COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Digital Decade Country Reports Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parlaiment, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Report on the state of the Digital Decade 2023
Date: 2023-09-27
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, digital literacy, digital single market, digital transformation, digitisation, information security, innovation, public service, technological change, transmission network

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 27.9.2023  SWD(2023) 572 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Digital Decade Country Reports Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parlaiment, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Report on the state of the Digital Decade 2023 {COM(2023) 570 final} - {SWD(2023) 570 final} - {SWD(2023) 571 final} - {SWD(2023) 573 final} - {SWD(2023) 574 final}  
 
 
Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Austria 

 
 
 
 
1 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

Austria  is  expected  to  make  a  positive  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s 
Digital Decade targets. Austria performs well on the cardinal points on digital skills, the integration of 
digital  technologies,  and  digital  public  services.  However,  further  efforts  are  needed  in  digital 
infrastructures.  

Austria  is  aiming  at  improving  further  its  performance  and  demonstrates  a  greater  ambition. 
Austria’s  vision  ‘Digital  Austria  in  2040-2050’,  which  includes  the  values  and  characteristics  of  a 
digital  responsible  society,  is  the  starting  point  for  Austria’s  overall  digitalisation  strategy  and  is 
aligned  with  the  Digital  Decade  Policy  Programme.  This  vision  together  with  the  principles  and 
guidelines  provide  the  necessary  framework  for  the  Digitalisation  Strategy  (Digital  Action  Plan 
Austria),  which  consists  of  several  chapters  focusing  on  priority  topics  selected  by  the  respective 
responsible departments. These make  references  to and are aligned with the  Digital Decade Policy 
Programme.  

The  Digital  Action  Plan  is  an  evolving  strategy  that  aims  to  successfully  cope  with  the  digital 
transition. In 2022, plans on the topics of digital universities, digital talents, digitalisation for tourism 
have been drawn up or planned (e.g. skills in public administration). With the Digitalisation Strategy, 
Austria aims to make the ‘System Austria’ crisis-proof by exploiting the opportunities of digitalization, 
to enhance competitiveness, to position Austria as a digital innovative region, to make targeted use 
of data for innovation, to design education, training and continuing education as a digital competitive 
advantage,  to  promote  top  digital  research  in  a  targeted  manner  and  to  facilitate  digital 
communication between the state and its citizens. This way Austria pursues the goal to establish its 
role as  a  leading  digital  nation  and to  guarantee  and  expand  prosperity,  job opportunities  and  the 
quality  of  life  in  the  long  term.  Moreover,  in  May  2022,  digital  competencies  were  bundled  in  the 
Austrian  Ministry  of  Finance,  responsible  for  digitalisation  and  infrastructure  including  broadband 
development.  While  the  above  shows  a  strategic  approach,  some  stakeholders,  i.e.  telecom 
operators  call  for  better  governance  in  terms  of  institutional  structure,  with  one  centralised 
digitalisation agency and clearer regulatory responsibilities.  

Austria  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  on  a  proposal  for  a  European  Digital 
Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) for the establishment of a Cybersecurity Skills Academy.  

Digital in Austria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

More than half (52.8% corresponding to EUR 1.8 billion) of Austria’s Recovery and Resilience Facility 
(RRF),  is  devoted  to  the  digital  transformation  and  is  expected  to  contribute  to  the  Digital  Decade 
targets1.  

In the context of the first payment disbursed in April 2023, Austria has fulfilled more than a dozen 
milestones and targets for digital measures, such as: 

1  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

•  delivery of digital devices for the 5th and 6th grade (first and second year of lower secondary 

• 

level) of the school year 2021/2022; 
laying  the  groundwork  for  measure  ‘KMU.E-Commerce’  which  helps  SMEs  increase  their 
ability  to  sell  goods  and  services  online  and  measure  ‘KMU.DIGITAL’  which  helps  SMEs 
digitalise; 

•  preparatory steps for funding research infrastructures and research collaborations, with the 
aim  to  expand  the  knowledge  base  for  further  developing  of  quantum  computing  and 
sciences; 

•  preparatory  steps  for  the  Important  Project  of  Common  European  Interest  (IPCEI)  on 

Microelectronics and Communication technologies. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

18% 

2020 

4.5% 

2020 

4.5% 

2019 

Austria 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

86% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

89% 

2021 

63% 

2021 

33% 

2021 

75% 

2021 

18% 

2020 

4.5% 

2021 

4.4% 

2020 

90% 

2022 

63% 

2021 

33% 

2021 

75% 

2021 

20% 

2022 

5.0% 

2022 

4.8% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Austria performs well in digital skills.  On basic digital skills, however, although Austria significantly 
exceeds the EU average (63% compared to 54%), there is ample room for improvement to reach the 
2030 target of at least 80% of the population having a basic level of digital skills. There seems to be a 
consensus on the need for further effort in this respect in Austria, given that upskilling the workforce 
in  terms  of  digital  skills  would  also  help  ease  the  significant  shortage  of  skilled  workers 
(‘Fachkräftemangel’).  Moreover,  digital  literacy  is  essential  to  enable  citizens  to  participate  in 
modern life and to ensure no one is left behind.  

At the same time, it is important to mention that a third of the Austrian population possesses above 
basic digital skills. Also on a positive note, 75% of Austrians has at least basic digital content creation 
skills, compared to the 66% EU average, and 90% of the Austrian population uses the internet.  

Still, Austria lacks ICT specialists. According to the latest “Austria Infrastructure Report”, two out of 
three managers complain that there are too few IT specialists in their company. This perception is 
confirmed  by  the  available  data;  while  Austria’s  share  of  ICT  specialists  in  the  labour  force  (5.0%) 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

exceeds the current EU average (4.6%), the share is low considering the composition of the Austrian 
economy  and  was  identified  as  a  weakness  in  recent  European  Semester  reports.  The  lack  of  ICT 
specialists  can  also  have  an  impact  on  the  ability  to  meet  or  contribute  to  other  Digital  Decade 
targets.  For  example,  the  ambitious  initiatives  of  Austria  in  the  field  of  quantum  computing2  also 
require  the  availability  of  highly  specialised  ICT  specialists  combining  expertise  in  several  different 
fields.  

Therefore, in order to expand basic digital skills among the population for everyday life as well as in 
more  specific  fields,  Austria  is  launching  a  ‘Digital  Skills  Initiative:  Closing  the  Digital  Skills  Gap  in 
Austria’, involving the collaboration of four key ministries. An overarching strategy, a clear structure 
and  a  joint  platform  have  been  established  since  Q3  of  2022  to  bundle  forces  and  create  a  broad 
commitment for joint implementation, with a budget of EUR 3.5 million in 2023 running until 2030. 
For Austria’s economic and innovative strength to remain strong and continue to grow in the light of 
digitalisation, the goal is to help both basic users and ICT professionals build up the necessary level of 
skills to keep up in a digital world. The future challenge is to reach as many people as possible and to 
provide them with attractive, high-quality educational opportunities. 

To  address  these  upcoming  challenges,  a  strategy  has  been  developed  as  the  part  of  Digital  Skills 
Initiative.  In  a  nationwide stakeholder  process the  strategy  ‘Digital  Skills  Austria’  was  developed  in 
recent  months  involving  more  than  500  experts  and  stakeholders  from  80  different  institutions. 
Around 350 measures and initiatives have been identified, clustered and bundled. 

The strategy aims to strengthen digital skills among Austria’s population through targeted measures 
in strategic priority areas – from basic digital skills for the general population to top digital skills for 
business  cases.  For  this  reason,  the  ‘Geschäftsstelle  für  Digitale  Kompetenzen  (Digital  Skills 
Department)’ was introduced in April 2023. The purpose of the Digital Skills Department, established 
within  Austria's  Agency  for  Education  and  Internationalisation  (OeAD-GmbH),  is  to  provide 
operational support for the initiative.  

In the near future, for example, under the coordination of the Digital Skills Department, the National 
Framework  for  Digital  Skills  (DigComp  2.3  AT)  will  be  further  developed  and  implemented 
nationwide. It is based on the European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp 2.1) and aims to 
gain  broad  acceptance  among  Austria's  population.  Digital  skills  courses  will  be  labelled  based  on 
referencing processes, making it easier to choose appropriate classes and unify regional and national 
course  categorisation.  In  autumn  2023,  the  Digital  Skills  Initiative  will  launch  a  pilot  project  called 
‘Digital Skills for All’. Its aim is to provide low-threshold educational opportunities to help all citizens 
acquire  basic  digital  skills.  Following  the  concept  phase,  the  project  will  conduct  400  workshops 
throughout  Austria  from  October  to  December  2023.  After  an  evaluation  phase,  a  more  extensive 
workshop series called ’Digital Überall’ (Digital Everywhere) will act as a follow-up in 2024 to reach a 
larger portion of Austrian citizens. 

In  terms  of  share  of  SMEs  providing  ICT  training  Austria  performs  below  the  EU  average  (19% 
versus 21%), and several existing measures to support the take-up of digital skills in SMEs are being 
continued.  A  well-received  example  is  the  ’Digital  Skills  Vouchers’  with  the  objective  of  increasing 
digital skills in SMEs in Austria. A budget of EUR 3.2 million has been allocated so far to support the 
professional development of employees in digital skills such as IT management, cyber security, cloud 
services and e-commerce. The current third call is open until 30 June 2023 with a budget of EUR 0.8 
million. Another well-established and continued initiative  is the ‘Digi-Scheck’  for apprentices  which 
supports  trainees  and training  companies  in  teaching  future-oriented  skills  including  in  the  area of 

2 Discussed in the section on digital infrastructure. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

digitisation, as part of vocational training. Funding is provided for 100% of the participation costs up 
to an upper limit of EUR 500 per educational measure and up to three individual measures per 2023 
and  2024  calendar  years.  A  third  measure  to  highlight  is  the  programme  ‘Digital  pro  bootcamps’, 
which in 2022 launched its third call for the implementation of digital pro bootcamps with a budget 
of EUR 2 million. The focus has been set on projects in the subject areas of artificial intelligence, big 
data,  blockchain  and  e-commerce.  In  these  bootcamps,  highly  motivated  employees  from 
participating  companies  are  trained  to  become  'digital  professionals'  within  4  weeks.  The  future  IT 
professionals should then be able to be fully entrusted with IT projects in the company and further 
advance the digitalisation agendas. 

To increase the number of ICT graduates, which corresponds to 4.8% of graduates (the EU average 
is  4.2%),  Austria  is  also  actively  engaged,  which  could  also  ease  the  situation  on  the  lack  of  ICT 
specialists in the long term. An example is the ‘Digital Pioneers Programme’, which is running for the 
third  time  in  2023  and  offers  young  women  insights  into  digital  and  technical  professions  to 
encourage them to start a career in STEM fields and the opportunity to complete a digital year. This 
is  a  funded  apprenticeship  and  paid  internship  so  that  women  can  gain  a  better  understanding  of 
professions  of  the  future  within  industry  and  acquire  valuable  skills  and  experience.  In  an  8-week 
basic training, young women acquire skills needed for a successful start in jobs with a high amount of 
digital content. Afterwards, they work on projects in a partner company for at least 8 months so that 
they can apply in practice what they have learned and at the same time get to know industrial digital 
jobs. Graduates from the Digital Pioneers programme receive a national diploma. The 2021 ’Women 
in Digital’ scoreboard shows that there is still potential upwards. In Austria only about 1.85% of total 
employment  are  female  ICT  specialists,  compared  to  1.91%  at  EU  level  and  only 14.4  out  of 1  000 
inhabitants  are  female  graduates  in  STEM  professions,  compared  to  14.8  on  EU  average.  The 
measure is focused on achieving gender balance in specialised digital skills.  

Best practice: Artificial Intelligence Competition Austria  

The Artificial Intelligence Competition is aimed at students between the ages of 14 and 19 who have 
strengths in scientific subjects such as mathematics, computer science or physics and are interested 
in  developing  creative  solutions  for  the  challenges  of  the  future.  This  gives  young  people  an  early 
opportunity to  try  their  hand  in  this  promising  field. With  the  competition, we want to  inspire  the 
experts  of  tomorrow  on  the  topic  of  artificial  intelligence  (AI),  so  that  they  can  continue  to  help 
shape the future of AI and its influence on society, both scientifically and economically. The project is 
implemented  by  ASAI  (Austrian  Society  for  Artificial  Intelligence)  in  Austria,  with  close  cooperation 
with the University of Tübingen. Particularly noteworthy is the implementation of a special category 
of the ’AI for Green’ prize. Here there are links to the AI national programme - ’AI for Green’, which 
focuses on the use of AI for climate change. 

Austria should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills, notably in upskilling and reskilling of 
its labour force, especially women, and, in particular, in advanced and emerging technologies3. 

3 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

Austria 

DESI 
2021 

14% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

22% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

28% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

13.8% 

% households 

2020 

2021 

2022 

2022 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

39% 

2020 

21% 

2020 

84% 

2018 

50% 

2020 

66% 

2021 

45% 

2021 

27% 

2021 

91% 

2021 

77% 

2021 

66% 

2022 

55% 

2022 

37% 

2022 

91% 

2021 

92% 

2022 

66% 

2023 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

Regarding  the  Digital  Decade  targets  related  to  connectivity,  Austria  shows  a  varied  picture: 
Austria is fast approaching 5G coverage for all populated areas and especially coverage on the 3.4-
3.8  GHz  spectrum  band  with  over  30  percentage  points  above  EU  average,  but  is  still  far  from 
reaching  fixed  gigabit  connectivity  for  all.  With  55%  fixed  very  high  capacity  network  (VHCN) 
coverage,  Austria  continues  to  perform  significantly  below  the  EU  average  of  73%.  However, 
coverage jumped by 10 percentage points (from 45% in 2021 to 55% in 2022), thanks to investments 
in fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), accelerating the progress registered in previous years. To compare, 
VHCN  coverage  in  the  EU  overall  only  increased  by  3  percentage  points  between  2021  and  2022. 
Austria has also made significant progress in rural areas, a particular challenge for this mountainous 
country,  where  VCHN  coverage  has  increased  even  more  sharply  (by  11  percentage  points),  from 
16%  in  2021  to  27%  in  2022.  Given  this  positive  trend,  Austria  is  expected  to  make  an  important 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

contribution  to  reaching  the  2030  EU  gigabit  connectivity  target,  provided  it  can  expand  access  to 
VHCN, in particular in rural areas, at least at the current rate.  

Progress driven by fibre deployment has been significant, with 10 percentage point increase in the 
last  year  and  reaching  37%  in  2022.  Austria  is  still  very  far  from  a  100%  coverage  of  gigabit 
connectivity  with  FTTP  and  is  currently  covering  many  households  with  DOCSIS4  3.1  (40%).  The 
positive  trend  also  applies  to  rural  areas,  where  FTTP  coverage  grew  from  15%  in  2021  to  23%  in 
2022, compared to an increase in DOCSIS 3.1. coverage  from 1% to 6%. This can be traced back in 
part to publicly funded fibre deployment under Austria’s broadband plan (Breitband Austria 2030).  

Austria’s broadband plan is driving progress on fibre coverage in underserved rural areas. The plan 
aims at nationwide gigabit connectivity by 2030, in line with the relevant Digital Decade target. It has 
an overall budget of EUR 1.4 billion, including EUR 891.2 million coming from the RRF, for deploying 
gigabit- capable fibre infrastructures in areas of Austria that are not or only insufficiently covered by 
the  private  sector.5  Public  funding  under  the  plan  has  also  incentivised  private  investment  in 
particular in the state-owned open access networks, with more investment expected in the coming 
years.  However,  there  may  be  inadvertent  consequences  for  private  network  deployment  in  other 
areas:  Austria’s  three  main  telecom  operators  warn  that  the  plan  is  preventing  a  selection  of  the 
most efficient and effective broadband deployment projects, as the larger part of funding under the 
plan  is  reserved  for wholesale-only  providers  (state owned  open  access  networks).  Coupled with  a 
persistent lack of demand, this disincentivises private network deployment in areas not covered by 
the  plan  and  therefore  potentially  negatively  affects  Austria’s  ability  to  reach  the  Digital  Decade 
target of gigabit for all. 

Low  demand  for  and  take-up  of  fixed  very  high  capacity  connections  and  strong  fixed-to-mobile 
substitution  are  a  persistent  challenge  for  Austria  to  reach  the  Digital  Decade  fixed  connectivity 
target. These demand side factors remain largely unaddressed. While take-up of at least 100 Mbps 
fixed broadband has increased from 22% in 2021 to 28% in 2022, it still lies significantly below the EU 
average of 55% and progress has slowed down compared to previous years (e.g. between 2020 and 
2021,  take-up  increased  from  14%  to  22%).  Moreover,  there  is  no  take-up  of  at  least  1  Gbps  by 
Austrian  households,  compared  to  13.8%  of  households  in  the  EU  on  average.  Even  where  gigabit 
internet is available, Austrian end-users opt for lower speeds or mobile connections with comparable 
speeds.  This  can  be  partially  explained  by  price:  according  to  the  2021  Broadband  Price  Study, 
Austrian consumers enjoy below EU average prices for lower bandwidth offers but have to pay more 
than  EU  average  for  speeds  above  100  Mbps.  While  prices  for  fixed  and  mobile  broadband  with 
speeds above 100 Mbps are  similar, mobile cubes (i.e. devices transforming mobile data into WiFi) 
allow  customers  to  avoid  the  potential  inconveniences  and  additional  costs  of  fixed  broadband 
installation. According to the Austrian authorities, about one third of Austrian households are mobile 
only, and this percentage remained unchanged from the previous year.   

Private network deployment by Austria’s three main telecom operators remains focused on urban 
areas  and  continues  to  be  slowed  down  by lengthy decentralised  permit  granting  procedures.  In 
2022,  the  Austrian  regulator  TKK  (Telekom-Control-Kommission)  deregulated  the  wholesale 
broadband access market after incumbent A1 concluded nationwide commercial access agreements 

4 Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) is an international telecommunications standard. 
5 The connections funded under the RRP must immediately offer at least symmetrical 100 Mbps speeds and be 
upgradable to symmetrical gigabit speeds without further investments in the deployed passive infrastructure, 
covering at least 50% of Austrian households by 2026. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

with  several  alternative  operators6.  Considering  that  A1  has  announced  increased  investments  in 
fibre to the home/building (FTTH/B) for the coming years, this is expected to have a positive effect on 
Gigabit  coverage  in  Austria.  To  further  facilitate  network  deployment,  operators  call  for  full 
integration  of  information  about  nationwide  planned  civil  works  in  the  single  information  point 
(Zentrale  Stelle  für  Infrastrukturdaten  -  ZIS)  and  for  simplification  of  the  lengthy  and  bureaucratic 
permit  granting  procedures  that  differ  from  region  to  region.  To  address  the  latter,  Austria 
established a dedicated working group in the context of PIA 2030 (Plattform für Infrastrukturausbau 
Austria  2030)7,  but  operators  report  that  discussions  have  stalled  and  there  has  been  no  progress 
over  the  past  year.  Notwithstanding,  Austria  has  committed  as  part  of  its  RRP  to  implement 
measures  developed  by  the  Platform  to  reduce  red  tape  and  simplify  procedures  for  broadband 
deployment by Q4 2023.  

While on fixed connectivity Austria is lagging behind, on mobile connectivity and 5G coverage it is 
a  frontrunner.  The  framework  conditions  established  under  Austria’s 5G  Strategy (e.g.  frequency 
allocations preceded by consultations, flexible spectrum use like sharing enabled) are bearing fruit. 
The strategy’s goal of nationwide 5G availability by the end of 2025, even more ambitious than the 
Digital Decade target, is within reach as operators continue to invest in and roll out 5G in the 3.6 GHz 
and  700  MHz  bands.  In  parallel,  preparatory  talks  for  active  infrastructure-sharing  agreements  to 
meet licence coverage obligations are ongoing.  

As  of  2022,  92%  of  populated  areas  are  covered  by  5G  versus  81%  in  the  EU  overall,  following  a 
considerable jump of 15 percentage points. compared to 2021 (77%). The jump is even more strongly 
felt in populated rural areas, where 5G coverage rose from 36% in 2021 to a remarkable 69% in 2022. 
As regards the indicator 5G coverage on 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum band, Austria exceeds the EU average 
by  33  percentage  points  with  a  coverage  of  71%  of  populated  areas  and  is  well  advanced  towards 
achieving  the  related  target.  Individual  take-up  of  mobile  broadband  exceeds  the  EU  average  with 
91% versus 87% in the EU overall. Some operators have enabled 5G access without changing prices 
and offered 5G stand-alone services with guaranteed bandwidth for home internet including optional 
installation service.  

To facilitate more advanced use  cases, Austria is preparing to award spectrum in the 26 GHz band 
alongside  remaining  spectrum  in  the  3.6  GHz  band.  Following  a  second  consultation  on  different 
options  of  the  award  procedure  conducted  in  autumn  2022,  the  Regulatory  Authority  for 
Broadcasting  and  Telecommunications  (RTR)  expects  to  proceed  with  an  action  still  in  2023.  
Moreover,  the  regulator  is  discussing  with  operators  how  to  improve  the  energy  efficiency  of 
communication networks in order to enhance sustainability. 

Removing  existing obstacles  to deployment  in the  context of the PIA 2030  requires  identifying  and 
implementing  concrete  measures  to  simplify  and  speed  up  decentralised  procedure  for  granting 
permits.  Moreover,  this  would  also  require  expanding  the  single  information  point  (ZIS)  from 
covering  existing  infrastructure  to  covering  information  about  planned  civil  works  to  maximise 
synergies  and  reduce  costs  along  with  the  environmental  footprint  of  network  deployment.  The 
same digital portal could then also be used for standardised permit granting procedures.  

6 Two nationwide voluntary wholesale offers by A1, a virtual unbundling product (v-ULL 2.0) and a risk-sharing 
agreement  for  access  to  newly  deployed  VHCN  networks  (V-P),  became  effective  in  December  2022  for  a 
period of 5 years.  
7  PIA  2030  is  a  task  force  made  up  of  relevant  stakeholders  from  the  federal  government,  Länder, 
municipalities,  companies  and  citizens  to  coordinate  broadband  deployment  in  Austria.  It  was  set  up  in  the 
context of Austria’s first RRP payment request.  

 
 
 
 
 
9 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

For the European target of reaching in the EU at least 20% of world production in value of cutting-
edge semiconductors, in accordance with EU law on environmental sustainability, Austria is a strong 
actor  and  committed  partner  in  the  European  institutionalised  partnerships  on  electronic  systems 
(Key  Digital  Technologies  &  European  High-Performance  Computing  and  their  respective 
predecessors)  and  with  major  players  present  in  Austria.  Austria  is  also  supporting  the  upcoming 
Chips Joint Undertaking. Austria plays an important role within the European Union. 

in  the 

Important  Project  of  Common  European 

Interest  (IPCEI)  on 
Austria  participates 
Microelectronics, which is also part of the Austrian recovery and resilience plan. In the context of the 
latter  the  very  first  milestones  were  achieved,  namely  the  Austrian  projects  regarding  the 
development of innovative microelectronics and connectivity technologies have been selected based 
on recommendations of an independent expert panel, following the two-stage call for expression of 
interest.  Documents  regarding  the  second  phase  of  the  call  for  expression  of  interest  have  been 
published,  including  climate-related  eligibility  criteria,  which  will  oblige  potential  beneficiaries  to 
explicitly commit to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within their project portfolios 
and  estimate  the  extent  of  GHG  savings.  Moreover,  the  commitment  to  emission  reductions  will 
represent  a  key  factor  in  the  selection  of  projects  within  the  subsequent  jury  process.  More  in 
details, Austria is involved in: 

(1)  IPCEI Microelectronic I, which has been running since March 2021 with a total investment in 
research & innovation (R&I) and first deployment of EUR 8.4 billion (including EUR 1.9 billion 
public  funding),  with  the  involvement  of  30  enterprises  and  2  R&I  institutions  from  the 
participating countries Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom and Austria. The objective of 
the  project  is  research,  development  and  first  industrial  deployment  of  microelectronic 
components and systems and their deployment in automotive, Internet of Things, aeronautic 
and IT-security. Austrian funding amounts to EUR 145 million. 

(2)  IPCEI ME/CT (microelectronics and communication technologies) is still in negotiation with 6 
participating  partners  from  Austria.  The  European  IPCEI-project  comprises  in  total  17 
participating Member states with around 115 enterprises. 

As regards the EU Digital Decade target for 2030 on edge nodes, no information has been shared so 
far by Austria on how it intends to contribute to the achievement of this target.  

Austria is taking a leading role and is making a significant contribution to achieving the Digital Decade 
target of Europe being at the cutting edge of quantum technologies by 2030. 

Austria is making its first steps in implementing its noteworthy measure on quantum in the Austrian 
recovery  and  resilience  plan.  The  very  first  milestone,  relating  to  the  receipt  of  expression  of 
interests  from  stakeholders  and  the  setting-up  of  a  resolution  agency  was  fulfilled.  Moreover,  the 
operational use of this new technology is currently being promoted by the EU through the EuroQCI 
initiative,  and  first  demonstrations  are  planned  by  2023.   In  close  coordination  with  EuroQCI, 
Austrian  organisations  are  also  building  support  platforms  and  hosting  workshops  for  all  EuroQCI 
Member  States to foster the  EU  initiative for a common quantum communication  infrastructure in 
the  EU.  Recent  projects  are  Quantum-safe  Cryptography  for  Securing  Governmental  data 
(QKD4GOV),  which  aims  at  the  establishment  of  a  secure  communication  network  between  public 
authorities  to  investigate  novel  encryption  schemes  based  on  quantum  key  distribution  (QKD)  and 
post-quantum cryptography. Another noteworthy related project is QCI-CAT funded under the Digital 
Europe  programme,  which  was  launched  in  2023.  The  project  QCI-CAT  aims  at  an  adoption  of 
modern encryption technology based on quantum key distribution for highly secure communication 
between public authorities.  

 
 
 
 
 
10 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

Austria  should  accelerate  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure,  especially  for  the  fibre  to  the 
premises  roll-out  in  rural  areas.  This  requires  maintaining  the  overall  level  of  ambition  in  Austria’s 
broadband  plan  while  updating  the  plan  to  ensure  targeted  and  efficient  investment  without 
distorting  the  market  and  improving  conditions  for  private  investment  in  rural  areas.  Moreover, 
existing  obstacles  to  deployment  should  be  reduced  in  the  context  of  the  ‘Internet  Infrastructure 
Austria 2030 Platform (‘Plattform für Infrastrukturausbau’ PIA 2030).   
Measures taken by Austria in the field of semiconductors and quantum computing should continue in 
order to help the EU become a strong market player in these areas.  

 
 
 
 
 
11 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud8 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Austria 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

43% 

2019 

30% 

2019 

9% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

22% 

2020 

22% 

2020 

11% 

2020 

15% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

45% 

2021 

38% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

22% 

2020 

22% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

16% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

67% 

2022 

45% 

2021 

38% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

22% 

2020 

21% 

2022 

10% 

2022 

16% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

8 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy and 
Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
12 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

Productivity  growth  is  lagging  behind  and  the  OECD  found  that  the  steady  but  modest  labour 
productivity gains of Austria’s SME-driven economy are mostly due to improvements within specific 
sectors rather than shifts towards more productive high-tech sectors9. With only two thirds of SMEs 
reaching at least a basic level of digital intensity, Austria performs slightly below the EU average on 
this key performance indicator. This means that there is untapped potential to improve productivity 
within  specific  sectors  by  increasing  digital  intensity.  Moreover,  the  current  score  is  considerably 
below the EU target for 2030 of 90%.  

At  the same  time,  Austria is  taking  action.  Since  2017  Austria  has  been  providing  support  to  SMEs 
with the programme  ‘KMU.DIGITAL’, through which Austrian SMEs  receive  practical consulting and 
financial support  for the  implementation of digital technologies, with more  than 20 000  consulting 
and  implementation  initiatives  supported  so  far.  In  2022  and  2023,  EUR  10  million  of  public  funds 
(both national and EU funds from the Austrian RRP) are being invested in the digital transformation 
of  SMEs.  The  Austrian  recovery  and  resilience  plan  also  includes  other  measures  to  promote  the 
digitalisation of businesses. 

In  relation  to  electronic  information  sharing  and  social  media  a  higher  number  of  Austrian 
enterprises  uses  these  than  the  EU  average  (45%  compared  to  38%  for  electronic  information 
sharing, and 38% to 29%). However, fewer enterprises issue e-invoices in Austria than enterprises on 
EU average (22% compared to 32%). While more Austrian SMEs sell online both within Austria and 

9 European Semester report 2022.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
13 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

cross-border, than the EU average, they obtain a slightly lower turnover from these activities than on 
EU average. 

The  take-up  of  artificial  intelligence  (AI),  cloud  services  and  big  data  shows  a  mixed  picture  in 
Austria. Use of big data and cloud services is below the EU average in Austrian enterprises, while on 
AI Austria scores slightly higher than the EU average. The distance to the related ambitious Digital 
Decade target is significant.  Despite Austria actively promoting these new  technologies and taking 
action, efforts do not seem to be sufficiently bearing fruit yet. For instance, in terms of cloud uptake, 
while AT is only 5 percentage points below the EU average, it would still need to more than double 
its current cloud uptake to reach 75% by the end of the decade. Austria is thus encouraged to foster 
the use of new advanced cloud solutions among enterprises, in particular SMEs, and to contribute to 
enterprise  advanced  cloud  upskilling  including  on  cloud  security  and  environmental  performance 
while paying attention to gender equality. 

Austria  has  been  supporting  digital  key  enabling  technologies  in  its  research  and  innovation 
programmes  for  many  years.  Notably,  in  relation  to  big  data,  in  particular,  the  ‘Data  Intelligence 
Offensive (DIO)’ was founded for this purpose with the objective of making the simple use and secure 
sharing of data by third parties more attractive and possible via innovative, decentralised use cases. 
In addition, Austria launched the Green Data Hub which supports the development of a data-service 
ecosystem in the fields of mobility, energy, circular economy and the digital climate twin.  

Moreover, Austria continues to be part of the Gaia-X initiative. In this context, the ‘Gaia-X Hub AT ’, 
which  is  still  being  set  up,  will  support  Austrian  organisations  in  their  adoption  of  data-based 
business  models.  The  project  aims  at  developing  a  digital  governance  that  can  be  applied  to  any 
existing  cloud/edge  technology  stack  to  obtain  transparency,  controllability,  portability  and 
interoperability across data and services.  

In Austria several measures are ongoing that can help to increase the uptake of AI, for example the 
free  online  platform  ‘AI  Marketplace’  with  already  140  registered  AI  providers  and  the  ‘AI  Mission 
Austria  (AIM  AT)’  funding  initiative  for  research  and  innovation  in  this  field,  with  a  EUR  12  million 
budget for 2023.  

Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) can be an effective tool to improve the digital intensity of SMEs and 
the uptake of technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and cloud services. They are one-
stop  shops  that  support  companies  –  in  particular  SMEs  –  and  public  sector  organisations  in  their 
digital  transformation.  DIHs  provide  access  to  technical  expertise  and  experimentation.  They  also 
provide innovation services, such as support with access to finance, training and skills development 
that are needed for a successful digital transformation. So far six national Digital Innovation hubs and 
four European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs)10 have been set up in Austria with 50% funding from 
Digital  Europe.  A  seventh DIH  is  in the  process of  being  launched  on  artificial  intelligence  with the 
objective  of  assisting  SMEs  in  gaining  a  better  understanding  of  artificial  intelligence  BMAW/FFG: 
Künstliche Intelligenz für den Mittelstand | FFG. Austria’s EDIHs, cover a wide range of fields, from 
manufacturing to agriculture. 

As regards the European target to facilitate the growth of its innovative scale-ups and to improve 
their  access  to  finance,  leading  to  at  least  double  the  number  of  unicorns,  Austria  counts  five 

10  EDIHs  are  part  of  a  European  network  of  soon  to  be  over  200  hubs  covering  all  EU  regions  (plus  Iceland, 
Norway and Lichtenstein), all sectors and technologies. While each EDIH has its own sectoral coverage, their 
networking ensures that all businesses’ digitalisation needs can be met. The network of EDIH s is being financed 
with 1.5 billion euros of national and EU funds (Digital Europe, ERDF and RRF) for a period of 7 years. Austria’s 
EDIHs are being funded 50% from Digital Europe and 50% from national sources. 

 
 
 
 
 
14 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

unicorns out  of 249 in Europe in 2022.  Austria has several initiatives  in place to support start-ups, 
scale-ups, spin-offs and SMEs in Austria. ‘Start-up Landscape Austria’, presented in December 2022, 
is  the  first  publicly  accessible,  daily  updated  overview  of  participants  in  the  start-up  ecosystem  in 
Austria.  It  is  mapping  the  Austrian  start-up  ecosystem  as  realistically  as  possible  and  increases  the 
visibility of the location in order to make it internationally comparable and to create network effects. 
‘Start-up Navigator’ helps start-up founders and entrepreneurs find all relevant contact points on the 
topic  of  start-ups  in  Austria  in  one  place  on  the  internet.  The  platform  includes  contact  points  on 
federal  level  as well  as on  state  level.  Furthermore, Austria  has  established  a  state  venture  capital 
fund ’Start-up Fund II’ with up to EUR 72 million to succeed the fund that is coming to the end. The 
fund’s  target  group  are  innovative  technology-oriented  start-ups  with  a  particular  focus  on 
sustainability and digitisation. Austria has increased its start-up funding via the existing channels like 
the Austrian promotional bank (AWS) and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), targeting 
start-ups  with  tailormade  funding  programmes  incubators,  seed  financing,  spin-offs  and  scale-ups, 
partially also co-founded with EU funds. 

As well as public investments there are also private investments to highlight, such as ‘Fund F (Female 
Founders)’, which is a venture capital fund with a focus on pre-seed investments and gender-diverse 
teams,  and  ‘Speedinvest’,  a  pan-European  early-stage  venture  capital  fund  with  its  seat  in  Austria, 
which  is  active  in  raising  new  capital  to  help  European  start-ups  scale  to  global  success.  Austria 
recently launched its first crypto fund called ‘Venionaire Tigris Web3’, an alternative investment fund 
that  invests  in  crypto  assets  on  behalf  of  investors,  including  in  decentralised  finance  and  Web3 
projects.  

Austria should accelerate its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses. Attention should be 
paid to supporting the development and deployment of advanced technologies, including big data, AI 
and cloud computing, in particular, in SMEs, including through capacity and knowledge building.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
15 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

4 Digitalisation of public services   

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Austria 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

76 

2021 

81 

2021 

71 

2021 

68 

2021 

80 

2021 

99 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

78% 

2022 

78 

2022 

83 

2022 

71 

2022 

71 

2022 

80 

2022 

99 

2022 

88 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
16 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

As regards the Digital Decade target on digital public services for citizens, Austria performs well for 
national services with a score of 89.8, slightly above the EU average score of 89.0. However, it has a 
significantly worse performance for the online availability of digital public services which are cross-
border, scoring only 67.1 (even if this score still slightly exceeds the EU average score of 65.1). 

On the Digital Decade target on digital public services for businesses, with a score of 97.1 Austria 
matches the EU average of 97.3 for domestic users. As regards the cross-border dimension Austria 
scores 68.6 compared to 70.2 EU average, slightly below the EU average. Like for the target digital 
public  services  for  citizens,  there  is  a  significant  gap  in  performance  when  looking  at  the  cross-
border online availability of digital public services for businesses. This should also be kept in mind 
when implementing the Regulation on the Single Digital Gateway (SDG)11, which entered into force in 
December 2018. The implementation of the SDG is expected also to support Austria in overcoming its 
weakness in the cross- border online availability of digital public services for citizens and businesses. 

Overall Austria is progressing well on providing eID solutions to its citizens. After the adoption of 
the positive opinion of the eIDAS Cooperation Network on the Austrian ID scheme in February 2022, 
Austria  formally  notified  the  ID  Austria  to  the  European  Commission.  It  was  published  on  27  April 
2022  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the  European  Union  (2022/C  173  I/01).  After  a  12-months 
implementing  period  for  the  other  Member  states,  the  ID  Austria  can  be  used  in  e-Government 
services across Europe from April 2023 onwards. Austria is involved via public and private entities in 
three  large-scale  pilot  projects,  that  will  be  funded  under  the  Digital  Europe  programme,  with  an 

11 Regulation (EU) 2018/1724. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

overall  grant  request  of  over  EUR  1.7  million.  Austria  is  leading  the  work  in  one  of  the  pilots  on 
remote qualified electronic signature (rQES).  

As  regards  e-health,  Austria  is  a  frontrunner.  With  a  composite  score  of  88,  Austria  places  5th 
among Member states in facilitating citizens with full access to their electronic health records with a 
considerable  leading  edge  over  the  EU  average  score  of  72.  Therefore,  Austria  is  well  on  track  to 
achieve the digital decade target related e-health.12 Thanks to the opt-out regime in place for the 
in  the  Austrian  electronic  medical  records  system  (‘Elektronische 
participation  of  citizens 
Gesundheitsakte’  -  ELGA),  in  principle  all  electronic health  records  accessible  via  ELGA  are  already 
available to patients via eID login on the ELGA portal. The incremental roll-out of the eID solution ID 
Austria, issued to every citizen with the handout of renewed passports, will effectively make it even 
easier  for  citizens  to  access  their  electronic  health  records.   A  dedicated  mobile  application  is  not 
available. However, the most significant limiting factor to full access to electronic health records for 
all citizens is the fact that only public primary, public secondary and tertiary hospitals together with 
pharmacies are connected to ELGA in meaningful number and are supplying relevant health-related 
data. The entire private care sector has not been connected. 

On  the  demand  side  for  digital  public  services,  Austrians  continue  to  use  digital  public  services 
widely, with 78% of Austrian internet users compared to 74% of internet users on EU average.  

In relation to the indicator pre-filled forms, Austria is performing above the EU average with a score 
of 71.2 compared to 67.5. Therefore, the amount of data which is pre-filled in public service online 
forms is relatively high.  

To this good performance on the indicator pre-filled forms among others, a significantly contributing 
initiative is the once-only Platform including the Register & Systems Network (dadeX- Digital Austria 
Data  Exchange)  and  the  Information  Obligation  Database,  which  Austria  set  up  following  the 
adoption  of  the  Business  Service  Portal  Act.  The  following  use  cases  using  once-only  methodology 
were launched in the second half of 2022 or Q1 2023. All these measures are important lighthouse 
projects for digitalisation of public services and the digital transformation of public administration: 

•  Criminal  records,  including  financial,  are  checked  automatically  via  dadeX  by  issuing  a 
business  licence.  This  innovation  leads  to  a  faster  procedure  for  issuing  more  than  90  000 
business licences each year. 

•  The continued receipt of the family allowance is checked automatically via dadeX for school 

children and apprentices. The submission of forms and paperwork are reduced. 

•  For  the  start-up  of  a  “one  person  limited”  enterprise,  the  company  register  evidence  is 

traded automatically between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance via dadeX.  

•  The  proof  of  income  for  reduced  kindergarten  fees  for  the  city  of  Graz  are  checked 

automatically via dadeX, so that parents don´t have to submit them personally. 

As  regards  the  newly  added  indicator  on  mobile  friendliness,  in  Austria  almost  all  services  are 
provided  through  a mobile-friendly  interface  and  Austria  is a  frontrunner  in  this  respect.  Austria  is 
even  very  active  on  the  international  front  on  promoting  mobile  government.  Austria  is  actively 

12  The  target  on  access  to  e-health  records,  measured  as:  (i)  the  existence  of  a  nationwide  mechanism,  for 
citizen online access to health data, such as a patient portal, or a patient mobile app with additional measures 
in place that enable certain categories of people (e.g. guardians for children, people with disabilities, elderly) to 
also access their data, and (ii) the percentage of individuals that have the ability to obtain or make use of their 
own minimum set of health-related data currently stored in public and private electronic health-record (EHR) 
systems. 

 
 
 
 
 
18 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Austria 

engaged in the worldwide initiative ‘World Bank  GovTech Global Partnership’ and is co-leading the 
related working group, specifically on m-Government.  

On the extent to which online support, help-features and feedback mechanisms are available, overall 
Austria  scores  slightly  below  the  EU  average  (80.2  compared  to  83.6).  Moreover,  user  support  is 
significantly better for national services (93.7) than for cross-border ones (66.7). Since on the latter 
Austria  scores  far  worse  than  the  EU  average  (74.3),  there  is  significant  room  for  improvement  in 
Austria in the provision of user support for cross-border services.  

Transparency of service delivery, design and personal data is at 71.1, which is well beyond the EU 
average  of  64.7.  This  represents  an  area  where  Austria  outperforms  some  frontrunners  and  could 
further increase its lead by taking additional steps to ensure that service processes are transparent, 
services are designed with user involvement and users can manage their personal data.  

In  relation  to  open  data,  Austria  suggests  participating  in  a  multi-country  project  called  Integrated 
Pan-European Digital Platform for AgriFood.  

The  Federal  eGovernment  Strategy  2023  for  Austria  was  adopted  on  7  June.  The  strategy  was 
developed  in  a  collaborative  process  with the  relevant  e-Government stakeholders  at  national  and 
regional level and pursues the efficient implementation of electronic government services. It is based 
on the basic premise that all businesses and citizens must be able to perform all the procedures of 
public administration quickly and easily, electronically and without  any specific technical expertise. 
To  achieve  this  goal,  the  Federal  e-Government  Strategy  promotes  the  involvement  of  and  close 
cooperation between the federal state, cities and municipalities. The first concrete implementation 
priorities are to be the broad introduction of ID Austria, the interconnection of service portals and 
digital sovereignty.  

Through  a  common  vision  and  targeted  initiatives  Austria  aims  at  improving  service  quality  as  a 
whole  and  making  noticeable  improvements  in  the  related  DESI  indicators.  The  holistic  approach 
focuses primarily on the public service dimension of the DESI but is intended also to have a positive 
impact on other DESI indicators.  

Best  practice:  doing  business  abroad  simplified  between  Austria  and  Germany  following 
the once-only principle 

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance is cooperating with the German public administration in the 
Doing  Business  Abroad  (DBA)  use  case  that  lays  an  important  basis  for  implementing  the  Single 
Digital  Gateway  Regulation  (SDG),  specifically  the  cross-border  exchange  of  evidence  according  to 
the once-only principle (SDG OO). 

Austria should accelerate its efforts to digitalise public services. In particular, it should monitor the 
effective use of digital public services as well as possible divides. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
19 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023  
Belgium  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Belgium 

 
 
 
 
20 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

Belgium  is  expected  to  make  a  positive  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s 
Digital Decade targets. The country has improved its performance particularly in the digitalisation of 
public services, but is lagging on digital infrastructure, although progress has been made on the roll-
out and overall 5G coverage. Belgium performs well when it comes to the digitalisation of businesses, 
and it is advancing well on the uptake of digital tools by businesses. The different digital strategies in 
the country, coordinated at federal level through the Digital Decade Working Group, are aligned with 
the Digital Decade Policy Programme.  

Belgium is collaborating with other Member States in exploring the possibility to set up a  European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortia  (EDIC)  on  Genome,  to  enable  effective  and  secure  cross-border 
access to repositories of personal genomic datasets. Belgium is one of the Member States that have 
jointly submitted a formal application to set up the European Blockchain Partnership and the EDIC on 
European Blockchain Infrastructure, supporting EU-wide cross-border public services. 

Digital in Belgium’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Belgium’s RRP allocates EUR 1.6 billion (i.e. 27%) of its total financial allocation to digital services, of 
which EUR 1.4 billion is expected to be spent on achieving the Digital Decade targets13. Belgium has 
not  yet  submitted  a  payment  request.  The  plan  includes  measures  focusing on  digital  skills,  digital 
infrastructure  and  connectivity,  cybersecurity,  and  the  digitalising  of  public  services.  In  particular, 
measures  will  support  the  upgrade  of  ICT  infrastructure  in  schools  and/or  educational  institutions, 
digital training courses, the 5G roll-out, the 5G auction and the revision of the legislative framework 
on radiation standards in the three regions.  

Based  on  the  Council  Implementing  Decision  on  the  Belgian  RRP,  other  reforms  and  investments 
associated with milestones and targets to be fulfilled in 2023 include: 

•  a regional data exchange platform; 

•  measures to increase connectivity by adopting a plan to implement EU Connectivity Toolbox 

best practices; 

•  measures to improve the efficiency of public services and justice through the digitalisation of 

the justice system. 

13  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
21 

1 Digital skills  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

Belgium 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

90% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

33% 

2020 

5.0% 

2020 

2.1% 

2019 

91% 

2021 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

67% 

2021 

33% 

2020 

5.6% 

2021 

2.2% 

2020 

93% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

67% 

2021 

33% 

2022 

5.6% 

2022 

2.8% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Belgium is scoring around the EU average as regards population with basic digital skills, and above 
the  EU  average  as  regards  the  share  of  ICT  specialists.  While  many  initiatives  are  currently  being 
implemented, a significant  change  of pace  would lead to productivity gains, to a more  widespread 
use of technology across the economy and to a higher take-up of public services by citizens.   

54%  of  people  have  at  least  basic  digital  skills,  which  coincides  with  the  EU  average.  Moreover, 
Belgium scores at the EU average for citizens with above basic digital skills and at least basic digital 
content creation skills (67% compared to 66% at EU level).  

Belgium is currently implementing several measures that are expected to help increase the level of 
basic digital skills.  At  federal level, the  BeCentral digital campus has since  2017  trained more than 
425  000  students with the objective of reducing the digital skills gap. Belgium continues  to pursue 
work regarding the 2021 Digital Inclusion and female representation in the STEM and digital sector 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
22 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

through its national and intersectoral strategy Women in Digital 2021-2026. The implementation of 
this  strategy  is  supported  by  a  dedicated  website  (BeDigitalTogether.be)  and  coordinated  at  the 
federal level via a multistakeholder working group (from public, private, academic, associative levels).  

At regional level, the Flemish government has launched many projects to address the issue. The pilot 
programme ‘Everyone digital programme’ aims to have each local government come up with digital 
inclusion plans focusing on access, skills and support for citizens. Digibank aims to promote the social 
and economic integration of vulnerable groups by fostering their digital inclusion at municipal level. 
At the end of 2022, 54 out of 200 municipalities had implemented this programme. The Programme 
Digisprong, is teaching digital skills within the compulsory education stream. It focuses on increasing 
pupils'  digital  skills  through  four  main  points  –  safe  ICT  infrastructure,  effective  ICT  school  policy, 
digitally  skilled  teachers  and  trainers  and  provision  of  digital  learning  resources.  The  Digisprong 
strategy is accompanied by the Edusprong programme which focuses more on adult education and 
strengthening digital competences.  

In Wallonia, the digital inclusion plan aims to respond to challenges related to giving equal access to 
Digital skills and reducing the digital divide. This will be achieved through numerous complementary 
programmes such as the Digital school programme, the Walloon "Basic Digital Training" Programme, 
the Digital Public Spaces scheme available throughout the region in over 150 locations, and support 
for workers' basic digital skills through the implementation of the "Upskills Wallonia" strategy. The 
various schemes and programmes to support the development of basic digital skills use the European 
DigComp reference framework as a reference tool. 

In  the  Brussels  Capital Region,  programmes  such  as the  digital  ownership  plan aim  to  support  and 
help Brussels residents by specifically targeting vulnerable groups. 

In addition, private sector initiatives provide additional support to increase the basic Digital skills 
level.  Agoria,  the  federation  of  digital  industries,  continued  with  its  BEthechange  platform  which 
maps  the  digital  skills  needed  within  the  labour  market.  The  mapping  is  then  disseminated  to  all 
stakeholders.  The Digiskills  Belgium  platform  lists  all initiatives  and  training courses  to  help  people 
improve their digital skills, focusing on digital inclusion and the reskilling and upskilling of the labour 
force. 

Belgium  has  an  above  average  share  of  ICT  specialists:  5.6%  of  total  employment,  above  the  EU 
average  (4.6%).  However,  Belgium’s  shortage  of  ICT  professionals  is  still  particularly  pressing. 
Although there has been a moderate improvement, ICT graduates only account for 2.8% of graduates 
study  ICT  programmes,  compared  to  4.2%  in  Europe.  More  efforts  are  therefore  needed  to 
encourage  students  to  become  ICT  specialists.  On  a  positive  note,  33%  of  enterprises  provide  ICT 
training to their employees, 11 percentage points above the EU average. With regards to female ICT 
specialists,  Belgium  currently  has  18.7%,  slightly  below  the  EU  average  of  18.9%.  In  this  regard, 
Belgium could take measures to address the existing gap regarding the number of women in ICT, 
including measures aimed to attract girls interest in ICT in general and to advanced technologies in 
particular.  

Belgium is currently working on several programmes and initiatives to address these shortcomings. 
The  Flemish  region  has  a  number  of  initiatives  such  as  the  Flemish  AI  academy.  The  academy  in 
cooperation  with  Flemish  universities  will  map  the  needs  of  businesses  with  regards  to  AI.  In 
Wallonia, the Pix tool, evaluates the skills of users to identify the areas that may need improvement 
in users’ skillset.   

In addition, the private sector recently launched a considerable number of activities to tackle the 
lack  of  ICT  specialists,  notably  with  up-  and  reskilling  efforts  by  companies  for  their  workforce. 
Agoria  has  worked  on  a  number  of  projects  namely,  based  on  the  above  mentioned  Bethechange 

 
 
 
23 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

plan, Agoria has kickstarted a project to digitally upskill  seven manufacturing industries which have 
been identified as most important.  

It is important to coordinate the development, implementation, and evaluation of digital education 
policy  and  strengthen  the  involvement  of  relevant  stakeholders  across  the  whole  country,  and 
continue  addressing  all  cycles  of  education:  primary,  secondary,  tertiary  and  mainstream  digital  in 
the  educational  system.  Integrating  digital  (in  addition  to  teaching  ICT  as  a  self-standing  subject) 
horizontally  across  all  subjects  would  ensure  that  school  curricula  are  up  to  date  with  how  digital 
technologies are used in everyday life and at the workplace.  

It is also important that training programmes in Belgium on basic digital skills are expanded in scale 
to  all  demographics,  including  vulnerable  groups  (such  as  low-income  individuals,  older  adults  and 
people  with  disabilities).  Belgium  could  ensure  adequate,  efficient,  and  effective  reforms  and 
investments  in  adult  Digital  skills,  including  by  mobilising  EU  funds  or  by  using  the  European 
Technical Support Instrument, to develop, deliver and evaluate programmes addressing specific adult 
learning needs. 

Best practice: ADIBib & Leesvoor!Vlaanderen 

The  ADIBib  &  Leesvoor!Vlaanderen  project  in  Flanders  is  a  project  aimed  at  increasing  the  digital 
skills of people with learning disabilities. Through the programme, students with reading and learning 
difficulties such as dyslexia are given access to materials which can be used online such a specialised 
reading resources and digitally adjusted books.  

Belgium  should  accelerate  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digital  skills,  in  particular  basic  digital  skills. 
Attention should be paid to improving the coordination of digital education policy and strengthening 
the involvement of relevant stakeholders across the whole country 14. 

14 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Belgium 

DESI 
2021 

59% 

2020 

<0.1% 

2020 

68% 

2020 

7% 

2020 

84% 

2018 

4% 

2020 

3% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

62% 

2021 

0.6% 

2021 

69% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

90% 

2021 

4% 

2021 

3% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

67% 

2022 

3.1% 

2022 

78% 

2022 

17% 

2022 

90% 

2021 

30% 

2022 

66% 

2023 

Belgium still lags far behind when it comes to fixed gigabit connectivity, with only 17% of coverage 
of fibre to the premises, while there is progress on VHCN (from 69% to 78%). 

A number of joint ventures are currently active in the deployment of fibre. The joint venture of the 
incumbent operator  is  already  active  in  the  deployment of  fibre,  with  another joint  venture  in the 
pipeline. These joint ventures are expected to help accelerate fibre rollout in Belgium. The launch of 
the  fibreinfo.be  website  with  the  aim  of  providing  information  about  fibre  deployment  and  the 
update of the Landline Atlas with the inclusion of 1Gbps speeds should also help promote the take-
up  of  gigabit  networks.  However,  to  date,  only  3.1%  of  contracts  in  Belgium  were  at  the  speed  of 
1Gbps. Operators are also under increasing pressure to complete the roll-out of fibre networks.   

As  part  of  the  national  broadband  plan,  a  call  for  projects  was  launched  in  December  2022  to 
promote  fixed  Internet  access  infrastructures  in  the  "white  areas"  of  the  Belgian  territory.  With  a 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

budget  of  EUR  40.7  million,  the  call  covers  up  to  50%  of  the  cost  of  installing  very  high  capacity 
networks (VHCN)  in  currently  underserved  areas. The  regional  government  of Wallonia  launched  a 
similar  project  in  the  course  of  2022  for  a  budget  of  EUR  12.2  million.  The  German  speaking 
Community  in  Belgium  has  also  entered  into  a  private  public  partnership  agreement  with  the 
incumbent  operator  and  another  player  to  cover  40  000  homes  and  businesses  in  the  German-
speaking community by 2026. The result of these initiatives should help Belgium to cover areas which 
would otherwise not be viable to cover under commercial logic. 

When it comes to market developments, the merger of two incumbent operators was approved by 
the  European  Commission  under  the  EU  Merger  Regulation  in  March  2023,  which  will  commit  the 
newly  merged  operator  to  providing  access  to  another  incumbent  operator  to  its  newly  acquired 
fixed network and future fibre to the premises in Wallonia and Brussels for at least 10 years.  This will 
effectively  create  three  national  operators  which  should  help  accelerate  the  roll-out  of  gigabit 
network.   

Issues  pertaining  to  access  to  infrastructure  are  also  putting  a  dent  in  Belgium’s  aspiration.  In  this 
regard, the creation of the Broadband Competence Office should help with reducing administrative 
costs and speed up the roll-out of gigabit networks. This is a step in the right direction towards the 
achievement  of  the  Digital  Decade  goals.  The  Walloon  region  has  progressed  with  its  Gigaregion 
programme which invested EUR 51 million into among others the Last mile fixed connectivity action 
plan which should cover  all 12 Walloon municipalities and nearly  28  000  households.  The Flemish 
government  has  also  invested  through  the  ‘100  gigabit  readiness  plan  2019-2026  for  Flemish 
Research Networks, with the aim of upgrading the backbone of the Flemish fibre network and make 
every Research Performing Organisation gigabit ready by 2026.  

Despite progress on overall 5G coverage in 2022 (from 4% to 30% in one year) Belgium is still very 
far from the EU average (81%) and from the 2030 Digital Decade target. Moreover, coverage with 
the  3.4-3.8  GHz  band  is  very  low  (6%  vs  41%  EU  average).  This  is  in  large  part  due  to  the  late 
finalisation  of  Belgium’s  spectrum  auction  in  July  2022  which  auctioned  the  700MHz  and  3.6  GHz 
bands with 20-year  usage rights  starting in September of 2022 with the precise  target  of  achieving 
99.8% coverage of populated areas by 2030. The auction also resulted into the entry of a new market 
player  which  should  also  accelerate  the  coverage  roll-out  and  the  take-up  of  5G  by  consumers. 
However, when it comes to the 26 GHz band, a public consultation concluded that there is currently 
no demand for the band, even though experimental licences are available. In this regard, it is worth 
noting that in Wallonia, the 26 GHz band is subject to scrutiny by the Walloon parliament relating to 
electromagnetic frequencies. In this regard, it  is essential that  Belgium  regularly  assesses emerging 
market  demand  for  the  remaining  unassigned  spectrum  in  the  26GHz  band  (to  incentivise  and 
facilitate  deployment  of  5G  services  for  advanced  applications)  and  assigns  it  when  the  demand 
emerges.  At  federal  level,  the  Belgian  government  has  launched  a  5G  pilot  funding  programme  to 
support  promising  test  cases.  With  a  budget  of  over  EUR  24  million,  the  programme  has  already 
attracted more than 20 proposals.  

With  regards  to  the  production  of  semiconductors,  Belgium  has  showed  progress  with  various 
projects  under  way  at  different  stages  of  their  life  cycle.  On  semiconductors,  Belgium  is  the  host 
country  of  IMEC,  a  research  institute  on  semiconductors.  The  Flemish  government,  through  its 
partnership with IMEC, is providing an investment of more than EUR 130 million through to 2026 to 
continue  research  into  cutting-edge  and  sustainable  semiconductor  technology.  Through  the  joint 
project  IMECxpand,  a  EUR  200  million  investment  fund  has  been  set  up  with  a  commitment  to 
investing in new semiconductor related companies in Belgium. IMEC continues to be at the cutting-
edge  of  semiconductor  research  and  other  digital  technologies.  The  resulting  partnership  should 
strengthen  the  European  semiconductor  ecosystem  in  areas  such  as  health  tech,  EdTech,  smart 

 
 
 
26 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

public  services,  start-up  development  and  more.  All  these  deliverables  contribute  to  the  present 
Digital Decade targets. Belgium’s good starting position on semiconductor research are an important 
contribution to the EU’s efforts in semiconductors.  

On  high-performance  computers,  Belgium  is  a  member  of  the  EuroHPC  LUMI  pre-exascale 
supercomputer  consortium  with  an  investment  of  EUR  15.5  million.  Belgium’s  participation  in  this 
project has resulted in Flemish, Walloon and national organisations joining forces under the Digital 
Europe programme to set up the project Belgian-QCI, the first quantum key distribution network in 
Belgium. The partners in this network will make use of various interfaced QKD technologies in several 
different topologies. 

On  the Digital Decade  target  to  have  at  least  10  000  climate-neutral  highly  secure  edge  nodes  are 
deployed in the EU, distributed in a way that guarantees access to data services with low latency (i.e. 
a  few  milliseconds)  wherever  businesses  are  located,  Belgium  has  started  to  work  towards  the 
achievement of such goals. The AdvanceRF programme funded by the Flemish government looks at 
the next generation wireless technology at the frequencies aimed at lower-power, high density, high 
throughput connections for next-gen devices leveraging III-V materials.   

Belgium is also participating in a multi-country project together with France, Germany and Finland to 
invest  through  the  RRF  fund  into  a  testing  and  implementation  facility  in  Edge-AI  in  collaboration 
with  IMEC.  The  Testing  &  Experimentation  Facility  for  Edge-AI  will  allow  the  European  ecosystem 
around  AI  Chips  to  find the  right  components  and  solutions,  which  in  itself  should  ensure  that  the 
path  to  market  is  shortened  for  this  technology.  Belgium  numerous  activities  are  an  important 
contribution to efforts in this area.  

Overall,  Belgium  continues  to  progress  towards  the  achievement  of  the  digital  decade  targets  on 
infrastructure.  The  progress  achieved  this  year  must  be  sustained,  particularly  with  regards  to 
deployment of a high quality 5G network. However, considerable acceleration is needed.  

Best practice: fibreinfo.be 

Belgium  has  launched  the  website  fibreinfo.be  which  provides  information  on  fibre  deployment  in 
Belgium to all stakeholders.  The website aims to be a central and neutral information point.  

Given Belgium’s moderate past performance with fibre deployment, there is lack of awareness of the 
processes.  A central website that contains neutral information about fibre could help in creating this 
awareness in a neutral way.   

The website has been very well received and is being actively used by all stakeholders to monitor the 
progress of fibre roll-out in Belgium. 

Belgium  should  step  up  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure.  It  should  ensure  a  better 
coordination  to  support  a  more  efficient  rollout  of  fibre,  notably  thanks  to  a  well-functioning 
Broadband  competence  office.  Belgium  should  further  reduce  obstacles  to  deployment,  notably  by 
further  simplifying  administrative  procedures  (including  permit  granting)  and  measures  to  grant 
access to network infrastructure, stimulating reuse of existing infrastructure and co-deployment while 
reinforcing competition. To ensure that 5G coverage is adequate to market  demands,  it is essential 
that Belgium regularly assesses emerging market demand for the remaining unassigned spectrum in 
the 26GHz band and assigns it when demand emerges. Initiatives like the public-private partnerships 
to cover white areas are important in this regard.   

Measures taken by Belgium in the field of semiconductors and quantum should continue in order to 
help the EU to become a strong market player in these areas.  

 
 
 
 
 
27 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud15 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Belgium 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

53% 

2019 

34% 

2019 

23% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

25% 

2020 

24% 

2020 

NA 

2020 

15% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

57% 

2021 

45% 

2021 

23% 

2020 

47% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

25% 

2020 

30% 

2021 

15% 

2021 

16% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

77% 

2022 

57% 

2021 

45% 

2021 

23% 

2020 

47% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

25% 

2020 

27% 

2022 

17% 

2022 

16% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

15 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

Belgium performs very well when it comes to the digitalisation of business and is on a good path to 
contribute to achieving the EU targets.  

On the target of having 90% of SME’s reach at least a basic level of digital intensity, Belgium performs 
quite  well.  In  2022,  77%  of  Belgian  businesses  already  achieved  a  basic  level  of  digital  intensity, 
compared  to  the  European  average  of  69%.  This  augurs  that  Belgium  will  make  a  relevant 
contribution to the target by 2030 if it continues with the current pace of its reforms.  

Belgium performs above the EU average in terms of cloud, AI and big data uptake but still below 
the  EU  Digital  Decade  target  of  having  75%  of  Union  enterprises  taking  up  one  or  more  of  those 
technologies  by  2030.  Belgium  needs  to  intensify  its  measures  in  order  to  accelerate  take-up  and 
ensure that the target is reached by 2030. Belgium starts from a strong base for both big data and 
cloud, with respectively 23% (2020) and 47% (2021) of enterprises adopting them, as opposed to 14% 
and 34% as an EU average. Actions in this regard will need to continue in order to be able to reach 
the target on one or more of those technologies.  

Belgium  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  that  can  contribute  to  increase  the  digital 
transformation of business in line with the objectives of the Digital Decade. In the Flemish region, a 
data utility company is being launched, with the aid of RRF funding. The aim of this project is to make 
access to data more equitable for public and private operators within the connected ecosystems. By 
making  such  data  flow  between  public  and  private  organisations  more  fluent,  secure  and  privacy 
friendly, the project should help with the uptake of digital solutions by businesses.   

On  artificial  intelligence,  Belgium  is  currently  undertaking  numerous  initiatives.  In  Wallonia,  the 
Digital Wallonia strategy is also focused on promoting  artificial intelligence  for businesses, while  in 

 
 
 
 
 
29 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

the Brussels region, another RRF funded project is developing an AI institute to use technology within 
society and business. One of the pilot projects in this regard is the use of AI technology to match job 
seekers with suitable employers.  

The  Start  AI  initiative  between  the  Flemish  Industry  Partnership  and  the  Digital  4Wallonia 
programme,  aims  to  help  companies  fulfil  the  potential  of  AI  within  their  business  context.  
Moreover, Flanders provides co-financing for 2 Testing & Experimentation Facilities for AI launched 
from the Digital Europe programme, around: Smart Cities & Communities and Agrifood. 

These test facilities aim to test proof of concepts on AI in real environments so that they find their 
way to the market faster and can also be offered to companies in these thematic areas and thereby 
be incorporated. 

On cloud computing, Belgium is one of the 12 Member States and more than hundreds of European 
companies taking part into the Important Project of Common European Interest on Next Generation 
Cloud  Infrastructure  and  Services  (IPCEI-CIS)  which  forms  part  of  the  Multi-Country  Project  on  a 
Common Data Infrastructure and Services. The IPCEI-CIS aims at equipping the European Union with 
the  next  generation  of  advanced,  distributed,  secure,  sustainable  and  innovative  cloud-to-edge 
capabilities  that  citizens  and  businesses  are  in  need  for  and  will  thus  supports  the  cloud  uptake 
among Belgium enterprises. 

With regards to cybersecurity, the Belgian federal government has also launched a call for projects to 
strengthen  the  Cyber-Resilience  of  SMEs  and  the  Self-Employed,  with  the  aim  of  improving  the 
cybersecurity of such businesses, in a way which complements the work already carried out by the 
regional authorities on the matter. 

With regards to the target of having 90% of SME’s reaching at least a basic level of digital intensity, 
Belgium starts from a relatively good position of 77% and should maintain its momentum to reach 
the  targets  of  90%  by  2030.  Belgium  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  to  achieve  this 
target.  At  federal  level,  an  online  platform  to  help  SME’s  embrace  e-commerce  has  been  created 
with the expectation that over 1 million people will be targeted to encourage entrepreneurship. At 
regional level, Wallonia is targeting SME’s through its Digital Wallonia upskills programme, whereas 
the  Flemish  region  has  in  place  in  the  fields  of  digitalization  several  actions.  Six  European  digital 
innovation hubs (EDIH), multi-country projects selected under the Digital Europe programme with a 
total  budget  of  EUR  9.3 million, will  support the  digital  transformation of  SMEs  and  public  service. 
EDIH can be an effective tool to improve the digital intensity of SMEs and the uptake of technologies 
such  as  big  data,  artificial  intelligence  and  cloud  services.  They  are  one-stop  shops  that  support 
companies – in particular SMEs – and public sector organisations in their digital transformation. 

In  addition,  some  private  sector  initiatives  provide  additional  support  to  increase  the  uptake  of 
digitalisation  within  business.  The  Industry  Partnership,  with  the  collaboration  of  the  Flemish 
government  to  stimulate  the  growth  and  innovation  of  the  Flemish  industry  for  a  period  of  four 
years.  In  this  regards  the  focus  is  mainly  on  digital  organisations,  smart  products  and  services, 
artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. 

Regarding  the  target  on  doubling  the  number  of  unicorns,  Belgium  is  also  progressing  at  a  very 
positively pace, especially for its size. Belgium currently has seven unicorns present in its territory 
which  would  make  it  rank  7th  overall  in  Europe.16  More  importantly,  Belgium  currently  has  15 

16 Dealroom (date of extraction 16/01/2023). 

 
 
 
 
30 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

companies which are valued between EUR 100 million and 1 billion which is an indication of a strong 
digital business ecosystem17. It is important mantaining efforts in this area.  

Flanders  has  started  numerous  programmes  such  as  Scaleup  Vlaanderen  with  the  aim  to  provide 
mentorship  for  start-ups.  Wallonia  and  Flanders  also  are  part  of  the  European  Digital  Innovation 
Hubs. The Scaleup Vlaanderen program (A guidance program for digital scale-ups supported by the 
Flemish  government  and  other  partners)  offers  ten  different  kind  of  services  that  all  focus  on 
innovative  digital  (start-ups  and)  scale-ups,  from  a  high  profile  acceleration  program  for  scale-ups 
(‘Ignite’),  over  exclusive  network  events  and  international  trade  missions,  to  individual  coaching 
trajectories focusing on internal scaling and internationalisation. 

Belgium  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses,  in 
particular  to  foster  the  exploitation  of  new  advanced  cloud  solutions  by  businesses  and  notably  by 
SMEs through more tailored initiatives. Belgium should ensure better coordination of measures within 
the country to reduce fragmentation and costs for businesses.   

17 Dealroom (date of extraction 15/06/2023). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
31 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Belgium 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

72 

2021 

81 

2021 

73 

2021 

63 

2021 

93 

2021 

99 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

88% 

2022 

81 

2022 

88 

2022 

77 

2022 

66 

2022 

93 

2022 

100 

2022 

85 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
32 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

On  the  Digitalisation  of  public  services,  Belgium  continues  to  improve  and  is  making  a  solid 
contribution towards the achievement of the Digital Decade targets.  

With regards to the Digitalisation of public services and the target of having 100% online accessible 
provisions of key public services, Belgium continues to perform better than the European average. It 
reaches a score of 81 as regards digital public services for citizens (as compared to the EU average 
score of 77), and 88 as regards digital public services for businesses (EU average is 84). Concerning 
the  indicator  on  digital  public  services  for  citizens,  this  is  a  marked  improvement  of  5  percentage 
points  from  the  previous  year  score  of  72.  Belgium  also  performs  very  well  when  it  comes  to  the 
number of users of e-government services with 88% of its citizens using such services compared to 
the EU average of 74%. 

Belgium has put forward numerous initiatives both at federal and regional level to encourage the 
Digitalisation of public services and their uptake by citizens. Amongst them is The Federal Service 
Bus, which is a platform that is managed at federal level to ensure the secure exchange of electronic 
data between the rent service integrators in Belgium which allows for the once only principle to work 
in practice on the ground. At regional level, Flanders has pushed forward the project of Municipality 
without municipal hall which aims to transform the local authorities by digitalising their delivery and 
internal  functions.  This  project  is  also  included  in  the  Belgian  Recovery  and  Resiliency  Plan.    In 
Wallonia and its part of the Recovery plan, actions are being undertaken for the digitalisation of all 
public  services  and  measures  intended  for  businesses  and  citizens.  On  total,  the  Belgian  Recovery 
plan has estimated EUR 586 million for the digitalisation of the public administration, including the 
digitalisation of the justice system and in particular of court proceedings. 

 
 
 
 
 
33 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

On  the  target  of  having  100%  of  Union  citizens  have  access  to  their  electronic  health  records, 
Belgium has continued to roll out numerous initiatives throughout its various levels of government 
and stands at 84 as opposed to the EU average of 72.  

The  effectiveness  of  digital  e-health  scheme  during  the  Covid-19  pandemic,  boosted  the  public 
confidence  in  such  schemes  which  has  resulted  in  more  progress  and  take  up  of  such  services.  At 
federal level the e-Health action plan commits to create initiatives which share as much information 
as possible to make it available for consultation. This is mainly done through the e-health platform 
which puts data at the heart of healthcare policy. The federal government has also continued with 
the development of the mijngezondheid platform, which continues to evolve to give an active role to 
the  citizen.  Citizens  can  access  all  sorts  of  electronic  health  data  such  as:  ePrescriptions  and 
eDispensation,  medical  imaging  reports  and  images,  laboratory  test  results,  hospital  discharge 
reports,  allergy  information,  diagnoses,  devices  and  implant,  procedures  and  relevant  medicines. 
However, the  data  presented is not  updated frequently following each care episode  which hinders 
the value of such data to citizens.  

At the regional level, Flanders has developed the Vitalink regulatory framework with the ambition of 
having  safe  and  accessible  information  shared  through  the  platform  by  2025.  In  Wallonia,  the 
Institute of Analytics for Health (INAH) project was launched with a pilot project aiming to enable the 
ethical and secure use of health information within the health system.  

Belgium  was  also  part  of  a  CEF  funded  project  that  aims  to  help  the  development  of  patient 
summaries  and electronic drug prescriptions.  Flanders on the other hand, was also actively taking 
part in the Benelux cooperation for sharing health information. 

