EUROPEAN COMMISSIONEUROSTAT

Directorate G :Global Business StatisticsUnit G-6: Innovation and information society

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Doc.Eurostat/G6/STI-ISS/2013/16

Working Group Meeting on Statistics onR&D, Innovation and Information Society

Luxembourg, 28-30 October 2013

BECH Building, Room Ampere

FINAL MINUTES

WORKING GROUP MEETING ON STATISTICS ONR&D, INNOVATION AND INFORMATION SOCIETY

28/10/2013 TO 30/10/2013

FINAL MINUTES

1. ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES

1.1 Welcome

The chair, Mr Veijo Ritola, opened the Working Group meeting (WGM) and welcomed the participants.

Eurostat reported briefly on the discussion at the previous week's EU Council meeting (24-25 October 2013) where the focus was very much on digital economy and innovation (and services). European Commission had submitted to the meeting background documentation packages consisting of numerous statistics from the ESS on the discussed areas.

1.2 Introduction and adoption of the agenda

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/1)

The Agenda of the meeting was introduced and adopted.

2. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS

2.1 Adoption of the minutes of the last STI WG meeting in November 2012; the minutes of the CIS Task Force meeting in April 2013

(Doc: STI/2012/12, STI/CIS/2013/8)

The minutes of the meeting in November 2012 were adopted.

2.2 Science, technology and innovation statistics and policy use

Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the Commission (DG RTD) presented the EU STI monitoring system with its various reports and indicator based publications of the Commission. This reporting mainly relies on the STI data provided by the Member States to Eurostat but DG RTD is also itself or together with other DGs and through externalised work executing several data collections and analysis in STI area. Apart from the monitoring of the STI policy area, DG RTD reported on the planned spending of the 2014-2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020.

Directorate-General Joint Research Centre of the Commission (DG JRC) gave a briefing on the project on European Observatory on Research and Innovation. When fully ready the Observatory will offer an easy access to consolidated STI data for interested parties inside and outside the Commission. The data will be drawn from different sources including those of ESS but also other sources. The Observatory will also include STI policy data collected from national administrations and observed using different means (official documentation, country desks of the Commission).

The OECD informed on the recent release of the STI Scoreboard 2013 which includes over 250

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Science, Technology and Industry indicators. The Scoreboard and its content can be assessed in different forms including interactive visualisation in the web. The OECD presented several fresh statistics under different thematic chapters of the Scoreboard.

In addition the OECD gave an overview on the Frascati Manual revision work which is expected to deliver edition 7.0 of the manual early 2015. Mobilising over 90 experts the revision work has been divided into several groups which are looking at different topics such as definitions, measurements, classifications and survey methodologies. There are furthermore two thematic groups, internationalisation and R&D capitalisation which both are currently considerable topical. The latter is important due by the SNA/ESA revision (effective in 2014 in the EU) and the former because of its impact to the data compilation and the analysis and the importance of obtaining the data on internationalisation itself.

2.3 Evaluation of compliance with the Commission Regulation (EC) No 753/2004

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/2)

Eurostat provided an overview of the Member States' compliance as regards to the R&D and GBAORD data collections as requested by the Commission Regulation (EC) 753/2004 implementing the Decision No 1608/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.

As regards the two data collection rounds since last monitoring in 2012 the compliance situation was considered to be good although not perfect. Most of the structural reasons for the non-compliance have been or are to be solved or their impact has been reduced to minimum. Most of the registered non-compliance cases were temporary of their nature. Member States were encouraged to pursuit the full compliance for the coming periods.

2.4 Implementation of SDMX in R&D statistics

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/3)

WGM was introduced with the R&D and GBAORD Data Structure Definitions together with the general layout of the SDMX data reporting system as replacement of the current data collection formats and tools. Some readily available tools writing the contents of the national data collections to SDMX compliant formats were also presented as well as the guidance for finding them.

Eurostat highlighted the three broad steps in processing the national databases for SDMX: mapping the DSD concepts and codes, selecting the requested data elements and preparing XML output files. The overall requirement nevertheless is that the data are available in the db or other IT storage environment (other than only in the format of the current Excel questionnaire).

SDMX piloting is on-going with an aim to be ready in spring 2014 with validated DSDs and tested transmission routines. Eurostat will inform its readiness for reception of the SDMX files in R&D/GBAORD production later in 2014. At the latest the delivery of 2013 data in June 2015 is targeted to be made on SDMX means after which the use of Excel questionnaires should come to an end (after a period of transition).

The delegates shared some thoughts on the SDMX conversion highlighting in particular the resources and time needed for processing or setting up a proper db for R&D and GBAORD data. Some countries reported on-going or planned IT projects whose outcome would allow natural SDMX integration to the end of the data production process.

Eurostat encouraged all countries having a good view on the provided SDMX documentation and tools and to begin to consider how the national SDMX implementation can be executed within the chosen IT strategy of the data compiling institution.

2.5 European Parliament and Council Report 2013 on implementation of

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Decision No 1608/2003/EC

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/4)

Eurostat informed on the report on the implementation of the Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council No 1608/2003/EC on the production and development of Community statistics on science and technology. This is the third report that the Commission is required to submit to the European Parliament and to the Council under Article 5 of the Decision. The first report was adopted on 14 December 2007 and the second 11 April 2011.

The WGM did not make comments to the report. It will go next to the Commission Inter Service consultation, after which it will be transmitted to the European Parliament and to the Council.

