Breaking Barriers to e-Government
Overcoming obstacles to improving European public services — a European Commission-funded research project led by the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.
Identifying and overcoming obstacles to European eGovernment
Funded by the European Commission under the eEurope 2005 Modinis programme, the Breaking Barriers to e-Government project brought together leading research institutions — the Oxford Internet Institute, gov3, Tilburg University, Murcia, and CRID — to deliver expert insights and practical advice on overcoming barriers to high-quality eGovernment services across Europe.
The project produced an inventory of eGovernment barriers, good-practice case studies, expert workshops, and a newsletter series that ran from July 2005 to January 2008.
View Project OutputsProject Resources
Key outputs from the Breaking Barriers to e-Government research programme, available for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.
Inventory of Barriers
A structured catalogue of legal, organisational, and technical obstacles to eGovernment, with country examples from across Europe.
Browse Inventory
Workshops & Events
Five expert workshops held between June 2005 and March 2007, including a session at IST 2006 in Helsinki.
See Events
Newsletter Archive
Fifteen issues published from July 2005 to January 2008, covering project findings, eGovernment news, and resources.
Read Issues
Expert Group
A network of eGovernment specialists who contributed insights, case-study guidance, and workshop expertise throughout the project.
Meet the ExpertsFrom Barriers to Benefits
Workshop Four, held on 22 November 2006 at IST 2006 in Helsinki, brought together researchers and practitioners to explore the efficiency and effectiveness of eGovernment. Discover the full programme of past project events.
Led by the Oxford Internet Institute
Professor William H. Dutton, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute and Professor of Internet Studies at the University of Oxford, served as a principal investigator. Dr Rebecca Eynon of the OII contributed as a workshop presenter and project contact point.
"The project's overall aim was to offer expert insights and practical advice on ways of overcoming obstacles to the growth of high-quality and innovative uses of eGovernment capabilities in Europe."
— Breaking Barriers to eGovernment, Newsletter Issue 11, April 2007
The Breaking Barriers to e-Government project set out to understand why digital public services across Europe were not being adopted as quickly or as widely as they might be. Researchers examined the many obstacles that citizens, businesses, and public administrators face when trying to access government services online, from technical limitations and poor user interfaces to institutional resistance and lack of digital skills. By mapping these barriers systematically, the project created a framework that helped policymakers see where the real bottlenecks lay, enabling them to design more inclusive and effective digital services for all members of society.
One of the central insights to emerge from the project was that obstacles to e-government are rarely purely technical in nature. Social, cultural, and organizational factors often play an equally significant role in determining whether a digital service succeeds or fails. Trust in online transactions, language accessibility, and the willingness of public officials to embrace new working methods all influence outcomes. The project's research demonstrated that sustainable digital transformation requires attention to people as much as to technology, and that genuinely useful public services must be shaped around the real needs and capabilities of their users.
The project also highlighted the importance of sharing knowledge and best practice across borders. European countries faced similar challenges in their efforts to modernize public administration, yet they often worked in isolation. By convening workshops and building a research network, the project encouraged collaboration among institutions and practitioners from different nations. This exchange of experience allowed participants to learn from both successes and failures, avoiding costly mistakes and accelerating progress. The resulting inventory of barriers and solutions remains a valuable reference for anyone working on digital government today.
Although the project formally concluded in the late 2000s, its legacy continues to influence how public services are designed and delivered across Europe. The principles it established, such as user-centric design, cross-border interoperability, and the need to address digital exclusion, are now widely accepted as foundational to modern e-government. As governments increasingly move services online, the lessons from this research remain relevant, reminding public bodies that digital transformation is not an end in itself but a means to deliver better, fairer, and more accessible services to every citizen.