application of new, multimedia forms of information and communications is apparent in a number of challenges.
1.6 Innovation and Technology 
1.6.1 Safeguarding the innovative capacity of enterprises operating in Austria and utilising innovative products and services are the pillars of an economic policy.....
1.7 Education and Further Education
1.7.1 Where the education system is concerned, the ever wider utilisation of information and communications technologies in every area of working and private life poses a substantial challenge in several respects...
1.8 The State Administration 
1.8.1 Characteristic features of several functions of the state administration are: informationintensive procedures, growing quantities of information needing to be processed, and a high degree of division of labour....
1.9 Health and Public Social Services
1.9.1 Apart from the public administration in the strict sense of the term, public social services constitute an appropriate area for employing information and communications technologies...
1.10 The Law and (Multimedia) Networks
1.10.1 Precisely because information and communications technologies and new multimedia networks and applications are spreading ever more rapidly, the issue of the relationship between technology and law needs to be examined from at least two viewpoints...

2 Introduction and Survey 

2.1 The Challenge of the Information Society
2.1.1 Information and communications technologies have made it possible for new forms of information and communication progressively to permeate every area of working and private life...
2.1.2 There are numerous programmes for establishing comprehensive information structures and developing new applications whose goal is to make an active contribution to the transition to the information society...
2.1.3 The present report of the Austrian Federal Government's Working Group on the Information Society pursues two fundamental objectives: 
2.2 On the Report's Structure  
2.2.1 The report has been structured as follows: 

3 Business Location and Social Security  
3.1 Starting-points  
3.1.1 In recent years it has become apparent that Austria's business environment has undergone radical changes in the wake of the opening of Eastern Europe and this country's accession to the European Union....
3.1.2 The importance of the information and communication sector in Austria is reflected in its market volume...
3.1.3 In attempting to estimate the impact of the wider use of information and communications technologies in the creation (and/or supply) of commodities and services, we are dealing with a large number of uncertain factors...
3.1.4 Given international developments in individual market segments and the specific conditions pertaining to Austria, it will take concerted endeavours in the coming years to make good...
3.1.5 The more widely telecommunications services and products are used in the production of commodities and services, the more important the quality of the telecommunications infrastructure becomes as a business location factor...
3.1.6 Large areas of the range of telecommunications services in Austria are currently being provided by the PTA...
3.1.7 The availability of a wider range of innovative telecommunications infrastructures and services is the prerequisite for new applications whose great importance extends beyond purely business considerations...
3.1.8 The structural changes triggered by the wider utilisation of information and communications technologies in business also affect the area of professional qualifications and will thus necessitate the appropriate political decisions on training and further training (cf. Chapter 7)...
3.1.9 The technological changes triggered by the new information and communications technologies are closely linked with social developments...
3.1.10 The utilisation of information and communications technologies and the availability of the requisite infrastructures and services as elements of a business location policy also raise issues relating to regional development.
3.2. The Outlook  
3.2.1 In the next few years Austria's transition to the information society will require fundamental...
3.2.2 The Federal Government is aware of the most important areas for action within the scope of...
3.2.3 Telecommunications have a specially significant role to play in the context of the information society and business location development....
3.2.4 Safeguarding social security will mean that the growth prospects for enterprises active on the...
3.3 Priorities and Action  
3.3.1 Growth prospects within the Austrian information and communications sector, and hence the...
3.3.2 The enlargement and expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure will and should in future be supplemented by private investments...
3.3.3 Given the great and increasing importance of the availability, quality and cost of...
3.3.4 In the context of the Federal Government's business location policy, action in the fields of...
3.3.5 In the case of new information and communication technology applications as they relate to the...

4 Telecommunications: Linchpin of the Information Society  
4.1 Starting-points  
4.1.1 Telecommunications - in the purely technical sense as the relaying of information over distances...
4.1.2 Since the eighties there has been a growing awareness that the transition from a preponderantly...
4.1.3 The abolition of the monopoly situation (for reasons of economic policy) and the deregulation...
4.1.4 Some degree of sector-specific regulation will, however, have to be retained even in advanced...
4.1.5 At all events, whether one supplier (or more) dominates the market or whether completely free competition prevails, a certain degree of sector-specific regulation is called for...
4.1.6 International developments have a substantial impact on a country's national telecommunications policy...
4.1.7 Substantial changes to the prevailing legislative conditions will also be necessary in Austria...
4.1.8 As a consequence of the applicable legislative provisions, the telecommunications infrastructure in Austria is to all intents and purposes confined to the PTA...
4.1.9 The planned enlargement of the range of available services and the introduction of a...
4.2 The Outlook   
4.2.1 Telecommunications policy makes a significant contribution to paving the way for the...
4.2.2 The Federal Government, perceiving the principal challenges to its telecommunications policy...
4.2.3 Generally speaking, the Federal Government's telecommunications policy pursues a strategy of...
4.3 Priorities and Action  
4.3.1 In recent years technological advances and the internationalisation of telecommunications...
4.3.2 Top priority has been attached to a revision of telecommunications regulations in a...
4.3.3 Given that the field covered by telecommunications policy and the channels for its...