2.6 Any other business, R&D

Eurostat announced that the release date for 2012 preliminary R&D data is 14th November. Following the Regulation the deadline for sending this data is 31st October. EU Member States in particular were asked to respect strictly the deadline. Data or revisions which are delayed until 11th November have still change to be used in the release after which all the missing data will be covered by non-published estimates in the construction of the EU aggregates.

3. COMMUNITY INNOVATION SURVEY – CIS

3.1 Innovation statistics and policy use

DG RTD introduced the new innovation indicator which through its four components is aimed at measuring output-oriented innovation. The composite indicator developed on the basis of the request of the European Council includes patent application data, data on employment in knowledge-intensive activities and high-tech and knowledge-intensive trade data, all from the Innovation Union Scoreboard, and the data on the employment in fast-growing firms of innovative sectors as a new statistical data compilation.

The indicator will go under further considerations as regards some of the details in its construction. The update of the indicator is planned for first quarter 2014.

Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry of the Commission (DG ENTR) gave an overview on the policy use of innovation statistics in the DG. The analytical tools of DG ENTR discussed were Innovation Union Scoreboard, Regional Innovation Scoreboard and European Public Sector Innovation Scoreboard. These releases rely much on Eurostat data in different areas including the CIS. DG ENTR stays on being interested on the coming developments of the next innovation surveys.

3.2 Synthesis Quality Report CIS 2010

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/5)

Eurostat presented the draft Synthesis Quality Report of CIS 2010 which after the finalisation will be attached to the CIS metadata at Eurostat database Eurobase. The synthesis report makes an overall assessment of the main aspects of quality reported on the 2010 data collection on innovation statistics. The assessment and all the statements have been performed almost entirely on the basis of the provided national quality reports.

The delegates of the meeting gave few comments to the content of the report and its procedures and made suggestions to improve the overall quality assessment. Eurostat informed considering the releases of the national quality reports only as regards to the coming surveys. From CIS 2012 onward the reporting changes as regards its status and format to mandatory on-line reporting in which context the content of the reporting will also be re-examined. New suggestions made for the numerical

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variables and non-response surveys shall be put for the CIS 2014 Task Force to consider.

The members of the WGM were invited to give written comments and proposals to the Synthesis Quality Report by 15th of November.

3.3 CIS 2012 Tabulation

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/6)

Eurostat presented the CIS 2012 tabulation instructions which are available in Excel format in CIRCABC. Tabulation is supported by the document on 'Methodological guidelines for aggregated CIS 2012 results'.

Together with the adaptation to the changed content of the CIS 2012 and its new indicators and with some other modifications (treatment of 'zero', flags) the tabulation guidelines 2012 include complete extraction rules for the types of the innovators and all the requested indicators. CIS 2012 tabulation brings also the categorisation of the organisational and marketing innovative enterprises in line with the product and process innovative enterprises.

Harmonisation of the treatment of the categorisation of the enterprises was appreciated by the meeting delegates. Some criticism and suggestions were given as regards some of the new as well as old tabulations.

Written comments and proposals are expected by 25th of November 2013 for releasing the final revised version of the tabulation early 2014.

3.4 CIS 2014 Task Force mandate

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/7)

Eurostat proposed to set up a particular Task Force on the development of the Community Innovation Survey 2014 ‘CIS 2014 Task Force’. The CIS 2014 shall be conducted during 2015 (-2016) in the Member States and associated countries and the results shall be provided to Eurostat by the end of June 2016.

The mandate of the Task Force was proposed to cover the design of the CIS 2014 questionnaire, updating the methodological recommendations for the survey 2014 and updating the CIS tabulation format for the survey 2014. Proposed Task Force members from the EEA Member States were Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, France, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and Norway. The timetable for the Task Force work was presented.

The WGM decided on the creation of the CIS 2014 Task Force, its mandate and provisional timetable as well as the composition of the Task Force as they were proposed.

3.5 CIS 2014 issues

Eurostat gave a short presentation on several issues influencing to and to be considered in the CIS 2014 development.

The Member State survey shall take place in November addressing in particular new knowledge on different elements and topics of interest to CIS. In addition several pending issues request further considerations in CIS 2014 development including accuracy of numeric variables. For example a proposal was made by a delegate for considering asking numerical variables in intervals rather than in exact values. Similarly the methodological point on the non-response surveys on their form and usability was asked to be re-discussed. As confirmed by DG RTD it would also be important to continue addressing 'growth' in CIS 2014, potentially as a core part of the questionnaire. Eurostat made also an explicit proposal for repeating 2008 eco-module in CIS 2014 and to draft the survey questionnaire primary in on-line version (with a possibility to use it in static variant).

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The delegates of the WGM commented positively both for the eco-module and on-line questionnaire and both proposals were registered been agreed by the WGM. It was furthermore informed that the cognitive testing of the Oslo Manual concepts steered by the OECD is going to its second round and that the findings which may be useful for the CIS will be reported for the CIS 2014 Task Force.

3.6 Any other business, CIS

Eurostat is planning to pilot the possibility to open the access to confidential ESS microdata sets also in several EU capitals, in respective NSIs' SAFE Centres. This would be an extension to the only current access point at Eurostat premises. CIS microdata would be used in this testing work. Member States will be kept informed on the development and adequate permissions for the CIS data will be searched in due time. Current model keeps the output validation centralised at Eurostat hands.

