sou · H4B389 · 2016-12-15 00:00:00 — Protection of privacy needs to be weighed against the potential for development of the society and innovation The new possibilities to analyse data at the micro level and the increasing individualisation of society could have implications for the design of public sector services, interventions and incentives. Suppliers in the digital age are expected to be flexible and able to react to individual needs and preferences and provide tailored solutions. Today's decision-makers no longer need to rely on aggregated data and averages, but could base decisions on specific individuals' behaviour and their specific physical, economic and social conditions. For example, it is conceivable to adjust grant and subsidy levels for individuals and companies based on their particular circumstances and needs. Data can also be used to develop better welfare services, such as research on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases where large amounts of data is needed to obtain a high precision. Such developments raise serious questions about what privacy means in a digital era because the personalisation of services requires detailed information about the individual. Furthermore, even if one would find it acceptable and desirable that the public sphere uses the opportunities that collection and analysis of personal data provides for designing individualized services; the question remains whether it is possible. Can bureaucratic systems be flexible and deliver individualized services? determine how data about individuals may be used – should the individual decide in all cases, or should the state be given that trust? The reports have clearly shown that there are no simple or clear answers to the question of what privacy means in the digitalised society. There are difficult trade-offs between the development of welfare services that will improve the lives of many citizens and to give the state greater insight into the private sphere. There are also many questions about how an administration that make individualized decisions would be organized, controlled and held accountable. The social contract will take on a new meaning in a digital era Briefly, the social contract means that the individual has certain rights and obligations in relation to the public sphere and similarly, the public sphere has certain commitments towards the individual. To discuss what the social contract may be in a digital society it is necessary to analyse the characteristics of digitalisation and the transformational pressure these characteristics create. You also need to understand how the social contract has developed during the emergence of the industrial society and the needs and driving forces behind this development. Each time has its own structures, conditions and needs and it is important to clarify the changed conditions which digitalisation brings for the society to identify new needs and possible solutions. In , the social contract ended up at the centre of politics during the emergence of the industrial society in the 1800 and 1900s. It took the shape of welfare reforms in many sectors and the creation of ”folkhemmet”. Salaried labour increased during the industrialization which for example meant that individuals were more vulnerable to sickness and unemployment than in the previous agricultural society. This influenced the design of for example labour laws and social security systems. The digitalisation will affect the relationship between the state and the individual, and drive change in today's laws, institutions, values, etc. Since the digitalisation enables a greater individualisation, the supply of health, education and social care services could differ greatly between individuals. What is then equivalent? What is fair? It is crucial that the government is working proactively to promote solidarity, trust in society and social cohesion. Otherwise the risk is that a growing imbalance between the state's capacity to deliver and citizens' demand for results will develop. A changing labour market requires lifelong learning Digitalisation, automation and robotics are changing labour markets fundamentally and causing many professions to disappear, while other occupations are changed and new ones are added. Digitalisation is regarded as skill-biased, meaning that it favours highly trained labour over low-skilled workers. Occupations requiring medium level education and that include routine tasks will likely be automated and robotized. That creates a so-called ”middle jobs squeeze” and leads to further competition for low-wage jobs and subsequent wage pressure. Unlike earlier structural shifts, the change of the labour market is now broad and impacts most sectors simultaneously. There is also a trend where people are increasingly self-employed or have temporary employment rather than permanent jobs. Development and dissemination of knowledge will therefore become increasingly important conditions for economic growth and the capacity to change. This affects the type of demands put on employees in businesses and the public sector, and makes the continuous development of knowledge and skills essential to the individual. Skills development will be urgent for everyone on the labour market, regardless of whether you have a job or are unemployed. One challenge ahead is how responsibility for and design and financing of competence and skill development should be divided between the state, public and private employers, academia and the individual. Swedish higher education’s particular features enable individual competence development but they are not enough Swedish higher education has particular features that make its organisation and offering well suited for continuous education, training, skills development and lifelong learning. Swedish higher education is broad, which means that large education sectors that previously lay outside the universities and colleges are now integrated into