Today the NESSI National Platforms had a meeting to further develop their cooperation. Europe will in the coming years face a multitude of challenges caused by profound changes in social attitudes, economic conditions, global relationships, and the business environment. The overall goal of the NESSI National Platforms is to promote the development and application of service and ICT technologies for addressing these challenges.
Next to the societal and business needs for services delivered through ICT, there is the practical need within Europe to know what is happening in these fields in the various countries. At this moment NESSI, and the European Commission, lack an overview of what is happening in the field of ICT and services. The national platforms are closer to the source of information and in that way they are more able to provide the information needed. This is one of the main motives to set up a network of platforms. The platforms can learn from each other: best and worst practices can be exchanged. Which government projects succeeded, which failed? What is the state of E-health, and E-Government in the various countries, which countries are ahead and which countries need to improve ICT services? Working together will increase knowledge management in this field considerably.
Eva Söderström. Petia Wohed and I are in the process of setting up a Swedish NESSI platform.