4. SHARED ISSUES FOR R&D, INNOVATION AND INFORMATION SOCIETY

4.1 FRIBS – State of the play

Mr Albrecht Wirthmann took the chair.

Eurostat presented for information the state of the play for the Framework Regulation for Integrating Business Statistics (FRIBS). The presentation detailed progress made so far and outlined the preparation of future work; next milestone meeting Business Statistics Directors’ Group (BSDG - 9-10/12/2013). Explicit reference was made to the revision of “statistical units”, the use of “Business registers (BR) and Enterprise Group Register (EGR)”, the SIMSTAT project, the preparation of the FRIBS data structures, the European Business Manual (EBS), the forthcoming impact assessment and specific issues related to the integration of statistical domains including CIS, R&D and ICT.

In pursue of using harmonised “statistical units” across statistical domains, a Task Force is working on a light revision of definitions with focus on operational rules. In addition, Eurostat highlighted the importance of BR and EBR concerning interoperable business registers, the use of a unique identifier of all legal units in the European System of Business Registers (ESBR) and efficiency gains in the use of administrative data for effectively updating business registers; BR should go beyond the FRIBS requirements. In the framework of FRIBS, it was approved to prepare an IT solution (centralised data-hub) for the exchange of enterprise microdata on exports of goods (SIMSTAT project). This system aims at replacing the collection of imports of goods at national level.

The meeting was informed that work on data structures for FRIBS for the statistical domains that will be integrated is on-going. The integration of the concerned statistical domains is part of the objectives of the Business Pillar in the European Statistical Programme 2013-2017. Eurostat outlined the state of the play for the individual statistical domains. Concerning ICT, the BSDG had agreed with the integration of the enterprise module with the possibility to adopt annual implementing measures and had requested the continuation of the financial support compensating additional costs due to the annual adaptation of the statistical requirements. Concerning R&D and CIS, the BSDG took note of the on-going investigation on potential coordination of the surveys.

The meeting was informed of the preparation of the impact assessment report that would be submitted to the legislator attached to the FRIBS legislative package. An Impact Assessment Steering group has been established; consultation with stakeholders and cost-benefit analysis of the different policy options are part of the tasks to be performed. The final impact assessment report is expected before the end of 2014.

On 9-10/12/2013, the BSDG will be informed of the progress concerning the definition of statistical units. The BSDG will be consulted on the new draft framework legal text, on the inclusion of the statistical units in BR and the minimum requirements for interoperable BR. Eurostat outlined the key progress milestones for 2014 and 2015 aiming at starting the legislative procedure during the second

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half of 2015.

Delegates of the WGM requested that they were involved at an early stage in the revisions and in the impact analysis before the discussions at Directors’ level take place. Moreover, delegates requested further clarifications on the consequences of FRIBS on R&D, CIS and ICT and questioned the relevance of using the revised definition of statistical units for the future surveys on CIS and ICT vis-à-vis what is currently requested in terms of statistics by the users (groups of enterprises vs. enterprises) and the quality and comparability of statistics between the statistical domains.

Eurostat clarified that concerning R&D, although it has a wider scope compared to SBS, for example, it would be entirely covered by FRIBS (single legal act integrating the relevant statistical domains). For ICT the aim is to keep the current flexibility of annually adopted regulations within FRIBS. Overall, FRIBS will repeal all other relevant legal provisions concerning the specific statistical domains of business statistics. The ICT in households/individuals might be included in a similar future initiative for a framework regulation for social statistics but for the time being only the part on enterprises would be repealed.

Eurostat informed the meeting that WGM delegates’ comments particularly on the use of revised “statistical units” and the implications on the data collection and the statistical results for R&D, CIS and ICT will be forwarded and discussed in the relevant TF. It was noted that the main objective should be to find optimal solutions for the data collection while retaining the relevance of business statistics for the users.

4.2 EBS Manual - Status quo with emphasis on R&D, Innovation and ICT statistics related issues

Prof. Josef Richter presented the content of the European Business Manual (BSDG, June 2013) which in the present form is an inventory of the current situation of the statistical domains that are concerned with the integration into FRIBS. The aim is identifying and eliminating unnecessary and unjustified inconsistencies across the domains. The legacy in the development of individual legal acts, cost and burden considerations, and other independent analytical considerations have led to the creation of inconsistencies. However, the statistical units (i.e. enterprises), the use of business register and classifications (i.e. NACE Rev.2 breakdowns, size classes) are common methodological elements across business statistics. Therefore, an effort could be made to use these concepts in business statistics efficiently and increase comparability among R&D, CIS, ICT and SBS.

In practise, this would require for ICT, comparability at NACE Rev. 2 at 2-digit level (A-38 groups of national accounts), if feasible the extension of the economic activities’ scope, and most importantly the use of the business register, if possible, of the same vintage as for SBS. Similarly, for R&D the requirements would be including the target population in the business register, possibly adding the attribute for units performing R&D, eliminating differences between the Frascati Manual, SBS and ESA where possible and alignment of size classes with SBS. For CIS, similar efforts would be required concerning the use of business register (same vintage as for SBS), an extension of the economic activities’ scope and alignment with SBS for size classes and turnover definitions.