Overall,  Belgium  would  benefit  from  technical  features  that  enable  a  frequent  updating  of  online 
electronic health records with the newest health data following hours or a few days of each new care 
episode and encounter with health professionals. Belgium should improve the range of data that is 
accessible so to assure that access to electronic health records with timely updated minimum set of 
health-related data stored in public and private electronic health-record (EHR) systems is provided.  

On secure online identification system, Belgium is also performing well with 70% of the population 
using one of the different solutions available. With the rollout of the Digital Minds declaration, the 
Federal government is aiming to have digital citizenship with access to all the online public services in 
Belgium. Belgium has three  eID means notified. The Belgian Citizen eCard and the Foreigner eCard 
are  notified  at  level  of  assurance  ‘high’  under  the  Belgian  eID  Scheme  FAS  /  eCards.  The  itsme® 
mobile  App  is  notified  at  level  of  assurance  ‘high’  under  the  Belgian  eID  Scheme  FAS  /  Itsme®. 
Belgium  is  involved  via  public  and  private  entities  in  three  large-scale  pilot  projects,  that  will  be 
funded under the Digital Europe Programme, with an overall grant request of over 1.1 million EUR. 
The  effectiveness  and  impact  of  the  considerable  investments  in  digital  public  services  stemming 
from the RRP could be increased by ensuring more complementarity in the accompanying measures 
that further strengthen the collaboration and alignment of the different administrative governments 
involved  to  further  improve  the  interoperability,  effectiveness  and  availability  of  online  public 
services.  

Best practice: Connectoo 

Connectoo is a free online training course that is accessible to anyone working in a federal, regional 
or municipal administration, regardless of their job.  The aim of the programme is to train and certify 
10 000  public  employees  in  Belgium  by  2030.  The  main  targets  of  such  training  are  public  service 
employees in direct contact with citizens and also public service employees involved in the design of 

 
 
 
 
34 

digital public services.  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Belgium 

Belgium  should  accelerate  its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  Belgium  should 
improve the range of data that is accessible to ensure that access to electronic health records with a 
timely  updated  minimum  set  of  health-related  data,  stored  in  public  and  private  electronic  health-
record  systems  is  provided.  It  should  further  strengthen  the  collaboration  and  alignment  of  the 
different administrative governments involved, to further improve the interoperability, effectiveness, 
and availability of online public services.   

 
 
 
 
 
35 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023  
Bulgaria 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Bulgaria 

 
 
 
 
 
 
36 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

Bulgaria  has  scope  to  improve  its  performance  in  the  digital  transition  and  to  contribute  to  the 
collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets.  While  Bulgaria  continues  to  perform 
well in connectivity both on very high-capacity network (VHCN) and fibre to the premises (FTTP), the 
uneven  distribution  of  digital  infrastructure  in  rural  areas  requires  further  attention.  Furthermore, 
the  uptake of  digital  public  services  is  still  low  and  targeted measures  are  needed,  in  particular  to 
minimise the administrative burden placed on companies. Significant efforts should be made in the 
promotion of digital skills. 

Bulgaria is collaborating with other Member States in exploring the possibility to set up a European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortium  (EDIC)  on  Genome,  to  enable  effective  and  secure  cross-border 
access to repositories of personal genomic datasets.  

Digital in Bulgaria’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The Bulgarian RRP amounts to EUR 6.27 billion. 25.8% of it (EUR 1.6 billion) is devoted to the digital 
transformation, of which EUR 1.01 billion is expected to contribute to the Digital Decade targets18. In 
the context of the first payment request, Bulgaria has achieved 11 milestones and targets. Several of 
them  were  related  to  measures  in  the  digital  area,  such  as  reducing  spectrum  fees,  legislative 
changes implementing recommendations under the Connectivity Toolbox, and awarding contracts to 
develop the TETRA system and radio relay network. Regarding the second payment request, Bulgaria 
is expected to achieve 66 milestones and targets out of the 346 in total in the Bulgarian plan.  

18  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
37 

1 Digital skills  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

Bulgaria 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

69% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills  NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

7% 

2020 

3.3% 

2020 

4.0% 

2019 

74% 

2021 

31% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

44% 

2021 

7% 

2020 

3.5% 

2021 

4.6% 

2020 

79% 

2022 

31% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

44% 

2021 

9% 

2022 

3.8% 

2022 

4.9% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Bulgaria is contributing only moderately to the Digital  Decade target in digital skills. Only 31% of 
people have at least basic digital skills, which is below the EU average of 54% and the lowest in the 
EU  which  is  a  risk  for  the  collective  Member  States’  achievement  of  the  EU  2030  targets.  The  gap 
with  the  EU  average  is  also  very  high  when  it  comes  to  people  with  above  basic  digital  skills  (8% 
compared to 26% at EU level). A good indicator which can lead to a wider use of technology in the 
country, is the rise of ICT trainings offered by enterprises, which is starting to increase compared to 
previous years. The country also scores low in people with at least basic digital content creation skills 
(44% compared to 66% at EU level).  

Bulgaria  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  that  can  contribute  to  increase  the  level  of 
basic digital skills targeting professionals and the education system. For example, the grant scheme 
‘Joint  actions  for  social  partners  for  the  development  of  digital  skills’  which  helps  various 
professionals  acquiring  digital  skills  still  runs  under  the  umbrella  of  Ministry  of  Labour  and  Social 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
38 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

initiative  to  support  gender  equality  and  anti-discriminatory  principles  are 
Policy.  Another 
established under the supervision of the National Strategy for the promotion of Equality of Women 
and Men. The educational programme ‘Education for tomorrow’, focused on ICT training, has been 
established  for  educators and  students  to  strengthen  their  digital  skills.  The  educational content  is 
provided  through  an  educational  platform,  free  of  charge.  More  than  800  teachers  and  5 200 
students have been trained in basic and advanced digital skills. Moreover, a new programme, ‘Rails 
Girls’  to  support  women  in  basic  digital  skills  has  been  adopted  in  2022.  Another  initiative  is  the 
‘Hello  Space’  festival  hosted  by  many  organisations  for  embracing  youth  in  science,  technology, 
engineering, arts  and mathematics (STEAM). Until July  2022 the two annual editions of the festival 
attracted over 3 000 people and millions of online participants. 

Bulgaria  is  working  together  with  other  Member  States  of  the  region  to  foster  cross-border 
collaboration to enhance the EU 2030 targets in digital skills. In this context, there is the national 
funder project Generation Z: Building up disinformation resilience of the leaders of tomorrow, which 
uses AI to detect false information spreading on social media. The Women in STEM is an Erasmus+ 
project that Bulgaria is participating in. The project value is EUR 250 000 and the scope is to build and 
support more women in pursuing a career in STEM. Since November 2022, a new initiative supported 
by the European Investment Bank, AI&I Factory, has aimed to deepen the knowledge of AI to youth 
in everyday life and help in experimentation on creating innovative ideas and attract more females in 
the tech industry. The initiative targeted 50 young participants, aged 18 – 30, from five universities 
who attended a series of lectures and mentoring sessions guided by mentors from the tech industry. 

The  country  has  a  low  share  of  ICT  specialists:  the  percentage  of  ICT  specialists  of  total 
employment  is  3.8%,  remaining  below  the  EU  average  (4.6%).  In  parallel,  only  9%  of  enterprises 
provide ICT training to their employees, 13 percentage points below the EU average. However, 4.9% 
of graduates are in ICT programmes, which is above the EU average. Bulgaria performs best in the EU 
as  regards  the  share  of  female  ICT specialists  at  28.9%,  against  an  EU  average  of  18.9%.  Bulgaria’s 
overall weak performance in ICT specialists available in the job market also has implications for the 
EU’s efforts to reach the DD target of 20 million ICT specialists19. 

Bulgaria is currently working on several programmes and initiatives to address this shortcoming.  

The  Human  Resources  Development  Programme  introduced  a  measure  providing  specific  ICT 
training  in  digital  skills  which  is  expected  to  contribute  to  the  Digital  Decade  target  for  ICT 
specialists.  The  programme  foresees  161 000  people  to  take  part  in  trainings  by  2029.  The  total 
budget of the measure is EUR 17.3 million. Another educational programme, KiTE Projects, focusing 
on young creators in STEM workshops, takes place every year with young participants from multiple 
Bulgarian  cities.  The  Bulgarian  National Platform  for Digital  Skills and  Jobs  provides  open  access  to 
high-quality resources for national policies in digital skills and good practices in the area of training in 
digital skills. 

ILIAD  is  a  Horizon  2020  project  in  which  Bulgaria  participates  and  will  equally  support  the 
development  of  advanced  digital  skills  by  sharing  technical  expertise  between  the  project 
members.  The  project  capitalises  on  the  expertise  and  the  advanced  computing  infrastructures 
available at the AI Laboratory in the Technical University of Varna. The initiative CloudEARTHi aims to 
build capacity for innovation across higher education institutions and businesses. The project has a 
total  budget  of  EUR  1.2  million  and  it  is  co-funded  by  the  European  Institute  of  Innovation  & 
Technology (EIT). 

19 Which corresponds to about 10% of total employment. 

 
 
 
 
39 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

Bulgaria  should  significantly  step  up  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digital  skills.  In  particular,  Bulgaria 
should  ensure  a  whole-of-government  approach  to  coordinate  more  effectively  and  efficiently  the 
development,  implementation,  and  evaluation  of  digital  education  policy  and  strengthen  the 
involvement  of relevant  stakeholders.  It should  step up  upskilling  and  reskilling  of  the  labour  force, 
including by mobilising EU funds or by using the European Technical Support Instrument to develop, 
deliver and evaluate programmes addressing specific adult learning needs20. 

20 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
40 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Bulgaria 

DESI 
2021 

20% 

2020 

0.4% 

2020 

75% 

2020 

75% 

2020 

60% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

25% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

30% 

2021 

0.6% 

2021 

81% 

2021 

81% 

2021 

73% 

2021 

40% 

2021 

25% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

39% 

2022 

0.8% 

2022 

86% 

2022 

86% 

2022 

73% 

2021 

67% 

2022 

63% 

2023 

Bulgaria  performs well in terms  of  VHCN  coverage  reaching 86%  and is  above  the  EU  average  of 
73%.  In  this  respect  Bulgaria  can  make  an  important  contribution  to  the  relevant  Digital  Decade 
target. Equally, the FTTP coverage is with 86% significantly above the EU average of 56%. Despite the 
impressive coverage, Bulgaria needs to make further efforts to boost take-up which remains low in 
particular for the at least 1Gbps broadband at 0.8% compared to the EU average of 13%.  

In terms of 5G, Bulgaria scores below the EU average in overall 5G coverage (67% vs 81%). Mobile 
broadband take-up remains at 73% below the EU average of 87%. During the reporting period, the 
National  Regulatory  Authority  issued  provisional  authorisations  to  three  major  mobile  network 
operators  (MNOs)  for  the  remaining  unassigned  5G bands,  apart  from  the 3.6  GHz  spectrum  band 
which  has  been  assigned  since  2021.  More  specifically,  in  sub-GHz  bands  a  3x20  MHz  has  been 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
41 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

assigned  in  the  700 MHz  band  and  3x20  MHz  has  been  assigned  in  the  800  MHz  band.  Under  the 
Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan,  Bulgarian  public  authorities  have  signed  an  agreement  with  the  Air 
Force to conduct test trials in 2023 in the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands to identify the impact of the 
transmissions on ground-based military radio navigation systems. 

Moreover, in the 26 GHz band the NRA has issued four authorisations for granting a total spectrum 
of 1.6 GHz to three undertakings for 5G network deployment. Furthermore, in 2022 a procedure was 
carried out to assign additional spectrum in the 1800 MHz band and the NRA issued authorisation to 
three undertakings to use 2 x 20 MHz each and a total wireless spectrum allocation of 120 MHz. 

For  the  first  half  of  2022  the  take-up  of  mobile  broadband  in  terms  of  number  of  subscribers  has 
increased  by  3%.  However,  most  of  the  subscribers  (65%)  are  subscribed  mainly  to  4G  mobile 
services. 

In  terms  of  market  developments,  one  of  the  MNOs  active  in  Bulgaria,  has  completed  an  upgrade 
towards a fully autonomous 5G network. The new network will offer higher capacity, higher speeds 
and reduced latency. In October 2022, a 5G product test laboratory has been set up to shorten the 
production time and the overall time-to-market of optical cables and components for communication 
networks which are built in Sofia.  

In  2022,  the  European  Electronic  Communications  Code  transposition  has  been  finalised  and 
Bulgaria notified it as complete. As part of this process, measures were taken to address universal 
access  for  people  with  disabilities  and  make  it  more  affordable  for  people  with  low  income.  With 
regard to regulated access, the NRA has adopted a Decision in June 2022 for the definition, analysis 
and assessment of the wholesale market.  

The  telecom  sector  in  Bulgaria  has  green  policies  which  are  reviewed  and  updated  at  an  annual 
basis to stay aligned with the EU sustainability goals. To improve the environmental footprint and 
the energy consumption of electronic communication networks, Bulgaria promotes the deployment 
of  fibre  cables  in  public  sector  buildings  to  replace  less  energy  efficient  copper  cables.  All  telecom 
operators are committed to decrease their carbon footprint and gradually switch to clean energy and 
renewable  sources.  For  example,  one  operator  announced  plans  to  invest  in  solar  and  wind 
renewable energy. The park includes a 70 MW wind farm capable of producing 230 MWh per year 
and 40 MW photovoltaic park with expected production of 68 KWh per year. The renewable energy 
plant  is  expected  to  be  fully  operational  in  2023.  The  NRA  adopted  rules  to  increase  the  security 
standards  of  networks  and  services.  The  new  rules  are  aligned  with  measures  from  the  5G 
Cybersecurity Toolbox. 

In  2022,  the  Ministry  of  Innovation  and  Growth  (MIG)  established  a  Working  Group  on 
Semiconductors  (WGS)  with  representatives  from  the  public  administration,  non-government 
associations and universities. The working group will consult and support MIG’s activities in making 
semiconductors a strategic asset for the industrial value chain in Bulgaria. Experts in the group will be 
able to share good practices and know-how towards the preparation and implementation of public 
policies in the field of microelectronics by facilitating pro-active exchange of information on the state 
of the ecosystem, raising awareness and optimising cooperation. With the help of stakeholders, MIG 
will be able to better map potential short and long term opportunities and risks in the field and thus, 
support the industry development in the country. 

Bulgaria is an active EU player in the field of high-performance computing (HPC). In the Action Plan 
for  the  implementation  of  the  National  development  programme  BULGARIA  2030  for  the  period 
2022  -  2024  as  part  of  the  EuroHPC  Joint  Undertaking  (JU)  in  the  period  2021  -  2026,  Bulgaria  is 
developing a world-class supercomputer named ’Discoverer’ that was inaugurated in October 2021 
with  funding  from  a  joint  investment  of  about  EUR  11.5  million  from  the  EuroHPC  JU.  The  new 

 
 
 
42 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

supercomputer, hosted in the ‘Sofia Tech Park’, is capable of executing more than 6 petaflops peak 
performance.  The  main  objective  of  the  Discoverer  is  to  stimulate  industry  and  scientific  research 
with modelling and optimisations in multiple scientific fields, such as pharmaceuticals, bioinformatics 
and  climate.  In  addition,  in  the  framework  of  EuroHPC  JU,  Bulgaria  has  also  established  a  national 
HPC  competence  centre,  coordinated  by  the  Institute  of  Information  and  Communication 
Technologies at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IICT-BAS). 

In  2021,  Bulgaria  has  been  a  member  of  a  project  funded  under  the  Digital  Europe  Programme 
(DEP)  for  the  design  of  a  national  plan  in  quantum  communications  infrastructure  (QCI)  in  the 
context of the EuroQCI. The project will deploy quantum key distribution systems to develop secure 
networks. Three Bulgarian ministries will participate in the QCI network deployed between the city of 
Sofia,  Kulata  and  also  a  border  city  in  Greece  and  the  pilot  project  will  foster  training  to  public 
authorities,  industry  and  research  staff.  Bulgaria’s  national  QCI  plan  is  expected  to  boost 
technological developments in the field of quantum communications and cybersecurity. In quantum 
communication,  Bulgaria  is  therefore  expected  to  contribute  to  the  Digital  Decade  goal  of  Europe 
being at the cutting edge of quantum technologies by 2030.  

Bulgaria  has  also  been  active  in  the  implementation  of  blockchain  infrastructure  in  the  public 
sector  services  and  EU  cross-border  services.  In  2023,  Bulgaria  will  start  pilot  projects  under  the 
European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).  

Bulgaria should accelerate its efforts on connectivity infrastructure, in particular by taking measures 
to incentivise the take up of gigabit connectivity and accelerate 5G rollout.   
Measures taken by Bulgaria in the field of semiconductors and quantum computing should continue 
in order to help the EU become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
43 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud21 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Bulgaria 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

23% 

2019 

10% 

2019 

6% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

10% 

2020 

8% 

2020 

3% 

2020 

3% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

22% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

6% 

2020 

10% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

10% 

2020 

10% 

2021 

4% 

2021 

4% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

47% 

2022 

22% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

6% 

2020 

10% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

10% 

2020 

11% 

2022 

5% 

2022 

4% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

21 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
44 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

The level of digitalisation of businesses in Bulgaria is well below the EU average and far away from 
the Digital Decade target. 47% of SMEs have at least a basic level of digital intensity; 6% enterprises 
use big data versus 14% on average in the EU. The adoption of cloud and AI in enterprises amounts 
to one third of the EU average and therefore needs to be stepped up in order to contribute to the 
Digital Decade ambition. 

Bulgaria  has  also  introduced  measures  to  underpin the  Digital Decade  target  of  more  than  90%  of 
Union’s  SMEs  reaching  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital  intensity,  such  as  the  ’technological 
modernisation’ grant scheme under the RRP which is announced by the Ministry of Innovation and 
has  a  total  financial  allocation  of  EUR  132.7  million.  The  main  objective  of  this  measure  is  the 
digitalisation  of  the  manufacturing  process  in  view  of  expanding  the  production  capacity  and  the 
diversification of products and services. More than 900 Bulgarian enterprises were already supported 
by the grant scheme with a total of BGN 246 million.  

Another  initiative  of  MIG  which  supports  digital  transformation  of  the  business  sector  is  the  grant 
scheme ’Solutions in the field of information and communication technologies and cyber security in 
small  and  medium-sized  enterprises’  which  is  another  RRP  measure  with  an  aim  to  accelerate  the 
transition  to  the  digitalisation  of  the  economy.  The  total  budget  of  this  RRP  measure  is 
EUR 15.6 million and over 1 500 SMEs are expected to be supported under the scheme. In a similar 
direction,  the  promotion  of  Industry  4.0  standards  and  the  implementation  of  cybersecurity 
processes  in  SMEs  is  the  specific  objective  of  the  Competitiveness  and  Innovation  in  Enterprises 
programme 2021 – 2027 which is funded under ERDF with a budget of EUR 194.2 million. 

 
 
 
 
 
45 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

Moreover, the MIG has existing measures for digitalisation of SMEs and foreseen some new ones 
in 2023. For example, the establishment of the national network of European Digital Innovation Hubs 
(EDIHs)  which  provides  funding  to  Bulgarian  SMEs  to  foster  digitalisation  of  their  manufacturing 
processes  and  creating  products  and  services  based  on  digital  technologies.  Bulgaria  has  4  EDIHs 
funded by Digital Europe under a co-financing mechanism of 50% to support national projects. Eight 
additional  EDIHs  have  received  the  Seal  of  Excellence  and  are  foreseen  to  be  funded  by  ERDF 
programme  ’Research,  Innovation  and  Digitalization for  smart  transformation 2021-2027  (PRIDST)’, 
for example, the grant scheme ‘Development of innovations in enterprises’ with EUR 64.9 million and 
the grant scheme ‘Implementation of innovations in enterprises’ with EUR 150 million, respectively. 
Their objective is to facilitate growth of innovative SMEs and to boost the innovation and investment 
activity of Bulgarian businesses. Additional resources in this area are also envisaged to be provided 
under  the  form  of  financial  instruments  more  specifically  to  provide  access  to  venture  capital 
investments in innovative enterprises. 

Finally,  Bulgaria  has  endorsed  cross-border  synergies  towards  facilitating  digital  transformation  of 
businesses.  Such  a  project  is  the  ‘Ecologically  Viable  Business  Innovation’  which  is  currently  being 
implemented. The project has a budget of EUR 237 000 and entails the development of digital skills 
on eco-friendly business models and the digital transformation of businesses. 

Bulgaria  has  introduced  several  measures,  including  regulatory  measures,  to  contribute  to  the 
Digital  Decade  target  of  at  least  75%  of  Union  enterprises  having  taken  up  cloud  computing 
services, big data or artificial intelligence. Bulgaria started developing several data spaces and data 
platforms. As an example of data spaces, in November 2022, the first Urban Data Space was officially 
launched.  The  space  allows  organisations  to  share  and  access  data  for  developing  new  business 
products  and  improving  urban  services.  Regarding  data  platforms,  the  iSofMap  is  an  application 
providing  services  in  the  field  of  geodesy,  cadastre,  urban  planning  and  geographic  information 
system. It is a commercial company owned by the Sofia Municipality. In April 2022, the institute for 
Computing  Artificial  Intelligence  and  Technologies  INSAIT  was  established  in  Sofia’s  University  and 
has  created  partnerships  with  other  leading  institutes  worldwide.  Bulgaria  supports  it  with  nearly 
EUR 100 million  for a period of 10 years with a goal to create a leading technology institute in the 
country and stimulate innovation in the economy. 

In  March  2022,  Bulgaria  has  managed  to  attract  investments  for  the  first  unicorn  company 
(Payhawk). Bulgaria has developed a dynamic start-up ecosystem with over 1 600 companies which 
offer  20%  of  the  total  start-up  jobs  market  in  south-east  Europe.  Overall,  the  developments  have 
fostered  links  with  the  local  market  and  the  research  community  and  show  uptake  of  digital 
technologies and jobs growth. 

Bulgaria  should  significantly  step  up  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses,  in 
particular, it should take further action towards increasing overall digital intensity in SMEs as well as 
the adoption of cloud computing services, big data and artificial intelligence. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
46 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Bulgaria 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

59 

2021 

76 

2021 

58 

2021 

51 

2021 

78 

2021 

94 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

32% 

2022 

60 

2022 

81 

2022 

64 

2022 

51 

2022 

82 

2022 

95 

2022 

77 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
47 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

There is significant room for improvement for Bulgaria on digital public services, also with regard 
to  its  contribution  to  the  EU  2030  targets.  The  country  scores  60  in  the  digital  public  services  for 
citizens which is below the EU average (77), but is close to the EU average on digital public services 
for  businesses  (81 compared to 84 in the  EU average).  Only 32% of internet users  are  accessing  e-
Government services in Bulgaria, whereas the EU average is 74%. In transparency of service delivery 
and  personal  data,  the  country  scores  51  out  of  65  in  the  EU  average  demonstrating  that  further 
effort  is  necessary  also  in  these  aspects.  Nevertheless,  Bulgaria  scores  highly  on  the  mobile 
friendliness  score  (95)  which  is  already  above  the  EU  average  (93).  Moreover,  the  country  is 
developing a mobile application Civi that tackles the communication and complaints from citizens to 
municipalities for urban issues that can further improve its performance. 

There are several ongoing initiatives in Bulgaria to foster progress in the dimension of digital public 
services. For example, the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria has provided electronic services for access of 
judicial  decisions  and  has  set  up  an  electronic  register  for  certain  administrative  procedures.  The 
implementation is scheduled to be completed by end of 2023 and the total budget is BGN 431 661. 

Moreover, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works is implementing a unified public 
register for spatial planning. The project is planned to be completed in Q3 2023, it has a total budget 
of BGN 3 million and it is co-financed at 85% from the European Social Fund (ESF). 

Bulgaria  focuses  on  data  as  a  crucial  capital  of  society  with  the  strategy  for  a  data-driven 
governance  under  the  national  framework  of  digital  transformation  of  the  public  services  in 
managing  and  operating the  public  data spaces.  In this  context,  a single web-based  platform (one-
stop-shop)  for  data  access  within  the  national  ecosystem  is  currently  being  developed.  In  this 
direction, a total of EUR 75 million under PRIDST will be targeted toward digital transformation of the 

 
 
 
 
 
48 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

public  sector  and  development  of  data  spaces  in  priority  sectors  of  high  public  interest  and 
importance. 

Bulgaria  has  not  yet  notified  the  Eurotrust  scheme,  a  pre-notification  process  was  carried  out, 
within which a peer review was carried out. An application for notification of the scheme has been 
submitted, and the procedure has not been completed. 

At the moment, the Ministry of eGovernment’s (MEU) mobile application for electronic identification 
and electronic signature, BGID, is not implemented, and the process has been stopped with a view to 
making a decision. 

Bulgaria has set cybersecurity as a priority axis and therefore aims to improve the national capacity 
and  adapt  the  competent  authorities  to  constantly  track  cybersecurity  risks  and  threats.  The 
establishment of a Secure Shared Information Space for E-Government (SSISG) is planned to ensure 
centralised  intelligent  management  of  information  resources  in  public  administrations.  A  specific 
project  is currently under implementation until October 2023 to support municipal administrations 
with providing cybersecurity expertise.  Bulgaria is participating in a Horizon 2020 project  (Aviation, 
Naval and Power-grid environments - FORESIGHT) with a consortium partner, the national Computer 
Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-BG)  for  training  and  preparedness  on  cybersecurity  attacks  in 
aviation, naval and power-grid environments. The project has a duration of three years and a budget 
of EUR 7.3 million. 

Bulgaria fosters the project for Development and Implementation of National Health Information 
System  (NHIS)  which  will  include  e-health  records,  e-prescription  and  a  set  of  other  relevant 
services. The objective is for all people to have access to their personal e-health records through a 
single web portal and access will also be provided to authorised medical staff. Since September 2022, 
there is also an accompanying mobile application for accessing personal e-health records available in 
the  NHIS.  The  mobile  application  provides  also  personalised  notifications,  such  as  for  scheduled 
doctor appointments. Bulgaria performs above average on providing access to e-health records with 
a score of 77 compared to the EU average of 71. However, more effort is required to reach the EU 
2030 target of 100. 

In July 2022, Bulgaria adopted a national plan for the Open Governance Partnership Initiative and 
among the 14 commitments, five are directly linked to digital citizenship. One of the measures of 
the national plan refers to the implementation, until the end of 2024, of an effective public dialogue 
for  the  development  of  common  standards  in  the  use  of  artificial  intelligence  in  the  digitalisation 
process in order to ensure guarantees of equal access and respect for human rights. 

Bulgaria has established an ICT Community Advisory which will explore interactions with all relevant 
stakeholders to collect feedback from industry organisations in all areas of digital transformation and 
support the ministries in policy making. 

The  State  Agency  for  Child  Protection  has  issued  guidelines,  together  with  other  government 
agencies, on how children can be protected from online dangers and actively promotes the use of 
the national child help line number. Various dissemination events for child safety took place in 2022. 

Best practice: Genome Digital Infrastructure (GDI) 

As  of  November  2022,  Bulgaria  is  a  partner  of  the  Genome  Digital  Infrastructure  (GDI)  project 
which  kicked-off  in  November  2022.  The  project  will  establish  the  framework  for  collection  of 
genomic data to be  used under research in healthcare. The database will serve  for prevention and 
treatment for many diseases, such as diabetes and cancer.  

Moreover,  Bulgaria  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  on  a  proposal  for  a  Genome  EDIC, 

 
 
 
 
49 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Bulgaria 

which supports the 1+ Million Genomes initiative and its European Genomic Data Infrastructure and 
seeks  to  establish  a  trust  framework  to  enable  the  effective  and  secure  cross-border  access  to 
repositories of personal genomic datasets among participating countries.  

The duration of the project is 48 months. The participation of Bulgaria has contributed positively to 
the creation and development of the European Health Data Space. 

Bulgaria  should  accelerate  its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  raise 
awareness of its public services being available online to all internet users. 

 
 
 
 
 
50 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023  

Cyprus 

 
 
 
  
 
51 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

Cyprus has untapped digital potential to contribute further to the collective efforts to achieve the 
EU’s Digital Decade targets. The country has taken a number of steps towards improving its digital 
performance and recently established the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy 
(DMRID)  with  a  central coordination  role  for  the  implementation of the  Digital  Strategy  for  Cyprus 
2020-2025,  which  is  broadly  aligned  with  the  Digital  Decade  Policy  Programme.  Progress  is  not 
distributed  evenly  across  the  different  aspects  of  the  Digital  Decade.  Cyprus  is  progressing  well  in 
digital skills, but  more efforts  are  needed on the digitalisation of the public sector in particular for 
citizens, and on connectivity. 

Cyprus is collaborating with other Member States  in exploring the possibility to set up  a European 
Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) on establishing the European Cybersecurity Skills Academy. 

Digital in Cyprus’ Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Cyprus’ RRP devotes EUR 282.2 million (23%) to the digital transition; from that EUR 261.9 million are 
expected to contribute to the Digital Decade targets22 

On  25  October  2022,  the  European  Commission  endorsed  a  positive  assessment  of  Cyprus'  first 
payment request for EUR 85 million (EUR 97 million if prefinancing is included) in grants. All the 14 
milestones  related  to  the  first  instalment  were  satisfactory  fulfilled.  Few  digital  milestones  were 
included in this request: for example, the digitalisation in central government and the e-skills Action 
Plan. 

Further milestones and targets are also expected to contribute to fulfil the Digital Decade targets in 
the coming years, for example measures to expand very high capacity networks, create a regulatory 
sandbox to enable fintech and implement a new cloud policy for government IT systems and services 
relevant for digitalisation of public services. 

22  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of  RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
52 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

1 Digital skills   

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

25% 

2020 

3.1% 

2020 

2.9% 

2019 

Cyprus 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

91% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

91% 

2021 

50% 

2021 

21% 

2021 

60% 

2021 

25% 

2020 

3.9% 

2021 

2.7% 

2020 

89% 

2022 

50% 

2021 

21% 

2021 

60% 

2021 

28% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

2.8% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

In 2022, several initiatives to support digital skills development were ongoing under the umbrella of 
the National Digital Skills Action Plan 2021-2025. Cyprus’ objective, with the support of the Recovery 
and  Resilience  Facility  (RRF),  is  to  improve  digital  skills  development  in  all  population  groups, 
including  upskilling  and  reskilling  the  workforce.  Digital  education  and  skills  for  all  are  one  of  the 
country’s  main  priorities.  Cyprus  recognises  the  importance  of  analysing  business  needs  for  digital 
skills, and academic programmes to match the needs of the economy.  

In Cyprus only 50% of the population have at least basic digital skills, which is 4 percentage points 
below the EU average. However, the share of ICT specialists in employment increased significantly 
in  2022  to  reach  the  EU  average  of  4.6%.  Moreover,  at  21.6%,  the  share  of  women  among  ICT 
specialists is higher than the EU average of 18.9%. Cyprus shows commitment to contributing to the 
collective  effort  to  achieve  the  Digital  Decade  target  on  ICT  specialists.  However,  some  challenges 
remain  such  as  the  low  percentage  of  ICT  graduates  and  the  insufficient  match  between  the 
academic  courses  available  and  the  need  for  ICT  specialists  on  the  labour  market.  ICT  graduates 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

account  for  2.8%  of  graduates  in  Cyprus,  compared  to  the  EU  average  of  4.2%.  Cyprus  performs 
above the EU average on the share of enterprises providing ICT training, at 28% compared to the EU 
average of 22%.  

Cyprus  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  that  could  help  strengthen  the  digital  fitness 
and  capacity  of  people  across  the  whole  demographics,  social  and  economic  spectrum.  The 
National  Digital  Skills  Action  Plan  2021-2025  contains  a  plethora  of  measures  to  help  enhance  the 
population's digital skills. The plan takes into consideration the Digital Decade targets for digital skills. 
It  serves  as  an  umbrella  document,  taking  into  account  other  sector-specific  strategies  like  the 
lifelong  learning  strategy  developed  by  the  Ministry  of  Education  and  the  National  Cybersecurity 
strategy developed by the Digital Security Authority (DSA). The plan worth EUR 24 million covers all 
relevant training provided at national level, including training provided by: (i) the Cyprus Productivity 
Centre (CPC) for the general public; (ii) the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy 
(DMRID), and the Cyprus Academy of Public Administration (CAPA) for public administrations; (iii) the 
Human  Resources  Development  Authority  (HRDA)  for  the  private-sector  workforce;  and  (iv)  the 
Ministry  of  Education  for  the  academy  and  other  educational  systems.  Through  the  RRF,  the 
government  is  planning  to  equip  at  least  700  schools  with  hardware  and  other  materials  for 
improving students’ digital skills and to create the e-classroom.  

Cyprus  Digital  Skills  and  Jobs  Coalition  is  an  important  leverage  for  upskilling  and  overall  digital 
inclusion.  In  2023,  the  government  relaunched  the  National  Coalition,  which  was  put  on  hold  in 
2022. Numerous organisations from the public and private sector and the academia will participate 
in  this  initiative.  Cyprus  Digital  Skills  and  Jobs  Coalition  platform,  supported  by  the  Connecting 
Europe Facility instrument, will serve as a hub for enhancing collaboration between all participating 
stakeholders and for sharing best practices and digital skills trainings. The platform will include a list 
of  available  training  opportunities  from  all  coalition members  and  a  self-assessment tool  to  assess 
people’s  digital  skills.  It  will  also  provide  suggestions  on  specific  training  materials  based  on 
participants’ digital skills levels. 

In  the  public  sector  under  the  European  Social  Fund  Plus  (ESF+)  funding  instrument,  CAPA  is 
implementing  a  series  of  training  programmes  on  digital  skills,  from  basic  to  advanced  level.  A 
dedicated survey had identified the key digital skills needed. Based on this, more than 13 000 training 
needs were identified in 90 public organisations in fields ranging from cybersecurity to social media. 
In  2022,  more  than  3 000  civil  servants  participated  in  the  training  programmes  which  will  be 
available to other public servants throughout 2023. The training on cybersecurity at a basic level will 
begin in 2023. The estimated number of participants is around 2 500 public servants. 

Cyprus’s  digital  transition  objective is  to  include  everyone  in this  journey.  The  CPC  is  planning  to 
scaleup trainings for people aged over 55 and other vulnerable groups (e.g., people in remote areas, 
people with disabilities). In 2022, Cyprus piloted 70 training programmes attended by more than 800 
people. In 2023-2025, it plans to make over 450 training programmes available to everyone covering 
several  areas  (e.g.,  use  of  smart  devices,  use  of  e-government  services,  cybersecurity,  digital 
marketing).  The  DMRID  funds  the  development  of  the  training  courses  in  consultation  with  social 
partners.  

The  Human  Resources  Development  Authority  provides  employed  and  unemployed  people  with 
training opportunities. From 2019 to 2022, the authority provided 675 training programmes to more 
than  5 500  employed  people  and  127  programmes  for  more  than  300  unemployed  people.  The 
authority, in line with the RRP, will also provide training for reskilling and upskilling the population’s 
digital  skills  for  2023-2026.  There  are  also  dedicated  training  programmes  and  supporting 
mechanisms  for  unemployed  people, students,  and women who experience difficulties  in finding a 
job. 

 
 
 
54 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

The government systematically monitors and analyses long-term trends in the labour market and 
predicts  the  quantitative  needs  and  the  knowledge  and  skills  required.  In  this  vein,  the  HRDA 
developed a study to provide forecasts for both the demand and the supply of labour in the Cypriot 
economy for 2022-2032. Demand forecasts are provided for 52 sectors of economic activity and 309 
occupations,  while  supply  forecasts  are  provided  for  the  economy  as  a  whole,  by  gender  and  by 
education level. Furthermore, the DMRID has completed a dedicated survey among the members of 
the Cyprus Information Technology Enterprises Association (CITEA) on ICT roles & skills. The results 
will  contribute  to  additional  curricula  for  training  programmes  to  be  launched  in  2023,  under  the 
RRP. 

Cyprus should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills, putting a special focus  on training 
people over 55 and other vulnerable people should contribute to improving the overall level of digital 
skills of the population. Building on the Year of skills, targeted actions for awareness raising on the 
training courses available for the population is necessary to meet the Digital Decade objectives and 
targets23.  

23 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Cyprus 

DESI 
2021 

3% 

2020 

<0.1% 

2020 

26% 

2020 

26% 

2020 

84% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

67% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

26% 

2021 

0.2% 

2021 

41% 

2021 

41% 

2021 

91% 

2021 

75% 

2021 

67% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

44% 

2022 

0.9% 

2022 

60% 

2022 

60% 

2022 

91% 

2021 

100% 

2022 

67% 

2023 

In connectivity, Cyprus’s plans for a comprehensive roll-out of fixed and mobile networks, together 
with  plans  to  promote  fixed  VHCN  take-up  have  started  to  show  first  results.  In  the  reporting 
period,  impressive  progress  was  made  in  both  fields.  The  progress  made  in  very  high  capacity 
network  (VHCN)  coverage  in  Cyprus  over  the  last  year  is  substantial,  with  a  19  percentage  point 
increase to 60% coverage in 2022, reducing the gap to the EU average (73%) to only 13 percentage 
points. At the same time Cyprus is performing well on FTTP coverage, with 60%, higher than the EU 
average of 56%. The Cypriot authorities are making use of RRF funds to make further advancements 
in this area, which are especially necessary in rural areas, so as to achieve its national target for rural 
coverage as well as the Digital Decade target for gigabit coverage. It is planned that EUR 35 million 
will  be  drawn  from  the  RRF  to  expand  VHCN  in  underserved  areas.  This  will  take  place  once  the 
groundworks has been laid with the launch of a geographical survey. Another preparatory measure 
will  be  to  identify  and  address  bottlenecks  and  barriers  to  the  rapid  deployment  of  VHCN.  These 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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reforms should be finalised by the second quarter of 2024, so that investment in expansion can build 
on  the  outcome  of  the  reforms.  The  reform  and  subsequent  investment  should  provide  at  least 
44 000  premises  in  areas  of  no  interest  to  private  investors  with  VHCN  fixed  or  mobile  network 
coverage, provided in the case of fixed coverage, that the network is readily upgradable to gigabit. 

Cyprus  has  also  introduced  plans  to  increase  the  take-up  of  VHCN.  Following  the  pilot  subsidy 
voucher  scheme  in  2019,  the  government  has  launched  a  new  investment  scheme  to  incentivise 
take-up of gigabit connectivity under the national RRP. While the number of households opting for a 
connection  of  at  least  100  Mbps  has  increased  from  26%  in  2021  to  44%  in  2022,  the  take-up  of 
gigabit connections (0.9%) still lags behind the EU average of 13.8% in 2022. In December 2022, the 
Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, a EUR 12 million Cypriot voucher scheme. The new 
voucher  scheme  will  offer  households,  without  a  subscription  to  a  connection  providing  at  least  a 
100 Mbps  download  speed,  a  voucher of  EUR 120  to  cover  part  of the  set-up  cost  and the  first  12 
months of the monthly subscription for a connection  with a download speed of at least 200 Mbps. 
The scheme is set to run from 2023 to 2025 and is expected to benefit around 82 000 households. 

Contrary to its original 2021-2025 national broadband plan, the government has decided no longer to 
financially support the deployment of a submarine cable connection between Cyprus and Greece as 
the  private  sector  is  now  planning  to  establish  a  connection  between  Cyprus  and  Greece,  with  a 
contribution  from  the  Cypriot  incumbent  operator.  That  same  operator  started  operating  the 
‘ARSINOE’ submarine cable system in March 2022, connecting Cyprus with France and Egypt.  

Roll-out of 5G in Cyprus took place swiftly after the allocation of the relevant spectrum bands at 
the beginning of 2021. All four mobile operators were awarded a portion of the spectrum in the 700 
MHz and 3.4-3.8 GHz bands. Two years after the allocation, Cyprus now has nationwide 5G coverage. 
This contributes not only to the Digital Decade target on 5G coverage, but also to the national target 
to  cover  the  entire  population  living  in  organised  communities  and  all  transport  paths  with  5G. 
However, the 26 GHz band has not yet been allocated due to lack of market interest, according to a 
public consultation that took place in 2019. There has been no further public consultation since 2019, 
however. 

In terms of resilience, Cyprus’ Digital Security Authority has issued specific secondary legislation for 
providers  of  electronic  communications  services  and  networks.  This  legislation  sets  increased 
security  standards  for  these  providers  including  additional  provisions  on  general  electronic 
communications. In addition, there is specific legislation fully covering implementation of the EU 5G 
Toolbox.  The  Digital  Security  Authority  (DSA),  together  with  the  national  regulatory  authority,  has 
also submitted a proposal for the MCP 5G-TACTIC focusing on 5G network  cybersecurity and trust, 
bringing together the relevant authorities from three EU countries. The project approved for funding 
in the Digital Europe Programme will start soon. It aims to develop secure, open, dissaggregated and 
interoperable 5G solutions to support an open and competitive 5G European ecosystem. 5G-TACTIC 
technical  activities  include  the  development  of  a  5G  Cybersecurity  toolbox,  extensive  security 
analysis,  evaluation,  testing  and  relevant  mitigation  measures  for  the  5G  solution.  The  planned 
activities  also  involve  piloting,  integration,  and  evaluation  of  multi-vendor  open  5G  solutions 
considering  security  aspects.  In  addition,  the  project  will  carry  out  training  activities  addressing 
technical  and  security  audiences  as  well  as  European  regulatory  and  cybersecurity  authorities. 
Moreover,  the  DSA  is  participating  in  several  other  EU-funded  projects,  and  as  a  result,  Cyprus  is 
steadily improving its cybersecurity capacity at the national level. 

As  regards  advanced  digital  infrastructure,  Cyprus’  contribution  to  the  Digital  Decade  targets  is 
currently limited in scope. It reported no activity in the field of edge node development during the 
reporting  period.  In  cutting-edge  semiconductors,  Cyprus  is  among  the  Member  States  that  have 
signed the  joint  declaration  on  the  next-generation of processors and semiconductor technologies. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

However,  the  country’s  contribution  to  the  production  value  in  semiconductors  is  limited.  Cyprus 
expressed its availability and willingness to contribute to the EU's security of supply, resilience and 
technological  leadership  in  semiconductor  technologies  and  applications  through  the  recently 
announced  European  Chips  Act,  and  the  work  of  the  ‘Semiconductor  Expert  Group’  and  of  the 
forthcoming ‘Semiconductor Board’. 

Cyprus  is  active  in  the  field  of  quantum  computing.  In  partnership  with  the  Centre  for  Quantum 
Technology  and  Applications  Deutsches  Elektronen-Synchrotron  (DESY),  the  Cyprus  Institute  is 
coordinating the Quantum computing for Excellence in Science and Technology project funded by the 
EU. The project aims  to  provide  training  in the use of quantum computing  for academics, research 
institutions  and  industry.  The  project  was  launched  in  January  2023  and  will  run  for  5  years  (total 
funding  EUR 2.5  million).  In  addition,  the  Cyprus  Quantum  Communication  Infrastructure  (CYQCI) 
project  aims to be  the first  on  deployment of quantum communications in Cyprus, introducing the 
technology  to  the  island  and  laying  the  foundations  for  the  country’s  active  participation  in  the 
European  Quantum  Communication  Infrastructure  (EuroQCI).  The  project  started  in  January  2023 
and will run for 36 months (total budget of EUR 7.5 million). 

Since 2019, the country  has participated in the European High Performance Computing (EuroHPC 
JU).  It  has  appointed  members  to  its  Governing  Board,  and  is  co-funding  the  operation  of  the 
national HPC competence centre (NCC) with EUR 2 million for the two years from 2020 to 2022 under 
the EuroCC project. The NCC is coordinated by the Cyprus Institute’s Computation-based Science and 
Technology  Research  Centre  (CaSToRC).  The  role  of  the  NCC  is  to  provide  technical  support  and 
promote HPC for research and commercial use. The EuroCC project was successfully carried out by 
CaSToRC and the second phase (i.e. EuroCC2) will be implemented from 2023 to 2025, with budget of 
EUR 2 million (via 2021-2027 European Structural and Investment Funds). The focus of EuroCC2 is to 
provide technical support to the  Cyprus computational community, with  a strong  focus  on  training 
and industry. 

Cyprus  should  accelerate  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure,  notably  on  fixed  very  high 
capacity  networks.  Moreover,  Cyprus  should  regularly  assess  emerging  market  demand  for  the 
remaining unassigned spectrum in the 26GHz band in order to assign it when the demand emerges 
under conditions conducive to investment.  

Measures taken by Cyprus in the field of digital infrastructures, in particular, in semiconductors and 
quantum computing, should continue in order to help the EU become a strong market player in these 
areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud24 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Cyprus 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

33% 

2019 

38% 

2019 

6% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

13% 

2020 

15% 

2020 

5% 

2020 

9% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

34% 

2021 

42% 

2021 

6% 

2020 

42% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

13% 

2020 

17% 

2021 

5% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

70% 

2022 

34% 

2021 

42% 

2021 

6% 

2020 

42% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

13% 

2020 

20% 

2022 

7% 

2022 

8% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

24 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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In  2022,  Cyprus  put  forward  initiatives  for  increasing  the  uptake  of  emerging  technologies  in 
enterprises  in  line  with  the  New  Cyprus  Industrial  Strategy  Policy  and  the  objectives  set  up  in  the 
RRP.  Subsidy  schemes  have  been  launched  to  support  the  SMEs’  digital  transition  and  innovative 
start-ups.  In  addition,  Cyprus  aims to  increase  the  adoption  rate of  digital  production  systems and 
applications  and  encourage  the  setting-up  of  smart  factories  and  the  use  of  cutting-edge  and 
emerging technologies and digital services infrastructures, thus reinforcing the country’s transition to 
Industry 4.0. 

On the Digitalisation of businesses, at 70% the share of SMEs in Cyprus with at least a basic level of 
digital intensity is above the EU average of 69%, making a positive contribution to the EU’s Digital 
Decade target of having 90% of SMEs in Europe with at least a basic level of digital intensity. 34% of 
enterprises in Cyprus take advantage of technology capabilities by sharing information electronically, 
below the EU average of 38%, while 42% use social media, above the EU average of 29%. At 20%, the 
share  of  SMEs  selling  online  is  slightly  above  the  EU  average  of  19%.  However,  Cyprus  is 
underperforming  on  e-commerce  turnover,  which  accounts  for  just  7% of  total  corporate  turnover 
(compared with an EU average of 11%). On the use of advanced digital technologies, the situation is 
mixed  with  42%  of  enterprises  using  cloud  services  in  2021,  8  percentage  points  above  the  EU 
average  of  34%.  However,  in  2020,  only  6%  of  enterprises  in  Cyprus  were  using  big-data  analysis 
(below the EU average of 14%) and only 3% use AI (below the EU average of 8%).  

In 2022, the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry launched several funding programmes for 
facilitating  businesses’  digital  transition.  One  of  these  programmes  is  the  ‘Digital  Upgrade  of 
Enterprises’  part  of  2021-2027  THALIA  programme,  with  a  total  budget  of  EUR 20  million.  In 
November 2022, a first call for proposals was launched (budget EUR 10 million) aimed at encouraging 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Cyprus 

investments in digital entrepreneurship and strengthening the integration of digital technologies by 
businesses. The second call was launched in March 2023 (with an additional RPP budget of EUR 10 
million) and a third call is scheduled for the third quarter of 2024. In total, the funding programme 
will make EUR 30 million available. The first call resulted in awareness-raising activities, a landscaping 
of  the  digital  roadmap,  and  activities  to  facilitate  and  promote  SMEs’  investment  in  digital 
transformation.  The  programme  is  open  to  existing  SMEs  wanting  to  invest  in  digital  upgrading 
(including  e-commerce)  and  new  SMEs  planning  to  invest  in  e-commerce  or  on-line  store  or  the 
application of advanced digital technologies. 

In June 2022, the ‘Cyprus DIGital INNovation Hub’ (DiGiNN) was selected for funding as a European 
Digital  Innovation  Hub  (EDIH).  DiGiNN  is  a  strategic  partnership  in  the  fields  of  high  technology, 
research,  and  entrepreneurship.  Coordinated  by  the  Cyprus  Institute  (CyI),  DiGiNN  is  to  act  as  a 
national one-stop shop to accelerate the broad uptake of digital skills and technologies and support 
the digital transformation of SMEs and the public sector. DiGiNN will act as a coordinated group of 16 
organisations  from  academia,  research,  business  and  the  technology  industry.  The  parties  will  be 
working in synergy and complementing each other for the provision of integrated services covering 
the entire value chain of innovation. The DiGiNN will cover  a variety of areas including HPC, AI, big 
data, cloud, the Internet of Things, blockchain, digital twins, sustainability and digital skills. 

In 2022, Cyprus and the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) launched the Knowledge Transfer 
and Innovation Initiative. The initiative has two objectives: (i) to develop an ecosystem of trainings 
and capacity building for moving research inventions, knowledge, and know-how into industry; and 
(ii)  to  support  the  transfer  of  specific  inventions  and  innovations  from  research  organisations  to 
companies for the development of new products and services. Through this initiative, Cyprus aims to 
encourage innovative behaviour of businesses, and to increase the uptake of innovative technologies 
by  them. A total of  EUR 3 million will be  allocated  to companies via the  related RRP investment  in 
‘Enhanced  R&I’.  The  RIF  also  rolled  out  other  initiatives:  (i)  INNOVATIVE  targets  SMEs  and  large 
companies to help them growth and to provide funding for R&I investment and the development of 
competitive  innovative  products  or  services  with  quick  global  market  penetration  prospects;  (ii) 
DISRUPT  targets  all  companies  regardless  of  size  to  help  them  scale-up  by  adopting  cutting-edge 
ideas and technologies.  

Cyprus should accelerate its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses. In particular, the swift 
implementation  of  the  RRP  actions  and  the  roll  out  of  several  support  schemes  will  contribute  to 
enhance  the  percentage  of  enterprises,  which  could  benefit  from  the  adoption  of  emerging 
technologies in particular big data and AI.   

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Cyprus 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

56 

2021 

86 

2021 

31 

2021 

31 

2021 

84 

2021 

84 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

99% 

2022 

64 

2022 

85 

2022 

49 

2022 

32 

2022 

82 

2022 

83 

2022 

70 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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In Digital public services, the level of online interaction between public authorities and the general 
public  is  very  high,  with  99%  of  internet  users  actively  engaging  in  the  use  of  e-government 
services, well above the EU average of 74%. On pre-filled forms, Cyprus underperforms with a score 
of 49,  still  below  the  EU  average  of  68  but  significantly  up  on the  2021  figure.  On  transparency of 
service delivery design and handling of personal data, Cyprus scores below the EU average (32 versus 
65 for the EU). On user support, Cyprus performs close to the EU average (82 against 84 for the EU). 
The  public  services  provided  online  by  the  Cypriot  authorities  are mobile  friendly,  but  there  is  still 
room for improvement (83 against 93 in the EU). Regarding the Digital Decade targets, Cyprus scores 
below the EU average on digital public services provided to citizens (64 versus 77 in the EU). On the 
other  hand,  Cyprus  performs  well  and  slightly  above  the  EU  average  on  digital  public  services  for 
businesses, scoring 85 against the EU average of 84, making a significant contribution to reaching the 
Digital Decade target. 

Cyprus’ score for access to e-health records is 70, only slightly below the EU average of 72. People 
in Cyprus have access to almost all relevant electronic health data through a national online access 
service.  In  January  2023,  the  Ministry  of  Health,  following  a  recommendation  from  the  National 
Electronic  Health  Authority,  issued  a  Decree  requiring  every  healthcare  provider  to  register  a 
minimum  set  of  health  data  in  each  person’s  electronic  patient  record.  The  decree  follows  the 
eHealth Networks’ ‘Guidelines on Patient Summary’. People can enter their health data themselves 
or  be  assisted  by an  authorised  representative.  Alternatively, the  person’s  general  practitioner  can 
enter the person’s data on their behalf. The patient record covers electronic summary data (personal 
information,  allergies,  diagnoses,  medical  devices,  procedures,  medicines),  e-prescription,  e-
dispensation information and electronic results and reports (lab reports, medical imaging reports and 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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hospital  discharge  reports).  While  the  authorities  have  developed  a  solid  authentication  service,  a 
nationally notified eID or an eID that complies with the eIDAS regulation is not yet available. People 
access  their  online  electronic  health  records  on  a  web  portal  with  other  less  secure  identification 
means.  Between  60%  and  79%  of  the  population  have  the  technical  ability  to  access  this  service 
which presents relevant health information from public and private primary, secondary and tertiary 
care  providers,  rehabilitation  centres,  pharmacies,  and  public  mental  health  facilities.  Under  the 
legislation for the National e-Health ecosystem in Cyprus25, the National e-Health Authority (NeHA) is 
participating in an RRP project for the deployment of generic cross-border e-Health services. This is 
keeping  with  Cyprus’s  goal  of  joining  a  secure  peer-to-peer  network  of  EU  national  governments 
allowing the exchange of medical documentation through the eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure 
(eHDSI). 

Cyprus  is  also  participating  in  the PATHED  funding  programme  on  ‘Enabling  patient  access  to their 
health data’ funded under the EU4Health Programme (EU4H) and with 11 EU countries participating. 
Cyprus also participates in the ‘Enhancing eHealth, including telemedicine and remote monitoring in 
healthcare  systems  for  cancer  prevention  and  care  (eCAN)’  programme.  With  nine  other  Member 
States,  Cyprus  will  test  the  monitoring  systems  for  various  cancer  patient  groups.  Moreover,  the 
NeHA  and  the  University  of  Cyprus  participate  in  projects  related  to  the  ‘European  Health  Data 
Space’. 

The  Digital  Services  Factory  (DSF)  is  one  of  the  main  strategic  initiatives  to  enhance  the 
government’s  digital  transformation.  The  DSF defined the new service  delivery model,  the Service 
Standard that will enable the efficient provision of high-quality digital services, based on a modern 
and flexible methodology that responds to people’s needs. The new Cyprus Service Standard is a set 
of  15  high-level  principles  for  how  a  digital  government  service  is  built  and  reviewed.  Under  each 
principle  is  a  collection  of  guidance  that  supports  aspects  of  digital  delivery,  from  advice  on  what 
type of user research to do, to how to build a good government application programming interface 
(API), for teams developing governmental services. The Service Standard emphasises the importance 
of understanding users’ needs and incorporating them into the design of the service. It also outlines 
how, effectively and efficiently, to develop a product that is secure, reliable, scalable, and consistent. 
The government sees the Service Standard as the cornerstone for the construction of all government 
services. It ensures their quality, consistency, user-centricity, security, and uniformity. 

The  DMRID  set  up  a  blog  to  serve  as  a knowledge  hub  including  publications,  articles,  studies  and 
other  useful  material  related  to  digital  transformation  and  R&I.  Through  the  blog,  users  can 
download  the  Design  System  library  for  developing  a  webpage  and  access  featured  articles  and 
reports of past events on digital transformation. 

The  Department  of  Information  Technology  Services  (DITS),  the  executive  arm  of  the  DMRID, 
promotes  the  implementation  of  major  e-government  projects,  with  the  goal  of  improving  the 
service delivery experience for individuals and businesses. DITS established (i) information systems in 
critical  public  services,  such  as  the  Department  of  Town  Planning  and  Housing’s  ’Hippodamos’ 
System; (ii) the new online system for payment of contributions to social insurance services (Sisnet); 
(iii) the Government Unified Network that upgraded the government network's entire infrastructure 
by  combining  the  use  of  digital  technologies;  and  (iv)  the  State  General  Laboratory’s  Information 
Management System. DITS is also planning other projects, such as the government cloud (G-Cloud), 
modernisation of the customs and electronic payment system, the integrated information system for 
the  Department  of  Registrar  of  Companies  and  Intellectual  Property,  the  Department  of  Postal 

25 Cyprus eHealth Law 59 (I)/2019 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Services'  Counter  Automation  System  (CAS),  the  Road  Transport  Department’s  new  system,  the 
upgrade of the Tax Department's systems, the e-justice system for the digital operation of the courts 
and the e-Law project (case management system) for the Law Office of the Republic. The total value 
of  these  projects  which  are  at  either  the  planning  or  implementation  stage  is  more  than  EUR 300 
million, with an amount of EUR 170 million included in the national RRP. 

The Government  has  introduced  the  national  eID  scheme  in line  with  eIDAS,  aiming  for  the  high 
assurance level and the qualified e-signature. Under a law from 2021, Trust Service Providers (TSPs) 
authorised  by  the  Government  will  be  able  to  issue  citizens  aged  over  18  with  eID.  The  TSPs  are 
required  to  follow  a  remote  server  solution  using  public  key  infrastructure  (PKI).  One  was  already 
authorised  by  the  government  in  February  2022  and  started  issuing  eID  in  January  2023.  The 
government is working on identifying use cases for eID and has already launched the first stage in the 
process of purchasing and distributing a number of eIDs for public servants. The public will be able to 
use eID to access digital public services through the Cy login mechanism. 

Cyprus plans to pre-notify its national eID scheme with a ‘high’ level of assurance in 2023. Through 
public  and  private  entities,  Cyprus  is  involved  in  one  of  the  large-scale  pilot  projects  that  will  be 
funded under the Digital Europe Programme, with an overall grant request of over EUR 1 million. It is 
working on the development of a wallet application that will allow all citizens to store their official 
documents digitally and identify themselves online and offline. 

The Cyprus Digital Security Authority (DSA) participates in several projects in cybersecurity: a CEF 
project  together  with  European  partners  to  design  and  develop  a  Joint  Cybersecurity  Operations 
Platform (CEF-JCOP), which will increase EU threat situational awareness and information exchange 
capabilities;  and  the  multi-country  project  PHOENi²X  which  started  in  July  2022  and  which  aims to 
design,  develop,  and  deliver  a  cyber  resilience  framework  providing  AI  automation  &  response 
capabilities for business continuity and recovery. 

Best practice: The childbirth grant service  

The  childbirth  grant  service  allows  mothers  of  new-borns  to  apply  for  a  grant  electronically 
through a simple, fast, and easy procedure. The service was launched in June 2022 and has a 
high  transactional  volume  (around  10  000  applications  annually).  It  applies  the  once-only 
principle. 

The childbirth grant service was developed by the DSF  using an agile approach to understand 
the  users’  needs,  to  rapidly  test  assumptions  and to  react  to  changing  requirements  to meet 
needs. For the design and development of the service, a multidisciplinary service team was set 
up  with  members  participating  in  different  roles.  A  user-centred  design  (UCD)  approach  was 
taken aimed at producing clear, concise, simple and accessible content so users can understand 
how to use the service. 

Cyprus  should  accelerate  its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  take 
measures  that  further  improve  the  interoperability,  effectiveness,  and  availability  of  online  public 
services. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
65 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Croatia 

 
 
 
 
 
66 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

Croatia has untapped digital potential to contribute further to the collective efforts to achieve the 
EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets.  The  digital  transformation  of  the  Croatian  economy  and  society  is 
advancing significantly, with most of its contribution registered in the fields of human capital, fibre 
coverage  and  in  the  digitalisation  of  businesses.  More  efforts  are  still  needed  on  digital  skills, 
although  there  have  been  improvements.  Progress  on  online  public  services  and  the  take-up  of 
gigabit  services  is  more  limited.  Croatia  set  up  new  digital  initiatives  such  as  the  Digital  Croatia 
Strategy towards 2032, the National Development Strategy until 2030 and the National Recovery and 
Resilience Plan (NPOO), which are aligned with the Digital Decade Policy Programme.  

Croatia  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility  to  set  up  European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortia  (EDICs)  on:  (i)  Genome,  to  enable  the  effective  and  secure  cross-
border  access  to  repositories  of  personal  genomic  datasets;  (ii)  Innovative  Massive  Public 
Administration inter-Connected Transformation Services, to develop a new generation of advanced 
cross-border  services;  and  (iii)  establishing  an  Alliance  for  Language  Technologies,  to  develop  a 
common infrastructure in the field of natural language processing and large multi-language models. 
Croatia is one of the Member  States that have jointly submitted a formal application to set up the 
European  Blockchain  Partnership  and  the  EDIC  on  European  Blockchain  Infrastructure,  supporting 
EU-wide cross-border public services. 

Digital in Croatia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The Croatian Recovery and Resilience Plan amounts to EUR 6.3 billion and EUR 1.3 billion (i.e. 20%) 
is devoted to the digital transformation in line with the Digital Decade Targets. Out of this amount, 
EUR  841  million  are  expected  to  contribute  to  the  Digital  Decade  target26.  In  the  first  payment, 
disbursed in May 2022, Croatia has achieved 34 milestones and targets including a few related to 
the digital transformation, notably in the area of the digital transformation of agriculture and the 
digitalisation of the energy renovation process.  

In the context of the RRP second payment request, disbursed in December 2022, Croatia reached 
25 Milestones and Targets, related to digital in particular: 

• 

• 

• 

the  digitalisation  of  government  and  public  administration  services  provided  to  the 
business  sector  via  a  new  digital  platform  for  the  on-line  payment  of  the  seven  most 
frequent and cost-intensive compulsory business fees in Croatia. 

the  adoption of  three  legal  acts  which  address  the  administrative  burden  and regulatory 
barriers  hampering  the  construction  of  broadband  networks,  including  streamlining  the 
licensing/authorisation process. 

Improve  the  interoperability  of  information  systems  to  support  the  provision  of  online 

26  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

public services to introduce advanced data analytics in the national administration. 

•  Upgrade the shared services centre to increase the number of users of the state cloud and 

to develop new functionalities. 

Based  on  the  Council  Implementing  Decision  on  Croatia  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan,  other 
reforms and investments that are associated to milestones and targets expected to be  fulfilled in 
2023 include several measures  in the area of digitalisation of public services, for example a one-
stop shop for all e-public helpdesk services and a digital identity card deployment project. 

 
 
 
68 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

23% 

2020 

3.7% 

2020 

4.4% 

2019 

Croatia 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

78% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

80% 

2021 

63% 

2021 

31% 

2021 

81% 

2021 

23% 

2020 

3.6% 

2021 

4.7% 

2020 

81% 

2022 

63% 

2021 

31% 

2021 

81% 

2021 

21% 

2022 

3.7% 

2022 

4.8% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Given the positive trend over the past years, Croatia is expected to make an important contribution 
to the reaching of the 2030 EU target concerning basic digital skills. With about 63% of people with 
at  least  basic  digital  skills,  Croatia  performs  well  above  EU  average  of  54%  and  is  progressing  well 
towards the 80% target for 2030. 

Moreover,  Croatia  scores  also  above  to  EU  average  for  the  indicator  ‘individuals  with  above  basic 
digital skills’ (31% in Croatia versus the EU average of 26%) and for the indicator ’at least basic digital 
content  creation skills’  (81%  compared to 66%  at  EU level). Similarly, Croatia also performs well in 
terms  of  the  percentage  of  ICT  Graduates  scoring  4.8%,  and  0.6  percentage  points  above  the  EU 
average of 4.2%.  

On  the  other  Digital  Decade  indicator,  Croatia  only  marginally  increased  in  the  share  of  ICT 
specialists  settling  at  3.7%,  still  below  the  EU  average  of  4.6%.  Moreover,  the  share  of  women 
among ICT specialists is, at 14.5%, among the lowest in the EU, and much below the EU average of 
18.9%. This situation needs to improve in view of the Digital Decade target. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

Croatia is addressing the shortage in digital/ICT specialists through the Digital Croatia Strategy with a 
EUR 93 million measure aimed at ‘Increasing the number of ICT experts on the labour market’, and 
the  awarding  of  STEM  (Science,  Technology,  Engineering  and  Mathematics)  and  ICT  scholarships 
(EUR 93 million) intended to further increase the number for ICT undergraduates and graduates. 
According  to the  2023  EU  Code  Week  scoreboard,  Croatia  ranks  8th, with 24 Code  Week activities. 
Furthermore, in 2022, the Croatia was among the top 12 countries in the number of EU Code Week 
activities organised (1076), reaching more than 37 000 participants, with a 50% female participation 
rate. Moreover, informatics has been a compulsory subject in several grades of primary and general 
secondary school (and optional in other grades) since 2018/2019, and ICT is also a transversal subject 
in all school grades. 

The  Croatian  RRP  also  includes  a  EUR  84m  investment  for  the-  Digital  Transformation  of  Higher 
Education  under  the  Project  e-Universities  which  aims  to  equip  90%  of  the  public  High  Education 
institutions with digital infrastructures in support of teaching.  

The  Croatian  RRP  is  also  contributing  to  improving  digital  skills  via  the  CARNET's  e-School  pilot 
project27, with a voucher scheme for the digital education of employed and unemployed persons, for 
smart working, for digital skills for people with disabilities, and vouchers for the digitization of SMEs 
and for the field of Tourism.  

Digital skills investments, including a project aimed at the adoption of AI in schools, are also planned 
within the context of the European Social Fund and under the European Regional Development Fund 
2021-2027 programmes, as well as within the Erasmus+ framework of comprehensive reforms.  

Croatia should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills. In particular, Croatia should increase 
the  capacity  of  its  education  system  to  train  more  ICT  specialists  and  take  action  to  retain  these 
professionals in the labour market while attracting talent. Croatia should encourage more students to 
specialise  in  ICT  by  implementing  specific,  time-bound,  and  measurable  actions,  paying  special 
attention to increasing the number of cybersecurity professionals 28. 

27 See the section on digitalisation of public services.  
28 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Croatia 

DESI 
2021 

10% 

2020 

NA 

2020 

47% 

2020 

36% 

2020 

70% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

19% 

2021 

NA 

2021 

52% 

2021 

39% 

2021 

81% 

2021 

34% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

28% 

2022 

NA 

2022 

61% 

2022 

54% 

2022 

81% 

2021 

82% 

2022 

100% 

2021 

100% 

2022 

100% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

Croatia  has  succeeded  in  significantly  accelerating  the  deployment  of  its  fibre  network,  even 
though it is still lagging behind in terms of VHCN coverage (61% against an EU average of 73%). 

During 2022 Croatia has seen some progress in the take-up of broadband 100 Mbps services to 28% 
although still much below the EU average of 55%. In 2022 Croatia progressed in terms of coverage of 
fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), moving from 39% to 53.9%, just below the EU average of 56%.  

Croatia’s rural areas continue to lag behind in terms of coverage in NGA (51.9% vs. a total average of 
87.9%),  in  FTTP  (13.7%  vs.  a  total  average  pf  53.9%),  and  in  VHCN  (19%  versus  a  total  average  of 
61.5%,). 

A  very  substantial  improvement  was  registered  in  terms  of  5G  coverage  with  a  jump  of  48 
percentage points, reaching 82%, slightly above over EU’s average (81%). Yet, mobile take-up is at 
81%  versus  the  EU  average  of 87%.  Rural  areas  are  penalised  also  in  5G coverage  with only  73.5% 
versus a total average of 82.5%. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

During 2022 Croatia also made progress in the field of spectrum licencing of three 5G pioneer bands 
including coverage obligations for 700 MHz, 3.6 GHz, and 26 GHz, and in assigning spectrum licenses 
with spectrum caps at national and regional level.  

In July 2022, the new Electronic Communications Act that entered into force and, on 1 June 2022, 
Croatia  had  adopted  an  Ordinance  introducing  specific  5G  security  obligations  taking  into  account 
the 5G Toolbox. In the first half of 2022, the Croatian Regulator, Hakom, also took decisions about 
conditions for the access to wiring,  cables and associated facilities  inside buildings, including the 
access price, which are expected to facilitate the roll out of the fiber infrastructure of a third entrant 
in  the market.  In May 2022  Hakom  settled  the  dispute  between  the  incumbent  and  an  alternative 
provider  by  reducing  the  wholesale  price  of  access  to  the  latter’s  fiber  optic  network.  In  February 
2022 Hakom started the market analysis of the WLA and WCA markets which is expected to lead to a 
greater utilization of existing fiber networks. 

On 1 December 2022, the Croatian incumbent was designated as universal service provider, for a 
period  of  two  years,  to  provide  access  to  the  public  communications  network  and  to  publicly 
available  telephone  services,  including  adoption  of  a  special  price  system  for  socially  vulnerable 
groups. As from January 1 2023, the universal service provider has to ensure data transfer speed at a 
minimum  of  7  Mbps  with  an  upload  of  1  Mbps.  In  mid-2022  Croatia  also  started  the  process  of 
defining a new national cybersecurity strategy for relevant assets including 5G networks.  

The Croatian National Broadband Plan, includes also the environmental monitoring carried out by 
the  Ministry  of  Environmental  Protection  and  Energy  through  the  Environmental  Protection 
Information  System.  Croatian  mobile  operators  have  also  incorporated  Environmental,  Social  and 
Governance  Strategy  and  UN  Sustainability  Development  Goals  into  their  business  activities while 
operators also report on their environmental impacts and initiatives taken to improve sustainability. 

During  2022  a  new  national  High-Performance  Computing  (HPC)  resource  has  been  implemented 
within the HR-ZOO project (Croatian Scientific and Educational Cloud). Since 2018, Croatia has been a 
member  of  the  European  High  Performance  Computing  Joint  Undertaking  (EuroHPC  JU). 
Furthermore,  the  National  Competence  Centers  in  the  Framework  of  EuroHPC  (EuroCC)  project 
started  on  September  1,  2020  and  ended  in  December  2022.  In  January  2023  the  National 
Competence Centres project started in the framework of EuroHPC Phase 2 (EuroCC 2) with  

In June 2022, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development launched a call for the design of 
microprocessors and semiconductors.  

Since  2019  Croatia  is  involved  into  the  quantum  communication  infrastructure  (CroQCI)  EU 
cooperation  framework  with  the  constitution  of  the  CroQCI  Consortium  including  research 
institutions, universities and public companies. 

Croatia should accelerate its efforts on connectivity infrastructure, in particular by taking additional 
action to support demand and take up of gigabit services and further increase its efforts on the roll-
out  of  gigabit  connectivity,  especially  fibre  to  the  premises  roll-out  in  rural  areas.  The  swift 
implementation of measures financed by the RRF and the ERDF is very important.  
Measures taken by Croatia in the field of quantum computing should continue in order to help the EU 
become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud29 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Croatia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

26% 

2019 

22% 

2019 

14% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

43% 

2020 

30% 

2020 

14% 

2020 

10% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

24% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

35% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

43% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

58% 

2022 

24% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

35% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

43% 

2020 

29% 

2022 

13% 

2022 

13% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

29 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

In 2022, about 58% of Croatian SMEs had at least a basic level of digital intensity, which is below 
the EU average of 69% and way below the Digital Decade objective of 90% by 2030.  