the regular higher education. Swedish higher education is course-based, and professionally people can apply to the courses. The Swedish labour market has few license-based professions, making skill development for a particular profession more accessible and facilitating a change of profession. Higher education’s organisation is however less well adapted to meet the needs of training and skills development from businesses, governments and other organisations to systematically develop the competence of their staff. It is not realistic to believe that higher education within today's framework and with today's organisation, focus and funding can ramp up their mission regarding continuous training so that it can satisfy the labour market’s need for competence and skill development. Higher education's role in a digital era has to be developed Digitalisation challenges universities and colleges, who will have to change their organisations and their way of pursuing higher education. should be a leader in the digital transformation of higher education and furnish high-quality digital competencies for lifelong learning in all areas. To achieve this, profound changes in university assignments, financing, operations and governance are required. Universities need to increasingly incorporate digital competencies into any educational program. They also need to give higher priority to the development of digital educational tools. Not least, programs have to better meet the needs of businesses and a changing labour market and here commissioned programs hold great potential. Commissioned programs are when colleges and universities for separate remuneration perform staff training and education bespoken by particular businesses, the public sector or other organisations. This form of education could be expanded significantly. Digitalisation has the potential to help counter climate change Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges in our time. organisations are paying attention to digitalisation opportunities in this area and produce estimates of how large the potential Various studies estimate that ICT can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions with between 15 and 20 percent by 2030. Digitalisation can have both positive and negative effects on the environment and climate, and both aspects need to be analysed to assess the net effect from digitalisation. In addition to direct effects, like for example more energy-efficient technology, digitalisation also influences how people live and work and how goods and services are produced and delivered. What impact these changes will lead to is more difficult to track and evaluate, but they must also be included in the analysis. Digital innovations provide opportunities to improve the environmental performance of individual products, but also the efficiency of entire systems and industrial sectors. These solutions are often dubbed “smart”, as in for example smart transportation, smart cities and so on. Sectors where digitalisation is expected to accelerate progress towards a low carbon economy is energy, , and transport, labour, agriculture and services. Consumer behaviour and the design of policy instruments are important for the impact of digitalisation on the environment Digitalisation has enormous potential to contribute to sustainable production and consumption, for instance by facilitating the traceability of materials, which in turn simplifies the recycling of materials, or through more efficient transportation flows and a reduced need for , etc. The increasing possibility to harvest, analyse and present information about different choices consumers face, both individuals and various types of business, does however not necessarily imply that consumers will make sustainable choices. Political initiatives focusing on the supply side (production) have to be combined with measures directed at the demand side (consumption) to induce users to make more sustainable choices. These sustainable choices are promoted not only through information, but also through infrastructure strategies, pricing and public institutions. , focus on behavioural changes needs to increase and be given room when introducing new technologies. A policy method that has enjoyed increased attention in recent years is nudging. Nudging is about enabling behaviour and indivi- dual decisions in a way that can be advantageous for the user but also for society at large. The concept is that the contexts in which individuals make decisions matters. For sustainable behaviour, it could mean that a public institution places the most climate friendly option as a pre-selected default when citizens are faced with a choice. The citizen is at to choose a less climate friendly option (”optout”), but most people will not make the effort to change the default option. Does meet its ITC policy goal? The goal of ’s ICT policy is to be the best in the world at utilising the opportunities of digitalisation. One way to measure this is to use international indexes that track digitalisation. The Digitalisation Commission has studied the following indexes; Digital Economy and Society Index (European Commission), the ICT Development Index (ITU), the E-Government Development Index (UN), the Networked Readiness Index () and the eGovernment Benchmark (European Commission). Based on these indexes, it is clear that is one of the countries in the world that best utilizes digitalisation opportunities. has historically belonged and continues to belong to, a group of countries that repeatedly are found at the top of international rankings. does not top any single index but has in the past five years ranked as number five or better in four out of five surveyed indexes. Infrastructure is one of the areas where performs at its best. is also, along with other Nordic countries, the world leader when it comes to people’s basic digital skills. Furthermore, 's proportion of ICT specialists, measured as a percentage