Abstract

BLUE-ETS is about official business statistics. More specifically, it addresses one of the key challenges for EU and other countries' NSIs, or any other international organisation working on enterprise and trade statistics: providing high quality and robust statistical business information for better policy and socio-economic research, and to support the Europe 2020 Strategy. The BLUE-ETS work programme has been shaped with a view to contributing, in particular, to: advance statistical knowledge and methodology; establish cutting edge, best practices for business statistics; complement and strengthen the EU MEETS Programme for the Modernization of European Enterprise and Trade Statistics.

In support of this the project will explore and pilot-test possible solutions and, more specifically, complement the diverse support actions which the EU Commission has already planned or is about to launch, in order to ensure the success of the MEETS; ensure greater participation of the NSIs and their direct involvement in the "creation" of the best possible frontier tools and methods; offer an arena in which NSIs and stakeholders can discuss options and opportunities, bearing in mind specificities and experience and, even more important, participate in the definition of the best solutions; enrich the menu of possible solutions by involving top EU universities and research centres.

The projekt will also foster better data and increased motivation, i.e. higher quality and greater availability; support more and better access to data; contribute to lower costs and increasing effectiveness; sustain, pilot-test and create momentum towards the successful modernization and fundamental re-engineering of European business and trade statistics, with a view to significantly improve the evidence bases for both policy and research.