The use of advanced technologies in Croatian enterprises is steadily gaining ground  with 35% using 
cloud  solutions,  9%  AI  technologies,  and  14%  big  data,  similar  to  EU’s  average.  For  the  past  two 
years  Croatia  has  been  stable  in  its  adoption  of  cloud  solutions,  performing  at  35%,  and  only  1 
percentage point above the EU average of 34%.   

Croatia’s  performance  is  progressing  in  a  number  of  other  fields  including  in  the  domains  of  e-
Invoices (43% against and EU average at 32%), in SME selling on-line (29% against an EU average of 
19%), in terms of eCommerce turnover (13% versus an EU average at 11%), and in terms of selling 
online cross-border within the EU (13% versus an EU average of 9%). 

Despite this progress, Croatia continues to score persistently low, at only 24% (versus the EU average 
at  38%),  with  little  or  no  improvement  the  past  three  years,  in  terms  of  electronic  information 
sharing and in the use of social media 24% (versus the EU at 29%), pointing to a low acceptance of 
integrated IT solutions, at least in some of the operations of enterprises. 

Croatia  is  taking  action  to  address  these  weaknesses  with  a  measure  in  its  RRP,  ‘Upgrade  of  the 
Shared  Services  Center  –  CDU’30,  a  measure  meant  to  provide  a  scalable,  highly  secure,  energy-
efficient, cloud-based platform for the connection to the state information infrastructure. The CDU 
platform will also be  integrated into the European Common Data Spaces  to enable secure  hosting, 

30 Investment C2.3.R3-I1.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

access  and  modification  of  data  and  services  at  EU  level.  The  action  relies  on  the  building  of  a 
Blockchain platform to establish a service for joining public or private networks using  open-source 
blockchain solutions for public sector applications.  

The multi-tenant blockchain distributed ledger technology platform, which will be connected to the 
European Blockchain Partnership, is expected to encourage investments and projects in the fields of 
Digital Identity, Digital Post, Digital Diploma, Digital Notary and Trusted Data Sharing. 

In mid-2022, Croatia also launched other actions supporting the digitalisation of enterprises (such as 
the RRP component C1.1), for a resilient, green and digital economy. In particular, the RRP includes 
"Grants  for  Digitization"31,  for  an  amount  of  EUR  27.3  million,  aimed  at  supporting  the  digital 
transformation  of  about  160  Croatian  SMEs  by  providing  financial  support  for  the  deployment  of 
digital solutions. 

Furthermore, the RRP includes measures aimed at the  “Strengthening Competitiveness and Green 
transition  of  the  Economy”  through  the  use  of  financial  instruments, with  total  value  of  EUR 106 
million.  The  measure  is  meant  to  increase  access  to  finance  by  strengthening  the  activities  of  the 
banking  sector  and  other  financial  intermediaries,  in  order  to  ensure  faster  recovery,  a  stronger 
transition  of  the  economy  through  the  adoption  of  green  and  digital  technologies  with  a  view  to 
strengthen the resilience of Croatia’s economy.  

Home  to  two  unicorns  and  one  potential  future  Unicorn  having  a  market  valuation  between  EUR 
100  million  and  EUR  1  billion,  Croatia  intends  to  foster  research  and  innovation  in  digital 
technologies to contribute to the Digital Decade goal to double EU unicorns. Croatia is also financing 
measures  supporting  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (DIHs)  as  a  contribution  to  the  realisation  of  the 
European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (EDIHs)  such  as  CROBOHUBplusplus32  (CROatian  Industry  and 
Society Boosting), AI4HEALTH.Cro33 (Artificial Intelligence for Smart Healthcare and Medicine), EDIH 
Adria34, and JURK EDIH35 (Digital transformation of Central Croatia and Northern Adriatic). 

Croatia  should  accelerate  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In  particular,  it 
should  raise  awareness  about  the  benefits  of  business  digitalisation,  provide  public  support  for 
workshops  and  trainings,  increase  participation  in  existing  (funding)  schemes,  especially  among 
SMEs. Croatia should intensify its efforts to support the development and deployment of trustworthy, 
secure,  sovereign  advanced  technologies  and  solutions,  especially  for  AI,  cloud,  big  data,  including 
through the availability of legal and technical support and procurement procedures.  

31 Part of the subcomponent C.1.1.2 (Boosting innovation and digitising the economy). 
32 CROBOHUBplusplus | European Digital Innovation Hubs Network (europa.eu) 
33 https://ai4healthcro.eu/  
34 https://edihadria.eu/  
35 https://inkubator-pismo.eu/digital-innovation-hub/  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Croatia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

69 

2021 

68 

2021 

38 

2021 

51 

2021 

75 

2021 

89 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

71 

2022 

67 

2022 

38 

2022 

52 

2022 

86 

2022 

90 

2022 

86 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

Data  from  2023  reveals  that  only  69%  of  Croatian  internet  users  uptake  on-line  public  services 
compared with the EU average of 74%.  

Croatia has made little progress in terms of digital public services for citizens (with a score of 71 vs. 
77 at EU level) and, even lower, in terms of public services for enterprises (where score is 68 vs. 84 
at EU level).  

Other  indicators  where  Croatia  performs  well  below  the  EU  average  are  in  the  fields  of  “prefilled 
forms”, (38 vs. an EU average of 68), in the “transparency of services” (52 vs.an EU average of 65), in 
“mobile friendliness” (90 vs.an EU average of 93) and in “users support” (86 vs.an EU average of 84).  

The  performance  of  Croatia  is  partially  better  in  the  field  of  access  to  e-health  records  where 
Croatia scores 86, well above the EU average of 72. With the exception of medical images, all types 
of relevant  health data are  accessible and frequently updated including electronic health summary 
data, ePrescription and eDispensation data as well as various electronic reports (lab results, medical 
imaging  reports,  hospital  discharge  reports).  A  (pre-)notified  eID,  compliant  with  the  eIDAS 
Regulation,  facilitates  access  for  80-100%  of  the  national  population  via  online  portals.  Most 
healthcare  provider  types  are  connected  to  the  national  electronic  access  service  for  citizens  and 
supply  relevant  health  data  (including  pharmacies,  rehabilitation  centres  and  mental  health 
facilities).  

Croatia has set up a national Personal Identity Card (eOI) in line with the National Identification and 
Authentication System (NIAS) scheme, but currently is not involved in the large-scale pilot projects 
for  the  testing  of  the  European  Digital Identity  Wallet  in  a  number of  everyday  use  cases  funded 
under the Digital Europe Programme. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Croatia 

Croatia  is  seeking  to  counteract  these  weaknesses  in  the  field  of  on-line  public  services  by 
establishing  teams  (in  line  with  the  “Standard  for  Developing  Public  e-Services  in  the  Republic  of 
Croatia”)  in  order  to  redesign  future  services  around  citizens’  life  events.  The  e-Citizens  system  is 
expected  to  involve  a  more  intense  interaction  and  dialogue  between  users  (citizens  and 
enterprises) and public authorities and a better coordination between different government levels.  

Other  actions  include  standardised  training  for  public  administration  employees  involved  in  the 
provision of services, and advanced training in the area of ICT, new technologies, and management 
skills for officials working on digital transformation. Judging from the poor response of users of public 
services in Croatia, it appears that the effectiveness and impact of these measures could be improved 
by an increased consultation of users of public services with a view to improve the user friendliness, 
the interoperability, the effectiveness, the availability and the adoption of online public services.  

In order to close the gap in electronic public services Croatia  it also important to  strengthen the 
strategic use of innovation procurement to speed up the adoption of innovative digital solutions in 
all  its  public  services.  The  country  still  needs  to  anchor  innovation  procurement  into  its  national 
digital  strategy  as  strategic  tool  to modernise  public  services  and  increase  its  investments,  both  in 
R&D  procurements  and  in  public  procurements  that  focus  on  the  adoption  of  innovative  ICT 
solutions. Notably the Croatian investments in adopting transformative digital technologies, including 
those that are new to the market, are significantly below the European average.  

Tackling this challenge is key to offer top quality public services with a rich set of functionalities that 
enable  to  interact  in  a  more  efficient  and  personalised  way  with  citizens,  businesses  and  other 
administrations. This would help accelerate the wider adoption of advanced digital solutions into the 
public sector (such as AI / big data, virtual reality/metaverse, robotics, HPC, blockchain etc). 

Best practice: e-CARNET's e-School pilot project and AI4Health.Cro 

-  CARNET's e-School pilot project was selected as the second-best project in the field of regional 
development  for  the  15th  anniversary  of  the  Regio  Stars  award.  The  prise  recognises  that 
Croatian’s digitization of the education system, which focuses on teachers and students, rather 
than  technology,  is  as  an  example  of  good  practice  both  among  Croatian  users  and  at  the  EU 
level36.  

-  Artificial  Intelligence  for  Smart  Healthcare  and  Medicine  (AI4Health.Cro)  project  was  rated 
excellent by the European Commission as part of the Digital Europe program. AI4Health.Cro is a 
non-profit public-private consortium that sees artificial intelligence as key to the advancement of 
healthcare and as a catalyst  for leading Europe to  a healthier future. AI4Health.Cro will offer a 
comprehensive  support  to  businesses  and  public  entities  with  advanced  AI-based  services  and 
technologies,  addressing  the  current  needs  of  the  healthcare  and  public  health  systems  for 
digital transformation. 

Croatia  should  step  up  its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  take  further 
steps to improve the user-friendliness of online public services, including enhancing support for users. 
Croatia should step up efforts to increase public procurement investments in the development, testing 
and  deployment  of  innovative  digital  solutions  and  to  bridge  the  gap  between  local  &  regional 
governments and central governments. 

36 https://www.carnet.hr/carnet-ov-pilot-projekt-e-skole-osvojio-drugo-mjesto-na-dodjeli-nagrade-europske-
komisije-regiostars/ 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Czechia 

 
 
 
 
 
79 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

Czechia has untapped digital potential to contribute further to the collective efforts to achieve the 
EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets.  Czechia  participates  in  many  multi-country  projects  and  has  the 
ambition to become a key player in state-of-the-art technologies such as quantum and microchips. 
With its updated digital strategy in line with the Digital Decade Policy Programme, there is a strong 
focus on boosting basic and advanced digital skills and Czechs are becoming increasingly skilled and 
online public services are becoming more available. However, enterprises are still struggling to hire 
ICT  experts,  or  to  profit  fully  from  the  benefits  of  digitalisation  by  using  big  data  tools  or  the 
improved  communication  offered  by  social  media.  Limited  coverage  of  fixed  very  high  capacity 
networks (VHCN)  risks  hampering  digitalisation progress  for the economy and society, especially  in 
rural areas.  

Czechia  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility  to  set  up  European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortia  (EDICs)  on:  (i)  Genome,  to  enable  the  effective  and  secure  cross-
border  access  to  repositories  of  personal  genomic  datasets;  and  (ii)  the  ‘Networked  Local  Digital 
Twins Towards CitiVerse’ project, using disruptive and immersive technologies for future city related 
projects. 

Digital in Czechia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The  share  of  Czechia’s RRP  allocated  to  digital  priorities  is  22%,  (amounting  to  EUR  1.56  billion)  of 
which  EUR  1.475  billion  is  expected  to  contribute  to  the  Digital  Decade  targets37.  The  main 
investments  focus  on  boosting  digital  skills  and  supporting  the  digitisation  of  enterprises.  So  far, 
Czechia  has  rolled  out  new  curricula  with  more  IT  classes,  invested  in  new  digital  equipment  for 
schools, as well as defined interoperability standards for the healthcare systems. Czechia launched a 
Central  European  Digital  Media  Observatory,  to  identify  and  investigate  disinformation  in  Central 
Europe. Milestones and targets that are meant to be met in 2023 include measures to digitalise the 
justice system and implement a common platform to communicate with the state administration. 

37  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

25% 

2020 

4.2% 

2020 

5.0% 

2019 

Czechia 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

86% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

87% 

2021 

60% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

25% 

2020 

4.6% 

2021 

5.2% 

2020 

90% 

2022 

60% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

23% 

2022 

4.5% 

2022 

NA 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Overall, Czechia has made significant efforts in 2022 to enhance digital skills, but those efforts are 
not yet fully reflected in the indicators. Regarding the Digital Decade targets, 60% of Czechs have at 
least  basic  digital  skills  (above  the  EU  average  of  54%).  The  percentage  of  ICT  specialists  in  total 
employment slowly increased by 0.3 percentage points between 2020 and 2022 but is still below the 
EU average of 4.6%. Moreover, at 10.9%, the share of women among the ICT specialists is the lowest 
in the EU, compared to the EU average of 18.9%. 

Within the RRF budget, Czechia plans to allocate around EUR 369 million to support the development 
of digital skills and skills needed for Industry 4.0 (Papazoglou et al., 2023). The new Education Pillar 
described  below  provides  a  framework  for  these  efforts,  with  a  particular  emphasis  on  promoting 
digital  literacy  and  expanding  access  to  digital  technologies  and  infrastructure.  Given  the  positive 
trend  in  recent  years,  Czechia  is  expected  to  make  an  important  contribution  to  reaching  the  EU 
Digital  Decade  target  of  at  least  80%  of  the  population  having  basic  digital  skills  by  2030,  with 
increased gender convergence.  

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

In  2022,  a  new  Education  Pillar  was  added  to  the  main  Digital  Czechia  strategy  with 
recommendations  from  the  newly  created  Inter-Departmental  Group  for  Digital  Education,  which 
emerged from the EU Structured Dialogue. Indeed, the Structured Dialogue on digital education and 
skills inspired Czechia to strengthen collaboration between all relevant administrative departments, 
the  private  sector  and  the  non-governmental  organisations  (NGOs).  The  Interdepartmental  Group 
was created for that reason and submitted four recommendations for the government to strengthen 
the focus on increasing the participation of women in ICT, improve lifelong education trainings, bring 
connectivity to low-income families, and increase the number of cybersecurity experts.  

The  lack  of  ICT  specialists  remains  an  obstacle  that  can  hamper  the  digitalisation  of  both 
businesses and public services. Even though Czechia scores just slightly below the EU average on ICT 
specialists and high on ICT graduates, according to Eurostat, 77% of Czech enterprises have reported 
difficulties in hiring ICT specialists which is significantly higher than the 63% EU average. Moreover, 
2022  saw  a  decrease  in  the  share  of  enterprises  providing  ICT  training  for  employees  at  23%, 
compared  with  25%  in  2020,  while  upskilling  is  still  crucial  for  the  working  population  to  adapt  to 
new technologies. To train the working population, in 2022, the Ministry of Labour and Social affairs, 
under  the  RRF,  launched  a  new  instrument  to  promote  active  employment  policy.  This  measure  is 
two-fold:  first,  on  the  demand  side,  a  financial  contribution  per  person  is  given  to  pay  for  digital 
education courses (82% of the final price with a maximum of CZK 50 000, equivalent to EUR 2 000, 
for  three  consecutive  years)  and  second,  on  the  supply  side,  a  database  of  retraining  and  adult 
education in digital skills development was set up. This database will expand the range of providers, 
increase  the  availability  of  classes,  and  better  match  the  training  needs  with  the  courses  offered. 
Through the database, both courses developing basic digital skills and courses for ICT specialists can 
be encouraged. Some 65 000 people are expected to be supported through this instrument. 

Active partnerships between public and private organisations contributed also to the enhancement 
of  digital  skills,  particularly  among  children  and  women  through  several  initiatives.  For  example, 
over 77 000 Czechs (20 000 more than in 2021), 50% of whom were girls, participated in the 2022 EU 
Code Week through 151 registered activities. 66% of these activities took place in schools. Another 
example is  ‘Girls day’  organised by  the  national coalition for digital jobs and skills,  DigiKoalice, and 
the NGO, ‘Gender Studies’, to address the lack of woman in ICT. Last year, this careers fair gathered 
150 young girls, big enterprises in automotive and telecom sector, and women working in the sector 
pursuing careers as technology specialists.  

Best practice: including digital education in school curricula 

To help speed up digital skills adoption and foster potential ICT vocations, the Ministry of Education, 
Youth and Sports introduced a new programme supporting digital education in all Czech schools. A 
new  curriculum  is  being  adopted  in  primary  and  secondary  schools  introducing  additional  new 
classes for computational thinking and digital skills. It also offers teachers digital learning and training 
opportunities.  Schools  have  until  September  2025  to  implement  the  new  curriculum.  To  support 
them in the transition, investment and funding are provided for schools to purchase equipment and 
train teachers, and the Pedagogical Institute is preparing webinars and activities. In December 2022, 
the  project  supported  2 936  schools  and  9 115  individuals  with  learning  activities.  Moreover,  a 
network  of  ‘IT  gurus’,  IT  experts  from  the  Institute,  are  advising  schools  on  the  purchase  of 
equipment and helping them set up digital infrastructure.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

Czechia should continue its efforts in the area of digital skills, in particular accelerate those needed 
to achieve the ICT specialist target, starting with making the best of the funding mobilised under the 
RRF, particularly for STEM education and training. Czechia should also pay attention to increase the 
number of cybersecurity experts. Czechia should also boost the upskilling and reskilling of the labour 
force, particularly in advanced and emerging technologies38.   

38 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Czechia 

DESI 
2021 

26% 

2020 

0.3% 

2020 

33% 

2020 

33% 

2020 

78% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

67% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

28% 

2021 

0.8% 

2021 

52% 

2021 

36% 

2021 

85% 

2021 

49% 

2021 

67% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

31% 

2022 

1.3% 

2022 

53% 

2022 

37% 

2022 

85% 

2021 

83% 

2022 

67% 

2023 

Overall Czechia’s progress in fixed connectivity has been limited and might hamper its capacity to 
contribute  to  the  EU  Digital  Decade  targets.  The  increase  in  the  percentage  of  households  with 
access to VHCN has been very limited (rising from 52% in 2021 to 53% in 2022) and well below the 
EU average of 73%. Without a significant acceleration, this rate of increase would deliver a coverage 
of  just  60%  in  2030.  The  situation  is  especially  worrying  on  FTTP,  with  only  a  slight  increase  of  1 
percentage point in the reporting period. A large part of Czechia’s population does not have access to 
a fibre connection (63% against. 44% on average in the EU). The increase of past years is a result of 
accelerated DOCSIS 3.1 deployment (mainly in urban areas), with 34.9% of households now covered 
by this technology. The market relies a lot on wireless solutions which do not guarantee the provision 
of  Gigabit  speeds.  The  take-up  of  100  Mbps  fixed  broadband  increased  by  3  percentage  points 
between 2021 and 2022, but the take-up of fast fixed broadband is still well below EU average (31% 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

versus 55%). Only 1.3% of households took up connection speed of at least 1 Gbps, whereas the EU 
average is 13.8%.  

High  speed  internet  access  is  particularly  lacking  in  rural  areas  due  to  limited  commercial 
incentives  to  deploy  such  networks.  Under  the  National  Plan  for  the  Development  of  Very  High 
Capacity Networks and with funding from the RRP, a Digital Technical Map (DTM) will be completed 
with  precise  information on the  location  and technical infrastructure of public and private entities. 
This  will  provide  the  information  needed  to  share  the  physical  infrastructure,  improve  the 
coordination of civil works and speed up the development of VHCN infrastructure.  

Efforts  by  telecom  operators  to  provide  customers  with  faster  connections  may  result  in  better 
coverage and take up in the coming years. On fixed broadband, one operator plans to offer users a 
faster  fibre  connection  from  April  2023.  The  new  2 000/1 000  Mbits  tariff  will  enable  users  to 
download  and  upload  at  twice  the  speed  of  the  previous  highest  tariff  (1 000/500  Mbits).  In  May 
2022,  a vertical  player  announced  the  modernisation  of  the cable  network  to DOCSIS  4.0  over the 
next 5 years, this will involve the deployment of new technologies and the replacement of network 
elements along with the expansion of the optical infrastructure (with an estimated investment of CZK 
3 billion). Construction was also underway as part of a joint investment project in FTTH between two 
operators.  According  to  the  Czech  Telecommunication  Office  (CTU)  current  information,  this 
cooperation will  also  include  mutual  access  to  some  of  the  connections  already  in  place  in  various 
cities,  including  Prague  and  Brno.  Moreover,  last  July,  the  Commission  accepted  the  commitments 
from  three  players  to  ensure  that  their  network  sharing  agreements  do  not  reduce  infrastructure 
competition.  These  network  sharing  agreements  will  allow  efficiencies,  such  as  faster  roll-out  and 
cost  savings.  However,  in  rural  areas  fibre  availability  is  limited  and  operators  do  not  seem  to  be 
incentivised to invest in those areas.  

5G deployment is accelerating, rising from 49% in 2021 of covered populated areas to 83% in 2022, 
with 42% 5G coverage on the 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum band. Czechia managed to reach a 5G coverage 
above the EU average. 67% of the 5G spectrum has been assigned, but Czechia has not awarded yet 
the 26 GHz bandwidth. 5G in a higher bandwidth offers faster data transfer rates and lower latency 
allowing high-quality streaming, industrial automation, expansion of Internet of Things, and enabling 
smart city applications and autonomous vehicles to work.  Under the National Recovery Plan (NRP), 
the  government  is  planning  to  improve  5G  network  coverage  in  rural  areas  by  building  120  5G 
network base stations by 2030, but this measure is currently being amended. The NRP also contains 
plans for coverage of railway corridors with 5G signal on the trajectory Prague  - Ostrava and Česká 
Třebová – Brno routes. In January 2023, one of the mobile network operators acquired the 3600 to 
3640 MHz band (40 MHz) frequencies for the future development of its 5G network. This could lead 
to the development of more robust 5G networks.  

Telecom  operators  underline  the  difficulties  in  rolling  out  infrastructure  and  describe  the  Czech 
telecom  market  as  very  fragmented  with  numerous  providers  at  local  level,  hindering  the 
possibility of economies of scale. The main operators investing in 5G roll-out and in fibre encounter 
administrative  complexities  that  delays  the  deployment  of  networks.  A  specific  problem  is  that 
building  permits  procedures  are  lengthy.  This  is  particularly  constraining,  in  relation  to  the  RRF, 
where investments have to be completed by 2025 and operators are worried about not meeting the 
target.  Under  the  RRF,  by end  of 2024,  the  government  plans  to  create  a  new  central  information 
system for authorities involved in the construction permission process that will hopefully smooth and 
accelerate the administrative process.  

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

Mobile broadband take-up is still lower in Czechia than the EU as a whole (85% versus 87%). One 
deterrent could be the high prices of mobile offers. Averaging all the baskets of mobile broadband 
usage, Czechia is one the most expensive countries39. With inflationary pressures, several operators 
have  increased  their  prices.  To  enhance  take-up,  the  CTU  is  working  on  promoting  end-user 
empowerment  by  developing  a  transparency  tool  (price  and  quality  comparison  tool)  and  QoS 
measurement tool, NetTest, which enables end-users to verify the quality of service provided and to 
aim for better quality if needed. 

Ten  million  chips  are  produced  daily  in  Czechia,  and  the  country  is  beginning  to  play  a  very 
important role in chip manufacturing on a global scale. Two enterprises  in Rožnov (in Zlin region) 
are leading the way. The first is a research and development centre for chips, microcontrollers  and 
software  for  car  manufacturers  and  others.  The  second  is  a  US  company  that  designs  and 
manufactures  silicon  wafers  and  semiconductor  chips  with  sales  of  CZK  3.7  billion  last  year  and 
employing 2 200 people. Czechia has supported the Chips Act as a comprehensive set of proposals to 
ensure  the  EU's  security  of  supply,  resilience  and  technological  leadership  in  semiconductor 
technologies and applications. 

Czechia is also a participant in the IPCEI on Microelectronics and Communication Technologies and 
presented four projects. The country, which is very dependent on the automotive sector, can see the 
IPCEI as one of the tools for further development and support of the whole ecosystem. A CEF Digital 
funded  study  is  ongoing  with  the  aim  of  preparing  the  roll-out  of  5G  and  FRMCS  communication 
systems  with  a  view  to  connected  and  automated  mobility  of  the  railway  corridor  linking  Brno  to 
Bratislava in Slovakia. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. 

Czechia  has  also  been  part  of  the  European  Quantum  Communication  Infrastructure  (EuroQCI) 
since 2020. Four universities are involved in building the Czech National Quantum Infrastructure, a 
quantum backbone network between Prague, Brno, Ostrava and Olomouc with further connections 
to Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland. The goal is to create an extremely secure communication 
network  based  on  quantum  key  distribution  and  connecting  critical  national  and  European 
infrastructure institutions.  

Czechia  participates  in  the  multi-country  project  on  common  data  infrastructure  and  services  (see 
‘Digitalisation  of  businesses’  for  more  details),  which  so  far  has  chiefly  enabled  it  to  contribute 
towards the edge nodes target. 

Best practice: the LUMI-Q Consortium  

In  October  2022,  the  European  High-Performance  Computing  Joint  Undertaking  (EuroHPC  JU) 
announced the selection of six sites that will host the first European quantum computers including a 
site in Czechia. The computers will be integrated on site into existing supercomputers and will form a 
wide  network  across  Europe.  The  LUMI-Q  consortium  was  among  the  projects  chosen,  and  its 
quantum computer will be located at the IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Centre in Ostrava, 
which  is  also  the  LUMI-Q  consortium  leader.  Installation  and  start-up  of  the  quantum  computer  is 
planned for 2024 and should be made available to those interested in using it.  

To support the installation, several technical universities in Czechia are running specific study courses 
in the field, and the entire study programme at the Czech Technical University in Prague is relevant. 

In  2022,  the  Czech  Ministry  of  Education,  Youth  and  Sports,  co-financed  two  pan-European 
supercomputers,  Karolina  and  LUMI.  The  LUMI  supercomputer  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  and 

39 Mobile and Fixed Broadband Prices in Europe 2021 - Final report, EC, 2022.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

energy-efficient supercomputers in the world.  

Czechia should accelerate its efforts on connectivity infrastructure, especially fibre-to-the-premises 
rollout  in  rural  area.  The  swift  implementation  of  measures  under  the  RRF  and  European  Regional 
development Fund is very relevant. Czechia should continue deploying 5G including by completing the 
overdue  assignment  of  radio  spectrum  in  the  5G  pioneer  bands.  Czechia  should  regularly  assess 
emerging market demand for the remaining unassigned spectrum in the 26GHz band (to incentivise 
and  facilitate  the  deployment  of  5G  services  for  advanced  applications)  and  assign  it  when  the 
demand  arises.  Measures  taken  by  Czechia  in  the  field  of  semiconductors  and  quantum  computing 
should continue in order to help the EU become a strong market player in these areas.  

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud40 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Czechia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

38% 

2019 

20% 

2019 

9% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

12% 

2020 

29% 

2020 

18% 

2020 

15% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

38% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

40% 

2021 

5% 

2021 

12% 

2020 

23% 

2021 

17% 

2021 

11% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

68% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

40% 

2021 

5% 

2021 

12% 

2020 

23% 

2022 

17% 

2022 

11% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

40 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see  Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

Czechia  is  a  long  way  off  the  Digital  Decade  target  of  at  least  75%  enterprises  using  cloud 
computing,  big  data  or  AI.  The  percentage  of  SMEs  selling  online  stagnated  compared  with  the 
previous year. In 2022, the proportion of SMEs with at least a basic level of digital intensity was 68%, 
slightly  below  the  EU  average  of  69%.  Only  9%  of  enterprises  were  using  big  data  technologies  in 
2020  (EU  14%),  whilst  in  2021  40%  were  using  cloud  services  (EU  34%)  and  5%  were  using  AI 
technologies (EU 8%). Given that “businesses are not yet making adequate use of the opportunities 
offered  by  digital  technologies”41,  the  Confederation  of  Industry  of  Czech  Republic  stresses  that 
business digitalisation should be a priority for the government.  

The AI strategy was adopted  4 years ago and is now being evaluated and rethought  to integrate 
more  stakeholders  from  the  AI  ecosystem  into  the  designing  of  the  objectives.  An  ‘AI  map’  is 
already available online. It maps and pins enterprises and academic institutions doing AI projects to 
better  understand  and  coordinate  the  ecosystem.  To  boost  the  uptake  of  AI,  Czechia  is  part  of  a 
cross-border  consortium  called  AI-MATTERS,  in  Testing  and  Experimenting  Facilities  and  aims  to 
increase  the  uptake  of  AI  in  the  European  Manufacturing  sector  under  the  Digital  Europe 
Programme. Moreover, at the end of 2022, Czechia completed a project to set up a European Centre 
of  Excellence  in  Artificial  Intelligence  for  a  Safer  Society  (ECE).  Led  by  a  consortium  of  research 
organisations  and  universities,  the  project  established  national  and  international  cooperation 
(especially  between  academia  and  enterprises),  to  design  model  instruments  for  financing  AI 
research and development, and laid the foundations for a platform on the socio-economic and legal 
impacts of AI.  

41  Complex  analysis  of starting  points  and  proposal  for  implementation  of  revised  measures  of  National  RIS3 
Strategy 2021+, MIT and EY, 2019, page 51. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

Six Czech candidates  submitted  successful proposals  in the round of the  call for European Digital 
Innovation Hubs in 2022. The purpose of the call was to support projects related to the use of AI for 
SMEs,  cybersecurity,  digitisation  of  public  administration  and  SMEs,  automation  in  manufacturing 
sectors and supercomputing. These EDIHs became part of a network of European Digital Innovation 
Hubs (EDIHs) and have already received their funding from the Digital Europe Programme. The EDIHs 
provide  services  for  SMEs  and  Local  Public  Authorities  (LPAs)  to  address  digital  challenges  and 
improve  business/production  processes,  products/services  using  digital  technologies.  They  help 
mainly  with  (i)  identifying  investors,  (ii)  training  in  acquiring  digital  skills,  (iii)  testing  before 
investment, and (iv) creating an ecosystem for innovation and networking. Creating a data-oriented 
ecosystem  will  push  enterprises  to  invest  in  big  data  software  and  better  keep  track  of  their  key 
performance indicators. In 2024, under the RRF, Czechia aims to create a training platform for SMEs 
to support them in digitalisation and educate them about the risks and opportunities posed by new 
digital technologies.  

In  2022,  the  National  Recovery  Plan  announced  two  calls  under  the  Digital  and  Virtual  Enterprise 
investment to support the digital transformation of businesses. Successful projects will be supported 
in acquiring sophisticated solutions such as cloud computing services, big data, artificial intelligence, 
etc. In response to the call, 623 projects worth CZK 2.1 billion were submitted. The total allocation of 
this investment in the current National Recovery Plan is CZK 4.625 billion. In 2022, the ‘Operational 
Programme Technologies and Applications for Competitiveness’ was approved for the period 2021 to 
2027. The programme aimed at supporting SMEs in the processing of large-scale data, the use of AI 
tools,  block-chain,  virtual  reality,  development  and  acquisition  of  specialized  software  for  working 
with big data. 

The Czech start-up scene is growing. In 2022, another business-to-business start-up became a Czech 
‘unicorn’  (start-up  valued  at  over  USD  1  billion).  Czechia  now  counts  4  unicorns  according  to  the 
Dealroom  database.  According  to  a  report  by  Mavericks42,  200  start-ups  received  venture  capital 
investments in 2022. Czechia is rapidly increasing the number of initiatives to fund and support start-
ups.  The  CzechInvest  agency  uses  the  state  budget  and  the  RRP  to  support  start-ups.  Last  year,  it 
launched a first technology incubation call to support early-stage start-ups. The state agency aims to 
support up to 250 innovative start-ups with CZK 850 million (EUR 36.2 million) over the next 5 years. 
This first call focuses on start-ups in the field of mobility, ecotech, AI and creative industry. Support 
was granted to 12 AI start-ups. The support includes a standard grant and an incubation package. A 
team of experts from the agency will work intensively with the enterprises for up to 2 years, helping 
them with their business and providing legal, marketing and finance services 

The  Ministry  of  Industry  and  Trade  is  also  becoming  a  significant  investor  in  tech  through  two 
funds,  the  Central  European  Fund  of  Funds  managed  by  the  European  Investment  Fund,  and  the 
Initial Public Offering Fund managed by Národní rozvojová investiční, a.s. As a result of implementing 
these  facilities,  growth  equity  investment  in  Czech  businesses  was  more  than  triple  the  annual 
average for 2021-2027 (0.27% of GDP against 0.08% as percentage of GDP). Czechia has reached the 
level of EU countries like the Netherlands, Sweden or France in terms of growth capital investment. 

Czechia  should  accelerate  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In  particular,  it 
should facilitate access to advanced technologies and strengthen policies and incentives to encourage 
the  digitalisation  of  businesses,  especially  SMEs,  through  sustained  and  complementary  measures, 
including access to training, raising awareness about the benefits of digital transformation 

42 https://www.mavericks.legal/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Mavericks-VC-deals-report_annual_2022.pdf 

 
 
 
 
 
90 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Czechia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

75 

2021 

81 

2021 

41 

2021 

54 

2021 

67 

2021 

81 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

86% 

2022 

76 

2022 

84 

2022 

42 

2022 

57 

2022 

68 

2022 

80 

2022 

47 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

Digital transformation of public services continues to be one of the government’s main priorities 
and  substantial  efforts  are  made  to  reach  the  Digital  Decade  targets,  such  as  a  newly  established 
digital and information agency that will help support the digitalisation of the public services by 2025 
and introduce several key digital projects.  

Czechia  succeeded  in  getting  internet  users  to  access  public  services  online  (86%  versus  an  EU 
average of 74%). Regarding the Digital Decade targets, Czechia scores slightly under the EU average 
on digital public services for citizens (76 versus 77 in the EU), and at the EU average (84) on digital 
public  services  for  businesses,  making  a  significant  contribution  to  reaching  the  Digital  Decade 
targets. However, the scores for transparency, mobile friendliness and for user support, are all below 
the EU average.  

To ensure progress, the new agency, Central Digitalisation Agency (DIA) was set up in April 2023. 
This  central  authority  ensures  inter-institutional  alignment,  interoperability  between  systems  and 
common  standards  in  architecture,  design  and  functionalities  of  new  or  upgraded  digital  public 
services.  Other  public  administration  bodies  can  consult  the  DIA  experts  for  support  with  digital 
transformation  in  line  with  number  of  guidelines  and  resources  developed  in  2022.  One  of  the 
Agency’s  objectives  is  to  improve  IT  procurement  by  making  use  of  standard  procedures.  Some 
measures  have  already  been  implemented  such  as  new  mandatory  technical  standards  for  ICT 
commodities procurement in place since last summer. To monitor digitalisation, a service catalogue 
was  created.  At  the  moment,  this  catalogue  covers  98%  of  public  administration  agendas  and 
contains over 6 800 services. The government also decided to bring all state administrative websites 
under  a  single  domain  –  gov.cz  –  which  will  make  it  easier  for  service  users  to  interact  with  the 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

government and will also provide improved cybersecurity and legal certainty. The implementation of 
this project is ongoing. 

Czechia  is  advancing  well  on  implementation  of  the  Single  Digital  Gateway  (SDG)  that  will  be 
completed  by  2023.  The  Gateway  will  provide  online  access  to  information,  administrative 
procedures, and assistance services that EU citizens and businesses may need in another EU country. 
Czechia has met 62 out of 68 requirements under the relevant EU Regulation. Czechia has also been 
working on the Once Only Technical System (OOTS) that enables information to be shared between 
public administrations across borders between Member states.  

The  Czech  government  has  successfully  designed  and  implemented  an  electronic  identification 
system that enables citizens to access public services online using their electronic identity cards in 
line  with  eIDAS  requirements.  The  system  has  made  it  easier  for  people  in  Czechia  to  access 
government services without having to visit government offices in person. In 2023, more than 60% of 
people  living  in  Czechia  have  at  least  one  of  the  13  forms  of  eID  that  can  be  used  to  access  e-
government services (an increase of one million on the previous year). Bank ID is the most popular 
method  of  authentication.  Last  year,  over  1.6  million  people  used  it  at  least  once.  The  country  is 
following an ambitious strategy and is planning to increase the use and popularity of e-government 
solutions by allowing citizens to carry ID cards or driving licences in a mobile app instead of physical 
cards  in  2023.  Czechia  is  involved  via  public  and  private  entities  in  four  large-scale  pilot  projects 
funded under the Digital Europe Programme, with an overall grant request of over EUR 2 million.  

Czechia is only now starting to build infrastructure for sharing health data, this is why its score is 
well below the EU average (47 against 71). Concerning eHealth, Czechia is lagging, the country ranks 
25 out of the 27 EU Member  State for this indicator.  Instead of a centralised national approach to 
making  health  data  accessible,  only  individual  healthcare  providers  offer  such  services.  However, 
none of them offers citizens with access to their health-related data in significant numbers resulting 
in a low coverage of 0-19% of the population. Opportunities exist in law for legal guardians to access 
children’s electronic health records and for carers to access care-dependent people, for example, but 
the  technical  solutions  to  make  this  possible  in  practice  are  not  yet  in  place.  Czechs  clearly  lack 
appropriate  means  to  access  the  full  range  of  electronic  health  data,  despite  significant  efforts  to 
make ePrescription and eDispensation data accessible for citizens both nationally and in cross-border 
settings. A national online access service to other health data should be prioritised, tested and rolled-
out in the coming years. 

Thanks  to  the  RRF,  Czechia  aims  to  extend  the  functionalities  of  the  National  Health  Information 
Portal to enable health services providers to enter information and communicate with citizens, other 
healthcare  service  providers  and  health  insurance  enterprises.  Czechia  is  also  participating  in 
European initiatives to boost digitalisation of the health sector. The Ministry of Health is involved in 
the Digital Transformation in Health and Care call under Horizon 2020. The  ‘X-eHealth: eXchanging 
electronic  Health  Records  in  a  common  framework’  project  aims  to  create  a  unified  interoperable 
format for sharing health data, such as, health records for the exchange of discharge reports, orders 
and results of laboratory tests, orders, etc. The project was completed in November 2022. 

On cybersecurity, the activities of the National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) were 
in 2022 highly impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. NUKIB strengthened its efforts to secure 
its networks and increase overall cybersecurity awareness among the citizens and the private sector. 
The  NUKIB  put  in  place  a  framework  for  the  cybersecurity  certification  system  and  became  the 
national cybersecurity certification authority under the Czech Cybersecurity Act. The Act is currently 
being amended due to the adoption of the NIS2 Directive. A catalogue of cloud services providers has 
been established for the public administration to choose a secure provider.  

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Czechia 

Moreover,  in  2022,  a  National  Coordination  Centre  was  set  up  to  support  the  European 
Cybersecurity  Competence  Centre  (ECCC).  The  National  Coordination  Centre  will  help  the  ECCC  to 
increase  Europe’s  cybersecurity  capacities  and  competitiveness,  by  promoting  the  participation  of 
civil society, industries and research communities in cross border projects and actions funded by the 
EU.  Cyber  awareness  materials  were  made  available  on  NUKIB’s  website  in  line  with  its  mandate, 
both for entities regulated under the Czech Cybersecurity Act and for the broader public. NUKIB also 
organises cybersecurity exercises for employees to learn about secure behaviour at work.  

By  implementing  electronic  identification  and  digitalising  public  registers,  tax  administration, 
healthcare  services,  and  public  procurement,  the  Czech  government  has  made  it  easier  for  people 
and businesses to access public services online and reduce the administrative burden.   

Best practice: incentives to adopt eID  

From  the  beginning  of  2023,  data  mailboxes  are  being  set  up  automatically  for  individuals  doing 
business, since their use is now mandatory. This legislative change will contribute to a rapid growth 
of  a  number  of  the  eID  users.  To  attract  more  users,  in  November  2022,  a  digital  voting  card 
application for the presidential election was made available on the Citizen's Portal.  Logged-in users 
only need their data mailbox to make the applications and then to choose how they wants to receive 
their  voter's  card.  All  other  information  is  being  pre-filled.  Almost  70 000  citizens  set  up  a  data 
mailbox  to  apply  for  a  voter's  card,  which  significantly  increased  the  number  of  newly  established 
data mailboxes for individuals. 

Czechia should accelerate its efforts to digitalise public services. In particular, it should take further 
steps  towards  improving  the  user-friendliness  of  online  public  services,  including  developing  user-
friendly interfaces, stepping up support for users abroad and/or users who have difficulties accessing 
digital  public  services,  creating  an  easy  mechanism  for  citizens  to  provide  feedback  (e.g.,  user 
satisfaction survey).   

 
 
 
 
 
94 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Denmark 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023  

Denmark 

 
 
 
 
 
95 

Introduction  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Denmark 

Denmark  is  expected  to  make  a  very  strong  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the 
Digital Decade targets. Denmark is undertaking further efforts to improve access to open data and to 
provide  more  public  digital  services  benefitting  all  its  citizens  and  companies.  Denmark  recently 
created a ministry responsible for digitalisation, which demonstrates the country’s firm commitment 
to  continue  the  successful  digital  transformation  of  its  society  and  economy.  The  newly  adopted 
digital  strategy43  is  a  good  foundation  for  the  ongoing  digital  transformation,  taking  into  account 
digital decade rights and principles.  

Digital in Denmark Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

25%  of  the  funds  related  to  the  Danish  RRP  (EUR  380  million)  is  allocated  to  the  digital 
transformation  and  the  same  amount  is  expected  to  contribute  to  the  Digital  Decade  targets44. 
Denmark submitted to the Commission a request for the disbursement of EUR 301 million under the 
RRF. The request was based on the country’s achievement of the 23 milestones and two targets for 
the first instalment. The Danish plan supports a range of measures to improve the resilience of the 
health sector, including those measures to ensure stocks of critical drugs and a sufficient supply of 
medical  products  in  crisis  situations,  which  have  also  been  implemented.  It  also  supports  a  broad 
digital strategy designed to promote a digital transformation of all sectors of society. The milestones 
and targets relating to the Digital Strategy are covered in future instalments and do not feature in the 
first payment request.  

43 The Joint Government Digital Strategy (digst.dk) 
44  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
96 

1 Digital skills  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Denmark 

Denmark continues to perform well on skills. Basic and above basic digital skill levels are higher than 
the  EU  average  and  the  share  of  enterprises  providing  ICT  training  has  slightly  risen  to  33%  –  11 
percentage points above the EU average. The proportion of employed ICT specialists in the workforce 
stands  at  5.7%  compared  to  an  EU  target  which  corresponds  to  around  10%.  The  share  of  ICT 
graduates  is 1.5  percentage  points  over  the  EU  average.  Companies  report  difficulties  in  recruiting 
ICT experts and find it increasingly difficult to fill vacancies, echoing comparable signals in the region. 
This  must  be  seen  in  a  digital  economic  context,  where  Denmark’s  leading  position  is  being 
challenged as there is a constantly growing demand for more digital experts in both small and large 
companies. 

Denmark 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

97% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

30% 

2020 

5.3% 

2020 

4.9% 

2019 

97% 

2021 

69% 

2021 

37% 

2021 

76% 

2021 

30% 

2020 

5.6% 

2021 

5.4% 

2020 

96% 

2022 

69% 

2021 

37% 

2021 

76% 

2021 

33% 

2022 

5.7% 

2022 

5.7% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Denmark  ranks  well  above  the  EU  average  when  it  comes  to  digital  skills.  69%  of  people  aged 
between 16 and 74 in Denmark have at least basic digital skills, which is significantly above the EU 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Denmark 

average  of  54%).  However,  the  country  is  still  11  percentage  points  below  the  80%  Digital  Decade 
target for 2030.  

Denmark  performs  only  slightly  above  the  EU  average  in  terms  of  the  number  of  employed  ICT 
specialists in the workforce (5.7% vs. the EU average of 4.6%), and this percentage has only slightly 
increased since 2019. 5.7%  of graduates have  studied ICT in  Denmark  (against  4.2%  in the EU  as a 
whole).  The  share  has  increased  very  slightly  over  the  last  five  years.45  While  a  positive  trend  is 
discernible, this alone will be unlikely to enable Denmark to contribute meaningfully to achieving the 
Digital  Decade  target  of  20  million  ICT  specialists  in  employment  by  2030.  With  22%  the  share  of 
women among ICT specialists is above the EU average of 18.9%. 

Several new initiatives are awaiting parliamentary approval and expected to be launched in 2023, 
as part of the digitalisation strategy presented in May 2022.46  Implementation of many initiatives 
has already started. Furthermore, the FVU Digital project introducing basic IT skills as a new subject 
in  preparatory  adult  education  has  been  extended  by  an  additional  year  to  2023.  The  project  was 
part of a tripartite agreement dating back to 2017. 
In May 2022, the Danish government presented a comprehensive new Digital Strategy,47 based on 
the  recommendations  of  the  Digitalisation  Partnership.48  The  strategy  is  a  key  deliverable  in  the 
Danish Recovery and Resilience Plan’s digital component 6, milestone 54.49 The new digital strategy is 
a  main  digital  component  of  the  Danish  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan,  where  EUR  37  million  is 
allocated to initiatives related to strengthening digital competences among Danes. This includes an 
initiative to make technology part of compulsory education, skills development of teachers, a digital 
boost of higher education including adult higher education and training, and an upgrading of digital 
equipment in vocational education and training (VET) and more labour market training. However, the 
new strategy only implicitly plans for investment in boosting the number of ICT or sector specialists 
with advanced use of digital skills, which seems unambitious.  

Denmark is expected to make a positive contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the 2030 
digital  decade  target  for  ICT  specialists,  making  the  best  of  the  new  digital  strategy  investment, 
supported by the Danish RRF plan funding.  

According to the Digital Decade targets for 2030, 20 million ICT specialists are needed in Europe to 
keep  up  with  the  growing  demand  for  digital  skills  in  the  labour  market.  This  would  require  a 
doubling of the current number of ICT specialists (8.9 million) in just eight years. To help meet that 
target,  Denmark  would  need  an  additional  200,000  ICT  specialists  by  2030,  on  top  of  the  around 
160,000  employed  in  Denmark  today.  The  reality,  however,  is  that  in  Denmark,  in  2022,  19,753 
qualified  and  committed young  people  applied  for  an  IT  education,  but  only  5,956  were  admitted, 
mainly due to insufficient funding for education schemes.50  

The ambition for the new educational reform is to strengthen education and increase the labour 
supply, but it remains to be seen if the reform will solve the educational challenges in the years 
ahead. The IT industry is concerned that the shortage of IT specialists’ will hinder from keeping up its 
leading role. 

45 DESI 2022 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/desi-denmark  
46 https://en.digst.dk/strategy/the-national-strategy-for-digitalisation/ 
47 https://en.digst.dk/strategy/the-national-strategy-for-digitalisation/  
48The Government Digitalisation Partnership  
49 Denmark’s recovery and resilience plan (europa.eu) 
50 Vi kommer ikke længere ved at gøre uddannelserne kortere - IT-Branchen (itb.dk) 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Denmark 

Denmark may benefit from a more strategic approach, focusing on the shortage of ICT specialists and 
sector specialists with ICT skills, as emphasised in vision 9 in the Danish digitalisation strategy. There 
are too few workers with digital skills in the labour force and too few ICT graduates. Companies lack 
people with digital competencies  at  all levels. There is fierce competition among companies  to get 
students with a STEM background from university courses. In addition, the decline in the number of 
young  people  anticipated  in  the  coming  years  will  further  intensify  competition  to  hire  digitally 
competent employees. 

Best practice: DigiQ  

The  "DigiQ:  Digitally  Enhanced  Quantum  Technology  Master"  project,  coordinated  by  Aarhus 
University and co-funded through the Digital Europe programme, aims to offer short-term courses in 
quantum  technology,  drawing  on  existing  quantum courses,  fostering  collaboration  among  partner 
universities,  and  setting  up  internships  with  over  100  industrial  partners.  This project  is  associated 
with the Quantum Flagship initiative.51 

Looking at Denmark’s performance in the reporting period, Denmark has made progress and is close 
to  reaching  the  Digital  Decade  target  on  basic  skills.  However,  the  share  of  digital  experts  in 
Denmark’s  workforce  is  only  slightly  above  the  EU  average  and  prospects  are  undermined  by  low 
rates of ICT enrolment and graduates.  

Denmark  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in the area  of digital  skills.  Notably,  it  should 
focus  on  upskilling  and  reskilling  of  the  labour  force,  in  particular,  in  advanced  and  emerging 
technologies  as  well  as  increasing  the  capacity  of  the  educational  system  to  train  more  ICT 
specialists52.  

51 DigiQ: boosting talent and teaching resources in quantum technology – Barcelona Institute of 
Science and Technology – BIST 
52 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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2 Digital infrastructures 

Denmark  remains  in  a  strong  position  to  reach  the  connectivity  targets.  The  country  has  an 
excellent  fixed  very  high  capacity  network  (VHCN)  coverage  of  96%  of  households.  FTTP  coverage 
continues to increase at a strong pace, from 74% to 78%, due to sustained substantial investment by 
consumers owned local and regional utility companies in rural areas. 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

Denmark 

DESI 
2021 

48% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

62% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

4.9% 

12.0% 

18.7% 

13.8% 

% households 

2a3 Fixed Very High Capacity Network (VHCN) coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

2020 

94% 

2020 

70% 

2020 

95% 

2018 

80% 

2020 

99% 

2021 

2021 

95% 

2021 

74% 

2021 

97% 

2021 

98% 

2021 

99% 

2022 

2022 

96% 

2022 

78% 

2022 

97% 

2021 

98% 

2022 

99% 

2023 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

Denmark  has  successfully  followed  a  market-based  approach  to  the  roll-out  of  digital 
infrastructure. There have only been minor state aid projects to support the roll-out in underserved 
remote  areas.  This  is  reflected  in  the  uptake,  18.7%  of  households  now  have  at  least  a  1  Gbps 
broadband connection, up from 12% last year and above the EU average of 13.8%. In Denmark, 69% 
of households have speeds of at least 100 Mbps, which is significantly above the EU average of 55%.  

Investment  in  the  telecommunications  sector  continued  to  grow,  reaching  a  total  of  around  EUR 
1.45  billion.  The  sector’s  substantial  investments  in  fixed  broadband  and  mobile  infrastructure 
translates  into  widespread  coverage  in  Denmark.  Since  2021,  fibre  has  been  the  dominant 
technology on the Danish fixed broadband market, with around 1.1 million subscriptions in 2022. As 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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fibre subscriptions have increased, xDSL subscriptions have decreased markedly over the past years 
and stand at around 450,000 xDSL in 2022 compared to 900,000 in 2018. The goals for Denmark set 
out  in  the  Broadband  Strategy  in  2021  are:  by  2025,  all  households  and  businesses  should  have 
access to broadband with speeds of at least 100 Mbps and 98% should be covered by infrastructure 
capable of providing speeds of at least 1 Gbps (download).  

In 2023, the political parties are expected to re-evaluate and take stock of the  progress made on 
the  strategy  and  asses  what  measures  should  be  taken  to  reach  the  goal  by  2025.  The  Broadband 
Strategy  goals  are  expected  to  be  reached  mainly  through  technology-neutral  regulation  and  a 
market-based  rollout,  supported  by  limited  public  grants  in  rural  underserved  remote  areas.  The 
allocation of funds to the National Broadband Fund used for the public grants has been delayed due 
to parliamentary elections. In the meantime, funds for 2023 were allocated in the May 2023 Finance 
Act,  adopted  by  the  Danish  Parliament.  The  new  application  round  was  opened  on  2  June  2023, 
earlier than in 2022. Further stock-taking will take place in 2025 as a basis for discussion on how to 
reach the remaining 1-2% of households that are expected not to have access to 1 Gbps by then.  

Denmark has assigned all 5G pioneer bands, with licensees under usage and coverage obligations 
for the 700 MHz and 3.6 GHz bands. Overall 5G coverage in Denmark stands at 98%, demonstrating 
that  the  country  has  successfully  implemented  its  5G  Action  Plan.  In  the  3.6  GHz  band,  a  gradual 
increase in the outdoor demographic coverage obligation is still  planned over the  coming years: to 
60% in 2023 and 75% in 2025. In the 26 GHz band, a usage obligation forms part of the license. The 
use of local private mobile networks is facilitated through a leasing obligation for one licensee in the 
3.6 GHz band.  

There are many new initiatives in Denmark around quantum computing, both public and private. 
For  example,  via the  Danish  e-infrastructure  Cooperation  (53)￼  Denmark  is  part of  the  consortium 
behind  the  LUMI-Q  quantum  computing  initiative.  Aiming  to  link  a  quantum  computer  to  a  classic 
high  performance  computer,  LUMIQ  is  supporting  the  EU’s  ambitions  to  have  computers  with 
quantum acceleration. The Danish contribution to the LuMI-Q amounts to EUR 500,000.  

Denmark has also been selected as the home of the new NATO centre for quantum technologies. The 
Niels  Bohr  Institute  will  host  the  new  centre,  which  will  include  an  accelerator  site  and  an 
incubator.54 

Denmark is investing in quantum communication by participating  in the EuroQCI initiative  with the 
project  ‘Danish  Quantum Communication  Infrastructure  -  QCI.dk’.  The  project,  which will  run  from 
January 2023 to July 2025, is led by Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and includes four Danish 
ministries as partners in the project. 

The  Novo  Nordisk  Foundation  has  made  a  major  investment  in  developing  Denmark’s  first  fully 
functional  generally  applicable  quantum  computer,  scheduled  to  be  available  in  2034.  The 
programme  which  was  started  in 2022  and  which  will  run  until 2034  is  fully  funded  by the  private 
Novo Nordisk foundation with a budget of around EUR 200 million.55  

53 Danish e-infrastructure Cooperation (DeiC) is the collaboration with and between the Danish universities. 
DeIC coordinates the delivery and development of the national digital research infrastructure. 
54 https://investindk.com/insights/new-danish-nato-center-for-quantum-technology 
55 https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news/major-investment-for-developing-denmarks-first-fully-functional-
quantum-computer/ 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Denmark 

On  19  June  2023,  the  Danish government  launched a  Quantum  Strategy,  with  EUR 137 million  in 
support  for  new  quantum  activities.56  Denmark  is  therefore  in  a  strong  position  to  contribute  to 
achieving Europe’s Digital Decade quantum targets. 

In 2018, Denmark launched a data management strategy for research data based on FAIR (Findable, 
Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) principles. This is the national response to the requirements 
of  the  European  Open  Data  Directive.  In  2023,  DeiC  allocated  EUR  1.8  million  to  the  creation  of 
national  data  repositories for  research  data, with  similar  levels of  investment in  the  coming  years. 
DeiC is also insuring the Danish participation in the MCP EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) with a 
contribution of EUR 0.9 million for EOSC and the national data management activities.  

As  regards  edge  technology,  Denmark  is  now  using  edge  computing  in  a  growing  number  of  the 
municipalities  (13%  of  municipalities  are  using  it,  6%  have  tested  the  technology  and  16%  have 
considered  using  it)  for  traffic  counts  (cars,  bicycles  with/without  helmets  and  pedestrians).  Edge 
computing is also used to make signal-regulated intersections more intelligent.57 These activities are 
making a direct contribution to the digital decade objectives for more secure edge technology nodes 
in Europe. 

In  the  field  of  semiconductor  technology,  in  April  2022,  the  DTU  presented  a  project  aimed  at 
doubling  its  clean  room  facilities  for  microchip  production  at  the  National  Centre  for  Nano 
Fabrication and Characterisation. The proposal to extend the clean room — which forms part of the 
National Centre for Nano Fabrication and Characterization — is based on a pre-project in which DTU 
has  mapped  the  need.  DTU  is  proposing  an  extension  of  around  3,600  m²,  consisting  of 
approximately  700  m²  of  clean  room  and  900  m²  of  supporting  areas,  300  m²  of  learning  and 
innovation environment, and distribution and technical areas. DTU expects that the extension can be 
completed  by 2025  if  public  and  private  funding  is  obtained.  The  clean  room was  last  extended  in 
2000  and  2003,  and  today  DTU  has  more  than  1,350  m²  of  clean  room  at  its  disposal  with  many 
machines for production of sensors and microchips, for example lithography and deposition.58 Such 
initiatives  make  a  direct  contribution  to  doubling  the  production  of  micro  processers  in  Europe 
before 2030. 

In  conclusion,  despite  Denmark  performing  very  well,  there  is  still  room  for  improvement,  in 
particular with regard to the take-up of very high speed broadband by its people and companies. The 
coverage  of  remote  areas  is  significantly  higher  than  the  EU  average,  but  some  people  and 
companies are still not covered by fast connectivity.  

Denmark  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  on  digital  infrastructures.  In  particular, 
concerning  connectivity,  it  should  explore  available  sources  of  financing  to  shoulder  private 
investment  in  those  areas  which  are  not  commercially  viable.  The  Danish  authorities  are  also 
encouraged to boost investments in developing European-own digital infrastructures in areas such as 
cloud, quantum and edge computing and encourage EU businesses and public administrations to take 
up digital tools and solutions, including through joint efforts and multi-country projects.   

56 Strategy for Quantum Technology: Part 1 – World-Class Research and Innovation — English (ufm.dk) 
57 
 https://www.kl.dk/media/53125/statusafrapportering-paa-kommunernes-digitaliseringsprogram-efteraar-
2022.pdf 
58 https://www.dtu.dk/english/news/all-news/companies-are-queuing-up-for-chip-production-in-clean-
room?id=281ec930-1c1d-4dfc-a16a-e9a075ebc09b    

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

Denmark performs very well on the digitalisation of business. The proportion of SMEs with at least 
basic intensity is 89%, which means that Denmark has almost reached the Digital Decade target.  

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud59 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Denmark 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

50% 

2019 

32% 

2019 

27% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

57% 

2020 

38% 

2020 

20% 

2020 

10% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

50% 

2021 

36% 

2021 

27% 

2020 

62% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

57% 

2020 

38% 

2021 

18% 

2021 

14% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

89% 

2022 

50% 

2021 

36% 

2021 

27% 

2020 

62% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

57% 

2020 

35% 

2022 

19% 

2022 

14% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

59 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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The  digital  transformation  of  businesses  is  advancing.  However,  companies  should  make  a  much 
wider use of more advanced ICT applications to remain competitive.  

The use of AI (24%) is three times the EU average, and the use of cloud technologies (62%) and big 
data (27%) almost twice the EU average. The percentage of SMEs selling online has remained steady 
at 35% – 14 percentage points higher than the EU average. E-commerce turnover has remained at a 
similar level, 20% in 2020, 18% in 2021 and 19% in 2022, but is 8 percentage points higher than the 
EU average. The percentage of SMEs selling online cross-border remains stable at 14% in 2022, which 
is  5  percentage  points  higher  than  the  EU  average  of  9%.  The  use  of  more  sustainable  ICT  is 
increasing,  in  line  with  the  digital  green  policy  ambitions.  Denmark  has  launched  a  national 
programme ‘SME: Digital’60 which offers services to advance the digital transition and e-commerce 
capabilities  of  Danish  SMEs.  This  is  linked  to  the  Danish  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  target  51, 
which will be reached when at least 550 SMEs have received funding.61 In 2022, the programme had 
a special ’theme subsidy’ to encourage SMEs to make better use of the data they are collecting (for 
example with the use of AI). The demand for the theme subsidy was high, and a similar subsidy will 
be created in 2023 with even more focus on advanced technology and data collection such as AI and 
big data. Moreover, there are five European Digital Innovation Hubs in Denmark. 

Usage  of  access  to  innovative  AI  applications  is  increasingly  important  in  a  digital  economy.  The 
Danish  fund  ‘Industriens  Fond’  is  funding  the  AI  Denmark  initiative,  a  collaboration  between  six 

60 https://smvdigital.dk/content  
61 Denmark’s recovery and resilience plan (europa.eu) 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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universities and research institutions along with the Danish Innovation Centre in Silicon Valley, aimed 
at supporting AI in SMEs. This is linked to the Danish Recovery and Resilience Plan target 57.62 The 
initiative, with funding of around 4.6 million EUR, runs from 2020 to 2023 with the purpose getting 
120  businesses  to  use  AI.63  Denmark  has  two  nodes  in  the  EU’s  AI  testing  and  experimentation 
facilities  network  within Smart Cities and Communities (CitCom.AI) and Manufacturing (AIMatters), 
co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme. 

Future  competitiveness  depends  on  easy  and  affordable  access  to  data.  In  September  2022, 
Denmark  launched  a  new  national  data  portal,  ‘datavejviseren’,  to  complement  the  existing 
landscape of high-quality data distribution by providing a single point of access to data. Metadata is 
added to the portal in an ongoing, demand-driven process. Priority is given to describing and linking 
to data that can be useful for solving societal challenges such as the green transition, labour-saving 
efforts and continued economic growth. In line with the ambitions of the Open Data Directive, the 
goal is to provide all potential data users with easy access to high-quality public-sector data at low or 
no  cost.  The  development  of  the  portal  is  funded  in  part  through  the  Recovery  and  Resilience 
Facility.64  

Best practice: “Nordic Smart Government and Business” initiative 

The  “Nordic  Smart  Government  and  Business”  initiative  is  a  collaboration  between  14  Nordic 
organisations led by the five business registries in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland. Its 
purpose is to promote the sharing of data between organisations and authorities for the purpose of 
developing a simpler reporting framework.65 The project is focused on aligning semantics, reporting 
taxonomies and data governance and will potentially also include green data. 

Access  to  and  use  of  energy  data  is  increasingly  important  both  for  the  transition  to  a  climate 
neutral society and for a green economy. Two relevant initiatives should be highlighted. Energinet, 
the  Danish  energy  transmission  system  operator,  operates  an  energy  data  hub  that  facilitates  and 
automates the execution of market processes and business transactions in the Danish energy retail 
market. Meter readings from around 3.3 million metering points (consumption and production) are 
registered and managed in the Datahub for settlement purposes. Energinets data services have been 
running  since  2017.66  CenterDenmarks  Digital  Energy  Hub,  runs  a  data  platform  for  smart  energy 
consumption  and  production.  The  project  is  funded  by  the  European  Commission  through  Smart 
Systems Energy ERA-NET and it participates in the Smart Energy Digital Innovation Hub funded by the 
Digital Europe -programme. The project also receives funding from Industries Fond and the regional 
development funds.67.  

As the digital transformation progresses, ever more and more areas of core business activities are 
being digitised in companies. A recent example is the Danish Bookkeeping Act adopted on 24 May 
2022, which sets out basic requirements for digital bookkeeping by companies. More specifically, the 
Act  sets  out  the  basic  requirements  for  digital  bookkeeping  systems  in  three areas:  (i)  records  and 

62 Denmark’s recovery and resilience plan (europa.eu) 
63 https://aidenmark.dk/  
64 https://datavejviser.dk/ 
65 https://nordicsmartgovernment.org   
66 https://en.energinet.dk/energy-data/ 
67 https://www.centerdenmark.com/en/ 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Denmark 

document storage, (ii) IT security and (iii) automation. The Act helps companies to prepare for and 
benefit  from  further  implementation  of  digital  public  reporting  standards  and  other  technological 
developments  in  the  market  for  bookkeeping  and  accounting  solutions  over  the  coming  years.  It 
enables companies to significantly reduce the amount of time needed for bookkeeping processes and 
all  their  public  reporting  burden.  At  the  same  time,  it  ensures  higher  quality.  More  uniform  data 
quality makes for more effective checks by the public authorities. The Act will eventually lead on to 
automatic  reporting  to  the  public  business  registry.  The  requirements  for  digital  bookkeeping  and 
digital bookkeeping systems will be implemented by decrees over the next 3-4 years. Together, they 
are expected to ease the administrative burdens on business by some DKK 2.9 billion annually (net). 

Denmark has a vivid start-up ecosystem with 17 scale-ups worth between 100 million and 1 billion 
USD  and  eight  unicorns.  In  the  start-up  area,  Digital  Hub  Denmark  has  been  actively  matching 
potential  foreign  investors  with  Danish  tech  start-ups.  In  addition,  in  2022,  Denmark  set  up  the 
Danish Export & Investment Fund. Danish companies enjoy access to state financed risk capital from 
when they are small start-ups through the growth phase, where they need acceleration capital, and 
up to the point when they become global exporters. Providing EUR 539 million in additional capital to 
Denmark's  Export  and  Investment  Fund  specifically  to  increase  the  capacity  to  invest  in  scale-up 
companies with unicorn potential and anchor these high-growth companies in Denmark. 

Furthermore, in June 2022, a letter of commitment was signed marking Denmark's accession to the 
NATO  Innovation  Fund.  The  Fund  is  to  serve  as  a  venture  capital  fund  with  a  total  investment  of 
around  DKK  7.5  billion  from  allies  joining  the  Fund.  The  Fund  must  make  long-term  and  strategic 
investments in start-up companies that develop solutions in new and disruptive technologies that are 
critical to the alliance's security. 

In April 2022, Vaekstfonden (now Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund) together with four other 
public  investment  banks  and  institutions  from  France,  Germany,  Greece  and  Finland  signed  a 
cooperation  protocol  to  accelerate  European  Tech.  To  support  the  emergence  of  European  global 
tech leaders, the banks and institutions decided to work together to develop the European growth-
stage fund market. They signed a cooperation protocol providing for a joint investment of  EUR 3.3 
billion over the next 3-5 years. 

Denmark should continue implementing its policies in the area of the digitalisation of businesses. In 
particular,  Denmark  should  develop  and  continue  to  strengthen  the  incentives  to  foster  the 
digitalisation of businesses, notably as regards the uptake of advanced technologies.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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4 Digitalisation of public services 

Denmark makes a very strong contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the Digital Decade 
targets.  The  country  has  consistently  focused  on  developing  more  effective  and  reliable  digital 
public services and is on track to reach the Digital Decade target of 100% availability.  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Denmark 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

83 

2021 

89 

2021 

86 

2021 

76 

2021 

85 

2021 

99 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

99% 

2022 

84 

2022 

89 

2022 

87 

2022 

78 

2022 

85 

2022 

99 

2022 

96 

2023 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Denmark scores above the EU average on all indicators. The percentage of e-Government users has 
increased  significantly,  to  an  impressive  99%  in  2022,  and  remains  considerably  above  the  EU 
average  of  74%.  Denmark  also  scores  significantly  above  the  EU  average  on  pre-filled  forms  (87 
compared  to  68).  Moreover,  the  scores  for  digital  public  services  for  individuals  (score  of  84)  and 
businesses (89)  are above the  EU  averages of 77 and 84 respectively. Access to health data  scores 
96%,  which  is  close  to  reaching  the  digital  decade  target of 100%  before  2030.  To  function well, a 
digital society depends on inclusive user-friendly access to all public services.  

The  national  eIDAS  node  has  been  operational  since  June  2018  and  there  are  currently  over  70 
national e-services connected to the node. All currently notified EU eID-schemes in other Member 
States are available through the node. It is now possible for Danish citizens to use their national eID 
across  EU-borders  and  to  access  self-service  solutions  in  those  EU-countries  in  line  with  Digital 
Decade rights and principles.  

All key public self-service solutions that can be digitized are provided online via the “MitID” scheme 
(for private individuals) and the “MitID erhverv” scheme (for legal and natural persons representing a 
legal person). All individuals and companies in Denmark have access to  the ‘MitID’ schemes, which 
give access not just to all public digital services but more than 700, many private digital services such 
as  banks,  insurance  companies  and  other  private  companies  that  validate  payment  transactions. 
Each person and each company can use this single ID solution on their pc, laptop or mobile device. 
Denmark  built  on  the  well-established  iNemID  infrastructure  which  has  now  migrated  to  the  new 
‘MitID’ eID scheme called ‘MitID’. MitID is a single secure ID solution for all sectors, compatible with 
new technologies and capable of responding to future needs. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Digital  identity  management.  Denmark continues  to  develop  and  implement new  human  inclusive 
digital  solutions  in  line  with  Digital  Decade  rights  and  principles,  to  ensure  that  all  key  public  self-
service  solutions  that  can  be  digitised  are  provided  online.  Digital  Identity  management  solutions 
are increasingly important in a digital transformed society. Work in this field includes maintenance 
and development of existing digitised solutions. In October 2022, the new eID for businesses, MitID 
Erhverv, was launched. Building on NemID, the new MitID Erhverv offers businesses a single secure 
ID solution across sectors, as well as a more user-friendly management of users and user-rights. 

Best practice: Semi-automatic identity matching system  

In  2022,  the  Danish  Digital  Government  Agency  started  to  develop  a  semi-automatic  identity 
matching system to ease the current manual workload. In the development process, the Agency was 
in contact with other Member States that already have an actively automatic identity management 
process, to gather insights on best practice. The system is expected to be running by the end of 2023. 

The  Danish  government  launched  a  new  Joint  Government  Digital Strategy  for  2022-2025, which 
was  agreed  on  by  the  central,  regional,  and  local  authorities  in  May  2022.  One  of  the  initiatives  is 
better  access  to  healthcare  data  for  patients  and  health  professionals.  Also  in  2022,  in  a  political 
healthcare, it was agreed that parents should be given better digital access to their children’s health 
data, through sundhed.dk for example. 

Danish  health  authorities  are  committed  to  providing  patients  with  better  and  more  inclusive 
access to their health data in line with Digital Decade principles. One example of action taken is the 
development of a digital infrastructure with a unified patient overview. This has made it possible for 
patients  and  healthcare  professionals  to  view  a  patient’s  healthcare  appointments  with  general 
practitioners and across regional and local healthcare sectors. This is linked to the Danish Recovery 
and Resilience Plan component 1 under e-health.68 

Another  very  promising  and  recent  major  initiative  concerns  genomic  data.  The  Danish  National 
Genome  Centre  is  actively  participating  in  The  Genomic  Data  Infrastructure  project  funded  by  the 
Digital  Europe-programme,  taking  part  in  the  1+  Million  Genomes  Initiative  and  collaborating  with 
other Member States on a proposal for a Genome European Digital Infrastructure Consortium. This 
interesting  initiative  might  develop  to  become  Denmark’s  first  involvement  in  a  genuine  multi-
country EU project.  

Denmark is also participating in a joint EU action within the European Health Data Space (TEHDAS), 
which seeks to help Member States and the European Commission to develop and promote concepts 
for the secondary use of health data to benefit public health and health research and innovation in 
Europe.  