of the labour force, is the second highest in Europe, after , although it is not capable of meeting demand. However, digitalisation of the public sphere is 's heel. The position in this field is noticeably worse than in other areas, and over time it is possible to see a negative trend in how ranks in the category of e-government. Overall, has long been a strong performer, but other countries have in recent years boosted their pace of development and are now catching up or advancing beyond in some areas. When interpreting these indexes one needs to be aware that the indicators give a fair, but general, image of digitalisation in . The indexes consist of basic conditions, which means that the indicators are not always relevant for following 's digital development currently or going forward. They rather show if conditions exist to take advantage of digitalisation opportunities, than if these opportunities are actually exploited. The Digitalisation Commission has during just over four years followed 's development towards the ICT policy objective, studied and analysed the global developments and put forward a total of 28 individual policy proposals for to reach its ICT policy objective. In 2015, the Commission was to conduct a situational analysis and based on that, identify strategic areas for future digitalisation policy. The assessments, conclusions, strategic areas and proposals presented in The transformational power of digitalisation – options for the future SOU 2015: 91, remain. Based on the 2016 reports it is of particular importance to highlight a number of needs: •Government promotion of digitalisation needs to be stable, continuous and iterative, to increase the understanding of the opportunities and effects from digitalisation and to develop new methods, tools and services. •The digitalisation of public administration is the key to reaching the ICT policy objective. It requires increased collaboration between organisations, a higher degree of automation of processes and improved information management throughout the public sector. •Open data and standards for data are necessary in a digital era. Distinct governance and a comprehensive and common public management approach to standards and technical solutions have to be applied. •Lifelong learning must be enabled. A range of opportunities is needed for individuals to assume responsibility for their professional development, even while still working. A variety of solutions to address the labour market’s demand for skills is also needed. •A national strategy for the digitalisation of higher education needs to be developed. Universities need to promote the development of digital competence in all programs, and make their educational offering relevant and designed for both professionals and for people outside the labour market. •Personal integrity and privacy needs to be interpreted and evaluated in relation to the digital society's prerequisites and opportunities. The state needs to initiate a broad debate on the benefits that data-driven innovations can provide, as well as the great challenges that increased data usage poses to personal privacy. •Skills and ability to ensure data security is of great importance, both for individuals, public institutions, enterprises and other actors, in relation to foreign powers and organized crime. •The government needs to develop new forms of incentives that are adapted for the digital era. This can include financial incentives targeted to individuals in order to achieve important societal objectives, or to actively facilitate behavioural changes, such as introducing a climate friendly alternative as the pre-selected default option when citizens are faced with a choice. •New indicators to monitor the progress of digitalisation need to be developed. International indexes only partially cover the breadth of issues that require follow-up. It is, for example, necessary to develop indicators that measure innovation and transformational momentum, corporate digitalisation, information security and that can provide a deeper perception of how the field of digital competencies develops. Digitalisation is horizontal, which is to say that it affects all areas, sectors and activities. That means that the effort to achieve the ICT policy objective for , to become the best in the world at utilising the opportunities of digitalisation, has to take place in every policy area and at every level of responsibility in the government governance chain. In light of its work during the years 2012–2016, The Digitalisation Commission submits the following recommendations: – setting up a new agency responsible for promoting digitalisation needs an agency for digitalisation to work continuously and long-term with the promotion of digitalisation in the form of reports, intelligence, policy development and support for the development of skills needed in the digital society. ICT development and digitalisation has long been a pressing policy area. The government has alternated between creating ICT commissions and internal work involving different strategy groups and councils. The Digitalisation Commission was appointed in 2012. After nearly 25 years of temporary groupings with varying missions and budgets, it is time to establish a stable and long-term organisation to promote the digitalisation of . The agency's mission should include: •systematic aggregation of knowledge about contemporary and future issues, •analyse trends to identify utility, value and challenges, •support government agencies and municipalities in their development work, •develop strategic partnerships and •develop various policy platforms. Strategy for digitalisation – adopt a strategy which gives direction and force to the digitalisation effort The state has a central role in providing direction and structure for the work to employ the opportunities provided by digitalisation and needs to develop a strategy for digitalisation. Such a strategy has several