SWOT Analysis on the theme
Digital Content
(ROC version)
Output Title
Digital Content SWOT Analysis
Work Package
WP4 – Foresight Methodology and Participation Enhancement
Activity
Regional Foresight Methodology
Short Description
Step 1 of the Regional Foresight process: theme-based SWOT
Distribution level
External
Responsible partner
Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Slovenia
Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI), Austria
University of Ljubljana (UL), Slovenia
Authors:
Samo ZORC
Anton MANFREDA
Dietmar LAMPERT
Jana KRAPEŽ
Aleš GROZNIK
Miha ŠKERLAVAJ
Version
V07 (2012-11-10)
LEGAL NOTICE
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the
use, which might be made, of the following information. The views expressed in this report are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.
© FORSEE Partnership, 2012
Reproduction is authorised provided that the source is acknowledged.
WP4 – Activity 4: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis – Digital Content
Digital content is the essence of a digital economy and the so called knowledge based society, since it
presents the vehicle for knowledge representation, sharing, access and use over traditional physical, social,
demographic, geographic, economic, etc. boundaries. Because of technological, business, and social
transformations, the EU faces important challenges in exploiting the benefits that digital content may bring
to society. It is crucial that digital content is created, preserved and available for use in all aspects to the EU
citizens and companies regardless of the technology changes that transform the content creation, and usage
patterns.
The Internet economy ecosystem is driven by content and services. Current technology convergence breaks
traditional technological areas and business models of communication providers, technology providers,
services providers and users. Mobile platforms that have become one of the main areas of innovation
transform the ICT ecosystems merging traditional content with applications and the WEB 2.0 social
networking paradigm, where value is increasingly created in the network itself. This has created strong
competition between whole ICT ecosystems including network, technology, service and content providers.
Future internet initiatives including converged networks based on IPv6, sensors networks and distributed
digital content and services infrastructure will bring even more dynamic space with unpredicted
consequences on business as much as society. R&D activities in the content and services sector are becoming
more and more globalised and driven outside the EU, which results in more and more pressure for action in
this area.
Relevant EU policy has tried to follow the advances in digital ecosystems by addressing the challenges that
impact the society at large such as privacy, security, IPR, openness of platforms, application stacks and
services and interoperability. In the EU, special attention has been given to the availability of sources of
digital content such as the digitisation of traditional cultural artefacts, scientific information, educational
content, user generated content and public sector information with the aim of enhancing and enabling
internal digital market in the EU. The SEE region countries do not show any special separate initiatives with
respect to this policy and regulation.
Research activities in the EU have in many cases followed the market advances or been executed without
adequate follow-ups in innovative business within the EU. The FP7 ICT programme has supported research
activities in this area targeting technologies for content creation, aggregation, management, and use. Current
data on FP7 participation show that the SEE region’s performance is sub-par: Besides Austria and Greece, all
other countries participate below the EU average. Slovenia ranks fairly high when the data are calculated per
inhabitant. Intelligent information management and ICT for learning seem most promising and important for
the region. In addition, the level of expenditures in ICT R&D is also much lower than EU average, which
shows that there is not much capacity for enhancing the R&D activities in digital content themes although
relative importance of these themes from FP7 participation in SEE rates above the EU average.
Current business trends show that in addition to technological innovations, non-technological innovations
play an even more important role in a digital content ecosystem. Available data for this area in terms of
business performance is not extensive, i.e. only general ICT data can be used to assess the current status.
WP4 – Activity 4: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis – Digital Content
Average ICT expenditure in SEE is much lower than the EU average, which shows the lack of potential for a
digital economy. The participation of SMEs in FP7 and CIP can be used to gauge the potential for
technological innovation coming from research. The results show that Austria, Greece, and Bulgaria rate
considerably higher in comparison to EU average. Compared to the overall FP7 participation of SMEs, their
participation in the digital content area is higher than the EU average, which means that SEE shows a relative
demand as well as the capability for activities. This assessment is also backed by data on participation in
innovation projects (eContent, eTEN, CIP ICTPSP) that places SEE not far below EU average – application
statistics in eContentPlus show even above-average values and hence a clear interest in this area.
Although digital content transforms society, indicators of its use and participation show that the EU has not
exploited these opportunities to the largest extent. In all major indicators, such as use (with exception of
reading online newspapers), participation, and accessibility – the SEE region countries rank below EU
average. This demonstrates the potential for further development. The financial crisis and the lack of sources
for financing research, innovation, and access capabilities in ICT in general means that special attention is
required to create a virtuous cycle of provision and demand that could build the capacity for growth and
development.
The SEE region scores lower on average than the EU27 in regard to most indicators used to measure the
innovation lifecycle. On the other hand, specific countries rank considerably higher than the EU27 average in
specific areas, which signifies an opportunity for joint development. Combined with the availability of local
content, this constitutes a potential that could be exploited, provided that policy-making will have to
embrace digital content as a priority theme and act accordingly. A special focus would have to be put on a
more targeted integration and cooperation at the regional – as well as the EU – level to leverage the relative
capacities and capabilities of the more advanced countries, facilitate knowledge sharing, and realise market
potential in this field.
WP4 – Activity 4: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis – Digital Content
SWOT table
Strengths
Weaknesses
Relatively good mobile penetration.
Missing participation in mobile content economy because of low mobile broadband
penetration./ low mobile broadband penetration
Solid level of local content production and availability.
Low R&D expenditure of both business and government
Positive cases and experiences in tackling the barriers of orphan/out-of-print works and
public domain works that could be used as good practices for other countries.
