PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCACY OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR COMPETITIVE TECHNOLOGIES (ACT)

ACT is an international grassroots advocacy and education organization representing more than 5000 small and mid size app developers and international technology firms. It is the only organization focused on the needs of small business innovators from around the world. ACT advocates for an environment that inspires and rewards innovation while providing resources to help its members leverage their intellectual assets to raise capital, create jobs and continue innovating. In addition to its small business membership, ACT and ACT 4 Apps has several sponsor members including:

• Apple
• AT&T
• BlackBerry
• eBay
• Facebook
• Intel
• Microsoft
• Oracle
• Paypal
• VeriSign
• Verizon

ACT maintains an office in Washington DC and in Brussels.

According to a new study released by ACT the app economy, including apps running on smartphones and tablets, has contributed nearly 800,000 jobs to the EU economy in just five years and represents more than €10bn in revenues and nearly one quarter of the global production of app-related products and services. The global app economy market is expected to nearly triple in size by 2016. The study outlines a number of areas where governments in Europe can make a difference and support the further growth of the app economy, including:

• facilitating access to government data for developers, eg mapping, meteorological and real-time public transport data as well as information on community-level services;
• enhancing connectivity by making more spectrum available for wireless services;
• advancing the European single market in intellectual property and communications;
• embracing app-driven innovation across all sectors, such as health, education, enterprise and lifestyle, and
• ensuring a flexible and supportive business environment for start-ups and entrepreneurs.