e-BSN

This is the European e-business policies portal

The European e-business policies portal, the backbone of the European e-Business Support Network (eBSN) for SMEs, serves as one-stop-shop, on-line environment for all European e-business initiatives, launched by (or in collaboration with) public authorities at national, regional or local level, that aim at promoting the adoption of ICT and e-business among SMEs.
The portal provides information about e-business policy initiatives, statistical data about the take-up of e-business among European SMEs, examples of best practice, news, announcements, articles, etc. 

What is eBSN?

In its conclusions on the impact of the e-economy on the competitiveness of European enterprises of 6 June 2002, the Industry Council invited the Member States and the Commission to "intensify dialogue, exchange regularly experience, identify specific goals for e-business policies and to share best practices".

In response, the eEurope 2005 Action Plan, as adopted by the Commission on 28 May 2002 and endorsed by the European Summit in Seville on 21 June 2002, foresees the establishment of "an European e-business support network, federating existing European, national and regional players in this field with a view to strengthening and co-ordinating actions in support of SMEs in the field of e-business".

Facing the challenge of the new economic situation and with the vision of strengthening dialogue between different e-business initiatives at European level, the European Commission established the European e-Business Support Network for SMEs (eBSN). The main objective of eBSN is to federate e-business experts in Europe and to share experience and good practice in support of e-business for SMEs. More specifically, the objectives of the eBSN are:

• To bring together real decision makers in the field of e-business, to share information, to discuss strategic policy orientation;
• To validate existing e-business policies and to agree on targets for future e-business policies;
• To provide a "one-stop-shop" for information about regional, national and European initiatives and funding possibilities for SMEs;
• To organise special meetings of governmental e-business experts to share practical experience and to identify future challenges.

eBSN builds upon the results of the Go Digital initiative and specifically on a benchmarking study on national and regional policies in support of e-business for SMEs in 2002. The main lesson to be learned from this study is that many successful policy initiatives in support of e-business for SMEs exist in Europe but that their efficiency could be further enhanced by learning from each other and sharing best practise and information material. As part of enterprise policy, the eBSN is meant to be a tool to improve co-operation among existing e-business policy initiatives in Europe and to better use synergies between them.

Following the Commission's communication on "Adapting e-business policies in a changing environment", the Competitiveness Council of 13 May 2003 welcomed the Commission's initiative and invited Member States and Acceding Countries "to actively engage in the European e-Business Support Network for SMEs".

The eBSN is open to all relevant policy initiatives in support of e-business for SMEs in the Member States, the Acceding and Candidate Countries and the EEA EFTA States, which are willing to share experience and information. A standing invitation for expression of interest to join the eBSN is available.

A future priority of the eBSN is to extend its activities to the Acceding and Candidate Countries. To this end, a call for proposal will be launched in order to stimulate the co-operation between eBSN members with different e-business policy challenges in the same fields, reflecting different stages of e-maturity and building upon the most successful strategies in Europe. This campaign shall result in a series of targeted events, notably in the Acceding and Candidate Countries, addressing the objectives as described in the Commission's communication on "Adapting e-business policies in a changing environment".

By the end of 2004, the Commission will publish a Staff Working Paper on the results of the eBSN. The specific performance criteria against which this initiative will be measured, encompass participation indicators such as the number of eBSN members, indicators on the quantity and quality of deliverables such as the number of downloads of the European e-Business training toolkit as well as effectiveness indicators like the number of bilateral contacts initiated under the eBSN auspices.

eBSN Members

The network is been built upon existing support mechanisms for SMEs, which are actively promoting e-business. The network is open to voluntary participation, based on the principle of sharing information and expertise in the field of e-business. Members of this network are:

• E-business experts from public administrations in EU Member States, the EU acceding and candidate countries, the EEA countries and the European Commission;
• Representatives of European, national and regional initiatives, which provide support to SMEs with regards to the take-up of ICT and e-business (i.e. SMEs support networks, EICs, public-private partnerships, etc.). Only those initiatives stemming from public policies, i.e. supported by public authorities, either directly or indirectly through public-private partnerships, are eligible for participation in the European e-business support network. This is motivated by the consideration that this network is primarily meant to inform policy makers about other successful initiatives in the area of ICT and e-business promotion and eventually to influence policy making in this field.

The eBSN is open to all relevant policy initiatives in support of e-business for SMEs in the Member States, the Acceding and Candidate Countries and the EEA EFTA States, which are willing to share experience and information. A standing invitation for expression of interest to join the eBSN is available.

The complete list of eBSN members can be obtained by clicking here ( 75Kb).

