2000: “Community Internet Center” – the first social project of the EBC

The beginning of the new century was marked in the history of the EBC (now IBC) by a special event: upon the decision of the EBC Presiding Committee, the official opening ceremony of the Public Internet Center was held in Maloyaroslavets (Kaluga Region, Russia). This was the first project implemented by the Information and Communication Working Committee. The project was sponsored by RAO “Gazprom”, Siemens AG and Alcatel AG and considered as one of the first steps to introduce information technologies by providing public access to the Internet and related modern services. The opening ceremony was attended by more than a hundred members of public and business communities as well as journalists and special guests.

The Information and Communication Working Committee was established in 1998 under the chairmanship of Mr. I. Fermann, Vice President, Siemens AG. The committee addresses following issues: energy industry digitalization and efficiency improvement of enterprises by means of modern IT technologies. Since 2021 the Committee is chaired by Dr. Barbara Frei, Member of the Executive Committee, Executive Vice President Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric Industries SAS.

In June 2000, the EBC held its third Annual General Meeting in Paris, France on the topic: “Economic Relationships between Russia and Western Europe”.