Distinguished Guests,

It is a great pleasure for me to participate in this 5-th meeting of the Norwegian Research and IT-forum, or 1 year anniversary. The forum has responded to our expectations as a meeting point, both in a formal and in an informal perspective. Both aspects are important.

At the recent Stockholm summit, the European Union confirmed the new strategic goal for the next decade:

"To become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion".

This is both difficult and inspiring. In order to reach this goal we need a better understanding of the role played by information and communication technology in the European societies totrigger change. Both ICT and sustainable development are expected to be important dimensions in the new framework programme for science and technology, as outlined in the Commisions’ proposal. Yesterday, Norway delivered its views on the Commission’s proposal.

At the meeting in Gothenburg later this month, the European Council will adopt a strategy for sustainable development .

In my opinion, the term "sustainable development" has three main dimensions:

• a social dimension, including cultural aspects
• an economic dimension, and

• an environmental dimension

Today, I would like to focus on the environmental dimension from a political point of view.

Environmental issues adress vital concerns in todays’ society, and they are complicated. At the same time, solutions are not easy to find. But no leaders in the business community, nor in the public sector, can ignore the fact that society is changing mentality, - a fact that requires a new approach to human values.

We must acknowledge that all goods and services represent a set of values – and I am particularly thinking of ecological values. Values are imbedded in all goods and products.

The way goods and services are produced and exchanged in the market place, transported and distributed is an issue which deserves more attention. And these issues do more and more get the attention from customers and consumers. They have knowledge and they are demanding.

Those involved in business and industry must take an active approach to meet the demands of the customer. This will foster a more environmentaly friendly development, even though it may be a difficult process.

There certainly are questions we all have to ask, such as: Do we want our businesses, at home as well as abroad, to more actively take responsibility for environmental aspects?

We know that there is no automatic connection between economic growth and human development within the frames of global sustainability. Political, technical and scientific knowledge is therefore a crucial point.

But there is no doubt that ICT has a substantial potential for reducing environmental burdens. "e" means "electronic" to most of us, but our goal should also be that "e" is equal to "environment".

In my view, the next generation will be more critical, and even somewhat astonished when looking back at our generation’s habits and way of life. Take for example the habit of reading our morning newspaper. First, heavy machines and amounts of fuel are required to cut the wood needed to produce paper. The next step is the transportation to and from the paper factory. Then the newspaper is printed and the workers have to work late hours and even during the night. Then, the paper is transported often long distances, even across continents. All these efforts are made for the short time it takes us to finish reading our paper! And then, after we have finished reading, we have to get rid of it!

This example shows the potential for reducing environmental impacts by using information and communication technologies. The newspapers are important to me, but the new generation familiar with an electronic daily life, they will see other ways of being informed. There is scope for significant reductions in the use of energy, raw materials and transport through the use of digital and electronic products, services and communication, replace material products and physical transportation of people and goods.

Beyond the "hype", there’s hope! e-commerce creates new possibilities for a sustainable environment and society. And a new meaning of HTML may be Heavy Traffic Made Lighter! Virtual traffic may replace real traffic. With the right incentives, e-business may create more effective supply- and distribution systems.

I believe the judgement of my grandchildren will be harsh! The new SMS-generation will develop other ways to organise society. They will find new solutions. And the fact that they will have more environmental consciousness than our generation ever had, will encourage such a development.

The e-economy can access all areas. The digital revolution may lead to changes in areas where other revolutions did not succeed. Knowledge needs no longer be the privilege of the Western world. Knowledge in combination with political will, may in itself lead to more sustainable solutions. An aspect of this access to environmental information which I think is essential to build capacity and ability to act in areas without traditions for political work. Electronic connections and e-commerce may result in more cooperation in the real world. You may not only find a partner through internet, but also share knowledge and develop what we may call e-democracy. Internet knows no borders.

E-commerce will also change the relation between the businesses and the surroundings. This is the introduction of a new era of openness and responsibility in business life where customers and consumers have more power than ever before. And they are to an increasing degree environmentally conscious.

But if the mentality remain unchanged, the actions will remain the same. The new technology has the potential to be a driving force in promoting sustainable development.

Even though ICT may result in more sustainability, it may also result in the opposite effects. Then there are dangers that new burdens will be added to environment due to the new patterns of consumption. ICT equipment frequently entails the use of hazardous materials. With a life-cycle of one to three years, an increasing amount of waste may raise significant problems. So far, there is no convincing evidence that the overall use of energy, materials or transport in any country is decreasing.

The potential of environmental added value will not be realised without coherent efforts from the authorities and business life in order to unite e-commerce with sustainability. We have no answers ready to all the questions posed here. We are therefore eager to get advice on how to proceed in these very complex matters.

I will emphasise the importance of listening to the younger generations. They grew up surrounded by the new technology, they are aware of the fragility of the earth and they have creativity.

EU has developed the eEurope plan. Norway has followed up through eNorway. Sustainable development is very much emphasised in this strategy. In the eNorway-plan, a number of specific actions are listed. Concrete examples are use of ICT in relation to environmental information, management of waste from electric and electronic products, further study of e-commerce and the environment, "greening" of government operations, and use of ICTs in transport policies. Several of these actions are developed further in a new version of the eNorway-plan that will be published in this month.

Norway’s involvement in the EU framework programme on science and technology is our largest investment in international science collaboration. ICT is one important area of this co-operation. The eNorway-plan also emphasizes access, knowledge and confidence as three cornerstones for general use of ICT. From the environmental side, ICT offer exiting possibilities for disseminating and communicating environmental information in new ways. Norway is preparing new legislation on environmental information, which aims at enabling us to ratify the Aarhus convention and to be in line with the proposed EU directive.

In our efforts to renew and streamline the public sector, ICT has many obvious applications, and a large number of these may also provide substantial environmental benefits.

In our work with a sustainable knowledge society, we have been encouraged by the efforts carried out in the EU, by DG Information Society and the IST programme; in Sweden, where several issues have been developed very actively. We have also been inspired by such work as the "Digital Futures" project for a sustainable digital economy in the United Kingdom, just to mention - perhaps unfairly - a couple of countries we have learned from. We are also encouraged by the work done so far to integrate this perspective in the international cooperation around the Northern Dimension and a Northern eDimension.

As a partner in the Fifth Framework Programme for Research, as a member of the European Economic Area, and as an active participant in the cooperation around the EU’s Northern Dimension, Norway wants to strengthen the cooperation with the EU. We believe that these efforts provide a golden opportunity for an effective linkage of environmental goals and objectives to the main European development strategy, in order to safeguard our national, European and global environment for future generations.

Finally, I would like to state that technology is not a goal in itself. New or old technology, and last, but not least, research, must be tools for and a bridge to a conscious humanity in order to provide a sustainable econonomy and society that we can all benefit from. But then the different disciplines and partners have to meet. Only through this cooperation we can develop a management and be capable to act.

Thank you for your attention!