purposes. Firstly, to show the direction or movement which the government wants to achieve with the use of digitalisation. It will be a support for making decisions and taking action in the field, both in the government as well as among other actors in the public sector, business and civil society. The direction also has a unifying effect and creates commitment among those involved in developing the area. Secondly, a strategy seeks to clarify the strength with which the necessary changes should be implemented. This invigorates development in the field. The Digitalisation Commission has previously suggested six horizontal strategic areas, see SOU 2015:91: 1.Continuous commitment from the government to promote the digitalisation of society, 2.Regulatory framework that works within and for the digital transition, 3.Skills for the digital society, 4.Infrastructure to promote digitalisation, 5.Data-driven innovation for growth and prosperity, and 6.Security and privacy in the digital age. The Digitalisation Commission believes that these areas should be part of a strategy for digitalisation. Leadership for digitalisation – strengthen the leadership so the opportunities of digitalisation are utilized There is a strong need for digitalisation leadership. Since digitalisation is complex, multidisciplinary and in many cases requires substantial initial resources, a particularly leadership within the public administration and at the political level is needed to initiate and move digitalisation efforts forward. This leadership is about translating the understanding of digitalisation opportunities into strategic investments. It also involves prioritizing and implementing initiatives that increase the use of digital tools in the operations and develop digital services for citizens and businesses. The digital transformation may be challenging precisely because it touches every part of an organisation and requires new skills and As ICT is integrated into the operations, new types of leadership that combines expertise from different disciplines will be sought after. The public sector has a leading role in the digital transformation and it will be crucial in order to reach the ICT policy goal of , being the best in the world at utilising the opportunities of digitalisation. Competence for digitalisation – give priority to competence to ensure welfare and growth in the digital society Society’s digital competence is the key to meet future requirements, something which is clear from the Digitalisation Commission's collected work. Competence for the digital society is about several areas: •to enable lifelong learning by providing a variety of opportunities for individuals to participate in training and professional development throughout life, •mobilizing schools and higher education to utilise digitalisation opportunities, so as to give students the necessary skills for the digital society, and to give employers access to people with the required skills, •to promote the public sector’s knowledge about and understanding of digitalisation opportunities and challenges, so that digitalisation is used for operational development, value creation and innovation, •to provide support to small and large companies so they develop the digital competencies they need. Much has happened during the years that the Digitalisation Commission has worked. We've gone from ICT to digitalisation, from cables and hardware to the development of our society in a broad sense. We have gone from a focus on technology to a focus on humans. We no longer have a narrow ICT policy but a broad digitalisation policy. Digitalisation is horizontal and it affects all areas, sectors and activities. That means that the effort to reach the ’s ICT policy objective to become the best in the world at utilising the opportunities of digitalisation needs to be made in every policy area, and on every level of responsibility in the public sector. 1 Arbetet och dess genomförande tillsattes i syfte att främja digitaliseringen i och uppnå det it-politiska målet att ska vara bäst i världen på att använda digitaliseringens möjligheter. Regeringen beslutade om en strategi för itpolitiken, It i människans tjänst – en digital agenda för (dnr N2011/342/ITP). Det it-politiska målet är att ska vara bäst i världen på att använda digitaliseringens möjligheter. tillsattes med uppdrag att (dir. 2012:61): •utforma ett förslag till handlingsplan för genomförande av uppdraget att verka för det it-politiska målet, •analysera utvecklingen i förhållande till det it-politiska målet, •visa på digitaliseringens möjligheter, •kommunicera den digitala agendan och dess innehåll, •vara administrativt ansvarig för de s.k. signatärerna till den digitala agendan, och •samverka med olika aktörer i samhället för en ökad digitalisering. Arbetet och dess genomförande Genom tilläggsdirektiv som beslutades senarelades redovisningen (dir. 2012:122). Genom tilläggsdirektiv som beslutades fick i uppdrag att administrera de regionala digitala agendorna och följa upp dessa. Dessutom gavs kommissionen i uppdrag att ansvara för den administrativa funktionen för Användningsforum, som regeringen beslutade att inrätta för åren 2012–2015 (dir. 2013:108). Genom tilläggsdirektiv som beslutades fick i uppdrag att genomföra en omvärldsanalys, identifiera strategiska områden som bör beaktas i utvecklingen av den framtida digitaliseringspolitiken samt utreda hur främjande av digitaliseringen bör drivas på nationell nivå (dir. 2015:18). Genom tilläggsdirektiv som beslutades fick i uppdrag att redovisa kunskapssammanställningar om digitaliseringens effekter på samhället och individen, samt att stödja regeringens arbete i digitaliseringsfrämjande frågor. Kommissionens uppdrag förlängdes också till (dir. 2015:123). 1.3Utredningens tolkning av uppdraget och avgränsningar Enligt regeringens tilläggsdirektiv gällande arbete ska kommissionen i sitt slutbetänkande redovisa kunskapssammanställningar från forskning, rapporter osv.