eGovernment in Slovakia, the possibilities and challenges

ACTeN 18th Business Roundtable eGovernment in Slovakia, the possibilities and challenges will be held on 22nd of April 2004 in Bratislava, Slovakia,  under the auspices of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Kukan.

The Slovak government approved on 21st of January 2004 the Strategy of the informatization of the society and the Action plan. The document is derived from the tasks in the initiatives of eEurope+ and eEurope 2005. A very important part of the document discusses eGovernment as a means of getting government massively online and bringing much of the economy with it.

The aim of the business roundtable eGovernment in Slovakia, possibilities and challenges is to evaluate the present state of eGovernment in Slovakia, to introduce progressive world solutions and to analyse what the academic community, commercial sector, public sector and the branch informatics expect from approved Strategy.

eGovernment is defined as the use of information and communication technology in public administrations combined with organisational change and new skills in order to improve public services and democratic processes, and to strengthen support for public policies. The potential of eGovernment goes far beyond the early achievements of online public services and it is understandable that eGovernment has been defined as a priority in the eEurope 2005 Action Plan.

eGovernment promises to deliver better, more efficient public services and improve the relationship between citizens and their governments. The resulting benefits to quality of life, industrial competitiveness and society will only be realised, however, if administrations change the way they operate.

The public sector can act as a catalyst for change since it is both a supplier of information and a customer in need of broader bandwidth to provide this information to citizens. Today the public sector is the single largest holder and producer of content in Europe, so there is great potential for re-using public sector information for value-added services.

The BRT is organised by the company ELET. The partners of the BRT are civil associations Partnertsvá pre prosperitu (Partnerships for prosperity) and IT Association Slovakia (ITAS). The media partners are Computer Press and media agency SITA. The language of the Business Roundtable will be Slovak. For more information contact Soňa Makulová makulova@elet.sk.