PME December/January 2013

The latest issue of PME (Pharmaceutical Market Europe) was out this week and it ended up being nicely heavy on ‘digital’.

There was, as usual, my Digital Intelligence column, which this issue covered the EU’s eHealth plans and what they could mean for pharma.

But there was also my first Digital Yearbook, which covered 2012′s headline treads, reviewed the year and looked at what 2013 may offer the industry.

Finally, there was the latest entrant in PMGroup’s 10 Ways … series, which this time offered 10 Ways … to activate digital opinion leaders.

• Read the December/January 2013 issue of PME

Europe narrows the ‘digital divide’

The European Commission has some ambitious plans for improving the digital landscape with its Digital Agenda taking aim at a wide-range of online areas, from faster broadband to narrowing the ‘digital divide’.

The divide, between those who can and can’t access the internet, was featured in the Digital Scoreboard the Commission unveiled late last month.

Among its data on digital in Europe on how the EU is progressing with its digital plans were the following statistics:

The EU’s online popularity push, UK ponders ‘digital by default’ public services, online music picture mixed

The European Union has decided the way to the Great British public’s heart is to appeal to their self-interest by highlighting how the country actually benefits from ‘those faceless bureaucrats in Brussels’ (copyright: half the British press).

They may not have given us the aquaduct, but a new website, The EU – What’s In It For Me?, points instead to improving ferry services in Cornwall and job training schemes in Yorkshire among projects that have helped every area of the UK.

Meanwhile, from bans on scones at country fairs to renaming the English Channel the ‘Anglo-French Pond’ the site also collects everyone’s favourite Euro-skeptic myths – though this is unlikely to stop certain sections of the press from passing them off as truth.