As part of the ‘Digital Compass’ 2030, the European Commission has set a number of goals for the digital transformation of member states, with annual indicators released on November 12 showing mixed results across the block.

L ‘Digital Economy and the Community Index (DESI) Evaluates the digital performance of 27 member states by 2021.

This year’s edition of the index is structured to reflect four key points of the “digital compass”: capabilities, infrastructure, and digital transformation of businesses and public services. Introduced in March, the strategy set the target for European countries by the end of the decade.

In September, the Commission launched a proposal for a governance framework that will use the DESI index to monitor progress and develop recommendations based on individual country performance.

⁇ This year’s DESI message is positive. All EU countries have made progress towards becoming more digital and more competitive, but more can be done Margaret Wester, Executive Vice President, Europe for the Digital Age, said:

They stressed the need for Brussels to cooperate with member states. To provide the best digital opportunities, to ensure that critical investments are made through the Recovery and Reliance Facility “. The stimulus fund should invest at least 20% of the money for this purpose.

Denmark, Sweden and Ireland topped the overall list in 2021, followed by Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. Note that the index uses data from 2020 onwards.

Despite the overall improvement and future improvements that the Kovid-19 Pandemic has left in its background, significant gaps remain in individual countries.

Skills

In line with the commitments outlined by the EU Digital Compass 2030, it is expected that at least 80% of EU citizens will have basic digital skills. This one “” A range of capabilities to use digital devices, communication applications, and networks to access and manage information “, according to Terms Of UNESCO.

So far, only the Nordic countries, Germany and the Netherlands have crossed the 70% mark, while Bulgaria and Romania lag behind, with less than a third of basic digital skills.

Finland and Sweden have the largest number of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialists in their workforce, at 7.6% and 7.5%, respectively. Digital Compass aims to reach 20 million ICT workers by 2030.

One of the secondary goals of the EU strategy is to achieve greater equality. Currently, only Bulgaria, Greece and Romania have a female proportion of over 25% in the ICT sector.

Infrastructure

Another goal ” Gigabit for everyone, 5G everywhere “By 2030, EU citizens will be able to take advantage of 5G and super high capacity network coverage wherever they are.

The report shows significant differences between the two and each country. However, the data used in this case are from the first half of 2020 and many countries have not yet started releasing 5G.

In most cases there are significant inequalities with respect to very high speeds or optical fiber. Malta has 100% coverage of its homes, while only 10% of the Greek population has access.

In the case of Malta, this can be explained by its small area – which makes it easier to cover – other countries offer higher coverage than Denmark (94%) and Spain (92%).

Companies

By 2030, at least 90% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the EU are expected to use digital technologies. By 2020, according to the index, only 60% of European SMEs have reached primary digital intensity.

Denmark, Finland, Spain and Sweden account for more than 80%, and about a third of companies in Bulgaria and Romania use digital technologies.

Different trends are emerging regarding the use of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) or the cloud.

The Nordic countries and Western Europe seem to be more inclined to use big data, while the Czech and Austrian companies are at the top of the AI ​​rankings.

However, the biggest gap is in cloud usage. About two-thirds of French companies do so, compared to 14% and 13% for Polish and Romanian companies, respectively.

Public Services

Finally, the EU’s Digital Compass aims to make all major public services fully online for citizens by 2030.

Again, there are inequalities between member states. Many countries are already on the verge of achieving this goal, and some countries are still only halfway done, or can only complete 44% of administrative procedures, such as Romania.