Future Internet

During the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century the internet became an essential network for transmission of data worldwide and a key tool enabling global trade and social networking. Nowadays, over 25% of the world’s population use the internet in their professional and personal lives. In Europe the reliance on the internet is even higher with more than two-thirds of the population frequently surfing, sharing, shopping or scripting in the web (see also Zittrain, 2008). This dramatic and steady growth of the internet leads to the following question: How to guide the evolution of the internet so that it best serves European needs?This publication presents the key findings of a study on the Future Internet. The study was funded by the European Commission Directorate General for Information Society and Media with the aim to investigate: (1) the future general usage of the internet; (2) the future political usage of the internet; (3) the future business usage of the internet; (4) changes in users of the internet; (5) functionality and human interface expectations of the internet; (6) the internet’s role in exclusion and new sociological/psychological behaviours; (7) global issues associated to the internet; (8) governance issues related to the internet; (9) key features characterising the evolution of the internet and (10) major drivers and inhibitors of success of the internet.