Broadband and e-Government Services in South East Europe

Author(s):  
Konstantinos Antonis ◽  
Christos Bouras ◽  
Fabrizio D'Elia ◽  
Annalisa Di Vincenzo ◽  
Georgios Diles ◽  
...  

The European Commission acknowledging the significance of broadband for the improvement of citizen welfare and its economic benefits, has put in place targets for the diffusion of broadband to all citizens and businesses in the European Union. This manuscript comparatively assesses the current state of affairs in broadband and digital public services in selected South East Europe (SEE) countries in order to identify weaknesses and highlight strengths, and attempts to measure the impact and effectiveness of broadband on the economy. To this direction, the authors focus on evaluating the correlation between broadband and growth and employment. They also estimate the savings achieved by the usage of e-services and the potential savings that will follow their increased utilization over the next years. The analysis is followed by a number of recommendations that aim to support informed decision making. The manuscript builds on four surveys that took place during the second quarter of 2013.

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Suada Ajdarpašić ◽  
Gazmend Qorraj

This paper examines the educational system in South East Europe (SEE) within the framework of opportunities coming from the European Union, particularly Horizon 2020, a recent EU innovation and research programme. The specific goal of this article is to measure the impact of the performance of universities in South East Europe and the likelihood of obtaining EU programmes, specifically Horizon 2020 projects. The additional aim is to investigate whether high-ranking universities are successful in obtaining Horizon 2020 projects and, more specifically, if university performance is a significant factor in the success rate in obtaining Horizon 2020 projects. In order to analyse this phenomenon empirically, we compare the main public universities of South East Europe and consider their overall performance in relation to EU programmes obtained. The final outcome of the paper is that there is a clear relationship between the university performance and obtaining Horizon 2020 projects. Therefore, the high performance of a university positively correlates with a high success rate in obtaining Horizon 2020 projects for most of the universities.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4100
Author(s):  
Mariana Huskinson ◽  
Antonio Galiano-Garrigós ◽  
Ángel Benigno González-Avilés ◽  
M. Isabel Pérez-Millán

Improving the energy performance of existing buildings is one of the main strategies defined by the European Union to reduce global energy costs. Amongst the actions to be carried out in buildings to achieve this objective is working with passive measures adapted to each type of climate. To assist designers in the process of finding appropriate solutions for each building and location, different tools have been developed and since the implementation of building information modeling (BIM), it has been possible to perform an analysis of a building’s life cycle from an energy perspective and other types of analysis such as a comfort analysis. In the case of Spain, the first BIM environment tool has been implemented that deals with the global analysis of a building’s behavior and serves as an alternative to previous methods characterized by their lack of both flexibility and information offered to designers. This paper evaluates and compares the official Spanish energy performance evaluation tool (Cypetherm) released in 2018 using a case study involving the installation of sunlight control devices as part of a building refurbishment. It is intended to determine how databases and simplifications affect the designer’s decision-making. Additionally, the yielded energy results are complemented by a comfort analysis to explore the impact of these improvements from a users’ wellbeing viewpoint. At the end of the process the yielded results still confirm that the simulation remains far from reality and that simulation tools can indeed influence the decision-making process.


Urban Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 100776
Author(s):  
Luis G.R. Santos ◽  
Ido Nevat ◽  
Gloria Pignatta ◽  
Leslie K. Norford

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hudson ◽  
Colin Williams ◽  
Marta Orviska ◽  
Sara Nadin

Evaluating the Impact of the Informal Economy on Businesses in South East Europe: Some Lessons from the 2009 World Bank Enterprise SurveyThe aim of this paper is to evaluate the variable impacts of the informal economy on businesses and employment relations in South East Europe. Evidence is reported from the 2009 World Bank Enterprise Survey which interviewed 4,720 businesses located in South East Europe. The finding is not only that a large informal sector reduces wage levels but also that there are significant spatial variations in the adverse impacts of the informal economy across this European region. Small, rural and domestic businesses producing for the home market and the transport, construction, garment and wholesale sectors are most likely to be adversely affected by the informal economy. The paper concludes by calling for similar research in other global regions and for a more targeted approach towards tackling the informal economy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 449-454
Author(s):  
Kamen Petrov ◽  

The exhibition presents the problems of cross-border cooperation and opportunities for partnership. Within the European Union, conditions are created for regional development on the national territory, as well as for border and cross-border cooperation. In this direction, the article outlines the processes of building a number of Euroregions, which are designed to promote regional development. This report will clarify some of the reasons for their construction, their role and what model of cooperation is available within the European Economic Area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinko Miličević ◽  
Danijel Knežević ◽  
Zoran Bubaš

The problems in this paper belong to the field of migration and economy. The connection between migration and the economy has been proven on a global level, and as far as the Republic of Croatia is concerned, it is especially important to observe it through the City of Zagreb, which is the most important migration and economic center in the Republic of Croatia. Also, the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union emphasized the observation and research of this connection because it created the preconditions for freer movement and employment of the population of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Zagreb within the European Union. The aim of this paper is to determine the contribution of migration to the economic growth of the City of Zagreb. The hypothesis presented in the paper is that there is a significant contribution of migration to the economic growth of the City of Zagreb. The disposition of the paper consists of six parts. The introduction explains the relevance of the topic, states the aim of the paper and hypotheses, explains the empirical part, the contribution of the paper and the disposition. The second part of the paper refers to the theoretical framework of the impact of migration on economic growth. The third part of the paper presents the migration processes of the City of Zagreb in the period from 2011 to 2018. The fourth part deals with economic activity in the City of Zagreb in the period from 2011 to 2017. The observed indicators of economic activity in the City of Zagreb are GDP and GDP per capita, and the graph in this part of the paper shows that GDP and GDP per capita in the observed period are higher at the end of the period than at the beginning. The fifth part of the paper refers to the empirical research of the contribution of migration to the economic growth of the City of Zagreb. The empirical part of the paper is based on correlations and regression analyses. This paper proves the hypothesis because the results indicate a significant impact of the variables of total and external migration on the GDP of the City of Zagreb and GDP per capita of the City of Zagreb. Decision-makers in the City of Zagreb can use the results of the research as a basis for maximizing the economic benefits they can get from migration. The conclusion provides an overview of the aim of the work, the results of the research, the limitations, the implications and the recommendations for future research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narisong Huhe ◽  
Daniel Naurin ◽  
Robert Thomson

We assess the impact of the United Kingdom’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union on the Council of the European Union, where Brexit is likely to have the clearest observable implications. Using concepts and models from the spatial model of politics and network analysis, we formulate and test expectations regarding the effects of Brexit. We examine two of the most prominent datasets on recent decision-making in the European Union, which include data on cooperation networks among member states before and after the 2016 referendum. Our findings identify some of the political challenges that Brexit will bring, but also highlight the factors that are already helping the European Union’s remaining member states to adapt to Brexit.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-679
Author(s):  
James P Cross ◽  
Austė Vaznonytė

Although agenda-setting dynamics in the European Union are a well-studied phenomenon, there is a gap in the literature between the current focus on issue attention dynamics (a policy input) and the impact attention dynamics have on policy outputs. This study examines how the rotating Council Presidency’s stated policy goals for their term in office affect EU decision-making efficiency. We show that the salience the rotating chair of the Council attaches to a given policy area affects legislative efficiency in that policy area. We also demonstrate how this effect is conditioned on government effectiveness in the state of the Presidency in question, and is independent of Commission policy priorities. This suggests that the Presidency can drive EU policy outputs and push for its priorities when it holds the chair, but that its ability to do so is contingent on the domestic organisation and effectiveness of the state.


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