5 Scientific Research and Universities   

5.1 Starting-points  
5.1.1 In the context of research and university education, the complexity of the development and...
5.1.2 The confrontation with the information society and the development and application of...
5.1.3 As a direct research topic, information and communication technologies are a prerogative of...
5.1.4 The information and communication technologies illustrate especially vividly the pioneering role...
5.1.5 The use of information technology in a (university) research context of course entails more than...
5.1.6 In some specific areas of information and communication technologies, research and...
5.1.7 One of the key functions of the university sector is teaching (cf. Chapter 7)...
5.1.8 If the utilisation of the Internet helps to secure the basic qualifications for the students' handling...
5.2 The Outlook  
5.2.1 As Austria progresses along the path to the information society, it will have to take a number of decisive active steps in the fields of research and science policy...
5.2.2 The Federal Government is aware of the major challenges in the research field and is...
5.2.3 The strategic orientation of the measures to be adopted in the research field will generally...
5.3 Priorities and Action  
5.3.1 Both the Science Ministry and the other bodies concerned in the public research sector will...
5.3.2 In some areas, implementation measures will not be definable until the social and political...

6 Innovation and Technology  
6.1 Starting-points  
6.1.1 Safeguarding the innovative potential of companies manufacturing in Austria and utilising...
6.1.2 Information and communication technologies and the related services and applications have a...
6.1.3 The conditions in which some Austrian companies in the information and communication...
6.1.4 That Austrian companies and research centres active in the field of information and...
6.1.5 The success of innovation activities ultimately depends on the prospects for dissemination of...
6.1.6 There are other obstacles to innovation and dissemination that occur only when new services...
6.1.7 Stimulation in this field benefits especially small and medium-size enterprises. On the one hand...
6.1.8 In specific areas the state has already assumed the role of an innovative consumer by using...
6.1.9 By making use of information and communication technologies as well as new media and...
6.1.10 The examples cited above illustrate the way in which the state creates a demand for...
6.2 The Outlook  
6.2.1 Formulating Austria's path to the information society will place high demands on this country's...
6.2.2 The Federal Government is mindful of the principal challenges intrinsic to its technology policy...
6.2.3 Where information and communication technologies are concerned, the strategic thrust of the...
6.2.4 The Federal Government's strategy of improving the dissemination of innovative applications...
6.3 Priorities and Action  
6.3.1 The approach to the subject of the information society as adopted by this country's innovation...
6.3.2 The expert meetings held under the auspices of the Working Group have shown that the...

7.1 Starting-points  
7.1.1 The ever wider use of information and communication technologies in every area of working...
7.1.2 In future the ability to handle the new technologies and media will have an important bearing on...
7.1.3 Where the education system is concerned, the advent of the information society will place...
7.1.4 The quality of education is a key factor in the country's development towards the information...
7.1.5 The educational field affords a wide range of potential applications for the new media and...
7.1.6 By the same token, though, it is only in the context of practical use that the opportunities...
7.1.7 Modern telecommunications open up new possibilities in the field of education for utilising...
7.1.8 In the implementation of innovative projects and the long-term nationwide utilisation of the new...
7.1.9 As Austria advances towards the information society, libraries and archives constitute an area...
7.2 The Outlook  
7.2.1 The further development of the educational system is of crucial importance in Austria's...
7.2.2 The Federal Government is mindful of the principal challenges intrinsic to its education policy...
7.2.3 The strategic thrust of educational policy takes into account both the key role of the education...
7.3 Priorities and Action  
7.3.1 The findings of the Working Group "Education" (headed by the Education Ministry) show that...
7.3.2 The outline of an "Educational Campaign New Media" exists in the form of a phased plan. It...
7.3.3 Apart from the measures in the educational field (in the strict sense) as outlined above, action is...