A  fully  digital  society  is  becoming  more  and  more  vulnerable  to  cyber-attacks.  It  is  therefore 
important to create a safe and secure digital environment. Denmark adopted a new national strategy 
for  cyber  and  information  security  for  2022-2024  in  line  with  digital  rights  and  principles.  This 
strategy  is  included  under  the  Danish  Recovery  Plan  milestone  6169￼  EUR  36  million  has  been 
allocated to 34 new  initiatives. The strategy aims to ensure a high common level of security in the 
public  sector.  IT  security  in  critical  sectors  (health,  finance,  telecom,  transportation,  energy)  is 

68 Denmark’s recovery and resilience plan (europa.eu) 
69 Denmark’s recovery and resilience plan (europa.eu) 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Denmark 

coordinated  through  decentralised  cyber  and  information  security  units.  Sector-specific  security 
strategies are developed by central bodies in each sector. The government also appointed a National 
Cyber Security Council, comprising experts from the public and private sector, to advise it on cyber 
security issues70. In addition, the new Ministry of Digital Government and Gender Equality, together 
with  organisations  representing  different  industries  have  set  up  a  public/private  collaboration 
arrangement known as the Cyber Security Alliance. The aim of the Alliance is to initiate a range of 
concrete  projects  that  seek  to  make  Danish  small  and  medium  sized  companies  the  most  cyber 
secure  in  Europe.  Moreover,  higher  education  institutions  are  involving  both  public  and  private 
sector  partners  in  projects  to  raise  awareness  on  risks  and  the  need  to  prioritise  cyber  security 
among decision makers in the industry. The initiative is a part of the New Danish National Strategy 
for Cyber and Information Security.71  

Under  the  new  Digital  Strategy,  funding  has  been  prioritised  for  several  measures  that  help 
promote  the  exhibition  and  wider  use  of  public  data.  These  include  making  language  technology 
resources  available, better use of utility data, a digital platform for data on building materials, and 
better access to health data for patients and health professionals. Easy access to public data remains 
a critical focus area for Denmark so that the EU can regain its role as a digital leader.  

Standardised  product  data  on  labels  were  implemented  for  e-procurement  in  late  2022.  When 
sending e-invoices to public and private procurers, suppliers can now provide information about their 
labelled products and services in a digitally structured manner. At the same time, public and private 
procurers  can  –  through  their  contracts  with  suppliers  –  require  that  suppliers  inform  them  about 
their labelled products  and services. The overall aim  is to  improve  the quality of data on labelled 
products and services in procurement and move towards specific goals for labelled procurement in 
the  public  and  private  sector.  This  is  an  important  step  towards  more  standardized  product  data, 
which will help create a greener sustainable circular and climate-neutral economy and society. It is in 
line with the European Green Deal and reduces administrative burdens on businesses. Denmark also 
adopted new green and sustainable data reporting requirements.  

Denmark  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it 
should  continue  to  support  the  sharing  of  data  in  a  secure  and  trusted  manner,  including  by 
contributing  to  the  common  European  data  spaces  and  supporting  wider  deployment  of  big  data 
solutions.   

70 https://digst.dk/sikkerhed/udvalg-og-fora/cybersikkerhedsraadet/ 
71 https://digst.dk/media/27024/digst_ncis_2022-2024_uk.pdf  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023  

Estonia 

 
 
 
 
 
111 

Introduction  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

Estonia is expected to make a positive contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the Digital 
Decade  targets.  The  country  is  at  the  forefront  of  the  digitalisation  of  public  services.  However, 
further efforts are needed to ensure that the country’s digital infrastructure is improved, especially 
the  connectivity  infrastructure,  which  is  a critical enabler  for  all  components of  the  Digital Decade 
policy programme.  

Digital in Estonia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The Estonian RRP devotes EUR 208 million (24%) to the digital transformation. The entire amount is 
expected  to  be  spent  on  the  efforts  to  achieve  the  Digital  Decade  targets.72  Substantial  digital 
investments  include  EUR  93  million  to  upgrade  digital  government  services  drawing  on  the  latest 
technologies,  EUR  58  million  to  support  230  SMEs  in  their  digital  transition  and  EUR  24  million  to 
deploy  very  high  capacity  networks  in  rural  areas.  Estonia’s  amended  RRP  was  adopted  by  the 
Council in June 2023. On 30 June 2023, Estonia submitted a first payment request of EUR 286 million 
in grants.  

72  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
112 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

EU 

2030 
target 

80% 

Estonia 

DESI 
2021 

88% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

NA 

17% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

90% 

2021 

56% 

2021 

28% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

17% 

2020 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

90% 

2022 

56% 

2021 

28% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

19% 

2022 

6.2% 

6.2% 

6.6% 

4.6% 

2020 

8.0% 

2019 

2021 

8.4% 

2020 

2022 

10.1% 

2021 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

20 
million 

~10% 

Estonia  scores  just  above  the  EU  average  on  basic  and  above  basic  digital  skills.  In  2021,  56%  of 
individuals had at least basic digital skills, which is slightly above the EU average of 54%. In 2021, 28% 
of individuals in Estonia had above basic digital skills which is two percentage points above the  EU 
average of 26%. In 2021, the percentage of individuals with at least basic level skills in using software 
for digital content creation was 66%, the same as the EU average.  

Estonia is currently implementing several measures that can help increase the level of digital skills 
to  contribute  to  the  collective  efforts  to  meet  the  Digital  Decade  target  of  at  least  80%  of  the 
population having at least basic digital skills.  

First, a programme was launched to empower public libraries to improve the digital skills of citizens 
living in their local area and enable them to use digital public services. The programme is supported 
by  funding  from  the  European  Social  Fund.  As  a  first  step,  training  is  provided  to  librarians  and 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

municipality  officials  who  will  provide  counselling  services  to  local  inhabitants  with  a  low  level  of 
digital skills.  

Second,  the  Ministry  of  Education  and  Research  launched  an  initiative  to  offer  “in-service  training 
courses” for adults. These courses are offered by vocational schools, universities, and other higher 
education  institutions  and  are  free  of  charge  for  the  participants.  Around  a  third  of  these  courses 
focus on ICT skills.  

Third, training on digital skills is also funded by the Unemployment Insurance Fund. Around 10% of 
the total training budget is allocated to ICT training. To date, around 5 000 people have participated 
in these training courses.  

The  percentage  of  employed  ICT  specialists  is  higher  than  the  EU  average.  With  6.6%  of  ICT 
specialists in the workforce in 2021, Estonia was two percentage points above the EU average. Given 
the high percentage of ICT graduates in recent years (10.1% in 2021 which is more than the  double 
the  EU  average  of  4.2%),  the  percentage  of  ICT  specialists  is  likely  to  increase  over  the  next  seven 
years. This would further contribute to the Digital Decade target of having at least 20 million (around 
10%)  employed  ICT  specialists  in  the  workforce  within  the  EU  by  2030.  The  share  of  female  ICT 
specialists in Estonia, at 24.5% is also well above the EU average of 18.9% and among the highest in 
the EU. 

Estonia has launched several programmes and initiatives to address the growing demand for ICT 
specialists73 and ICT graduates in the labour market, and to promote women’s access to the field. 
First, recently launched retraining and upskilling programmes are expected to train another 7 000 ICT 
specialists  between  2021  and  2027.  These  initiatives  include  three  pilot  programmes  aimed  at 
creating  alternative  paths  into  the  ICT  sector  for  people  without  previous  training  or  work 
experience. Second, to reduce the gender imbalance in the ICT sector, the Estonian Ministry of Social 
Affairs  has  developed  projects,  supported  by  EU  funding,  to  promote  women‘s  access  to  the  ICT 
sector  and  to  reduce  the  current  gender  imbalance.  This  is  in  line  with  Digital  Decade  targets  and 
objectives to reduce the digital divide and promote convergence between genders.  The design and 
implementation of these projects builds on the findings of an 18-month research project on “Glass 
Walls and Ceilings in the Estonian ICT Sector”. Third, an e-services development training programme 
will be piloted and launched in 2023. This programme is aimed at equipping service owners with the 
right  skill  set  to  develop  new  services  and  to  re-think  existing  offerings,  applying  design  thinking 
methods and a user-centric and problem-oriented approach. Estonia’s ambition to make a significant 
contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the 2030 Digital Decade targets for ICT specialists is 
also underlined by the fact that Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) is a leading partner in the 
international  consortium  Digital4Business  which  aims  to  create  a  commercially  sustainable  100% 
online European master’s study programme. 

Enterprises increasingly provide ICT training and thereby contribute to improving the digital skills 
of their employees. The percentage of enterprises providing ICT training is with 19% still below the 
EU  average  of  22%.  However,  the  gap  between  Estonia  and  the  EU  average  is  decreasing,  from  8 
percentage  points  in  2017  to  3  percentage  points  in  2022.  This  shows  the  positive  impact  of  the 
measures  taken  by  Estonia.  The  development  between  2020  and  2022  was  very  similar  to  the  EU 
average (which saw an increase of around 10%).  

73 According  to a recently completed OSKA IT survey, employment  in the ICT sector  in Estonia is expected to 
increase 1.5 times by 2027. The ICT sector and all other sectors of the economy need at least  2600 new ICT 
professionals each year, which is more than 18 000 people over the next seven years. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

Estonia should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills. In particular, it should strengthen the 
action on improving basic digital skills, e.g. by encouraging employers to upskill and reskill employees 
during working time74.  

74 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

Estonia 

DESI 
2021 

21% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

22% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

29% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

13.8% 

% households 

2020 

2021 

2022 

2022 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

71% 

2020 

71% 

2020 

84% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

0% 

2021 

73% 

2021 

73% 

2021 

87% 

2021 

18% 

2021 

0% 

2022 

79% 

2022 

79% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

43% 

2022 

66% 

2023 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

There is room for improvement with regard to Estonia’s contribution to the Digital Decade targets 
on connectivity. In particular, Estonia’s 5G coverage and the take-up of fixed broadband of at least 
100  Mbps  are  low.  There  is  a  clear  need  to  act  in  order  to  be  able  to  contribute  to  the  collective 
efforts to achieve the Digital Decade connectivity targets. 

Estonia is in the upper half of Member States when it comes to fixed very high-capacity network 
(VHCN) coverage. 79% of households are covered by a fixed VHCN, which is above the EU average of 
73%. The increase of 6 percentage points compared to the 2021 figures is also above the EU average. 
Looking at the development over the last five years, the gap between the EU average and Estonia is 
even  increasing. Coverage of fibre to premises (FTTP) is in the top third of Member States.  79% of 
households covered is significantly above the EU average of 56%. The growth rate from 2021 to 2022 
is, however, slightly below the EU average. Significant efforts are needed to meet the Digital Decade 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

goal of ensuring all end users at a fixed location are covered by a gigabit network up to the network 
termination point. 

Estonia is in the bottom five Member States for take-up of fixed broadband of at least 100 Mbps. 
With 29% of households subscribed to fixed broadband of at least 100 Mbps, Estonia is significantly 
below the EU average of 55%. Since 2021, the at least 100 Mbps take-up of fixed broadband take-up 
has increased by seven percentage points, which is above the average growth rate in the EU. Based 
on  the  information  provided  by  Estonia,  this  is  mainly  due  to  private  investments  to  upgrade  old 
copper  networks  and  public  investments  in  rural  areas.  However,  over  the  last  five  years,  the  gap 
between  Estonia’s  scores and  the  EU  average  has  increased.  The take-up  of  fixed  broadband  of  at 
least 1 Gbps remains at 0% of households. This is significantly below the (fast growing) EU average of 
14%. The take-up of mobile broadband was the same as the EU average of 87% in 2021. 

Estonia’s weak performance on 5G coverage shows that further efforts are needed to contribute to 
the  Digital  Decade  target  of  having  full  coverage  of  all  populated  areas  by  2030.  Overall,  5G 
coverage in Estonia has reached 43% of populated areas, which is significantly below the EU average 
of  81%.  Regarding  5G  coverage  on  the  3.4-3.8  spectrum  band,  which  is  necessary  for  advanced 
applications  that  need  large  spectrum  bandwidth,  Estonia  has  only  achieved  15%.  This  is  again 
significantly  below  the  41%  in  the  EU  overall.  Estonia  has  emphasised,  however,  that  recent 
improvements in 5G spectrum assignment would improve the 5G coverage over the coming years.  

Estonia has taken several measures to improve its connectivity infrastructure to contribute to the 
collective efforts to achieve the Digital Decade targets in this area. These include support measures 
to finance the construction of VHNC networks in rural areas. Around EUR 24 million from the RRF and 
EUR 45 million from the ERDF have been allocated to build VHCN in rural areas between 2023 and 
2027. Regarding 5G, based on the most recent information provided by Estonia, the 700 MHz, 3400-
3800  MHz,  and  26  GHz  bands  have  been  assigned.  Mobile  operators  are  continuing  to  roll  out  5G 
networks.  

Estonia reported no developments in semiconductors and edge nodes during the reporting period.  

Estonia  contributes  to  the  collective  efforts  in  the  area  of  high-performance  computing  mainly 
through  the  Estonian  Scientific  Computing  Infrastructure  (ETAIS)  project.  The  project  is  run  by  a 
consortium  of  the  University  of  Tartu,  Tallinn  University  of  Technology,  the  National  Institute  of 
Chemical Physics and Biophysics, and The Education and Youth Board (Harno). ETAIS aims to increase 
the  competitiveness  of  Estonia’s  computing  and  data-intensive  research  disciplines  by  providing 
access to a new and modern scientific computing infrastructure. Estonia is also part of the EuroQCI 
initiative  to  build  a  pan-European  quantum  infrastructure  and  a  partner  in  the  Nordic-Estonian 
Quantum  Computing  e-Infrastructure  Quest  (NordIQuEst).  The  purpose  of  this  project  (which  runs 
from  April  2022  until  May  2025)  is  to  create  a  Nordic  ecosystem  that  combines  high-performance 
computing and quantum computing. 

Estonia should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital infrastructure. In particular, it should take 
measures to foster the development of 5G connectivity and incentivise the take up of gigabit and 5G 
connectivity. The ongoing activities on quantum computing should be continued with an increased 
coordination and collaboration to foster a quantum community across the whole EU.  

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud75 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Estonia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

26% 

2019 

16% 

2019 

10% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

62% 

2020 

16% 

2020 

12% 

2020 

9% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

23% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

10% 

2020 

51% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

62% 

2020 

18% 

2021 

12% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

67% 

2022 

23% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

10% 

2020 

51% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

62% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

12% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

75 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

Estonia shows a mixed picture regarding the uptake of digital technologies by enterprises: In 2021, 
51% of enterprises in Estonia used cloud services, which is significantly above the EU average of 34%. 

By contrast, only 10% of enterprises in Estonia used big data in 2020, and even fewer (3%) used AI 
in 2021. Both figures are below the EU average. The total percentage of enterprises using one of the 
three technologies remains below the Digital Decade target of at least 75%. Only 3% of enterprises 
were reported to be using AI technology in 2021, which is significantly below the EU average of 8%. 

Estonia  has  taken  several  measures  to  increase  the  percentage  of  enterprises  using  big  data,  AI, 
and  modern  technology  more  broadly.  For  example,  an  AI  development  programme  has  been 
created focusing on industrial companies and start-ups in the areas of green, health, and energy. The 
‘Digitalisation  Roadmap’  programme  is  intended  to  provide  funding  for  SMEs  for  dedicated  three-
year action plans and services  to improve their digitisation.  Estonian enterprises can also apply  for 
support for automation and the deployment of digital technologies and robots under a programme 
using RRF resources. The latest addition (March 2023) is a programme providing support to SMEs for 
cyber  security  measures,  based  on  methodology  developed  by  Estonia’s  Information  System 
Authority (responsible for applying information security standards in the public sector). 
The  Estonian  Digital  Innovation  Hub  ‘AI  and  Robotics  Estonia’  (AIRE)76  also  focuses  on  improving 
the  AI  capabilities  of  Estonian  companies  and  developing  their  digital  maturity.  It  is  part  of  the 
network  of  European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (EDIH).  The  EDIHs  are  one-stop  shops  supporting 
companies  and  the  public  administration  to  respond  to  digital  challenges  and  to  become  more 
competitive.  The  EDIH  network  is  co-financed  by  the  European  Commission  and  by  the  relevant 

76 AIRE (europa.eu)  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

Member States of the EU, in this case Estonia. AIRE in Estonia focuses mainly on the manufacturing 
sector (90% of the hub’s work), but some resources are allocated to the health and tourism sectors. 
AIRE  has  been  fully  operational  since  1  July  2022,  after  a  12-month  pre-launch  testing  and  pilot 
phase.  

Estonian  enterprises  also  present  a  mixed  picture  on  the  uptake  of  other  digital  technologies. 
Electronic information sharing in enterprises is low compared to other Member States. Only 23% of 
enterprises  reported  using  an  ERP  (enterprise  resource  planning)  software  package  to  share 
information  between  different  functional  areas.  This  is  significantly  below  the  EU  average  of  38%. 
The use of social media is also below the EU average. Only 22% of enterprises reported to use two or 
more of the social media tools considered as part of the assessment. This is again significantly below 
the  EU  average  of  29%  of  enterprises.  By  contrast,  the  uptake  of  e-invoicing  for  automated 
processing  is  very  high  in  Estonia  and  has  almost  doubled  between  2018  and  2020.  62%  of 
enterprises in Estonia reported to be sending e-invoices.  

In Estonia, 67% of SMEs had at least a basic level of digital intensity in 2022. This score is close to 
the EU average of 69%. The percentage of SMEs in Estonia selling online is 19%, the same as the EU 
average. The growth rate since 2017 has also been similar to that of the EU average. Estonian SMEs’ 
total  turnover  from  e-commerce  is  12%,  slightly  above  the  EU  average  of  11%.  The  percentage  of 
SMEs  in  Estonia  carrying  out  electronic  sales  to  other  Member  States  is  9%,  the  same  as  the  EU 
average.  

The  Estonian  business  ecosystem  includes  many  innovative  and  growing  start-ups  and  scale-ups 
that are driving the country’s growth and modernisation. There are currently two unicorns based in 
Estonia. Two potential unicorns with a current market valuation between EUR 100 million and EUR 1 
billion have been identified.  

Estonia  should  accelerate  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  the  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In  particular, 
Estonia should increase the uptake of advanced digital technologies by enterprises, and support SMEs 
in using digital technologies to become more competitive and sustainable.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Estonia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

92 

2021 

98 

2021 

87 

2021 

86 

2021 

93 

2021 

97 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

93% 

2022 

94 

2022 

99 

2022 

88 

2022 

87 

2022 

98 

2022 

97 

2022 

89 

2023 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

Estonia  is  at  the  forefront  of  the  digitalisation  of  public services  and  is  expected  to  make  a very 
strong  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  Digital  Decade  targets  for  the 
digitalisation of public services.  

The country can serve as an example to other Member States. Estonia has shared its experience and 
best practices with other countries, including Ukraine as a candidate country, as part of the Estonian 
e-Governance  Academy,  a  foundation-based  international  development  cooperation  programme. 
Further advancements in digital public services remain one of the priorities under Estonia’s national 
Digital Agenda 2030. 

Estonian citizen and businesses can access a wide range of public services online:  With a score of 
94, Estonia is one of the very advanced Member States in terms of the proportion of administrative 
steps  that  people  can  carry  out  online  for  their  major  life  events  (the  EU  average  score  is  77). 
Estonia’s score of 99 is significantly above the EU average score of 84. This indicator broadly reflects 
the share of public services needed to start and run a business that are available online for domestic 
and foreign users. Estonia’s score for the amount of data that is pre-filled in online forms for public 
services is 88, which is also significantly above the EU average of 68.  

Internet  users  in  Estonia  make  good  use  of  the  user-friendly  services  provided:  93%  of  internet 
users in Estonia used the internet to interact with public authorities in the last twelve months. This is 
significantly above the EU average of 74%. Online public services in Estonia are generally considered 
to  be  particularly  transparent  and  designed  with  user  involvement.  Users  have  a  high  degree  of 
control over how they manage their personal data. With a score of 87, Estonia is significantly above 
the  EU  average  score  of  65.  In  terms  of  user  support  Estonia  is  also  one  of  the  highest-ranking 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

countries.  The  score  of  98  indicates  excellent  online  support,  help  features,  and  feedback 
mechanisms.  The  EU  average  score  is  84.  User  support  was  at  a  level  well  above  the  EU  average 
when it was first measured in 2021 (with a score of 93 compared with an EU average of 82).  

Estonia is committed to further improving and developing its online public services, as one of the 
three priorities set out in the national Digital Agenda 2030. The focus is currently on linking services 
to  life  events  and  developing  features  that  automatically  suggest  further  steps  that  are  typically 
linked  to  other  services  or  a  particular  life  event  (e.g.  marriage  may  lead  to  changing  the surname 
which  triggers  the  need  to  update  several  documents).  Another  priority  is  providing  the  user 
interface  and  allowing  for  a  seamless  interaction  with  public  services,  irrespective  of  when  and 
where,  or  from  which  device,  the  services  are  being  accessed.  With  a  score  of  97,  the  ‘mobile 
friendliness’ of online public services in Estonia is already above the EU average of 93, and Estonia is 
committed to improving it further. To further strengthen e-governance, Estonia created a centre of 
excellence for data governance and open data. This centre improves the quality of the data collected 
and  held  by  the  Estonian  public  authorities,  increasing  its  usability  for  decision-making  and  its 
availability as open data to other stakeholders.  

Estonia is at the forefront of providing access to electronic health records, and currently ranks 4th 
among the Member States. 89% of Estonians have access to their electronic health records, which is 
significantly above the EU average of 72%. This is a significant contribution to the collective efforts to 
reach the Digital Decade target of 100% access. Citizens have full access to all their electronic health 
data (including medical images in digital format) through a national online access service (using eID 
authentication).  A  mobile  application  is  not  available.  The  data  is  updated  after  each  healthcare 
encounter.  Real-time  remote  assistance  is  available  in  case  of  problems  accessing  the  data.  The 
service  is  offered  to  the  whole  population  and  supplied  with  relevant  health  data  from  the  entire 
care sector, including both public and private providers. 

Accessibility can be improved. The electronic access service in Estonia is not compliant with the Web 
Content  Accessibility  Guidelines  v2.1  (WCAG),  as  required  by  the  European  Commission’s  Web 
Accessibility  Directive.  Estonia  reported  that  monitoring  at  national  level  shows  that  digital  health 
records  are  largely  accessible,  but  older  people  and  people  with  disabilities  may  experience  some 
difficulties. These difficulties are expected to be addressed when a new health portal will be rolled 
out.  

Most of the Estonian population has access to an eID scheme notified under the eIDAS Regulation 
which provides access to a wide range of digital public services. Currently, Estonia has six eID means 
notified under the Estonian eID scheme. The ID card, the RP card, the Digi-ID, the e-Residency, the 
Digi-ID,  the  Mobiil-ID,  and  the  Diplomatic  identity  card  have  all  been  notified  at  a  ‘high’  level  of 
assurance. Estonia therefore makes a significant contribution to the collective efforts within the EU 
to achieve this target. Estonia has not reported any specific actions taken at national level to further 
increase the percentage of citizens with access to an eID scheme. 

Estonia is collaborating with other Member States in exploring the possibility to set up two European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortia  (EDICs)  in  the  area  of  digital  public  services.  The  Networked  Local 
Digital  Twins  Towards  CitiVerse  is  intended  to  help  build  carbon  neutral,  resilient,  inclusive, 
sustainable, and more beautiful cities that are closer to people. The Genome EDIC aims to provide an 
infrastructure supporting genome-based medicine, research and innovation, and a better healthcare 
system  for  personalised  medicine.  Estonia  is  also  working  with  other  Member  States  on  the 
possibility of setting up the Copyright Infrastructure EDIC to define and promote the rules governing 
data management practices in creative industries. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Estonia 

innovation 
Estonia’s  national  digital  strategy  already  encourages  the  public  sector  to  use 
procurement  as  a  strategic  tool  to  accelerate  the  uptake  of  innovative  digital  solutions  in  public 
services.  A  national  roadmap  setting  out  ambitious  initiatives  in  the  digital  sector  could  help  to 
reinforce  the  country’s  investments  and  contribute  significantly  to  the  target  on  digitalisation  of 
public services and the Digital Decade objective on innovation. 

Estonia should continue implementing its policies to digitalise public services. In particular, Estonia 
should  continue  its  investments  in  innovation  procurement  of  digital  solutions  to  further  accelerate 
the adoption of innovative digital solutions for all public services. It should also address accessibility 
of  health  data  to  enable  access  for  all  people  (including  people  with  disabilities)  and  ensure 
accessibility of all relevant portals from mobile devices.  

 
 
 
 
124 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023  

Finland 

 
 
 
 
 
125 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

Finland has been at the forefront of the digital transformation for many years and is expected to 
make a very strong contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the Digital Decade targets. It 
has  rolled  out  comprehensive  digital  policies  with  early  adoption  of  5G,  has  well-developed  e-
Government services, and has a highly skilled workforce. Further measures are needed to reach the 
gigabit connectivity target.  
To guide its digital transformation over the coming years, in October 2022, the Finnish Government 
submitted a report called Finland’s Digital Compass to the country’s Parliament.  Based on the EU 
Digital  Compass  and  the  EU  Digital  Decade  Policy  Programme,  this  Compass  is  a  national  strategic 
roadmap extending to 2030, providing an overview of Finland's digital transformation and steering 
the  direction  for  national development.  Based on  European  values,  the Digital  Compass  includes  a 
national vision for 2030 and key objectives in four areas: digital skills, infrastructure, businesses, and 
public  services.  Furthermore,  it  sets  the  objective  of  developing  and  strengthening  cross-sectoral 
management of digitalisation. The Digital Compass was prepared in  close  cooperation with various 
stakeholders.  
Overall,  Finland  has  run  very  balanced  and  comprehensive  ICT  policies  over  the  years.  These 
policies  contributed  significantly  to  the  country’s  excellent  performance  in  digital.  The  efficient 
coordination of Finnish ICT policies has also facilitated the early adoption of 5G thanks to an efficient 
process  for  assigning  the  dedicated  spectrum  bands;  well-developed  e-government  services;  and  a 
highly  skilled workforce.  The  implementation of Finland’s  Digital Compass is  important  to continue 
this  process.  In  particular,  it  will  be  a  very  good  basis  for  the  upcoming  national  roadmaps  to  be 
submitted within the Digital Decade Policy Program (DDPP) policy process, after consultations with 
stakeholders in Finland.  

Finland is collaborating with other Member States in exploring the possibility to set up  European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortia  (EDICs)  on:  (i)  Genome,  to  enable  the  effective  and  secure  cross-
border access to repositories  of personal genomic datasets;  (ii) Copyright  Infrastructure, to release 
the potential of EU’s creative sectors; (iii) Mobility and Logistics Data, to enable access, sharing and 
reuse  of  data  in  these  areas;  and  (iv)  Innovative  Massive  Public  Administration  inter-Connected 
Transformation Service, to develop a new generation of advanced cross-border services.  
Finland has been taking various measures supporting the Digital Decade objectives. For example, 
the  Climate  and Environment  strategy  for the  ICT  sector  was  published  in 2021.  Also,  Finland  kept 
increasing the preparedness in cybersecurity with assigning the relevant tasks to various entities in 
the  government,  and  also  with  creating  good  coordination  mechanisms  within.  The  ministerial 
Working  Group  on  developing  the  digital  transformation,  the  data  economy  and  public 
administration  has  surveyed  and  prioritised  needs  for  actions  and  investments  on  cybersecurity, 
resulting in a Government Report on Changes in the Security Environment, which was published in 
April 2022.  

Digital in Finland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The contribution to digital objectives in Finland’s RRP amounts to EUR 525.7 million, representing 
28.9% of the total RRP allocation. Out of this amount, 379 million is expected to contribute to the 
Digital  Decade  targets77.  The  RRP  focuses  on  reforms  and  investments  in  digital  public  services, 

77  Each  recovery  and  resilience  plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

digital  skills  and  the  digital  transition  of  the  economy  to  exploit  the  full  potential  of  the  digital 
transformation. The plan sets out support measures for the digital transition with investments of 
EUR 32 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure across Finland, and of EUR 85 million in the 
Digirail project to roll out the new automatic train protection system on the entire national railway 
network by 2040, along with the 4G and 5G-based Future Railway Mobile Communication System. 
The plan allocates EUR 100 million to digital innovation in social welfare and healthcare services; 
EUR 32 million to invest in the digitalisation of continuous learning and EUR 25 million to invest in 
intelligence  and  quantum 
accelerating  key  technologies 
computing).  Another  EUR  20  million  are  allocated  to  streamline  the  work  and  education-based 
immigration process to facilitate international labour recruitment.  

(microelectronics,  6G,  artificial 

Implementation of the  RRP started after its adoption in October 2021. A Council decision on the 
amended  RRP  was  adopted  in  March  2023.  Implementation  of  the  digital  projects  is  underway, 
with  the  launch  of  calls  for  proposals  for  the  Microelectronics  Important  Projects  of  Common 
European Interest (IPCEI) in 2021. 

Finland has not yet requested a payment from the RRF. 

Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

38% 

2020 

7.6% 

2020 

7.4% 

2019 

Finland 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

95% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

95% 

2021 

79% 

2021 

48% 

2021 

83% 

2021 

38% 

2020 

7.4% 

2021 

7.5% 

2020 

95% 

2022 

79% 

2021 

48% 

2021 

83% 

2021 

40% 

2022 

7.6% 

2022 

7.6% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Finland performs very well on digital skills. 

Finland has a highly digitally skilled population.  In 2022, the share of the population with at  least 
basic digital skills (79%) was very close to the EU Digital Decade target of 80% and much higher than 
the  EU  average  of  54%.  Moreover,  the  share  of  population  with  above  basic  digital  skills  (48%) 
reported in 2021 also exceeded the EU average of 26% in that year. 

The share of ICT specialists  of total employment (7.6% in 2022) is very high, compared with  both 
the EU Digital Decade target (10%) and the EU average in 2022 (4.6%). In education, the share of ICT 
graduates among all graduates is 7.6%, and the share of companies providing ICT training is 40%. The 
figures show that Finland is continuing its efforts to maintain the high number of ICT specialists in the 
workforce, while emphasising convergence between the number of men and women in these jobs. 

Over the last year, the Ministry of Education and Culture continued the New Literacies Programme 
2020-2023  to  stimulate  the  development  of  targeted  competences  in  ICT,  media  literacy  and 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

programming  skills.  Based  on  this  programme,  grants  to  46  development  projects  to  upgrade 
competence descriptions were concluded in 2022. Grants were also awarded to 22 providers of early 
childhood education and to 24 providers of pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education. 

The  LUMA  centre  (an  organisation  boosting  cooperation  between  schools,  universities,  and 
businesses)  continued  to  encourage  children  to  study  STEM  subjects  (Science,  Technology, 
Engineering,  and  Mathematics)  by  using  the  most  recent  pedagogical  methods.  It  also  supported 
lifelong learning for teachers and strengthened research-based teaching. Finland participated in the 
2022 edition of EU Code Week, organising a few events. 

In higher education, implementation of the Digivisio 2030 programme continued. A platform that 
pooled the continuous learning opportunities from all higher education institutions in one place has 
been  developed  with  the  involvement  of  all  Finland’s  higher  education  institutions.  In  2022,  the 
Ministry of Education and Culture agreed with higher education institutions to increase the intake of 
students between mid-2022 and early 2023. In the digital-related field, this increase is estimated to 
be about 10%, and occurring in particular in the universities of applied sciences. 
Digital skills feature in the continuous learning reform that started to be implemented in 2021. The 
reform  promotes  opportunities  for working-age  people  to  develop  their  competences  and  ensures 
the  availability of  skilled  labour.  In  line  with the  plan,  Finland  launched  a  digital  service  combining 
education  and training,  guidance  and  information on  the  labour market,  and  a  set of  intelligent e-
services  operating  as  a  platform  for  a  continuous  learning  system.  Digital  skills  and  competences 
were also addressed at the Do Digi Forum, linking with the efforts of the national coalition on digital 
skills and jobs initiated by the European Commission. There are already many initiatives to promote 
digital skills, including beyond the education system, such as the Digital Support Service to promote 
everyone’s  access  to  digital  public  services  (Digituki),  or  the  WORK2030  programme  for  work  and 
well-being  at  work,  which  accelerate  the  reform  of  current  practices  and  boost  the  use  of  new 
technology in Finnish workplaces, fostering a work culture based on cooperation and trust. 

Finland  has  created  workinfinland.com  as  the  official  website  for  international  talent  to  simplify 
the  recruitment,  job  search,  and  relocation  process  for  people  seeking  work  in  Finland.  For 
employers the website provided information about the different stages and services of international 
recruitment.  Finland  is  developing  the  online  service  of  the  Finnish  Immigration  Service  (Enter 
Finland)  to  improve  the  registration  and  processing  of  residence  permit  applications. The  Virtual 
Finland  project  will  continue  to  outline  steps  for  a  digital  service  path  for  moving  to  the  country 
according to the Finland’s Digital Compass. 

Finland  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digital  skills.  Notably,  it  should 
implement the announced policies to further increase the number of ICT specialists78. 

78 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Finland 

DESI 
2021 

44% 

2020 

1.6% 

2020 

67% 

2020 

38% 

2020 

92% 

2018 

12% 

2020 

99% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

46% 

2021 

2.3% 

2021 

68% 

2021 

40% 

2021 

96% 

2021 

72% 

2021 

99% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

49% 

2022 

3.1% 

2022 

71% 

2022 

50% 

2022 

96% 

2021 

95% 

2022 

99% 

2023 

Finland performs very well on digital infrastructure.  

Coverage  of  households  by  fixed  VHCN  (71%)  in  Finland  is  close  to  the  EU  average  (73%). 
Substantial efforts will be needed to help achieve the Digital Decade target for gigabit connectivity. 
There is also a noticeable divide across the country due to the lack of economic incentives to roll out 
the  network  in  sparsely  populated  areas.  The  government  intends  to  extend  VHCN  coverage  by 
implementing its National Broadband Plan and the digital infrastructure strategy. 

Take-up  of  at  least  100  Mbps  fixed  broadband  in  Finland  (49%  of  households)  is  close  to  the  EU 
average (55% of households),  but  the  gap with  the EU average  is much  bigger in  the take-up of at 
least  1  Gbps  fixed  broadband  (3.1%  of  households  in  Finland  compared  with  the  EU  average  of 
13.8%). One explanation of this phenomenon is based on geography, as the distances in Finland are 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

huge  and population density  is low. Alternatively, the  low  take-up of fixed broadband may  also be 
explained by a considerable number of users choosing to switch to mobile broadband instead.  

The  Finnish  market  is characterised  by  the  high  take-up  of  mobile  broadband  in  general  (96%  of 
the population in 2021). Moreover, 95% of populated areas in Finland is covered by a 5G network 
and  84%  by  the  high-quality  3.4-3.8GHz  band.  The  high  coverage  of  5G  is  thought  to  be  the 
consequence of the early availability of the 5G pioneer bands: the 700 MHz band was auctioned in 
2016, the 3.6 GHz band in 2018, and the 26 GHz band in 2020. With regards to the use of the 3.6 GHz 
band  in  areas  that  neighbour  Russia,  the  licence  holders  in  that  frequency  band  can  use  130  MHz 
each in the 3410-3800 MHz band they obtained from the auction with smaller coordination distances 
than those stipulated under the applicable radio regulations. 

From the consumer perspective, competition in the mobile market seems to be effective, providing 
choice  to  consumers.  Users  can  choose  between  subscriptions  with  unlimited  or  limited  monthly 
data plan. The unlimited subscriptions usually include unlimited voice calls and texts. 

The three main operators in Finland compete in both the fixed and the mobile markets. All three 
are also investing intensely in fibre networks. Several national and regional players have invested in 
fibre  networks  given  that  there  are  around  120  telecom  companies  that  own  regional  or  local 
networks. In 2022, a few acquisitions took place in this market. This reflects the fact that in recent 
years,  the  companies  that  aim  to  expand  into  areas  where  they  operate  fibre  networks,  have 
acquired some small local fibre network companies. 

The Finnish government  intends to achieve wider connectivity and coverage by implementing its 
National  Broadband  Plan.  Implementation  of  the  plan  began  in  2022.  Part  of  the  funding  of  the 
National  Broadband  Plan,  EUR  32  million,  comes  from  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility.  Within 
the RRF, the target is to achieve very high capacity connectivity for at least 6 400 dwellings before 
the second half of 2024 and for 16 000 dwellings in commercially challenging areas by mid-2026. In 
the  second  quarter  of  2022  the  Finnish  Transport  and  Communications  Agency  (Traficom)  granted 
the  first  eight  state  aid  decisions  amounting  to  almost  EUR  5 million.  The  next  decisions  are to  be 
made in 2023. 

To  develop  the  infrastructure  further,  Traficom  and  the  Finnish  Ministry  of  Transport  and 
Communications  encourage  applicants  to  apply  for  funding  from  the  Connecting  Europe  Facility 
(CEF). In the regulatory sphere, Finland is applying the EU 5G toolbox that it implemented into the 
law  in  2021.  Advisory  Board  for  Network  Security  meets  regularly  to  assess  the  situation.  An 
evaluation of the possible update of the definition of critical networks was conducted in 2022. 

Finland  is  a  member  of  the  EuroHPC  Joint  Undertaking  that  is  developing  LUMI  (Large  Unified 
Modern Infrastructure), one of the three pre-exascale supercomputers. It was officially inaugurated 
in  June  2022  and  will  reach  full  capacity  in  2023.  It  will  deliver  computational  power  in 
interdisciplinary and data-intensive research areas. Also, 20% of the  LUMI’s capacity is reserved for 
businesses  which  opens  up  new  opportunities  for  companies  to  innovate  and  develop  new  data-
based  business  forms  such  as  the  platform  economy  and  artificial  intelligence.  Finland  also 
participates in the Microelectronics and Communication Technologies IPCEI (ME-CT IPCEI). 

Finland is at the forefront of European quantum computing. IQM Quantum Computers has invested 
in building Europe’s first quantum-dedicated semiconductor production facilities in Espoo, funded by 
a European Investment Bank (EIB) loan of EUR 35 million. Furthermore, the VTT’s quantum computer 
HELMI (“pearl”) has been connected to the LUMI. The connection to Europe’s most powerful classical 
supercomputer enables the best possible use of the quantum computer’s computing power. This is 
the first time in Europe that this kind of hybrid service connecting a supercomputer and a general-
purpose quantum computer has been opened for researchers. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

Finland’s Climate and Environment strategy for the ICT sector was published in 2021. Based on this, 
every year there is a forum with stakeholders to discuss the possible actions for the environment and 
how to mainstream these into other policies. The 2022 forum focused on solutions managing energy 
consumption and the priorities for implementing the strategy in the future. 

As  one  of  the  actions  related  to  the  strategy,  Traficom  has  developed  pilot  environmental 
indicators for electronic communications networks. The first pilot collection of data, based on these 
indicators, was  carried out  in  spring  2022,  and  the  next  round  was  followed  in  spring  2023.  These 
pilot  rounds  of  data  collection  focus  on  the  energy  consumption  of  networks  and  involve  telecom 
companies in Finland. 

Finland should continue implementing its policies in the area of digital infrastructure. It should pay 
even more attention to very high-capacity network coverage, delivering broadband to the rural areas, 
including fibre to the premises throughout the country.  
Measures taken by Finland in the field of semiconductors and quantum computing should continue in 
order to help the EU to become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud79 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Finland 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

43% 

2019 

44% 

2019 

22% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

83% 

2020 

18% 

2020 

NA 

2020 

9% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

48% 

2021 

51% 

2021 

22% 

2020 

66% 

2021 

16% 

2021 

83% 

2020 

23% 

2021 

NA 

2021 

8% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

90% 

2022 

48% 

2021 

51% 

2021 

22% 

2020 

66% 

2021 

16% 

2021 

83% 

2020 

27% 

2022 

NA 

2022 

8% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

Finland performs very well on the digitalisation of businesses, scoring well above the EU average 
on most indicators. 

Already in 2022, the percentage of SMEs in Finland that had reached at  least a basic level of digital 
intensity, was equal to the Digital Decade target (90%) and far above the EU average of 55%. 

Advanced technologies continued to be at the heart of Finnish businesses, with 66% of them using 
sophisticated  or  intermediate  cloud  solutions,  22%  using  big  data  analysis  and  16%  integrating  AI 
technology in their operations. In the cases of cloud and AI, the percentages reported in Finland were 
almost twice as high as those in the whole EU on average.  

The  proportion  of  companies  that  share  information  electronically  is  48%  compared  to  the  EU 
average of 38%. More than half of Finnish companies use social media (51%) while the average  for 
the whole EU is 29%. The most recent data show that in 2020, SMEs used e-Invoices very often (83% 
of them) and in 2021 the share of SMEs selling online was almost equal to the EU average. 

In 2022, Finland continued to implement its Digital progress programme adopted in 2020. The main 
governmental organisation supporting businesses in line with this policy is Business Finland. Fulfilling 

79 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

its mission, it has funded many research and development activities in SMEs. In addition, Finland also 
funded  innovation  projects  under  the  programme  Kasvumoottorit  (growth  engines)  on  the  use  of 
data and the development of digital platforms. In the field of smart mobility, leading companies in 
digital ecosystems received funding as well. 

The development of a vibrant start-up and scale-up ecosystem is also the goal of digital policies in 
Finland.  Government  funding  has been an important enabler for many Finnish start-ups, making it 
possible to reduce the risks related to their R&D activities. The programmes that aim to accelerate 
the early-stage growth of innovative start-ups provided EUR 130 million in funding each year. Finland 
also supported the digital transformation of local businesses and communities via the VTT Technical 
Research Centre and Business Finland under the multiannual 2018-2022 Digital Finland framework. 

In the selection process for European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), four Finnish EDIH proposals 
have been successful and three other proposals have received a Seal of Excellence. The EU funding 
(50% of costs) is well on track, the funds necessary for the national co-funding (EUR 3.7 million over 
the  first  three  years,  covering  30%  of  costs)  has  been  approved  nationally  and  the  remaining  20% 
originates  from  other  sources.  Despite  some  administrative  burdens  that  were  expected,  such  as 
following the national state aid rules and carrying out the EDIH activities with a substantial number 
of SMEs to be supported, the challenges are well understood and are being addressed. The projects 
have begun and normal operations can be expected to take place soon. 

In the AI strategy, the government has encouraged the development and introduction of AI to help 
run  businesses  and  provide  services  to  customers. With  a  budget  of  over  EUR 100  million  in  2019-
2022,  the  AI  business  programme  and  the  Finnish  Centre  for  Artificial  Intelligence  (which  received 
EUR 8.3 million in funding) were in the final stages of implementation. 

The  hallmark  of  the  Finnish  way  of  integrating  of  digital  technologies  into  the  economy  is  the 
cooperation between universities, specialised government agencies, and businesses. This process  is 
based  on  various  documents  that  are  being  implemented over time.  Many  projects  ended  in 2022 
while future initiatives were already being prepared as part of the Finnish Digital Compass process. 

Best practice: Business Finland’s 6G Bridge programme 

5G technology was already deployed in Finland several years ago. However, work continues on the 
next  generation of connectivity with the 6G Bridge  programme. It aims to make  Finland the global 
leader in providing new value with 5G Advanced (5GA) and 6G technologies for sustainable industries 
and societies for example, smart cities, smart energy, smart ports, and smart factories with different 
industry players. 

The  program  encourages  top-notch  Finnish  researchers  and  companies  to  radically  increase  both 
national  and  international  collaboration,  including  outside  the  EU.  The  programme’s  goals  will  be 
met, for example, by: 

• 
increasing ecosystem-driven collaboration in research and innovation for 5GA and 6G; 
•  building business ecosystems in 5GA and 6G and attracting international investments; 
• 
•  developing testing and experimentation facilities in 6G. 

strengthening key capabilities in 5GA and 6G;  

The  program  will  run  from  January  2023  until  the  end  of  2026  with  a  planned  budget  of  EUR  130 
million to fund innovation. It will help Finland to maintain its leadership in future connectivity, thus 
providing business opportunities for Finnish companies.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

Finland  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In 
particular,  it  should  continue  boosting  the  take  up  of  advanced  digital  technologies  by  businesses, 
particularly in the area of AI and big data, by providing incentives for investment.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Finland 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

90 

2021 

93 

2021 

90 

2021 

71 

2021 

96 

2021 

100 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

97% 

2022 

92 

2022 

100 

2022 

90 

2022 

72 

2022 

96 

2022 

100 

2022 

90 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
136 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

In Digital public services, Finland performs very well, scoring well above the EU average. Finland is 
expected to make a significant contribution to the Digital Decade targets on digital public services 
for citizens and businesses. In 2022, the key performance indicator on services for citizens was 92, 
compared  with  the  target  of  100  and  the  EU  average  of  77.  The  key  performance  indicator  for 
businesses  was  100,  which  means  that  Finland  has  reached  the  Digital  Decade  target,  and  is  well 
above the EU average of 84. The proportion of internet users who use e-Government services is 97%, 
which is very high in comparison to the EU average of 74%.  

Finland  performs  very  well  on  the  extent  to  which  data  that  is  already  known  to  the  public 
administration is pre-filled in forms presented to users (scoring 90 out of 100, compared to the EU 
average  of  68).  The  efforts  of  its  public  administration  to  make  sure  that  service  processes  are 
transparent,  that  services  are  designed  with  user  involvement  and  that  users  can  manage  their 
personal  data  also  puts  Finland  above  the  EU  average  (scoring  72 out  of 100,  compared  to  the  EU 
average of 65). 

Several programmes, which started in the last few years, were implemented in 2022. In particular, 
the  country  continued  to  upgrade  e-government  services.  Several  registration  services  were 
functionally integrated after merging them into the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The 
Valtori  ICT  centre  continued  providing  ICT  services  for  central  government  and  facilitating 
intergovernmental  tasks.  New  legislation  allowing  automatic  administrative  decisions  came  into 
power  in  May  2023.  It  is  planned  to  be  implemented  by  the  end  of  2023.  The  AuroraAI  network 
which  aims  to  provide  services  to  citizens  that  help  them  go  through  administrative  procedures 
related to life events (accidents declarations, certificates etc.), is being implemented.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

The  Ministerial  Working  Group  on  Digitalisation,  Data  Economy  and  Public  Administration  has 
worked extensively on the traditional themes related to the economic issues, but increasingly also on 
cybersecurity and education after cybersecurity was added to the group’s tasks in March 2022. The 
purpose of the working group is to guide the development of the public administration, digitalisation, 
the data economy, information policy, and cybersecurity. 

In e-health, Finland scores 90, more than mid-way between the EU average of 72 and the Digital 
Decade  target  of  100.  This  is  thanks  to  the  My  Kanta  portal,  where  the  citizens  can  access  their 
online  electronic  documents.  This  includes  health  records,  prescriptions,  allergy  data,  current 
diagnoses, procedures, medicines, ePrescription, and eDispensation, and various reports provided to 
them  in  electronic  format  (laboratory  test  results,  medical  imaging  reports,  hospital  discharge 
reports).  The  My  Kanta  portal  can  be  accessed  with  a  national  eID-scheme  based  on  two-factor 
authentication.  Currently,  between  60%  and  79%  of  citizens  are  technically  able  to  view  relevant 
health  data  supplied  by  all  care  providers  (both  public  and  private).  Besides  providing  access  to 
documents,  My  Kanta  lets  users  do  many  other  things,  such  as  managing  consent,  requesting  a 
prescription renewal or saving a living will and organ donation testament. Additionally, through My 
Kanta, it is possible to store personal welfare data and share it with the authorities. 

Finland is not far from achieving the Digital Decade target  on access to electronic health records. 
Full  access  to  a  minimum  set  of  health  data  will  be  achieved  by  implementing  standards  on 
presenting  of  medical  images  and  information  on  medical  devices  in  citizens’  electronic  health 
records. The nationally notified eID-scheme currently lacks eIDAS compliance.  

The  national open data portal continued to provide data in open formats for companies and the 
public.  Following  previous  observations  that  Finland  is  underachieving  given  its  ambitions,  the 
government ran a programme in 2020-2022 to encourage wider and more efficient use of public data 
for societal and economic purposes over the period. In the ‘Open Data Maturity 2022’, the quality of 
the portal and the data was ranked seventh. 

Finland has continued to increase its cybersecurity preparedness by assigning the relevant tasks to 
various bodies in the government, and by creating good coordination mechanisms. The ministerial 
Working  Group  on  developing  the  digital  transformation,  the  data  economy  and  public 
administration has surveyed and prioritised the needs for actions and investments on cybersecurity. 
The  Government  Report  on  Changes  in  the  Security Environment  was  published  in  April  2022.  The 
Report assesses changes in the operating and security environment and the effects of the changed 
environment  from  various  viewpoints,  including  cybersecurity.  In  spring  2022,  the  Government 
allocated  EUR  230  million  to  increase  cybersecurity  in  the  society  in  2022-2026.  The  difficult 
international situation has also led to the implementation of various initiatives. 
In 2022,  the  report  of the  Development  Needs in Cybersecurity Education80  project  was published. 
The  report  examined  the  cybersecurity  development  needs  and  comprehensively  explored  the 
quantitative  and  qualitative  development of  cybersecurity  competencies  to  map  out  the  measures 
needed  to  improve  Finland’s  cybersecurity  expertise.  The  conclusions  of  the  report  have  been 
included in the work of the Ministerial Working Group and are being introduced into the educational 
system by the Ministry of Education and Culture. 

In  2022  the  Ministry  of  Education  and  Culture  launched  a  call  for  proposals  for  higher  education 
institutions to develop courses in the field of cybersecurity. The Ministry was looking for one higher 
education  institution  to  coordinate  all  the  institutions  providing  courses  in  this  field,  to  avoid 
overlapping  and  strengthen  overall  knowledge  and  skills  in  cybersecurity.  All  relevant  higher 

80 http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-9469-3 

 
 
 
 
138 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Finland 

education institutions are taking part in developing both courses that lead to a degree and modules 
that can be used for upskilling and reskilling. A special fund of EUR 3.4 million has been envisaged for 
this  initiative.  Also,  the  Ministry  of  Transport  and  Communications  together  with  the  director  for 
cybersecurity  provide  the  government  with  the  situational  picture  and  coordinate  actions 
horizontally if there are severe cybersecurity disruptions. 

Finland should continue implementing its policies to digitalise public services. In particular, 
cybersecurity should stay at the forefront of governmental policies.

 
 
 
 
139 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

France 

 Digital Decade Country Report 2023   Germany  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
140 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

France has untapped digital potential to contribute further to the collective efforts to achieve the 
EU’s Digital Decade targets.  Given the  size of the French economy and its population, current and 
future  actions  are  expected  to  contribute  significantly  to  such  efforts.  France  has  several  digital 
strategies, broadly aligned with the objective of the Digital Decade Policy Programme. France is doing 
well  on  connectivity  and  start-ups  and  shows  positive  trends  in  digital  public  services  and  human 
capital. However, the digital transformation of the economy is uneven. In particular, whilst the top 
innovating companies use and deliver advanced digital technologies, there is not widespread use of 
basic technologies by small and medium enterprises (SMEs).  
France  is collaborating with other Member States  in exploring the possibility to set up a  European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortium  (EDIC)  on  an  Alliance  for  Language  Technologies,  to  develop  a 
common infrastructure in the field of natural language processing and large multi-language models. 

Digital in France’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The French Recovery and Resilience Plan amounts to EUR 40.3 billion. 22% of it (i.e. EUR 8.1 billion) is 
devoted  to  digital  transformation  A  mapping  of  the  funded  actions  to  the  Digital  Decade  targets 
shows that EUR 7.7 billion out of the EUR 8.1 billion contribute to them direclty81. 
On  19th  August  2021,  the  Commission  disbursed  the  pre-financing  of  EUR  5.1  billion.  For  the  first 
payment  request,  France  has  achieved  38  milestones  and  targets,  leading  the  Commission  to 
disburse 7.4 billion in Q1 2022. Some milestones were related to measures in digital, such as:  

• 

Innovating  for  the  resilience  of  business  models:  accelerating  6  key  digital  technologies: 
quantum,  cybersecurity,  education,  and  digital,  cultural  and  creative  industries,  5G  and 
cloud. 

• 

Increase in the resources of France Compétences (which includes also digital skills). 

Based  on  the  Council  Implementing  Decision  on  the  French  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan,  other 
reforms and investments that are associated to milestones and targets include measures to: 

•  modernise the public health sector (EUR 2 billion) with employee workstations, collaborative 

and nomadic tools, dematerialisation of State services. 

• 

• 

• 

increase training and education with 330 000 extra apprentice contracts, training for digital 
skills  (for  20  000  persons  with  a  EUR  25  million  budget),  digital  learning  contents  (15  000 
training bodies using remote platforms with a EUR 304 million budget), and a plan for remote 
learning (30 000 extra trained persons with a budget of EUR 160 million). 

 increase digital public services (EUR 500 million). 

Increase the ‘France Très Haut Débit’ plan by EUR 240 million to boost connectivity in rural 
areas. 

81  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
141 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

•  Equip schools with digital devices. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
142 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

1 Digital skills 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

15% 

2020 

4.5% 

2020 

3.6% 

2019 

France 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

NA 

2020 

NA 

NA 

89% 

2021 

62% 

2021 

31% 

2021 

76% 

2021 

15% 

2020 

4.5% 

2021 

3.6% 

2020 

90% 

2022 

62% 

2021 

31% 

2021 

76% 

2021 

15% 

2022 

4.3% 

2022 

3.5% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

In  France,  62%  of  people  have  at  least  basic  digital  skills, which  is  above  the  EU  average  of  54%. 
France  is  also  above  the  EU  average  for  individuals  with  above  basic  digital  skills  (31%  in  France 
versus 26% in the EU) and at least basic skills for digital content creation (76% compared to 66% at 
EU level).  

France  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  that  can  contribute  to  increase  the  level  of 
basic digital skills. 

The  Skills  and  Jobs  of  the  Future  initiative  has  a  total  budget  of  EUR  2.5  billion  and  aims  to  meet 
employment or skills needs and to accelerate the implementation of training related to national R&D 
strategies in key sectors. Successful projects will  assess skills and training needs in 2021-2025, they 
will support curriculum development and the delivery of training. Projects focus on training in upper 
secondary  schools,  in  higher  education  and  via  long  life  learning,  according  to  the  training  needs 
identified by the France 2030 strategy. The first wave of initiative has started (with EUR 320 million) 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

and  supports  7  projects  in  digital  areas,  in  particular  education  and  digital,  cybersecurity,  digital 
greening, artificial intelligence, quantum, and digital health. 

Scientific, digital and media literacy in all subjects at all levels of formal education needs particular 
attention. The overall performance of pupils in mathematics is  poor82, even that of top performers 
could be improved, which makes further acquisition of scientific knowledge difficult in a professional 
context. A report by the European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture raised 
concerns about the performance of students in mathematics in France83. Efforts to train teachers in 
digital skills and to empower them to use digital tools in teaching, such as the initiative “Territoires 
Numériques Educatifs”, should be continued. Currently, there are several initiatives to address digital 
education: “Education and Digital” and “Skills and Professions of the Future”. A centralised service of 
the  Prime  Minister’s  Office84  is  responsible  for  oversight  and  coordination  to  ensure  synergies 
between  different  activities.  However,  effective  monitoring  and  evaluation  of  large-scale  digital 
projects would be useful. 

As part of its Digital Education strategy, France is investing in the development of advanced digital 
skills, in line with the research priorities supported in the key digital sector. Measures address the 
entire education cycle, from primary to tertiary level. The number of specialised Master’s courses in 
AI  has increased significantly in the  last years, thanks to additional funding and increased focus. In 
addition  to  the  investment  in  ICT  specialists,  there  is  a  growing  need  to  upskill  and  reskill  the 
workforce in all sectors of the economy to harness the potential of digital solutions. 

Significant investments have been mobilised to equip schools with digital tools and infrastructure 
and to digitalise pedagogical content, and the targets are ambitious. However, the results of these 
investments  will  take  time  to  materialise,  and  meticulous  implementation  is  key  to  achieving  the 
objectives.  While  the  reaction  to  the  pandemic  was  to  invest  in  digital  equipment  under  time 
pressure, schools often did not have time to develop a digital strategy before receiving funding.  

As  regards  professional  training,  the  Ministry  of  Labour  has  several  contracts  with  professional 
organisations  and  social  partners  (EDEC)  to  anticipate  the  impacts  on  jobs  and  skills  of  economic, 
social  and  demographic  changes,  including  the  green  and  digital  transition.  It  creates  action  plans 
with  professional  organizations  and  social  partners  to  adapt  and  develop  professional  training.  A 
recent  poll  shows  that  55%  of  employees  consider  that  they  need  to  develop  skills  linked  to  their 
career  development  and  that  business  leaders  believe  that  their  profession  is  going  to  change 
profoundly  due  to  digitalisation  (55%  in  enterprises  with  fewer  than  50  employees  and  75%  in 
enterprises with more than 50 employees)85. 

To address these gaps, the Compte Personnel de Formation (CPF) entitles employees to a virtual 
individual  account  in  which  training  rights  are  accumulated  over  time.  The  resources  are  only 
mobilised  if  training  is  actually  undertaken.  This  system  aims  to  facilitate  access  to  upskilling  and 
reskilling opportunities. With the support of the RRF, an extra allowance is provided to people who 
choose training in digital areas. This measure has so far benefited 22 500 people and is planned to 
continue until 2024, however, the participation of female candidates should be encouraged. 

82 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, 2019: overall performance in mathematics was the 
lowest in all participating 22 Member states 
83 The Education and Training Monitor 2022 Country report for France by DG EAC of the European Commission 
raises concerns over performance in maths in France. 
84 The Secretariat General pour l’Investissement. 
85 Les Français face à la transformation numérique (lefigaro.fr). 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

The country has an average share of ICT specialists: the percentage of ICT specialists is 4.3% of total 
employment, almost the same as the EU average (4.6%) but the gap increased slightly compared 
with the previous year. The proportion of graduates that study ICT subjects is 3.5%, which is below 
the EU average of 4.2% and is in a downward trend. These negative trends may be related to a recent 
reform in scientific  secondary  education which led to fewer students studying sciences. In  parallel, 
only 15%  of enterprises  provide ICT training to their employees, far below  the EU average of 22%. 
France’s performance is just above the EU average as regards the presence of women in the digital 
sector at 19% of ICT specialists, compared with an EU average of 18.9%.  

The government set the objective of training 400 000 digital experts by 2027 in an action plan that 
is  financed  by  the  France  2030  future  investments.  It  sets  priority  cutting-edge  fields:  AI,  cloud, 
quantum,  5G  and  cybersecurity.  France  will  also  improve  its  training  offer  for  technicians  and 
engineers, and add a new feature in terms of equality: the overall support of 10 000 young women to 
enter the digital and tech professions. 

It  is  important  that  France  implements  measures  to  address  all  cycles  of  education:  primary, 
secondary,  tertiary,  in  particular  to  address  the  fundamental  level  in  mathematics.  In  addition  to 
reinforce  the  investment  for  ICT  specialists  notably  ICT  graduates,  there  is  an  increasingly  growing 
need to upskill and reskill the workforce. In this view, a whole-government approach to coordinate 
more effectively digital education policies and strengthen the involvement of relevant stakeholders is 
relevant.  

Best practice: the Pix project for education in digital competences 

The PIX project is a user-friendly online testing tool for digital skills and competences that provides a 
certification  based  on DigComp. Pix  is  a  French  public  initiative,  based on open-source  software.  It 
combines  challenge-based  and  knowledge-based  tests,  and  is  aimed  at  a  wide  audience  of  pupils, 
teachers,  professionals  etc.  PIX  is  widely  used  with  more  than  8.5  million  accounts  created  and  2 
million certifications provided. It is used as an assessment tool by 97% of secondary schools in France 
and  80  universities.  International  partnerships  are  being  set  up  with  Belgium  and  other  countries. 
Pupils and teachers can also use the tool to develop their digital skills. 

France  should  accelerate  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digital  skills.  In  particular,  France  should 
implement  measures  to  address  all  levels  of  education,  especially  the  fundamental  level  in 
mathematics.  In  addition  to  boosting  the  investment  for  ICT  specialists,  particularly  ICT  graduates, 
France should continue to upskill and reskill the workforce86.  

86 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

France 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

2020 

NA 

2020 

53% 

2020 

53% 

2020 

82% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

59% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

41% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

51% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

31.4% 

39.9% 

13.8% 

2021 

2022 

2022 

63% 

2021 

63% 

2021 

88% 

2021 

74% 

2021 

59% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

88% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

59% 

2023 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

France  is  on  track  to  achieve  the  Gigabit  coverage  2030  target.  FTTP  coverage  (“fibre  to  the 
premises”)  increased  substantially  by 10  percentage points,  standing  at  73%  in  2022  (compared  to 
56%  in  the  EU).  This  network  provides  high  performance.  The  expansion  of  the  fixed  network  in 
France is linked to the continuation of its National Broadband Plan (France Très Haut Débit), which is 
partially funded by the RRF. The rural/urban divide is narrowing down: FTTP coverage in rural areas 
jumped  by  16.9  percentage  points  reaching  45.7%,  or  2  million  households.  However,  the  pace  of 
deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) has slowed down in some regions, including in some densely 
populated areas. The outermost regions require particular attention. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

The  wide  availability  of  fibre  networks  goes  hand  in  hand  with  a  very  high  take-up  of  1  Gbps 
services which amounts to 26.75% compared to an EU average of 7.58%. A majority of customers are 
now fiber users, which allows the incumbent operator to consider shutting down its copper network 
in areas where deployment and customer migration are the most advanced.  

On mobile connectivity, the French telecommunications market has a relatively high 5G coverage, 
reaching  74%,  with  a  progress  of  15  percentage  points  on  last  year  (the  EU  average  is  66%).  This 
figure is partly due to the completion of the award procedure for frequencies in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band 
in the fourth quarter of 2020, enabling all four mobile networks, and certain mobile virtual network 
operators, to offer the  commercial 5G  for  this  band.  Three  operators out  of four  focused  their 5G 
deployment on this band (rather than dynamic sharing of the 700 MHz band with 4G), which creates 
the  conditions  to  deliver  high  quality  of  service.  Nevertheless,  France’s  5G  spectrum  readiness 
should  be  further  improved.  Indeed,  as  far  as  spectrum  resources  are  concerned,  France  had 
assigned the entire 700 MHz15 band, 77.50% of the 3.6 GHz band and none of the 26 GHz band. For 
the 26 GHz band, 15 experimental platforms are currently in use until 30 September 2023, however 
telecom operators have not yet expressed demand. 

As regards 4G broadband, the mobile market has total coverage (more than 99% households are 
covered). The quality of service is measured by the regulator Arcep87: the average download speed is 
between 29 and 50 Mbit/s in rural zones, between 56 and 96 Mbit/s in interim zones, and between 
52 and 125 Mbit/s in high-density zones. The take-up of mobile broadband was high, at 88% (against: 
87% for the EU). This percentage can be explained by the fact that mobile broadband prices in France 
are relatively good value, with an index of 76 compared to the EU average of 73. 

The  Regulator,  Arcep,  has  new  powers  to  investigate  environmental  questions  for  networks  and 
devices and has published first studies and recommendations. Arcep mentions results that estimate 
that digital represents  between 3% and 4% of greenhouse  gas emissions in the  world, and 2.7%  in 
France,  with  a  potential  upside  risk  to  be  mitigated.  The  Ademe/Arcep  on  the  environmental 
footprint of the digital sector finds that terminal equipment account for between 65% and 92% of the 
environmental  footprint,  followed  by  data  centres  (4%  to  20%)  and  networks  (4%  to  13%).  In 
particular, studies showed that terminal devices leave a high footprint especially when they need to 
be  renewed  to  follow  an  update  of  network  technology.  Electronic  communication  operators  are 
collecting mobile phones to recycle them at the end of their life cycle. A total of870 000 have been 
collected, which amounts to 11% of the total sales. 

Edge cloud is addressed as part of the cloud strategy industrial strand (described in part 3 “digital 
transformation  of  businesses”).  France  supports  research  and  development  projects  and  is one  of 
the EU MS that are planning an Important Project of Common European Interest on Next Generation 
Cloud  Infrastructure  and  Services  (IPCEI-CIS)  to  equip  the  European  Union  with  next  generation  of 
advanced, distributed, secure, sustainable and innovative cloud-to-edge capabilities. 

Reinforcing  the  semiconductor  sector  is  a  key  priority  for  France.  In  July  2022,  the  government 
presented a strategic investment plan of over EUR 5 billion under the France 2030 plan and in line 
with the European ambition of the Chips Act and the Digital Decade target (EU representing 20% of 
global  value  in  this  sector).  The  plan  aims  to  strengthen  industrial  and  technological  capabilities  in 
electronics by focusing on the most important needs of European industries in order to respond to 
future economic and societal challenges.  

This  plan  should  primarily  support  ambitious  research,  technological  development  and  first 
industrialisation  projects  in  the  framework of  the  Important Project  of  Common  European  Interest 

87 Mobile Quality of Service, Arcep, 20 Oct 2022. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

(IPCEI)  Electronics  and  Communication  Technologies,  representing  around  EUR  7  billion  of 
investments. These projects aim to involve around 150 industrial and academic partners.  

The projects identified in the electronics part of the IPCEI aim to strengthen the EU technological and 
industrial  position  in  lead  application  markets,  in  particular  on-board  AI  for  autonomous  vehicles, 
mobility components and modules and 5G/6G components.  

France  also  plans  to  support  projects  on  new  semiconductor  production  capacities,  as  part  of  the 
France 2030 plan and the legislative package of the European Chips Act.  

In addition to the industrial component, the France 2030 plan for electronics aims to promote the 
emergence  of  disruptive  players  and  technologies  by  2030.  It  will  do  this  through  support  for 
emerging  industrial  players  (with  EUR  86  million  in  funding),  for  advanced  research  (also  EUR  86 
million) and with a roadmap, piloted at  this stage  to develop  low-energy technology 10 nm FD-SOI 
through a pilot line (with a EUR 100 million budget). In April 2023, France and the Netherlands signed 
a pact for innovation and sustainable growth, with the aim of boosting public-private partnerships in 
fields such as chip design and manufacturing. 

A strategy to develop cybersecurity is in place with a budget of EUR 1 billion until 2025, of which 
EUR  62  million  was  available  in  2022.  The  aim  of  this  cyber  acceleration  strategy  is  to  create  an 
industrial framework in the field of cybersecurity, making it possible to have control and sovereignty 
over key technological building blocks. 

The objectives for the sector include: (i) reaching EUR 25 billion in turnover (up from EUR 7.3 billion 
in 2019); (ii) creating three cyber unicorns; (iii) doubling the number of jobs to 75 000; (iv) an overall 
improvement in the culture of cyber in businesses; (v) increasing the number of patents and research 
partnerships. 

In  2022,  EUR  14  million  were  allocated  to  support  companies  especially  in  the  field  of  innovative 
technologies. As regards training, a plan to train 9 250 specialists in cybersecurity and 3 050 000 non-
specialists  in  5  years  has  been  put  in  place.  While  these  efforts  are  important,  private  companies, 
especially small ones, continue to signal that they have important needs that should be addressed to 
reach  a  good  level  of  preparedness  and  improve  their  ability  to  respond  to  incidents  quickly.  The 
annual  measurement  of  progress  in  this  area  will  be  a  critical  element  in  monitoring  France’s 
trajectory in the cybersecurity domain until 2030. 

France  has  the  ambition  to  become  a  key  player  in  quantum  computing  and  has  an  ongoing 
quantum strategy financed by an investment of EUR 1.8 billion from the public and private sectors, 
which is part of the France 2030 investment plan.  

Investment  in training  is  also  planned,  funding  100  thesis  fellowships, 50  post-doctoral  fellowships 
and 10 young talent grants per year for at least the next 5 years. 

The seven pillars of the quantum strategy are:  

•  develop and disseminate the use of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) simulators and 

accelerators (EUR 352 million);  

•  develop the quantum computer at the LSQ scale (EUR 432 million);  
•  develop technologies and applications for quantum sensors (EUR 258 million);  
•  develop post-quantum cryptography (EUR 156 million);  
•  develop quantum communication systems (EUR 325 million);  
•  develop a competitive range of enabling technologies (EUR 292 million);  
• 

cross-cutting structuring of the ecosystem.  

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

The national quantum strategy includes the provision of added resources for researchers (including 
training,  but  also  for  start-ups  and  industrialists)  and  investments  in  all  quantum  technologies: 
communications, sensors and cryptography.  

The  strategy  should  enable  France  to  be  among  the  first  countries  to  master  critical  quantum 
technologies, 
including  quantum  accelerators  and  simulators,  quantum  computing  business 
software,  quantum  sensors,  quantum  communications,  post-quantum  cryptography  and  enabling 
technologies. 

In the area of IT, the central theme of the strategy, France aims to become the first country to have a 
complete prototype of a first-generation general quantum computer by 2023. It also plans to be the 
first country with a complete Silicon-28 industrial production line to produce qubits on silicon. 

The aim is to create 16 000 jobs directly by 2030 and to account for 1 - 2% of French exports. France’s 
quantum strategy is part of a European dynamic: the ambition is to make Europe the main centre of 
gravity of quantum technologies. The quantum strategy’s first projects have already been launched: 
on research (EUR 150 million), accelerators to prepare large-scale quantum computers, and industrial 
technologies that are at the close-to-market development level. 

At  European  level,  France  participates  in  the  European  programme  for  high-performance 
computing  (EuroHPC)  and  has  co-financed  the  French  part  of  the  R&D  projects  selected  by 
EuroHPC.  France  is  also  participating  in  the  European  Quantum  Communication  Infrastructure 
(EuroQCI) initiative.  

Best practice: “acceleration strategy” for 5G and future networks 

France has adopted an “acceleration strategy” for 5G and future networks. The authorities lowered 
the price of 5G licenses for industrial application and launched Franco-German joint calls for projects 
since 2020, including one on 5G in March 2022: in that call, four projects were selected in July 2022 
to deploy of concrete 5G use cases dedicated to Industry 4.0. A total of 32 partners (16 German, 16 
French)  will  be  supported.  France  has  also  launched  21  projects  worth  EUR  163  million  for 
experimental 5G use cases and 6 major Campus FabLabs are upcoming. Industrial 5G has started in 
France with 30 deployments and 750 experimental facilities as estimated by Arcep. Operators have 
announced  several  major  deployments.  For  example,  one  operator  deployed  5G  for  a  very  large 
factory  of  Submarine  Networks  in  Calais,  the  incumbent  deployed  5G  for  a  Steel  company  in 
Dunkerque  while  another  operator  announced  a  partnership  with  key  industrial  players.  Small 
enterprises  are  also  active:  for  example,  in  Toulouse,  a  company  participated  in  an  Arcep 
experimental project and started a European project of 5G for Smart Communities, funded at 75% by 
the Connecting Europe Facility EU programme. 

