The e-Business W@tch monitors the adoption, development and impact of electronic business practices in different sectors of the European economy.

The eEurope 2002 Action plan provided the basis for targeted actions to stimulate the use of the Internet for accelerating e-commerce, acknowledging that "electronic commerce is already developing dynamically in inter-business trading [...]" and that "it is important for SMEs not to be left behind in this process [...]." The eEurope 2005 Action Plan, endorsed by the Seville European Council in June 2002, confirmed and built further upon these objectives with Action 3.1.2. "A dynamic e-business environment", which defined the goal "to promote take-up of e-business with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of European enterprises and raising productivity and growth through investment in information and communication technologies, human resources (notably e-skills) and new business models".

It is against this background that the European Commission, Enterprise Directorate General, launched the e-Business W@tch in late 2001, with the objective to provide sectoral analysis based on sound empirical research, including annual enterprise surveys in all countries of the enlarged European Union. Special emphasis is placed on the implications for SMEs.

Since its launching, the e-Business W@tch has published e-Business Sector Studies on 17 sectors of the European economy, synthesis reports about the status of electronic business in the European Union, statistical pocketbooks and further resources (newsletters, presentations, special issue reports). These are all available on this website.