The WGM delegates considered difficult the use of the same business register vintage due to different timing of the surveys for the data collection and the data reporting. The delegates furthermore commented that R&D, CIS and ICT inconsistencies, related to the scope of economic activities were due to the absence of relevance for certain economic activities (in CIS and ICT), and moreover considerations for the response burden. It was noted that both issues remain pertinent concerning the required additional costs in addition to the lack of specific users’ demand and appropriate justification. Moreover, the provision of detailed divisions would entail risks related to confidentiality. It was noted that it might be difficult to add attributes in the business register related to the performance of enterprises on R&D due to changes that may occur from year to year. The purpose of the identification remained unclear as well as the contribution for the R&D statistics as the information on performance would be fed by the R&D statistics itself.

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It was answered that consideration should be given to adjustments that would allow the calculation of aggregates comparable with those of SBS, the use of common definitions (e.g. persons employed) and the use of the business register particularly in a synchronised manner across the surveys. It was pointed out that in the business register, the attribute for R&D and Innovation could be similar to “exporting” enterprises' flag.

4.3 ESQRS Quality Reporting (and Metadata) collection

Eurostat informed about the state of the play of on-going harmonisation of the current practices of metadata and quality reporting on R&D, innovation and ISS statistics with the ESS Standard for Quality Report Structure (ESQRS) and the new IT environment where it will take place - National Reference Metadata Editor (NRME). It was announced that from January 2014, currently operational NRME will be replaced by the improved IT application with more functionalities - Metadata Handler.

Eurostat reported that the work undertaken in the context of ISS statistics is currently at the transitory phase of adapting and converting the content of existing national quality reports (word documents) to the ESQRS. As regards quality reporting on ICT survey in enterprises the immediate plans are as follows:

- Member States to send 2013 quality reports in Word by 5 November 2013

- Eurostat to introduce 2013 final quality reports in ESQRS by January 2014

- Eurostat to prefill 2014 final quality reports and to notify the data providers by May 2014

- Member States to complete and submit 2014 quality reports in ESQRS by using Metadata Handler by 31 May 2014 and 5 November 2014

Regarding R&D statistics, at the beginning of August 2013 Eurostat has informed by written the countries about opening the new NRME application where the prefilled 2011 R&D and GBAORD quality reports in accordance with ESQRS were made accessible by the data providers. Eurostat further plan is to provide the pre-filled templates for December 2013 GBAORD metadata collection in NRME in December 2013 and respectively for March 2014 R&D metadata collection - in Metadata Handler in March 2014.

Concerning mandatory quality reporting on innovation statistics the consultation with the Member States on the content of CIS quality reports is planned for June/July 2014 before opening the Metadata Handler in August for October 2014 reporting.

Eurostat presented the functionalities of the IT tool NRME by demonstrating the various steps to be followed for the production, transmission and validation of the national reference metadata files. In the following discussion some countries said that the implementation and use of the new application NRME was easier than expected. However some technical problems were faced related mainly to the access and transmission of 2011 R&D and GBAORD quality reporting files and the attached annexes. Eurostat answered that several of these technical problems have already been solved and any others that may potentially appear later will be solved by receiving notification from the countries on the functional e-mail ESTAT-metadata@ec.europa.eu Further clarifications were given on the different status of the quality reports ‘for publication’ vs. ‘not for publication’; various metadata flows used for the transmission of the quality reports and metadata files and also on other questions raised by the delegates. Eurostat replied positively to the OECD request about the possibility of receiving access to the R&D metadata in the new application Metadata Handler, since OECD has always been one of the major users of the metadata information related to the joint Eurostat/OECD data collection on R&D statistics from the Member States and associated countries.

The countries were reminded about legally required deadline for mandatory transmission of 2011 R&D and GBAORD quality reports by the end of October 2013. Eurostat encouraged these of them that had not yet started the work on this task to do it as soon as possible.

4.4 Feasibility of re-engineering and synchronising the R&D / CIS / ICT statistics

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(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/9)

Eurostat presented a document on assessing the feasibility of re-engineering and synchronising of the (enterprise) R&D, CIS and (enterprise) ICT statistics. The presentation discussed first on different potential categories of integration of statistics, such as integration of survey instruments or legal acts, after which a stock was made on several national and international projects and studies in the area of the integration and coordination of these statistics and surveys.

In the assessment the following observations have been made. First the current legislation in this area of business statistics is output-oriented leaving therefore the choice of the implementation of the surveys, or other data compilations, to Member States. This will not change when moving to FRIBS. Through the implementation of the FRIBS, R&D, Innovation and ICT statistics will however have an opportunity to gain in harmonisation and consolidation between themselves and as regards the other business statistics. This contributes also to the improved co-use of output of each separate statistics. Streamlining the data requirements and reduction or elimination of the methodological inconsistencies will in turn also facilitate the potential survey or survey process integration for Member States who would like to move into that direction. Survey timetables are not planned to be modified. As regards data integration the system of sample coordination would enable controlling the sampling process and optimising overlaps between 'satellite' statistics of SBS, namely ICT and CIS for benefitting wider analytical possibilities and construction of new variables. Studies have produced disputed evidence on the advantages or disadvantages of the integrated CIS- R&S surveys. Assessment depends considerably on the starting points, the current survey landscape and the options selected currently or considered in the evaluation.

The delegates of the WGM commented lively the feasibility of re-engineering and synchronising the R&D, CIS and ICT statistics. Clear message was that the integration of surveys is not favoured by the Member States. Reasoning consisted of the increased response burden and impact to the response rates and final results as well as the quality of the statistics. Sample coordination was nevertheless considered having some potential.

