| I am delighted to be here tonight to celebrate
the 6th year of the e-Commerce Awards.
The awards highlight some of the leading, and most innovative and
productive uses of ICT in the United Kingdom.
In the style of all self-respecting awards events, let me begin by
thanking those who have made everything possible.
Thanks to Interforum, our hosts this evening, for all their hard work
in making these awards the most prestigious of their type.
Thanks too to all the National Sponsors, particularly The Royal Bank of
Scotland, BT and the Sunday Times Enterprise Network, not forgetting the
regional sponsors and the “regional adviser network”.
There have been almost 3,000 entries, equalling the remarkable level of
entries that was achieved last year.
Therefore finally, and most importantly, thanks to all of you who have
entered the awards this year.
Before making the awards let me just set out some broader issues,
before focusing on some issues in the ICT industry itself.
In the last decade the world wide computing industry has been through a
hard time, largely through the over exuberance of the dot com bubble.
But the demand for new products, the need for the industry to stay
ahead of the technology curve in a fast changing world means that as the
world economy recovers from the doldrums of 2001 and 2002 the ICT industry
has also began to pick up.
This year the OECD now forecasts a healthy world growth rate of 3.6%.
Good news for potential ICT demand.
The Fed – the US central Bank – predicts a soft patch for a few months
followed by firm growth. In the Euro zone, especially Germany, the last
few years have seen sluggish growth, but both the East Europeans and the
French are now picking up.
And Japan is doing surprisingly well.
Forecasters are now predicting much improved growth in the next couple
of years.
So despite oil price rises the predictions are good and your industry
is well placed to take advantage of it.
The UK economy as a whole has performed well in recent years, we
avoided the problems of many other countries and have growth well above
the average for G7 countries.
Growth in the first half of this year has been about 3 to 3.5%.
Despite significant public spending, the public sector deficit remains
relatively low compared to the past.
Importantly, we will be able to maintain our spending on both health
and education.
We know that in today's interdependent world economy, staying ahead in
ICT is an essential key to a country’s improved productivity and economic
success.
And that is not just rhetoric; a growing body of evidence and research
backs it up.
For example, a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, found
that ICT was strongly linked to economic growth.
It identified that the existing productivity gap between the USA and
Europe was mainly due to differences in effectiveness in ICT use.
Long-term wealth creation will increasingly be linked to the generation
and exploitation of knowledge, to a well-educated workforce and good ICT
infrastructure.
The clear message, then, is that best use of ICT is important not only
for companies but it will feed through into improved productivity at the
national level.
Businesses in the UK are deploying ICT more innovatively than ever
before.
It is now commonplace to see workers quite at ease accessing company
systems on their laptops through wireless connections while on the move.
Currently, two new technologies are beginning to take a hold - wireless
Local Area Networks and “Voice over Internet Protocol”.
And, all the signs are that the UK is well placed to become a world
leader in the deployment of these technologies.
Business therefore needs to become increasingly mature and selective in
its deployment of ICT.
This means, in part, becoming more astute in measuring the benefits of
ICT and focussing on those areas where ICT makes a real difference to the
bottom line.
It will no longer be computers for the sake of it! but selective
application of ICT to bring a real improvement in business performance!
Of course, Government has a big part to play as well.
We have invested widely in ICT. Mostly it has gone well – sometimes it
has not!
But we will continue our commitment to investment in ICT. It is vital
that Government delivers better public services and that means making more
effective use of information.
In broadband, the Government’s partnership with industry, through the
Broadband Stakeholders Group has been a model of cooperation.
From nowhere a couple of years ago Britain has now reached a position
in which the competitiveness and cover of our broadband market is among
the best in the major industrial countries.
This is an enormous achievement of which we should be very proud.
I pay tribute to all those who have been part of it.
But, of course, the Internet has its dark side too.
All of us – businesses and consumers -need to be able to protect
ourselves from the criminals who use the Internet to steal from the
gullible – and all too often recently, the cautious and careful too –
using sophisticated fraud schemes.
This year we have experienced a huge surge in problems with rogue
Internet diallers.
I am pleased that ICSTIS, the premium rate services regulator, is
getting a grip on this menace and taking strong action to deal with it.
While dwelling on the dark side of the Internet, I would also like to
pay tribute to BT who have introduced measures that will make life more
difficult for people who would use the Internet to peddle child abuse
images.
I urge other Internet service Providers to follow their example.
To invigorate online activity, the Government has also set itself
targets to ensure that key services are available online and achieving
high levels of use.
The businesslink.gov and the Director websites are already providing
valuable ways for businesses and citizens to access government support and
services.
And last week the Prime Minister committed us to ensuring every home
had the option of accessing broadband – even the poorest. We aim to
achieve that by 2008. A tough target. It will have to be done!
So, in terms of having a positive environment for e-business, the signs
do seem encouraging.
In its annual international survey on e-Readiness - an assessment of
how a country's technology infrastructure and general business environment
influence Internet usage - the Economist Intelligence Unit this year
ranked the UK second in the world.
So, much done – a lot more to do.
But back to our purpose for tonight.
I know you are all waiting to hear who the winners are, so I'll end now
by congratulating you all for having got this far.
I look forward to the awards recognising the achievements of even more
businesses in 2005 and am delighted to announce that DTI will be proud to
continue its support for the awards over the next year.
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