Social Inclusiveness of Electronic Public Service Delivery in Germany - A Quantitative Analysis

Digital divide is, despite all efforts in research and practice, a matter of fact in most societies. In search for specific strategies to promote digital inclusion, one has to ask for what are the specific reasons and factors behind the problem. Here, the field of E-Government features several particular characteristics, including high privacy and security demands or high complexity of administrative processes, which might hinder the societal inclusiveness of such electronic public service delivery. Addressing the question of what could be possible explanations for a lack of inclusiveness in E-Government, we develop an E-Government-inclusion-gap-model and conduct a quantitative analysis of statistical data on E-Government usage in Germany, taking into account specific social digital divide groups, such as senior citizens, people with low education or people without employment. Here, we contrast E-Government usage with E-Commerce and internet usage. Specific inclusion gaps in E-Government and their underlying issues are analysed and specific recommendations given

An Exploratory Analysis of E-Government Development in the Caribbean

Digital divide is, despite all efforts in research and practice, a matter of fact in most societies. In search for specific strategies to promote digital inclusion, one has to ask for what are the specific reasons and factors behind the problem. Here, the field of E-Government features several particular characteristics, including high privacy and security demands or high complexity of administrative processes, which might hinder the societal inclusiveness of such electronic public service delivery. Addressing the question of what could be possible explanations for a lack of inclusiveness in E-Government, we develop an E-Government-inclusion-gap-model and conduct a quantitative analysis of statistical data on E-Government usage in Germany, taking into account specific social digital divide groups, such as senior citizens, people with low education or people without employment. Here, we contrast E-Government usage with E-Commerce and internet usage. Specific inclusion gaps in E-Government and their underlying issues are analysed and specific recommendations given

Demographic Awareness and E-Government – A Quantitative Analysis of Germany and Japan

Innovating public administrations, for instance by means of E-Government, becomes an increasingly important issue in order to satisfy growing demands of citizens and to reduce costs of public service provision. Demographic change in industrialized countries, namely societal aging and depopulation, has various influences on the development of E-Government strategies. On the one hand, elderly citizens use services of their local government more often than people of younger age-groups. On the other hand, they are less likely to use complex electronic services in general and E-Government in specific. In addition, municipalities have to deal with increased cost pressure and the aging of the workforce within their local administrations as a result of the demographic change. Our quantitative analysis focuses on identifying the perceived importance of problems related to the demographic change in German and Japanese public administrations, addresses what areas of reform are related to these problems and points out implications for the development of innovation strategies by means of E-Government. We contrast the developments in both countries with respect to both demographic situation and public innovation in order to derive possible implications for the future

From Plan to Reality: Applications of the European eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 on the National and Institutional Level - a Comparison between Germany, the United Kingdom and Estonia

Since the development of eGovernment systems is gaining worldwide momentum, the European Union is constantly increasing its efforts to induce the development of eGovernment systems in its member states. The currently running strategy is the ’eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020’, which understands itself as a catalyst for developments in the member states. Despite these ongoing efforts by the European Union regarding eGovernment, stud- ies are repeatedly revealing that the quality and acceptance by the citizens of dig- ital public services are varying heavily within the EU. Being based on the same political guidelines provided by the EU, the national strategies implemented the core principles to different degrees. These different implementation rates, analyzed for Germany, the United Kingdom and Estonia, supplement the holistic analysis of the eGovernment policies, applications and usage in each member state. This gets proven by the connection of this indicator with related studies in the field of eGov- ernment applications and usage within the European Union. The aim of this thesis is, on the one hand, to quantify differences in the implementa- tion of the ’eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020’ into national policies in Germany, the UK and Estonia and, on the other hand, establish this indicator as a valuable asset for evaluating and monitoring the eGovernment efforts by the EU member states

ILO survey report on the National Initiatives to Promote Quality Apprenticeships in G20 Countries

While the level of educational attainment has been rising globally in the past decades, in many countries education and training systems struggle with adapting to rapidly changing skill needs in the fast evolving labour market. The resulting skills mismatch exerts upward pressure on youth unemployment rates with young people opting for jobs that do not match their qualifications which in turn limits their salary and progression prospects. At the same time, businesses, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, face critical skills shortages as they seek to expand. Unemployment affects youth almost three times more than adults. As such, it is crucial to implement measures to improve the employability of young people. It is in this context that the International Labour Office (ILO), with the support of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, launched the Skills that Work Project: Improving the Employability of Low and Middle-Skilled Workers in February 2017. The project aims to promote quality apprenticeships as an effective means to provide young people from diverse backgrounds with labour market relevant skills, and exposure to the work environment and a smoother transition into employment. Quality apprenticeships are known to facilitate the school-to-work transition of youth as they offer employer-led skills development opportunities that lead to nationally recognised qualifications. As a result, policymakers increasingly rely on apprenticeships to address skills mismatch and youth unemployment. In fact, the G20, L20 and B20 have committed to promote apprenticeships. In this light, we believe it is timely and helpful to take stock of good national initiatives to improve apprenticeships and make the knowledge widely available as part of our continuous efforts to support evidence-based policymaking. The project also provides support to the design and implementation of quality apprenticeship programmes by providing a concise set of key information and practical tools. It is our hope that this report contributes to the promotion of quality apprenticeships by facilitating policy discussions and enhancing our knowledge base of various initiatives that have been tested in the G20 Member States

The Spaces Between Numbers: Getting International Data on Higher Education Straight

Argues that the participation and attainment data used in international comparisons do not reflect the performance objectives of higher education systems. Suggests economic and demographic frameworks for interpreting data and changes in data collection

Mobility and IoT for the Smart Cities

This book compiles relevant expanded versions of the best articles presented at the Second Ibero-American Congress of Smart Cities (ICSC-CITIES 2019), published in the Special Issue “Mobility and IoT for the Smart Cities” in Smart Cities, MDPI. This book includes articles on urban mobility, as well as on integrated sensors in cities, two relevant subjects related to the development of modern smart cities moving towards sustainability

The role of urban regeneration initiatives in the creation of sustainable inner cities : a case study of the Durban Point regeneration initiative.

Master of Town and Regional Planning. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2015.Inner-cities are perceived as the driving force for socio-economic development of municipalities and the core commercial hub for creative opportunities. Nonetheless, they still face significant urban management challenges and a myriad of complex issues, which threaten their sustainability. This requires urban regeneration, revitalization, and renewal programmes to invigorate them. Through the application of both qualitative and quantitative methods and underpinning theories as Just city, Equity, Collaborative, and New urbanism, the study examined the role of urban regeneration in the creation of sustainable inner city using Durban Point area as a case study. The study revealed that regeneration approaches employed as a turnaround strategy by city managers, have become a spectacle of property-driven and “banal” flagships projects. This is legitimised to boost inner-city sustainability and to mobilise support for entrepreneurial urbanism activities that rebrand the inner-city for „massification‟ of private, and public, investment that has resulted unto ad-hoc, disjointed and uncoordinated implementation, which have no correlation with practical challenges manifested in the inner city realm. The findings shows that this approach does not guarantee long-term sustainability of the inner city, but only purport to raise the image of the city to attract investment without tackling socio spatial challenges deeply entrenched in this urban organism. It is proposed that if the inner city areas are to be sustained, and then it will demand a reconstruction of current policy narratives behind inner city regeneration, which presently tends to side-line the plight of the unheard voices within the inner-city areas. Municipalities are therefore encouraged to embrace integrated and multifaceted approach to regeneration implementation, which guarantees long-term sustainability of the inner-city areas