Tomorrow requires good digital skills

"More and more of the services we need are digital. To secure tomorrow's welfare in the fierce global competition, broad digital participation is required. Sweden should be the best in the world at using the opportunities of digitalization. But will we be if we do not seriously start planning for how tomorrow's welfare and society can be used by and made accessible to everyone? "

Digital skills are a prerequisite for personal welfare, for communicating, for health, education and care, and for us to be able to afford good welfare for all citizens. We dare to say that digital participation is a democratic, economic and social necessity.

The Digidel Campaign, an independent network of 250 organizations and many committed people, helps to increase digital literacy through education and has reached more than 100,000 people so far.

In many areas, digital knowledge is already very important, for example on issues of unemployment and people's employability; integration and the issues of segregation; privacy issues and breaking the social isolation of lonely people or dignified care at home.

But there are also some issues that need attention in the near future. These include the use of social media to combat exclusion, both for job-seeking purposes and in private life. It is also about enabling lifelong learning in digital skills to cope with new work situations - how do we ensure that citizens' skills keep up with rapid technological developments? Understanding how to avoid online security risks, which can be more or less catastrophic for individuals and businesses, is also key. Balancing openness to social interaction and demonstrating competence in the workplace with concerns about inappropriate commercial use of online data is also an important part of digital literacy.

It is therefore urgent to start a debate today on a number of strategic issues:

- Where is the line between the responsibility of politics, business and organizations and the individual when it comes to having the "right" digital skills? Should policy support initiatives in this area to a greater extent than at present? Should the state, municipalities and county councils take greater responsibility than at present?
- Do the political parties think that more focus should be placed on digital inclusion for the sake of jobs, integration and social inclusion?
- Is it reasonable, and does it provide the necessary security for future Swedish competitiveness and welfare, that the funding is based on voluntary contributions, as the situation looks today?
- The balance between the interests of the individual, the state and the market regarding privacy for the individual is a political issue. How does this affect what should be included in digital skills?

These are issues that we think it is high time for politicians, businesses and organizations to start discussing. Because global competition is fierce and the digital agenda is clear: Sweden must be the best in the world at using the opportunities of digitization. But will we be if we do not seriously start planning for how tomorrow's welfare and society can be used by and made accessible to everyone?

We have invited Members of Parliament to a meeting on April 18 on these issues and to discuss digital inclusion in general. Because the future is not waiting for us. It starts now and everyone has the right to be part of it. Everyone has the right to be involved.

Mikael von Otter IT&Telekomföretagen, Chairman of the Digidel Campaign Board
Christine Cars-Ingels, Digidel Campaign Manager, Internet Infrastructure Foundation .SE