DESI 2022 shows that it is time for a tech agenda!

The government's goal for digitization is for Sweden to be the best in the world at using the opportunities of digitization. In recent years, Sweden has not even been the best in the EU and this year we are even slipping off the podium.

For several years, the European Commission has been measuring Member States' digital progress in theDigital Economy and Society Index (DESI). Sweden has been in the leading group of EU countries since its inception, but is no longer on the podium in Europe. It is far from being the best in the world.

The DESI for 2022 was published recently and has so far gone rather unnoticed. This may be due to the holiday season or the weak Swedish result may have something to do with the lack of interest (on the part of politicians) in highlighting it. In previous years, the minister responsible has chosen to send out press releases about the results.

These types of indexes and rankings have both shortcomings and merits. They are also not always the whole picture of digitization. However, the DESI is an ambitious initiative that has been running for a number of years. It gives us the opportunity to zoom out a little. Unfortunately, we then see that not much has happened for Sweden.

5G coverage - well below the EU average

Sweden continues to fall in the rankings and is now in 4th place. This is an ominous trend - in 2018 we were at the top of the list, only to fall to 2nd (in 2019 and 2020) and then 3rd (in 2021). What is perhaps even worse is that in the Swedish parade branch connectivity (where, among other things, the use of and access to broadband and mobile networks is assessed), we only end up in 9th place. Not to mention 5G coverage, where Sweden ends up in a startling 21st place - far below the EU average. This is a consequence of political games and other things that have led to delayed and postponed spectrum auctions - something that was highlighted just today by Swedish Radio's Ekot.

Political commitment with higher ambitions for a digitally leading Sweden is called for

Sweden needs to break the trend! To do so requires political commitment and leadership and an active digitalization and tech policy. As this year's review shows, it is not enough to simply do exactly what is required politically. Romania and Croatia, together with Sweden, are the only countries making the minimum investment in digitalization required to access EU recovery funds for the pandemic. When the new EU rules on open data were introduced in Sweden, the government acknowledged that it was done with minimum ambition in this area. We need a government that actually wants something, that has ambition, that pushes things forward and leaves no stone unturned to address Sweden's declining performance in this area.

It now seems unlikely that Minister Farmanbar, who is responsible for energy and digitalization, will leave the urgent issues of electricity and energy in order to turn things around. However, we hope that the next government will ensure that the minister responsible for digitalization issues has the opportunity to focus on digitalization - and only digitalization. Because real reforms are needed - indeed, ideally we would need a whole tech agenda.

Of course, the Minister for Digitalization won't have much time to do between the reports from the Facebook barbecue and election day on September 11 - even if he wanted to. On the other hand, the next Minister for Digitalization can start working on 37 proposals for how Sweden can become a world-leading technology nation on his first day at the ministry. The proposals are contained in TechSverige's recently published Tech Agenda and cover the entire coming term of office.

So let's not get stuck on this year's DESI results, but take inspiration from our tech agenda to make digitalization happen. We need it. We need it now!