France  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  on  digital  infrastructures.  In  particular  France 
should  further  improve  its  5G  spectrum  readiness  making  the  remaining  priority  bands  available. 
France  is  also  encouraged  to  continue  its  activities  regarding  the  environmental  aspect  of  digital 
sectors,  as  well  as  in  the  areas  of  quantum  and  semiconductors  in  order  to  help  the  EU  become  a 
strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud88 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

France 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

48% 

2019 

22% 

2019 

22% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

23% 

2020 

13% 

2020 

12% 

2020 

6% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

45% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

22% 

2020 

25% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

23% 

2020 

12% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

6% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

64% 

2022 

45% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

22% 

2020 

25% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

23% 

2020 

13% 

2022 

5% 

2022 

6% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

88 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

The  uptake  of  digital  technology  in  France  is  uneven  and  varies  according  to  the  size  of  the 
companies. 22% of enterprises declared that they use big data (versus 14% on average in the EU in 
2020) and 7% use AI (vs. 8% on average in the EU in 2021). French enterprises make less use of cloud 
services (25%) than the EU average (34%) with a gap of 9 percentage points in 2021. Surveys suggest 
that this may be due to lack of advanced skills to use cloud services or/ and due to a lack of trust in 
where data will be stored in the cloud89. France is still far from the Digital Decade target for 2030, i.e. 
75% of EU enterprises using cloud, AI or big data analysis. 

To  support  the  offer  of  AI  for  enterprises,  the  EUR  25  million  project  called  “IA  Booster” 
implemented by the Banque Publique d’Investissement (BPI) has already helped 30 SMEs on how 
to  value  their  data  with  AI.  Furthermore,  the  setup of European  large-scale  reference  Testing  and 
Experimentation  Facilities  (TEFs)  will  offer  a  combination  of  physical  and  virtual  facilities,  where 
technology  providers  can  obtain  technical  support  to  test  their  latest  AI-based  software  and 
hardware technologies (including AI-powered robotics) in real-world environments.  

The call for proposals for TEFs was launched in February 2022 and closed in May 2022. The candidate 
TEFs were notified in August 2022. The Commission finances 50% of the TEFs and the Member State 
the other 50%. EU funding of EUR 30 million is planned for each of the following sectors: agri-food, 
healthcare, and manufacturing. For smart cities and communities, the call budget is EUR 20 million in 
EU funding. 

89 Baromètre France Num 2022 : le numérique dans les TPE PME (0 à 249 salariés) - francenum.gouv.fr 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

SMEs in France use fewer digital technologies than the EU average: the proportion of French SMEs 
with at least a basic level of digital intensity (64%) is slightly below the EU average (69%), although 
the  gap  is  narrowing  compared  to  2021.  The  2030  Digital  Decade  objective  is  90%.  In  2020, 
enterprises in France made less use of electronic invoices (23% vs 32% in the EU). 

The FranceNum initiative, in place since 2018, continued to support the digital transformation of 
SMEs  and  more specifically  of micro-SMEs, which  are  companies  with  fewer than  10  employees. 
FranceNum is a national partnership with more than 70 members, including regions and professional 
organisations,  coordinated  by  the  Direction  Générale  des  Entrerprises.  It  also  involves  about  1 500 
digital  transformation  experts.  FranceNum  promotes  the  adoption  and  of  digital  technology  and 
imrpvements in how it is used by the managers of 1.7 million small businesses in France, to facilitate 
their growth. 

FranceNum  helps  to  demonstrate  how  technologies  can  benefit  the  French  economy  by  offering 
small SMEs digital diagnostics and training free of charge, promoting good practices, and by making 
available loan guarantees and practical resources. In 2022, FranceNum implemented a new website 
to raise awareness of SMEs, training courses, a new MOOC (“Ma TPE gagne avec le numérique”) and 
digital tourism diagnostics. Measures that had been successful in the past were discontinued due to 
lack of budget: in particular, cheques FranceNum closed in July 2021 and the individualised diagnoses 
with  an  action  plan  stopped  in  2022,  to  refocus  priorities  on  tourism  diagnostics.  The  following 
actions are being carried out: 

•  A series of training courses series was planned as part of the EU Recovery and Resilience Plan 
with a budget of EUR 33.1 million targeting 100 000 courses until 2025. At the end 2022, 20 
849 training courses were delivered through BPI France. 

•  FranceNum  dedicated  a  scheme  to  SMEs  in  the  tourism  sector:  it  aims  to  support  10 000 
small SMEs with an individual diagnosis of digital maturity. The scheme has a budget of EUR 
3 million until the end of 2023 and is carried out by chambers of commerce and chambers of 
crafts. At the end of 2022, 758 enterprises had benefitted from a diagnostic. 

•  The FranceNum loan guarantee aims to help small SMEs (<50 employees) obtain a bank loan 
to  finance  their  digital  transition.  It  provides  a  guarantee  fund  financed  by  the  Future 
Investment  Programme  (PIA)  and  a  counter-guarantee  by  the  European  Investment  Fund 
(EIF).  

•  The scheme is being run by BPI France with a guarantee fund of EUR 30 m. As of end 2022, 

75 loans had been granted.  

An annual survey(“barometer”) shows that SMEs have a positive perception of digital technologies. 
For example, 81% of executives of small or very small companies  polled considered  it a benefit. In 
addition, a more precise impact assessment of each FranceNum action is planned to be available in 
the future to evaluate their efficiency. 

As  of  2023,  16  European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (EDIH)  will  provide  businesses  with  digital 
expertise and technical and experimental facilities. EDIHs are co-funded by the European Union and 
by the regions. Regions have been key to identify the technology and sectorial opportunities. 

It is important that France accelerates the adoption of digital technologies by SMEs in order to make 
sure  that  all  of  them  get  access  to  them  and  are  able  to  find  digital  solutions  that  benefit  their 
activity.  In  this  view,  collecting  the  needs  of  SMEs  and  engaging  with  them  to  provide  extensive 
support  for  their  use  of  digital  technologies  is  equally  important.  Expanding  the  resources  and 
objectives of FranceNum would be useful. In this expansion, measures that worked well in the past 
could  be  considered  again  (e.g.,  the  voucher  or  fiscal  incentives  for  digitisation,  or  the  individual 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

diagnoses and action plans). Building on the EDIHs would also complement the FranceNum initiative 
and target a broader range of SMEs as well as bring in good practises from other Member States. 

France has succeeded in becoming a very favourable ecosystem for the development of start-ups 
and scale-ups. 36 companies are considered “unicorns” in France (i.e. companies founded after 1990 
that have had an initial public offering (IPO) or trade sale above USD 1 billion): it is a sharp increase 
as compared to 22 the year before. In addition, 82 companies reached a market valuation between 
EUR  100  million  and  EUR  1  billion90.  A  recent  OECD  study91  found  that  France  ranked  third  in  the 
world in terms of attractiveness for potential founders of start-ups after Canada and the USA. 

Many channels are available in France to support scale-ups in their access to finance. While the link 
to the Digital Decade target of doubling the number of unicorns by 2030 is necessarily not automatic, 
these activities foster right conditions in this direction. 

The French government is launching several financial actions to ensure that the investment climate is 
start-up-friendly: 

- 

France,  together  with  Germany,  Spain,  Italy,  Belgium,  and  the  EIB  (European  Investment 
Bank) Group, launched a pan-European fund of funds, the European Technology Champions 
Initiative  (ETCI)  to  channel  late-growth  capital  for  promising  European  innovators  (mostly 
companies seeking to raise funds above EUR 100 million). Managed by the EIF, ETCI obtained 
commitments  totalling  EUR  3.75  billion  during  the  initial  subscription  period.  The  first 
investment is planned in 2023. 

-  BPI France manages a fund of funds called MC4, which wasset up in December 2022 with a 
target  size  of  EUR  1.1  billion  to  strengthen  investment  funds  active  in  private  equity 
(including the digital sector). 

In addition to these public funds, the private “Tibi Initiative” was launched in 2019 to mobilise EUR 
30 billion to finance French start-ups. Tibi claimed that in 2022, investments in tech capital in France 
were  superior  to  the  ones  in  other  Member  States.  It  also  helped  stimulate  the  listing  process  of 
medium-sized  technology  companies,  with  a  guide  of  good  practices,  and  by  encouraging  the 
recruitment of specialised teams to determine a fair valuation and the assistance to be provided to 
the company in its preparation and the matching of the company with investors. 

As  regards  non-financial  support  from  the  government,  in  June  2022,  the  Mission  French  Tech, 
responsible  for  supporting  the  growth  of  the  French  start-up  ecosystem  within  the  Direction 
Générale des Entreprises, began to offer support to French start-ups that are members of Euronext 
Tech Leaders. 

Support for companies specialised in advanced digital technologies in France is strong and relies on 
many thematic initiatives. Innovative enterprises in the digital sector receive support to scale-up and 
access  finance  for  their  development.  The  wider  take-up  of  basic  technologies  by  all  enterprises 
especially SMEs still requires particular attention. 

A  Public  Interest  Grouping  called  ACYMA  was  created  in  2017  to carry out  prevention,  awareness-
raising,  and  support  measures  for  victims  of  cyberattacks.  It  assists  victims,  and  prevents  and 
monitors  cyber  risks  by  targeting  help  on  individuals  and  VSEs/SMEs  and  small  local  and  regional 
authorities  (lacking  IT  skills).  It  runs  the  cybermarket.gouv.fr  website,  which  connects  victims  with 

90 source Dealroom (date of extraction 16/01/2023 for the number of unicorns and 24/03/2023 for the number 
of potential unicorns). 
91  What  are  the  top  OECD  destinations  for  start-up  talents?  (oecd.org)  March  2023  –  “France  has  the  most 
favourable policies for international start-up entrepreneurs, with funding opportunities and pathways for start-
up staff attached to the start-up visa.” 

 
 
 
 
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France 

cybersecurity  providers.  In  2022,  there  were  2.5  million  visitors  to  ACYMA’s  platform,  including 
173 000  people  seeking  assistance.  Several  European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (e.g.  EDIH  Bretagne, 
CYBIAH, EDIH La Réunion) were launched to provide cybersecurity expertise to SMEs. 

End  2021,  France  launched  its  first  national  cloud  strategy.  Its  objective  is  twofold:  to  increase 
strategic autonomy in the use of cloud services in the public sector public while boosting the global 
competitiveness of French cloud service providers. The plan has three main elements: fostering the 
emergence  of  a  market  for  trusted  cloud  services  (Cloud  de  Confiance)  with  the  set-up  of  a 
SecNumCloud cybersecurity certification, establishing a “cloud at the centre” guiding principle within 
public  bodies;  and  crafting  an  industrial  policy  aimed  at  fostering  the  emergence  of  French  cloud 
champions. For instance, the Numcloud92 joint initiative led by large industry players aims to provide 
the foundations for a Trusted Cloud in France. 

The  cloud  industrial  strand,  which  will  be  implemented  under  the  “France  Relance”  plan  with  the 
support of the  RRF, will mobilise EUR 667 million over between 2022 and 2025. It will support  the 
cloud  industry  in  France  by  accelerating  the  multiplication  of  French  players  in  highly  sought-after 
critical technologies, by developing disruptive technologies such as edge computing by 2025, and by 
supporting research and development projects. Some of these R&D and industrial projects will also 
be  part  of  the  IPCEI  on  Next  Generation  Cloud  Infrastructure  and  Services  (IPCEI-CIS)  that  directly 
contributes to the roll-out of the industrial pillar of the French cloud strategy. The IPCEI-CIS aims at 
equipping  the  European  Union  with  the  next  generation  of  advanced,  distributed,  secure, 
sustainable,  and  innovative  cloud-to-edge  capabilities  needed  by  citizens  and  businesses.  It  forms 
part of the Multi-Country Project on a Common Data Infrastructure and Services and benefits from 
financing  under  the  RRF. Additionally,  the  IPCEI-CIS provides  support  with  the deployment of edge 
nodes  by  considering  technological  advancements  in  the  area  and  certain  deployment,  helping  to 
meet  France's  declared  goal  of  having  1  520  node  share  goal  by  2030.  France  is  one  of  the  two 
coordinators  of  this  project  which  brings  together  12  Member  States  and  more  than  hundreds  of 
European companies. France is also taking part in other European cloud initiatives announced in the 
European Data Strategy  including the  European Alliance  on Cloud, Edge,  and Data. It also supports 
the Gaia-X initiative. 

France should step up its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses. In particular, it should 
take specific action to improve SME rate of digitalisation, including in advanced technologies.  

92 The announcement adds that the project is pending authorisation from relevant competition authorities if 
applicable, and to the labour representative bodies. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

France 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

69 

2021 

80 

2021 

47 

2021 

65 

2021 

70 

2021 

97 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

90% 

2022 

71 

2022 

79 

2022 

47 

2022 

65 

2022 

70 

2022 

97 

2022 

54 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

The share of e-government users is high in France: 90% compared with the EU average of 74%. 

The  Observatoire.numerique.gouv.fr,  is  a  key  tool  that  steers  and  monitors  the  digitalisation  of 
public services on a quarterly basis. This includes monitoring user satisfaction, the application of the 
‘once-only’  principle,  and  accessibility.  For  example,  40%  of  the  services  monitored  achieve  75% 
compliance  with  the  General  Accessibility  Improvement  Framework  (RGAA)  (compared  to  12%  in 
2020).  The  Inter-ministerial  Direction  of  Digital  (DINUM)  provides  a  platform  for  open  data 
(data.gouv.fr) and follows concrete actions in 15 ministries. 

The  State  deploys  resources  such  as  product  management,  design,  user  research  to  support 
government  ministries  and  operators  in  improving  the  quality  of  their  services.  In  addition,  new 
public procurement contracts have been introduced, and RRF-funded FranceRelance invests EUR 17 
million on the quality of public services and communication. 

The  government  carried  out  a  first  test  of  a  digital  identity  based  on  e-ID  (notified  under  the 
FranceConnect+/ the Digital Identity scheme).  It is planned for it  to become  generally available  at 
the  end  of  2023  and  to  have  a  substantial  level  of  safety.  France  has  led  the  POTENTIAL  project 
funded by the European Commission in this area. France is involved via public and private entities in 
three of the large-scale pilot projects testing the European Digital Identity Wallet in several everyday 
use cases. This is funded by the Digital Europe Programme, with an overall grant request of over EUR 
3.7 million. France is the technical coordinator of one of these proposals and is leading the work on 
mobile driving licences. 

The  government  supported  20  projects  on  using  AI  to  serve  public  policies  in  environmental 
protection,  employment,  health  and  social  protection,  and  the  fight  against  fraud.  The  projects 
target for example: support  for targeting controls,  or the  improvement of user relationship or of a 
business  process.  Users  included  the  Departmental  Directorate  of  Territories  and  Sea,  the  Nuclear 
Safety Authority, and a hospital. 

In May 2021, France adopted principles on the use of cloud computing technology by the French 
State, called ‘Cloud au Centre’. Applying the principles, cloud computing becomes the default mode 
of hosting and producing state digital services, for all new digital products and for evolving products. 
The  government  also  launched  a  plan  for  acquiring  skills,  public  procurement  facilitate  access  to 
cloud computing services, and a programme to manage cloud computing resources. 

Relationships  with  partners  in  the  European  ecosystem  are  promoted  locally  and  through  the 
European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and cloud of the European Commission. Since the ‘Cloud 
au Centre’ doctrine came into force in May 2021, cloud computing increased by 88% over the past 12 
months. 

In  February  2020,  a  cross-ministerial  approach  was  launched  to  support  eco-responsible  public 
services,  with  a  digital  component.  In  addition,  the  government  adopted  a  roadmap  for  the 
convergence of the digital and green transitions in February 2021. A dedicated Green Tech team has 
been  created  within  the  DINUM.  Together  with  the  Ministry  of  Ecological  Transition,  this  team  is 
responsible, among other things, for steering and monitoring the work of an eco-responsible digital 
inter-ministerial mission. The first actions it delivered were:  

•  a guide to responsible digital purchasing;  
•  a good practice guide for responsible digitalisation;  
•  an eco-design benchmark for digital services;  
•  action  plans  of the  French  ministries to  reduce  the environmental  footprint  of  their  digital 

activities (digital equipment and services). 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

France  also  adopted  a  law  against  waste  and  for  the  circular  economy  in  February  2020,  which 
introduced  a  reparability  index  for  household  and  electronic  appliances,  which  must  be  taken  into 
account in public procurement. France also adopted a law on reducing the environmental footprint 
of the digital sector in November 2021. 

Despite  the  above  progress  on  digitalisation  of  public  services,  France  is  below  the  EU  average 
(17th position) in the EU wide benchmarking of national investments on innovation procurement 
of  digital  solutions.  In  particular,  investments  in  adopting  transformative  digital  technologies, 
including  those  that  are  new  to  the  market,  is  well  below  the  European  average.  Tackling  this 
challenge is key to offering top quality public services with a rich set of functionalities that enable to 
interact 
in  a  more  efficient  and  personalised  way  with  citizens,  businesses,  and  other 
in  public 
administrations.  Furthermore, 
procurements  that  focus  on  the  adoption  of  innovative  ICT  solutions  would  also  help  further 
accelerate the wider adoption of advanced digital solutions into the public sector.  

in  R&D  procurement  and 

investments 

increasing 

As regards e-health, France’s score on facilitating citizens with full access to their electronic health 
records  is  54.  The  national  online  access  mechanism  to  electronic  health  records  is  ‘Mon  espace 
Santé’ which is fully operational since February 2022. Since mid-July 2022, 67.5 million citizens have 
access  to  an  electronic  health  record,  representing more  than  90%  of  the  population93.  So  far,  8.8 
million  (11%)  have  accessed  their  account  proactively,  a  number  which  is  gradually  growing.  As  of 
2022,  the  service  provides  access  to citizens’  administrative  information,  current  and  relevant  past 
medicines, 
imaging  reports  and  hospital  discharge  reports.  All 
information  except  the  data  on  medicines  is  being  frequently  updated  within  hours  or  a  few  days 
after each care episode.  

laboratory  reports,  medical 

A nationally notified eID-scheme based on two-factor authentication is used by citizens to access 
the ‘Mon espace Santé’ online service via a portal or mobile application. 80-100% of the population 
can access parts of their electronic health data, but this is limited to data originating from public and 
private  secondary  and  tertiary  healthcare  providers  only.  since  2021,  a  large  investment  program, 
“Ségur  du  numérique”,  has  been  funding  software  solutions  in  order  to  facilitate  the  exchange  of 
healthcare  data  between  healthcare  professionals  and  patients,  and  providing  incentives  to 
professionals and healthcare structures to use new digital technologies.  

The law has also been modified to make  it  compulsory  for healthcare professionals to send health 
data  to  their  patient’s  e-health  record.  Citizen’s  access  to  electronic  health  records  is  further 
strengthened by legal provisions allowing legal guardians to access them as well. Such a functionality 
is  however  not  yet  fully  realised  from  a  technical  point  of  view.  Disadvantaged  groups  can  seek 
assistance when trying to make use of their access rights in the form of real-time remote assistance 
on the phone or via online, face-to-face assistance in an office and FAQs and guidelines. In terms of 
web  accessibility,  the  ‘MonEspaceSanté’  service  is  compliant  with  the  Web  Content  Accessibility 
Guidelines v2.1 (WCAG), as required by the European Commission’s Web Accessibility Directive since 
end 2022. 

The degree to which people in France can access public services online shows that there are areas 
where a lot  of progress has been made, while there is still room  for improvement in the coming 
years. The range of accessible and frequently updated health information is still too limited, but it is 
growing fast, as is the  list of the types of  healthcare providers  that  can connect  to the system and 

93 2% opposed its creation and around 5% could not be contacted as the government did not have their contact 
details and there was a compulsory information to the citizens in the opt-out policy. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
France 

give people relevant health information. Widespread access can only be achieved if all users can get 
dedicated support when needed.  

France should accelerate its efforts to digitalise public services. In particular, it should complement 
the RRP funding of hardware equipment  in hospitals  with measures  to involve users  and adapt  the 
organisation to the new data flows. Public authorities should take measures to further strengthen the 
alignment  of  the  different  administrative  levels  involved  and  to  improve  the  interoperability, 
effectiveness and availability of online public services, in particular in the healthcare sector. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Germany 

 
 
 
 
   
 
 
159 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

Germany has untapped potential to contribute further to the collective efforts to achieve the EU’s 
Digital Decade targets. Given the size of the German economy and its population, current and future 
efforts  will  contribute  significantly  to  such  efforts.  Germany’s  digital  transformation  is  advancing 
steadily. However, significant efforts are needed to achieve the country’s aim of being a front runner. 
While coverage of gigabit connectivity is slightly below the EU average, Germany is second last in the 
EU regarding fibre  coverage. There have been some more  positive  developments  in the take-up of 
gigabit  connections  and  5G  coverage.  Significant  gaps  remain  in  digital  public  services,  in  human 
capital and in digitalisation of businesses, but the country’s sustained efforts covering all these areas 
are delivering progress. In recent years, digital issues have gained political traction, notably with the 
adoption  of  several  key  strategies,  such  as  the  Federal  Government’s  Digital  Strategy,  the  Gigabit 
Strategy  and  the  inclusion  of  several  digital measures  in  the  German  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan 
(RRP) that account for more than 53% of the total budget.  

The Federal Government’s Digital Strategy was adopted on 31 August 2022. It gathers the country’s 
policy  priorities  for  digital  transformation  in  one  strategy  across  all  sectors.  It  defines  the 
overarching  framework  for  digital  policy  in  Germany  up  to  2025.  Germany  aligns  itself  with  the 
Digital  Decade  Policy  Programme,  its  digital  targets  and  general  objectives  for  2030.  The  strategy 
furthers  the  digital  development  of  the  country  and  formulates  measurable  goals  supported  by 
regular measurement and evaluation. It prioritises projects related to: (1) modern, high capacity and 
sustainable networks and the availability of data and data tools; (2)  international uniform technical 
norms and standards that enable interoperability; and (3)  secure and user-friendly digital identities 
and  modern  registers.  Additionally,  the  following  strategic  topics  will  be  prioritised:  digital 
sovereignty,  development  of  key  technologies,  artificial  intelligence,  advancing  cybersecurity, 
combating disinformation, and improving platform regulation.  

Germany is collaborating with other Member States in exploring the possibility to set up European 
Digital Infrastructure Consortia (EDICs) on: (i) Mobility and Logistics Data, to enable access, sharing 
and  reuse  of  data  in  these  areas;  and  (ii)  the  ‘Networked  Local  Digital  Twins  Towards  CitiVerse’ 
project, using disruptive and immersive technologies for future city-related projects. 

Digital in Germany’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The German RRP focuses on digital investments. From a total budget of EUR 26.4 billion, more than 
50% is allocated to digitalisation. Of this, EUR 11 995 million is expected to contribute to the Digital 
Decade  targets94.  The  plan  features  two  major  IPCEIs  on  digitalisation:  Microelectronics  and 
Communication  Technologies  and  the  Next  Generation  Cloud  Infrastructure  and  Services.  The  first 
payment request, amounting to EUR 4.5 billion and not yet formally submitted, includes milestones 
and  targets  related  to  the  IPCEI  on  Microelectronics  and  Communication  Technologies,  the 

94  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

investment programme for teacher devices and the Online Access Act. After a first plan amendment 
in  February  2023  with  very  limited  relevance  for  the  digital  part,  Germany  is  currently  working  on 
revising  its  RRP  again  to  take  into  account  the  increased  financial  allocation  (increase  of  EUR  2.4 
billion)  and  the  integration  of  a  REPowerEU chapter  to  decrease  the  dependence  on Russian  fossil 
fuels and to support the green transition. 

 
 
 
161 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

24% 

2020 

4.7% 

2020 

4.5% 

2019 

Germany 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

93% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

89% 

2021 

49% 

2021 

19% 

2021 

65% 

2021 

24% 

2020 

4.9% 

2021 

4.9% 

2020 

90% 

2022 

49% 

2021 

19% 

2021 

65% 

2021 

27% 

2022 

5.0% 

2022 

5.1% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Germany recognises the importance of skills and new skills and qualification profiles in the process 
of digitalisation. This is mirrored in one of the three action areas of the Federal Government’s Digital 
Strategy of August 2022, which sets out its vision of a connected and digitally sovereign society that 
requires lifelong learning. The strategy sets out benchmarks for 2025, encompassing the agreement 
on  the  Digital  Pact  2.0,  the  STEM  Action  Plan  2.0,  YouCodeGirls,  an  interoperable  education 
ecosystem and regular monitoring of improvements. 

However,  only  49%  of  people  have  at  least  basic  digital  skills,  which  is  below  the  EU  average  of 
54%. Germany’s poor performance in this regard hinders the EU’s progress towards the 2030 Digital 
Decade  target  of  at  least  80%  of  the  population  having  at  least  basic  digital  skills,  while  achieving 
gender convergence. The level of at least basic digital content creation skills is at 65%, which is also 
slightly  below  the  EU  average  of  66%.  Moreover,  the  country  scores  below  the  EU  average  for 
individuals with above basic digital skills (19% in Germany versus 26% in the EU).  

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

Germany  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  that  can  help  increase  the  level  of  basic 
digital skills. The digitalisation of education is one of the six priority areas of the German RRP. The 
COVID-19  crisis  revealed  shortcomings  in  the  field  of  digital  literacy.  This  concerns  device 
infrastructure and platforms as well as the competences required to use them. Therefore, the GRRP’s 
Component 3.1: Digitalisation of Education focuses on providing financial support for investments in 
the digital transition in education. The aim is to ensure more and better digital teaching and learning 
throughout the different education and training systems. 

The aim of the 2019-2024 Digital Pact for Schools (DigitalPakt Schule), is to create a modern digital 
infrastructure in all general and vocational schools. The Federal Government and the Länder agreed 
the  pact  in  2019,  with  EUR  5  billion  in  federal  funding  until  2024  and  a  funding  contribution  of  at 
least 10% by the Länder, as well as other measures financed by them. In addition to establishing a 
modern digital infrastructure, the Länder will ensure the further training of teachers, the adaptation 
of  educational  plans  and  the 
further  development  of  teaching  methods.  Furthermore, 
EUR 250 million from the  general funding  is  reserved for  collaborative  digital projects  between the 
Länder,  which  aim  to  develop  central  online-based  services,  e.g.  platforms  for  managing  electronic 
IDs,  adaptive  learning  and  databases.  Reacting  to  the  pandemic  that  caused  a  shift  to  distance 
schooling, another EUR 1.5 billion in federal funds were added to the Digital Pact’s budget, for mobile 
devices and IT administration.  

The Digital Pact for Schools supports the 2016 ’Education in the Digital World’ strategy agreed by 
the  Standing  Conference  of  the  Ministers  of  Education  and  Cultural  Affairs  of  the  Länder  (KMK), 
and  the  relevant  KMK  resolutions  for  teacher  training.  With  this  strategy  as  well  as  the 
subsequently  formulated  recommendations,  the  Länder  aim  to  ensure  the  self-determined,  active 
and independent participation of all students in today’s digital society. 

With its 2021 recommendation ’Teaching and Learning in the Digital World’, the KMK continued to 
expand and update its strategy on ’Education in the Digital World’ to focus on learning and teaching 
in  a  constantly  changing  digital  reality.  The  supplementary  recommendation  deepens  individual 
aspects  of  the  strategy,  reflects  on  experiences  from  the  COVID-19  pandemic  and  emphasises  the 
importance of the quality of teaching as well as developing schools. 

For  the  area  of  general  continuing  education  and  adult  education,  the  KMK  proposed  the  ‘Digital 
Continuing Education Initiative’ to complement measures in the area of formal education by reaching 
target  groups  that  otherwise  have  little  contact  with  educational  institutions.  The  main  areas  of 
action are: (i) providing digital equipment to adult education institutions; (ii) expanding the range of 
digital and digitally supported education and quality development; (iii) providing further training and 
qualifications for teaching staff. 

Several initiatives were launched recently to support the digital participation of older people. The 
programme  ’Strengthening  the  participation  of  older  people  -  countering  loneliness  and  social 
isolation (2022-2027)’, the project Digitaler Engel PLUS (2022-2025) and the project DigitalPakt Alter 
(2023-2025) aim to promote the inclusion of older adults in a digitalised world.  

The programme  ‘Safeguarding the Future of Non‑statutory Welfare through Digitalisation’ (2022) 
aims  to  support  welfare  umbrella  organisations  to  orient  the  digital  transformation  towards  the 
common  good  and  strengthen  social  cohesion  through  digitalisation.  The  development  of  digital 
skills  has  been  one  of  the  main  goals  of  the  projects  funded.  Projects  have  developed  and 
implemented  different  training  and  educational  formats  including  workshops,  webinars,  tutorials, 
support  tools,  websites,  manuals  and  brochures,  e‑learning-platforms  and  whole  competence 
centres. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

The  YouCodeGirls  initiative  promotes  digital  skills  among  girls  and  young  women.  It  aims  to 
stimulate  the  interest  of  girls  and  young  women  in  coding  and  to  support  and  strengthen  their 
untapped potential on the way to working in this area. The creation of an internet platform to bundle 
learning opportunities that fit well together is the focus of the project. The platform was activated in 
June 2022. 

Girls' Future Day has been taking place in Germany since 2001 with the aim of introducing female 
students  from  the  5th  grade  onward  to  a  stereotype-free  approach  to  careers  and  studies.  To  this 
end, the girls gain insights into professions that have so far been male dominated, for example in the 
ICT sector. 

Some private sector initiatives provide additional support to increase the level of basic digital skills 
in  Germany.  Young  people  registered  with  the  Federal  Employment  Agency  or  a  jobcentre  have 
access to a database of initial and continuing vocational education and training (CVET) programmes. 
Many  services  are  offered  by  private  schools  and  initiatives,  on  subjects  such  as  AI,  secure  data 
handling  and  programming.  Since  September  2022,  the  German  Federal  Employment  Agency  has 
been  developing  the  ‘mein  NOW  -  National  Online  Portal  for  Further  Education‘  as  part  of  the 
National  Skills  Strategy.  The  ‘mein  NOW’  portal  aims  to  offer  professionals,  employers  and  further 
education providers a central and low-threshold entry point to further education online. It provides 
orientation  and  makes  the  ecosystem  of  further  education  accessible  for  the  target  groups  by 
centralising the relevant information on the web. 

Although  Germany  has  a  comparatively  high  share  of  ICT  specialists  of  total  employment,  the 
country  faces  a  lack  of  ICT  specialists  in  several  areas.  ICT  specialists  account  for  5.0%  of  total 
employment,  above  the  EU  average  of  4.6%.  Additionally, 5.1%  of all  graduates  are  ICT  graduates, 
well  above  the  EU  average  of  4.2%.  27%  of  German  enterprises  offered  specialised  ICT  training  to 
their employees in 2022, above the EU average of 22%. Nevertheless, there is a lack of ICT specialists 
in  several  areas  and  some  ICT  students  quit  their  studies,  having  an  impact  on  the  number  of  ICT 
graduates. Germany’s performance is just above the EU average as regards the presence of women 
in the digital sector: 19.0% of ICT specialists are female, against an EU average of 18.9%. Given the 
positive  trends  in  recent  years,  Germany  is  expected  to  make  a  good  contribution  to  reaching  the 
2030  EU  target  of  20  million  ICT  specialists,  which  represents  about  10%  of  total  employment. 
However, further efforts are still needed to increase the gender balance among ICT specialists. 

In  higher  education,  Germany  is  increasing  the  level  of  digital  competences  of  students  and 
teachers.  The  Länder  and  the  Federal  Government  support  higher  education  institutions  in  the 
programme  ’AI  in  higher  education’  (KI  in  der  Hochschulbildung)  to  increase  the  study  of  AI  as  a 
subject  and  its  use  as  tool  in  academic  teaching  and  learning.  Furthermore,  the  federal  and  state 
(Länder)  governments 
in  universities 
(Nationales Hochleistungsrechnen an Hochschulen (NHR)) with funding of EUR 62.5 million per year. 
The main aims of the funding include the nationwide and needs-based provision of high-performance 
computing  capacities  for  scientific  research  at  universities,  the  strengthening  of  the  users’ 
methodological competence of users, training and further education, and as well as the promotion 
and further development of scientific computing. The funding is initially set to run for ten years. 

jointly  support  national  high-performance  computing 

The AI Junior Research Groups funding programme supports the creation of research groups led by 
outstanding young scientists. The interdisciplinary groups are expected to do research on innovative 
topics in the field of AI. The funding enables young scientists to build up their own research group 
and to pursue independent research questions. The programme began in September 2021, funding 
started in 2022 and is expected to run until 2025. The programme’s total budget is EUR 18.6 million, 
which could fund 22 junior researcher groups.  

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

The  Microelectronics  Academy  improves  the  existing  range  of  training  and  continuing  education 
programmes. It aims to promote young talent, upskill professionals and to reduce the time it takes to 
train  and  avoid  skills  mismatches.  It  was  founded  in  December  2022  and  is  to  be  based  in  the 
Research  Fab  Microelectronics  Germany  (Forschungsfabrik  Mikroeletronik  Deutschland,  FMD).  The 
academy develops and tests new training modules in cooperation with educational institutions and 
industry partners across  Germany. The  budget to  create the Academy amounts to EUR 7.5 million. 
The pilot phase of the Academy starts in 2024. 

On joint commitments with other countries, the ‘Quantum Future Academy (QFA)’ is an important 
cooperation  project  between Germany and Israel. This prominent one week-event for students of 
STEM  subjects  is  a  core  component  of  the  ‘Quantum  Future  Programme’  of  the  German  Federal 
Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). With the Quantum Future Academy, the BMBF aims to 
address  young  talents  at  an  early  stage  of  their  education  to  intensify  their  interest  in  quantum 
technologies. To celebrate Israeli-German friendship and strengthen scientific exchange between the 
two countries, QFA 2023 took place for one week in Germany and one week in Israel. The QFA has 
been held on an annual basis since 2018 with a budget of around EUR 80 000 per year. 

In addition, several measures have been launched to tackle the lack of ICT specialists, notably with 
upskilling and reskilling efforts of the workforce. The Citizen's Benefit Act improves further training 
support for people with a low level of skills, making it easier to catch up on reading, maths or IT skills. 
An  additional  allowance  of  EUR  150  per  month  will  be  introduced  for  continuing  education  and 
training  (CET)  that  results  in  a  qualification.  For  measures  that  are  particularly  important  for 
sustainable integration, there is a citizen's benefit bonus of EUR 75 per month.  

Germany does not have a national Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition. The country participated actively 
in the 2022 EU Code Week, organising 1 126 activities, involving 29 824 participants, of whom 47% 
were girls or women. Some 15% of the activities involved schools. 

Best practice: INVITE 

Embedded  into  the  National  Skills  Strategy,  the  Federal  Government  launched  the  INVITE 
innovation  competition.  INVITE  aims  at  innovative  solutions  that  –  with  the  help  of  AI  –  enable 
everyone to find the right continuing professional training on demand. 

The  INVITE  funding  is  directed  to  enabling  and  realising  the  connection  and  interoperability  of 
platforms;  to  encouraging  platforms  to  be  more  user-orientated  and  to  using  AI  technologies  to 
design individualised learning processes. In addition, standards for the design of an innovative digital 
ecosystem for continuing education and training are set out. 

Germany should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills. Germany should develop courses in 
digital skills across all levels and disciplines in formal and informal learning for the whole population 
and step-up upskilling and reskilling in the field of digital skills in the labour market95.  

95 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Germany 

DESI 
2021 

29% 

2020 

1.2% 

2020 

56% 

2020 

14% 

2020 

89% 

2018 

18% 

2020 

100% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

33% 

2021 

2.8% 

2021 

75% 

2021 

15% 

2021 
87%97 

2021 

87% 

2021 

100% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

38% 

2022 

4.2% 

2022 

70%96 

2022 

19% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

93% 

2022 

100% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

On  connectivity,  Germany  has  untapped  digital  potential  to  contribute  further  to  the  collective 
efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets,  having  been  performing  below  the  EU  average 
until  now.  However,  in  its  recent  Gigabit  Strategy,  adopted  in  July  2022,  and  the  Digital  Strategy, 
adopted in August 2022, the country set out ambitious targets in this regard and agreed on several 
measures to accelerate the roll-out of digital infrastructure in Germany. Half of German households 
and businesses should benefit from a fibre-optic connection by the end of 2025. The German 2030 
targets mirror the Digital Decade targets set out by the EU, i.e. the nationwide deployment of a fibre-

96 The decline in VHCN coverage from DESI 2022 to DESI 2023 can be explained  by major refinements in data 
collection in Germany: The requirements for data provision have been redefined and deviate in part from the 
standards previously recorded. Furthermore, since 2022 data collection has been carried out on an address-by-
address basis for the first time and includes a larger number of telecommunications companies. 
97 Break in series in 2021 for this indicator in Germany. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

optic infrastructure and the latest mobile communications standards for everyone. As of mid-2022, 
Germany lags behind other Member States as regards fibre to the premises (FTTP) coverage, being 
second last in the EU with 19%. 

Germany  has  made  limited  progress  on  most  connectivity  indicators  in  2022.  70%  of  German 
households are covered by fixed very high-capacity networks (VHCN), below the EU average of 73%. 
The  biggest  part  of  this,  however,  is  through  cable  networks.  Although  rural  VHCN  coverage  has 
significantly improved since  2019, from 10% to 30%, it is still significantly below  the EU average of 
45%, and an important digital divide between urban and rural areas remains. Germany is also below 
the  EU  average  in  the  take-up  of  at  least  100  Mbps  fixed  broadband  (38%  versus  55%).  Germany 
performs  particularly  well  on  overall  5G  coverage.  However,  on  5G  coverage  on  the  3.4-3.8  GHz 
spectrum  band,  which  are  bands  that  enable  advanced  applications  that  need  large  spectrum 
bandwidth, it is below the EU average (36% compared with 41% in the EU). 

Further roll-out of fibre will have a crucial role to play in meeting the ‘gigabit for everyone’ target, 
as  most  cable  networks  have  already  been  upgraded  to  the  DOCSIS  3.1  standard  allowing  for 
gigabit capacities98 and no significant increase in cable network territorial coverage can be expected. 
Further  upgrade  of  cable  networks  will  be  accompanied  with  additional  fibre  deepening.  The 
Bundesnetzagentur  (BNetzA)  has  estimated  that  investment  in  fixed  and  mobile  network  assets 
totalled  EUR  11.5  billion  in  2021  (EUR  4.5  billion  from  the  incumbent  and  EUR  7  billion  from  its 
competitors)99. 

While  81%  of  the  fibre  operators  surveyed  by  BREKO  offer  open  access,  only  23%  of  fibre 
connections are marketed through open access partners and only around 14% of operators report 
a significant demand, making open access part of their core business. Given the major importance 
of bundled offers in the end user market, facilitating more widespread VHCN access on commercial 
terms, including to lines operated by large players, could facilitate the switchover from copper-based 
broadband offers to offers based on VHCNs. Further challenges mentioned by market players – and 
addressed within the Gigabit Strategy – are limited civil engineering capacities, difficulties in making 
use  of  cheaper  deployment  methods  such  as  micro-trenching  and  the  need  to  speed  up  the 
procedures to grant permits.  

According to a recent study commissioned by BNetzA, 57.7% of end-users do not get the maximum 
data  speeds  contracted with  their  providers.  Even end-users  with  gigabit  subscriptions suffer to  a 
considerable  extent  from  the  deficiencies  that  are  accentuated  in  the  early  evening  hours  and  in 
semi-urban and rural areas. 

Next  to  ubiquitous  coverage,  the  spatial  and  daytime  distribution  and  quantity  of  demand  for 
mobile  data  must  be  met  by  operators  to  have  ‘at  least  5G  everywhere’.  Operators  expect  the 
exponential  growth  in  total  mobile  data  to  continue  until  2030,  but  statistics  on  peak  mobile  data 
growth, which is most relevant for capacity planning, is not publicly available. BNetzA is currently in 
the  process  of  determining  the  conditions  for  open,  transparent  and  non-discriminatory  award 
proceedings for the assignment of the spectrum, which will become available by the end 2025 (800 
MHz, 1.8 GHz and 2.6 GHz). The procedure is intended to give certainty to the market so it can plan 
(Mobilfunk-
early.  The 

infrastructure  undertaking 

the  public  mobile 

support 

that 

98 and further technology upgrades to standards such as DOCSIS 4.0 are considered. 
99  Investment  in  fixed  and  mobile  network  assets  in  2021  ("Investitionen  in  Sachanlagen  auf  dem 
10): 
Telekommunikationsmarkt”), 
https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Mediathek/Berichte/2023/JB_TK_2022.pdf?__blob=publicati
onFile&v=4 

Jahresbericht 

according 

BNetzA 

(page 

to 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

Infrastrukturgesellschaft) provides to operators to facilitate the identification and acquisition of new 
sites should be continued.  

The  Federal  Ministry  for  Digital  and  Transport  and  BNetzA  have  created  the  Gigabit  Register 
(Gigabit-Grundbuch) as a central point to collect, prepare and make available all key information on 
telecommunications  infrastructure  in  Germany.  The  vision  is  a  fully  online  data  platform  with 
additional applications to increase transparency on network roll-out and to facilitate faster and more 
targeted  investment  decisions.  In  addition  to  a  public  version,  which  is  available  to  everyone, 
network  operators,  municipalities  and  public  authorities  have  access  to  an  advanced  database  for 
infrastructure planning and coverage analysis by way of user-specific platforms. The Gigabit Register 
also includes information tools of the single information point, e.g. the infrastructure atlas. The first 
version of the Gigabit Register has been online since 13 December 2022, with updated data for fixed-
network and mobile expansion in the German broadband atlas100. The Gigabit Register will be further 
developed in the coming years. 

Best practice: Analysis of potential for future roll-out (Potenzialanalyse) 

A  nation-wide  analysis  (Potenzialanalyse)  was  conducted  to  ensure  greater  transparency  regarding 
the  potential  for  future  roll-out  of  fibre  networks  at  local  level  and  for  the  targeted  and  efficient 
funding  of  broadband.  The  analysis  quantitatively  estimates  the  scope  of  private  roll-out  and  is 
intended to provide valuable information for private investors and municipalities. The analysis was 
carried  out  in  coordination  with  the  federal  states  and  high-level  municipal  authorities  and  was 
supported  by  the  telecommunications  industry  by  providing  data.  The  results  were  published  in 
February 2023. The analysis is continuously updated and is being further developed. 

Germany  is  also  contributing  to  the  Digital  Decade  target  on  the  production  of  cutting-edge 
semiconductors in the EU, at least 20% of the world production in value by 2030. In this context, 
Germany  is  leading  the  IPCEI  Microelectronics  und  Communication  Technologies  multi-country 
project. In December 2021, 112 projects from 16 Member States were pre-notified to the European 
Commission,  32  of  them  from  Germany,  ranging  from  large  to  small  enterprises  along  the  whole 
value chain. In June 2023, the European Commission approved 23 projects. The Federal Government 
has pooled funds of EUR 1.5 billion from the German RRP and allocated substantial national funds to 
strengthen  the  whole  microelectronics  sector.  The  funding  is  expected  to  stimulate  private 
investment of EUR 10 billion. Additionally, on 19 June 2023, a considerable foreign direct investment 
of EUR 30 million was announced that will boost the European semiconductors industry. The plant in 
Magdeburg  is  planned  to  be  operational  in  2027  or  2028.  It  is  expected  to  significantly  increase 
Europe’s share of the global microchips value chain, which currently stands at around 9%.  

Another Digital Decade target is to deploy at least 10 000 climate-neutral highly secure edge nodes 
in  the  EU  by  2030.  In  this  context,  Germany  is  coordinating  the  IPCEI  Next  Generation  Cloud 
Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS). Although the deployment of edge nodes is not the focus of 
this IPCEI, it will contribute to this target by incentivising the use and developing use cases for edge 

100  Press  release:  https://bmdv.bund.de/SharedDocs/EN/PressRelease/2022/096-wissing-new-gigabit-register-
for-germany.html; 
https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/EN/2022/20221221_Gigabitgrundbuch.h
tml 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

computing. Twelve Member  States are participating in this IPCEI and projects were expected to be 
notified and begin in Q2 2023. Germany is receiving funding via its RRP of up to EUR 750 million. 

Germany  recently  launched  several  measures  in  the  field  of  quantum  computing.  The  Quantum 
Computing  Initiative  (QCI)  of  the  German  Aerospace  Centre  (DLR)  aims  mainly  to  provide  novel 
quantum  computing  capabilities  to  the  DLR  by  means  of  innovation  tenders  and  tendered 
development projects. The Initiative is a EUR 740 million add-on to the DLR’s basic funding over five 
years. 80% of the QCI’s budget is earmarked for private sector contracts and 20% for the application 
and further development of quantum technology within the DLR. The tenders are EU-wide, but the 
site where work will be carried out is the DLR innovation centre in Hamburg or in Ulm, depending on 
the qubit technology. The QCI is expected to run until December 2025.  

The  ’Quantum  Systems’  research  programme  sets  the  framework  for  funding  activities  of  the 
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the field of quantum technologies 
and photonics over the next ten years. It provides the basis for funding activities with a special focus 
on quantum computing (hardware and software). However, the budget for the programme has not 
been fixed for the entire ten years. Currently, the BMBF is running projects on quantum computing 
with  a  total  value  of  more  than  EUR  500  million.  Supporting  research  to  achieve  a  quantum 
advantage  is  one  of  the  central  goals  of  the  programme.  By  2026,  an  internationally  competitive 
quantum computer with at least 100 individually controllable qubits, scalable to 500 qubits should be 
built. 

Another major focus of the research programme is to support start-ups and young companies. To 
this  end,  the  BMBF  launched  the  funding  measure  ’Enabling  Start-up  -  Start-ups  in  Quantum 
Technologies  and  Photonics’  in  March  2022.  It  pursues  the  goal  of  transferring  innovative  ideas  in 
quantum technologies and photonics from universities and research institutions via spin-offs towards 
application and commercial exploitation. 

In April 2023, Germany launched its quantum technologies action plan. It forms the government's 
strategic framework for establishing Germany as a front-runner in quantum technologies. Funds of 
around  EUR  3  billion  have  been  earmarked  for  this  until  2026.  The  BMBF  is  in  charge;  the  other 
ministries  involved  are  the  Federal  Ministry  of  Economics  and  Climate  Protection  (BMWK),  the 
Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF), the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs (BMI), the 
Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) and the Federal Chancellery. 

The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) has selected six sites 
across the EU to host and operate the first EuroHPC quantum computers, among them Germany.101 
The  entities  have  been  selected  as  a  result  of  a  call  for  expression  of  interest,  launched  in  March 
2022.  As  decided  in  October  2022,  the  Leibniz  Super-computing  Centre  (LRZ)  of  the  Bavarian 
Academy of Sciences and Humanities will become a European centre for a quantum computer.  

The  Federal  Ministry  for  Education  and  Research  has  started  funding  R&D  projects  in  the 
framework of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking as well as in the GreenHPC and SCALEXA initiatives. 
GreenHPC  addresses  energy  efficiency  in  high-performance  computing  and  SCALEXA  works  on  the 
scalability  of  applications  for  upcoming  exascale  supercomputers.  In  addition,  funding  has  been 
provided  for  the  exascale-upgrade  of  the  Gauss  Centre  for  Supercomputing.  The  Jülich  Research 
Centre,  part  of  the  Gauss  Centre,  was  selected  by  EuroHPC  to  host  the  first  European  exascale 
supercomputer. 

101 Selection of six sites to host the first European quantum computers (europa.eu) 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

On  joint  commitments  in  quantum,  the  German  Ministry  of  Education  and  Research  (BMBF) 
participates  as  funding  authority  in  the  QuantERA  II  ERA  NET.  The  aim  of  the  ERA-NET  is  to 
strengthen the European Research Area by promoting pan-European research projects that address 
fundamental and applied research in quantum technologies. Projects consist of partners from at least 
three Member States. All projects related to QuantERA II started in the course of 2022. Another call 
for proposal to be funded by QuantERA II was published in February 2023; the selected projects are 
expected  to  start  in  early  2024.  The  BMBF  is  supporting  the  QuantERA  II  with  more  than  EUR  3.5 
million in funding for three years. A comparable amount is available for the projects in the current 
call.  

Germany is also participating in the EuroQCI initiative to build a European quantum communication 
infrastructure. EuroQCI’s first implementation phase began in January 2023. The aim is for it to be 
fully operational by 2027. 

The Quantum Ecosystem Deutschland (Q.E.D.) project, funded by the BMBF, analyses the quantum 
computing ecosystem in Germany and helps to build and strengthen network competencies. This 
project is developing new methods and tools to analyse ecosystems and explores questions on the 
limits  of  transferability  of  ecosystem  analysis.  At  the  same  time,  new  networking  formats  will  be 
created. The five-year project started in August 2022 and has a budget of EUR 2.9 million. 

On blockchain, BNetzA has been supporting the ‘European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI)’ 
by operating a blockchain node until 2023.  

In  several  areas  of  digital  infrastructure,  such  as  investments  in  semiconductors,  cloud  and 
quantum,  Germany  is  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  EU  and  contributes  greatly  to  Europe’s 
technological sovereignty. Germany is making a significant contribution to the Digital Decade targets 
by having its first computer with quantum acceleration by 2025, and to the EU being at the cutting 
edge of quantum technologies. 

Germany  should  accelerate  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure,  on  gigabit  connectivity  and 
especially  fibre-to-the-premises.  It  is  important  that  Germany  removes  obstacles  and  boosts 
investment in very high-capacity networks. 
Measures taken by Germany in the field of semiconductors and quantum computing should continue 
in order to help the EU to become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud102 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Germany 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

29% 

2019 

23% 

2019 

18% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

18% 

2020 

17% 

2020 

11% 

2020 

10% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

38% 

2021 

30% 

2021 

18% 

2020 

32% 

2021 

11% 

2021 

18% 

2020 

19% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

77% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

30% 

2021 

18% 

2020 

32% 

2021 

11% 

2021 

18% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

12% 

2022 

10% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

102 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

In  Germany’s  2022  Digital  Strategy,  the  country’s  technological  and  digital  sovereignty  is  the 
guiding principle for its digital and innovation policy. Before this, Germany had already introduced 
several  strategies,  initiatives  and  activities  to  support  the  digital  transformation  of  companies  and 
the deployment and uptake of advanced technologies. Several measures are specifically tailored to 
SMEs. The current focus is mainly on the continuation or further development of existing measures. 
In the coalition agreement, the newly elected government pledged to create a friendlier environment 
for  (digital)  start-ups.  To  this  end,  the  Federal  Government  passed  a  start-up  strategy  in  summer 
2022.  The  strategy  aims  to  strengthen  start-up  ecosystems  in  Germany  and  the  EU.  In  it,  the 
government  has  presented  a  specific  roadmap  of  how  it  intends  to  achieve  this  goal  during  this 
legislative period. The Federal Government groups the measures contained in the strategy into ten 
fields of action. 

Germany  performs  well  in  the  EU  on  integration  of  digital  technology  in  business  activities. 
Germany’s performance for most indicators in this dimension is above or at the EU average, except 
for two indicators: e-Invoices and cloud. E-Invoices are used by only 18% of enterprises, well below 
the EU average of 32%. Cloud usage, however, is close to the EU average (32% vs. 34%). The uptake 
of advanced technologies by enterprises  such as big data and artificial intelligence  is above  the EU 
average (18% vs. 14% and 11% vs. 8% respectively). The proportion of SMEs with at least a basic level 
of  digital  intensity  is  at  77%,  well  above  the  EU  average,  thus  Germany  makes  an  important 
contribution to the Digital Decade target of 90% in this respect.  

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is continuing to support businesses, 
and  SMEs  especially  in  their  digital  transformation  with  the  initiative  ‘SME  digital’  (Mittelstand-

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

Digital).  This  approach  consists  of three  pillars, one  of  which  is the  Network of  Mittelstand-Digital 
Innovation  Hubs  (Mittelstand-Digital  Zentren).  There  are  29  of  these  hubs,  most  of  which  are 
successors  to  the  Mittelstand  4.0  Centres  of Excellence  (Mittelstand  4.0-Kompetenzzentren) with  a 
regional or industry-specific focus that give free support to SMEs to identify and implement suitable 
digital  solutions.  The  hubs  in  the  nationwide  network  provide  expert  knowledge,  workshops  and 
training  sessions;  demonstration  centres;  discussion,  networking  and  information  events;  and 
practical examples on the topic of digitalisation. The network has been updated since 2021. Nine new 
hubs were launched in 2022, while three new hubs were launched in Q1 2023. The new hubs replace 
their  respective  predecessors  (Mittelstand  4.0  Kompetenzzentren)  and  aim  to  provide  updated 
support  activities,  also  adding  support  for  SMEs  on  new  aspects  of  digitalisation  such  as  the 
sustainability of the network. Depending on the renewal of individual hubs, the network is expected 
to run until October 2026. The budget for 2022 was EUR 57 million and EUR 57.6 million for 2023. 

Furthermore, via the Digital Hub Initiative (de:hub), the Federal Government is connecting SMEs and 
large companies with the newest innovators from the research and start-up scene. 

The Digital Now investment grant programme offers SMEs and small mid-caps (3 – 499 employees) 
financial  support  for investments in  digital  technology  and  applications  as well  as  digital  skills  in 
their workforce. The funding rate varies between 30% and 60% according to the size of the company. 
Up to EUR 50 000 in funding can be awarded per company. Investments made by companies in value 
chains  or  networks  can  receive  grants  of  up  to  EUR  100 000.  Companies  that  invest  in  internal  or 
external  network-building  (value  chain)  or  IT-security,  or  which  are  located  in  structurally  weak 
regions receive higher rates of support. The programme offers direct,  tailored and easily accessible 
support  for  SMEs  and  small  mid-caps.  Investments  addressing  such  topics  as  diverse  as  cloud,  big 
data and AI can receive support. The programme was launched in September 2020 and will end on 
31. December 2023. The budget amounted to EUR 120 million in 2022 and EUR 98 million in 2023. In 
2022 SMEs and small mid-caps received EUR 46 million in support. 

To increase  transparency on  the availability of supporting measures and to facilitate the funding 
process for SMEs, BNetzA has developed a comprehensive database with over 250 (mostly publicly 
financed)  stakeholders  at  national  and  regional  level.  These  stakeholders  offer  a  wide  range  of 
support  measures  to  accompany  the  digitalisation  process  in  SMEs,  including  financial  funding, 
expert knowledge, training courses, demonstration centres, networking and matching events, as well 
as examples of best practice. 

The funding initiative AI4SME (KI4KMU) supports collaborations between SMEs and scientists with 
the goal of developing and using AI systems in SMEs. This nationwide programme is available in all 
the Länder. The goal is to empower SMEs to develop and implement new AI methods, which will lead 
to  new  innovative  products  and  services.  The  programme  started  in  February  2020,  the  funding 
started in the same year and is expected to run until 2026. The total budget for this initiative is EUR 
88  million.  By  July  2023,  107  SMEs  in  61  collaborative  projects  had  been  funded,  promoting 
cooperation between SMEs and research institutions. 

The  funding  programme  AI  Service  Centres  supports  the  establishment  of  centres  that  provide 
access to high-performance AI computing infrastructure for research in industry, especially SMEs. 
With the creation of low-threshold flexible offers for SMEs, access to computing resources and know-
how is simplified. This enables new ideas to be implemented that result in new AI solutions and the 
opening up of new  fields of application. The programme started in September 2021, while  funding 
started in 2022 and is expected to run until 2025. The total budget for this measure amounts to EUR 
55.5 million. Four projects have been funded. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

By giving funding to the Gaia-X Hub Germany, the country is helping to build an open, transparent 
and secure digital ecosystem, where data and services can be made available, collated and shared 
in an environment of trust. All types of companies and organisations can be beneficiaries, as well as 
private  individuals.  The  programme  began  in  August  2020  and  is  currently  expected  to  run  until 
December  2025.  The  total  budget  is  EUR  5.9  million.  With  the  Gaia-X  Funding  Competition,  the 
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is supporting 11 flagship projects within the 
German Gaia-X Hub. The programme started at the beginning of 2021, and the funding is expected to 
run until 2025, with a budget of around EUR 117 million. 

On market developments, since the beginning of 2021 BNetzA has been investigating the use of AI 
in  the  electricity,  gas,  telecommunications,  post  and  railways  network  sectors.  In  2022,  BNetzA 
began an in-depth analysis of the use of AI in the telecommunications sector, particularly in planning 
and  expanding  networks.  Expert  interviews  with  the  relevant  German  network  operators  showed 
that  AI  is  already  being  used  or  at  least  intended  to  be  used  in  various  areas  by  all  the 
telecommunications companies surveyed (e.g. in the areas of customer care, predictive maintenance 
and  anomaly  detection).  In  addition,  AI  in  network  planning  and  expansion  is  also  used  by  some 
network operators. 

The  Commission  has  recently  started  the  Network  of  ’European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs’  (EDIHs) 
within  the  Digital  Europe  Programme.  The  aim  of  the  programme  is  to  advise  SMEs  on  how  to 
integrate  digital  innovations  into  their  products,  business  models  and  processes,  and  to  improve 
digital skills. The activities of the EDIHs to achieve this aim include skills and training, testing before 
investing, support in finding investment, innovation ecosystems and networking. EDIHs will address 
future  core  technologies  such  as  high-performance  computing,  AI,  service  cybersecurity  and 
improved digital skills as a basis for its work. The German part of the network consists of 17 EDIHs. 
Most of them are also consortium partners of the German Network of Mittelstand-Digital Innovation 
Hubs  or  consortium  partners  of  the  German  Digital  Hub  Initiative  (de:hub).  Networking  between 
European and national initiatives on digitalisation and cybersecurity for SMEs will make it possible to 
create synergies.  The  project  started  in  Q3 2022. The  budget attributed by the EU for the German 
EDIHs  (50%  of  total  costs)  amounts  to  EUR  42.39  million  for  the  three-year  funding  period.  The 
national co-funding (50%) comes from different sources.  

Several  measures  are  in  place  in  Germany  to  improve  cyber-resilience  and  protect  against 
cyberattacks.  Cybersecurity  is  the  subject  of  several EU  and  national  legislative  acts.  This  includes, 
first and foremost, the IT Security Acts 1.0 and 2.0, as well as the national implementation of the EU 
NIS  directive.  Looking  at  the  national  scope,  the  national  cybersecurity  strategy  is  currently  being 
refined  according  to  the  goals  set  out  in  the  coalition  agreement  of  the  Federal  Government.  The 
Cybersecurity  for  SMEs  initiative  (Initiative  IT-Sicherheit  in  der  Wirtschaft)  helps  SMEs  to  increase 
their  IT  security.  The  initiative  has  been  refined  since  2022  to  meet  SMEs’  current  and  future 
cybersecurity needs even better. 

Best practice: IPCEI Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS)  

Germany is coordinating  the  IPCEI  Next  Generation  Cloud  Infrastructure  and  Services  (IPCEI-CIS). 
This IPCEI will lay the foundation for a multi-provider cloud edge continuum that will enable ultra-low 
latency data exchange between centralised cloud and decentralised edge capacities. It will make the 
use  of  cloud  computing  services  and  big  data  more  sustainable,  more  secure  and  easier  for 
companies  by  developing  open-source  technologies.  Many  companies  fear  vendor  lock-in  effects 
when using cloud solutions. To target this issue the interoperability within the IPCEI-CIS will reduce 
the costs of switching between different providers or combining solutions from different providers. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

Projects will be funded until the end of 2026. The total budget for this measure in Germany amounts 
to EUR 750 million from RRF funds. 

Germany  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  A 
swift implementation of planned measures is needed to further drive the digitalisation of businesses. 
In  particular,  it  should  further  strengthen  data  economy,  science  and  research  in  key  technologies, 
including in actions to protect the climate.  

 
 
 
 
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Germany 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

76 

2021 

80 

2021 

42 

2021 

49 

2021 

78 

2021 

95 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

78 

2022 

81 

2022 

43 

2022 

49 

2022 

81 

2022 

96 

2022 

71 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

Digitalisation of public services has remained a key challenge for Germany for several years. While 
significant  efforts  have  been  made,  such  as  actions  taken  to  implement  the  Online  Access  Act 
(Onlinezugangsgesetz (OZG)) and including relevant measures in the German RRP, the country is still 
lagging behind. The main problems are that there few public services have been digitalised, there is a 
lack  of  services  available  nationwide  and  the  eID  is  complicated  to  use.  To  illustrate  this,  on  31 
January  2023  there  were  122103  services  available  on  a  nationwide  basis  out  of  the  575  public 
services that it had been proposed to digitalise by the end of 2022 based on the Online Access Act. In 
August 2022, Germany reiterated its commitment to the digitalisation of public services in the third 
action area of its Digital Strategy, ’Learning, digital government’. 

On digital public services for citizens the country is just above the EU average with a score of 78, 
whereas on digital public services for businesses, Germany is slightly below the EU average with a 
score  of  81.  Therefore,  Germany  is  on  track  towards  the  Digital  Decade  target  of  100  for  both 
indicators. Germany performs well below the EU average, however, on several other indicators, such 
as  e-Government  users,  pre-filled  forms  and  transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and  personal 
data. 

Germany’s primary piece of e-government legislation is the Online Access Act (OZG). The economic 
stimulus package for the OZG expired at the end of 2022. In 2023, the Federal Government continues 
the central funding for the German RRP-refinanced implementation of the OZG, and provides funds 
of up to around EUR 750 million for this purpose.  

The  ’Draft Act  to Amend the  Online  Access Act  and Other Regulations’  (OZGÄndG) of May 2023 is 
intended to provide the legal framework for the further expansion of administrative digitalisation. 
Based on  previous  experience  from  the  implementation  of  the  OZG,  administrative  digitalisation  is 
understood now as a permanent task. Furthermore, the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724104 
that  aim  to  simplify  and  streamline  data  exchange  between  national  and  EU-level  systems  are 
incorporated into the implementation of all major digitalisation efforts by the German government. 

In 2021, the German Federal Academy for Public Administration (BAköV) launched its new Digital 
Academy,  a  free  platform  that  offers  online  and  offline  courses  for  German  federal  employees  to 
promote  digital  skills,  support  cultural  change  and  stimulate  networking.  The  Academy  aims  to 
prepare  federal employees to adapt to an increasingly  digital environment.  The  training on offer is 
designed  to  upskill  the  public  sector  employees  for  future  challenges  by  teaching  both  technical 
competences  and  new  ways  of  working  enabled  by  new  technology,  such  as  agile  project 
management,  digital  leadership,  remote  collaboration  and  teamwork  and  tech-enabled  service 
delivery  and  policymaking.  BAköV  is  supporting  digital  awareness  campaigns  through  training 
courses,  simulations,  talks,  conferences,  workshops  and  tools,  e.g.  on  cybersecurity  and  data 
protection.  Also  increasing  requests  of  providing  digital  accessible  and  user-friendly  services  are 
served by BAköV. The Academy's work represents one of the most forward-thinking experiments in 
public sector upskilling. 

GovTech  Campus  Deutschland  officially  opened  in  March  2022  and  is  a  public/private  non-profit 
venture.  Its  aim  is  to  make  digital  innovations  and  technologies  accessible,  scalable  and  useful  for 
public administration in Germany. The founding members include the German Federal Government, 

103 Dashboard Digitale Verwaltung (ozg-umsetzung.de) 
104 Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 October 2018 establishing a 
single digital gateway to provide access to information, to procedures and to assistance and problem-solving 
services and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 (Text with EEA relevance.) 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

ten Länder and over 50 leading tech innovators from Germany, Europe and the United States. New 
ideas and solutions are developed and tested to help make them available for widespread use across 
all levels of the German administration. 

Germany scores 71 out of 100 on the Digital Decade target of 100% of EU citizens having access to 
their  electronic  health  records.  Based  on  the  applicable  law,  an  electronic  patient  record 
(elektronische  Patientenakte,  ePA)  based  on  consent  (opting  in)  is  already  used  by  the  statutory 
health  insurances  within  the  German  telematics  infrastructure  for  the  healthcare  sector  and  is 
currently being rolled out. A coverage of 100% of the people insured by the German statutory health 
insurance  is  possible.  Despite  substantial  legal  pressure  and  development  efforts,  less  than  one  in 
five people are currently able to make use of the access services in Germany and the actual uptake is 
only at 1%. Patients are not aware of it and many doctors are not offering it at all. Several problems 
must  be overcome, such as nationwide coverage, acceptance and technical conversion. Even when 
an electronic patient record exists, in most cases the content available is in pdf format, which makes 
it less user friendly, and only their personal information, e-prescription and e-dispensation data are 
frequently  updated.  The  further  development  of  the  ePA  to  an  individual  health  platform  for  the 
insured persons is one of the key topics of Germany’s Digitalisation Strategy for Health and Care that 
was published in March 2023. 

The Hospital Care Relief Act (Krankenhauspflegeentlastungsgesetz), which entered into force at the 
end  of  2022,  introduced  lower-threshold  identification  procedures,  which  are  currently  being 
implemented  and  which  will  facilitate  the  insured  persons’  access  to  their  electronic  patient 
records. 

Usability  of  these  electronic  records  will  be  improved  in  line  with  the  Federal  Ministry  of  Health’s 
Digitalization Strategy, which lays down that an electronic patient record will soon be automatically 
provided to every person insured under the German statutory health insurance, unless they file an 
objection (opting out). It is planned that, by 2025, 80% of persons insured in the German statutory 
health insurance will have an electronic patient record. Details will be regulated by law during 2023. 
Germany underperforms due to the low level of population coverage of the electronic access service 
and  the  relatively  few  healthcare  provider  categories  that  are  connected.  As  the  roll-out  of  the 
German  Electronic  Health  Record  service  is  still  ongoing,  and,  given  the  fact  that  the  current 
government plans to switch to an opt-out system, Germany’s score is likely to improve in the coming 
years in terms of updated data categories, population coverage and connected healthcare provider 
categories. 

On cross-border healthcare, the Federal Ministry of Health represents Germany in the European e-
Health network (eHN). This is a voluntary network of the Member states that aims at fostering and 
supporting  the  creation  of  a  European  e-Health  infrastructure  (eHDSI/MyHealth@EU),  partnership 
building,  regular  exchanges  of  information  and  the  dissemination  of  knowledge  and  expertise  on 
issues  related  to  e-health.  Moreover,  the  Member  States  are  developing  common  guideline 
documents  and  recommendations  to  support  harmonisation  of  e-health  policies  and  standards, 
formulation of joint initiatives and the sharing expertise with partner countries. 

Despite  the  progress  mentioned  above  on  digitalisation  of  public  services,  the  quality  of  public 
services  in  Germany  could  benefit  by  increasing  investments  in  R&D  procurements  and  public 
procurements that focus on adopting innovative ICT solutions. This would help to further accelerate 
the  wider  adoption  of  advanced  digital  solutions  in  the  public  sector  (such  as  AI/big  data,  virtual 
reality/metaverse,  robotics,  HPC,  blockchain  etc).  The  current  national  digital  strategy  sees  ‘giving 
public  procurement  a  more  innovative  focus’  as  a  key  principle  to  implement  the  digital 
transformation of the sector, but does not yet identify concrete innovation procurement initiatives in 
the digital sector to make this happen. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Germany 

Best practice: ‘State Blindness Benefit’ and ‘State Fund for the Blind’ 

The digitalisation of two online services in particular, the ’State Blindness Benefit’ and the ’State 
Fund  for  the  Blind’,  is  focused  specifically  on  accessibility  for  people  with  a  visual  impairment. 
These services, piloted as a ‘minimal viable product’ in September 2021 in the state of Lower Saxony, 
are centred on user-friendliness, ease of operation and application, and have relied heavily on user 
testing with the target group.  

Germany  should  accelerate  its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  take 
measures to further strengthen the collaboration and alignment of the different administrative levels 
to  further  improve  the  interoperability,  effectiveness  and  availability  of  online  public  services. 
Moreover,  Germany  should  implement  planned  measures  swiftly  and  speed  up  the  digitalisation  of 
the entire service chain for public services.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
179 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023  

Greece 

 
 
 
 
   
 
 
180 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

Greece  has  scope  to  improve  its  performance  in  the  digital  transition  and  to  contribute  to  the 
collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets.  Greece  has  embraced  the  digital 
transformation  as  a  strategic  opportunity  to  build  a  more  competitive  and  resilient  economy  and 
society with its Digital Transformation Bible for 2020-2025 which is aligned with the Digital Decade 
Policy Programme. 

While Greece has made rapid and tangible progress in digitalising public services over the past years 
(e.g.,  in  less  than  3  years  more  than  1 500  public  services  became  available  online  for  people  and 
businesses,  reducing  drastically  the  time  to obtain  services),  it  needs  to  address  significant  gaps  in 
the other dimensions, such as the low coverage of very high capacity networks and the low number 
of ICT specialists employed. 

In  the  last  12  months,  Greece  has  put  in  place  several  legislative  reforms,  a  new  strategy  for  very 
high-speed  connectivity  networks  and  many  investment  programmes  to  modernise  and  digitally 
transform the  economy for growth and increase the resilience of the society. In 2022, Greece also 
reinforced  its  whole-government  approach  to  its  digital  transformation  strategy  by  activating  the 
‘digital transformation executive network’, under the lead of the Ministry of Digital Governance, to 
align  the  work  of  different  ministries  towards  the  Digital  Decade  targets  and  jointly  develop  the 
Digital Decade roadmap.  

Greece  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility  to  set  up  European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortia  (EDICs)  on:  (i)  establishing  the  European  Cybersecurity  Skills 
Academy;  (ii)  establishing  an  Alliance  for  Language  Technologies,  to  develop  a  common 
infrastructure in the field of natural language processing and to develop large multi-language models; 
and  (iii)  Innovative  Massive  Public  Administration  inter-Connected  Transformation  Services,  to 
develop a new generation of advanced cross-border public services. 

Digital in Greece’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The Greek RRP devotes EUR 7.1 billion (23.3%) to the digital transformation, of which EUR 6.8 billion 
is expected to contribute to the Digital Decade targets105. 

The first payment disbursed related to 15 milestones and targets, including an IT tool to monitor the 
labour market, and measures  to support private investments in digitalisation. The  second payment 
related to 28 milestones and targets, including the launch of a support scheme for digitalising SMEs 
and  a  second  measure,  also  addressed  to  SMEs,  to  deploy  smart  technologies  in  manufacturing. 
Further  milestones  and  targets  include  modernising  the  lifelong  learning  strategy,  upskilling  and 
reskilling the people in digital skills creating and upgrading infrastructure of research centres across 
the country. 