Low level of digitisation activities and integration of local content into Europeana.
publicly accessible digital libraries
Relative research excellence in digital content themes and specific topics.
Reusability of data, low intensity of open data re-use of PSI and low intensity of
mobile apps development
High relative importance of digital content theme relative to all FP7 ICT themes.
E-learning, e-commerce, and e-banking are not used at a high rate.
Good scientific cooperation/co-publications, which enables knowledge transfer and
sharing
Low level of participation in EU innovation support programmes, except for Greece
and Austria.
Better than average EU27participation of internet users in WEB2.0 activities.
In terms of innovation lifecycle performance, SEE countries assume mostly the
innovation follower part.
Relative good participation of internet users in building participative web of SEE
relative to EU average.
Low ICT expenditure means a low option for economy of scale in adoption of ICT.
Good SME participation in FP7 ICT R&D activities in the topic of Network media and
Information management.
Early adoption capacity for participative web services among general population is
low.
Average use is comparable to EU27.
Low level of overall SME participation in FP7 ICT activities comparing to average EU27
WP4 – Activity 4: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis – Digital Content
In general usage level can present the proper level of demand for new innovative
services.
Lower scope of active participation of population in WEB2.0 activities.
Increasing percentage of population doing an online course
Lack of technological innovation capacity because of low level of ICT R&D funding.
EUROPEANA standards are open.
The digitization is based on the creation of mere photocopies (scanned material)
Big commercial interest on Intelligent Information Management
Lack of method to handle BIG DATA
New generation is ready to adopt Technology Enhanced Learning
E-learning, E-commerce and E-banking are not used on appropriate level.
Research excellence in complementary topics like intelligent information management
Low level of R&D ICT support both from businesses and government
Lack of financial support and joint strategic national initiatives
Lack of efficient language resources and technologies infrastructure.
Lacking investments and SME support; lack of venture capitalists.
EU projects: overly bureaucratic requirements (e.g. at least 3 countries need to be
involved, large overheads are implied, frequent change of rules =>costs time and
resources).
“Culture
of failing”: failing as an entrepreneur is regarded as weakness; better
mentality in USA: high risk and failing belong together.
Opportunities
Threats
Better integration of SEE efforts in digitisation sharing best practices in tackling
financial, technological, organisational, and process-related issues.
Low mobile broadband penetration / Missing participation in mobile content
economy because of low mobile broadband penetration.
WP4 – Activity 4: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis – Digital Content
Open up innovation opportunities with implementation of open data re-use model.
Lowering capacity of participation in EU programmes because of the current
economic crisis.
Constant research and development expenditure as a percentage of GDP.
Still relatively low research and development expenditure as a percentage of GDP.
Positive GDP growth forecast in SEE economies.
Stopped digitisation efforts because of the current financial crisis.
Enhance research potential by mutual cooperation of SEE countries in EU programmes
on topics that show good R&D participation.
Changes in EU support programmes for 2013-2020 can threaten relatively successful
participation of Austria and Greece in innovation activities, inhibiting the SEE region’s
innovation activities.
Opportunities for follow-up innovation coming from participating SMEs in FP7 ICT
projects.
Not or slow catching up in use of more advanced services can cause skill gaps that
would prevent to follow the advances in future internet evolution.
Better SEE cooperation and integration in innovation activities would help advance the
participation in EU innovation measures.
Ageing population not being able to tackle with the contemporary technology and
usage.
Start regional support action on themes that show good R&D participation.
Lack of a National Policy for the digitization process in the country, EU policy does not
cover country’s aspects.
Rising usage rate for more advanced services could have positive impact for local
economy and society.
Increasing percentage of individuals with specialised internet/ computer knowledge
and skills.
WP4 – Activity 4: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis – Digital Content
Lack of standards for reusability hinder interoperability The lack of semantic
interoperability and standards to ensure it
Very complex ethical and legal issues. Legislation cannot keep up with the complexity
and paces of digital content technologies. IPR must be changed in terms of use of
digital content; creative commons.
Multilinguality/multiculturality. Act beyond state borders and merge differences.
Synergies between cultures/languages are not exploited enough.
Monopoly of global actors (e.g. Google) regarding tools and technologies for
Multilingual Web.
Proper use of Data Mining can predict and control situations at their starting point.
Lack of policy support for national languages for their participation in Multilingual
Web.
Technology Enhanced Learning can reduce costs of educational material and improve
quality of education.
Difficulty in getting access to content (licences, sensitive data, feeling of “property”).
Enhanced role of web security services addressing the need for protection of sensitive
data
Extinction of “small” languages in the Digital World. Dominance of English language in
the digital space now. Chinese language prevalence in the future.
Increasing active participation of people in the production of content can lead to
demand of opening closed content and the achievement of that.
Lack of training and willingness to train in Technology Enhanced Learning from the
side of older generations. Digital literacy and digital divide still exists.
Increasing percentage of population that is attending online courses.
Significant discrepancies regarding different levels on ICT development and
development on Digital Content in SEE countries should be taken into consideration.
The influence of the new paradigms of digital content creation and provision (like e.g.
social media and social business).
The infrastructure limited capacity to adapt to the innovation processes.
Better cooperation among producers of language resources for language technologies.
National
Infrastructure
for
responsibility/competence/policy.
Local based services is a booming market (e.g.apps) New users(s) can be created
through open data and open services.
Funding/investing needs new approaches (e.g. crowd investing).
long-term
archiving
is
missing
(AT)
Competence/Knowledge lead.
The above SWOT is based on the synthesis of the results of National Open Consultation events organised in 6 countries of the South East European
WP4 – Activity 4: PESTLE & SWOT Analysis – Digital Content