Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Debating the future of Europe’s Single Market
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
“Europe wake up! We will only return to growth and prosperity if we complete the Single Market.”
This motion will be
debated tonight at 19:00 CET
, live via Google+ Hangout on Air and on YouTube.
European Commissioner
Michel Barnier
will open the debate. Four EU experts - from the left and the right of the political spectrum and each with an axe to grind - will argue for and against the motion. Via Google+ Hangouts, the experts will cross-examine witnesses - including
journalists
,
academics
,
economists
and
entrepreneurs
from Ireland, Poland, Germany, France and Greece - to convince you they’re right. Veteran journalist and broadcaster
Christine Ockrent
will moderate.
The debate takes place just a few days before the EU marks the
Single Market’s 20th anniversary
. When it was launched in 1992, the Commission’s bold attempt to construct a seamless, truly tariff-free, pan-European market stimulated a wave of ‘Europtimism’. Now, with Europe facing challenging economic times, the Single Market’s importance to Europe is being re-examined.
You can have your say by voting on the motion - both before and after the debate - via
youtube.com/versusdebates
.
You can also join the discussion by adding your comments and questions to the
+Versus Google+ page
during the debate. The best questions, as decided by the debate organiser, Intelligence Squared, will be put to the panel, live on air.
Posted by Al Verney, Senior Communications Manager, Google
Figuring out the value of the web
Friday, January 20, 2012
Today we’re launching a website called
Value of the Web
to collect research that sheds new light on the economic impact of the Internet. It’s available in English, French, German, Russian and Spanish and currently features a range of studies focusing on (amongst other things) the value of cloud computing in Europe, the value of search around the world, and the Internet’s contribution to GDP - a theme highlighted just last week by the European Commission in its new strategy to build trust in the
Digital Single Market
.
The value of the web is also the theme of a special event we’re hosting in Brussels on Tuesday 24th January called
The Single Market Opportunity - Getting Europe’s SMEs Online
. European Commission Vice President Tajani, other prestigious guests and small business from 15 EU countries will join us at the event to discuss how the Internet can help drive economic growth and jobs and help lift Europe out of the economic crisis.
Even though industrial metrics like GDP can’t
fully
capture the Web’s contributions to our information society, these reports represent the best efforts so far to quantify the Internet’s contributions to the economy and society. The new website will highlight the broad range of value generated by the internet, including in areas such as the contribution of the firms who provide the essential hardware and software to power the Internet and the jobs
In other studies, the findings project exponential growth for economies that are already engaging in e-commerce online. The Boston Consulting Group predicts that by 2015, at least 10% of the British economy will be Internet-based. Universal broadband access and creating innovative business models that capture consumer surplus could increase the value added by the Internet by roughly £43 billion, which is just less than half what the British government spends on education today.
The reports draw on work by globally renowned economic analysts such as the
Boston Consulting Group
,
Deloitte Access Economics
,
McKinsey Global Institute
,
Nomura Research Institute
, the
Sogang University Market Economy Research Institute
and academic economist
Federico Etro
at the University of Venice.
In time, we hope the site will become a central repository for insight derived from new measurements and data that move toward a more complete understanding of the Web’s impact. We’ll continue developing the site by adding more improvements, including more languages and content. Check back frequently for updates or choose to subscribe for alerts via email.
And if you’d like to participate in Tuesday's discussion about how the Internet can help get Europe’s economy back on track,
please register now
to secure one of the final places available at the Single Market Opportunity event.
Posted by Patricia Wruuck, Policy Analyst, Brussels
Unlocking the Internet’s potential for SMEs
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Here’s an unusual question: what do an agricultural exchange, time tracking software and a social radio start-up have in common? The answer is, of course, the Internet.
Agroterra
(from Spain),
Timr
(from Austria) and
Spreaker
(from Italy) are three young companies that use the Internet to create, distribute and market their products and services across Europe and around the world.
Their founders recently outlined their successes and challenges at the Google Brussels office during a seminar organised by
PIN-SME
, the small business association that represents over 50,000 SMEs in Europe’s ICT sector. The event focused on the importance of the Internet as a driver of innovation and competitiveness in Europe, a theme that the Commission identified earlier this year in its Digital Agenda and more recently in its
Europe 2020 Innovation Union Flagship Initiative
.
Speaking at the event, Joanna Drake, the European Commission’s SME envoy, highlighted how the Internet is currently underexploited by European small businesses - and emphasised the EU’s target of getting
33% of all SMEs to buy and sell online by 2015
. She also outlined the EU’s efforts to promote innovative use of ICT and the Internet by entrepreneurs, and how the
Small Business Act
aims to help SMEs access global markets - and succeed on them.
