Aigars Kalvītis

Prime Minister of Latvia

Honorary Chairman of the Baltic IT&T 2006 Forum: eBaltics

I am very pleased to congratulate the participations of the international Baltic IT&T 2006 conference, which, for the 10^th time, is allowing us to focus attention on the problems and solutions related to information technologies and telecommunications in this region. Skills related to the use of information technologies cannot be seen as a conservative aspect of knowledge – something that can be learned through decades-old textbooks. No, these skills are first and foremost a representation of new attitudes vis-à-vis learning as such. They involve an understanding of technological solutions which do not remain in place, ones which are prepared to offer new opportunities at any moment. An important aspect of these new and practical opportunities is choice in terms of alternative offers that are made. In other words, I refer to development. The IT&T sector is one which seeks most actively to overcome any limitations, and information technologies have a particular role to play when it comes to the development of the Baltic States. For a long time now, we have not been beginners in this sector, but we are also not dreamers. We know that our plans are often ambitious, but only ambitious plans can lead to durable development. Ours is a region which enjoys the most rapid economic growth in all of Europe. This represents a major challenge, but also a wonderful opportunity to do things that would have been unimaginable just five years ago. As head of government, I am aware how important it is to support economic sectors that are based on science and knowledge so that our country can be competitive. It is hard to imagine a single area of business today which is not directly dependent on the latest technologies, innovative solutions, and ongoing and serious research in the relevant sector. Our government is unquestionably interested in co-operation between science and business. A knowledge-based economy is an economy which is based on the future. It has always been nicer to communicate and work with people who view the future as an aspect of reality. I wish you all the best of luck in the future, too.

Imants Freibergs

Chairman of the Program Committee

Baltic IT&T 2006 Forum

President, Latvian Information and Communications Technologies Association (LIKTA)

On behalf of the Program Committee it gives me great pleasure to welcome all participants to the 10th Baltic IT&T Forum: eBaltics. This year’s Forum denotes a milestone – it marks the tenth year of continued presence of this annual meeting place in the Baltic Sea region where senior officials from leading ICT companies and from all levels of government come together to exchange information on up-to-date topics affecting the ICTE industry and civil society in the Baltics, within the European and global contexts.

The continued development of Information Society is a prerequisite for sustainable economic growth in the region. This year’s conference will focus on how to make the potential benefits of information technologies available to more people, namely topics such as e-inclusion, e-health and e-government. Public-private partnerships will definitely play a major role in achieving this goal.

E-inclusion aims to prevent the risk of “social exclusion”, to ensure that some groups of people, such as the unemployed or the socially disadvantaged, are not excluded due to their lack of digital literacy or access to digital technologies. To achieve e-inclusion, people have to extend the use of ICT into all domains of life including health, education, social, economic and cultural aspects. The success of this mission will largely depend on the availability, affordability and usefulness of e-services and on the ability of citizens to make use of them. New methods of work and collaborative environments need to be devised and adapted.

The Conference will examine in more depth two types of e-services, namely e-health and e-government. E-health solutions are part and parcel of an eEurope 2005 policy, in areas such as health insurance, health information networks, online services for patients, telemedicine, or a “virtual hospital”, not forgetting information on healthy living and illness prevention. The e-government sessions will explore key strategies and technologies for the next generation of government, share the best practices, examine business models, the role of governements and private industry and the advantages of outsourcing of administrative services.

A major concern for electronic services to the citizens is the issue of secure information exchange and the role of regulators and policy makers in addressing the problems. A seminar will be devoted to security concerns.

A series of workshops, some of them traditional by now within the Baltic IT&T Forum framework, will focus discussions on topics of particular interest, such as The IST4Balt workshop, with the theme “towards a knowledge society”. The SOIS meeting will be a meeting place for senior officials from the Northern eDimension countries. To encourage participation in the 6th call of the IST programme, an innovative EPIST (Enhanced Participation in IST projects related to eHealth and eInclusion) workshop will take the form of a brokerage event.

We are particularly pleased that this year’s conference has received extensive support and cooperation from the Government of Latvia, starting with the Prime Minister’s Office and including the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Electronic Government affairs, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Welfare, as well as from our European parners: Verva, the Swedish Administrative Development Agency, and the EU EQUAL trans-national partnership “Vit@l Society, Technology for people”.

The annual Baltic IT&T conferences serve as mileposts in our rapidly evolving Information Society. They permit attendees to renew ties between old colleagues and make new friends, and examine business strategies on the road to knowledge economy. May all participants take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the numerous venues of this year’s Forum. I take this occasion to thank in particular all the session and workshop organisers, leaders, speakers, and panellists for their most valuable contributions in making the event a success. The active participation of our sponsors is greatly appreciated.