105  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

12% 

2020 

2.1% 

2020 

3.4% 

2019 

Greece 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

77% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

77% 

2021 

52% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

62% 

2021 

12% 

2020 

2.4% 

2021 

3.5% 

2020 

82% 

2022 

52% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

62% 

2021 

13% 

2022 

2.5% 

2022 

3.5% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

In  2022,  Greece  adopted  and  started  implementing  major  legislative  reforms  to  improve  people’s 
digital skills, as well as upskill and reskill the workforce. The country recognises the importance of a 
quality training system and a comprehensive  approach,  in view of having  a flexible and specialised 
labour force, with  the  qualifications required by  a  modern market  and the digital transition. These 
fundamental reforms, accompanied by investments projects under the RRP, are part of the strategy 
to increase the number of digitally skilled people and ICT specialists in Greece. 

More than half of the Greek population (age 16-74) have at least basic digital skills (52%), close to 
the EU average (54%), but below the EU Digital Decade target of 80% by 2030. The breakdown by 
age group shows that 88% of people aged 16-24 and 82.8% of those aged 25-34 have at least basic 
digital skills, placing Greece among the frontrunners in these  age groups. Furthermore, in 2022 the 
percentage of people using the internet once a week (82%) rose by 5 percentage points compared 
with the previous year. However, the percentage of ICT specialists in total employment in Greece is 
at 2.5% among the lowest in the EU. The share of women among ICT specialists is, at 20.3%, above 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

the EU average of 18.9%. The percentage of enterprises providing ICT training (13%) is low compared 
with the EU average (22%).  

Greece is currently implementing several measures that will contribute to increasing  the level of 
basic  digital  skills  and  the  resilience  of  the  population  regarding  digital  transition.  The  ‘Works 
again’106  law,  adopted  in  April  2022,  promotes  the  modernisation  and  digitalisation  of  the  Public 
Employment Service (DYPA). It includes upskilling and reskilling the labour force and the diagnosis of 
the labour market needs. It lays the foundation for a more agile vocational education training (VET) 
system,  to  respond  to  modern  socio-economic  needs  and  the  digital  transition.  In  2022,  Greece 
started  implementing  the  strategic  plan  for  VET  and  Lifelong  Learning  (2022-2024).  It  includes  a 
general  reform  of  the  curricula  to  provide  modern  skills,  especially  digital  and  green  skills, 
corresponding to the labour market’s  needs. The reform  sets out  for the first time, a collaboration 
between  the  DYPA  and  the  lifelong  learning  centres  of  Greek  public  universities  to  train  150 000 
private sector workers from all economic sectors. The programme ‘Go forward’ was launched at the 
end  of  2022  to  improve  skills  for  the  digital  and  green  transitions,  with  the  support  of  RRP 
investment.  Other  RRP  measures  activated  in  2022  are  also  expected  to  contribute  to  developing 
worker’s digital skills, such as a programme to upskill and reskill employees in the tourism sector (to 
amount of EUR 44 million), which started in March 2022. 

The  National  Coalition  for  Digital  Skills  and  Jobs  became  an  important  player  in  the  digital  skills 
strategy  in  2022,  with  its  role  and  mission107  set  out  in  law  and  its  connection  to  the  European 
Digital skills and jobs Platform. Operating under the Ministry of Digital Governance, its core mission 
is  to  improve  the  level  of  digital  skills  and  strengthen  the  employment  readiness  of  the  Greek 
population,  support  the  digital  transition  and  reduce  the  digital  divide  in  society.  Its  members  are 
organisations  from  the  public  and  private  sectors,  and  civil  society.  The  National  Coalition’s 
interoperability  with  the  European  Digital  Skills  and  Jobs  Platform  strengthens  synergies  and  the 
possibilities to spread know-how and information on innovative projects on developing digital skills 
across Europe.  

Activities such as EU Codeweek are promoted by the National Coalition. In 2022, Greece was one of 
the  most  active  countries  in  Codeweek  with  3 429  activities  organised  in  schools.  Greek  teachers 
were  particularly  active  in  organising  coding  activities  in  their  schools,  which  led  them  to  take  the 
sixth position among other European countries. 

The  National  Coalition  is  also  carrying  out  activities  to  increase  the  number  of  ICT  specialists  and 
develop  advanced  digital  skills.  A  project  to  train  20 000  civil  servants  in  cloud-computing 
technologies was launched in 2021 in partnership with the National Centre for Public Administration 
and a large technology company. Around 5 000 civil servants have already been trained. 

The percentage of ICT specialists in  relation to the total number of employees in  Greece is 2.5%, 
below  the  EU  average  of  4.6%.  Significant  factors  can  have  an  impact  on  this  shortage  of  ICT 
specialists  in  Greece.  The percentage  of  ICT  graduates  (3.5%)  is  lower  than  the  EU  average  (4.2%), 
and  the  percentage of  enterprises  providing  ICT  training  is  only  13%  (EU  average:  22%).  There  are 
other  reasons  that  are  difficult  to  quantify.  These  includes  the  brain  drain  which  has  remained  an 
issue since the economic crisis hit Greece, and the high global demand for ICT talent. 

The  Federation  of  Hellenic  Information  Technology  &  Communications  Enterprises  (SEPE), 
published a ‘Study on the sufficiency of ICT specialists in the Greek labour market’ in December 2022. 
It  included  a  survey  that  confirmed  that  Greek  businesses  already  face  difficulties  in  recruiting  ICT 

106 Law 4921/2022 
107 Law 4961/2022 (article 87-89) 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

specialists.  The  main  reasons  cited  were  insufficient  specialisation  and  the  loss  of  talent  abroad 
(brain drain). The study estimated that an additional 120 000-140 000 ICT specialists will be needed 
in 2023-2030. 

In 2022, the adoption of a law ‘New Horizons in Higher Education Institutions: Strengthening the 
quality,  functionality  and  connection  of  Universities  in  Greece’108  provided  for  new  study 
programmes in the ICT sector. This aimed to enable more graduates join the ICT labour market over 
a 5-year period. Participation of Greek universities in European University Alliances focusing on ICT 
sector will strengthen their cooperation with other European universities and research centres. The 
Digital Transformation Programme  for 2021-2027, adopted in 2022 under the EU’s cohesion policy, 
focuses on new technologies and is also expected to help increase the number of ICT specialists. The 
programme provides for the use and integration of cutting-edge technologies. It aims to develop the 
digital skills needed for the digital transformation of the economy and the country, promote lifelong 
learning, and facilitate career changes; based on market needs.  

In  this context,  Greece  is expected  to  benefit  from  the  recently  launched  ‘Digital transformation 
executive  network’  which  aims  to  coordinate  more  effectively  the  development,  implementation, 
and evaluation of digital policies, including for digital skills.  

Moreover,  Greece  is  chairing  the  work  of  the  informal  working  group  exploring  the  possibility  of 
submitting a proposal for an EDIC on the Cybersecurity Skills Academy109. 

Greece  should  significantly  step up its  efforts  in the  area of  digital  skills.  The  need  to  expand  the 
digital talent pool of ICT specialists in Greece will require special attention to tackle the current gap 
and ensure the economy benefits from a digitally skilled population. It is also crucial that Greece can 
forecast the skills required to match the labour market needs and anticipate changes in skills.110 

108 Law 4957/2022 
109 COM (2023) 207 final, 18.4.2023 
110 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

Greece 

DESI 
2021 

3% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

9% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

20% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

13.8% 

% households 

2020 

2021 

2022 

2022 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

10% 

2020 

10% 

2020 

67% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

99% 

2021 

20% 

2021 

20% 

2021 

76% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

99% 

2022 

28% 

2022 

28% 

2022 

76% 

2021 

86% 

2022 

99% 

2023 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

In 2022, Greece adopted its National Broadband Plan 2021-2027 with the goal to promote the use of 
fixed  very  high  capacity  and  5G  networks  as  catalysts  and  accelerators  of  the  country’s  digital 
transformation.  This  strategic  roadmap  for  developing  broadband  in  the  country,  including  the  5G 
roadmap,  has  two  main  objectives:  accelerate  private  investment  by  removing  administrative 
barriers to create an investment-friendly environment and ensure the wide availability and adoption 
of very high capacity broadband services.  

In connectivity, Greece continues to score low for most fixed broadband indicators: 100 Mbps take-
up is at 20% and 1 Gbps at 0% (despite 1 Gbps being available to 28% of households). This is lower 
than the EU average for VHCN and FTTP coverage (28% for both). On mobile, Greece with 86% on 5G 
coverage  is  above  the  EU  average  (81%),  making  a  positive  contribution  to  reaching  the  Digital 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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decade target. However, on mobile broadband take-up, the country is below the EU average (76% vs 
87%). 

Greece is lagging behind in Gigabit connectivity deployment for all. The main target of the national 
Broadband Plan 2021-2027 is to put in place 100 Mbps infrastructure, upgradeable to 1 Gbps, which 
falls short of the Digital Decade target for making 1 Gbps connectivity available by 2030. Despite this, 
an evaluation of the connectivity targets is  only  planned in 2023  to assess  how  any identified  gaps 
can be addressed. The 2021-2027 broadband strategy aims for 100% coverage of municipalities with 
fixed technologies (100 Mbps, readily upgradeable to 1 Gbps). However, there is still the question of 
how  end  users  will  be  served  in  rural  areas,  whereas  no  further  civil  works  in  urban  areas  will  be 
needed to connect end users. 

The  Super-Fast  Broadband  (SFBB)  project  was  successfully  completed  in  September  2022.  Its  main 
goal was to stimulate the demand for services  provided over high-speed internet connections with 
download speeds of at least 100 Mbps upgradeable to 1 Gbps. Almost 140 000 vouchers were issued 
to support households and businesses, showing significant consumer demand. Another project, the 
Ultrafast  Broadband  project,  aims  at  making  high  speed  connectivity  available  to  18%  of  the 
population.  This  will  be  done  by  installing  the  infrastructure  needed  within  50  metres  of  relevant 
buildings, without requiring civil works. This target (100 Mbps, readily upgradeable to 1 Gbps) is less 
ambitious than the Digital Decade’s target.  

Moreover,  the  RRF  Loan  facility  envisages  investments  in  FTTH  outside  Athens  and  in  other  major 
cities for an amount of EUR 93 million, and for fixed Next Generation Access (NGA) for an amount of 
EUR 50 million. Currently, there are many isolated projects that converge towards the strategy goals, 
but Greece still lacks a comprehensive strategy to steer investments and initiatives aligned with the 
2030 Digital Decade target of Gigabit connectivity for all. 

On  mobile  networks,  Greece  is  a  frontrunner  in  making  the  5G  pioneer  bands  available.  The 
country  has  shown  rapid  progress  in  improving  the  overall  5G  coverage,  which  is  above  the  EU 
average, contributing to the relevant Digital Decade target.  

In  terms  of  regulatory  decisions,  at  the  beginning  of  2023,  the  National  Committee  for 
Telecommunication  and  Post  (EETT)  analysed  and  adopted  the  final  measure  for  wholesale  local 
access provided at a fixed location (market 3a) and for wholesale central access at a fixed location for 
mass-market products (market 3b).  

On permits for mobile network deployment, the previously observed licensing backlog has reduced, 
and the process is now faster, opening up to new investments.  

On market developments, in January 2023, the United Group merged with Wind, a major telecoms 
operator,  to  form  a  bigger  mobile  and  fixed  operator  on  the  Greek  market.  United  Group  is  a 
telecommunications  and  media  operator  in  Southeast  Europe  running  the  Nova  brand  (formerly 
Forthnet, a telecommmunications and Pay-TV provider).  

Regarding  other  digital  infrastructures,  Greece  actively  participates  in  developing  multi-country 
projects. In the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI) initiative, the project 
HellasQCI111  aims to  build  Greece’s  National  QCI  and contribute  to  safe-keeping  critical  data  and 
infrastructures.  The  project  will  deploy  an  advanced  quantum  systems  and  networks  national 
communication quantum infrastructure comprising three metropolitan test sites and three quantum 
key distribution QKD testbeds (governmental, industrial and educational). Selected by the European 

111 Digital Europe Programme (DEP Topic-2): Project DIGITAL-2021-QCI-01, HellasQCI Funding: EUR 9.9 million 
(50% EU) duration 01/2023-06/2025 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

Space Agency to host three primary Optical Ground Stations (OGS) systems for satellite QKD, Greece 
aims to capitalise on this to strenghten European sovereignty in this strategic part of the continent. 
The  three  Greek  telescopes  will  operate  as  OGS  and  participate  in  the  HellasQCI  project,  and  also 
contribute  to  building  resilient  QCI  technologies  in  Europe.  Furthermore,  in  August  2022,  Greece 
announced  the  creation  of  the  Institute  for  Quantum  Research  and  Quantum  Technology  in  the 
Institute of Research Democritus. This aims to carry-out high-level competitive cutting-edge research 
in quantum computing, science and technologies. 

In  high-performance  computing,  Greece  made  a  step  forward  in  upgrading  the  national  high-
performance super-computer  (ARIS).  In  April 2022,  the  Attica  Region  and  the  Greek  Research  and 
Technology Network (GRNET), under the auspices of the Ministry of Digital Governance, signed the 
Inclusion of the  Act to upgrade  the  national  high-performance  supercomputer ARIS (Phase A). This 
work is part of the 2014-2020 Attica programme for SMEs using ICT and is funded by the European 
Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The total budget is EUR 3.8 million, and it will be completed in 2 
years. In addition, the Ministry of Digital Governance has planned funding (EUR 23 million) from the 
RRF  to  purchase  a  petascale  HPC system. The  Governing  Board  of  the  European  High  Performance 
Computing  Joint  Undertaking  (EuroHPC  JU)112  selected GRNET  as  the  hosting  entity  of  a mid-range 
supercomputer.  A  machine  of  more  than  30  petaflop  is  expected  to  be  acquired  and  become 
operational within the second half of 2024 (total budget EUR 33 million). 

Greece  participates  in  the  European  Blockchain  Partnership  (EBP)  and  work  on  the  Blockchain 
Services Infrastructure (EBSI), a multi-country project which will contribute to develop technological 
excellence and safe digital solutions in the EU. Greece is currently hosting two EBSI nodes. In 2022, 
GRNET  was  active  in  the  EBSI  Early  Adopters  group  (in  the  Diplomas  Use  Case).  Greece  also 
supported the effort towards transitioning the EBSI nodes to a production-level infrastructure.  

To  minimise  the  environmental  impact,  Greece  announced  the  construction  of  a  new  ecological 
green data centre, Knossos II, with RRP funding. It is expected to be developed in one of the largest 
Greek data centres and will run on green energy. There are already two other Green Data Centres in 
Greece.  

In  the  area  of  semiconductors,  Greece  also  participates  in  the  Important  Project  of  Common 
European  Interest  (IPCEI)  on  Microelectronics  and  Communication  with  6  direct  participants 
focusing on design, edge AI, aerospace/defence, and packaging. 

Greece  should  step  up  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure,  in  particular  Gigabit  coverage. 
Greece should further improve the effectiveness and coordination of initiatives to ensure coherence in 
achieving its connectivity goals. Greece’s efforts in the area of semiconductors and quantum should 
be sustained in order to help the EU become a strong market player in these areas. 

112 On the basis of the call for expression of interest EUROHPC-2021-CEI-MR-01. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud113 

% enterprises 
3b5 AI114 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Greece 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

38% 

2019 

19% 

2019 

13% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

NA 

2020 

NA 

2020 

NA 

2020 

4% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

32% 

2021 

28% 

2021 

13% 

2020 

15% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

NA 

2020 

19% 

2021 

5% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

41% 

2022 

32% 

2021 

28% 

2021 

13% 

2020 

15% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

NA 

2020 

17% 

2022 

7% 

2022 

7% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

113 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. Please note that the 2021 data on cloud for Greece was 
revised backwards by the Greek National Statistical Institute after the publication of DESI 2022. Eurostat 
database was updated accordingly.  
114 Please note that the 2021 data on AI for Greece was revised backwards by the Greek National Statistical 
Institute after the publication of DESI 2022. Eurostat database was updated accordingly. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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In  2022,  Greece  took  several  measures  to  create  favourable  conditions  for  businesses to  speed  up 
their  digital  transformation.  This  shows  that  digitalisation  of  businesses  is  one  of  the  Greek 
government’s key priorities, as described in the Digital Transformation Bible. It also demonstrates the 
willingness  to  create  the  conditions  for  businesses  to  benefit  from  a  modern  digital  environment, 
with an emphasis on emerging technologies. 

In the Digitalisation of businesses, there is room  for improvement to contribute to the collective 
efforts in reaching the Digital Decade targets. The level of digital intensity of SMEs in Greece is 41%, 
still far from the EU average of 69%. Regarding take-up of advanced digital technologies, enterprises 
have  been  slower  at  adopting  them:  in  2020,  13%  were  using  big  data  analysis  (EU  average:  14%, 
whilst  15%  were  using  cloud  services  in  2021  (EU  average:  34%),  and  only  3%  were  using  AI  (EU 
average:  8%).  The  share  of  SMEs  in  Greece  selling  online  (17%)  is  slightly  below  the  EU  average 
(19%).  However,  the  digital  technologies  sector  is  one  of  the  most  dynamic  sectors  of  the  Greek 
economy,  with  growth  rates  among  the  highest  in  the  country  (6.1%  between  2017  -  2021  in 
compound  annual  growth  rate  (CAGR)  terms)115  which  could  boost  Greece’s  contribution  to  the 
Digital Decade. 

In 2022, Greece activated several funding measures aimed at strengthening SMEs’ digital maturity 
and  businesses’  use  of  advanced  digital  technologies  in  line with  the  Digital Decade  targets.  The 
RRP  project  ‘Digital  transformation  of  SMEs’  started  in  March  2022  (with  a  budget  of  EUR  375 
million). The programme will provide vouchers to help SMEs modernise their production, commercial 

115 ΠΡΟΓΡΑΜΜΑ ΙΙ - ΑΝΑΠΤΥΞΗ ΨΗΦΙΑΚΩΝ ΠΡΟΪΟΝΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΥΠΗΡΕΣΙΩΝ - digitalsme.gov.gr 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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and  administrative  processes  by  acquiring  new  digital  tools,  for  electronic  transactions  and  e-
commerce,  adopt  new  forms of  hybrid  work,  and  raise  the  level of  security and  trust  in  electronic 
transactions. Another RRP measure to accelerate smart manufacturing was launched in 2022 (with a 
budget of EUR 75 million). This supports investment projects of SMEs in the industrial sector. These 
projects  seek  to  improve  business  resilience  by  digitalising  production  lines,  automating  and 
interconnecting  supply  chains,  designing  and  producing  smart  products  and  services,  and 
implementing smart manufacturing technologies. Under the new ERDF Operational Programme (OP) 
‘Competitiveness’,  the  programme  for  the  ‘Digital  Transformation  of  Small  and  Medium-sized 
Enterprises’ (with a budget of EUR 300 million) started in February 2023. It has three strands: (i) Basic 
Digital  Transformation  of  SMEs;  (ii)  Advanced  Digital  Transformation  of  SMEs;  (iii)  Cutting-edge 
Digital Transformation of SMEs.  

Seven European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) had started operations in Greece by the beginning 
of 2023. They are expected to play a leading role in bringing together industry, businesses, and SMEs 
in  need  of  new  digital  solutions  (e.g.  for  smart  health,  agrifood,  e-government,  uptake  of  AI,  HPC) 
Four of them will be partially funded under the Digital Europe Programme (EUR 9.3 million) and the 
other three which have been awarded the EU Seal of Excellence will be funded by Greece. The total 
national contribution to the 7 EDIHs is estimated at EUR 25 million (from the OP ‘Competitiveness’). 

In July 2022, Greece adopted the law on ‘Emerging information and communications technologies, 
strengthening digital governance and other provisions'116, one of the first frameworks for emerging 
technologies  in  the  EU.  It  aims  to  create  a  regulatory  environment  that  strengthens  digital 
governance  and  innovative  technologies,  and  help  the  country  attract  technological  development 
and  innovation.  The  law  has  separate  chapters  with  rules  on  developing  AI  and  using  advanced 
technologies,  such  as  the  Internet  of  Things  (IoT),  unmanned  aerial  vehicles  (UAVs),  distributed 
ledger technologies, and 3D-printing. The recent ‘Development Law Greece Strong Development’117 
also aims  to  support specific activities  and sectors by  giving  incentives to achieve digital transition, 
support innovative investments, and deploy advanced digital technologies such as robotics and AI.  

The  Greek  start-up  ecosystem  has  more  than  720  start-ups  registered  on  the  platform  Elevate 
Greece, which was launched by the Ministry of Development and Investments in 2020. This is more 
than  double  the  amount  compared  with  the  previous  year.  By  monitoring  and  supporting  the 
development  of  these  start-ups,  the  platform  acts  as  a  reference  point  for  the  Greek  start-ups’ 
ecosystem  and  for  potential  investors.  In  June  2022,  the  second  round  of  the  ’Elevate  Greece 
National  Register  Young  Enterprises  Support’  action  (with  a  budget  of  EUR  34  million)  was 
announced. In addition, 2022 saw the creation of the National Start-up Awards. 

In 2022, two additional Greek start-ups became unicorns, bringing the total number of unicorns to 
three118.  One  is  in  the  field  of  fintech,  the  first  entirely  cloud-based  European  neobank,  based  on 
advanced  mobile  technology.  Another  in  the  field  of  retail,  is  an  online  marketplace,  the  leading 
comparison-shopping engine in Greece. 

There were significant developments in the ICT and tech sectors. The Greek start-ups and scale-ups 
scene has become more attractive  to global industry leaders. Very large ICT companies  have made 
significant  investments  in developing  data centres  in Greece  and providing  cloud services. Through 
the Loan Facility of the Greek RRP, which started in 2022, several large companies have been able to 
invest in their digital transformation for a total amount exceeding EUR 100 million. 

116 Law 4961/2022 
117 Law 4887/2022 
118 Source: Dealroom (date of extraction 16/01/2023) 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Greece should significantly step up its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses, notably by 
swiftly  implementing  the  RRP  measures,  and  the  ERDF  Programmes,  ‘Competitiveness’  and  ‘Digital 
transformation’.  Attention  should  be  paid  to  supporting  the  development  and  deployment  of 
advanced technologies, including big data, AI, in particular in SMEs. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Greece 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

52 

2021 

48 

2021 

45 

2021 

49 

2021 

75 

2021 

82 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

81% 

2022 

65 

2022 

74 

2022 

54 

2022 

52 

2022 

74 

2022 

85 

2022 

61 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Greece continues to implement its ambitious strategy to modernise and digitalise the public services. 
Several  pieces  of  legislation  have  been  adopted  to  provide  key  public  services  online  and  to  ease 
interaction with the public administration both for citizens and businesses. In the health sector, the 
pandemic crisis accelerated the implementation of projects that were due in the state health system 
for  decade,  such  as  upgrading  the  digital  infrastructure  in  hospital,  the  personal  electronic  health 
record. 

In  the  Digitalisation  of  public  services,  Greece  has  made  progress  in  almost  every  indicator.  The 
percentage of  active  users  of  e-government  services  (81%)  is  above  the EU  average  (74%).  Greece 
still scores below the EU average for the two indicators measuring digital public services for people 
and  businesses  However,  the  results  show  remarkable  progress  on  the  Digital  public  services  for 
citizens, Greece scores 65 (up 13 points from the previous year); for businesses, the score is 74 (up 
26  points  from  the  previous  year).  One  reason  for this  progress  is  the  remarkable  improvement  in 
domestic  and cross-border  services.  From 2021  to  2022 the score  for  the  cross-border  services  for 
businesses increased by more than 5 times, from 8.3 to 50.8. And for the citizens, the score of the 
digital cross-border services increased by 62% (up from 24.3 to 39.4). This improvement is reflected 
in the value of the two Digital Decade indicators which are now closing the gap with the EU average. 
The  score  for  public  services  provided  through  mobile-friendly  interfaces  rose  to  85  but  remains 
below the EU average (93). In terms of access to e-health records, Greece scored lower than the EU 
average (61 vs 72). 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Several  significant  regulatory  measures  were  implemented  to  improve  online  access  to  essential 
public services for people and businesses and online interaction with public administrations. A new 
law119  enforced  the  equivalent  validity  of  digital  documents  of  the  Gov.gr  Wallet  application  with 
physical  documents  in  Greece  (e.g.  national  identity  card,  driving  licence).  A  National  Disability 
Portal120  hosting  all  digital  procedures  relating  to  disability  was  set  up  on  Gov.gr.  The  Public 
Employment  Service  (DYPA)  digital  card121  was  launched  for  people  looking  for work  when  dealing 
with  the  DYPA.  The  planning  and  implementation  phase  of  the  new  national  interoperability 
framework was completed in April 2022, meeting the requirements of the European interoperability 
framework  (EIF)122.  It  was  accompanied  by  an  integrated  governance  model  and  guidelines  to 
guarantee  all  stakeholders  to  develop  integrated,  interoperable  public  services.  Furthermore,  the 
RRP includes a measure for further digitalising public procurement procedures (with a budget of EUR 
17 million). The newly established national administrative procedures policy (EPPD) aims to record all 
public sector administrative procedures. The procedures will be evaluated, simplified, digitised, and 
then  designed  to  make  them  more  user-friendly  for  people  and  businesses.  The  EPPD  is  based  on 
three  pillars:  (i)  the  National  Registry  of  Administrative  Procedures  (MITOS);  (ii)  the  national 
programme  for  the  simplification  of  procedures;  and  (iii)  the  Observatory  of  the  Bureaucracy  to 
evaluate the impact of simplification measures. With the launch of MITOS in 2022, every procedure 
of the Greek state has been gradually documented for the first time. This provides people with all the 
necessary information about the applicable administrative procedures and legislation, including the 
competent services and processing time. As of July 2023,123 2 959 procedures have been published in 
the  Greek  language,  and  376  in  English.  This  project  will  improve  the  interaction  between  the 
individuals and the state, as they will know in advance what exactly is required to avail of a service. 

On  inclusive  online  public  services,  a  guide  to  further  develop  the  accessibility  of  websites  and 
applications for people with disabilities has been opened for consultation by the Ministry of Digital 
Governance. It is addressed to all public sector bodies. At the end of 2022, the Digital Disability Card 
was launched. It significantly simplifies contacts with the state for persons with disabilities. They no 
longer need to request a new disability certificate for every interaction with the administration. 

In  the  field  of  electronic  identification  (eID),  the  Hellenic  Public  Administration  Certification 
Authority (APED) was launched in 2022 to make signed electronic transactions secure. Its work will 
extend  to  identification  services,  strengthen  people’s  trust  in  services  and  improve  authentication 
procedures  in  line  with  the  eIDAS  Regulation.  The  platform  provides  free  personal  digital 
authentication/signature  certificates,  equivalent  to  a  handwritten  signature,  and  the  possibility  to 
have digitally verified signatures in English. Greece is also participating in three EU large-scale pilot 
projects testing the European Digital Identity Wallet in a number of everyday use cases funded under 
the  Digital Europe  Programme  (overall  grant  request  over  EUR  1.8 million). These  are  the Pilot  for 
European digital identity wallet (POTENTIAL), the European Digital Identity Wallet Consortium (EWC), 
and Digital Credentials for Europe (DC4EU).  

Greece embarked on a major digital transformation project using advanced technologies to create 
a  cloud  ecosystem.  The  Ministry  of  Digital  Governance  will  invest  more  than  EUR  120  million  to 
create the Greek RE-Cloud, G-Cloud and H-Cloud. These will cater to the needs of the Greek research 
community,  and  government  and  health-care  services  respectively.  The  RE-cloud,  G-Cloud  and  H-

119 Law 4954/2022 
120 Law 4961/2022 
121 Law 4921/2022 
122 COM (2017) 134 
123 05/07/2023 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Cloud  projects  are  expected  to  provide  the  Greek  common  data  infrastructure  and  services.  In 
November  2022,  the  project  Supply  of  advanced  Security  Services  (SOC  and  DDoS)  to  the  critical 
infrastructures  of  the  Government  Cloud  (G-Cloud),  with  a  budget  of  EUR  8.5  million,  opened  for 
public consultation. The project’s objective is to ensure uninterrupted and real-time surveillance of 
government cloud systems by partnering with a specialised and internationally recognised provider 
for preventing and tackling cyberthreats. The Greek RRP includes a set of reforms and investments 
launched in 2022 to deliver on the national cybersecurity strategy adopted in 2020. 

Several digital health projects launched in 2022 will contribute to the Digital Decade target of 100% 
of  citizens  having  access  to  their  electronic  health  records.  The  completion  of  the  individual 
electronic health record (EHR) is intended to be the IT infrastructure that will be fed by the  public’ 
health data from all healthcare sectors. Electronic prescriptions were launched in 2022; about 40% of 
prescriptions are now electronic, and more than 3 million people are registered with this service. A 
mobile application, Myhealth was launched to give access to these new services. Although 80-100% 
of  the  individuals  can  now  access  their  health  data  online,  the  data  available  is  somewhat  limited. 
Electronic results and reports, such as medical imaging reports, laboratory test results  and hospital 
discharge reports, are not available. Authentication is not handled by electronic identification (eID) 
that  has  been  nationally  notified  or  compliant  with  the  eIDAS  Regulation,  and  equal  access  for 
disadvantaged  groups  is  not  completed.  The  national  telemedicine  network  covers  most  of  the 
country’s islands but is currently limited to doctor-to-doctor communication (tele-expertise).  

Best  practice:  The  Greek  government’s  online  platform  Gov.gr  continues  to  grow  and  provide 
cross-border services 

The number of digital public services for people and businesses available on the Gov.gr continued to 
grow. In 3 years, more than 1 500 services have been made available online. In 2022, the availability 
of cross-border services improved remarkably with services in English. 

The development of Gov.gr in 2022 is the driver behind improvements to Greece’s scores in the two 
Digital  Decade  targets  for  digital  public  services  for  citizens  and  businesses.  However,  not  all 
improvements  are  captured in the current scores because  the  benchmark to measure  them uses a 
biennial  average.  The  comparison  of  the  life  events  measured  in  2022  for  citizens  (Career,  Family, 
Studying)  to  the  same  life  events  measured  in  2020  shows  that,  for  cross-border  services,  Greece 
improved  its  score  by  35  points  between  2020  and  2022.  Regarding  the  digital  public  services  for 
businesses measured in 2022 (Business Start-up) compared to the same life event measured in 2020, 
Greece’ scored 85 in 2022, while in 2020, users could not find any information about business start-
up services in English. 

In  2022,  services  also  became  available  for  Greek  citizens  living  abroad  and  EU  citizens  and 
businesses wishing to make their services available in Greece (service portal EUGO). 

 
 
 
 
         
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Greece 

Greece  should  step  up  its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  notify  to  the 
Commission an eID scheme under the eIDAS Regulation. The roll-out of the considerable investments 
earmarked in the RRP for modernising the public administration should continue at the same pace to 
ensure citizens and businesses benefit in the immediate future. On e-health records, the scope of data 
accessible  should  be  expanded  and  equal  access  should  also  be  strengthened  for  disadvantaged 
groups.  Expanding  the  national  telemedicine  network  should  help  providing  equal  access  to  health 
services for all residents of the country, regardless their location. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Hungary 

 
 
 
 
   
 
 
197 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

Hungary has untapped digital potential to contribute further to the collective efforts to achieve the 
EU’s digital decade targets. Hungary has progressed with the digital transformation of its economy 
and society. In 2022, the most significant progress was made in fixed very high capacity networks and 
5G coverage. However, to ensure the new capabilities and opportunities offered by improved digital 
infrastructure  are  fully  utilised,  further  progress  is  needed  to  improve  the  digital  skills  of  the 
population. This could also help the further digitisation of the public and private sectors.  

On 30 November 2022, the Hungarian Government adopted the new National Digitalisation Strategy 
2022-2030, which is aligned with the Digital Decade Policy Programme.  

The Hungarian Government’s objective is for Hungary to be among the 10 best performing countries 
in the field of digitalisation in the European Union by 2030. To achieve this, the Strategy has defined 
indicators based on the Digital Decade’s targets, paving the way for the national roadmap. 

Process wise, the Digital Decade could be an opportunity for Hungary to adopt a whole government 
approach  of  digitalisation,  notably  through  their  national  roadmap  or  its  future  adjustments,  to 
consolidate and streamline existing mechanisms, and set up comprehensive approaches at national 
level.  The  establishment  of  the  Digital  Hungary  Agency,  coordinating  the  digital  implementation 
activities is a right step towards this objective.  

Hungary is collaborating with other Member States in exploring the possibility to set-up a European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortium  (EDIC)  on  an  Alliance  for  Language  Technologies  to  develop  a 
common infrastructure in the field of natural language processing and large multi-language models. 

Digital in Hungary’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

With 30% of its  allocation devoted to digital measures  (EUR 1.7  billion), of which EUR 1.2 billion is 
contributing to the Digital Decade targets124, the plan includes a comprehensive package to promote 
the  digital  transformation  of  the  economy  and  society.  Most  components  contain  measures  on 
digital  transition.  Significant  measures  are  planned  to  improve  the  digital  equipment  and  skills  in 
primary, vocational and higher education. The plan contains measures related to the digitalisation of 
public administration and of the health, transport and energy sectors. 

124  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an  estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

1 Digital skills 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

16% 

2020 

3.8% 

2020 

4.9% 

2019 

Hungary 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

84% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

87% 

2021 

49% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

59% 

2021 

16% 

2020 

3.9% 

2021 

3.1% 

2020 

88% 

2022 

49% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

59% 

2021 

18% 

2022 

4.1% 

2022 

5.7% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

On digital skills, Hungary scores below the EU average on relevant indicators. Only about half of the 
population aged 16-74 has at least basic digital skills, significantly below the Digital Decade target of 
80%  by  2030.  The  Hungarian  RRP  includes  several measures  that  target  digital skills,  mostly  in  the 
form of establishing or improving the tools and facilities needed to develop digital competences. In 
line  with  the  Digital  Decade,  Hungary’s  new  National  Digitalisation  Strategy  2022-2030 
acknowledges  that  improvements  in  digital  skills  at  all  levels  are  essential  to  enable  the 
digitalization  of  businesses  and  public  sector.  One  of  the  strategy’s  pillars  focuses  on  digital 
competences,  setting  targets  for  2030  that  no  more  than  5%  of  the  16-74  age  group  lacks  basic 
digital competences and that ICT 10% of all graduates should be ICT graduates.  

Hungary  is  implementing  several  measures  related  to  digital  skills,  especially  to  provide  the 
necessary digital tools, as well as network infrastructure and services to students and staff in the 
primary,  secondary  and  higher  education.  They  also  support  closing  the  digital  skill  gap  in 
disadvantaged  groups.  As  part  of  the  RRF  program,  every  fifth  and  ninth  grade  pupil  in  lower  and 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

upper secondary education and their teachers will receive a personal computer. A total of 120 000 
personal  computers  were  delivered  to  public  educational  institutions  in  Q2  2022,  65 000  were  for 
ninth  grade  pupils,  55 000  for  teachers.  By mid 2025,  the  number of  distributed  devices  will  reach 
579 000. For the distribution of digital notebooks priority is to be given to disadvantaged pupils and 
teachers in schools with an above-average share of disadvantaged pupils. Additionally, at least 3 100 
primary and secondary schools will receive an asset pack (robots, embedded system etc.) to improve 
pupils’  creativity  and  STEAM  skills.  Through  the  Smart  Classroom  project,  180  institutions  are 
developing  digital  classrooms,  where  experience-based  teaching  of  any  subject  is  possible.  The 
project  supports  the  practical  application  of  digital  pedagogical  tools  and  collaborative  teaching 
methods. Teachers will receive targeted training on how to use the digital devices and they shall have 
access  to  an  IT  help  desk.  By  Q1  2023,  42 593  teachers  had  already  received  training.  To  support 
using these devices and the new curriculum, a comprehensive eduroam WiFi infrastructure, central 
network  infrastructure  and  related  services  were  built  between  2013-2023  under  the  Diákháló 
Program. 

Digital education is an important priority for the Hungarian government. In 2020 the National Core 
Curriculum  introduced  a  new  subject  (and  also  a  new  matriculation  exam  subject)  called  Digital 
Culture which is the successor to the Informatics subject. Digital Culture is a compulsory subject in 
grades  3-11,  but  all  the  other  subjects  have  the  task  to  develop  pupils’  digital  competences. 
Algorithmic thinking and programming are also introduced in the requirements of the intermediate 
level of Digital Culture matriculation exam, which further emphases the importance of these topics. 

The  Digital  Theme  Week,  a  major  national  evet  on  digital  pedagogy,  has  been  supported  by  the 
ministry responsible for education every year since 2016. It is organized with the cooperation of the 
Ministry responsible for education (the Ministry of Interior since 2022), industry, social partners and 
other stakeholders. The event’s main objective is to development of pupils' digital competence and 
the continuous renewal of the methodological culture of digital pedagogy in line with the challenges 
of  the  21st  century.  In  the  past  6  years,  a  total  of  1  642  457  pupils  and  152  861  teachers  have 
participated in Digital Theme Week programmes. As part of Digital Theme Week 2022, a handbook 
on  Project  Pedagogy  using  Digital  Tools  was  prepared,  which  deals  with  pedagogical  projects 
supported by digital tools in theory and practice. 

Regarding  higher  education  as  part  of  the  RRF’s,  the  "Highly  qualified,  competitive  workforce" 
component  and  its  activities  related  to  the  digital  development  of  training  activities,  support  is 
planned  for  closed-system  online  distance  education  and  digital  curriculum  development.  The 
investment is expected to consist of purchasing and installing 22 300 pieces of digital equipment in 
higher  education  institutions,  developing  the  digital  competence  of  34  000  higher  education 
students’  and  staff,  and  developing  1  900  digital  learning  content  modules.  Implementation  of the 
investment is planned to be completed by 30 June 2026. 

The  proportion  of  ICT  specialists  in  total  employment  has  slightly  increased  in  recent  years  but  in 
2022  remained  relatively  low  with  4.1%,  below  the EU  average  of  4.6%.  There  is  a  shortage  of  ICT 
specialists as according to expert estimates from 2020 around 44 000 IT specialists are missing from 
the  Hungarian  labour  market.  The  share  of  women  among  ICT  specialists  is,  at  13.6%,  among  the 
lowest in the EU, compared to an EU average of 18.9%.  However, the percentage of ICT graduates 
among all graduates improved to 5.7%, above the EU average of 4.2%. 

Regarding  ICT  skills,  the  ‘Programme  your  Future!’  project  remained  a  key  initiative  in  2022  and 
continuing this initiative until 2030 would support reaching the Digital Decade target of 20 million ICT 
specialists  by  2030.  This  initiative  was  co-funded  from  ESF  in  the  Economic  Development  and 
Innovation  Operational  Programme  (EDIOP).  It  aimed  to  increase  the  number  of  people  with  IT 
qualifications  relevant  to  the  labour  market  and  to  improve  the  skills  of  ICT  specialists.  The  main 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

results of the initiative until February 2023, which are relevant for the Digital Decade targets are that 
6 091 computer science students studying in 19 higher education institute, received industry specific 
trainings courses relevant to the labour market and acquired the related certificates. In addition, ICT 
students had completed over 200 000 hours as interns in 282 ICT companies. Extending the training 
curriculum  and  internship  opportunities  could  be  considered  to  reduce  the  shortage  of  ICT 
specialists. 

Under  EDIOP  PLUS,  almost  HUF  30  billion  will  support  ICT  higher  education  graduates  with 
mentoring,  tutoring  and  activities  to  develop  their  skills.  This  is  expected  to  result  in  a  significant 
decrease in the number of dropouts from ICT courses. 

To  increase  the  visibility  and  popularity  of  the  IT  professions,  motivational  events  are  planned  for 
high  school  students.  Several  non-governmental  initiatives  are  in  place  to  increase  female 
participation  in  ICT  (such  as  Skool,  Women  in  IT  Security  and  Django  Girls  Budapest).  Hungary’s 
participation in EU Code Weekremained stable, in 2022 there were 1 327 activities, most of theme 
happening in the schools. 38% of the over 34 000 participants were female, which is a positive sign. 

The  new  National  Digitalisation  Strategy  2022-2030  sets  three  priority  areas  for  digital  skills:  (1) 
developing  digital  competence  (based on  the  DigComp  framework,  however  the  Strategy  does  not 
specify that it intends to introduce the latest version DigComp 2.2, adopted at  EU level in summer 
2022);  (2)  increasing  the  number  and  qualifications  of  IT  professionals  and  engineers;  and  (3) 
strengthening  the  digital  competence  development  in  public  education,  vocational  training  and 
higher  education.  EU  funding  will  play  a  key  role  to implement the  planned  measures,  as  Hungary 
plans to finance  the  strategy’s  skills pillar mainly  from  the  Digital Renewal Operational Programme 
Plus 2021-2027 (DROP+). 

Implementing the new National Digitalisation Strategy 2022-2030 will be crucial to delivering on the 
Digital Decade targets of over 80% of individuals having basic digital skills and having 20 million ICT 
specialists  in  total  employment  by  2030,  although  the  national  strategy  might  not  be  sufficiently 
ambitious. 

Hungary should step up its efforts in the area of digital skills. In particular, the digital competence of 
teachers  should  be  strengthened,  together  with  increased  adult  participation  in  digital  training 
courses, to increase the number of people with basic digital skills.  Increased cooperation, especially 
with  the  private  sector,  NGOs  and  social  partners,  among  others,  would  be  relevant  in  order  to 
develop the skills required within SMEs125. 

125 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

Hungary 

DESI 
2021 

60% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

67% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

70% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

14.2% 

23.8% 

29.8% 

13.8% 

% households 

2020 

2021 

2022 

2022 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

49% 

2020 

49% 

2020 

71% 

2018 

7% 

2020 

60% 

2021 

72% 

2021 

64% 

2021 

84% 

2021 

18% 

2021 

60% 

2022 

80% 

2022 

70% 

2022 

84% 

2021 

58% 

2022 

60% 

2023 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

Broadband  connectivity  is  above  the  EU  average  as  fixed  very  high-capacity  network  (VHCN) 
coverage went up from 72% in 2021 to 80% in 2022, surpassing the EU average of 72%. The country 
has  made  good  progress  in  the  take-up  of  Gigabit  services  (29.8%),  while  70%  of  the  households 
subscribe to services higher than 100 Mbps.  

Hungary is planning to use the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to support broadband 
infrastructure deployment in its more rural regions. The funding will be used primarily in white areas 
to offer gigabit connectivity.  

As part  of to the implementation of the Digital Educational Strategy,  the  capacity and resiliency of 
educational  and  research  backbone  network 
infrastructure  was  enhanced.  Moreover,  the 
educational and research endpoints in this network saw a substantial increase in capacity: over 91% 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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of school endpoints are now connected at speeds higher than 100 Mbps and services to universities 
and research institutions are connected at speeds of more than 10 Gbps. 

On 5G, Hungary has made a significant progress towards achieving the digital connectivity targets 
for  2030.  In 2022, 5G  coverage  in  Hungary  increased  to  58%,  an  increase  by 40  percentage  points 
compared to the previous year. However, this is still significantly lower than the EU average of 81%. 
On 5G coverage in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band, coverage in Hungary stands at 21%, lower than the 
41% EU average. 

The  National  Regulator  started  an  award  procedure  for  the  rights  to  use  radio spectrum  in  the  32 
GHz frequency band to ensure the operation of backhaul network systems. One of the main purposes 
of awarding the 32 GHz frequency band,  according to the Regulator, is to enable the use of the 26 
GHz  frequency  band  for  MFCN  (Mobile/Fixed  Communication  Network)  purposes.  This  will  require 
the  clearing  of  the  26  GHz  frequency  band  and  providing  an  alternative  frequency  band  for  the 
migration  of  the  point-to-point  systems  previously  deployed  there,  simultaneously  with  –  or 
preferably  before  –  the  expiry  of  the  entitlements  in  2024  and  2027.  Hungary  has  also  conducted 
several public consultations on the clearing of the 26 GHz band, but to date there is no demand for 
the  band  before  the  expiration  of  the  current  allocations.  For  Hungary,  the  5G  development  is  a 
major  priority.  The  5G  Coalition  is  a  professional  cooperation  forum  established  in  the  summer  of 
2017. The goal of the organization, made up of representatives from the market, academia and the 
state, is for Hungary to become one of the centres of European 5G developments,  and be  a world 
leader in the field of introduction, spread and practical application of 5G.  

The  incumbent  operator  has  already  switched  off  its  3G  network  as  of  July  1  2022  and  another 
operator  also  switched  off  its  3G  network  by  April  10,  2023.  A  third  operator  also  started  the 
switching off its 3G network, and this is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. 

In terms of market developments, the consolidation trend among telecom operators continued in 
the previous year as well.  

Customers face price increases for electronic communication services. Market players increased their 
prices  based  on  indexation  clauses  set  in  their  retail  contracts  as  a  consequence  of  the  escalating 
inflation in Q1 2023. 

In terms of consumer trends, the Hungarian market has continued to experience an increase in the 
bundling of products with 67% of households subscribing to bundled products. The most common 
bundled packages were made up of a pay television and a fixed internet line; only 18% of bundled 
packages included a mobile subscription. 

It  has  long  been  a  good  practice  for  incumbent  mobile  operators  to  share  passive  mobile 
infrastructure. Sharing usually includes towers, masts, joint use of sites in urban areas. Recently two 
operators have decided to create separate entities to serve partner providers’ passive infrastructure 
needs.  

A  development  with  a  potential  impact  on  the  market  is  the  growth  of  mobile  service  solutions 
compared with fixed services; in many areas, mobile solutions are doing better. In the voice market 
mobile has long been dominant, but in the data market, the share of mobile services has grown and 
almost equalled fixed line services in 2022. The penetration rate of fixed line internet services among 
Hungarian households grew from 57% in 2014 to 75% in 2022 while the rate for small screen mobile 
data services grew from 32% in 2014 to 74% in 2022. 

There  were  no  changes  in  the  regulation  of  markets  in  the  reporting  period,  including  no 
deregulatory steps. The review of the regulation of the fixed wholesale access market is planned for 
2023. 

 
 
 
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Several  universities  and  research  institution  teams  are  working  together  to  develop  quantum 
technologies. They have created the “National Quantum Laboratory” in Hungary in order to join their 
efforts and harmonize their research activities. One of the strategic goal of this is to set up a regional 
quantum  communication  network,  to  be  joined  to  the  European  Quantum  Communication 
Infrastructure  (EuroQCI).  The  Hungarian  Governmental  Agency  for  IT  Development  (KIFÜ)  is  the 
operator  of  the  greatest  Hungarian  HPC  capacity  and  it  is  the  leader  of  the  Quantum  Project 
(QCIHungary)  in  Hungary.  This  project  aims  to  lay  down  the  foundations  for  a  national  quantum 
communication infrastructure in Hungary, with the goal being to participate in creating a larger pan-
European quantum network. 

Hungary has ambitious plans to deploy a quantum computing modules in a future HPC system. In 
the framework of the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme (GINOPDF) the 
Governmental Agency for IT Development (KIFÜ) procured and installed a new 5 Petaflops HPC called 
‘Komondor’  which  was  put  in  operation  in  December  2022  at  the  University  of  Debrecen’s  Data 
Centre. Currently  together  with  the  Komondor, KIFÜ  operates  three  different HPCs with  an overall 
capacity of 5.4 Petaflops, offering specialized AI, big data, GPU and CPU partitions. The main users of 
KIFÜ’s HPCs are educational and research institutes as well as small and medium enterprises. 

As regards plans towards hybrid HPC (traditional HPC with quantum module), Hungary has submitted 
an application to the EuroHPC JU Call for Expression of Interest126 to build and host a “mid-rage” HPC 
of  20  PetaFlops  capacity  with  modular  structure.  The  Hungarian  application  was  among  those 
selected by the evaluation committee and approved by the EuroHPC Governing Board. The modular 
structure of the HPC, named “Levente” paves the way to extend the “traditional” HPC with quantum 
module and to deploy a hybrid HPC with a quantum accelerator module. 

In  parallel  with  the  “Levente”  proposal,  Hungarian  and  German  partners,  signed  a  four-party 
Framework  agreement  with  the  intention  to  cooperate  on  HPC  and  supercomputing  application 
development area towards quantum computing, the goal of which is the extension of the “Levente” 
with quantum computing module by 2026. 

Hungary  participates  in  the  development  and  use  of  the  European  Blockchain  Services 
Infrastructure.  In  order  to  build  a  broader  industry  consensus  on  the  applicability  of  blockchain, 
Hungary  has  established  a  Blockchain  Coalition  in March  2022.  This  new  cooperation  platform  is  a 
permanently  open  forum  for  public,  educational,  civic  and  corporate  stakeholders  active  in  the 
is 
Hungarian  blockchain  ecosystem  and  seeks  to  build 
contributing to the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on Microelectronics and 
Communication  Technologies  ecosystem  with  associated  participants  (aid  below  the  GBER 
threshold). 

international  partnerships.  Hungary 

In  Hungary,  the  production  of  semiconductors  is  limited  to  back-end  activities,  but  there  are 
development  activities  in  the  design  of  new  circuits.  A  Hungarian  player  has  a  dominant  global 
market  share  in  the  semiconductor  measurement  technology  market,  therefore  the  Hungarian 
Government provides all possible assistance for their projects. 

During  the  reporting  period,  Hungary  witnessed  a continued  increase  in  5G coverage  especially.  In 
the fixed network market, there was an improvement in the coverage of FTTP and VHCN. This in turn 
coincided  with  a  corresponding  increase  in  consumer  take-up  of  high  speed  connections.  This 
suggests that Hungary is well positioned to reach the fixed connectivity objectives as set out in the 
Digital  Decade.  However,  more  needs  to  be  done  if  Hungary  is  to  reach  the  related  2030  Digital 

126 EuroHPC-2021-CEI-MR-01 Call for Expression of interest for the Selection of Hosting Entities for mid-range 
Supercomputers. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Decades  target  of  100%  5G  coverage.  Meeting  these  targets  could  be  facilitated  by  the 
implementation of the National Digitalisation Strategy which should better define the roadmap to be 
used for reaching the desired targets. Furthermore, the emergence of new players in the Hungarian 
market, may affect the current ecosystem. The impact of the recent mergers on the competition has 
not been assessed. The risk of potential future price increases cannot be excluded. 

Best practice: 5G Coalition 

The 5G Coalition is a professional cooperation forum established in the summer of 2017. The goal of 
the  organisation,  made  up  of  representatives  from  the  market,  academia  and  the  state,  is  for 
Hungary to become one of the centres of European 5G developments, and be a world leader in the 
field  of  introduction,  spread  and  practical  application  of  5G.  The  main  achievements  of  the  5G 
Coalition (5GC) include testing the first traffic use cases based on 5G at the vehicle industry test track 
in  Zalaegerszeg  and  achievements  in  agricultural  use  cases  (e.g.,  development  of  innovative 
monitoring,  data  collection,  analysis  and  intervention  control  solutions  that  take  advantage  of  the 
possibilities of 5G, which support farmers' decisions with the help of AI-based analysis). 

Hungary  should  step  up  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure,  in  particular  in  5G  roll-out.  The 
implementation  of  the  National  Digitalisation  Strategy,  which  sets  out  the  path  for  reaching  the 
targets, would help achieve these goals.  
Hungary’s efforts in the area of semiconductors and quantum should be sustained in order to help the 
EU to become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

Hungary 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud127 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

14% 

2019 

12% 

2019 

7% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

14% 

2020 

13% 

2020 

9% 

2020 

5% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

21% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

7% 

2020 

21% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

18% 

2021 

11% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

52% 

2022 

21% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

7% 

2020 

21% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

20% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

7% 

2021 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

127 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

The  digitalisation  of  businesses  remains  a  major  challenge  in  Hungary.  Most  businesses,  in 
particular SMEs, are not yet maximising the opportunities offered by digital technologies. This has a 
negative  impact  on  the  competitiveness  of  the  economy.  One  of  the  pillars  of  the  country’s  new 
National Digitalisation  Strategy  2022-2030  focuses  on  businesses,  setting  a  target  that  at  least  one 
third  of  businesses  use  integrated  business  processes  by  2030.  However,  this  target  might  not  be 
enough to meet the Digital Decade targets of 75% of businesses taking-up cloud, AI or big data and 
90% of SMEs having at least a basic level of digital intensity. 

Although the use of electronic information sharing increased substantially (from 14% of enterprises 
in  2019  to  21%  in  2021),  the  country  still  performs  poorly  on  the  technology  adoption  indicators. 
Only 14% sent e-invoices (which are suitable for automatic processing) and 13% used social media (at 
least  two  channels)  compared  to  32%  and  29%  in  the  EU  respectively.  Looking  at  the  technology 
targets of the Digital Decade, the use of advanced digital technologies, such as big data and artificial 
intelligence, was less than half of the EU average in 2021 (3% in Hungary against 8%  in the EU). In 
2021, the use of cloud computing services was 21%, 13 percentage points lower than the EU average 
(34%). In 2022, only 52% of SMEs in Hungary had at least a basic digital intensity (significantly below 
the EU average of 69%). 

Hungary supported the digitalisation of businesses through a mix of instruments – including grants, 
loans, risk capital and non-financial support – as part of the Economic Development and Innovation 
Operative  Programme  (EDIOP).  One  instrument  was  the  Modern  enterprises  Programme,  which 
helped  over  10  000  SMEs  to  draw  up  digitisation  strategies,  provided  professional  services,  and 
organised  events  in  the  field  of  digitisation,  and  ran  information  and  media  campaigns.  Other 
instruments provided mentoring support to start-up ICT SMEs,  grants  and services in specific fields 

 
 
 
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

such as the internationalisation of ICT SMEs, cloud services and AI. In addition, instruments targeting 
the  development  of  SMEs also  provided  for the  introduction of  ICT  technologies  in  businesses  (big 
data, robotics, AI, automation), including advanced technologies and systems (e.g. ERP).  

Hungary  used  EU  funding  of  more  than  HUF  27  billion  (EUR  68  million)  from  the  European 
Structural and Investment Funds for targeted financial support for the digitalisation of businesses. 
Around  half  of  the  amount  was  provided  as  grants,  while  the  other  half  as  loans.  Funding  was 
provided through three initiatives with a special focus on cloud computing: (1) EDIOP-3.2.2-8.2.4-16 
supporting  the  development  of  complex  info-communication  and  mobile  solutions  and  the 
dissemination  of  cloud-based  online  business  services,  (2)  EDIOP-3.2.4-8.2.4-16  supporting  the 
development  and  market  penetration  of  cloud-based  (IaaS,  PaaS,  SaaS)  business  services  and  ICT 
solutions and EDIOP-3.2.6-8.2.4-17 supporting the increased digitalisation of competitive companies' 
activities. The total number of beneficiaries in the three programs were 1 142. 

It  is  important  that  Hungary  improves  the  framework  conditions  for  start-ups  and  scale-ups. 
Established  in  2016,  the  INPUT  Programme  is  the  government’s  dedicated  initiative  for  the 
development of the digital start-up ecosystem. The mission of the INPUT Programme is to build and 
foster the digital innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem across the country, especially in the rural 
areas and to help innovative ICT start-ups to enter global markets. The programme functions as an 
umbrella organization integrating five different activities to enable start-ups to validate their ideas, 
find  investment,  develop  their  products  and  enter  international  markets.  The  five  activities  are  (1) 
offsetting  up  an  international  mentor  and  expert  network;  (2)  providing  business  development 
services with personalized consulting sessions; (3) trainings and workshops; (4) an international soft 
landing programme providing resources and knowledge to expand internationally; and (5) setting-up 
a nationwide coordinator network. As of January 2023, 2 615 potential ICT start-ups had participated 
in the programme, and 661 training courses and events had taken place. 

Hungary  is  one  of  the  12  Member  States  taking  part  into  the  Important  Project  of  Common 
European Interest on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS). The  IPCEI-CIS 
as part of the Multi-Country Project on a Common Data Infrastructure and Services aims at equipping 
the  European  Union  with  the  next  generation  of  advanced,  distributed,  secure,  sustainable  and 
innovative cloud-to-edge capabilities that citizens and businesses are in need for. Participating in this 
major European project will help encourage more Hungarian businesses take up cloud technologies 
(which is currently 13 percentage points below the EU average of 34%). 

In  Hungary  five  digital  innovation  hubs  were  selected  to  receive  the  first  three  years  of  funding 
from  the  Digital  Europe  Programme  and  became  the  part  of  the  network  of  European  Digital 
Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). With the support of these hubs, SMEs can digitally transform and improve 
their  business  and  production  processes,  products  or  services  in  agriculture,  artificial  intelligence, 
data-related  services  within  the  health  industry,  high  performance  computing,  cybersecurity  and 
other areas of digital competencies. 

Hungary should significantly step up its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses.  Further 
incentives  for  investments,  as  well  as  measures  to  ensure  supportive  framework  conditions  for  the 
digital transformation of SMEs, in particular in the area of skills, are necessary to speed up the digital 
transformation of businesses, to increase SMEs’ use of digital technology, and to develop digital start-
ups. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Hungary 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

64 

2021 

74 

2021 

60 

2021 

50 

2021 

67 

2021 

84 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

81% 

2022 

68 

2022 

76 

2022 

60 

2022 

57 

2022 

69 

2022 

85 

2022 

80 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

Hungary continues to make progress in digitalising public services, but it  still performs below the 
EU average in this respect.  To improve  the situation, in December 2022, the government  adopted 
the  National  Digital  Citizenship  Programme  prepared  by  the  newly  established  Digital  Hungary 
Agency. Most measures planned will be financed from DROP (ERDF) which drew up a strategy for this 
alongside the Digital Decade objectives. This programme breaks down the digital government goals 
of the National Digitalisation Strategy 2022-2030 and sets the main objectives for the period of 2022-
2026. The Programme sets strategic  goals related to open data and the use of cloud technology in 
the public administration. Regarding digital public service provision, it reinforces the aim to develop 
user-friendly and user-centric services, and for the first time embraces the “mobile first” principle.  

The  Hungarian  RRP  includes  several  measures  that  focus  on  digitalisation  in  healthcare  where 
Hungary scores 80, above the EU average. 
The  Digital  Renewal  Operational  Programme  (DROP),  supported  by  Cohesion  Policy,  sets  strategic 
goals related to open data and the use of cloud technology in the public administration. 

81%  of  internet  users  used  e-government  services  through  websites  or  mobile  applications,  above 
the EU average of 74%. The country slightly improved on most of the indicators about the supply of 
digital public services, although it stands below the EU average for all of them. For the Digital Decade 
target that all key public services should be fully available online by 2030, Hungary scores 68 (out of 
100 for all supply side indicators) on services for citizens and 76 on services for businesses. It is the 
low cross-border availability of services that is mainly responsible for these results. There is room for 
improvements on the use of pre-filled forms (so that citizens and businesses do not need to provide 
information  that  had  been  shared  already  with  the  public  administration),  the  transparency  of 
service delivery, design and personal data as well as the user support for online services. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

To  improve  digital  public  service  provision,  the  government  launched  the  National  Digital 
Citizenship Programme. This programme introduced the concept of digital citizen. This reinterprets 
the relationship between the state and citizens based on the EU’s digital identity initiative, through 
user-friendly channels operating on a single platform, with a “mobile first” approach. A new mobile 
application will be  developed for electronic identification, in  line  with the current  and forthcoming 
eIDAS regulations, which will establish the framework for a European Digital Identity. With the help 
of  the  new  mobile  wallet,  citizens  will  be  able  to  log  into  the  digital  citizen  platform,  and  use  the 
most important digital public services according to their life events. The programme aims at making 
all necessary digital public services online on mobile devices by 2026. The development of the most 
important services will begin in 2023. 

Regarding  e-ID,  Hungary  has  recently  conducted  the  bilateral  testing  of  its  e-ID  node,  but  the 
country does not yet have an e-IDAS notified scheme. The development of the eIDAS Node (HPEPS) 
has  been  financed  by  the  Public  Administration  and  Public  Service  Development  Operational 
Programme  through  European  Structural  and  Investment  Funds  (ESIF).  The  tests  were  conducted 
with  12  Member  States.  The  test  reports  created  during  the  bilateral  tests  are  being  finalised  and 
some  temporary  errors  found  are  being  resolved  (e.g.  update  of  certificates,  system  configuration 
update to the test and production domains, fine-tuning of parameters, publishing of the new node 
data). The national systems must also be able to accept eIDAS identification. In the first quarter of 
2023 there were approximately 6.7 million national eID cards in circulation in Hungary (covering 67% 
of  the  population)  that  were  capable  of  e-identification.  The  use  of  national  eID  cards  remained 
limited, with about 300 000 transactions per month, as most users preferred the client gate trusted 
profile (5.54 million active profiles and 40 million e-identification transactions monthly in the fourth 
quarter of 2022).  

The National e-Health Infrastructure (EESZT) is the central IT system that ensures communication 
and  collaboration  between  healthcare  service  providers  and  patients.  The  system  transfers  the 
health data of every patient to a central cloud-based database in the Government Data Centre, which 
the various health professional can access through the corresponding hospital, general practitioner 
and  pharmacy  systems.  The  EESZT  services  provide  information  to  health  professionals  about 
patients,  allowing  them  access  to  information  about  any  medical  records,  referrals  or  drugs 
prescribed  by  other  medical  professionals.  Meanwhile,  citizens  can  access  their  personal  health 
records  through  a  single  centralised  interface  following  eID  authentication.  The  portal  contains  all 
medical  data  uploaded  to  the  EESZT  cloud  since  1  November  2017  by  institutions  who  joined  the 
service.  The  citizens’  degree  of  online  access  to  their  electronic  health  records  is  80,  ranking  the 
country 11th in the EU. The national online health data access service offers citizens the opportunity 
to  administrative  data,  information  on  medical  procedures  and  medicines,  ePrescription  and 
eDispensation  data,  as  well  as  laboratory  results,  medical  imaging  reports  and  hospital  discharge 
reports.  As  of  the  beginning  of  2023,  all  publicly  funded  healthcare  institutions  (more  than  300 
outpatient and more than 100 inpatient institutions), 10 000 private healthcare provider, more than 
3  200  pharmacies,  35  000  doctors,  14  000  pharmacists  and  more  than  6  000  general  medical 
practitioners use the EESZT. As of 2022 the EESZT contained 2 billion healthcare data points, more 
than 500 million medical care events more than 250 million electronic health record documents. 800 
000 electronic prescriptions are issued daily, which is more than 96% of all prescriptions. There are 
40  thousand  citizen  logins  daily  to  EESZT.  As  of  2022,  80-100%  of  the  national  population  have 
technical access to their electronic health data supplied by public and private primary, secondary and 
tertiary care providers, pharmacies, rehabilitation centres and mental health facilities. 

Related  to  education,  as  part  of  the  international  cooperation  of  KIFÜ  with  GÉANT  the  pan-
European  research  and  educational  network  KIFÜ  provides  access  to  federated  identity  and 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Hungary 

authorisation  services  for  95%  of  the  educational  and  research  organisations.  One  facet  of  this 
federated services is the eduroam, providing seamless internet connectivity to students or teachers 
moving across campus. In Hungary alone more than 4700 eduroam hotspots locations are installed 
and are available at universities, research centres, academies, many schools, and other research and 
education institutions and additional places such as libraries, museums. Worldwide  there are more 
than 70 000 eduroam hotspots locations available to securely access the Internet for research and 
educational users. A second federated service is eduGAIN and in Hungary eduID.hu. eduGAIN enables 
worldwide access via allowing students and researchers to securely access world of educational and 
research  resources  using  a  single-sign-on.  In  Hungary  more  than  70  educational  and  research 
organisations  are  part of  eduGAIN  with  help  of  KIFÜ (counting  only  1  in  eduGAIN  more  than  3500 
primary and secondary schools in Hungary). 

Despite the progress on making the above basic public services available online, Hungary still faces 
the  challenge  of  accelerating  the  adoption  of  several  advanced  digital  solutions  into  its  public 
sector, among others especially the innovation procurement of transformative digital technologies. 
The national digital strategy recognises the challenge, but only identifies the need to help innovative 
companies access existing public procurement but does not address the need for public authorities 
to create more innovation procurement business opportunities for companies. 

Best practice: Automated issuing of driving licences 

If all legal conditions are met, driving licences (such as a first driving licence or a replacement due to 
a  licence  expiring  or  changing  to  other  vehicle  categories)  are  immediately  registered  in  the  road 
traffic registry. Then the new licences are issued and sent to citizens automatically.  

To use this service, citizens just have to make a declaration for the issuing of documents online via 
the  Magyarorszag.hu  national  single  point  of  contact  portal,  and  take  the  required  tests  (first  aid, 
category  test  and  medical  aptitude  test).  The  issuing  bodies  then  send  the  certificates  of  the 
necessary  tests  electronically  to  the  specific  sectoral  information  system  that  manages  the  driving 
licence register. After this the process is fully automatic. 

In addition, since January 2023, the relevant controlling authorities have real time online  access to 
driving licences data via a standard interface directly from the Hungarian registry real-time online. As 
a result, drivers are no longer required to carry the physical documents when driving in the country. 

Hungary should accelerate its efforts to digitalise public services. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Ireland 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Ireland 

 
 
 
 
 
 
213 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Ireland 

Ireland  is  expected  to  make  a  positive  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s 
Digital Decade targets. The country shows a high level of digital skills and it also has the potential to 
further  improve  its  performance  in  digital  infrastructure  and  digitalisation  of  businesses.  The 
implementation of its National Digital Strategy, published in February 2022 and fully aligned with the 
Digital Decade Policy Programme, should help to achieve this goal.  

Ireland is collaborating with other Member States  in exploring the possibility to set up a  European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortium  (EDIC)  on  establishing  an  Alliance  for  Language  Technologies,  to 
develop  a  common  infrastructure  in  the  field of  natural  language  processing, and  to  develop  large 
multi-language models. 

Concerning  the  Digital  Decade  objectives,  and  in  particular  the  digital  contribution  to  the  green 
transition, Ireland is committed to reducing emissions by 51% across all sectors of the  economy by 
2030 and to having net zero emissions by 2050. Irish European digital innovation hubs are also set to 
contribute  to  the  green  transition.  Also,  to  help  SMEs  with  decarbonisation  path,  notably  to  help 
them understand their current carbon footprint and how to reduce it, Ireland launched in December 
2021  the  Climate  toolkit  4  business.  So  far,  7 614  businesses  have  completed  the  calculator  and 
generated their climate action report.  

Digital in Ireland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Ireland’sRRP,  one  of  the  EU’s  smallests,  amounts  to  EUR 989 million.  Of  this,  32%  (i.e. 
EUR 312 million) is allocated to the  digital transformation, all of which  is expected to contribute to 
reaching the Digital Decade targets 128. 

In the context of the first payment request, Ireland is expected to:  

• 

• 

• 

sign the contract for the building of the shared government data centre; 

launch  calls  for  proposals  in  the  framework  of  digital  transformation  of  Irish  enterprise 
project; 

connect primary schools to broadband network (i.e. installing routers in at least 750 primary 
schools); 

•  publish a circular to communicate the criteria for the funding of ICT infrastructure and grant 

that funding to at least 3 415 primary and post-primary schools; 

•  award the contracts for the procurement of an e-Pharmacy system; 

• 

complete  the  building  and  configuration  of  an  integrated  financial  management  system  to 
support the effective management of the health service; 

•  publish a 10 -year strategy on adult skills; 

128  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Ireland 

•  publish a digital strategy for schools; 

•  equip  disadvantaged  students  at  further  and  higher  education  institutions with  ICT  devices 

(i.e. at least 20 000 laptops). 

Based  on  the  Council  Implementing  Decision  on  Ireland’s  RRP,  other  investments  associated  with 
milestones  and  targets  to  be  reached  in  2023  include  investments  in  building  a  low-latency  edge 
platform to harness 5G technology for the benefit of public services (target: the purchase of at least 
18 compute nodes, Q4 2023) and in deploying an e-Pharmacy system across hospitals in Ireland to 
better  monitor  the  use  and  costs  of  medication  (milestone:  completion  of  the  building  and 
configuration of the e-Pharmacy system, Q4 2023). 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Ireland 

1 Digital skills 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

27% 

2020 

5.7% 

2020 

7.8% 

2019 

Ireland 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

89% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

98%129 

2021 

70% 

2021 

40% 

2021 

77% 

2021 

27% 

2020 

6.3% 

2021 

8.6% 

2020 

95% 

2022 

70% 

2021 

40% 

2021 

77% 

2021 

23% 

2022 

6.2% 

2022 

8.0% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Ireland is determined to be an international leader in the digital economy. It is therefore trying to 
ensure that its skills policy is focused on  developing digital skills at all levels, including  high-level 
digital skills, digital skills for the labour market and digital skills for society. This vision is reflected in 
its  National Digital Strategy, where  the Dimension 3 is dedicated to skills.  It is underpinned by two 
targets: (i) increasing the number of learners graduating with higher-level digital skills to over 12 400 
(around 0.05% of the current workforce), with the ambition to further increase digital skills provision 
in the following years; and (ii) increasing the share of adults with at least basic digital skills to 80%. 

Ireland’s continuing efforts regarding digital skills have been successful. 70% of adults have at least 
basic digital skills, well above the EU average of 54%. Provided a positive trend is maintained, Ireland 

129 Break in series for Ireland in 2021 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Ireland 

could make a positive contribution to reaching the 2030 EU target of at least 80% of the population 
having  at  least  basic  digital  skills.  A  similar  trend  is  observed  for  women  with  at  least  basic  digital 
skills  (72.6%  compared  to  the  EU  average  of  59%)130.  The  country  also  scores  higher  than  the  EU 
average  for  individuals  with  above  basic  digital  skills  (40%  in  Ireland  versus  26%  in  the  EU)  and  at 
least basic digital content creation skills (77% compared to the EU average of 66%). The proportion of 
internet users is at 95%, thus more people use internet in Ireland than in other Member  States on 
average.  

Ireland continues to boost digital skills development across the entire education system, in schools, 
further education and training, higher education, and lifelong learning in general. It also continues to 
implement ambitious reforms under its RRP. The 10-year Adult Literacy for Life strategy (September 
2021),  aims  to  bridge  the  digital  divide  across  Irish  society  by  improving  basic  digital  skills.  The 
strategy sets a target of increasing the share of adults in Ireland with basic digital skills from 53% to 
80% by 2030, which is also in line with the targets in the National Digital Strategy and the EU Digital 
Decade.  The  policy  framework  is  complemented  by  the  Digital  strategy  for  schools  to  2027  (April 
2022),  with  a  capital  investment  of  EUR 200 million  over  its  lifetime  under the  2018-2030  National 
Development  Plan.  To  ensure  coverage  across  all  regions  of  the  country,  nine  regional  skills  fora 
continue  to  provide  support  for  regional  SMEs,  by  bringing  business  and  education  and  training 
providers together to co-create curricula. 