Below you can find detailed information about each eBSN member. For convenience, the eBSN members are grouped by country:

Austria | Belgium | Bulgaria | Cyprus | Czezh Republic | Denmark | Estonia | Finland | France | Germany | Greece | Hungary | Ireland | Italy | Latvia | Lithuania | Luxembourg | Malta | The Netherlands | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain | Sweden | United Kingdom

Austria
Christian Czaak - ECAustria
Robert Kromer - Initiative ICT / eBusiness and Innovation
Gerhard Laga - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Dagmar Tomschitz - e-Business Service-package for SMEs

Belgium
Alain Ejzyn - eBusiness center of ICHEC
Damien Jacob - Forum Telecom SPI+
Serge Kalitventzeff - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Tomas Lejaeghere - Internet strategy for SME's
Freek Posthumus - European Office of Crafts, Trades and SMEs for Standardisation
Nicolas de Potter - Multiple-Level Networking (MLN) for SMEs
Dominique Renard – eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Deborah Santus Roosen – Business Policy for Textile and Clothing SMEs
Paul Skehan – eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)
Vincent Tilman - European Chambers of Commerce : active promotors of e-business for SMEs

Bulgaria
Georgi Mihaylov - Overcoming the Digital Divide - Integrating Bulgarian Business into the New Economy
Todor Yalamov - Bulgaria Development Gateway

Cyprus
Nicos Philippou- eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

Czezh Republic
Mirko Berny- eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

Denmark
Niels Bjorn-Andersen - eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)
Helle Dam Sorensen - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Soren Dejgaard - IKT-SMIL (Information and Communication technologies as a strategic measure for business development)
John Sarborg Pedersen - E-business in SME's in Denmark
Simon Poulsen - eEurope 2005 themes Modinis, eBusiness
Erling Sörensen - Promoting innovative IT take up in SMEs
Annedorte Vad - EuroCenter

Estonia
Pirco Konsa - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

Finland
Antti Eskola - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Anu Kalliala - Verkkokaveri "The Net Mate" Information Service
Kari Korpela - E for business
Jaana Lappi - eAskel (eStep)
Timo Määttä - E-business network for SMEs in Central Finland region
Olavi Meriläinen - EKeuruu
Liina Penttilä - eBusiness Service for SMEs
Jari Rajamaki - Seinajoki Technology Centre
Tommi Ranta - e-Business project for SMEs in Seinajoki region
Taina Tervonen - Small crafts enterprises in e-business

France
Jean-Michel Astier - Maire-Adjoint de Saint-Vincent de Salers
Olivier Bernasconi - Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris (CCIP)
Phillipe Bertrand - Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Grenoble
Daniel Bessis - Regional Council Ile de France
Guillaume Beyens - CLUB DES ACTEURS DU NUMERIQUE DE LA LOIRE
Xavier Boniteau - C ybermassif
Olivier Bourgeois - Proxi-Business
Julie De Carlini - CCIP Hauts de Seine
Raouti Chehin - Coaching private and public initiatives to ICT development
Claire Corbel - Limousin Technologie
Philippe Cros - Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Rural Affairs
Beatrice Decroux - Pole Normand des Echanges Electroniques
Rozenn Delafontaine - Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris (CCIP) Val de Marne
Bruno Deschandelliers - Chamber of Commerce and Industry of d'Evry
Romaine Duhamel - CRCI Basse Normandie
Soumitra Dutta - eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)
Jean-Claude Ermenault - Agoratech
Georges Fischer - Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris (CCIP)
Dominique Geffroy - DRIRE Pays de Loire
Pascal Gosteau - Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Valenciennois
Robert Guyon - ELEAS project : ebusinesslex legal portal and complementary actions
David Horassius - PREST INFO
Frédéric Laurent - Regional Council of Aquitaine
Christel Lefevre - CRCI - Numéripole
Stephane Lelux - IT & Regional Development
Franck Olivier - IT support doctrines for Chambers of Commerce and Industry
Christine Petit - Achatville
Jacqueline Richier - Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Grenoble
Philippe Rouiller - AgenceNTIC Bourgogne
Sami Sboui – Échange benchmark et diffusion des bonnes pratiques managériales
Marc Moreau - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Isabelle Verzier - Région Rhône-Alpes
Graham Vickery - eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)

Germany
Peter Bleeck - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Silke Brüggebors - KLICK - Kompetenzzentrum elektronischer Geschäftsverkehr Rheinland-Pfalz
Thomas Fischer - E-business for SMEs
Gerhart Maier - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Derek Meier - b-online
Eva Pfendert - ebigo.de
Ben Schlüssler - Technologie-Transfer Zentrale Schleswig-Holstein, Kompetenzzentrum EC-SH
Josef Schraven - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Ralf Wiegand - PROZEUS

Greece
Vasilios Assimakopoulos - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Nikos Kakaris - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Georgios I. Doukidis - eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)
Ilias Hatzakis - E-business Forum
Jaques Koune - Go-Online
Eugenia Lagadianou - Go-Online
Emmanuel Petrakis - MINOS
Xenophon Tsilibaris - Go-Online
Ilias Vlachos - Small agribusiness e-business support

Hungary
Ibolya Csuka - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Balazs Joo - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement

Ireland
Seamus Chamberlain - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Sinéad Gilligan - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Karen Hynes - PRISM III
Eamonn Kelly - Empower
Stefan Klein - eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)
Vincent Landers - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Brendan McCormack - Information & Communication Technologies e-Cluster Programme
Eoin O'Siochru - eBIT (eBusiness and IT advice Initiative)