Eurostat concluded that the WGM was strongly against the integration of the survey instruments. It is neither supported by the legislation in force nor planned. On the other hand the discussion of the harmonisation of the concepts at output level will continue in the FRIBS context and will contribute to the coordination and interoperability of the data produced. Positive sample coordination would be an option which could be utilised with relatively low efforts. This however is linked to the chosen overall sample strategies of the Member States which may need to be addressed at higher level of hierarchy at NSIs.

5. INFORMATION SOCIETY

5.1 Adoption of the minutes of the last ISS WG meeting in March 2013

(Doc: March 2013 ISS WGM minutes)

The minutes of the Information Society WG meeting from 5-6 March 2013 were adopted by the WG.

5.1bis Delegated acts

The annual measures for implementing the data collection on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises and ICT usage in households and by individuals are adopted by the Commission according to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. The Lisbon Treaty has replaced the so far existing comitology procedures by two new procedures: the implementing measures (article 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)) and the delegated acts (article 290 TFEU).

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The adoption process for delegated acts puts the Council and the European Parliament on equal footing. Regarding the preparation of delegated acts there is a commitment by Eurostat to follow the same process as for the implementing acts with scrutiny before the entry into force of the TFEU except for one difference. Voting of the ESSC would be replaced by requesting the view of the ESSC during the preparation process.

In its proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council (COM(2013) 451), which was adopted by the Commission on 27 June 2013, the Commission replaces regulatory procedures with scrutiny by delegated acts. The proposal contains more than 60 regulations from various policy domains. Among several statistical regulations the amendment of Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 concerning Community statistics on the information society is included, too. The proposal is now discussed within the Parliament and the Council. The amendments of the statistical regulations will be examined by the ad hoc 'Friends of the Presidency' group on 27 November 2013.

The proposal for amending the regulatory procedures stipulates that adaptation to the delegated act regime will not affect pending procedures in which an opinion has already been delivered by a committee, in this case, the ESSC. If the proposal would be adopted by the Parliament and the Council before May 2014, the delegated acts procedure would apply for the 2015 ICT usage surveys. If the proposal would be adopted afterwards, the pre-Lisbon regulatory procedure with scrutiny would apply.

5.3 Preparation of the 2015 survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/11)

Eurostat presented the proposals for the 2015 model questionnaire for the survey on the ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises. The proposed draft MQ2015 was based on Commission users' requirements (DG CONNECT, DG EMPL, DG ENTR, DG MARKT, DG SANCO), Eurostat’s proposal and the recommendations of the Task Force. Eurostat thanked the members of the Task Force for their continuous assistance in the development of the 2015 model questionnaire. In the following, proposals, suggestions and comments from the delegates would be discussed in the forthcoming Task Force meeting. In order to reduce the response burden, Eurostat and Commission users need to further elaborate on priorities.

The WG accepted Module A: “Use of computers” without comments. Eurostat proposed Module B: “ICT specialists and skills” with the additional question on ICT functions performed mainly internally or externally. It was proposed to replace in B5 a) “ICT infrastructure” with “hardware”, however, the latter may be difficult to translate. The use of “during 2014” as reference in question B5 was considered preferable to the use of the presence tense. The WG agreed to use “Not applicable” instead of “Not relevant”. The issue of affiliates/mother companies that should not be considered as external suppliers may be a difficult concept for respondents. A more detailed reference to the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) would go beyond the scope of the survey and increase the response burden of the questionnaire. It is important to note that B5 may be checked against other questions e.g. having a website, etc. The use of a filter for ICT specialists in B1 would limit the scope of the module.

Eurostat proposed Module C “Access and use of the internet” with mandatory websites’ functionalities and extended the social media question. It was asked to reconsider the change in the question C9 on social media and the use of the newly introduced instruction leading to C10 (considered difficult in a web-questionnaire implementation). Delegates proposed to reconsider in C9 the formulation of “use” vs “have” a profile etc. However, other delegates commented that in the current formulation, C9 and C10 were better correlated. Respondents should understand that the purposes in C10 concern the use of the enterprise’s social media that would be specifically mentioned in C9.

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Eurostat proposed Module D: “Use of cloud computing services” (the same D1, D2, D3 questions with 2014) and Module E: “Sharing of information electronically within the enterprise” that were accepted by the WG without comments.

Eurostat proposed Module F on “Supply Chain Management” that the WG accepted without comments. It was proposed that the combination of SCM module (reduced since 2014 to the most essential elements for policy purposes), Module H on “Electronic Invoicing” and EDI-type sales might be considered for computing an indicator for Automated Data Exchange i.e. exchange of EDI-type messages suitable for automated processing. The indicator would allow a typology of enterprises that have integrated the respective electronic systems in their operations. The highest level of integrated ICT in enterprises would be characterised by the extended use of automated processing of EDI-type of messages. The proposal gained support among delegates.

Concerning electronic invoicing (Module H), some delegates following pre-testing considered that the quantitative questions on electronic invoicing were difficult, particularly for enterprises that would use more than one type of invoice. However, the delegate from the Netherlands that used the questions in the 2013 survey reported that respondents answered without any particular problem. The inclusion of the text “If you cannot provide the exact percentages approximation will suffice” would be highly recommended. It was agreed to discuss the MQ proposal only for sending electronic invoices although the long term interest would be to measure both sending and receiving invoices. It was underlined that the data requirements for policy monitoring would be very important in view of the forthcoming legislation on the mandatory use of e-invoicing for public procurement. The use of certified e-mails and e-signature should not be related to the use of e-invoicing. Due to the fact that NSA had no prior experience with the specific questions, some delegates proposed to exercise precaution and suggested to include the questions as optional for 2015 and mandatory in 2016 depending on the 2014 national experiences. It was mentioned that in case the specific questions in the 2014 survey were problematic (low quality, high non-response) the premature inclusion of the questions in 2015 might result to a negative opinion in ESSC.

