About Us

THE MC-EGOV STUDY IS NOW CLOSED, PLEASE SEE THE FINAL REPORT HERE. 

ECOTEC's recent cc:eGov study in this area showed that the massive eGovernment investments made in Europe over the last few years have had mixed results. But the research also demonstrated that "citizen-centric eGovernment" was more than simply political rhetoric - a set of key principles could be identified and real projects are putting these into practice. It is increasingly recognised that citizen-centric eGovernment also needs to be Inclusive eGovernment – not only should all members of society benefit from new ways of organising public service delivery, but improved delivery mechanisms should provide wider benefits, contributing towards building and maintaining more inclusive societies.

The challenge is to find practical ways to realise this vision. Multichannel approaches in particular (the capacity to deliver services via a range of online and physical channels including web, land line, mobile, post, face-to-face), have a strong contribution to make to Inclusive eGovernment, by allowing citizens to choose how they interact with government. Crucially, such approaches must be based on sound and sustainable business models, and are often most successful at local level and where local actors such as third sector organisations work in partnership with government.

To help inform the development of its Inclusive eGovernment agenda, the European Commission commissioned ECOTEC to better understand, and provide evidence of, the extent to which multichannel approaches to public service delivery contribute towards meeting the needs of all citizens, more effectively than ever before, in ways that are economically sustainable.

The study started in January 2008 and the contract finished in February 2009. Please see the Inception Report for more information, including the full work programme. 

This website was a key component of the study and was designed to become a key reference point for research on Inclusive eGovernment. All the study deliverables are available here.