Under  its  RRP,  Ireland  is  progressing  in  providing  primary  schools  with  high-speed  connectivity. 
Strategic  Connection  Points  (SCPs)  are  a  key  part  of  the  National  Broadband  Plan  (NBP)  providing 
high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre-to-the-home network. 
As  of 23  June  2023,  high-speed  broadband  service  has  been  installed  in  649  schools  and  the  high-
speed  broadband  service  will  be  switched on  in  these  locations  through  service  provider  contracts 
managed by the Department of Education. 

The  recommendations  of  the  OECD  Review  of  the  National  Skills  Strategy  highlight  a  number  of 
challenges  for  Ireland’s  skills  landscape,  particularly  with  respect  to  emerging  megatrends,  digital 
transformation,  and  the  future  of  work.  Meanwhile,  Ireland  is  making  significant  progress  toward 
achieving the digital skills goals set out in the National Digital Strategy. 

In October 2022, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science 
and the Economic and Social Research Institute launched a 3-year partnership to undertake research 
on developments in the labour market and the shifting nature of skills. This research will help follow 
up  on  the  findings  in  the  above-mentioned  OECD  review,  specifically  the  need  to  have  dynamic, 
granular, real-time data and analysis. The first project began in February 2023 and is examining the 
role of emerging technologies in Ireland’s labour market skills needs. The project is expected to be 
completed in Q4 2023. 

Some  private  sector  initiatives  are  also  providing  additional  support  to  increase  Ireland’s  basic 
digital skills level. Technology Ireland131 under the ICT Skillnet has a focus on awareness raising and 
event  engagement.  There  continues  to  be  significant  growth  in  the  number  of  places  available  on 
cyber security courses at third level institutions and further education centres, a number of which are 
collaborating with industry partners. 

Ireland has the second highest share of graduates in the EU studying ICT programmes (8% versus 
the  EU  average  of  4.2%).  The  country  has  a  high  share  of  ICT  specialists:  the  percentage  of  ICT 

130  Analyse  one  indicator  and  compare  countries  —  Digital  Scoreboard  -  Data  &  Indicators  (digital-agenda-
data.eu). 
131 Technology Ireland is a business organisation representing Ireland's tech sector. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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specialists  is  6.2%  of  total employment,  above  the  EU  average  of  4.6%.  The  share  of  businesses  in 
Ireland providing ICT training to their employees decreased from 27% in 2020 to 23% in 2022 and is 
currently only slightly above the EU average of 22%. Ireland’s performance is average as regards the 
presence  of  women  in  the  digital  sector:  female  ICT  specialists  represent  21.8%  of  ICT  specialists, 
against  the  EU average of 18.9%132. Regarding ICT specialists,  Ireland’s above  average  performance 
plays  a  big  part  in  the  collective  EU  efforts  to  reach  the  Digital  Decade  target  of  20 million  ICT 
specialists. However, Ireland needs to do more to ensure gender convergence. 

Ireland is also taking measures to support the development of high-level digital skills and skills for 
the  labour  market.  The  Department  of  Further  and  Higher  Education,  Research,  Innovation  and 
Science  supports  the  Human  Capital  Initiative  (HCI)  Pillar  3,  which  focuses  on  two  key  areas:  (i) 
innovation in modes and methods of delivery and (ii) agility  serving  future skills needs. HCI Pillar 3 
will deliver 24 projects in higher education institutions, including nine ICT related projects.  

The same Department is  also developing a policy vision to progress  toward a more  unified tertiary 
education  system.  The  goal  is  to  facilitate  the  creation  of  a  broader  set  of  clear  and  coherent 
pathways and transition points for learners across and between the systems, as well as developing 
talent,  and  increasing  and  promoting  opportunities  for  engagement  in  lifelong  learning,  upskilling 
and reskilling to meet specific skills demands. Following an online public consultation process in May-
August 2022, it has become apparent that the policy vision is welcome and there is a willingness to 
embrace it. The midterm review of the 2019-2024 National Cyber Security identified the need for a 
stronger  focus  on  addressing  the  cybersecurity  skills  needs  of  industry  and  society.  A  number  of 
actions are to be announced.  
Skillnet  Ireland133  delivers  digital  skills  programmes  focusing  on  (i)  specialised  talent  for  new  or 
emerging  technologies,  and  (ii)  enabling  SME  digital  transformation.  It  also  provides  upskilling 
solutions by supporting the growth and competitiveness of ICT businesses through cutting edge and 
highly  specialised  education  and  training.  In 2021,  approximately 12 000  trainees  undertook  digital 
and ICT skills training, 35% of whom were female. 

Ireland  is  trying  to  meet  future  digital  skills  needs,  including  high-level  ICT  skills,  needs  through 
Skillnet Ireland’s Future skills programme (FSP) and Expert group on future skills needs (EGFSN)134. 
The  FSP  facilitates  innovation  and  collaboration  between  businesses,  academic  institutions  and 
industry training providers in new programme design and industry-based research on the future of 
work and learning. The primary objective of EGFSN is to produce an annual assessment of the nature 
of high-level ICT skills demand in Ireland, by gathering information about the specific skills required 
across the Irish economy. 

Ireland  participated  in  EU  Code  Week  2022  with  over  730  activities  (approximately  a  five-fold 
increase from 2021). There were over 17 600 participants (more than double that in 2021), over half 
of whom were women. 

132 Statistics | Eurostat (europa.eu). 
133 Skillnet Ireland is a business support agency of the government. It partners closely with industry to create 
upskilling programmes which are responsive to business needs and designed to develop future-ready talent. 
134 EGFSN under the Department of enterprise, trade and employment is a chief advisory body on the current 
and future skills needs of Ireland’s economy. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Best  practice:  Junior  cycle  cyber  security  short course  and  UL@Work  –  Skills  for  a  digital 
future 

The  pilot  programme  of  the  Junior  cycle  cyber  security  short  course135  was  recently  extended  for 
another  2  years.  The  programme  contributes  to  the  cyber  and  digital  skills  development  of  post-
primary  students.  In  the  first  phase  of  the  pilot,  the  2021-2022  academic  year,  approximately  300 
pupils  from  10  participating  schools  took  part.  An  initial  EUR 5 000  was  provided  to  facilitate  the 
programme, and under the extension a further EUR 20 000 will be provided with contributions from 
University College Dublin. Discussions to scale-up this initiative on completion of the extended pilot 
in 2024 are underway. 

UL@Work – Skills for a digital future is a new range of digital-based programmes from the University 
of  Limerick,  co-designed  with  industry.  It  enables  upskilling  and  reskilling  by  combining  education 
and  work  in  areas  such  as  data  analytics,  ICT,  Industry  4.0,  robotics,  digital  leadership,  law  and 
technology and future studies. 

Ireland  should  continue implementing  its  policies  in  the area  of  digital  skills,  to  further  boost  the 
development  of  basic  and high-level  digital  skills,  while  giving  specific  attention  to  ensuring  gender 
balance.136 

135 This course constitutes an action in Measure 12 of the National cyber security strategy 2019-2024. 
136 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Ireland 

DESI 
2022 

45% 

2021 

5.2% 

2021 

78% 

2021 

62% 

2021 

98% 

2021 

72% 

2021 

29% 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

50% 

2022 

7.5% 

2022 

84% 

2022 

72% 

2022 

98% 

2021 

84% 

2022 

63% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2021 

36% 

2020 

4.1% 

2020 

67% 

2020 

48% 

2020 

81% 

2018 

30% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

Ireland  is  committed  to  digital  transformation  across  the  country.  The  availability  of  high  speed, 
reliable,  secure  and  sustainable  digital  connectivity  help  Ireland  to  realise  its  economic  and  social 
ambitions, leading to more balanced regional development, ensuring that no one is left behind in the 
digital  transition,  and  supporting  the  green  transition.  To  solidify  this  vision,  in  December  2022, 
Ireland  launched  its  Digital  connectivity  strategy.  It  sets out  goals  for  digital  connectivity  in  Ireland 
until 2030. It also supports the achievement of the digital infrastructure targets set out in Dimension 
2 of the National Digital Strategy, particularly that all Irish households and businesses will be covered 
by a gigabit network by 2028 and all populated areas covered by 5G by 2030. These goals are fully 
consistent with the EU’s Digital Decade targets for digital infrastructure. For the past few years, the 
Irish  market  has  featured  steady  growth  of  fixed  very  high-capacity  network  (VHCN)  coverage, 
reaching  84%  in  2022,  well  above  the  EU  average  of  73%.  Ireland  is  thus  gradually  progressing 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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towards  reaching  the  EU  2030  target  of  100%  fixed  VHCN  coverage.  However,  despite  a  steady 
increase,  the  take-up  of  at  least  100 Mbps  broadband  and  at  least  1 Gbps  broadband  by  Irish 
households continues to be below the EU average (50% and 7.5% in Ireland respectively, compared 
to  55%  and  13.8%  at  EU  level  respectively).  The  indicator  measuring  fibre  to  the  premises  (FTTP) 
coverage shows a continuous growth pattern and is higher than the EU average (72% versus the EU 
average of 56%). As of Q1 2023, FTTP is the dominant high speed broadband technology in Ireland. 

In a bid to reach the EU 2030 target of 100% fixed VHCN coverage, Ireland continues to facilitate 
gigabit connectivity. It is implementing the National Broadband Plan, which is aligned with the EU’s 
Digital  Decade  targets.  It  aims  to  ensure  that  high  speed  broadband  services  are  delivered  to  all 
premises across the country, with the ultimate goal of removing the existing digital divide in Ireland. 
This is being done through investment by companies coupled with state intervention in those parts 
of the country where private companies have no plans to invest. National Broadband Ireland (NBI) is 
tasked with implementing the state intervention side of the plan. NBI advises that as of 28 June 2023, 
over  166 600  premises  are  available  for  order  and  pre-order  through  local  broadband  service 
providers across 26 counties. Over 44 700 premises have been connected to the NBP fibre network 
with a further 4 398 connection orders pending. The  building of the NBP network, which started in 
2020, is scheduled to be completed by 2027. A Final Remedial Plan was finalised in December 2022. 
Under this Plan, NBI is committed to delivering a cumulative target of 185 000 premises passed by 
the end of January 2024. 

investment  trend  remained  stable,  with  a  total 

In  2021,  the 
in  electronic 
communications networks and services of approximately EUR 650 million and an investment share 
of revenue at over 15%.  Service  providers are currently investing in the  roll-out  of FTTP networks. 
ComReg estimates that in Q2 2022 approximately 1.2 million unique premises (approximately 50%) 
in Ireland were passed by an FTTP network.  

investment 

With  mobile  broadband  take-up  of  98%,  Ireland  is  the  best  performer  in  the  EU.  It  also 
demonstrates  stable  growth  in  overall 5G coverage.  Compared  to other Member  States,  Ireland’s 
performance  on  overall  5G  coverage  is  slightly  above  average  (84%  compared  to  81%  at  the  EU 
level),  putting  it  on  track  to  reach  the  2030 100%  coverage  target.  Ireland  performs  above  the  EU 
average on 5G coverage on the 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum band (56% versus  the EU average of 41%), a 
band  that  is  essential  for  enabling  advanced  applications  requiring  large  spectrum  bandwidth. 
However,  it  performs  slightly  worse  than  the  rest  of  the  EU  on  the  respective  rural  coverage  (9% 
versus the EU average of 10%).  

The  overall  positive  trend  should  be  reinforced  in  the  future,  as  in  January  2023,  ComReg 
completed  a  multi-band  spectrum  award,  awarding  long  term  spectrum  rights  across  four  bands 
(700  MHz,  2.1  GHz,  2.3  GHz  and  2.6  GHz)  suitable  for  providing  wireless  and  mobile  broadband 
services and increasing network capacity. Each of the three mobile network operators won 2x10 MHz 
of spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band (one of the three 5G pioneer bands that enables a wider 
coverage). 700 MHz coverage obligations to be fulfilled within 7 years are: 99% population and 92% 
of geographic area with 3 Mbps service, and 95% of the population, 90% of motorways and 80% of 
primary  roads  with  30  Mbps  service.  This  latest  award  contributed  to  a  significant  increase  in 
assigned 5G spectrum in Ireland (from 29% to 63%), but the country is still below the EU average of 
68%137. This is mainly because the spectrum in the 26 GHz frequency band has not yet been awarded.  

In January 2023, ComReg published consultation proposals on the future significant market power 
(SMP)  regulation  related  to  broadband  networks  and  proposed  updated  market  interventions to 

137 ComReg awarded the 3.6 GHz frequency band already in 2017. 

 
 
 
 
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support  investments.  It  also  proposed  an  updated  regulatory  regime  for  wholesale  local  access 
(partial  deregulation)  and  wholesale  central  access  markets  (full  deregulation)138.  It  proposed  the 
SMP  regulation  of  the  physical  infrastructure  access  market  on  a  standalone  basis  on  which  it  is 
opening  up  access  to  the  incumbent’s  duct  and  poles  to  promote  competition139.  The  current 
universal service designation remained in place until June 2023. 

Ireland  has  implemented  measures  to  improve  the  security  and  resilience  of  electronic 
communications  networks  (e.g.  5G  cybersecurity).  Since  2019,  ComReg  has  been  conducting  a 
network resilience review of risk management practices. The objective of this project is for ComReg 
to understand the level of risk management undertaken by operators of electronic communications 
networks  and  electronic  communications  services  and  give  operators  feedback  on  best  practice 
methodologies where appropriate.  

In terms of technological developments, the predominant technologies/networks in use are FTTP 
(gigabit-capable  passive  optical  network,  XGS-PON),  fibre  to  the  cabinet  (very  high-speed  digital 
subscriber  line,  EVDSL)  and  cable  (DOCSIS  3.1).  On  network  sharing,  the  mosaic  network  sharing 
agreement between Eircom and Three has been in place since 2014. On site sharing, there is a lot of 
mobile site sharing on the Irish market.  

Ireland continues to support international connectivity. In November 2022, a subsea telecoms cable 
‘IRIS’, was installed between the west coast of Ireland and Iceland. This new cable will provide direct 
high capacity links to Iceland with onward connectivity to northern Europe via Denmark. The cable 
system will greatly increase the capacity and diversity of internet connections in Ireland. 

Through  the  EUR 500 million  Disruptive  Technologies  Innovation  fund,  the  Department  of 
Enterprise, Trade and Employment continues to support collaborative research and innovation in a 
range of ICT projects. This will be essential for the next generation of semiconductor chips and could 
contribute to reaching the Digital Decade target of the production of cutting-edge semiconductors in 
the EU being at least 20% of world production in value by 2030. The Department of Enterprise, Trade 
and Employment supports initiatives to develop and scale technology companies that are part of the 
semiconductor value chain. Ireland is home to over 100 semiconductor companies, with over 25 000 
people  employed  in  the  sector  and  exporting  EUR  13.5  billion  worth  of  products  annually.  The 
Tyndall  National  Institute  is  the  national  focal  point  for  excellence  in  research,  development  and 
training in micro and nano-electronics, photonics, materials and software.  

To  contribute  to  the  achievement  of  the  deployment  of  at  least  10 000  climate-neutral  highly 
secure  edge  nodes  in  the  Union  by  2030,  the  Office  of  the  government  chief  information  officer, 
through  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility,  aims  to  deploy  18  edge  nodes  by  2024  to  provide 
coverage across Ireland. This is considered a pilot programme focused on strengthening telecoms for 
public protection and disaster relief services, such as the Garda (the Irish police force) service.  

The first phase of this proposal covered the creation of a platform that consists of compute  nodes 
interconnected with a high-speed low-latency backbone.  

In 2022, Ireland carried out procurements to purchase the components and the roll-out of the nodes 
will start in 2023. Ireland expects to have 8 edge nodes installed in 2023, 18 in 2024, and 23 in 2025. 
This goes a long way towards reaching Ireland’s effort of the overall target.  

In  December  2022,  the  government  and  the  EU  each  committed  themselves  to  investing 
EUR 5 million  in  a  new  initiative  to  protect  the  transmission  of  sensitive  data  and  prevent 

138 ComReg Document 23/03. 
139 ComReg Document 23/04. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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cyberattacks. The initiative aims to help reaching the Digital Decade target for the Union being at the 
cutting  edge  of  quantum  capabilities  by  2030.  Having  a  quantum  communications  infrastructure 
(QCI)  network  is  a  first  for  Ireland.  The  network  will  be  deployed  over  the  next  2  years  by  the 
IrelandQCI.  It  will  support  an  innovative  quantum  technology  ecosystem  that  will  enable  the 
transition  from  research-based  experimental  quantum  systems  and  devices  to  commercialisation-
ready  quantum  communication  products,  solutions  and  services.  This  network  forms  part  of  the 
EuroQCI initiative to build a secure QCI across the EU. Quantum 2030 is Ireland’s strategy to develop 
a high-performing, highly productive, and economically competitive quantum technologies research, 
development, and innovation (R&D&I) hub.  

The  main  regulatory  development  in  blockchain  was  Ireland’s  involvement  in  the  drafting  of  EU 
legislation on crypto assets markets. The Central Bank of Ireland has established an innovation hub 
that  enables  informal  engagement  with  innovative  companies,  whereby  such  companies  could 
develop financial service offerings underpinned by blockchain technology. 

The  Communications  Regulation  and  Digital  Hub  Development  Agency  (Amendment)  act  was 
signed into law in March 2023 and entered into force on 9 June 2023. Together with the European 
Union  (Electronic  Communications  Code)  Regulations  2022,  which  also  entered  into  force  in  June 
2023,  the  act  substantially  transposes  the  European  Electronic  Communications  Code.  The  act 
updates ComReg’s enforcement powers, provides for additional and enhanced consumer protection, 
and  establishes  a  legal  basis  for  the  enforcement  of  the  Electronic  Communications  Security 
Measures.  

Best practice: Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce (MPBT) 

The  MPBT,  made  up  of  state  actors  and  industry  representatives,  is  tasked  with  identifying  and 
overcoming  barriers  to  better  connectivity.  It  was  formally  re-established  in December 2021  and  a 
new  three  year  work  programme  was  agreed  in  April  2022.  The  work  programme  focuses  on:  (i) 
resolution of problems with permit granting, planning and licensing processes; (ii) more efficient use 
of 
infrastructure  and  assets;  and  (iii)  better  outdoor  mobile  phone  coverage.  When  fully 
implemented, these actions will remove barriers to telecoms infrastructure rollout, hereby improving 
access to telecommunications services nationwide. The EU connectivity toolbox is being incorporated 
into the work of the MPBT. 

Ireland  should  accelerate  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure.  In  particular,  Ireland  should  (i) 
increase its efforts to enable 5G connectivity, in particular 5G coverage in the 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum 
band,  (ii)  undertake  a  timely  public  consultation  regarding  the  26  GHz  frequency  band,  and  (iii) 
further enable gigabit connectivity,  in particular regarding the take-up of at least 100 Mbps and at 
least 1 Gbps broadband.  

Measures taken by Ireland in the field of semiconductors and edge nodes should continue in order to 
help the EU to become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud140 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Ireland 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

24% 

2021 

32% 

2021 

23% 

2020 

47% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

19% 

2020 

33% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

11% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

85% 

2022 

24% 

2021 

32% 

2021 

23% 

2020 

47% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

19% 

2020 

35% 

2022 

26% 

2022 

11% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

28% 

2019 

44% 

2019 

23% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

19% 

2020 

32% 

2020 

27% 

2020 

18% 

2019 

140 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, Digital Economy and 
Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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As the digital economy in Ireland is running at two different speeds, with only a small proportion of 
businesses having fully embraced digitalisation, Ireland continues to accelerate digital adoption in 
all  businesses.  To  make  further  progress  on  this,  in  May  2022,  Ireland  established  the  Enterprise 
digital advisory forum141 to support the government in the implementation of the business aspects of 
the National Digital Strategy. The Strategy sets out targets that are very much aligned with the EU’s 
Digital  Decade  targets  for  digitalisation  of  businesses,  for  example,  75%  of  enterprises  take-up  of 
cloud, big data or AI by 2030, and 90% of SMEs having at least basic digital intensity by 2030.  

With 85% of SMEs in Ireland demonstrating at least a basic level of digital intensity (significantly 
higher than the EU average of 69%), Ireland is well positioned to contribute to reaching the 2030 
EU target of over 90%. Enterprises in Ireland take good advantage of available digital technologies: 
the  use  of  social  media  (32%),  big  data  analysis  (23%)  and  cloud  (47%)  are  above  the  EU  average 
(29%, 14% and 34% respectively) and the use of AI is as widespread as in other Member States on 
average  (8%).  Ireland  underperforms  in  electronic  information  sharing  (24%  compared  to  the  EU 
average  of  38%)  and  the  use  of  e-invoices  (19%  compared  to  32%  at  the  EU  level).  In  2022,  SMEs 
continued  to  perform  above  the  EU  average  in  digitalisation,  with  35%  of  SMEs  selling  online  and 
more  than  a  quarter  of  their  turnover  coming  from  e-commerce,  a  slight  improvement  on  2021, 
when those indicators were 33% and 22% respectively. The share of SMEs selling online cross-border 
(11%) is just above the EU average of 9%. 

141 The forum brings together representatives of indigenous businesses of all sizes, multi-national companies, 
and experts in digital technologies and their adoption by businesses. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Ireland’s  performance  on  the  uptake  of  digital  technologies  by  businesses  is  on  par  with  that  of 
other Member States, but in general the country is significantly behind the EU targets for 2030 (i.e. 
at  least  75%  for  the  adoption  of  either  big  data,  cloud,  or  AI  technologies  by  enterprises).  For 
example, on cloud uptake, Ireland is still 28 percentage points away from reaching the 2030 Digital 
Decade  target.  As  part  of  Ireland’s  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan,  to  boost  the  uptake  of  digital 
technologies  in  businesses,  in  June 2022  the  government  launched  an  EUR 85 million  Digital 
transition  fund  (DTF)  that  will  run  until  2026  and  aims  to  support  at  least  800  businesses.  It  will 
enable  the  digitalisation  of  businesses  across  products,  processes,  supply  chains  and  business 
models,  as  well  as  productivity  gains,  access  to  new  markets,  increased  innovation  and  improved 
competitiveness.  The  DTF  includes  the  following:  digitalisation  vouchers  (as  of  June  2022  called 
‘digital discovery’), innovation  in  digital processes, developing digital marketing capability, strategic 
consultancy,  smaller  and  larger  research  and  development  projects.  By  the  end  of  2022,  159 
businesses  had  been  grant-approved  by  Enterprise  Ireland142  to  the  tune  of  over  EUR 10 million  in 
funding. This suggests that Ireland is well on track to reach the target of supporting the digitalisation 
of  at  least  800  businesses  by  2026.  In  addition,  in  Q1  2023,  work  began  on  the  development  of  a 
voucher  scheme  to  support  the  digitalisation  of  the  locally  traded  sector  that  has  not  traditionally 
received direct funding from the government to digitalise. The funding model being  considered will 
be aligned with the indicators of the Digital intensity index. Ireland has engaged with other Member 
States on how similar schemes operate.  

In July 2022, the government issued a Statement on the role of data centres in Ireland's Enterprise 
strategy.  It  sets  out  a  set  of  principles  to  harness  the  economic  and  societal  benefits  that  data 
centres bring, facilitating sustainable data centre development that adheres to Ireland’s energy and 
businesses policy objectives. 

As only 8% of businesses in Ireland use AI, which is significantly lower than the 2030 EU target of at 
least 75%, Ireland continues to work on encouraging the take-up of AI. It continues to implement 
the 2021 National AI Strategy, which includes a strand dedicated to the adoption of AI by businesses. 
The Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum has dedicated one of its workstreams in its work programme 
to further spurring the adoption of AI by businesses in Ireland. The Office of the Government Chief 
Information Officer is leading the digital transformation of the public service and ensuring an ethical 
and  trustworthy  approach  to  AI  development,  adoption  and  use.  In  May  2022,  the  government 
appointed Dr Patricia Scanlon as Ireland’s first AI ambassador to lead a national debate on the role of 
AI in people’s lives and to encourage more businesses to adopt it.  

Ireland is participating in the network of European digital innovation hubs (EDIH) that are helping 
businesses  to  digitalise.  All  four  of  Ireland’s  designated  EDIHs  passed  the  Commission  threshold 
making them eligible to become part of the EDIH network. Two EDIHs are expected to be co-funded 
through the Digital Europe Programme and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The remaining two 
hubs  have  been  awarded  a  ‘seal  of  excellence’,  which  permits  them  to  become  full  EDIH  network 
members  subject  to  national  funding  (entirely  provided  for  under  the  Recovery  and  Resilience 
Facility). Two of these EDIHs, Factoryxchange (FxC) and Data2Sustain, were established in February 
2023  and  another, ENTIRE,  was  established  in  May 2023.  Each  EDIH will  have  a  budget  of  EUR 1.9 
million  in  2023.  CeADAR143  will  become  a  national  AI  hub.  FxC  will  focus  on  providing  services  to 
enhance skills and training to accelerate the digital transformation of regional manufacturing SMEs in 
Industry 5.0.  Data2Sustain  will  aim  to  contribute  to  digitalisation  by  harnessing  regional  AI  skills, 

142 Enterprise Ireland is the government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish 
enterprises in world markets. 
143 Technology centre for applied data analytics and machine intelligence. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Ireland 

thereby contributing to reaching regional, national and European targets and KPIs. ENTIRE will make 
expertise,  technology  platforms  and  infrastructure/testbeds  available  to  enable  companies  to 
experiment with new digital technologies including AI. 

The Digital Transition Fund continues to support the transformative digitalisation of businesses in 
Ireland,  particularly  SMEs.  This  funding  is  intended  to  help  companies  at  all  stages  of  their  digital 
journey:  from  the  early  days  of  simply  going  online  to  the  digitalisation  of  products  and  business 
processes,  to  facilitating  exporting  and  to  using  digital  technologies  to  develop  new  markets  and 
business  models.  Besides  that,  the  trading  online  voucher  scheme  (TOV) offers  a  voucher  of  up  to 
EUR 2 500  (50%  co-funded  by  the  applicant)  to  help  businesses  develop  their  online  trading 
capability.  The  scheme  includes  training  sessions  that  cover  various  topics,  such  as  developing  a 
website, digital marketing, social media for business and search engine optimisation.  By the end of 
December 2022, 1 790 trading online vouchers (TOVs) had been approved for EUR 3 830 111.14.  

EDIHs  will  also  help  SMEs.  For  example,  CeADAR  will  give  SMEs  access  to  a  dedicated  high-
performance  computing  infrastructure  and  enable  them  to  accommodate  very  large  datasets.  FxC 
will develop and deliver digital skills in AI and advanced skills in digital technologies for SMEs. 
Ireland  currently  has  8  unicorns144  and  22  potential  future  unicorns145  (start-ups  whose  market 
valuation is between EUR 100 million and EUR 1 billion). The country is therefore expected to make 
a  significant  contribution  to  reaching  the  2030  EU  target  of  at  least  doubling  the  number  of 
unicorns. To support the growth of innovative high potential start-ups (HPSUs) with global ambitions 
so they can scale-up and potentially achieve unicorn status, Enterprise Ireland has put a number of 
mechanisms in place. For example, in the second half of 2022, it launched a new Pre-seed start fund 
which  doubled  the  amounts  available  for  investment  from  EUR 50 000  to  EUR 100 000.  The 
EUR 90 million Irish innovation seed fund (launched by the European Investment Fund and Enterprise 
Ireland  in  February  2022)  invests  in  other  specialist  fund  managers  who  will  target  high-growth 
innovative enterprises,  that  are  at the early stages of external funding for innovative,  high growth, 
scalable  sectors.  From  2010  to  2022  Enterprise  Ireland  has  supported  the  development  of  1 197 
HPSUs.  Almost  80%  of  them  approved  up  to  2020  are  still  in  business.  They  make  a  significant 
contribution to the Irish economy (e.g. they had over 10 000 employees in 2020 and the employment 
growth is accelerating).  Enterprise Ireland  has  set  itself a target  that by 2025, 35%  of HPSUs reach 
EUR 1 million in sales and/or 10 jobs within 3 years of HPSU approval, and it is on track to reach this 
target.  

EDIHs  are  also  intended  to  support  enterprises  and  organisations  by  providing  financing  advice. 
CeADAR  will  provide  support  to  help  more  SMEs  in  tapping  into  existing  national  and  European 
financial  investments  and  exploring  new  relevant  financial  instruments.  For  example,  FxC  aims  to 
facilitate access to finance and advanced business services for SMEs.  

The implementation of the National cyber security strategy 2019-2024 is progressing well. Of the 20 
measures  set  out  in  2019,  11  have  been  completed  and  of  the  remaining  9  measures,  1  has  been 
amended  under  the  midterm  review  process  (as  it  has  been  superseded  by  proposals  such  as  NIS 
2146),  9  other  measures  are  all  partially  completed.  The  mid-term  review  of  the  National  cyber 
security strategy 2019 - 2024 was published in June 2023. It sets out 18 new strategic actions to be 

144 Dealroom (date of extraction 16/01/2023). 
145 Dealroom (date of extraction 24/03/2023). 
146 Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on measures 
for  a  high  common  level  of  cybersecurity  across  the  Union,  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No  910/2014  and 
Directive (EU) 2018/1972, and repealing Directive (EU) 2016/1148 (NIS 2 Directive), (OJ L 333, 27.12.2022, p. 
80). 

 
 
 
 
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implemented  within  the  lifetime  of  the  strategy.  These  have  been  developed  following  a  public 
consultation as well as engagement with stakeholders from across the public and private sectors.  

The Irish government will continue to invest in building the  capacity of the National Cyber Security 
Centre  (NCSC)  particularly  in  its  ability  to  monitor  and  respond  to  cyber  security  incidents  and 
growing threats in the state such as ransomware. The midterm review will also ensure Ireland plays a 
full  and  active  part  in  the  cyber  discussions  in  the  EU  and  internationally  and  is  fully  prepared  to 
implement the revised EU Network and Information Systems Directive (NIS2) from next year.  

The National Cyber Security Centre is undergoing a period of expansion and development as a result 
of the government decision taken in July 2021 to implement the recommendations from the Capacity 
Review. In mid-2022, it was assigned additional functions as regards cybersecurity certification under 
the Cyber Security Act Regulation (2019/881) and the National Co-ordination Centre role for Ireland 
under the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre and Network Regulation (2021/887). 

Ireland  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses,  in 
particular  to  advance  the adoption  of  big  data,  cloud  and  particularly  AI  across  the  entire  business 
base of the country. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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4 Digitalisation of public services 

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

Ireland 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

80 

2021 

100 

2021 

59 

2021 

71 

2021 

93 

2021 

99 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

88% 

2022 

81 

2022 

100 

2022 

61 

2022 

71 

2022 

93 

2022 

98 

2022 

0 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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In Ireland, the public services provided to businesses and the general public are highly digitalised. 
To create a trusted, user-driven, intuitive, inclusive and efficient digital government service, Ireland is 
determined to further digitalise public services and ensure that the data held by them is used safely 
and effectively. Ireland continues to work on reaching the public service related targets set out in the 
National Digital Strategy, notably that 90% of applicable services will be used online by 2030 and 80% 
of eligible citizens will use MyGovID by 2030. 

Ireland has a perfect score of 100 in digital public services for businesses, so it has already reached 
the  2030  EU  target  for  this  indicator.  In  2022,  the  level  of  digital  public  services  for  citizens 
increased  by  a  single  point  (to  81)  and  was  above  the  EU  average  (77).  If  Ireland  intensifies  its 
efforts,  it  could  make  a  positive  contribution  to  reaching  the  2030  EU  target  for  this  indicator.  It 
scores high on e-government users (88% compared to 74% at EU level). In 2022, its performance in 
user support and the transparency of service delivery, design and personal data remained the same 
(93 and 71 respectively), but slightly decreased in mobile friendliness (from 99 in 2021 to 98 in 2022). 
Nevertheless,  in  all  those  three  indicators  Ireland  scored  above  the  EU  average.  Its  performance 
concerning the pre-filled forms increased slightly (from 59 in 2021 to 61 in 2022), it was, however, 
below the EU average (68 in 2022). Ireland is among the top three performers in the EU on open data 
maturity (95%)147. There are no access opportunities for citizens in Ireland that allow them to access 
routine healthcare  information in a digital environment, apart  from online  access to COVID-19 test 
results and the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate. This alone, however, does not qualify Ireland to score 
points for this Digital Decade target’s indicator. Ireland ranks 27th with a score of 0. 

147 Open Data in Europe 2022 | data.europa.eu. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Ireland  continues  to  implement  the  Connecting  government  2030:  Digital  and  ICT  public  service 
strategy  (published  in  March  2022),  which  supports  the  National  Digital  Strategy  and  is  aligned 
with  the  EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets.  It  focuses  on  the  user-centricity,  security  and  accessibility of 
digital  public  services.  The  strategy  highlights  (i)  Ireland’s  ambition  to  provide  better  access  to 
trusted,  high  quality  digital  government  services,  (ii)  its  determination  to  ensure  that  services  are 
delivered  in  an equitable, inclusive  and  sustainable manner  with  better  service  to  those  who  need 
assistance,  (iii)  the  importance  of  the  secure  and  transparent  reuse  of  personal  data  and  (iv) 
opportunities to co-create government services.  

A  digital  inclusion  roadmap  is  due  to  be  published  in  the  second  half  of  2023.  It  will  set  out 
measures to better support  people who may not be able to access services online. The high-level 
commitments  of  the  roadmap  will  include  achieving  digital  inclusion  through  a  coherent  and 
integrated whole-of-government approach to adopting the principle of ‘leave no one behind’.  

A  preferred  bidder  has  been  selected  to  build  the  government  data  centre  (set  out  in  Ireland’s 
Recovery and Resilience Plan). The 2023 ICT apprenticeship programme will see over 100 apprentices 
appointed  to 23  civil  service  organisations  in Q1 2023. Work  is  underway on a  national  life  events 
portal that will host key life events procedures online. The Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum will act 
in an advisory capacity for GovTech development in addition to its existing work. The Forum’s work 
will now include advising on the actions in the GovTech Priority Action Plan which is led by the Office 
of the Government Chief Information Officer. 

As there are no opportunities for citizens in Ireland to access electronic health records, a lot needs 
to  be  done  in  this  area  in  order  to  reach  the  EU  2030  target  (i.e.  that  100%  of  EU  citizens  have 
access  to  their  electronic  health  records).  To  address  this  shortcoming,  Irish  authorities  are 
developing  several  solutions.  The  development  of  a  Health  information  bill  is  underway,  and  the 
general scheme  was  presented  to the government in December 2022. This will ensure  that Ireland 
has a fit for purpose national health information system, including by providing for a national health 
information  guardian  (a  standards-based  approach  to  health  information)  and  a  national  health 
information authority (with funding under budget 2023 to support its design and development). To 
update  the  2013  eHealth  strategy,  the  development  of  a  new  2023-2027  Digital  healthcare 
framework is underway. It will set out the roadmap for digital health in Ireland for the next decade, 
present  options  for  investing  in  and  deploying  electronic  health  records  and  explicitly  state  the 
objective of giving all Irish citizens access to their electronic health records by 2030. 

Ireland  is  investing  considerably  in  the  technical  infrastructure  required  for  the  safe  clinical  and 
administrative  systems  needed  to  collate  and  share  the  data  necessary  for  the  provision  of 
electronic health records. The provision of electronic health record systems for the New children’s 
hospital is underway with a contract signed with an international vendor following approval by the 
government  in  July  2022.  The  deployment  plans  for  the  electronic  health  record  system  to  the 
maternity  hospitals  in  Limerick  and  the  Coombe  in  Dublin  are  being  adjusted  to  take  the  2021 
cyberattack  into  account.  Ireland  has  established  a  national  e-pharmacy  programme,  including  a 
national electronic prescription  project.  It  has also started  to  roll  out the national individual health 
identifier across general medical practice systems and hospital patient administration systems. 

The MyGovID digital identity service aims to give individuals safe and secure access to digital public 
services  in  Ireland.  It  is  designed  to  facilitate  a  more  joined-up  government  approach,  with  more 
sharing, reuse and integration of information between public bodies. It provides access to a range of 
public  services  in  welfare,  revenue,  transport  and  education  with  more  coming  soon.  In  Q1  2023, 
there were over 1.88 million verified MyGovID accounts, representing 49% of the adult population. 

 
 
 
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However,  Ireland  has  not  yet  notified  the  MyGovID  scheme  to  the  Commission  under  the  eIDAS 
Regulation148. 

Ireland  is  involved  via  public  and  private  entities  in  one  large-scale  pilot  project  funded  under  the 
Digital  Europe  Programme,  with  an  overall  grant  request  of  approximately  EUR  0.15  million. 
According to the  2022 eGovernment Benchmark, Ireland has maintained the score of 6%  on cross-
border eID services, while the EU average increased from 21.7% to 23.8%. It has also maintained full 
transparency in service design (100%). 

Ireland  is  one  of  the  strong  performers  (second  position)  in  the  EU  benchmarking  of  national 
investments  in  innovation  procurement  of  digital  solutions.  The  investments  in  transformative 
digital technologies, including those that are new to the market, are well above the EU average.  

As part of a co-ordinated approach to digital policy and regulation, the 2022 Online Safety and Media 
Regulation Act amends the 2009 Broadcasting Act to establish a Media Commission (to be known as 
Coimisiún  na  Meán  in  Irish),  dissolve  the  Broadcasting  Authority  of  Ireland,  establish  a  regulatory 
framework for online safety, update the regulation of television broadcasting and video on-demand 
services,  and transpose  the  revised Audiovisual  Media Service Directive.  A  Coimisiún  has also been 
designated as the digital services co-ordinator for the purposes of overseeing the implementation of 
the Digital Services Act, which will lead to the assignment of further functions.  

Ireland is committed to reducing emissions by 51% across all sectors of the economy by 2030 and 
to  reaching  net  zero  emissions  by  2050.  The  annual  climate  action  plans  outline  the  actions  and 
measures  that  will  enable  Ireland  to  reach  these  targets.  For  example,  the  plan  for  2023,  among 
others things, sets out the following actions: promote the digital transformation, sustainable remote 
working practices and the roll-out of the National broadband plan. 

The Climate toolkit 4 business helps Irish SMEs and micro enterprises to begin their transition to 
decarbonisation.  It  helps  them  understanding  their  current  carbon  footprint  and  provides  them 
information  on  what  resources  are  available  to  help  them  reduce  their  emissions.  The 
Climate4Business  Toolkit  was  launched  in  December  2021  and  so  far,  7 614  companies  have 
completed the calculator and generated their climate action report. 

Given  the  role  that  digital  hubs  play  in  supporting  balanced  regional,  economic  and  social 
development,  the  government  has  identified  and  mapped  every  enterprise,  scaling,  R&D,  co-
working and community hub in Ireland. These hubs were invited to join the National Hub Network 
(NHN)  and  its  shared  online  platform,  connectedhubs.ie.  In  2022,  the  government  provided 
EUR 5 million  in targeted funding to established hubs (this followed an investment of EUR 9 million 
under the same measure in 2021). 

Although the National Digital Strategy sets out a target of 80% of eligible citizens using MyGovID by 
2030, this goal is not entirely aligned with the  EU’s Digital Decade target of 100% of Union citizens 
having  access  to  electronic  identification  (eID).  Nevertheless,  given  a  steady  increase  of  MyGovID 
accounts  observed  over  the  past  years,  Ireland  is  expected  to  make  an  important  contribution  to 
reaching the EU target. The notification of MyGovID to the Commission is still pending. 

148 Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic 
identification  and  trust  services  for  electronic  transactions  in  the  internal  market  and  repealing  Directive 
1999/93/EC (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 73). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Best practice: gov.ie 

The  single  public  service  portal,  gov.ie,  is  designed  to  create  a  much  better  user  experience  by 
thematically presenting and simplifying information about public services to ensure that they are not 
only easy to find, but also easy to follow and navigate. User centricity, inclusivity and accessibility are 
of  key  importance.  Design  principles  for  government  in  Ireland  (published  in  October  2022)  and 
digital  user  experience  (UX)  checklist  support  the  provision  of  a  quality  service.  Most  government 
departments are on gov.ie with the final two in the process of transitioning shortly. The gov.ie service 
continues  to  be  the  trusted  platform  for  government  communications,  with  over  70 million  page 
views in 2022. 

Ireland should continue implementing its policies to digitalise public services. In particular, it should 
ensure everyone throughout the country can access the electronic health records. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Italy 

 
 
 
  
 
 
234 

Introduction  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

Italy  has  untapped  digital  potential  to  contribute  further  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the 
EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets.  In  recent  years,  Italy  has  made  significant  advances  in  terms  of 
infrastructure, but performs below the EU average on skills and some aspects of the digitalisation of 
public services.  The  strategies  adopted on cloud,  blockchain, AI, on cybersecurity, and recently the 
strategy for the telecom sector, together with the reforms and investments under the Recovery and 
Resilience Plan, create a solid framework for progressing towards a sustainable and inclusive digital 
transformation. 
The adoption of the National Strategy on Cybersecurity for 2022-2026 is an important development 
contributing  to  the  Digital  Decade  objective  to  strengthen  resilience.  It  aims  at  ensuring  the 
protection of national strategic assets, responding to national cyber threats, incidents and crises, and 
promoting the secure development of digital technologies.  

Italy is clearly aware of threats disinformation poses to democracy. Besides information campaigns, 
in particular during election periods, the National Authority for Electronic Communications actively 
monitors the information landscape through an Observatory on Online Disinformation and Pluralism 
and  runs  an  in-depth  exchange  through  a  Working  Table  on  Platform  involving  industry,  journalist 
and consumer associations.  

Italy  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  setting  up  of  a  European  Digital 
Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) on the European Cybersecurity Skills Academy. Italy is one of the 
Member States that have jointly submitted a formal application to set up the European Blockchain 
Partnership  and  the  EDIC  on  European  Blockchain  Infrastructure,  supporting  EU-wide  cross-border 
public services. 

Digital in Italy’s recovery and resilience plan (RRP)  

The Italian RRP amounts to EUR 191.5 billion. EUR 48 billion of this (or 25%) are devoted to the digital 
transformation;  out  of  this  amount,  EUR  42  billion  are  expected  to  contribute  to  Digital  Decade 
targets149.   

So far, EUR 67 billion has been disbursed to Italy, including pre-financing, and two payment requests 
have  been  approved.  The  third  payment  request  has  also  received  the  Commission’s  positive 
preliminary assessment in July 2023.   

The  first  payment  request  was  disbursed  in  April  2022.  Italy  achieved  51  milestones  and  targets. 
These  were  linked  to  investments  and  reforms  contributing  to  the  digital  transformation.  These 
in  particular,  an  ambitious  programme  for  the  digitalisation  of  the  Italian  public 
include, 
administration  set  out  in  the  RRP:  (i)  the  ‘cloud  first  and  interoperability’  reform,  including  a  new 
cloud strategy and legislative amendments introducing incentives for and rules on cloud adoption by 
public administrations; (ii) the reform of ICT procurement reform, streamlining and accelerating the 

149  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice of potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

procurement process for ICT services and assets; (iii) the publication of calls for expression of interest 
to  select  projects  under  the  ‘Important  Projects  of  Common  European  Interest’  (IPCEIs),  including 
‘microelectronics II’ and ‘next generation cloud infrastructure and services’; (iv) and drawing up the 
national programme for the guaranteed employability of workers and a national plan for new skills.  

The  second  payment  request  was  disbursed  in  November  2022.  Italy  achieved  45  milestones  and 
targets. These were also linked to digital transformation and reforms.  

For  example,  Italy  awarded  public  contracts  for  five  connectivity  projects  to  complete  the  national 
ultra-fast and 5G telecommunications networks throughout the country. These projects are expected 
to significantly contribute to Italy’s digital transition objectives and reduce the digital divide: Italia a 
1Giga  (Italy  at  1Giga),  Italia  5G  (Italy  5G),  Scuole  connesse  (Connected  Schools),  Sanità  connessa 
(Connected Healthcare facilities), and Collegamento isole minori (Connected smaller islands)150.  

in  IPCEIs, 

Moreover,  the  country  adopted  a  legal  act  allocating  the  required  funding  to  support  projects 
participants 
including  the  IPCEIs  on  microelectronics  and  next  generation  cloud 
infrastructure and services. Italy also adopted the national plan School 4.0, to transform classrooms 
into  innovative  learning  environments  through  the  use  of  digital  technologies.  It  signed  an 
institutional development contract between the regions and the health ministry paving the way for 
investments in the digitalisation of 280 hospitals and homecare and telemedicine infrastructure. The 
country also awarded contracts to create national research centres, some of  them in key emerging 
digital technologies. 

Under  the  third  payment  request,  Italy  has  provided  evidence  of  the  achievement  of  additional 
milestones and targets linked to investments and reforms contributing to the digital transformation, 
including cybersecurity.  

150 An updated status of the NRRP Plans related to digital infrastructures is available on the dedicated online 
platform: https://connetti.italia.it/en.    

 
 
 
 
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1 Digital skills  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

Italy 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

76% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

16% 

2020 

3.6% 

2020 

1.3% 

2019 

80% 

2021 

46% 

2021 

23% 

2021 

58% 

2021 

16% 

2020 

3.8% 

2021 

1.4% 

2020 

83% 

2022 

46% 

2021 

23% 

2021 

58% 

2021 

19% 

2022 

3.9% 

2022 

1.5% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

More  than  half  of  the  people  in  Italy  still  do  not  have  at  least  basic  digital  skills,  making  it  very 
difficult for them to benefit from digital opportunities and exercise their rights of citizenship in an 
inclusiveness  of  the  digital 
increasingly  digitalised  world.  This  significantly 
transformation  in  Italy.  Italy’s  performance  on  above  basic  digital  skills  is  closer  to the  EU  average 
(23% against 26%) but still displays a gap that needs to be addressed.  

impacts  the 

The national strategy on digital education and skills has not been fully implemented yet. An annual 
Monitoring  Operational  Plan  has  been  implemented  specifically  to  track  the  progresses  of  the 
national  strategy  for  digital  skills,  the  second  assessment  recognizes  that  for  some  indicators  the 
observed  average  annual  progress  is  lower  than  the  expected  average  annual  progress.  The 
assessment does not yet cover the impact of measures implemented under the RRP. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

The structured dialogue on digital education and skills (involving the European Commission and many 
Member  States,  including  Italy)  helped  to  trigger  a much-needed  coordination  between  key  public 
and  private  players  at  national  level,  which  is  expected  to  accelerate  the  implementation  and  the 
effectiveness of the digital skills strategy.  

In addition, several initiatives supporting digital skills development continued and were strengthened 
under  the  umbrella  of  the  Repubblica  Digitale  (Digital  Republic).  A  dedicated  fund  (Fondo  per  la 
Repubblica Digitale) was set up as a public-private partnership to further support initiatives aiming to 
increase digital skills, and the first two initiatives ‘Futura’ and ‘Onlife’ were launched. They use a pay-
for-performance method and are focused on reskilling and upskilling, targeting women in particular.   

The Digital Civil Service is another major initiative that is expected to significantly reduce the risk of 
digital  exclusion  by  raising  the  level  of  digital  skills  of  1  million  citizens  by  2025.  Another  relevant 
initiative is the network of Digital Facilitation Centres that are physical access points, usually located 
in  libraries,  schools  and  community  centres,  which  provide  citizens  with in  person  and  online 
training.  The  overall  goal  is  to  set  up  3 000  centres,  with  approximately  1 200  located  in  southern 
Italy to support inclusiveness.  

There have also been many media education initiatives aimed at increasing the media literacy skills 
of  the  population,  in  particular  raising  awareness  to  counter  disinformation.  Notably,  the  Italian 
Digital Media Observatory joined forces with universities and private stakeholders to increase media 
and information literacy and help citizens develop a critical understanding of online media. 

Digital competence  plays  a  crucial  role  in  the  design  of  Italy’s  new  educational  system.  The  new 
system  aims  to  help  children  acquire  the  skills  needed  to  face  the  challenges  of  the  future, 
overcoming inequalities and gaps between different parts of the country. Reforms and investments 
set  out  in  the  RRP  to  improve  infrastructure  and  competence  in  schools  continue  under  ‘Futura  - 
Education for the Italian Future’, which aims to build innovative schools designed to serve the whole 
community.  The  reform  of  school  programmes  for  2022/2023  is  expected  to  help  schools  include 
more STEM subjects. The E-Portfolio initiative will target secondary school students, together with a 
specific  digital  platform,  to encourage  them  continue  STEM  studies.  These  initiatives  aim  to create 
synergies between education, university and the world of work151. Moreover, the School 4.0 plan was 
adopted  to  transform  100 000  classrooms  into  innovative,  connected  and  digital  environments, 
suitable for new ways of learning. It has been complemented by specific teacher training since 2022, 
which aims to train 650 000 school leaders, teachers and staff by 2024.   

Another initiative is the ITS Academy reform. This aims to guide technical and professional institutes 
towards the innovation output of the National Industry 4.0 plan and the significant digital innovation 
happening  in  all  job  sectors.  The  main  goals  are  to  increase  the  training  offer  at  higher  technical 
institutes and improve professional development paths by adapting laboratories to the new training 
needs  of  the  digital  transition.  Italy  should  continue  implementing  measures  that  benefit  all 
education levels: primary, secondary and tertiary. In addition to teaching ICT as a standalone subject, 
digital  should  be  integrated  across  all  subjects  to  ensure  school  curricula  take  into  account  how 
digital technologies are used in everyday life and at the workplace. 

Regarding the Digital Decade target on ICT specialists, Italy’s share of 3.9% remains below the EU 
average of 4.6% and  the share of women among ICT specialists is 16%,  below the EU average of 
18.9%. Future prospects are undermined by low rates of ICT graduates and enrolment.  

151 Decreto Ministeriale n. 328 del 22 dicembre 2022. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

The importance of developing new skills and updating job profiles is recognized as a common priority 
for almost all categories of companies. However, the number of enterprises actually offering training 
to  their  employees  is  still  insufficient  with  19%  compared  to  22%  at  EU  level.  Progress  could  be 
driven  by  the  collective  labour  agreements  signed  in  the  last  two  years  in  different  sectors,  which 
included digitalisation as one of the strategic priorities for vocational training. Moreover, there is an 
opportunity for structures as the EDI (Digital Ecosystem for Innovation) and the Competence Centres 
to  improve  technical  knowledge  of  the  workforce,  in  particular  for  SMEs.  By  December  2022  the 
latter had already provided more than 138 000 hours of qualified training on advanced technologies. 
Specific initiatives to foster ICT competences among SMEs are also supported by tax credits. 

Italy’s number of ICT graduates remains significantly below the EU average and the ambitions for 
the  Digital  Decade,  as  the  country  is  unable  to  meet  the  business  demand  for  qualified 
professionals.  Even  though  the  formative  offer  is  evolving  and  expanded  by  new  flexible  training 
offers, the share of ICT graduates remains particularly low, at only 1.5%, compared to an EU average 
of  4%,  and  less  than  a  fifth  are  women.  Moreover,  while  women  account  for  more  than  half  of 
graduates (57.7%), only 8.8% have a STEM degree (slightly above the EU average of 8.1%).  

The  government  is  making  large-scale  investments  in  research  projects  under  the  Recovery  and 
Resilience Plan to limit brain drain and increase the attractiveness of Italy’s universities and research 
ecosystem  which  is  low  compared  to  other  European  Countries  and  lacks  adequate  remuneration 
and incentives. These measures are not limited to the ICT field but are highly relevant. Moreover, the 
gap  between  the  different  Italian  regions  is  reflected  in  the  university  and  research  activities.  For 
2023-24,  99  universities  will  be  able  to  offer  18 770  doctoral  scholarships,  including  13 292 
scholarships  for  innovative  doctorates  in  partnership  with  private  companies  to  bring  scientific 
knowledge  closer  to  the  market  and  vice  versa.  Companies  co-financing  innovative  doctoral 
scholarships  at  50%  can  benefit  from  a  tax  relief  provided  they  hire  PhD  graduates  in  permanent 
positions.  

The Ministry of Universities and Research launched the second cycle of the Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 
initiative  for  2023-2027,  providing  selected  departments  with  an  average  of  EUR  1.5  million  in 
funding over the next five years. The introduction of result-based funding has had a positive impact 
on Italian research.  

Reinforcing basic and advanced digital skills is a precondition for Italy to exploit the full potential of 
the digital transformation and bridge existing digital divides.  

Italy should step up its efforts on digital skills, in particular in upskilling and reskilling of its labour 
force.  Moreover,  it  should  introduce  skills  forecasting  to  match  the  needs  of  its  labour  market  and 
improve cooperation particularly with industry and civil society. Italy should increase the capacity of 
the educational systems to train more ICT specialists, leveraging the RRF funding152.  

152 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
239 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Italy 

DESI 
2021 

41% 

2020 

6.1% 

2020 

34% 

2020 

34% 

2020 

70% 

2018 

DESI 
2022 

52% 

2021 

9.7% 

2021 

44% 

2021 

44% 

2021 

80% 

2021 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

60% 

2022 

13.4% 

13.8% 

2022 

2022 

54% 

2022 

54% 

2022 

80% 

2021 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

8.1% 

99.7% 

99.7% 

2020 

60% 

2021 

2021 

60% 

2022 

2022 

93% 

2023 

Italy performs well in digital infrastructures and has made some remarkable progress towards the 
Digital Decade targets. However, efforts are still needed. 

Concerning  the  Digital  Decade  target  for  fixed  Very  High Capacity Network (VHCN),  Italy  still lies 
below the EU average. Only54% of households are covered, compared to 73% in the EU, but there 
has  been  a  10  percentage  points  jump  between  2021  and  2022.  All  VHCN  coverage  in  Italy  is 
provided  through  fibre-to-the  premises  (FTTP).  A  considerable  gap  still  exists  between  urban  and 
rural  areas.  Only  26%  of  rural  areas  are  covered  by  fixed  VHCN.  Fixed  wireless  access  technology 
capable  to  deliver  VHCN  performances  can  help  to  close  this  geographical  gap  faster.  Significant 
investments  are still  needed  to  reach  the  Digital  Decade  target  of  100%  of  households  covered  by 
VHCN by 2030.  

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

The percentage of households with fixed broadband take-up of at least 100 Mbps is 60% (higher than 
the EU average of 55%) and has risen significantly, by 8 percentage points, between 2021 and 2022.  

In  2022,  Italy  made  progress  concerning  the  percentage  of  households  with  fixed  broadband  of  at 
least 1 Gbps, which reached 13.4% and is in line with the EU average of 13.8%.  

Italy progressed on several RRP measures linked to the Digital Decade targets and objectives for both 
fixed  and  mobile  broadband  coverage.  The  Italian  RRP  allocates  EUR  6.7  billion  to  support  the 
deployment  of  connectivity  infrastructure,  the  highest  allocation  in  all  Member  States.  This  has 
resulted in Italian investments in connectivity increasing over the last two years. In this context, the 
Italian National Regulatory Authority for electronic communication has set the new rules for funding 
projects  –  under  national  RRP  –  aimed  at  increasing  availability  of  gigabit  connectivity  and  5G 
coverage.  This  includes  setting  wholesale  service  access  prices,  consistently  with  the  market  and 
regulatory conditions.  

The Piano Italia a 1 Giga aims to provide connectivity of at least 1 Gbit/s download and 200 Mbit/s 
upload  in  grey  and  black  market  failure  areas,  identified  as  a  result  of  mapping  activities.  Its 
implementation is progressing and is expected to be completed by 30 June 2026. As of December 31, 
2022, a total of 41 896 dwellings comprising 88 412 households were connected.  
The implementation of the Piano Banda Ultralarga (BUL)153 is also in progress, with a total of 3.255 
FTTH  municipalities  that  have  been  already  marketed  at  the  end  of  2022;  781  FFTH  municipalities 
that  have  been  successfully  tested;  4.961  fibre  sites  opened;  and  972  FWA  sites  that  have  been 
positively tested. The project is scheduled for completion in September 2024.  

Italy  has  achieved  nationwide  5G  coverage  in  2021  and  93%  of  the  harmonized  spectrum  was 
assigned  in  2023.  Concerning  5G  coverage  on  the  3.4-3.8  GHz  spectrum  band,  which  is  very 
important for enabling advanced application, the overall percentage of households covered is 80%.  

Mobile broadband take-up in Italy is below the EU average (80% vs. 87%), despite a 10 pp increase 
between 2018 and 2021 (from 70% to 80%).  

Some  stakeholders  pointed  out  that  structural  issues  will  likely  delay  progress  towards  the  Digital 
Decade  connectivity  targets  in  Italy.  These  include  the  administrative  and  bureaucratic  burden  on 
operators, in particular building permits and other unexpected issues, such as the spike in prices due 
to inflation.   

One  of  the  barriers  to  5G  deployment,  in  particular  for  standalone  offers,  is  the  limit  to 
electromagnetic  emissions,  which  is  considerably  lower  in  Italy  than  the  EU  recommendation.  This 
has a considerable impact on network deployment as some  sites  cannot  be  upgraded with any 5G 
equipment or with optimal power due to the electromagnetic spectrum being saturated by existing 
signals. This also creates barriers for new entrants.    

The  Piano  Italia  5G  included  in  the  Italian  RRP  aims  to  encourage  the  deployment  of  5G  mobile 
networks in market failure areas to meet the mobile connectivity needs of citizens, businesses and 
public administrations. The Plan has two measures. The ‘backhauling’ measure plans to bind back to 
fibre  some  11 098  existing  radio  mobile  sites  that  are  not  connected  with  fibre  and  would  not  be 
until at least 2026, preventing the deployment of 5G and/or more advanced technologies. The tender 
for this work was awarded in May 2022. The ‘densification’ measure plans to deploy new 5G  radio 
mobile sites in more than 1 385 white areas of the country. Contracts to start the work were signed 

153 A daily update on the status of BUL is provided by the online dedicated platform: 
https://bandaultralarga.italia.it/en/. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

with the selected companies in July 2022 and infrastructure activities are expected to be completed 
by 30 June 2026.  

Overall  Italy  has  made  some  remarkable  progress  towards  achieving  the  Digital  Decade  targets, 
especially on mobile  connectivity,  and  its  RRP  represents  a major  boost  for  investment.  The  newly 
adopted Strategy for the ultrabroad, designed to further reinforce the telecom sector, is in line with 
these  actions.  In  particular,  it  supports  the  creation  of  an  edge  cloud  computing  network  to 
contribute to Digital Decade target. It will be crucial to make the best use of the available resources 
to further decrease the gaps that still exist with the other Member States in certain areas, especially 
fixed  connectivity,  and  at  the  same  time  consolidate  the  important  achievements  made  in  mobile 
connectivity, in particular for advanced applications.  

Italy  is  continuing  to  strengthen  its  positioning  in  the  sector  of  semiconductors  technologies. 
Besides  investments  planned  under  the  RRP  for  participating  in  the  IPCEI  ‘Microelectronics  and 
Communication  Technologies’,  a  new  Italian  Center  for  the  Design  of  Semiconductor  Integrated 
Circuits has been created with an initial allocation of EUR 10 million for its establishment in 2023 and 
another 25 million a year from 2024 to 2030. The Center will promote the design and development 
of integrated circuits, strengthen the professional training system in the field of microelectronics and 
help establish a network of universities, research centres and companies to support innovation and 
technology transfer in the sector.   

Italy is at the forefront of High Performance Computing (HPC) and quantum computing, thanks to a 
joint  investment154  of  EUR  120  million  in  LEONARDO,  a  world-class  supercomputing  system 
developed and assembled in Europe, which is currently the fourth most powerful supercomputer in 
the  world  and  it  will  be  further  improved  to  become  one  of  the  first  European-built  quantum 
computers.  

The ICSC National Research Centre coordinates research and development activities at national and 
international  level  in  the  field  of  simulations,  computing  and  analysis  of  high-performance  data  to 
supports innovation in 10 selected areas. These areas include quantum computing, future HPC and 
big  data,  fundamental  research  and  the  space  economy,  environment  and  natural  disaster,  digital 
society and smart cities.  

In  March  2023,  Italy  launched  TeRABIT,  an  infrastructure  based  on  last-generation  dedicated  fibre 
optics, allowing data to be exchanged at terabit speeds (1 000 billion bits per second). It aims to build 
improve 
integrated  computing  and  network 
by  2025  a  next-generation 
collaboration and information exchange among the Italian scientific community.  

infrastructure  to 

Italy should step up its efforts on connectivity infrastructure, in particular Gigabit coverage. It will be 
crucial for Italy to maximise the available to improve fixed connectivity coverage and consolidate the 
significant achievements made in mobile connectivity, particularly for advanced applications.  
Measures taken by Italy in the field of  semiconductors, edge nodes and quantum computing should 
continue in order to help the EU to become a strong market player in these areas. 

154 Half of the investment of which comes from the EuroHPC JU and the other half from the Italian Ministry of 
Universities and Research and the CINECA consortium consisting of five more participating EuroHPC countries. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud155 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Italy 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

35% 

2019 

22% 

2019 

9% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

95% 

2020 

11% 

2020 

9% 

2020 

7% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

32% 

2021 

27% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

52% 

2021 

6% 

2021 

95% 

2020 

13% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

70% 

2022 

32% 

2021 

27% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

52% 

2021 

6% 

2021 

95% 

2020 

13% 

2022 

14% 

2022 

7% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

155 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

Most  Italian SMEs have at  least  a basic level of digital intensity  (70%  compared to EU average of 
69%). Progress is especially pronounced in the use of electronic invoices, where Italy outperforms the 
EU average with 95%. The percentage of SME turnover from ecommerce reached 14% in 2022, above 
the European average of 11%. Other indicators like the use of social media, SMEs selling online and 
SME  selling  online  cross  border  are still  below  the  EU  average.  As  regards  the  uptake  of  advanced 
technologies, sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing is being used by 52% of enterprises, 
well above the EU average of 43%, but only 9% of enterprises use big data analysis (compared to 
14% at EU level) and only 6% are using AI (compared to 8% at EU level). 

Italy  is one of  the  12 Member  States  taking  part  into  the  IPCEI-CIS, which  forms  part  of  the  Multi-
Country Project on a Common Data Infrastructure and Services. The uptake of cloud services, which is 
at  the  core  of  any  digital  business  transformation  and  the  competitiveness  and  innovation  of 
economic  sectors,  is  well  advanced.  Italy  is  encouraged  to  continue  fostering  the  use  of  new 
advanced  trusted  cloud  solutions  and  to  contribute  to  advanced  cloud  upskilling  for  enterprises, 
including on cloud security and environmental performance.  

The  new  Strategy  for  cybersecurity  adopted  in  2022  includes  82  measures  to  be  implemented  by 
2026.  This  should  guarantee,  among  other  things,  a  cyber  resilient  digital  transition  of  the  Public 
Administration  and  industry  and  the  management  of  cyber  crises,  contributing  to  national  and 
European strategic autonomy in the digital sector. A specific set of KPIs has been defined to measure 
the achievement of the objectives. 

Italy  is  actively  promoting  an  integrated  technology  transfer  system  to  encourage  the  provision  of 
advanced  and  innovative  technological  services  to  businesses,  especially  SMEs,  by  focusing  on 
technologies of excellence and production specializations.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

Italy is actively participating in the  European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) network with 13 EDIHs, 
which were selected to be co-funded by the European Commission´s Digital Europe Programme and 
the Italian Government. Another 17 Italian projects have received the Seal of Excellence and will also 
become  part  of  the  network.  In  addition,  business  digitalisation  is  supported  by  the  Competence 
Centres, public-private partnership acting as innovation clusters and formed by at least one research 
organisation and one or more undertakings. 

Furthermore,  the  ‘Houses  of  emerging  technologies’  support  emerging  technologies  funding 
research, experimentation and technology transfer centres,  with a focus on emerging technologies 
that  use  5G  and  6G  networks  (Blockchain,  artificial  intelligence,  augmented,  virtual  and  immersive 
reality,  Internet  of  Things  and  quantum  technologies).  Following  the  2022  tender,  which  allocates 
EUR  80  million,  from  the  2014-2020  Development  and  Cohesion  Fund,  Houses  of  Emerging 
Technology will be launched in seven new cities that will be added to the already existing six. 

The  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (DIH)  promoted  by  the  business  association  and  the  Digital  Enterprise 
Points (PID) promoted by the Italian Chambers of Commerce are also providing training and support 
services  to  companies  seeking  to  implement  innovation,  industrial  research  and  experimental 
development projects. 

To  further  strengthen  efforts  to  create  an  innovation  ecosystem  for  start-up  and  SMEs,  Italy, 
together  with  23  other  Member  States,  signed  the  EU  Startup  Nations  Standard  of  Excellence, 
thereby committing to encourage entrepreneurship and create a more favourable environment  for 
start-ups.  

However,  despite  the  numerous measures  and  dedicated  resources,  take  up  of  AI  and  big  data  by 
Italian  businesses  is  still  very  low  and  negatively  impacts  the  possibility  to  create  a  favourable 
ecosystem  for  start-ups.  Moreover,  the  possibility  for  start-ups  to  scale-up  in  Italy  remains  limited 
when compared to other Member States with similar economic size and industrial sectors. Italy has 
only 5 companies with unicorn status (i.e. a one billion USD capitalization). The chances for start-ups 
to reach unicorn status are extremely low, despite the dynamism of new start-ups in the ICT sector. 
ICT start-ups make almost half of the registered start-ups in Italy and marked a growth of 22.6% in 
2022, driven mostly by blockchain, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence156. The weakness of the Italian 
ecosystem for innovative start-ups could undermine the concrete possibility for Italy to contribute to 
EU digital leadership. 

Italy  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In 
particular,  Italy  should  continue  supporting  the  development  and  deployment  of  advanced 
technologies,  notably  AI  and  big  data,  including  capacity  and  knowledge  building.  Italy  should 
strengthen  its  efforts  to  encourage  entrepreneurship  in  digital  sectors  and  create  an  ecosystem  of 
innovation, in particular for start-ups and SMEs, improving their chances to scale up. 

156 Innovative start-ups and SMEs that have registered their activities with the ATECO codes belonging to the 
ICT sector at the Chambers of Commerce. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Italy 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

67 

2021 

79 

2021 

48 

2021 

49 

2021 

76 

2021 

91 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

76% 

2022 

68 

2022 

75 

2022 

47 

2022 

49 

2022 

78 

2022 

91 

2022 

71 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
246 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

Italy  scores  below  the  EU  average  on  the  provision  of  digital  public  services  for  citizens  and 
businesses,  reaching  a  score  of  75  and  68  against  an  EU  average  of  84  and  77,  respectively. 
Moreover,  the  digital  public  services  that  are  being  provided  score  well  below  the  EU  average  as 
regards  transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and  personal  data,  with  no  progress  achieved 
between 2021 and 2022. Nonetheless, the percentage of internet users using e-Government services 
lies at 76%, slightly above the EU average of 74%.    

In  2022, the  National  Registry of  the  Resident  Population, which  collects  the  data  and  maintains  a 
general  register  of  citizens,  was  fully  implemented.  Citizens  can  verify  and  request  corrections  to 
their demographic data and access registry services in one place, regardless of their municipality of 
residence. Already 8 out of 40 services are available.  

After creating the National Cybersecurity Agency, the government published the national strategy on 
cybersecurity.  This  was  an  important  step  to  improve  the  security  and  efficiency  of  the  public 
administrations  because  cybersecurity  of  digital  services  is  crucial  to  encourage  citizens  and 
businesses to use them.  

The  Digital  National  Data  Platform  (PDND)  was  set  up;  it  aims  to  enable  the  interoperability  and 
exchange of data among public administrations in a secure and simplified way. The National Strategic 
Hub  (PSN),  a  high-capacity  cloud  infrastructure  to  host  critical  and  strategic  data  and  services  for 
Italian public administrations, was also launched. Moreover, Italy launched a programme to support 
and encourage the migration of local government systems, data and applications to qualified cloud 
services. 

 
 
 
 
 
247 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

Italy  is  still  lagging  behind  on  the  user-friendliness,  design  and  transparency  of  digital  public 
services.  The  ‘Designers  Italia’  platform  was  set  up,  and  new  design  guidelines  for  websites  and 
digital  services  were  issued  to  promote  and  foster  the  design  of  user-centred  services  across  the 
public sector.  

Moreover,  to  promote  the  accessibility  of  public  services,  a  project,  POLIS  –  Casa  dei  servizi  di 
cittadinanza Digitale, was launched to promote economic, social and territorial cohesion by ensuring 
that everyone, wherever they  live,  can  benefit  from all  digital public services. A total of 6 910  post 
offices in small and remote urban centres will be transformed into one-stop shops for public services 
as well as co-working and learning spaces throughout Italy. The project will be partially funded under 
the complementary national plan to the RRP. 

Access to services will be  further improved with the Single Digital Gateway. In December 2022 the 
national components of the Italian technical infrastructure of the gateway was implemented, tested 
and delivered. Harmonising and fully digitalising 21 priority administrative procedures is ongoing. The 
national digital strategy set a target to increase public demand for digital solutions to 40%.   

The uptake of Italian eID systems continued. The SPID had been issued over 34.5 million times as of 
March 2023 and can be used to access the services of 14 010 public administrations and 157 private 
companies. In addition, 32.7 million national identity cards (CIE or carta di identità elettronica) were 
issued.  The  cards  are  equipped  with  a  contactless  microchip  that  enables  authentication  to  access 
the  online  services  of  6 240  public  and  private  bodies.  The  government  aims  to  integrate  the  two 
digital identity systems into a single national service. Italy has also joined two international consortia, 
NOBID  and  POTENTIAL,  that  will  test  the  European  Digital  Identity  Wallet  in  Italy  and  across 
participating countries. 

An  investment  of  EUR 1.3 billion,  supported  by  the  RRP,  aims  to  transform  electronic  health 
records  (EHRs)  into  a  single  access  point  for  health  data  and  services  and  ensure  full 
interoperability between and portability across Italy’s regions. In particular, a new data architecture 
was put in place (known as the Health Data System), and a new governance system was set up with 
additional competences in the digital domain under the National Agency for Health. EHRs are active 
in all regions, and the associated services are fully accessible in almost all regions. Access to EHR by 
citizens, general practitioners and healthcare is in line with the EU average (score 71/100) but differs 
considerably across regions. 