Italy
Andrea Benigno - E-business in Sicily (E-Sicily)
Daniele Colombo - ELEAS: E-Commerce Legislation Easily Accessible to SMEs.
Pierluigi Federici - e-Way: e-Commerce solutions for SMEs & M.A.R.I.O.: advanced search engine for SMEs
Maurizio Ferri - ICE - eMarket Services Italia
Carlo Alberto Carnevale-Maffè - eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)
Alessio Nasini - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Bernard Prevete - ICE - eMarket Services Italia
Giocondo Recchi - ICE - EC Info Point
Carmen Russo - Multimedia and e-business tutorship for SMEs
Piero De Sabbata - Enea
Candia Savastano - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

Latvia
Inga Heldorfa - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Intars Eglitis - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement

Lithuania
Rimantas Gatautis - Kaunas e-region development
Edmundas Zvirblis - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

Luxembourg
Olivier Pirot - Centre d'Innovation par les Technologies de l'Information
Carlo Wirth - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

Malta
Karl Herrera - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

The Netherlands
Najat Aoulad - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Peter Koudstaal - Netherlands Go Digital
Luc Soete - eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)

Norway
Vigdis Nessoe - eBSN Steering Group Member (EEA State)

Poland
Boguslaw Sliwczynski - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

Portugal
Antonio Campos - E-business in the Region of Santarém
Jaime Serrao Andrez - IAPMEI
José António Feu - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Ana Cristina Guedes - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Miguel Prieto - The future of e-business among SMEs & European Legislation on e-business

Romania
Gheorghe Mincu Sandulescu - IPA SA

Slovakia
Roman Benes - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Peter Pospisil - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Albert Priehoda - Innovations of marketing management in the environment of e-business
Dusan Soltes - Go Digital and e-Commerce for small and medium enterprises in Slovakia

Slovenia
Joze Gricar - eBSN Steering Group Member (e-business expert)
Aleš Lipnik - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)

Spain
Inigo Atxutegi - e-Bizkaia
Ramon Basanta - Ce-Commerce Leveraging Centre of Galicia
Carolina Marco Bellver - SATSI- Vice Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society
Eva Casado - Technology Assessment to Enterprises
Carlos Gomara - Euroecom- 2Bdigital: using e-marketplaces to internationalise SMEs
Elum Inmaculada - Association for the Promotion of Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce and New Technologies (ANETCOM)
Blanca iRodríguez - TELEMARKET, AV@NPYME and PRAINA
Luis Casas Luengo - VIVERNET
Antonio Padilla-Melendez - Research Team on "E-business: Electronic Commerce and teleworking"
Javier Méndez - Technology Assessment to Enterprises
Ana Benito Mulet - Association for the Promotion of Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce and New Technologies (ANETCOM)
Beatriz Real - E-Business Checking Program
Xavier Rivera - 2Bdigital: using e-marketplaces to internationalise SMEs
Javier Monge Rojas - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Jesús Galván Ruiz - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
José Maria Moragón Sahuquillo - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Ferran Cabrer i Vilagut - CONSEN (EEIG) Euro-Group
Julio Yuste - VIVERNET

Sweden
Jonas Bygdeson - eMarket Services
Victoria Callenmark - The Swedish Agency for Public Management
Tony Meurke - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Mikael Von Otter - SVEA – ebusiness for Swedish SMEs
Ulrika Obstfelder Peterson - Meetingpoint Wermland
Tommy Stugard - itJämtland County

United Kingdom
John-Paul Anderson - Electronic Payments Tool & Trade Online Project
Harris Barnaby - ConnectingSW
Joanne Blanusa - HIE Online
Stephen Carey - One North East
Christine Cook - EBusiness Policy
Tony Davies - Opportunity Wales and eCommerce Accreditation Initiative
Peter Duschinsky - Localegov National e-Procurement Project
Richard Field - East of England Multimedia Alliance
Norma Foster - The North East Regional Portal 2001 Ltd
Adrian Goodwall - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State)
Roland Harwood - London Business Support Network Knowledge Centres (LBSNKC)
Olive Hill - Invest NI
Roger Horam - International Trade Online Learning Programme
Neill Irwin - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
Richard Kneller - East of England online business advisors
Catherine Turner - Essex eBusiness Club
Dan Licari - West Midlands E-adoption Project
Christine Lloyd - Opportunity Wales
Tim Luft - 2wm Business Innovation Network
Kenn Marr - Search engine optimisation project
Stephen McArdle - eBusiness Assessment Tools
Maureen McKeown - Connecting Scotland: a strategic framework for e-business
Tim Miller - East Midlands Network
Bill Murray - eBSN Steering Group Member (Member State) - replacement
David Parker - Propensity for sme to engage in community-portal dynamic constellations
Denis Pelych - The National Business-to-Business Centre
Karen Preece - UK Online for Business Regional Champion, North West England
Tony Swash - Islington Business Portal
Frank Wilson - Islington Business Hub (IBH) & IST Project USHER