Eurostat proposed Module G on “ICT security” specifically on enterprises that adopted the relevant policies. It was commented that experience from the use of the questions showed that the concepts were difficult for respondents as well as for translation. It was proposed to split the question concerning “when the ICT security policy was defined” and when it was “last defined”. The questions will be further discussed in the Task Force. It was announced that questions on ICT security would be included in OECD’s questionnaire.

Eurostat proposed Module I on “e-commerce” with the inclusion of “apps” and the biennial questions on the origin of orders. The WG agreed on the proposal for reliable data at national level for division 47 (retail trade) and this proposal was welcomed by DG SANCO which in general is interested in having a focus on enterprises selling to end-consumers. Delegates and Commission users agreed that statistics for division 47 would be the optimal alternative to satisfy users requesting information on enterprises selling to consumers. However, it was noted that for enterprises that belong to division 47, quantitative e-commerce information might not be reliably reported.

Eurostat requested further comments by 15 November 2013 in order to prepare the Task Force meeting on 28-29 November 2013.

DG CONNECT informed the meeting that the e-government benchmarking group is working on refining the requirements for measuring take-up and usage of the relevant services using administrative data. Representatives from public authority services are expected to come up with a proposal that will eventually be discussed with NSA. The French delegate commented that even if the administrative data were available in France (which would not be the case), the production of reliable statistics would be very difficult due to lack of resources.

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5.4 ICT impact project

Eva Hagsten, the project coordinator of the ESSNET project on analysing the impact of ICT on businesses via data linking gave an overview on the preliminary findings of the project that will terminate in Dec 2013. The presentation put emphasis on the work for assessing the quality of the input data and the quality of the linked datasets. The project produces aggregated data based on analysis of linked datasets that exceed the scope of existing uni-dimensional statistics and thus could be of high value for further analysis by users. The main conclusions are that ICT continues to impact firm performance significantly. However, the saturation of certain indicators, e.g. broadband access, leads to the need for a more multi-dimensional approach of analysis. The selection bias due to the linking of micro-datasets has only minor effects on multivariate statistical analysis, but affects descriptive statistics. In this respect positive sample coordination would increase the quality of the descriptive variables. More stability in collecting variables over time and increased harmonisation of statistics production across countries would increase the quality of the linked datasets, too. The importance of collecting metadata on the linked datasets and the input variables was stressed in this context.

DG CNECT asked about availability of the micro moments datasets for further analysis. Eurostat replied that it would launch the procedure for granting access to the datasets for researchers as the data contained potentially confidential data. On the assumption of having the agreement of the project participants and the WG on confidentiality, the procedure could end by mid 2014. Ms Hagsten added that the project would also produce a more aggregated dataset that would be available without restrictions of access. UK announced to analyse the national results and potentially review the input data.

5.2 ESS VIP BUS ICT project

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/10)

An update was given by Eurostat on the project of a Future European Infrastructure for Exchange and Dissemination of ICT statistics (ESS VIP.BUS ICT).

During the first phase of the project that started in January 2013, two strands of activities were carried out in parallel: the development of the pilot with the participating countries and a methodological study on domain related issues.

As far as the prototype is concerned, at the end of Phase I, the 11 Member States together with Eurostat will be in position to test a functioning ICT Hub, demonstrating how with minimal effort and investment the Census Hub interface and the SDMX-RI can be reused in another statistical domain.

Most of the activities planned for phase I was carried out. Some delays were encountered primarily due to the preparatory work that was necessary before launching them.

All the deliverables, including the results of the methodological study will be made available at the end of 2013 or at the very beginning of next year. A Task Force meeting, similar to the one organised in 2013 will be organised back to back with the Working Group meeting in March 2014. This workshop will provide the opportunity to discuss all the results of phase I and to agree on a detailed work plan for the second phase of the ICT project.

The specifications for the grants in 2014 will be ready by the end of March.

5.5 Preparation of the 2015 survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/13)

Eurostat presented the current proposals for the revision of the model questionnaire 2015 and related implementing regulation. The proposals were based on the outcome of the discussions and conclusions of the Task Force meeting held from 12 to 13 September and an updated proposal for the

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questions on e-skills received after the Task Force meeting. The presentation and following discussion in the Working Group started with modules A – F, followed by presenting proposals on e-skills and finally referred to issues of coverage and reference periods, breakdowns and background variables, deadlines and transmission of results. The comments and feedback received from the WG will be addressed in the next and final meeting of the Task Force on 26-27 November 2013.

The remarks and conclusions were as follows:

Module A: Access to ICT at home

Question A1 from 2013 and earlier years was reintroduced. It was clarified that the indicator on households with access to computers was no digital Europe benchmarking indicator. However, its collection will serve global and general demands such as those from the partnership for measuring ICT for development. It would mean limited burden of one answer possibility.

No changes were proposed for question A2 on internet access. Two countries had reservations concerning the phrase ‘by any device’ since they considered everyone with a mobile phone having internet access.

The optional question A3 on devices used for internet access could be dropped for the 2015 survey year.

Question A4 on types of internet connections got some remarks that narrowband connections were not used and should be dropped and that mobile broadband in the household should not be asked. This was not supported by others who defended the current simplified question with the two mandatory and two optional items to remain.