Agroterra, Timr and Spreaker had some suggestions that they felt would help European SMEs perform better: better broadband access, especially in rural areas; better information on and harmonization of tax regimes; improved cross-border transactional systems; a single market for music rights; campaigns to build consumer trust in the Internet; and more help in learning to take advantage of the opportunities of the Internet.
At Google, we often hear about these sorts of challenges from the small businesses that use our services - from
online advertising
to cost-effective online applications such as
Gmail, Calendar and Docs
. Of course, the companies using our services have already launched themselves into the online world, but many entrepreneurs in Europe have not yet taken advantage of the potential of the Internet.
Eurostat figures
show that 85% of Danish small businesses already have a website, but in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and elsewhere, less than 55% are already online.
To help European SMEs bridge this digital divide and participate in the global online economy, we’re
working with public- and private sector partners in the UK
and
in Poland
. We’re running joint initiatives that make it easier for small businesses to get online for the first time, giving them a simple website and online tools - for free - that boost their sales and their long term growth.
The results speak for themselves: since the start of this year, nearly 90,000 British businesses with no prior online presence now have websites and are generating new opportunities for themselves. In Poland, more than 30,000 businesses have signed up since the campaign launched, and on average, a small business is going online for the first time every 20 minutes.
Posted by Sarah Greenwood, Policy Manager, Google Brussels
Preventing Advertising of Counterfeit Goods
Friday, June 19, 2009
Many of us have long forgotten how hard it was to travel around Europe or to buy something in other European countries before the
Schengen agreement
or the
Euro
. In the same way, we tend to forget how time consuming it was to find the best deal for plane tickets or hotels, or to compare qualities and prices of products before the Internet. Google is proud that its online ads enable consumers to compare goods and services, and businesses, small and large, to promote their products, locally and
across borders
.
Yet these new powerful online advertising tools must not be misused to support the sale of counterfeits.
Google
has always prohibited ads for the sale or promotion of counterfeit goods. We now are taking measures to further improve our cooperation with trademark owners. Our new
Counterfeit Goods complaint form
streamlines the way trademark owners can inform us about ads they see for counterfeit goods. This allows for faster review and take down of offending ads when necessary. We will continue to innovate to develop solutions that prevent ads for counterfeit goods.
When Europe knocked down borders, customs officials needed to adapt and trademark owners faced new challenges to cope with circulation of counterfeits. Similarly, the Internet has provided new opportunities to unscrupulous advertisers. Yet Europe did not back away from tearing down borders and pursuing the benefits of the single market. In the same way, we will continue to work with trademark owners to fight against ads for counterfeit goods while allowing both users and advertisers to reap the full benefits of the web.
Posted by Antoine Aubert, Policy Manager, Brussels
Europe Needs a Fifth Freedom
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The 1957 Treaty of Rome established the four freedoms - the free movement of persons; the free movement of goods; the free movement of services; and the free movement of capital.
These initial four freedoms reflected the needs of the prevailing industrial economy and helped spur the creation of the
1992 single market
project. Today, we are on the path to create a knowledge-based economy. Europe's heads of states acknowledged this shift in 2000 when they launched the
Lisbon Agenda
for growth and jobs.
Now, it is time for the European Union to add a Fifth Freedom to meet the needs of the knowledge economy.
A c
onstructive and creative debate has opened about the meaning of the fifth freedom. In a speech given in April, 2007, Science & Research
Commissioner Janez Potočnik
emphasised the importance of the European dimension to research. Later that year, the European Commission published a new
strategic report,
adding high speed Internet and innovation coordination. Last year Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding published a Communication on the
Future of the Internet
, which
put openness at the heart of her future Fifth Freedom agenda.
For Google, Europe's Fifth Freedom should mean freedom of knowledge to enable collaboration and strengthen community, not only to drive jobs and growth but also, for example, to address climate change and to modernise our democracies.
We've been discussing our first thoughts on the Fifth Freedom with policy makers over the last few weeks. Their suggestions have helped us refine our analysis. Among the thin
gs we now suggest is testing new innovation mechanisms, like awards and public procurement, prioritising opening up and mapping information that can fuel innovation in Green ICTs and re-thinking the barriers to entrepreneurship - collaboratively - with entrepreneurs in the driver's seat.
Collaborative innovation should also be the cornerstone of public policy. Today, we are making our revised contribution -
version 1.5
- available. We would be delighted to receive your comments, as we continue to develop this document over time.
This is not the last you will hear from us on the subject. We plan to blog about these issues over the coming months and will continue to discuss our vision.
