The future of Europe and the world is digital
Gertrud Ingestad, a Swedish national, has been the Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Informatics for the past year. A Directorate-General is roughly equivalent to a ministry and, as Director-General, she holds one of the highest civil service posts. DG Informatics is responsible for providing digital services and helping public administrations in EU countries work better together. In the fall, Gertrud Ingestad visited IT&Telecom for an exclusive conversation about what's happening in Brussels and what it means for our industry.
Today, we communicate via smartphones, we shop online and around 90% of jobs require at least basic digital skills. The exponential growth of internet use and increased connectivity between electronic devices we use every day has made our world more connected than ever. By 2030, the number of internet users is expected to reach five billion. At the same time, 80% of the world's population will have mobile connectivity.
The connectivity and digitalization process brings a wide range of benefits in terms of prosperity, access to information and social interaction. But at the same time, the digital era comes with threats and vulnerabilities that we need to address. Improving cybersecurity and increasing the confidence of citizens and businesses in the digital society is a top priority for the EU. Providing every European citizen, regardless of age, place of residence or gender with the necessary training to fully benefit from the advantages of a digital world is crucial. Future jobs are likely to require skills that are different from those provided by today's education systems. This is why the European Commission is driving concrete initiatives, such as the European Code Week, which has reached more than 1.2 million students this year through a record number of activities.
Artificial intelligence is changing life for everyone
AI can bring major benefits and breakthroughs in many areas: health (personalized treatments for patients, a more accurate diagnosis of tumours or better prediction of diseases), in agriculture (reducing the use of pesticides to a minimum) or in robots (smart prostheses or collaborative robots to help workers with heavy or dangerous tasks such as removing radioactive waste or asbestos). We need to step up our efforts to ensure that Europe drives the digital transformation of society and the economy for the benefit of citizens and organizations. For the first time, the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework includes an EU programme focused on the digital: the Digital Europe Programme. The programme, a €9.2 billion investment, is designed as a pragmatic pathway to build EU-wide capacities in the era of AI for the following areas:
- Where EU investment has a clear added value, such as cybersecurity.
- Where funding needs are so great that no Member State can stand alone, like high-performance computing.
- Where everyone needs to build up resources and expertise, such as artificial intelligence and digital skills.
- Where cross-border cooperation needs to work without barriers, like interoperability.
This is a coherent package based on complementarity and synergies: AI needs cybersecurity for trust, cybersecurity needs high-performance computing and everyone needs digital skills.
More than 90% of SMEs lag behind in digital innovation
In the EU, only one in five businesses is highly digitized. Many find it difficult to know which technologies to invest in and how to secure funding for their digital transformation. Digital Innovation Hubs can help businesses take full advantage of digitalization. They are meeting places where companies - especially SMEs, start-ups and mid-caps - can get help to improve their business operations, production processes, products and services through digital innovation. The aim is to have at least one digital innovation hub within working distance of every company in Europe by 2020, so that they can experiment with new technologies, help them find funding for follow-on investments, but also train and re-train the employees of the company to work effectively with the new innovative solutions.
The European Commission aims to put forward proposals that can help Europe become a continent where startups get the support they need to expand. This year, the European Commission and the European Investment Fund have launched a venture capital fund programme - VentureEU - to boost venture capital investment in innovative startups and scale-ups across Europe.
Start-ups and scale-ups are important. At the same time, we need to ensure that traditional businesses, for example in manufacturing or construction, can also benefit from the opportunities offered by digital technologies. A dedicated digitisation strategy for industry is therefore also part of the package.
A digital single market means seamless access to cross-border digital services. The key is interoperability, which allows digital services to work together across borders. The ISA programme and the Connecting Europe Facility building blocks are already in place to support interoperability. A functioning Digital Single Market connects citizens, businesses and administrations across Europe, with unlimited access to opportunities to grow and access larger markets, especially in e-commerce and online platforms. Online platforms drive innovation and growth, as they provide businesses with new market opportunities and offer consumers more choice.
European Commission supports digitization of public administrations
The European Commission is supporting efforts to digitize public administrations through a series of financial instruments and the actions that go with them. The idea is to create a value chain by:
- create opportunities for innovative ideas to be formulated in research projects (H2020),
- experimenting and testing such ideas in large-scale pilots that develop the cross-border and cross-sectoral dimension (H2020, CIP),
- develop solutions in programs like ISA2,
- industrialize their distribution via CEF's digital services (DSI)
- support their activities in programs such as the ERDF and ESF.
We want to make this value chain even more coherent and consistent in the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework by grouping the Large Scale Pilot Capacities, ISA2 and CEF Telecom programmes into the Digital Europe Distribution and Interoperability Pole programme. The proposal to establish the Digital Europe programme is now being discussed in Member States and the European Parliament, click for more information.
DESI - Digital developments in EU countries
The DESI is a composite index, published annually since 2014 by the European Commission, which measures the digital development of EU countries.
The DESI consists of five main areas with 34 indicators:
1. connectivity: fixed broadband, mobile broadband, fast and ultra-fast broadband and broadband prices
2. human capital: basic skills and internet use, advanced skills and development
3. use of internet services: citizens' use of content, communication and online transactions
4. digital technology integration: business digitization and e-commerce
5. digital public services: e-government and e-health
In the DESI 2018, Sweden is now ranked second after Denmark. Overall progress is in line with the EU average and the top performing countries. Sweden has a high level of connectivity and ranks fourth in the EU in that category. However, reaching remaining remote regions is a challenge. 95 percent of Swedes use online services. In human capital, Sweden ranks third. In all DESI dimensions, Sweden has made progress. Despite having the second highest number of IT specialists in the workforce, demand exceeds supply and the relatively low number of STEM graduates is not expected to increase in the coming years. Swedish companies actively use digital technologies to improve efficiency, productivity and sales and continue to rank fourth in that dimension. In digital public services, Sweden ranks fifth, but when it comes to open data, Sweden's performance is still relatively weak. More detailed information on the DESI can be found on the European Commission website.
