On 24 August 2009, the European Commission announced the names of the 52 finalists that are going to compete for the European eGovernment Awards 2009. The Awards ceremony will take place on 19 November 2009 in Malmö, Sweden.

The 52 selected projects are managed by public authorities at local, regional or national level from 17 different European countries, providing services in their own locality or cross-border. All projects make a significant contribution to increasing the efficiency of public services in Europe through the use of digital technologies.

The 4th edition of the prestigious European eGovernment Awards aims at promoting best practices and the most innovative electronic solutions that public authorities in Europe have developed to facilitate citizens' and business' access to public services, reduce the administrative burden and increase public administrations' efficiency. All finalists competing for the Awards use state-of-the-art applications such as innovative websites and portals, SMS-based services, web 2.0 as well as other ICT-based solutions.

The winners of the 2009 Awards will be announced on 19 November in Malmö (Sweden) during the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference, a joint event organised by the European Commission and the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, which aims at monitoring progress in eGovernment, accelerating the adoption of eGovernment policies in Europe and identifying research priorities for the future.

During the event, the finalists will participate in a large-scale exhibition to showcase and promote their projects. A committee of judges composed of independent experts in the field will visit the exhibition and will select amongst the 52 finalists the best project in each of the following four categories:

• eGovernment supporting the Single Market: strengthening the Single Market by increasing mobility for businesses and citizens in the EU;
• eGovernment empowering citizens: improving access to public services for citizens;
• eGovernment empowering businesses: improving access to public services for companies, by creating business opportunities and generating savings for businesses (particularly SMEs);
• eGovernment enabling administrative efficiency and effectiveness: making public services and administrative processes simpler and more efficient, thus reducing the administrative burden.

A separate public prize will be awarded in Malmö based on the online votes cast by members of ePractice.eu (membership open to all). 

The European Commission has also announced the list of projects that have been awarded with the epractice.eu Good Practice Label in recognition of their grade of excellence. The list of the 52 awards finalists and 56 additional good practice label recipients may be found by clicking here.

Background information

The European eGovernment Awards is an initiative of the European Commission organised every two years, coinciding with regular high-level EU eGovernment conferences. The purpose of these Awards is to support the implementation of European eGovernment policy and strategies and facilitate good practice exchange. In this context, since their launch in 2003 the Awards have been promoting the best ICT-based solutions for public services in Europe. 

Further information

• European eGovernment Awards webpage
• ePractice announcement for 5th Ministerial eGovernment Meeting and Conference, 18-20 November 2009, Malmö 
• European Commission Information Society Portal - eGovernment Conference
• Additional information and queries
• Tel: +32-2-299 45 31 or  +32-2-295 09 81