Ex post evaluation on investment projects targeting the provision of information and communication technologies (ICT) by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) during the period 2007-2013. For the scope of this evaluation, ICT broadly include telecommunication infrastructures (including broadband networks), information and communication technologies and electronic and digital services and applications for citizens (eHealth, eGovernment, etc.)
The evaluation will take stock of the different types of interventions in respect of ICT that were co-financed bythe ERDF in the 2007-2013 period and assess their rationale and the evidence of their effectiveness, efficiency and impact their coherence with other policies, their relevance and the EU added value.
The evaluation will provide an overview of the different ways in which the ERDF funding for ICT has been used across the EU and will assess the results, insofar as they can be identified. It will examine this in more detail in selected countries and regions, with the aim of identifying the types of interventions that have been most successful (or effective) and the factors contributing to their success, including in the less developed and in the less populated areas (which were object of specific ICT interventions).
The evaluation will be complemented by an analysis of the regulatory frameworks and of the evolution of the technologies affecting the development of ICT investments (and in particular of telecommunication networks – broadband) including price evolutions and public procurement issues, operational costs, the demand factors affecting the developments of the networks (service take-up from retail and/or wholesale providers, investments in ‘last mile’ networks by service providers), as well as the related social aspects (acceptance by users, digital skills and literacy, evolution of digital public services provision, etc.). The evaluation will moreover analyse the market gaps addressed by EU-funded activities and the participation of the private sector (also due to changes in regulations in the retail market and to changes in expected behaviour of private investors).
An assessment of the uptake of the digital services by businesses and households provided within the networks supported by the ERDF will be produced.
A review of the relevant literature and documents will be undertaken, along with an examination of the underlying rationale for the support provided to ICT in OPs (intervention logic) across the EU. A theory of change will then be developed for the different types of measures or projects in the various identified clusters.