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Finger play, rather than footwork, gives Europeans an edge

Europeans overall may have done away with the most time-consuming bureaucratic procedures and reduced management costs by going online for many of their transactions with civil services, but in Greece, new technology still lags behind despite recent efforts to upgrade it. In other European countries, everything from hospital appointments to train tickets can be booked via SMS and all kinds of information about state services are available online. In recent years, some applications that have been successfully used elsewhere have been introduced in Greece. «We have a lot of work to do before we get anywhere near the other countries in Europe with regard to adopting information and communication technology,» said Nikos Kakaris, head of Greek Information Society Watch, which issued a report recently on the best applications in Greece and the rest of Europe and which have been awarded prizes by the European commission. «In some sectors, such as the electronic submission of taxation statements, Greece is on a par with the rest of Europe. In others, however, we need to have a good look at what is happening abroad,» he said. The report provides details of the minor revolutions brought about by information and communication technologies (ICT) in a number of activities in both public and private life. E-government. State services such as taxation bureaus, ministries and social security funds operate on unified networks and provide online services such as Reach (Ireland), GoPro (Iceland), Help (Austria), Suomi (Finland) and Bund.de (Germany). In France, 3.75 million taxation statements were submitted online in 2005, while in Ireland, 82 percent of people and 92 percent of businesses submitted theirs online in 2003. Germans estimated that they have saved 680 working years by submitting taxation statements online. Austria’s Help line provides access to over 2,300 services, classified into 160 subjects. In France, a similar website received 1.7 million visitors in May 2005. In some countries it is possible to store e-documents as a way of gradually replacing traditional administrative documents with e-mails. The Danes believe that by replacing 230 documents sent to 1.4 million households with e-mails, the state will save 170 million euros. E-medicine. In Denmark, the Health Data Network has links to hospitals, pharmacies and 98 percent of doctors and receives 100,000 visitors a month. In Germany, 80 million electronic health cards (bit4health) were distributed containing patients’ medical records, saving 1 billion euros a year by the use of online prescriptions. In Spain, the first digital hospital allows doctors to use laptops to store their patients’ records. Patients make appointments to see doctors by SMS and can also receive medical advice. E-business. Many countries have websites with information on their business environment and investment opportunities. France’s Achatville is an online catalog of small and medium-sized businesses that take online orders. In May 2005 Achatville had 1,324,000 visitors. In Belgium and Ireland there are websites announcing jobs, seminars and legislative amendments. E-learning. These sites provide access to educational material and online courses. Germany and Sweden lead the field with courses for women and for the over 55s. In Germany, Senior Surf Days attract 55,000 people, while in France, over a period of five years there have been 15,000 courses in which 150,000 women of all ages participated. E-culture. In Britain, a prize-winning virtual museum (24hourmuseum.org.uk) gives access to over 3,000 British museums, art galleries and sights. In the first half of 2004 alone, it received 1.37 million visitors, a 135 percent increase over 2003. Denmark has its Bibliotek.dk, Austria its Bibliotheken Online. Italy’s Internetculturale has access to 8 million titles in 2,200 library links. Citizens’ services. Transport tickets via SMS and payment of parking fees by mobile phone are just two applications that make daily life easier in Ireland, Italy, Finland, Germany and Austria. In Ireland, 50,000 people were using the m-parking service within four months of its opening.

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