This report focuses on non-participating highly innovative SMEs in the ICT sector with the aim to clarify the reasons for not participating in European research programs and to suggest ways forward for the new ICT-FP8/Horizon 2020 to remedy the situation. This was done by launching an online questionnaire completed by 829 entities, of which over 600 were innovative ICT SMEs, and carrying out in-depth interviews with 47 of these.

Acknowledging the link between ICT and Economic Growth, the commission made the Digital Agenda a key pillar of its strategy for growth, Europe 2020. Action 54 of the Digital Agenda Europe (DAE 54) specifically aims at enabling the new generation of web‐based applications and services. However, its implementation requires a deep knowledge of the current web ecosystem and its foreseen evolution, including the identification of stakeholders involved, as well as the identification of technical, policy and economic challenges posed by future web platforms. This report presents the findings of a study on web.

Raising the game : communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

A literature review

The Commission Communication entitled "A Strategy for ICT R&D and Innovation in Europe: Raising the Game" proposes reinforcing Europe's industrial and technology leadership in ICT. Building on Europe's assets, the Communication anticipates a landscape where, by 2020, "(…) Europe has nurtured an additional five ICT poles of world-class excellence (…)". This study attempts to identify ICT R&D&I-related agglomeration economies in Europe that would meet world-level excellence, and to identify weak signals that would indicate the dynamics of a changing ICT-related economic geography in Europe.