The Industry and Policy Context for Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion:Market Analysis, Future Prospects and Key Challenges in Videogames, Serious Games and Gamification

The effective use of digital games for empowerment and social inclusion (DGEI) of people and communities at risk of exclusion will be shaped by, and may influence the development of a range of sectors that supply products, services, technology and research. The principal industries that would appear to be implicated are the 'videogames' industry, and an emerging 'serious games' industry. The videogames industry is an ecosystem of developers, publishers and other service providers drawn from the interactive media, software and broader ICT industry that services the mainstream leisure market in games, The 'serious games' industry is a rather fragmented and growing network of firms, users, research and policy makers from a variety of sectors. This emerging industry is are trying to develop knowledge, products, services and a market for the use of digital games, and products inspired by digital games, for a range of non-leisure applications. This report provides a summary of the state of play of these industries, their trajectories and the challenges they face. It also analyses the contribution they could make to exploiting digital games for empowerment and social inclusion. Finally, it explores existing policy towards activities in these industries and markets, and draws conclusions as to the future policy relevance of engaging with them to support innovation and uptake of effective digital game-based approaches to empowerment and social inclusion.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

Envisioning Digital Europe 2030: Scenarios for ICT in Future Governance and Policy Modelling

This foresight exercise was conducted as part of the CROSSROAD Project – A Participative Roadmap for ICT Research on Electronic Governance and Policy Modelling, a FP7 Support Action that aimed to provide strategic direction, define a shared vision, and inspire collaborative, interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder research in the domain. This research set out to help policy makers implement the Digital Agenda for Europe, the flagship initiative of the EU 2020 strategy launched to increase EU growth and competitiveness in the fast-evolving global landscape and address the grand challenges our world is confronted with today.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

Renouveler la gouvernance à l’ère du numérique

Le présent article dresse un survol de l’évolution de la gouvernance électronique au cours de la dernière décennie, en examinant l’état actuel des stratégies de gouvernement électronique et en posant un regard particulier sur l’évolution du domaine en Europe. Il propose un cadre d’interprétation permettant d’évaluer les valeurs publiques qui servent de fondement à la construction virtuelle des systèmes de gouvernement électronique et établit des fondations tournées vers l’avenir en abordant la question de l’emploi de la gouvernance électronique dans le champ de l’élaboration des politiques, c’est-à-dire la relation entre, d’une part, l’emploi de systèmes de gouvernement électronique afin de favoriser une administration participative basée sur des données probantes et, d’autre part, les processus organisationnels et sociaux qui s’y rattachent. Un aperçu sur les défis politiques que l’avenir pourrait réserver aux gouvernements électroniques et sur les directions que pourrait prendre la recherche dans le domaine clôt l’article. This article presents an overview of the evolution of digital governance in the last decade, with a special emphasis on the current state of e-Government strategies in Europe. To that end, it proposes an interpretative framework for assessing the public values underpinning the abstract construct of ICT-enabled governance. It also creates a basis for future discussion in the emerging field of ICTs for governance and policy modelling, an umbrella term indicating the interplay between collaborative ICTs implemented for the purpose of achieving participative, evidence-based governance and performing the related organizational and social processes. The article concludes by outlining policy challenges and research directions for the future of e-Governance.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

The Next Paradigm Shift in the Mobile Ecosystem: Mobile Social Computing and the Increasing Relevance of Users

Social computing has become the paradigm for the increasingly relevant role of users in the Internet world. In this paper, it is argued that mobile social computing will eventually cause an even bigger impact in the mobile ecosystem. We are already at the beginning of the "transference" of a significant part of Internet social computing usage to the mobile domain, where users are no longer passive consumers of content andapplications, but co-creators and even innovators of them. However, mobile social computing will go one step further in the contribution to the development of the mobile ecosystem, since it will put the many situations of users' daily activities at the centre stage. To prove this case, this paper gathers available data and evidence on the patterns of mobile social computing usage and discusses user innovation and user empowerment in the framework of the current mobile ecosystem.Mobile social computing, user innovation, mobile ecosystem.

