The red digitization thread is missing from the government budget

So here it is. The new MP and S government has released its first budget. There are a few surprises, but most of it has already been released and communicated. The budget contains many hurdles for the entire business community, such as increased employer contributions for young people and the elderly and a general focus on increased public spending rather than on entrepreneurship, competitiveness and long-term growth.
As regards IT policy and investments in the digitization of Sweden, we can see a few traces of new initiatives in the area, but mainly it is about managing what has already been initiated (which is of course positive in itself). But what is perhaps most striking, on a first reading of the budget, is the lack of initiatives to exploit the potential of digitization, in general.

Because, as the government writes in the introduction to expenditure area 22 ("communications"), the question of how more people can take advantage of the opportunities of digitization spans virtually all policy areas. The question is then why the majority of the IT initiatives (which, incidentally, are very few in number) described in the budget, are found under the expenditure area "communications"? Digitization is about so much more than that. In general, I react to the heading 'information society policy'. It should instead be about a policy for the digitization of society, and this should run like a red thread through all areas of expenditure in the budget.

But as far as new initiatives are concerned, these are mainly about the government taking a clearer approach to improving government efficiency, by strengthening the governance and coordination of overall IT use in the central government. This initially feels very welcome, but also raises many questions about how this will be achieved in more concrete terms. During the period 2015-2018, at least SEK 45 million per year will be allocated to promote investments in innovative and collaborative digital solutions. The appropriation may be used for expenditure on governance, coordination and monitoring of the digitization of public administration.

Authorities will be identified as responsible for digitization in various areas, such as digital solutions for increased housing construction, better use of environmental information, especially geographical environmental information, simplified entrepreneurship and more appropriate information management in healthcare that facilitates the work of staff and simplifies the situation for the patient.

Management responsibility for the common solutions and capabilities required for a digitally collaborative administration must also be identified, including for e-commerce in central government, IT operations, IT projects and digital collaboration. Of course, it is positive that the government identifies responsibilities, but this must not include "providing common solutions". The government should avoid developing, implementing and operating services in-house. This is to avoid the risk of competing with private companies and thus going in the opposite direction to the government's goal of opening up markets to competition. It is also important in this work to have a perspective that covers not only the state but the whole public sector, including municipalities, county councils and regions.

As regards investments in electronic infrastructure, it is positive that the Government believes that it is the market that should primarily provide electronic communications and that the state has a responsibility in areas where public interests cannot be met solely by the market. However, the budget does not clearly state what the state's responsibility entails. The fact that Mehmet Kaplan is chairing the Broadband Forum's steering group meeting this afternoon and that the government is signaling in the budget that the Broadband Forum will receive continued support is also positive.

In the field of education, digitalization issues and its potential are conspicuous by their absence. However, the Swedish National Agency for Education has been tasked with developing a "National Development Program for Schools", which will, among other things, "harness the strategic potential that IT can have for school development". Perhaps a straw, but at least something. The hope is, of course, that this will result in a further assignment to the National Agency for Education - that of a national strategy for the digitization of schools. What Björklund, hard pressed against the wall, opened up for in the spring after all, and which we now expect Fridolin to push through.

The government also sees that the investment in more university places for civil and university engineers will continue, including more places at universities of applied sciences. This is obviously welcome, as one of the industry's biggest challenges is precisely the lack and availability of skills. If we do not fix this, if we do not ensure that the growing and innovative IT companies and digital service companies that exist in Sweden can also find the right skills, then the battle for Sweden as a leading IT nation is already partly lost. Then these companies risk fleeing the country and we will lose jobs as well as innovation and service development.

Our new IT minister, Mehmet Kaplan, has a delicate task in rolling out, establishing and ensuring that the red digitization thread runs through all policy areas, all ministries and all ministers' areas of responsibility. However, it is positive that IT issues are found within the framework of the new super ministry - the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation - that Löfven has formed. Perhaps this can contribute to the digitization issue becoming the most important for the new government in the coming term and that in future budgets we will see more digitization initiatives, in all areas of expenditure. Anything else would be downright irresponsible.