There was a general agreement that changing questions should be avoided if they worked satisfactory in the past. This would enable comparability over time and support stability of the survey findings.

Modules B and C – Computer/Internet use by individuals

Apart from a proposal to consider only shorter periods as answer options in question B1 (and C1), module B received no comments.

After a proposal to drop the optional items in question C3 on places of internet use by individuals, DG CONNECT stated that the question had today lower relevance because of increasing mobile internet connectivity and could be removed.

Question C5 had addressed the biennial indicators from the 2011-2015 digital Europe benchmarking framework under its headings access to information, health, civic and political participation and professional life. The former two items under the learning topic were considered within new, separate questions. Apart from a few remarks that the headings in the question and some individual items were not entirely clear (finding information on goods or services, professional networking), the major comments made by the WG concerned the proposed new sub-items b1 and g1 relating to the intensity of using certain selected activities. There was also a proposal to split item k) on looking for a job and sending applications.

While sub-item b1, frequency of participating in social networking, was supported in general, the relevance of sub-item g1 on frequency of finding information about goods or services was questioned. There were doubts that this activity would be done regularly, especially daily. Overall, there was the impression that not so many activities were done frequently besides communication activities.

The new e-learning related questions C6, C7 and C8 were supported (C8 if the response burden allows) but needed improvement before their possible inclusion in the questionnaire.

The meaning of the answer options of question C6 was not clear regarding items b) and c). Item b) as it read now included a broad set of learning material in the examples. The use of wikis may dominate the figures. Item c) excluded e-mail communication which might be also relevant. There was a need to clarify if learning for both education and for the job and for improving the knowledge of children should be mentioned.

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Most of the comments on question C7 concerned the request to combine the last two answer options to read ‘less than once a week’ as it was done for item C5b1. Another view was the need to restrict the question and to exclude option a) on doing an online course or to extend the reference periods for the questions since online courses were often not done frequently.

Question C8 could mention that training offered by employers is included in the first two items. The three answer options needed review regarding their relevance, especially the last item on personal interest purposes of learning.

Some participants felt that the question C9 on the use of cloud services was too early to be repeated after its introduction in the 2014 survey. Because of its high relevance for policy and consideration in the pre-testing project, the question should remain. There was a suggestion to move the question before question C6.

Modules D and E – e-government, e-commerce

Apart from a proposal to shorten the e-government introduction, module D received no comments.

Most comments for module E on e-Commerce concerned the additional questions E5, E6, E7 and E8. These questions were supported in general but suggestions for improvements were made. Some participants emphasized that questions E5 and E6 are difficult to reply, especially question E6 due to recall issues. In addition, the change of the reference period in e-commerce module from 12 months to 3 months in questions E5-6 was criticised by some participants. This would confuse respondents and potentially lead to incomparable results due to the seasonality of private purchases. The shorter reference period was chosen to mitigate the recall issue. According to the regulation data collection should be conducted in the second quarter of the year. Finally, one participant expressed doubt if the item on e-learning in question E2 as well as question E3 on digital downloading was useful anymore.

Question E5 on the volume of online purchases and question E6 on the value of online purchases should consider adding a routing restriction which indicates that only those who bought online within the last 3 months were concerned. There were requests to reconsider bands for answering as it was done in the 2009 survey and as it proved to be feasible. The Task Force opted for precise estimates rather than bands in order to stimulate respondents to reflect on electronic purchases done within the last 3 months. Results could be aggregated and published in bands. The class limits could be chosen in relation to the obtained results. This would result in more precise figures than asking for bands directly. The period of 12 months was considered as being too long (recall issue) to receive precise estimates especially in phone interviews.. There was another remark that the types of questions were addressed in a different way in the Household Budget Survey.

The new item h) in question E7 was objected by two participants since it was seen as a reason for not buying rather than a problem faced by online buyers. DG SANCO explained that during the task force meeting participants tended to agree on the fact that the problem can well occur if individuals wanted to order a certain item from a foreign seller without success because of the conditions and had then bought another item or from another source. DG SANCO also reiterated its interest in having questions aimed at measuring the volume of e-commerce purchases and the incidence of problems experienced by consumer when buying (in addition to reasons for not buying online for those consumers who don't do it).

Question E8 should remove the filter added in item a). It would be better to have it listed as a normal answer option and to compare the results with 2009.

Module F – Internet security

The proposed three questions received support but suggestions for improvement were made. There was also a request that the next Task Force meeting should consider the DK questions on cookies attached in the annex of the WG document and check their relevance for European measurement.

Several countries asked to drop item b) on spam in question F1. Spam was not perceived as a real problem compared to the other answer options. There was a request to review the explanations for ‘resulting in loss of information or time’ in item a), for ‘financial loss’ caused by item d) incidents and

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the inclusion of f) on children accessing inappropriate websites within this question.

On question F2, the presented extended wording should be considered for improvement of the question. It was explained that account management in e-banking includes payment transfers.

On question F3, the wording ending with ‘internet storage space’ should take examples into account as it was done in the cloud related question C9. Two participants asked to remove ‘not applicable’ relating to no need to make backup files because no files on a computer are kept. Another participant had objections to any modifications and suggested to keep the same answer options as in 2010 for reasons of comparability.