i-FRAME – Assessing impacts of social policy innovation in the EU: Proposed methodological framework to evaluate socio-economic returns on investment of social policy innovations

This report presents the final proposal for developing a methodological framework to assess the impacts generated by social policy innovations which promote social investment in the EU, in short i-FRAME. This framework has the objective to provide a structured approach that shall serve as a comprehensive framework for conducting analysis of the economic and social returns on investments of social policy innovations. It also aims to act as a guide to gather insights into replicability and transferability of initiatives which promote social investment across the EU. The report outlines the reviewed and improved theoretical and methodological approach developed by the JRC with help from external experts, and validated by testing the operational components proposed on a number of case studies and scenarios of use. After outlining the conceptual and methodological approach underpinning the i-FRAME (V1.0), the report discusses the proposal for building its operational components according to a structured theoretical framework of a dynamic simulation model for social impact assessment (V1.5). The final proposal for i-FRAME (V2.0) and an overview of the operational components for its implementation are then presented discussing the key elements that should be developed to build a comprehensive i-FRAME Web-Platform and simulator for social impact assessment. Conclusions are then offered in terms of implications for policy and directions for future research. These were drawn after consulting experts from different research disciplines, practitioners and representatives of relevant stakeholders and policymakers, and they include .recommendations for further developing the operational components proposed, paving the way towards building the i-FRAME (V3.0) and beyond.JRC.B.4-Human Capital and Employmen

From Public Value to Social Value of Digital Government: Co-Creation and Social Innovation in European Union Initiatives

This paper discusses the development of key features in European Union policy and service redesign, based on social innovative practices where co-creation and the related phenomenon of digital social innovation have a high potential impact. The idea underneath this claim is that information and communication technologies are becoming increasingly pervasive in the design, development and delivery of social innovation and co-creation initiatives which should not be limited to service delivery, rather serve as the driver for opening-up governance systems and change the way public organizations are structured and policy designed and implemented. Consequently, the paper discusses the key elements identified for setting up open and collaborative governance systems, while, taking stock from the analysis of policy experiences and practices funded by the European Commission, an overview of main drivers and barriers are presented. The paper concludes outlining recommendations for future research, as well as implications and possible directions for policy

Interoperability challenges for ICT-enabled governance: towards a pan-European conceptual framework

In the European academic and institutional debate, interoperability is predominantly seen as a means to enable public administrations to collaborate within Members State and across borders. The article presents a conceptual framework for ICT-enabled governance and analyses the role of interoperability in this regard. The article makes a specific reference to the exploratory research project carried out by the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commission¿s Joint Research Centre on emerging ICT-enabled governance models in EU cities (EXPGOV). The aim of this project is to study the interplay between ICTs and governance processes at city level and formulate an interdisciplinary framework to assess the various dynamics emerging from the application of ICT-enabled service innovations in European cities. In this regard, the conceptual framework proposed in this article results from an action research perspective and investigation of e-governance experiences carried out in Europe. It aims to elicit the main value drivers that should orient how interoperable systems are implemented, considering the reciprocal influences that occur between these systems and different governance models in their specific context

How ICTs Shape the Relationship Between the State and the Citizens: Exploring New Paradigms Between Civic Engagement and Social Innovation

The paper investigates the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in enabling social innovation and civic engagement. The purpose is to advance a typology for better understanding whether such a phenomenon might contribute to a paradigmatic shift in the relationship between the governments or the administrations and citizens. This framework is set out is based on the review of recent literature on social innovation and ICTs, studying the relationships between government and citizens emerging from 41 cases. The analysis highlights how ICTs underpin innovation in civic engagement initiatives in two main ways: 1) by modernising existing processes and 2) by integrating new services