Posted by Dr Nicklas Lundblad,
European Policy Manager
and Simon Hampton, Director of Public Policy
Reaching Consumers Across Borders
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The European Commission is hosting the first ever
EU SME week
. The tagline - "Small Business, Big Ideas" - aptly captures the excitement of a small business, and Google was one too just a few years ago. Now we offer online advertising
solutions
that many of today's SMEs use as part of their marketing strategy. While the local or national market is a great start for any business, clearly the single market (and beyond) should be the ultimate growth ambition of European entrepreneurs.
And the opportunity is clearly there. We've noted on this blog before that - according to recent Commission
estimates
- only 7% of EU consumers had shopped cross-border. How does the picture look from the seller's perspective?
SMEs that use
AdWords
, Google's online advertising product, can reach consumers who are searching for products and services in multiple languages, across borders, all from a single online advertising account paid for in one currency. Advertisers may target ads to users in more than 40 languages or use location targeting to direct ads to different countries, regions, or cities. The biggest bonus though, is that advertisers only pay if someone interacts with their ad. In simple terms, if there is no click, there is no payment.
AdWords offers the ability for SMEs to show ads to consumers using several methods, such as matching country or language targeting to Google domains (.fr, .de, etc) or by specific geographic search terms ("
London plumbers"
would show to users in London). Another component of targeting is by an analysis of the user's IP address. IP addresses can give a general sense of a user's physical location, based on the regional assignment of IP addresses. Such advertising targeting capabilities give advertisers a reasonable sense of control that they are not wasting precious advertising euros on clicks from potential customers that they are unable to serve.
Many European SMEs have successfully grown their businesses across national borders thanks to the global targeting capabilities in AdWords. Having found success in the UK with AdWords, the footwear retailer
Cloggs
launched a French-language website coupled with ads targeted to French consumers which has generated an average of 100 sales daily.
What we see is that the proportion of our EU customers' AdWords budget spent on cross-border prospects is about double the Commission's 7% figure for cross-border consumer purchases. That difference is not surprising - AdWords advertisers can more easily target consumers across borders compared to traditional media. Further, our figures include B2B sellers, and some may have set up local fulfillment operations such that consumers are unaware that the ultimate seller is in fact based abroad.
In any event this is a figure that both we and the Commission would like to see increase. And more choice for consumers is a good thing too. To that end, we have increased our efforts to educate AdWords advertisers about how they can attract consumers from across borders to their websites by expanding their advertising campaigns internationally. AdWords specialists recently held online web tutorial sessions in 4 languages open to advertisers in 7 EU countries, offering tips for how to expand their reach across borders. We invited thousands of advertisers in the EU to these live sessions and will make recordings of these trainings available online. This month, we're going to post international campaign expansion tips on Google's European Inside AdWords blogs (check out the Swedish Inside AdWords
blog
for an example), spreading the word for how AdWords can support the entrepreneurial ambitions of SMEs in the EU.
Posted by Rich Flanagan, Product Marketing Manager
Putting Consumers In Control
Friday, April 3, 2009
The European Commission held its first
Consumer Summit
this week, hosted by Commissioner
Meglena Kuneva
, bringing together 250 representatives of consumers, of business and of the regulators. Our President of International Operations Nikesh Arora, was one of the keynote speakers.
We urged the audience to consider how our children see the digital world touching every part of their lives. Kids ask their parents why they needs to sit in front of a television set at 19:00 for a specific show. They want to watch right now, and the Internet allows them.
Extrapolated to 1.4 million net subscribers, we explained how shopping, entertaining and learning habits are being revolutionized. At the Summit, Ofcom's Collette Bowe cited her agency's report showing that more than one in five adults in UK, France, Italy and the United States watched feature films or full-length TV shows' online. According to Forrester, 37% of West European adults regularly shopped online in 2008. Yet the Commissioner recently
recorded
that only 7% of EU consumers had shopped cross-border. That's something we'd like to work with the Commission and we have produced a new set of
tips
to encourage cross-border shopping.
These online consumers are powerful. When they unite to challenge business practises, they force change. Earlier this year, thousands of Facebook members protested a sudden change in the site’s terms of service and Facebook reverted back to their old terms.
Businesses need to recognise the force of the networked consumer. We built consumer control right into the heart of our recent interest based advertising
announcements
. In her
speech
at the Summit, Ofcom's Mrs. Bowe described the pre-requisites for privacy in a connected world - transparency, opt-out for consumers, and excluding from targeted advertising sensitive areas such as individual health without an explicit opt-in. Google subscribes to all these points.
We told the audience that regulation has a vital role to play in supporting tomorrow's consumer - enabling innovation while also protecting consumer rights. But just as this presents businesses with both great opportunities and great challenges, the same is true for regulators. Regulators have not only the challenge of deciphering the issues and weighing the alternatives, but also of doing them in "Internet time", fast enough to make a difference.
Posted by Simon Hampton, Director for European Public Policy and Government Affairs
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