Digital Challenge - an excellent blueprint for political parties' digitalization policies

A number of selected members of parliament received the report Digitalization is for real! The Digital Challenge think tank's collected conclusions as a Christmas present from IT&Telekomföretagen. The report is an anthology that presents the conclusions of all the Digital Challenge think tank's consultations and is an excellent basis for the political parties to formulate their own digitization policy. With the distribution of Christmas presents, the IT&Telecom companies' election year work began to put digitalization higher up on the political agenda.

Digitalization is real! has no one-size-fits-all solutions to the challenges of the future. Shaping policy will take time and must fundamentally be done within the framework of political parties. However, IT&Telecom companies have identified a number of key issues for such work. Developments are such that serious political parties cannot avoid formulating responses to them.

1. A robust education system. The societal transformation brought about by digitalization is extensive. As more and more jobs become automated, more and more people will need new training. The education and training system must keep pace with the times and respond to the challenges posed by digitalization. Setting up a commission to investigate this should be a matter of course.
2. A frictionless interface between authorities and private actors. If the business sector is to be a driving force behind the digitalisation of Sweden, it is important that unnecessary obstacles are removed. Prolonged processing times and permit processes lead to both higher costs and greater risk. The Swedish Transport Administration's unlawfully long processing times are an example of the fact that there are currently significant shortcomings in the system.
3. A national digital platform. With relatively small means, it is possible to streamline the public sector and ensure better service at a lower cost. In Estonia, a system called X-Road has already been designed and is estimated to save 800 annual man-hours for every year it is in use. One obvious advantage is that, under such a system, citizens only need to provide personal data once to the actors connected to it, instead of several times.

Sweden's future prosperity depends on remaining at the forefront of development, and the major benefits of digitalization will accrue to those who are first on the ball.

This is why political parties need to embrace digitalization - the sooner the better. The report Digitization is real! is an inspiration for such work. If you have any further questions, you are of course always welcome to contact IT&Telecomföretagen.