The Internet is changing the world we live in.  It is a change no less significant than the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.  Over the last two decades, information technologies and the Internet have been transforming the way companies do business, the way students learn, the way scientists carry out research and the way in which governments provide services to their citizens.

Digital technologies have proved to be a powerful engine for economic growth and competitiveness. In the 1990s, businesses and consumers in the United States were quick to take advantage of this “digital revolution”.  As a result, American businesses became much more competitive and the US economy enjoyed spectacular and unprecedented growth.

At the Lisbon Summit in March 2000, European heads of state and government recognised that Europe too must become a much more digital economy.  Indeed, they set a new goal for the European Union - to become the most competitive knowledge-based society in the world by 2010.

The EU’s success in achieving this goal will help determine the quality of life of its citizens, the working conditions of its workers and the overall competitiveness of its industries and services.

Source: Introduction to the EU Commission's Report "Towards A Knowledge Based Europe", 2002