8 State Administration  

8.1 Starting-points  
8.1.1 Information-intensity, the growing volume of information needing processing, and the complex...
8.1.2 Since the mid-eighties information and communication technologies have been utilised in the...
8.1.3 There are both technical and organisational considerations to be taken into account if the...
8.1.4 The effective use of information and communication technologies in the administration...
8.1.5 Innovative telematic applications and services based on the local use of information...
8.1.6 Targeted measures adopted by the European Union are generating considerable momentum...
8.1.7 Telematic applications and access to databases presuppose the availability of adequate...
8.1.8 Along with ACOnet, the Corporate Network Finanz (CNF), planned in 1995, represents an...
8.1.9 Initial steps have been taken - producing encouraging results - in the utilisation of new...
8.1.10 In the long term, interactive systems going beyond the scope of simple information retrieval...
8.2 The Outlook  
8.2.1 The wide range of possible applications for information and communication technologies in the...
8.2.2 The Federal Government is aware that the transition to the information society poses a number...
8.2.3 In the course of the strategic implementation of an action plan aimed at wider use of...
8.3 Priorities and Action  
8.3.1 The Working Group (notably subgroup 9 which studied technology applications in the federal...
8.3.2 Priority is assigned to strategies and action in the following fields...
8.3.3 In the light of budgetary constraints and the consequent austerity measures implemented by the...

9.1 Starting-points  
9.1.1 Apart from the public administration in the strict sense of the term (cf. Chapter 8), public social...
9.1.2 Public social services affect all sections of the public to the same degree. Apart from the public...
9.1.3 The health authorities, which act as an interface with virtually all the entities involved in the...
9.1.4 Nationally and internationally, great importance is attached to the introduction of modern health...
9.1.5 The modernisation of the public health system with the help of information and communication...
9.1.6 More and more practical applications in the field of health telematics have been implemented in...
9.1.7 Another key area for the use of information and communication technologies is the employment...
9.1.8 Information and communication technologies are being used more widely in the AMS to...
9.1.9 The social insurance area occupies a key position in public social services. The social insurance...
9.1.10 With the goal of a 10% cut in administrative costs in mind, information and communication...
9.2 The Outlook  
9.2.1 There are several parallels between the public administration in the narrower sense of the term...
9.2.2 The Federal Government is mindful of a number of challenges connected with the use of...
9.2.3 Internal and sectoral rationalisation goals are not the only considerations in formulating
9.3 Priorities and Action  
9.3.1 The Working Group (notably subgroups 6 and 8) put forward proposals that resemble the...
9.3.2 In addition to the measures and priorities listed under 8.3.1 ff., priority attaches to strategies...

10.1 Starting-points  
10.1.1 Precisely because of the growing spread of information and communication technologies and...
10.1.2 Ideally, the amendment of existing laws should keep abreast of social, economic and...
10.1.3 Technological developments relating to the transmission and archiving of digitised information...
10.1.4 These technological and commercial trends have several implications for media policy and...
10.1.5 The spread of interactive, multimedia services raises fundamental questions relating to the...
10.1.6 In the medium term applications like tele-shopping or purchasing via the Internet are likely to...
10.1.7 Consumer protection is just one of several important implications raised by the conclusion of...
10.1.8 The areas of data protection and data security also call for greater attention in terms of the...
10.1.9 The confidentiality of communication content is just one aspect that needs to be considered in...
10.1.10 The protection of intellectual property is another area in which legal and technical solutions...
10.1.11 New technologies for the utilisation and dissemination of information also need to be...
10.2 The Outlook  
10.2.1 The modernisation of the legal context for the handling of information is one of the central...
10.2.2 The Federal Government is aware that the process of modifying and modernising the general...
10.2.3 The foremost considerations in the formulation of an approach are the speed of technological...
10.3 Priorities and Action  
10.3.1 The Working Group (notably subgroup 1, The Information Society and Law) proposed...
10.3.2 In the context of the amendment of legal provisions, strategies and modifications in the...

Special: The Future of (Tele)Work 

Special: The Meaning of Universal Service 

Special: Selected EU Directives on Telecommunications 

Special: Internet and ACOnet 

Special: EDI Simplifies Business Communications 

Special: Information and Mobility

Special: Networks for Schools and Education 

Special: IT Applications in the Judicial Field 

Special: Democracy and Electronics

Special: Communications in the Health Sector

Special: Encryption for Security