Debate: Sweden cannot live on old merits
Our new report shows that there are reasons for concern about the development of digitalization in our country. It is high time to choose how we relate to the structural transformation that digitization inevitably entails, writes David Mothander, Director of IT&Telekomföretagen and Nima Sanandaji, author of the report, in Dagens Samhälle today.
Investment in the IT sector has accounted for 42% of productivity growth in the Swedish economy in recent years. Workplaces in the service sector, industry, welfare and tourism are using digital tools to develop business models, increase productivity and reach new target groups. The new report from IT&Telecom shows that the greatest benefits of digitalization are still waiting to be realized, but also underlines that there are reasons for concern. Not least if we are to live up to the government's goal that Sweden should be the best in the world at using the opportunities of digitalization. The world is moving forward rapidly. Just as Finland quickly lost its leading position in mobile telephony, Sweden now risks being overtaken as an IT nation.
In 2011, Sweden ranked third in the world according to the Boston Consulting Group's e-Intensity Index. Five years later, we have fallen to ninth place. Even worse, the Boston Consulting Group's forecast, based on current trends, predicts a further fall, to 22nd place by 2025. The UK, Singapore, the US and Finland will then be far ahead of Sweden. The gap will be particularly wide with China and South Korea, which are then expected to be the most successful in the world in using the Internet for business.
The latter is hard to take in: not long ago, Sweden's IT advantage over China was almost impregnable. Whatever the political dimension, this is a revolutionary development: the largest trade gateway is digital, not physical, and it is in China, not the West.
In contrast to Sweden, the manufacturing industry in South Korea is also showing strong growth, thanks in part to digital solutions. The fact that the South Korean government has set aside the equivalent of SEK 7 billion to encourage the digitization of the manufacturing industry is certainly not insignificant in this context.
As Sweden has traditionally been at the forefront of digitalization, it is easy to take continued progress for granted, but it is clear that the time limit for how long it is possible to live on old merits is now coming to an end. The business sector is important in this respect, but there are also many examples of how the rest of the world is now overtaking Sweden in the digitalization of the public sector.
The digitization of the public sector is important - the resulting efficiencies can ensure quality in health, social care and education. It is at least as important that new technology is used to meet the societal challenges we now face.
Politicians from all parties agree that IT plays a crucial role in today's and tomorrow's society. Yet there is a lack of real insight into the seriousness of the situation we now find ourselves in, and concrete policies to maintain and increase Sweden's digital competitiveness. It is time to choose how we respond to the structural transformation that digitalization inevitably brings. We want to see these three policies:
- The government must set concrete, measurable goals for Sweden's digital competitiveness in relation to the rest of the world.
- So far, the government has focused on how to reach more people in Sweden with digitalization. The challenge for the future is how more people can embrace it.
- Our third message to our government is to urgently investigate whether the public sector should be allowed to digitize faster.
Opting out of digitization is not an option - the change is happening. Now is the time to choose. Do we want to be one or zero?
David Mothander, Federal Director of IT&Telecom Industries
Nima Sanandaji, PhD in technology and author of the report "One or zero?"