E-Inclusion in Russia:Getting Ready Slowly, Riding Fast

Tatiana ErshovaGeneral DirectorInstitute of the Information SocietyMoscow, Russian Federation

Innovation to Fight against Poverty: Good Practices from All Over the WorldGlobal Junior ChallengeRome, Italy3rd-5th October 2007

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Contents

Milestones– Policy Development– Joining International E-Inclusion and Knowledge Economy

Related Endeavours– E-Readiness Assessments– E-Programmes and Initiatives

Russian Regions Getting Involved IIS Framework for the Information Society

Development Key Obstacles for E-Inclusion Positive Developments

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Milestones: Policy Development

1992: Russian telecommunications market got liberalised and opened for private capital, incl. foreign capital

1998: Concept of State Information Policy was adopted 2000: Concept of Information Society Development was

prepared 2000: Draft Concept of Russian Innovation Policy for

2001-2005 was elaborated 2001: Draft Concept of the Legislation Development in

the sphere of Information and Informatisation was prepared

2001: Information Security Doctrine was adopted

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Milestones: Policy Development

2002: Multi-Stakeholder WG for the National Strategy “Russia in the Information Age” was summoned under the Ministry of Communications of RF (with IIS participation)

2006-2007: the draft National Strategy for Information Society development in the RF:

– prepared by a multi-stakeholder WG under the umbrella of the Security Council (with IIS active participation)

– publicly discussed in all 7 federal districts of Russia– adopted at a Security Council meeting in presence of President

Putin 2006: Concept of Regional Informatisation was adopted by

the federal government

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Policy Drawbacks

Concentrated on:– government operation support with ICT– telecom infrastructure problems– information security issues

Underestimated:– awareness raising and motivation building– key e-applications (e-learning, e-culture, e-health, etc.)– services for citizens

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Milestones: Joining InternationalEndeavours

International cooperation was one of the important factors to overcome the policy drawbacks

1997: Some Russian organisations (incl. IIS) joined the Global Knowledge Partnership

1999: Russia entered the Global Bangemann Challenge (Stockholm Challenge)

2000: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Okinawa Charter of the Global Information Society

2000: Russia entered the Global Junior Challenge 2000-2001: Russia’s (President’s Office’s & IIS)

representatives worked in the G8 Digital Opportunities Taskforce (DOT Force)

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Milestones: Joining InternationalEndeavours

2001: Russia (IIS) joined the Development Gateway program of the World Bank

2000: Some Russian organisations started to participate in the Northern e-Dimension programme

2002: Russia (IIS) joined the UN ICT Task Force and maintained a secretariat for its Europe and Central Asia Network

2003: Russia (Ministry of IT and Communications & IIS) actively entered into the preparation of the World Summit on the Information Society

2006: Representatives of Russia (Ministry of IT and Communications & IIS) joined the Global Alliance on ICT and Development

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Milestones: Russia E-Readiness Assessments

This self-evaluation exercise revealed both key obstacles and key catalyst for e-development

2001: Russia e-Readiness and e-Needs Assessment (IIS, within the Russia Development Gateway project, infoDev Program, the World Bank)

2003: Russian Regions e-Readiness Assessment (IIS, within the E-Russia program, Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade)

2005: Russia e-Readiness Assessment (IIS, within the ICT Infrastructure and e-Readiness Assessment Project, info Dev Program of the World Bank)

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Milestones: Russia E-Readiness Assessments

2006: Russian Regions E-Readiness Index 2004-2005 (IIS& Sergei Shaposhnik)

2006: Analysis of ICT Development and Use in the Regions of Russia (national report prepared by IIS within the E-Russia program, ordered by Federal Agency on Information Technology)

2007: Russian Regions E-Readiness Index 2005-2006 (Information Society Centre & IIS)

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Milestones: E-Programmes and Initiatives

2001: Federal target programme “Development of an Integrated Educational Information Environment for 2002-2005” was approved

2001: Russian E-Development Partnership was created on the initiative of 50 organisations and companies from 10 Russian regions (led by IIS)