Module G – E-skills

On e-skills, Eurostat presented the problems with the current questions, the latest discussions in the Task Force and the proposal of Commission DGs which was based on the Digital Competence Framework and considered the discussions about the pretesting project proposal. DG CONNECT added that the proposal aims to define levels of skills which can be easier explained and highlights more than in the past usual software tools for office use in one of the presented domains.

Most comments from NSIs expressed support for the latest proposal from the Commission referring to the framework and having skills grouped into two levels. However, there should be more work done in the Task Force to review, discuss and clarify the number of indicators, reasons for their selection under each of the four domains and the rationale behind the two levels. For example, it was not clear why those who did only social networking were not grouped with those having more than basic communication skills or that those who enter data in spreadsheets were not considered as above basic users. Another remark was that it cannot be assumed that those who e.g. sold products online were really capable of doing so.

Furthermore, the following issues required particular attention in the follow-up discussions:

- possibility to incorporate all those who used a computer or did any internet activities but have not done advanced activities into the group with basic skills

- treatment of individuals who have used computers/internet between 3 month and 12 months and longer ago

- measurement of items appears practical but the headlines for the categories are rather abstract; some of their items are not always obvious and coherent

- stability of ‘above basic’ skills over a longer period of time

Some testing with microdata before the next Task Force meeting should be done for justifying the selection of items. The proposed approach in the framework will be followed-up. The headings could be further discussed but it should be noted that they reflected the theoretical basics explained in the framework and were not to be outlined in the survey questions. It was recalled that questionnaires had limitations since skills and the degree of being able to perform activities cannot be tested. Nevertheless the objective was to have robust scales identifying individuals who have done more than simple activities when using computers and the internet.

Background characteristics, statistical units, deadlines for transmission of results, burden of questionnaire

The Working Group had no particular remarks on these issues. Eurostat referred to the burden calculation and that the current e-skills proposal would demand around 12 items for which it would be necessary to decide other questions, e.g. in the security module.

The next meeting of the Task Force will review the feedback of the WG members on the proposals and come up with final proposals for the model questionnaire. In case of any additional comments which should be addressed in the meeting, the participants were asked to send them in writing to heidi.seybert@ec.europa.eu by 15 November.

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5.6 Modularisation of social surveys: background variable on ICT

Eurostat gave on overview on the state of play concerning modularisation of social surveys. The aim of the initiative is to increase efficiency, responsiveness and integration of social surveys. Modularisation requires increased standardisation and harmonisation of variables. The basic idea would be to develop smaller modules related to specific topics of social statistics and to reuse and combine them in a flexible way. In addition to this initiative a revision of the core social variables is proposed by Eurostat. The revision includes adding a core variable on the participation of individuals in the information society. Both topics will be discussed at the meeting of the social statistics directors (DSS) on 18-19 Nov 2013. The development of the social statistics modules should be part of a future framework regulation on social statistics. Decision on core variables should be taken at the next DSS in Nov 2013. The collection of the new core social variables would be implemented with medium time perspective. An exact definition of the indicator does not exist, yet, due to the fast changing nature of the internet. Depending on the decision of the DSS, the TF and WG would have to work on the definition of the indicator. The modularisation would have a longer time perspective.

5.7 Publication of ICT microdata for researchers

(Doc: STI-ISS/2013/15)

Eurostat presented a summary of the latest activities related to granting access to the ICT household and individuals’ anonymised micro-data for researchers. The members of the WG transmitted their decision on the inclusion of the national part of the European datasets for 2010-2012. Concurrently, the members of the WG on Confidentiality were consulted for giving their general agreement on the anonymised ICT usage micro-data. All NSIs except one agreed to grant access to researchers in general.

As conclusion, Eurostat will proceed with the procedure for granting access for researchers. It is planned that the data would be available from December 2013 onwards.

5.8 Internet as a data source project

The contractor of Eurostat informed about the state of play of the feasibility project on using internet data and (big) data repositories to generate official statistics. One of the contents of the project is to assess the feasibility of generating indicators related to information society statistics from web sources or by analysing and aggregating activities of individuals on the internet. The results of this work package will be used to create a “cookbook” for implementing related methods and processes at operational level. In addition, big data repositories as data sources for official statistics should be identified and their potential for official statistics should be assessed. This includes possible conditions for accessing the data and the definition of a procedure for accreditation of big data repositories.

5.9 Any other business, ICT

Status of Data Delivery 2013: Eurostat presented the state of the play of the data delivery and processing for the 2013 survey on households/individuals and on enterprises. Data quality and timely transmission have in general improved also thanks to the wider use of Eurostat’s validation program. For both surveys and for a few countries there are still some open validation issues and processing is on-going. It was reminded that in case of remaining validation errors or other open data issues, data would not be included in the release. Therefore countries were asked to quickly follow up on the data corrections and provide feedback to the time series checks.

The majority of participants expressed their preference for separate meetings of the STI and ISS working groups in the future. The agenda points were too numerous and difficult to follow which created a considerable burden for active participation. In case of a joint organisation of working group meetings and considering that topics would cover four different data collections at least two delegates

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should be reimbursed. Due to reimbursement of only one delegate per country not all experts in charge of the surveys could attend the meeting. The meetings were considered as important platform for obtaining and exchanging knowledge in regard of the related subject matter.

The minutes would be uploaded to CIRCABC by 11 Nov 2013. The deadline for comments is 6 December 2013. The chair reminded that some agenda items have different deadlines for receiving comments. The chair thanked presenters and delegates of the WGM for their participation and contributions and closed the meeting.

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