"Raise your ambitions!" - debate article in Dagens Industri

"Given the central role that digitization and the tech industry play for competitiveness and sustainable social development, it is extremely strange - not to say politically irresponsible - that these issues are almost completely absent from the party political debate." write the authors of the article.

Our elected politicians are given five key messages for the coming parliamentary term:

• • Raise your ambitions! The government must have concrete and ambitious digitalization goals.
  • Attracting talent and securing the need for tech skills! The share of hard-to-fill tech jobs is close to 40% and the sector is expected to be short of 70,000 people by 2024.
  • Ensure a fully connected Sweden! Ensure that everyone in Sweden has access to fast and secure connectivity.
  • Future-proofing welfare and the public sector with tech! Although there are many good examples in the Swedish public sector, digital development is not keeping pace with people's expectations, other countries or society in general.
  • Strengthen information and cyber security! We all want to feel safe in the digital world.

The article highlights the fact that growth in the tech sector is significantly lower than in neighboring countries such as Finland, Norway and Estonia and that Sweden cannot live on old merits:

"If our tech sector had grown like the average in the comparison, the annual contribution to GDP would have been around SEK 30 billion higher. "

Read the full article "Sweden needs a tech agenda" on di.se.

Almedalen Week begins on Sunday, July 3. The discussion on future tech policy will continue at TechSverige's hybrid seminar Digitization for sustainable growth, innovation and welfare on 5 July.