Vinton: your compatriot Mark Twain once wisely advised us not to predict anything… especially about the future. But, this is exactly what we in public policy must do to put into place the right foundation and principles to carry us towards the next generation of the Internet and encourage the rollout of innovative internet based services. Let me take the example of cloud computing which is becoming a commercial reality. It has the potential to enable large numbers of dynamic software SMEs to develop services and expand beyond their home markets. There are major policy challenges that need to be overcome to realise this potential, including for instance security, interoperability and cross-border data protection.

Open standards must mean affordable licensing agreements for new entrants and smaller players to be able to bring innovation and develop new services. I believe therefore that the Commission should look more closely at the issue of patent stacking and any abusive behaviour on ICT related patent. This is key in particular to enforce fixed-mobile convergence.

Next to open standards for devices and software and to open application markets, a key point is obviously the one on an open internet, usually defined as the net neutrality debate. The Commission's position is to make sure that openness in terms of transparency is respected in the broadband access market and that the consumer is made fully aware of any restriction of a service, restriction which should not go below a minimum quality of service. The EU's telecom framework has proved its effectiveness in ensuring that the market remains open, that consumer offers are transparent and that competition is effective. It allows competitive and market forces to play out while allowing companies to experiment with different business models and innovative offers. Of course, the Commission will continue to be vigilant and will act against anti-competitive behaviour. Operators are free to use various traffic management techniques (including prioritisation of certain applications) in order to experiment with different market offers and business models, subject of course to competition law and, where applicable, appropriate ex ante obligations for operators with significant market power. However, I strongly defend the preservation of the fundamental principle of end-to-end connectivity and openness of the net as lack of transparency in the broadband market would limit the upstream market and the entire Internet economy pursued the same approach in the context of the telecom reform package: When competitive forces alone are not enough to safeguard the openness of the Internet, national regulators should be able to intervene by setting minimum quality of service. This will be supported by new transparency requirements vis-à-vis consumers.

Under ICT research, European actors have co-ordinated the launch of over 100 projects directly assessing the future of internet, to which the Commission has already contributed more than half a billion Euros. This effort must be maintained. It is at the heart of our next ICT work programme and has been selected as one of the 3 research focus priorities over the period 2009-2010 to which the Commission will provide more than 300M€.