Debate: Sweden needs a dedicated IT minister

Stefan Löfven now has a unique opportunity to give digitization issues the space they deserve on the political agenda, writes Pär Nygårds and others in a joint opinion piece.

Increased employment, competitiveness and a higher rate of innovation. The Internet is contributing to the development of Swedish society on a scale that no other industry can match. This development is continuing and is likely to accelerate in the coming years.

In such a world, we need an IT policy that takes even greater account of the importance of digitalization. This requires more than a shared ministerial portfolio, as was the case for the outgoing Minister for Housing, Urban Development and IT, Mehmet Kaplan, whose portfolio was very extensive.

Sweden's former finance minister Anders Borg admitted after his ministerial term that one issue he had underestimated was the social impact of digitization. With the upcoming government reshuffle, there is now an opportunity for the government to prioritize a sustainable and forward-looking IT policy that addresses the challenges and promotes the benefits of digitization.

- The jobs challenge. With globalization and the decline in employment in basic industries, increasing and broadening digital skills will be even more important to reach Europe's lowest unemployment target by 2020.

- Schools must build the creative skills that will lead Sweden into a digital future where humans and machines coexist, and where our children learn to protect their privacy and the privacy of others.

- The climate issue. Last winter's successful climate summit in Paris set a high bar for lowering carbon emissions and creating fossil-free societies. Digital services and communications are replacing physical products and transportation, which will be crucial to achieving these goals.

- The Internet of Things connects physical society to digital networks and has incredible potential. Sweden can become a world leader in the development of the new digital home, based on a modern approach to privacy while opening up to new services and products.

These are just some of the many areas where society is facing major changes and where digitalization will play a crucial role. It is therefore time to increase the ambition of IT policy. An important part of this is that Sweden will have a dedicated IT minister with a clear mandate and associated responsibility to pursue a broad but coherent Swedish IT policy. In addition, the equally urgent housing and construction issues will have a minister who can devote her full attention to them.

Now, Stefan Löfven has a unique opportunity to give digitalization issues the space they deserve on the political agenda.

Markus Bylund
SICS Swedish ICT

Carl Mikael Dufberg
IBM

Richard Linde
Fores

David Mothander
Google

Pär Nygårds
IT&Telecom companies