The Digital Champions are appointed by each European Union Member State to help them and the European Commission promote the benefits of an inclusive digital society.[1] The Digital Champions act locally. They work with citizens, communities, businesses, governments, and academia. They do so by helping individuals become digital, by promoting e-skills in education, fostering e-government services, encouraging entrepreneurship, supporting businesses to embrace new technologies and be more competitive, contributing to research and innovation.[2] They also advise the European Commission on the implementation of the Digital Agenda for Europe. The European Commission regularly interact with the Digital Champions and this exchange provides a valuable platform to discuss, compare and expand action at grass-roots level. The Digital Champions meet at least twice a year.[1][3]

Background

In December 2011, the European Council stressed that the Digital Single Market was an area of growth potential for the European Union. Vice-President Neelie Kroes, the Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, then asked the European Commission to take up this challenge by appointing a national Digital Champion, who could help get every European digital.[2] On 14 February 2012 the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso wrote to Member States and asked them to take further dedicated action to make the Digital Single Market a reality. One way to do this was to appoint a national Digital Champion.[4][5] The first meeting of the Digital Champions and Vice-President Kroes was held in Brussels in June 2012. Further meetings were held in Sofia in September 2012 and in Brussels 2013. The Digital Champions convened for the fourth time in Dublin back-to-back with the Digital Agenda Assembly.[6] The Champions fifth and sixth meetings were held in Brussels and their seventh meeting back-to-back to the Digital Action Day on 29 September 2014. The Digital Champions met with European Vice-President Andrus Ansip and European Commissioner Günther Oettinger in February 2015. Their ninth meeting took place back-to-back with the Digital Assembly in Riga in June 2015 and since then they met several times either in Brussels or at subsequent Digital Assemblies.

Digital Champions by country

Member State Digital Champion
Austria Ingrid Brodnig
Belgium[7][8] Saskia van Uffelen
Bulgaria[9] Gergana Passy
Cyprus[10] Stelios Himonas
Czech Republic[11] Ondrej Felix
Denmark Niels Bjorn Andersen
Finland[12] Linda Liukas
France[13] Gilles Babinet
Germany
Greece Nikos Michalopoulos
Hungary[14] Jobbágy László
Italy Diego Piacentini
Latvia Reinis Zitmanis
Lithuania Renata Danielene
Luxembourg[15] Romain Martin
Malta[16] Godfrey Vella
Netherlands[17] Tineke Netelenbos
Poland Wlodzimierz Marcinski
Portugal Domingos Folque Guimaraes
Romania[18] Paul Andre Baran
Slovakia[19] Peter Pellegrini
Slovenia Marko Grobelnik
Spain José Angel Alonso Jimenez
Sweden[20] Jan Gulliksen

References

  1. ^ a b "Digital Agenda for Europe - European Commission". Ec.europa.eu. 2013-01-25. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  2. ^ a b "BBC News - European commissioner calls for 'digital champions'". Bbc.co.uk. 2011-11-02. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  3. ^ "Meet the European Digital Champions (17 December 2012)". EUagenda.eu. Retrieved 2015-02-20.
  4. ^ D'Arcy, Matthew. "EU promotes 'digital champions' to end exclusion". Archived from the original on June 19, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  5. ^ "Barroso asks Member States to appoint a national Digital Champion « Telecentre Europe". Telecentre-europe.org. 2012-02-22. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  6. ^ "3rd Digital Champions Meeting - TE @tc_europe". Telecentreeurope.ning.com. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  7. ^ "Agoria>Opinions : Saskia Van Uffelen est notre "Digital Champion"". Agoria.be. Archived from the original on 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  8. ^ "Saskia Van Uffelen, 'Digital Champion' belge - actualité - Datanews.be - Datanews.be". Datanews.levif.be. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  9. ^ "Ex Bulgarian Minister Becomes EU 'Digital Champ' - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". Novinite.com. 2012-06-25. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  10. ^ "Stelios Himonas". Cyprus Mail. 2013-06-22. Archived from the original on 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  11. ^ "Internet in the Czech Republic - Aspen". Aspeninstitute.cz. 2013-02-12. Archived from the original on 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  12. ^ Ann O'Dea (2013-06-18). "Finland's Digital Champion Linda Liukas in conversation with Silicon Republic at the IIEA (video) - Digital 21 - Digital 21 | siliconrepublic.com - Ireland's Technology News Service". siliconrepublic.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  13. ^ "Gilles Babinet nommé "digital champion" | Ministère du redressement productif". Redressement-productif.gouv.fr. 2012-06-26. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  14. ^ "DPAS Summer workshop".
  15. ^ "Prof. Romain Martin appointed Digital Champion". N.uni.lu. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  16. ^ "Government appoints Godfrey Vella as Malta's new Digital Champion | di-ve - Malta's news, lifestyle & classified". di-ve. Archived from the original on 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  17. ^ "Digivaardig Digiveilig". Digivaardigdigiveilig.nl. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  18. ^ "Biblionet Director Nominated for EU Digital Champion of Romania | IREX - Civil Society, Education and Media Development". IREX. 2012-02-24. Archived from the original on 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  19. ^ "Digital champion - Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes appreciates efforts of the Slovak Digital Champion". Digitalchampion.sk. Archived from the original on 2013-09-18. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  20. ^ "Regeringen utser Jan Gulliksen till Sveriges Digital champion" (in Swedish). Regeringen.se. 2012-09-06. Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
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