The latest EU report on progress in digitalisation shows progress but gaps in infrastructure, skills and adoption of technologies by businesses.
On 28 July, the European Commission has published the results of the 2022 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which examines and compares the digitalisation of society and economy in EU Member States. As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the need for stronger resilience through digitalisation, Member States have been advancing in their efforts to close gaps in digital skills and infrastructure as well as the digital transformation of SMEs. The Recovery and Resilience Facility under the NextGenerationEU recovery plan offers a timely opportunity to accelerate these efforts, with about €127 billion dedicated to reforms and investments in the area of digital.
The findings of the study show that the adoption by SMEs of key digital technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data continues to lag. In terms of infrastructure, in particular connectivity infrastructure such as 5G remains to be fully deployed in order to exploit emerging innovative services and applications. Digital skills is another important area where Member States need to make bigger progress.
Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden remain the overall frontrunners among EU Member States. However, even they are faced with gaps in key areas: the uptake of advanced digital technologies such as AI and Big Data, remains below 30% and very far from the 2030 Digital Decade target of 75%; the widespread skill shortages, which are slowing down overall progress and lead to digital exclusion.
The other Member States are advancing and there is an overall upward convergence trend in the EU. Thus, the EU as a whole continues to improve its level of digitalisation, and in particular those Member States that started from lower levels are gradually catching up, by growing at a faster rate. For example, amongst the Member States that lagged behind, Italy, Poland and Greece improved their DESI scores substantially over the past five years and implemented sustained investments with a reinforced political focus on digital, supported by European funding.
The European Commission has monitored Member States’ progress on digital and published annual DESI reports since 2014. Each year, the reports include country profiles helping Member States identify areas for priority action and thematic chapters providing an EU-level analysis in the key digital policy areas. The DESI 2020 discussed the increased use of digital solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend towards more digitalisation is confirmed by the slightly higher growth rate in the adoption of digital technologies by both citizens and businesses at EU level.
The Commission’s proposal on the Path to the Digital Decade, agreed upon by the European Parliament and EU Member States in July 2022, will facilitate deeper collaboration between Member States and the EU to advance in all dimensions covered by the DESI. It provides a framework for Member States to undertake joint commitments and establish multi-country projects that will reinforce their collective strength and resilience in the global context.