– now comprises 287 institutional and 13 individual partners in 30 Russian regions and in 7 foreign countries

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Milestones: E-Programmes and Initiatives

2002: Federal target programme “E-Russia for 2002-2010”, First Edition, was adopted (focused on e-government)

2006: Federal target programme “E-Russia for 2002-2010”, Second Edition, was adopted (still focused on e-government)

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Russian Regions Getting Involved

1999: Separate Russian regions started designing their e-future (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Evenkiya, …)

As of end of 2006: – Informatisation strategies / concepts: 17 (~19%) – mainly

about government back-offices– Informatisation programmes: 41 (~47%)– E-government concepts and programmes: 28 (~32%) – with

elements of services for citizens– E-government architecture: designed for Moscow City,

Perm Krai, the Republic of Mordovia, Tver region

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IIS Framework forthe Information Society Development

Information Society

Information Society Development Factors

Access and Use of ICT for Development

Information Security and Trust

State Regulation

Business Climate

Information Industry

ICT Infrastructure

Human Capital

e-Business

e-Government

ICT in Education

ICT in Healthcare

ICT in Culture

Use of ICT by Households / Individuals

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Key Obstacles for E-Inclusion

Substantial differences in access to ICT and consumption of information services in different regions

– a minority of the leading regions (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Yugra, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, Tomsk region) are at the level of developed countries

– the majority of regions are at the level of Eastern European countries

– a lesser majority of economically unsustainable regions with low gross regional product per capita and low income of households (Chechen Republic, Ingush Republic, Republic of Tyva, Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Area, Republic of Dagestan and others) show low fixed telephony density, mobile communications and Internet penetration and are at the same level with developing countries or even LDCs

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Key Obstacles for E-Inclusion

E-government is at the initial stage due to shortage of services provided to citizens

– the most available service is the “information presence” of a government authority (web-site, information on the services it provides)

– there are few services that allow to download some forms The most problematic areas in terms of access to and use of

ICT are municipal governance and municipal healthcare The overwhelming majority of the Russian population is poorly

equipped with ICT and is deprived of Internet access at home (nothing to say about the broadband) due to low income, which is a major cause for the digital divide

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Key Obstacles for E-Inclusion

Scope of ICT use in professional activity is substantially lower than in the EU

Training in ICT and Internet use for adult population and professional groups is absolutely insufficient – the share of those above who have had such training is considerably lower than in the EU

The regions’ residents are poorly aware of opportunities offered by ICTs and of available online services, the mass media are not involved

Some groups of population are not motivated to use Internet and other ICTs – inertia, stereotypes and conservatism are hindering the change in everyday behaviour necessary to shift to the Information Society culture

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Key Obstacles for E-Inclusion

The level of information literacy and personal information culture is pretty low, which is the main factor hindering the ICT use by households

The level of digital content and network services (primarily in such priority areas as healthcare, education, governance, and culture) is quite inadequate

The legal environment both at federal and regional levels is very unfavourable for a full-scale ICT use

– the corps of laws is incomplete and contradictory– there is a lack of sine qua non regulations for e-commerce, e-

procurement, e-learning and other critical e-applications

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Positive Developments

2006-2007: Reference ICT4D Programme for a Russian Region was adopted by the Russian Government (developed by IIS, covering all crucial aspects of the Information Society and Knowledge Economy development)

– 55 of 88 regions committed to the Reference ICT4D Programme and declared their readiness to implement it

– A positive rivalry has emerged among the regions in terms of their e-readiness rating position

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Positive Developments

Massive school computerisation has taken place due to the implementation of the National Project ‘Education’

With mobile telephony and Internet applications as ice-breakers, an average Russian ICT user has gained a sense of mastering the cutting-edge technologies

These developments can engender an e-inclusion avalanche, which will help Russia become an

Information Society for All in an observable perspective

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Contact Information

Tatiana ErshovaGeneral Director

Institute of the Information SocietyPhone: +7 (495) 625-17-27

E-mail: tatiana.ershova@iis.ruURL: http://www.iis.ru