Overall, several factors have contributed to overcoming the delays accumulated over the past years: 
the  availability,  efficiency  and  security  of  digital  infrastructure,  the  interoperability  of  data  and 
information across public administrations, the implementation of the once-only principle, increasing 
use  of  the  digital  identity  and  the  completion  of  the  EHR.  Recent  measures  taken  to  ensure  more 
user-centric public services and improve the accessibility of digital public services, along with efforts 
to increase the digital skills of civil servants and the basic skills of the population, promise to further 
increase the use of digital public services by citizens in the coming years.  

Best practice: National Strategy on Cybersecurity 

The  strategy  builds  on  the  awareness  that  cybersecurity  is  as  an  essential  element  of  the  digital 
transformation.  Its  objective  is  to  plan,  coordinate  and  implement  measures  to  make  the  country 
safe and resilient while ensuring citizens’ trust and safeguarding fundamental rights and freedoms. 

The National Cyber Security Strategy has a holistic approach with 82 actions organized around three 
objectives:  

 
 
 
 
248 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Italy 

•  Protection of national strategic assets. 

•  Response to national cyber threats, incidents and crises, including the national architecture 

for managing cyber security incidents and crises.  

• 

Informed  and  secure  development  of  digital  technologies,  research  and 
competitiveness, responding to market needs. 

industrial 

The  strategy  includes  numerous  training  activities  aimed  at  ensuring  that  the  actors  involved  in 
various capacities have the appropriate technical tools, expertise and operational skills.  

The strategy also includes the creation of a High Performance Computing infrastructure dedicated to 
national cybersecurity, as well as the development of simulation tools, based on artificial intelligence 
and machine learning, to support the prevention, discovery, response, and prediction of the impacts 
of systemic cyber-attacks. 

The  implementation  plan  will  be  monitored  by  the  National  Agency  for  Cybersecurity  through  a 
system  of  pre-defined  KPIs.  The  RRP  resources  dedicated  to  Cybersecurity  amount  to  EUR  623 
million.  

Italy  should  step  up  its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  speed  up  the 
implementation of existing and planned measures. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
249 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Latvia 

 
 
 
 
   
 
 
250 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

Latvia has untapped digital potential to contribute further to  the collective efforts to achieve the 
EU’s  Digital Decade  targets.  While  performing very well on fixed connectivity and on  digital public 
services,  Latvia  has  made  limited  progress  on  5G  and  on  the  take  up  of  gigabit  services  and  is 
underperforming on the digitalisation of business. Therefore, sustained efforts are key to unlock the 
potential  for  the  economy.  Latvia  still  needs  to  increase  the  level  of  digital  skills  among  its 
population.  Aligned  with  the  Digital  Decade  Policy  Programme,  and  coordinated  between  national 
and local authorities, academia, and NGOs, the Implementation plan 2023-2027 has updated Latvia’s 
national digital strategy.  
Latvia is collaborating with the other Member States in exploring the possibility to set up European 
Digital Infrastructure Consortia (EDICs) on: (i) establishing an Alliance for Language Technologies, to 
develop a common infrastructure in the field of natural language processing and large multi-language 
models; and (ii) ‘Copyright Infrastructure’, to release the potential of EU’s creative sectors. 

Digital in Latvia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Latvia  's  RRP amounts  to over  EUR  1.8  billion  in  funding  and  allocates  more  than  EUR  384 million, 
21% of the total RRP allocation, and it is expected to contribute to the Digital Decade targets157. The 
plan’s  main  objectives  are  to  tackle  the  digital  skills  gap  and  boost  digital  transformation  and 
innovation  in  enterprises  while  maintaining  its  strong  position  in  the  modernisation  and  digital 
transformation  of  public  services.  Investments  in  5G  backhaul  and  last-mile  connectivity  are  also 
envisaged. The entire budget is estimated to contribute to the Digital Decade targets, most of it to 
digital  skills  and  digital  public  services,  and  some  of  the  budget  will  contribute  to  the  targets  on 
digitalisation of businesses and unicorns.  

A first payment was disbursed for EUR 201 million in 2022. It was paid following Latvia's satisfactory 
fulfilment of a number of milestones, including three milestones on digital policies:  

- 

- 

- 

the adoption of a common model for the development of last-mile broadband connections, 
to  ensure  end-user  access  to  very  high  capacity  broadband  network  in  regions  and  rural 
areas;  
the adoption of a framework for the organisation and implementation of remote learning in 
educational institutions, to tackle the digital divide for disadvantaged pupils; and  

the adoption of technical requirements for connected and automated driving, to support the 
development of the Latvian section of the Via Baltica corridor, a railway connecting Estonia, 
Latvia and Lithuania to Poland and Czechia. 

The Latvian authorities have started discussions to amend their RRP and to include a chapter on the 
REPowerEU plan.  

157  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
251 

1 Digital skills  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

Latvia 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023 

2030 target 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

87% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

17% 

2020 

3.6% 

2020 

4.4% 

2019 

90% 

2021 

51% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

64% 

2021 

17% 

2020 

3.8% 

2021 

4.6% 

2020 

90% 

2022 

51% 

2021 

24% 

2021 

64% 

2021 

15% 

2022 

4.4% 

2022 

5.0% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Latvia is only slightly below the EU average on both at least basic and above basic digital skills. 51% 
of  the  population  aged 16  to  74  have  at  least  basic digital  skills,  and  24%  have  above  basic  digital 
skills, against the EU averages of 54% and 26% respectively. With 64% of the population with at least 
basic  digital  content  creation  skills,  Latvia  is  close  to  the  EU  average  of  66%.  The  share  of  ICT 
graduates  slightly  increased  to  5%,  which  is  higher  than  the  EU  average  (4.2%).  On  ICT  specialists, 
Latvia is narrowing the gap with the EU. ICT specialists represent 4.4% of the total workforce, against 
the EU average of 4.6%. 

Latvia has taken several measures, both for schools and for adults, that are expected to contribute 
to increasing the level of basic digital skills of the population. 

At  school  level,  Latvia  launched  last  year  a  national  programme  for  school  equipment  for  pupils  in 
grades  7  to  9  (budget  EUR  11.14  million).  The  objective  is  to  purchase  personal  computers  for  all 
public schools in Latvia. Since  the end of 2022, 25 080 devices have  been delivered to 614 schools 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
252 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

and  delivery  will  continue  throughout  2023.  The  schools  also  received  tech  support  on  how  to 
successfully implement the one student, one device teaching approach. 

In  2023,  Latvia  successfully  implemented  the  main  data  collection  stage  in  the  2023  International 
Computer  and  Information  Literacy  Study.  Almost  3 000  eighth-grade  students  from  145  schools 
participated  in  the  study.  The  results  of  internationally  comparable  assessment  of  8th  grade 
students' computer and information literacy, and computational thinking will be available at the end 
of  2024.  They  will  track  Latvia's  progress  in  achieving  the  target  of  the  European  Education  Area, 
which is to have under 15% of low-achieving eighth graders in computer and information literacy by 
2030. 

The State Education Development Agency continued to run the national ESF project on improving the 
professional  competence  of  the  workforce  aged  25+.  The  project  has  a  total  budget  of  EUR  45.5 
million  (covering  the  period  2017-2023),  of  which  ESF  financing  provides  EUR  38.68  million.  Since 
2017, 60 728 people have completed education programmes under the project. The highest share of 
participants  (32 559)  work  in  the  ICT  /  electronic  sector.  Nevertheless,  51%  of  participants  are 
learning  digital  skills  in  other  sectors  of  the  industry.  In  2022  the  agency  developed  several  new 
activities, focusing on workers with a low level of education. For example, this involves an individual 
approach, analysing the individual's profile and discussing their learning needs and potential. In this 
programme, training was provided on basic digital skills (DigComp level 1) and on other modules.  

The rise in the number of ICT specialists in Latvia reflects the labour demand and the job market in 
the ICT sector. The number of specialists continued to rise over the reporting period despite being 
below the EU average overall. In 2022, the number of jobs in ICT sector rose by 19.7% (almost 7 000 
jobs)  compared  to 2021.  Jobs  in  computer  programming,  consultancy,  and  related  activities  (NACE 
red.2 J62) and information service activities (NACE red.2 J63) saw an even greater increase by 10.6% 
(2 900 jobs).  

Latvia  performs  well  on  the  number  of  women  ICT  specialists:  22.8%  of  its  ICT  specialists  are 
women,  putting  Latvia  in the  top  10  of  Member  States  on  gender  balance  and  provides  positive 
contribution  to  the  achievement  of  the  Digital  Decade  goals.  The  Latvian  authorities  continue 
working  towards  this  EU  Digital  Decade  target.  Although  Latvia  already  performs  well  on  gender 
balance, it has launched a plan to promote equal rights and opportunities for women and men for 
2021-2023  which  includes  measures  to  stimulate  interest  among  young  people,  especially  girls,  in 
careers in IT. One of the activities in the plan is to teach girls to create simple apps or to code. Other 
activities  are  planned  to  reduce  negative  gender-related  stereotypes  regarding  career  and 
educational choices of girls and boys, thereby encouraging girls to learn digital skills and get involved 
in  ICT.  For  example,  the  initiative  aims  to  reduce  the  risks  of  gender  discrimination  in  the  labour 
market and to promote gender equality in the field of artificial intelligence by avoiding gender bias. 
These measures are expected to contribute to the Digital Decade targets of having a digitally skilled 
population  and  highly  skilled  digital  professionals,  with  the  aim  of  achieving  gender  balance.  It 
includes  educational  events,  information  campaigns  promoting  public  discussions  (inspiring  online 
and  face-to-face  conversations  and  discussions  in  social  networks  and  during  public  events, 
discussion-stimulating  articles),  public  discussion  with  industry  experts  on  the  connection  between 
gender equality and the AI industry. 

The  State  Employment  Agency  (SEA)  also  runs  activities  to  develop  digital  skills  to  encourage 
people out of work or at risk of becoming unemployed to take part in lifelong learning initiatives, 
particularly  people  with  lower  qualification  levels.  Recently  digital  skills  were  one  of  the  priority 
policy  actions  run  by the Ministry  of Welfare.  The  SEA  created  partnerships  with  stakeholders  and 
with a particular focus on bringing more people into digital careers. The SEA also increased the use of 
online  learning  platforms.  SEA  digital  skills  programmes  have  been  particularly  effective  in  helping 

 
 
 
253 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

lower skilled people, older workers, young unemployed and people with disabilities get back into the 
labour market. 

Latvia  plans  a  measure  in  its  RRP  on  ‘Development  of  digital  skills  for  society,  development  and 
support of technological creativity for society, especially young people’. This will take the form of 
both  a  digital  self-service  skills  learning  approach  and  an  e-learning  course.  Learning  modules  and 
learning  materials  on  digital  self-service  skills  will  be  developed  for  people  to  learn  through  self-
learning or with the support of trainers - mentors. This course will help build digital skills among the 
population, in particular the skills to use public and private digital services. To ensure the project is 
sustainable,  Latvia  will  run  training  activities  open  to  the  public  in  close  cooperation  with  local 
municipalities  using  a  decentralised  approach  (closer  to  the  person).  This  will  involve  encouraging 
and motivating people to learn and identifying and using existing resources effectively. 

Latvia has started to develop and reinforce the concept of individual learning accounts under its RRP. 
The  aim  of  the  investment  is  to  strengthen  the  implementation,  management  and  storage  of 
individual  learning  pathways  and  outcomes  of  individuals  learners.  It  also  aims  to  promote  adult 
participation in education by helping learners develop and improve their digital skills. By 2026, Latvia 
will run pilot project with individual learning account resources designed to help at least 3 500 adults 
learn digital skills. 

Under the new approach, creating a learning environment for self-managed ICT training is expected 
to increase the proportion of ICT specialists and prepare around 500-600 new ICT specialists by 2027. 

To  help  people  develop  digital  skills  and  recognise  that  they  can  also  develop  these  skills  through 
non-formal  education  programmes,  Latvia  has  developed  a  regulatory  framework  which  stipulates 
that  the  content  of  the  non-formal  education  programmes  and  learning  targets  should  follow  the 
descriptions of the Digital Competencies of the European Citizens (DigComp 2.1) and the competence 
levels. 

Best practice: Women4IT 

In  March  2022,  the  Latvian  Information  and  Communication  Technology  Association  (LIKTA)  in 
cooperation  with  the  SEA  announced  a  call  for  applications  for  the  3rd  round  of  the  Women4IT 
project  training  programme  in  Latvia.  Under  this  programme,  young  women  who  are  not  in 
employment, education, or training can develop skills for a range of digital job profiles and receive 
career guidance. In total, over 250 women applied for this round and 67 young women have started 
training.  The  greatest  level  of  interest  was  registered  in  the  information  system  tester  profile  and 
digital media specialist profile. 

To  help  participants  choose  their  field  of  study,  women  assessed  their  current  digital  skills  and 
suitability for different professions by taking specially designed tests before starting the course. The 
tests  are  available  on  the  digital  platform,  developed  by  the  Women4IT  consortium,  which  bring 
together  nine  organisations  from  European  countries.  The  platform  also  provides  infographics  and 
descriptions of each profession, detailing the required skills. 

Latvia should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills. In particular Latvia is encouraged to 
continue implementing measures to address all cycles of education and to mainstream digital in the 

 
 
 
 
 
254 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

education  system,  integrated  to  all  subjects.  Special  attention  should  be  paid  to  attracting  and 
retaining ICT specialists158. 

158The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
255 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

Latvia 

DESI 
2022 

61% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

62% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

DESI 
2021 

56% 

2020 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

13.8% 

% households 

2020 

2021 

2022 

2022 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

88% 

2020 

88% 

2020 

74% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

91% 

2021 

89% 

2021 

86% 

2021 

0% 

2021 

63% 

2022 

92% 

2022 

91% 

2022 

86% 

2021 

42% 

2022 

63% 

2023 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

Latvia has room for improvement on digital infrastructure. Concerning connectivity, it performs well 
in  terms  of  fixed  very  high  capacity  network  (VHCN)  coverage  positively  contributing  to  Digital 
Decade  targets,  but  it  is  far  below  EU  average  on  5G  coverage.  On  quantum,  Latvia  made  some 
notable progress over the reporting period on semiconductors. 

A large majority of households in Latvia has access to VHCN, currently, fixed VHCN are available in 
92% of households, which is 19 percentage points higher than the EU average of 73%. Fibre to the 
premises coverage in Latvia is also among the highest in the EU at 91%. In rural areas, VHCN coverage 
has  increased  by  5  percentage  points  to  reach  80%  in  2022,  far  above  the  EU  average  of  45%. 
However,  the  uptake  of  gigabit  services  remains  limited.  This  may  be  explained  by  the  wide 
availability of commercial offers for home internet using 4G and 5G networks.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

Under  the  RRF,  Latvia  has  proposed  investing  EUR  4  million  in  developing  its  very  high  capacity 
network ‘last-mile’ infrastructure. This complements an EUR 8.7 million investment partially drawn 
from  the  European  Regional  Development  Fund  (ERDF).  Through  this  investment,  the  target  is  to 
provide 1 500 households, businesses and socio-economic drivers with access to very high capacity 
networks by the end of 2025. It also draws on EUR 13 million from the (ERDF) to create very high-
performance electronic communications network  infrastructure including middle-mile and last-mile 
infrastructure. Latvia began commercially rolling out 5G in 2019, while the increase in wider public 
availability of 5G services started in 2022. As of mid-2022, 5G coverage  reached 42%  of populated 
areas in Latvia, considerably below the EU average of 81%. The 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum band, which is 
crucial for enabling advanced applications requiring large bandwidth, reached 21% coverage in Latvia 
by mid-2022, also well below the EU average.  

Latvia  is  working  on  the  construction  of  5G  support  infrastructure  for  its  road  and  rail  transport 
infrastructure and lowering the barriers to achieving it. It plans to make available optical networks on 
the  Via  Baltica  motorway  by  the  end  of  2025.  Construction  of  this  passive  infrastructure  aims  to 
provide  5G coverage along the Latvian part of this road corridor. It has also drawn almost  EUR 8.3 
million from the ERDF to construct passive infrastructure along the Latvian part of the Rail Baltica to 
ensure continuous 5G coverage along this transport corridor. Bureaucratic and regulatory issues over 
property rights and use of public properties are hampering the building of towers needed to roll out 
5G.  It  is  also  facing  spectrum  interference  issues  at  its  border.  Latvia  is  working  on  reducing  the 
administrative burden affecting the roll-out of 5G and on solving the spectrum issues. 

Despite  its  late  roll-out  of  5G,  Latvia  is  one  of  the  frontrunners  in  developing  industrial  and 
innovative  applications of 5G  technologies.  It  has  launched  the  first  5G  military  testbed  in  Europe, 
showcasing the potential of 5G for military applications. The testbed allows the incumbent operator, 
the National Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence and allies from NATO and the EU to research and 
develop range of military applications of 5G. An operational experiment that took place in late 2022 
combined  the  use  of  augmented  and  virtual  reality  and  5G  technologies.  Latvia’s  5G  use  case 
development  also  goes  beyond  military  applications,  with  the  incumbent  operator  and  a  Latvian 
network equipment manufacturer working together to develop new 5G-enabled products and new 
5G use cases. 

So far, the Latvian authorities have not seen demand for the 26 GHz band but they are able to assign 
the rights of use for this band and to allow use from 2024 onwards. Until 2024, to boost 5G coverage, 
the  Latvian  authorities,  made  available  dedicated  spectrums  for  public  mobile  networks  for 
nationwide use and for private mobile networks to operate in geographically limited areas on a first-
come, first-served principle.  

An EUR 8 million project started in January 2023 co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme. The 
aim 
is  to  develop  a  national-level  experimental  and  advanced  quantum  communication 
infrastructure,  integrating  existing  communication  network  and  testing  quantum  technology 
operations.  The  project  is  planned  to  run  for  30  months.  One  part  will  be  used  for  use  cases 
restricted  to  the  defence  sector,  another  part  will  be  publicly  available  for  testing  commercial 
services in healthcare, finance, 5G, etc. Extensive user training is also planned as part of this project. 
In addition, the Latvian Quantum Initiative, signed in October 2022, brings together Latvia’s leading 
scientists  and  teaching  staff  in  the  field  of  quantum  technologies  to  support  knowledge,  skills, 
technologies and ideas related to practical applications of quantum physics. Lastly, during the fourth 
quarter of 2022, a Quantum Excellence and Competence Centre was formed by several universities 
and  advanced  science  institutions  in  Latvia,  with  the  aim  of  developing  advanced  digital  skills, 
fostering  cooperation  between  quantum  computing  and  artificial  intelligence  research,  quantum 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

nanoelectronics and photonics, and quantum cryptography and communication. The project receives 
funding from the RRF and will be completed by 2026.  

Latvia  also  signed  a  memorandum  of  understanding  between  12  partners  in  November  2022  to 
develop semiconductors capabilities in Latvia across the whole value chain. It covers developing the 
microchip  ecosystem,  developing  educational  and 
research  capabilities  and  developing 
manufacturing capabilities. Latvia’s electronic and optical device manufacturing sector has been the 
fastest  growing  manufacturing  sector  since  2010,  growing  from  3.7%  to  7%  in  2022  in  terms  of 
manufactured  volume  with  90%  of  these  electronic  devices  exported.  The  main  forthcoming 
measures  envisaged  under  the  EU  Chips  Act  include  issuing  a  call  for  tender  for  the  status  of  the 
National  Competence  Centre  and  setting  up  the  national  contact  point  for  coordination  and 
cooperation within the semiconductor ecosystem in forthcoming measures. 

In relation to the target on edge nodes, the telecoms sector plays an important role in Latvia. Latvia's 
incumbent  operator  develops,  tests,  implements,  and  scales  telecommunications  solutions  in  local 
environments and abroad, in many fields ranging from mobility, smart city solutions to the internet 
of  things  (IoT)  and  public  safety.  Other  main  telecom  operators  provide  world  class  global  IoT 
connectivity and related services. 

Latvia  should  accelerate  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure.  In  particular,  Latvia  should 
increase efforts in rolling out 5G connectivity. The swift implementation of the RRF measures is very 
relevant. Moreover, Latvia’s efforts in the area of quantum and semiconductors should be sustained 
in order to help the EU become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud159 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Latvia 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

39% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

22% 

2021 

4% 

2021 

15% 

2020 

14% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

52% 

2022 

39% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

22% 

2021 

4% 

2021 

15% 

2020 

16% 

2022 

8% 

2022 

7% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

32% 

2019 

19% 

2019 

9% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

15% 

2020 

11% 

2020 

7% 

2020 

7% 

2019 

159 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, Digital Economy and 
Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
259 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

Latvia's  performance  on  digitalisation  of  businesses  is  still  far  from  achieving  the  Digital  Decade 
targets  and  shows  a  significant  room  for  improvement.  Although  Latvia  has  improved  on  some 
indicators, it is still below the EU average overall. In 2022, 52% of SMEs had at least a basic level of 
digital intensity, far below the EU average of 69%, and the Digital Decade target of over 90% of SMEs 
reaching at least a basic level of digital intensity by 2030. The share of Latvian enterprises using social 
media (two or more channels) and sharing information electronically has increased to around the EU 
average in 2021. However, in 2021 only 9% of enterprises used big data and 4% used AI, well below 
the  EU  average.  Latvia’s  share  of  enterprises  using  in  2021  cloud  services  (22%)  was  also  low 
compared with the EU average (34%). On e-commerce, only 16% of SMEs sell online, and 8% of SME 
turnover is generated from e-commerce. 

Significant efforts will be needed over the coming years to meet the EU’s targets for more than 90% 
of EU SMEs to have reached at least a basic level of digital intensity and for 75% of companies to use 
big  data,  cloud  or  artificial  intelligence  by  2030.  Several  programmes  are  either  ongoing  or  under 
development  to  support  progress  in  these  areas.  Latvia  is  welcome  to  fully  implement  the 
digitalisation of businesses actions outlined in its RRP. 

Latvia is a partner in the IPCEI-CIS on cloud and could benefit from stepping up dissemination and 
roll out actions and strategies jointly developed by both public and private actors to strongly boost 
the use of new advanced cloud solutions among SME ecosystems. 

Developing a sustainable digital economy is identified as one of Latvia's main policy priorities. The 
actions for the digitalisation of businesses outlined in Latvia's RRP will boost digital transformation. In 
its  RRP,  Latvia  includes  several  measures  promoting  the  digital  transformation  of  businesses, 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

including  an  EUR  40  million  investment  to  help  digitalise  business  processes  and  EUR  45.1  million 
support  via  financial  instruments  to  promote  the  digital  transformation  of  economic  operators, 
which is ongoing. Two more investments to help integrate new products and services in business and 
business digital skills are under development.  

Latvia has set up two digital innovation hubs – the Latvian Digital Innovation Hub and the Digital 
Accelerator of Latvia – with over 10 regional contact points as one-stop-shops in the largest cities. 
Latvia  anticipates  receiving  funding  from  the  RRF  (EUR  10  million),  the  Digital  Europe  Programme 
(EUR  3.2  million)  and  the  ESF  (EUR  8 million).  Furthermore,  the  Business  Development,  Innovation 
and SME Programme, launched in 2021 by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia and co-
funded  by  the  Norwegian Financial  Mechanism  aims  to  suport  SMEs  to  develop  new  products  and 
technologies,  to  modernise  and  to  improve  production  facilities.  In  ICT  field,  12  projects  are  being 
implemented for an amount of EUR 2.6 million.  

In April 2022, the Latvia's Ministry of Economy signed a memorandum of understanding with one of 
the  world’s  leading  IT  companies  to  provide  training  to  enterprises  to  boost  their  knowledge  and 
skills in areas such as e-commerce, export and international growth, digital marketing and technology 
integration  and  well  as  cybersecucrity.  So  far,  6 000  companies  participated  last  year.  The  trainig 
programme also makes one-to-one follow-up coaching available to participants. 

A Latvian company operating in the digital sector reached the unicorn status, i.e. with value at or 
above  1  billion.  The  company  operates  in  the  digital  printing  and  sewing  outsourcing  business, 
producing and delivering orders in Latvia. With production facilities and partners in EU and all around 
the globe, the company employs a total of 1 800 people, a third of whom works in Latvia. 

On the regulatory side, the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia developed in 2022 a state 
platform  for  business  development  (business.gov.lv),  which  promotes  the  digitalisation  of  services 
and  the  development  of  e-services  more  broadly.  The  Portal  of  State  Administration  Services 
(www.latvija.gov.lv)  has  been  operational  since  2016,  with  the  aim  of  providing  easy  access  to 
information  and  services  for  business  activities,  and  is  currently  being  redesigned.  As  of  2023,  the 
portal  is  expected  to  provide  not  only  information  but  also  access  to  public  services  to  both  the 
general public and businesses. 

Under Latvia’s smart specialisation strategy (RIS3), an informative report has been developed and 
approved  by  the  Cabinet  of  Ministers  on  a  fully  fledged  innovation  system  management  model. 
This includes a RIS3 steering group dedicated to ICT, bringing together representatives of the public 
sector,  private  sector,  academia  and  associations.  The  aim  of  the RIS3  strategy  in  ICT  is  to  analyse 
issues  related  to  legislation,  human  capital,  access  to  finance,  R&D,  commercialisation  and 
internationalisation. It currently includes four clusters of action: (1) radically innovative digitalisation 
(blockchain,  quantum,  space  data,  digital  twins,  etc.);  (2)  open  infrastructure  including  5G/6G, 
OpenRAN,  IoT,  etc.;  (3)  digitalisation  paradigms  such  as  Industry  4.0;  and  (4) technology  platforms 
(machine learning and AI, speech technologies, etc). 

Finally, Latvia is gradually developing national capacities in satellite data to support the uptake of big 
data. To this end, Latvia benefits from having associate membership in the European Space Agency, 
from  participating  in  the  EU  Space  programme  initiatives  and  in  national-level  digitalisation 
initiatives. Currently, the aim is to expand the user uptake to communities that are actively involved 
in digitalisation, but not yet in downstream space data usage. 

Latvia should significantly step up its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses. In particular, 
Latvia  should  strengthen  the  dissemination  and  exploitation  efforts  of  digital  technologies  and  the 
implementation  of  strategies  jointly  developed  by  both  public  and  private  actors,  to  strongly  boost 
the use of new advanced cloud solutions among SME ecosystems. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

Latvia 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

87 

2021 

86 

2021 

77 

2021 

72 

2021 

78 

2021 

95 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

77% 

2022 

87 

2022 

86 

2022 

76 

2022 

71 

2022 

89 

2022 

98 

2022 

79 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
262 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

Latvia 's performance on digital public services is positively contributing to the achievement of the 
Digital Decade targets. 77% of internet users use e-Ggovernment services, above the EU average of 
74%. Latvia performs well ion the availability of digital public services, and outperforms the European 
EU  average  on  the  key  aspects  of  online  service  provision  (pre-filled  forms,  transparency,  user 
support and mobile friendliness), and on access to e-health records too. 

Latvia is one of the leading Member States in terms of digitalisation of public services. The country 
performs  above  the  EU  average  on  all  indicators  in  this  area  and  performs  well  at  acquiring  and 
providing innovative digital public services. 

Public services for both individuals and businesses are highly digitalised in Latvia. With a score of 86 
in  digital  public  services  for  business  and  87  in  digital  public  services  for  citizens,  the  country 
performs  well  above  the  EU  averages,  thus  positively  contributing  to  reaching  the  2030  Digital 
Decade target of digitalising all public services in all EU Member States. To further encourage citizens 
and  businesses  to  interact  online  with  public  administrations  and  advance  innovation  in  the  public 
sector,  Latvia  participates  in  the  GovTech  consortia  ‘The  incubator  for  knowledge  sharing  and 
collaborative  delivery  for  all  GovTech  initiatives  in  the  EU  (GovTech4all)’.  This  consortia  brings 
together 22 partners from 15 countries in a joint effort to create a single European Union GovTech. 
The  project  involves  working  together  with  public  and  private  sector  entities,  research  bodies  and 
NGOs with the ultimate goal of providing an ongoing forum for joint innovation among innovators in 
the public sector across all EU Member States. 

Although 77% of Latvians use e-Government services (against the EU average of 74%), there is still 
potential  to  make  public  services  more  appealing,  especially  for  people  that  do  not  use  them 
regularly. Latvia has taken substantial regulatory measures to improve the online accessibility of key 

 
 
 
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

public  services  for  citizens  and  businesses.  The  Ministry  of  Environmental  Protection  and  Regional 
Development  (VARAM)  has  implemented  the  board  e-Government  policy,  which  includes  creating 
State and Municipal Unified Customer Service Centres (CSCs) to provide state and local government 
services and implementing modern and effective information and communication technologies in the 
public  sector.  CSCs  are  one-stop  shops  where  individuals  and  businesses  can  submit  requests  to 
public regulation bodies and receive  services.  The network of 141 CSCs has proven to be a reliable 
and effective e-Government channel for citizens that need to be encouraged to use digital services. 
The  expected  result  is  to  establish  592  CSCs  across  the  country  to  expand  access  to  digital  public 
services, particularly for non-digital clients, across the country in each commune until 2026.  

Latvia  is  finalising  its  ‘Digital  Health  Strategy  until  2029’  policy,  which  will  frame  the  strategic 
development and management of digital health by building an open and interoperable health data 
ecosystem. In cooperation with professional organisations in the public health sector, the Ministry of 
Health  signed  the  cooperation  memorandum  on  digital  health  on  7  July  2022.  The  Digital  Health 
Council was established on 7 December 2022 to work on digital health issues, develop an open digital 
health ecosystem, and improve the quality, affordability, accessibility, and convenience of healthcare 
for all parties involved at all levels of healthcare. The national electronic health system underwent a 
number of improvements in 2022, including a functionality that enables Latvian citizens to indicate 
on  their  electronic  health  cards  whether  they  authorise  organ  donation  or  wether  they  authorise 
others to aprove medical treatment. 
The score on access to electronic health records is 79, ranking the Baltic country 12th in the EU, and 
above the EU average (72).  In 20222, Latvia launched  the  digital health pilot  project  ‘Open Health 
Labs’  organised  by  the  National  Health  Service,  which  promotes  the  implementation  of  innovative 
and digital solutions in healthcare organisations across Latvia. This involved developing cooperation 
with four hospitals to provide access to specialists for start-ups and a better knowledge of issues. 

In the field of electronic identification (eID), Latvia has a scheme notified under the eIDAS Regulation 
and already used by 40% of the public. Latvia has four eID means notified at ‘substantial’ and ‘high’ 
levels of assurance under the Latvian eID scheme, eID karte, eParaksts karte, eParaksts karte+, and 
eParaksts.  As  one  of  the  pioneer  Member  States  to  notify  a  mobile  eID  solution,  Latvia  has 
introduced  the  mobile  app  ‘eParaksts  mobile’  that  allows  users  to  sign  documents  electronically, 
enter  into  contracts  and  receive  services  from  authorities.  The  application  also  provides  e-identity 
authentication on various self-service portals for both public and private sector organisations. Latvia 
has  been  part  of  several  collaborative  projects  on  eID.  They  include  the  ‘Nordic-Baltic  eID  Project’ 
(NOBID),  which  aims  to  harmonise  various  eID  solutions  in  eight  Nordic  and  Baltic  countries  to 
provide access to cross-border digital services in the region. The NOBID project has jointly adapted 
the EIDAS Regulation and focuses on the EU Digital Identity Wallet, which is formed by eIDAS 2.0. 

The Latvian national digital strategy emphasises the importance of stimulating demand for innovative 
ICT solutions through public procurement; however, investments are still low. 

Best practice: e-form 

The ‘e-form’ contains solutions enabling individuals (people or businesses) with an e-mail address to 
send  structured  data  to  state  authorities.  The  solution  builds  a  platform  enabling  organisations  to 
digitise forms (referred to as ‘e-forms’) without compulsory IT development processes. e-forms help 
users  access  to  ordinary  e-services,  enabling  them  to  submit  data  for  further  automatic  machine 
processing  if  needed.  e-forms  give  institutions  the  option  to  digitise  forms  for  public  service 
application without the need to make additional investments. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Latvia 

Latvia  should  accelerate its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  continue  to 
ensure that electronic health records are easily accessible and continue to boost digital public services 
for citizens and digital public services for businesses. 

 
 
 
 
 
265 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Lithuania 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Lithuania 

 
 
 
 
   
 
 
266 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Lithuania 

Lithuania is expected to make a positive contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the EU’s 
Digital  Decade  targets.  It  benefits  from  continuity  in  the  implementation  of  plans  and  strategies, 
which are aligned with the Digital Decade Policy Programme. Significant progress has been made in 
digital  skills,  but  further  effort  is  needed  to  contribute  to  the  achievement  of  the  Digital  Decade 
targets,  and  connectivity,  whilst  the  performance  on  digitalisation  of  public  services  has  been 
consistently good.  

Digital  policies  are  managed  in  a  decentralised  way  in  Lithuania.  Each  ministry  is  responsible  for 
digitisation  activities  in  its  own  policy  area  and  has  strategy  documents  for  that.  The  activities 
contribute to the implementation of the main strategy document, the National Progress Plan 2021-
2030,  while  the  main  document  on  digitalisation  remains  the  state  Digitalisation  Development 
Program 2021-2030, setting out the priorities for digitalisation. In 2022 implementing legislation for 
the Program was developed, setting out activities designed to help Lithuania reach the Digital Decade 
targets.  

Lithuania is collaborating with other Member States in exploring the possibility to set up  European 
Digital Infrastructure Consortia (EDICs) on: (i) establishing a Alliance for Language Technologies, to 
develop a common infrastructure in the field of natural language processing and large multi-language 
models; and (ii) Innovative Massive Public Administration inter-Connected Transformation Services, 
to develop a new generation of advanced cross-border public services. 

Digital in Lithuanian Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Lithuania’s RRP allocates  EUR 701 million (31.5%) to measures  supporting digital transition. Of this 
amount, over EUR 660.5 million is estimated to contribute to the Digital Decade targets160. Over half 
of the funds are assigned to investment in digital public services and infrastructure. The plan focuses 
on facilitating the rollout of 5G networks, the digitalisation of public services and creating innovative 
solutions for transport. 

Implementation of Lithuania’s RRP is well underway. In May 2023 European Commission disbursed 
the first payment of €542 million to Lithuania. The milestones related to the digital transition were 
related  to  the  5G  spectrum  auction,  measures  facilitating  the  digitalisation  of  public  services  (a 
Competence  Centre  for  Digital  Transformation  and  Open  Data)  and  the  preparatory  work  for  a 
project on innovative solutions in the field of transport. 

160  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Lithuania 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

14% 

2020 

3.3% 

2020 

3.7% 

2019 

Lithuania 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

82% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

86% 

2021 

49% 

2021 

23% 

2021 

61% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

3.8% 

2021 

4.0% 

2020 

87% 

2022 

49% 

2021 

23% 

2021 

61% 

2021 

13% 

2022 

4.4% 

2022 

4.7% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

On  digital  skills,  Lithuania’s  performance  has  room  for  improvement,  although  it  has  made  an 
important  progress  in  some  indicators  over  the  recent  years,  in  particular  in  the  area  of  ICT 
specialists.  Still, Lithuania will  need  to  continue  the sustained  efforts  in view  of  the  Digital  Decade 
digital skills’ 2030 targets.  

Almost half of the Lithuanian population masters at least basic digital skills, slightly below the EU 
average  (49%  vs  54%).  The  data  on  above  basic  digital  skills  show  a  similar  difference,  where 
Lithuania  scores  23%  against  the  EU  average  of  26%.  The  share  of  ICT  specialists  in  total 
employment is 4.4%,  below the EU average of 4.6% but  significantly higher than last year  (3.8%) 
and thereby converging quickly with the EU average. ICT graduates currently account for 4.7% of all 
graduates in Lithuania. Notably, the country remains significantly above the EU average in terms of 
gender  balance  among  in  the  ICT  workforce.  Lithuanian  enterprises  are  modestly  investing  in  ICT 
training:  only  13%  provided  specialised  ICT  training  to  their  employees,  against  the  EU  average  of 
22%. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Lithuania 

Lithuania currently lacks a specific digital skills strategy, but it runs several initiatives to develop the 
digital skills of its population, including the 2020-2030 Industry Digitisation Roadmap, and the 2013-
2022 State Education Strategy. It has also developed the National Skills Strategy in cooperation with 
the OECD. It reviewed the curricula of primary and secondary schools, with the aim of strengthening 
the development of digital  competencies, as well as adult  learning. One of the priorities  under  the 
2021-2030 National Digitalisation Development Programme is to improve the digital skills of people 
in socially vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, elderly, and people on lower incomes. 
As  in  previous  years,  Lithuania  promoted  digital  skills  at  all  levels  of  education  and  vocational 
training.  

In  2022,  Lithuania  started  to  implement  an  RRF-funded  EdTech  project,  scheduled  for  2022-2024 
with a budget of EUR 30 million. It promotes the use of the state-of-the-art educational technologies 
in  the  education  sector,  provides  training  for  teachers,  and  supports  the  development  of  digital 
content and solutions for teaching methods. 

Furthermore,  Lithuania  has  several  ongoing  activities  underway,  including  the  management  of 
websites  raising  awareness  of  the  safer  use  of  internet  (www.esaugumas.lt)  and  trust  services 
(www.elektronisparasas.lt).  The  Communications  Regulatory  Authority,  the  telecom  NRA,  together 
with  the  association  INFOBALT,  organised  several  events  on  digitalisation  and  its  benefits,  such  as 
webinars and the DigitBaltic 2022 conference161. 

In  cooperation  with  the  digital  industry,  Lithuania  continued  to  provide  state-funded  education  to 
upskill and reskill workers, including specialised IT vocational education and training (VET) schools in 
Vilnius and Kaunas. 

Several  initiatives  are  underway  to  include  more  women  in  Science,  Technology,  Engineering  and 
Mathematics (STEM). For instance, several hundred women participated in a mentorship programme 
Women Go Tech, which support women’s careers in IT and engineering with funding from large tech 
companies. 

In  2022,  as  every  year,  National  Digital  Coalition  coordinator  Langasiateiti  runs  three  public 
campaigns: Safer Internet Week, All Digital Week and Seniors Online Week. These events included a 
range of activities encouraging and training people to develop their digital skills. The traditional Safer 
Internet Day campaign was run that year by Safer Internet Centre Lithuania, featuring an awareness 
centre,  a  helpline  and  a  hotline.  Another  important and  active  institution  among  the stakeholders, 
the digital industry association INFOBALT, also run programmes in this domain. 

Age is still a risk factor for social and economic exclusion in Lithuania. For seniors, the lack of digital 
skills  contributes  significantly  to  being  excluded,  both  in  terms  of  being  a  barrier  to  accessing  e-
services  and  opportunities,  and  in  terms  of  social  exclusion  and  income  inequality.  One  of  the 
initiatives to prevent exclusion and improve digital literacy is the ’Information Technology Connects 
Generations’ project, where young people share their time and digital skills with seniors. 

In  2022,  the Public  Employment  Service  launched  measures to  help  people  build  high  value  added 
qualifications and competencies (ALMP measures, support for learning) financed from the RRF funds. 
They  aimed  to  upskill/reskill  almost  20  000  workers,  half  of  whom  would  develop  digital 
competences. Implementation of the measures  started in July  2022 and  will run until 2026, with a 
budget of almost EUR 81 million. 

Lithuania organised almost 400 activities during the 2022 EU Code Week. Most activities (94%) were 
run at Lithuanian schools. Over 10 000 participants took part, of whom 47% were women and girls. 

161 www.digitbaltic.com 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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One type of institutions that is particularly important for the spread of digital skills and literacy are 
public libraries in Lithuania. These libraries run a network of 1 200 public internet access points in 
both  urban  and  rural  areas.  Operating  in  a  decentralized  manner,  they  organise  digital  literacy 
training on their own initiative on a variety of topics for members of their community. 

Lithuania should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills. In particular, Lithuania still needs 
to  invest  substantial  funds  in  formal  education  and  training  and  carry  out  upskilling  and  reskilling 
efforts for people already active in the labour market162. 

162 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Lithuania 

DESI 
2022 

46% 

2021 

1.0% 

2021 

78% 

2021 

78% 

2021 

85% 

2021 

33% 

2021 

5% 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

52% 

2022 

1.7% 

2022 

78% 

2022 

78% 

2022 

85% 

2021 

90% 

2022 

47% 

2023 

DESI 
2021 

40% 

2020 

0.3% 

2020 

67% 

2020 

67% 

2020 

74% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

5% 

2021 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

Lithuania performs relatively well on digital infrastructure and a positive outlook is noticeable both 
in fixed and mobile connectivity The roll-out of Fixed Very High Capacity Network (VHCN) has levelled 
up covering 78% of households, above the EU average of 73%. Similarly, fiber-to-the premises (FTTP) 
coverage reached a plateau at 78% in both 2021 and 2022, again well above the EU average of 56% 
in  2022.  The  take-up  of  1  Gbps  connections  increased  but  is  still  very  low  at  1.7%  of  households 
compared  to the  EU  average  of 13.8%. The  take-up of  fixed  broadband  with  speed  of  at  least 100 
Mbps is only 52%, slightly below the EU average of 55%. 

Lithuania  continued  implementing  the  main  publicly  funded  investment  project  ’Development  of 
Next  Generation  Access  Infrastructure’,  with  financial  support  from  the  ERDF  for  2018-2023, 
continued being implemented. The plan is to build 25 telecommunication towers and about 1200 km 
of fibre optic cables lines in remote areas that are currently without high-speed broadband internet. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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In 2022, the construction of fibre-optic cable lines was completed with 1 235 km of fibre-optic lines 
installed,  and  310  existing  communication 
infrastructure  objects  connected.  During  2022, 
construction  started  on  the  telecommunication  towers,  with  three  towers  completed  and  a  few 
others underway. The remaining towers are due to be built in the first half of 2023. 

In  areas  where  it  is  not  possible  to  build  communication  towers,  Lithuania  plans  to  install  Gigabit 
Passive Optical Network (GPON) compression infrastructure with about 12 000 connection points. It 
had installed some 9 500 connection points by the end of 2022.  

The development of infrastructure is based on the updated National Broadband Plan. Currently, the 
main measures  include  the  ‘Development of  gigabit broadband  infrastructure  for  digitally  sensitive 
users’  (private  companies,  non-governmental  and  governmental  organisations,  municipalities  and 
municipal companies). The project aims to enable access to gigabit broadband infrastructure to 5 000 
digitally  sensitive  users  and  receives  EUR  49  million  RRF  funding.  In  2022,  Lithuania  prepared  to 
implementation of this measure, involving surveying ministries, operators, and other institutions on 
their  connection  needs.  Currently,  implementation  has  started  on  the  high-speed  communication 
infrastructure project, and the public procurement documents needed to implement the project are 
being prepared. 

The RRP allocates EUR 24.5 million to support the roll-out of 5G networks, in particular to create an 
environment  for  testing  and  practical  application  of  innovative  communication  ideas  based  on  5G 
technology.  Preparations were made  in 2022,  calls  for  proposals were  launched  in  early 2023,  and 
the projects are scheduled to start in 2023 and run for two years. The areas for practical applications 
can vary from autonomous mobility, drones, the internet of things, virtual reality and robotics. 

There has been a significant increase in populated areas with 5G coverage from 33% in 2021 to 90% 
in 2022, above the EU average of 81%. 

Lithuania announced the auction to assign the rights to use radio frequencies from the 713-733 MHz 
and  768-788 MHz  radio  frequency  bands  in  October  2021  and  adopted  the  decision  in  September 
2022, with three winners. A block of 2x15 MHz from the 700 MHz frequency band is reserved for the 
Governmental Emergency Network. One of the problems affecting the smooth operation in the 5G 
may arise from broadcasting operations in the Kaliningrad Area of the Russian Federation that is run 
on the same frequencies. 

Lithuania  also  runs  the  auctions  for  the  3.6  GHz  band  in  2022.  It  concluded  in  August  with  three 
winners  of  100 MHz  blocks  each.  The  3.7  GHz  sub-band  is  still  reserved  for  the  Governmental 
Emergency  Network.  The  cross-border  coordination  agreement  for  3.4-3.8  GHz  band  with  the 
Russian Federation has not been finalised yet and a solution is not forthcoming. 

After both auctions were finalised, Lithuania started rolling out 5G services at these bands, and work 
continued  on  rolling  out  the  other  bands.  For  instance,  one  of  the  major  operators  completely 
switched off 3G services in 2022 and transferred the frequencies used for 3G to more advanced 4G 
and 5G technologies. 

On  1  January  2023,  the  Law  on  Electronic  Communications  and  the  related  implementing  acts 
entered into force. In the long run, this will allow all types of devices, including mobile phones, to be 
sold separately from physical SIM cards, to facilitate the development of smart cities, the internet of 
things,  and  thereby  more  efficient  logistics,  transport,  energy,  financial  services,  environmental 
sectors, healthcare, etc.  

The  Rules  of  Universal  service  provision  also  changed  in  2022,  to  include  adequate  broadband 
internet  access  of  at  least  10  Mbps  download  and  1  Mbps  upload  and  voice  communications 
services.  An  analysis  of  availability  of  universal  service  under  normal  commercial  circumstances 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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started  in  late  spring  2022.  Obligations  to  provide  affordable  universal  services  in  5  municipalities 
(out of 60) of Lithuania were imposed and apply from 1 July 2023. 

involved 

long  been 

Lithuania  has 
in  fundamental  research  and  niche  technologies  of 
semiconductor  physics.  Currently,  applied  research  into  semiconductors  carried  out  by  VU,  KTU, 
VGTU  research 
institutes  and  FTMC  reflects  the  accumulated  scientific  achievements  and 
competences. Moreover, following the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/210 on a common 
EU toolbox to address semiconductors shortages, Lithuania carried out in May 2022 a mapping of the 
local semiconductor value chain and reported its results to the European Commission. The mapping 
will  serve  as  basis  for  the  future  monitoring  mechanism  implementing  the  provisions  of  the 
upcoming Chips Act. Finally, at the beginning of 2023, a private initiative announced the plan to run 
operations  such  as  semiconductor  chip  design,  manufacturing,  assembly  and  testing,  and  power 
module  manufacturing.  According  to  the  press  releases,  domestic  semiconductor  production  is 
expected to start in 2027 approximately. 

No developments were reported on edge nodes or on quantum infrastructure.  

Lithuania should accelerate its efforts on connectivity infrastructure. In particular Lithuania should 
increase  its efforts  in rolling out  gigabit  connectivity, especially fibre to the premises in rural areas, 
with the assistance of EU funds. Lithuania should take measures to incentivise take-up of high-speed 
connectivity. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud163 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Lithuania 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

45% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

11% 

2020 

28% 

2021 

5% 

2021 

27% 

2020 

32% 

2021 

18% 

2021 

12% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

64% 

2022 

45% 

2021 

22% 

2021 

11% 

2020 

28% 

2021 

5% 

2021 

27% 

2020 

31% 

2022 

15% 

2022 

12% 

2021 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

48% 

2019 

24% 

2019 

11% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

27% 

2020 

28% 

2020 

15% 

2020 

13% 

2019 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

163 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Lithuania  continues  to  perform  close  to  the  EU  average  on  most  indicators  tracking  the 
digitalisation  of  business.  The  share  of  SMEs  selling  online,  and  overall  e-commerce  turnover  are 
higher than the EU average. However, the share of SMEs with at least basic level of digital intensity 
and the adoption of advanced digital technologies is below average. In particular, companies’ use of 
social media is at 22% against the EU average of 29%, cloud computing services 28% against 34%, and 
integrating  AI  technologies  into  operations  is  5%  against  8%.  In  the  longer  term,  Lithuania  would 
need to take significant efforts to reach the 2030 Digital Decade target of at least 75% of enterprises 
taking up sophisticated or intermediate cloud services, big data analyses or AI. 

Over  last  few  years,  Lithuania  has  indeed  taken  a  few  actions  to  increase  the  take-up  of  digital 
technology  by  SMEs,  to  contribute  to  the  EU  target  of  90%  of  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of 
digital  intensity.  The  E-komercijos  modelis164  (e-Commerce  model),  a  measure  adopted  during  the 
COVID-19  crisis  and  funded  by  React EU  (EUR  45  million),  was  implemented  in  2022  and  2023, 
financing over 1 100 projects. 
In 2022, Lithuania adopted a progress measure ’Encourage companies to digitise’165 including a few 
budget  lines  supporting  SMEs.  Support  for  the  purchase  of  ICT  services  has  budget  of  EUR  18.6 
million and is being rolled out from 2023. The measure to promote digitisation of SMEs has a budget 
of  EUR  31.5  million,  and  aims  to  enable  SMEs  to  integrate  -commerce  models  that  product 

164 E-komercijos modelis COVID-19 | Ekonomikos ir inovacijų ministerija (lrv.lt) 
165 Pažangos priemonė Nr. 05-001-01-05-05 Skatinti įmones skaitmenizuotis | Ekonomikos ir inovacijų 
ministerija (lrv.lt) Pažangos priemonė Nr. 05-001-01-05-05 Skatinti įmones skaitmenizuotis | Ekonomikos ir 
inovacijų ministerija (lrv.lt) 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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digitisation (products made and/or services provided), e-trade and delivery services. Investments are 
planned  to  help  implement  solutions  for  concluding  e-sales  transactions,  configuration  and 
visualization of services and products. 

Other  public  bodies  and  industry  associations  have  also  taken  steps  to  facilitate  the  use  of  digital 
technologies  in  the  private  sector.  The  Communications Regulatory  Authority  runs  websites  raising 
awareness of aspects of digitalisation and trust services (www.elektronisparasas.lt), and of safer use 
of internet (www.esaugumas.lt). Together with the association INFOBALT, it organised several events 
promoting digitalisation (e.g. www.digitbaltic.com). In digital finance, the Bank of Lithuania created a 
regulatory sandbox enables developers of innovative financial products and business solutions to test 
them  in  a  real-world  environment,  under  the  supervision  and  in  consultation  with  the  Bank  of 
Lithuania. 

In  the  near  future,  the  European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (EDIHs)  will  provide  access  to  technical 
expertise  and  experimentation  for  enterprises.  Following  the  successful  bid  for  three  Lithuanian 
EDIHs, the administrative process of rolling-out the network of EDIHs is ongoing. 

In 2022, Lithuania took steps to increase the number of digital start-ups in the country. The Agency 
for  Science,  Innovation  and  Technology  ran  several  projects  focused  on  creating  new  start-ups.  It 
created  a  learning  platform,  supported  co-working  hubs  the  Spiečiai  (’beehives’),  and  published  e-
guides  on  the  subject.  Lithuanian’s  RRP  also  includes  financial  incentives  (EUR  15  million)  to  be 
distributed  to  more  than  100  start-ups  and  spin-offs  to  develop  artificial  intelligence  products  and 
solutions. Funding will be provided for the development of the AI products and services at an initial 
stage of maturity to identify market needs, develop a concept for a technological solution, create a 
minimally viable product and achieve partial market-ready status. 

The  Bank  of  Lithuania  continues  to  pursue  the  goal  to  make  Lithuania  a  fintech  hub  with  light 
regulations,  responsive  bureaucracy  and  tailored  licensing  processes.  The  Newcomer  programme 
helped potential financial market participants evaluate opportunities in Lithuania, giving insight into 
legislative and licensing requirements for businesses aiming to start operations in the country. 

Lithuania has made progress in integrating and developing of digital technologies. However, further 
significant  action  is  needed  to  reach  the  2030  Digital  Decade  target  of  at  least  75%  of  enterprises 
taking up cloud services, big data or AI.  

Lithuania should accelerate its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses. It is important that 
Lithuania matches its investments with strategic reforms and balances the investments made in the 
public and private sectors, with a special focus on SMEs. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

Lithuania 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

82 

2021 

93 

2021 

92 

2021 

75 

2021 

81 

2021 

91 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

83% 

2022 

84 

2022 

94 

2022 

93 

2022 

78 

2022 

83 

2022 

97 

2022 

92 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Lithuania  continues to perform well above the EU average in providing digital public services for 
both  individuals  and  businesses.  It  is  thus  well  positioned  to  reach  the  Digital  Decade  target  on 
public  services  by  2030  for  both  businesses  and  citizens.  The  number  of  e-government  users  has 
increased  to 83%  against  the  EU  average of 74%. On  pre-filled  forms,  Lithuania  scores  significantly 
above  the  EU  average  (93  versus  68).  It  also  scores  very  well  on  transparency  of  service  delivery, 
design and personal data (78 compared to the EU average of 65). 

Lithuania is implementing the Reform of the digitalisation of public and administrative services, in 
line with the plan set out in the RRP. It aims to transform national and local government processes by 
automating  the  interinstitutional  data  exchange.  To  this  end,  it  integrates  systems  and  public 
registers, enables the reuse of data, and digitalises public services that until now were only delivered 
in  the  physical  form.  The  budget  for  the  project  is  EUR  115  million.  In  a  recent  stage  of  the 
implementation  of  this  plan  in  March  2023,  over  56  applications  were  submitted  for  digitalisation 
projects  delivered  by  central  level  institutions  and  municipalities.  They  included  a  project  to 
modernise  the  State  Information  Resources  Interoperability  Platform  (Electronic  Government 
Gateway) by enabling users to do an advanced search for information on public and administrative 
services.  The  reform  is  expected  to  be  completed  by  2026,  with  the  improvement  of  the  level  of 
maturity of existing digital services along the way.  

The  e-Government  system  provides  compound  services  that  are  user-oriented,  proactive,  and 
designed  following  the  once  only  principle.  It  means  that  the  system  automatically  retrieves  data 
available in the country’s information systems or public registers and users do not need to provide it 
manually.  Given  the  discrepancies  and  gaps  in  the  registers,  this  is  not  a  trivial  task.  Compound  e-
services  consist  of  a  few  related  procedures  that  users  can  chose  according  to  their  needs  or 
circumstances. They are very demanding from the governmental back-office perspective, sometimes 
requiring  the  use  of  sometime  heterogenous  data  sets.  Compound  e-services  were  made  available 
for citizens to be used in the national Electronic Government Gateway in Spring 2023 and the quality 
of this service is being improved continuously. 

The portal provides access to many e-services that were already available in previous years. In 2022, 
three new and one modernised e-services were added (birth certificate, job search documents, move 
to another country documents). Of particular importance to the labour market, the portal launched 
the  functionality  eRezidentas,  which  allows  foreigners  with  a  business  interest  in  Lithuania  to  use 
and request public, administrative and commercial services. This has effectively digitised the process 
as  foreign  workers  can  now  apply  for  an  eRezidentas  card  with  identity  and  electronic  signature 
certificates that enables them to take on employment. 

In terms of the objective of a public, digital, interoperable identification solution, Lithuania already 
has the public key infrastructure needed, and a personal ID card for both electronic identification 
and electronic signature. These solutions were set up in line with Regulation 910/2014 on electronic 
identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market. Over 15 Member 
States  currently  accept  Lithuania’s  system.  Lithuania  also  offers  a  large  supply  of  qualified  trust 
services (5 out of 9 possible types) for its citizens. 

The  Lithuanian  government  uses  digital  solutions  to  communicate  with  stakeholders  on  various 
policies. The e-citizen service for makes it easier to contact government agencies electronically, and 
to  monitor  the  progress  of  petitions,  applications,  or  public  consultations.  On  legislation,  the  e-
Seimas service enables the public to register public legislative initiatives, and also to comment on the 
legislative acts being processed by the Parliament. 

Lithuania excels in providing online medical records, with a score of 92, which is the second highest 
score in the EU. The Electronic Information System of Health Services & Cooperation Infrastructure 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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(ESPBI IS) hosts currently almost 100% of Lithuanian healthcare providers, as well as pharmacies. All 
national  healthcare  subjects  in  Lithuania  are  required  to  use  the  system  when  providing  health-
related services. This system is extensively used. For instance, in December 2022,  alone 7.6 million 
medical records were uploaded to the ESPBI IS. The system is under continuous development. 

This  national  online  access  service  provides  the  public  with  a  wide  array  of  health  data.  They  can 
access  data via an online portal that enables over 80% of the population using a (pre-)notified eID 
compliant with the eIDAS Regulation with a level of assurance classified as ‘high’ or ‘substantial’. 

Lithuania seems to be on track to meeting the Digital Decade target of 100% citizens’ with access 
to electronic health records by 2030. There are only a few private sector geriatric nursing homes and 
mental health facilities that have yet to be connected to the system. 

Opening access to public data for commercial and non-commercial reuse is one of the Lithuania’s 
strategic goals. It is included in the Digitization Development Programme for 2021–2030. The Open 
Data Portal166 became fully operational in June 2020 and remains the single access point for all open 
datasets. The portal currently provides almost 2000 types of metadata, including 1657 linked to data 
sources  and  described  using  the  DCAT  dictionary  requirements.  In  the  ‘Open  Data  Maturity  2022’, 
Lithuania was ranked 13th, scoring above the EU average. 

Lithuania  set  itself  an  ambitious  target  to  dedicate  20%  all  public  procurement  in  the  country  to 
innovation procurement. A national guidance was created to encourage  public entities  to use  such 
type of procurement for the digitalisation of public services. 

Lithuania’s cybersecurity policy is currently set out in the 2018-2023 National Cyber Security Strategy 
(NCSS).  Lithuania  plans  to  update  the  Policy  and  possibly  replace  this  strategy  with  the  National 
Cyber  Security  Development  Programme  in  2023.  Cybersecurity  has  also  been  identified  as  a  key 
element of the National Security Strategy presented in December 2021. 

Lithuania, together with other Member States, continued implementing the EU project ‘Cyber Rapid 
Response  Teams  and  Mutual  Assistance  in  Cyber  Security.  The  aim  of  the  project  is  to  provide 
support  to  tackle  cyber  threats  in  time  of  need,  with  the  participation  of  Member  States,  EU 
institutions, CSDP Missions and Operations as well as other partners. Lithuania also runs the Kaunas 
Regional  Cyber  Defence  Centre,  monitoring  and  analysing  threats  in  the  region,  including  partners 
from Ukraine and Georgia. 

Lithuania runs a Safer Internet project under the Digital Europe Programme aiming to promote safer 
use of the internet and new online technologies, particularly for children, and to combat illegal and 
unwanted content. Currently the project is being implemented by a consortium of four partners: the 
Lithuanian Centre of Non-formal Youth Education (LMNSC), the alliance ’Langas į ateitį’ (Window to 
the Future), the  NGO  ’Child Line’  and the Communications Regulatory Authority (RRT). LMNSC and 
’Langas  į  ateitį’  are  implementing  different  awareness  activities,  ’Child  Line’  is  responsible  for  the 
helpline  operations  (giving  emotional  and  psychological  support  to  children  who  encountered 
negative  experience  online),  and  RRT  is  responsible  for  operating  the  internet  hotline  ‘Švarus 
internetas’  (Clean  Internet).  The  objective  of  the  hotline  is  to  log  reports  of  internet  users  who 
encounter  content  as  sexual  abuse  of  children,  violence  or  bullying,  pornography,  distribution  of 
narcotic substances, incitement of racial or ethnic hatred, and other unlawful or harmful information. 
In  2022,  the  RRT  started  using  a  tool  developed  with  a  private  company  based  on  artificial 
intelligence  to  search  for  harmful  content  (pornography  and  child  sexual  abuse  material)  on 
Lithuanian internet sites. A project ‘Creating a safe electronic environment for children’ with budget 

166 Lithuanian open data portal | Joinup (europa.eu) 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Lithuania 

of EUR 3.5 million from the European Social Fund,  continued to finance 2000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the 
country to improve connectivity in schools. 

The  Project  “Data  Lake”  that  aims  at  linking  the  registries  and  enabling  the  public  institutions  to 
access  the  required  data  seamlessly  should  be  swiftly  implemented  as  it  will  provide  a  necessary 
upgrade of the currently existing e-Government services to the next level.  

Best practice: GovTech sandbox 

The mission of the GovTech sandbox project is to find innovative digital solutions that improve policy 
making.  During  2022,  a  structured  experimentation  program  has  been 
launched  by  the 
administration in cooperation with SMEs and start-ups. Within the project, 29 successful prototypes 
that  provide  solutions  to  the  challenges  of  the  public  sector  were  developed,  ranging  from  using 
satellite  images  and  AI  to  measure  damage  done  in  the  countryside  by  cows,  to  mobile  app  for 
people with mental disability assisting in purchasing goods, to a program using AI to model effective 
policing of road, and to visualizing spaces of industrial enterprises and factories with virtual reality. 

Lithuania should continue implementing its policies to digitalise public services. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Luxembourg 

 
 
 
 
 
281 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Luxembourg 

Luxembourg is expected to make an important contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the 
EU’s Digital Decade targets. It is progressing well in its digital transformation with positive effects in 
the surrounding regions, notably in terms of innovation in data centers and digital administration as 
well as a more skilled workforce.  

In recent years, digital issues have gained political traction notably with the adoption of several key 
strategies  and  the  launch  of  many  individual  measures  discussed  below,  sometimes  at  a  low  scale 
and in many cases with multi-country involvement. While Luxembourg has an overview of the digital 
strategies run by each Ministry, it lacks a consolidated strategic document for digitalisation towards 
2030. 

Luxembourg  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility  to  set  up  a 
European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) on Genome, to enable effective and secure cross-
border access to repositories of personal genomic datasets.  

Digital in Luxembourg’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Luxembourg’s  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  amounts  to  EUR 82.7;  30%  of  this (EUR  24.5  million  is 
devoted to digital transformation and is expected to contribute to the Digital Decade targets167.  

Digital reforms and investments that were meant to be implemented in 2022 were: (i) the launch of 
the single digital register of health professions, with at least 5 000 professionals registered;  (ii)  the 
launch  of  the  national  e-health  platform  of  the  ‘IdeoPHM’  tele-monitoring  solution  replacing  the 
previous  ‘Maela’  solution  and  allowing  for  remote  medical  follow-up  between  doctors,  dentists  or 
midwives  and patients; (iii)  the  successful connection of at  least two sites  in the  framework of the 
Luxembourg  Quantum  Communication  Infrastructure  (LuxQCI)  Laboratory  through  creating  a 
terrestrial network; (iv)  the  successful connection of the space  and terrestrial segments of the  QCI 
through  a  Key  Management  System  (KMS);  (v)  the  creation  of  a  cross-border  connection  to 
demonstrate a land-based quantum key distribution system; (vi) the integration of a videoconference 
appointments functionality into the MyGuichet.lu e-government portal and the implementation; and 
(vii) availability of 12 new services for the public and for businesses, accessible via MyGuichet.lu.168 

167  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the  coefficients with the cost  estimates of each measure allows for assessing to what degree the 
plan contributes to digital objectives and whether it meets the 20% target. Furthermore, a further qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the 
Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by the 
Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice of potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 
168 The verification process of proper implementation of these initiatives has not yet been launched. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Luxembourg 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

21% 

2020 

6.3% 

2020 

5.0% 

2019 

Luxembourg 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

96% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

97% 

2021 

64% 

2021 

32% 

2021 

80% 

2021 

21% 

2020 

6.7% 

2021 

6.4% 

2020 

95% 

2022 

64% 

2021 

32% 

2021 

80% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

7.7% 

2022 

7.4% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Luxembourg is performing well in view of the Digital Decade targets on digital skills169, with 64% of 
the population possessing at least basic digital skills, above the EU average of 54%. The country also 
scores above EU average for individuals with above basic digital skills (32% of people in Luxembourg 
versus 26%  of  people  in  the  EU)  and  at  least  basic digital  content  creation  skills  (80%  of  people  in 
Luxembourg compared to 66% of people in the EU). The country is also well above the EU average for 
the number of ICT specialists represented in total employment (7.7% vs. 4.6%). The share of women 
among ICT specialists is, at 20.7%, also above the EU average of 18.9%. 

Luxembourg  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  intended  to  increase  the  level  of  basic 
and advanced digital skills. It is expected that the initiatives in the area of digital inclusion and those 

169 See Decision EU 2022/2481 establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, article 4(1(1a) 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Luxembourg 

to  support  jobseekers  will  have  the  most  substantial  impact  in  the  short  run,  while  initiatives 
focussing on the educational system will have the potential to create solid long-term effects. 

In  autumn  2022,  the  new  subject  of  ‘Digital  Sciences’  was  introduced  in  Luxembourg’s  lower 
secondary  education. The  subject  has  six  key strands:  ‘My  digital world  and  me’,  ’The  World  Wide 
Web,  it  is  network  and  me’,  ‘Do  you  speak  ‘Informatics’,  ‘The  game,  analogue  or  digital,  alone  or 
together,  a  whole  program‘,  ‘Robots,  partners  for  better  or  worse’,  ‘A  machine  smarter  than  me, 
does that exist‘. To tackle inequalities in access to digital technologies and understanding, the course 
is offered in both classical and technical educational pathways, with materials available in German, 
French and English. 

Digital Sciences in High Schools is the follow-up programme to the ‘Einfach Digital’ strategy, where 
from 2019 all primary school pupils participate in specific child-friendly workshops on computational 
thinking,  logic  and  coding.  Primary  school  teachers  are  required  to  deliver  these  intra-curricular 
workshops and have the option to be supported by a team of experts.  

These  actions  are  rooted  in  the  ‘Medienkompass’  national  media  literacy  framework,  which  was 
draw up in 2020 to provide an overview of the digital media skills needed for a responsible, critical 
and creative use of media.  

The Digital Learning Hub (DLH) which aims to reduce the digital skills gap offers short term training 
courses in different fields of ICT and is aimed at IT experts, novices, jobs seekers and youngsters as 
regards  upskilling  and  reskilling.  Among  other  initiatives,  university  curricula  have  been  created  to 
educate IT specialists while labour market needs are carefully monitored. 

Together with the National Research Fund and Lux Tech School and in the frame of the Digital Skills 
Matchmaking  programme,  the  Luxembourg  Government  is  actively  promoting  and  co-financing  IT 
mentoring programmes for female students. 

The  ministry  in  charge  of  digital  government  has  implemented  the  National  Action  Plan  for  Digital 
Inclusion  highlighting  three  strategic  levers  to  support  the  digital  inclusion  of  all  people  in 
Luxembourg thereby contribute helping implement the Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles in 
this area: (1) increasing digital motivation and building digital confidence, (2) facilitating digital access 
and  (3)  developing  basic  digital  skills.  The  plan  currently  includes  40  initiatives,  focusing  on  the 
development  of skills  and digital  citizenship  to enable  individuals  to  navigate  the  digital  world  in a 
more  autonomous  and  safer  way,  regardless  of  their  age,  level  of  education,  gender  or  potential 
disabilities. In order to support the digital familiarisation of older adults, analogue, audio-visual and 
digital resources are included and training courses are adapted to suit different levels of abilities and 
provided in different languages. By offering a multitude of decentralised initiatives across the country 
and  building  on  existing  structures,  opportunities  are  provided  for  retraining  and  strengthening 
everyone’s digital skills, in developing basic digital skills, e-banking, digital inclusion and the safe use 
of the Internet. Digital skills modules are integrated into adult education programmes, and training in 
basic digital skills and an introduction to several specific digital skills is available for job seekers. The 
plan  aims  to  improve  the  digital  inclusion  of  everyone  in  Luxembourg,  eliminating  also  the  gender 
gap that currently exists in digital skills. 

In addition, some  private sector initiatives provide additional support to increase  the  level of basic 
digital skills level. The National Action Plan for Digital Inclusion includes a call for projects to finance 
pilot projects to promote digital inclusion in Luxembourg for 2022-2023, addressed to associations, 
private  organisations,  public 
inter-municipal  unions,  professional 
chambers, training centres and public research institutes. 

institutions,  municipalities, 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Luxembourg 

ICT  specialists  represent  7.4%  of  the  workforce170,  which  is  higher  than  the  EU  average  of  4.2%. 
However, this is mainly due to the significant role in the Luxembourg economy held by the banking, 
data  centre  and  public  sectors,  which  employ  a  substantial  numbers  of  ICT  specialists.  22%  of 
companies  provide  ICT  training,  in  line  with  the  EU  average.  6.4%  of  graduates  graduated  in  ICT 
programmes, well above the EU average of 3.9%. A number of initiatives in academic education can 
be expected to further increase the share of ICT specialists in the workforce in the longer term. 

An important player in this field is the University of Luxembourg Competence Centre (ULCC), a centre 
for  continued  and  vocational  university-level  training  programmes.  The  ULCC  has,  among  other 
priority  areas,  a  portfolio  of  digital  skills  trainings,  specifically  designed  to  meet  the  needs  of 
businesses and to upskill and reskill the workforce. 

The  University  of  Luxembourg  is  also  enhancing  its  offer  of  immersive  learning  and  virtual  reality 
knowledge  and  has created a new hub for financial innovations. Luxembourg provides funding and 
support in terms of human resources and infrastructure to the DLH which has created a network of 
ICT partners to monitor the needs of the labour market in terms of skills and training needs. In 2022, 
Luxembourg made also training available to everybody interested in AI. For example it  co-financed 
the deployment of an online course on elements of AI, a joint project of the University of Helsinki and 
a technology company aimed at explaining what AI is, its basic principles and its limits. In September 
2022, the first students on the newly created started their two years program. The programme was 
launched  under  the  auspices  of  the  European  HPC  Joint  Undertaking.  Eight  European  graduating 
universities171  and  60  public  and  private  sector  participants  make  up  the  consortium  led  by 
Luxembourg.  In  addition,  Luxembourg  University  will  launch  its  own  master's  in  HPC,  high-
performance  data  analysis  and  AI,  supported  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Economy.  This  master‘s 
programme will complement the digital and HPC ecosystem in Luxembourg, following the first major 
milestone of acquiring the Meluxina supercomputer. 

Best practice: Luxembourg’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition 

Luxembourg’s Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition promotes basic skills and ICT specialist’s skills.  

The  Coalition’s  60+  members,  all  of  whom  share  a  commitment  to  promoting  digital  skills,  meet 
every 3 months. In 2020-2022, there have been a range of events, and workshops for groups of 80 
students, held in the premises of major tech companies.  

In 2023 Luxembourg launched the new interoperable Digital Skills and Jobs Platform. 

Luxembourg  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digital  skills.  In  particular, 
Luxembourg  should  encourage  employers  to  strengthen  the  digital  skills  of  employees  (public  and 
private) and workforce participation in digital training.172 

170 See Decision EU 2022/2481 establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, article 4(1(1b) 
171  FAU  (Nürnberg),  KTH  (Stockholm),  Polimi  (Milan),  UniSofia  (Sofia),  Sorbonne  (Paris),  UniLu  (Luxembourg), 
UPC (Barcelona), USI (Lugano) 
172 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Luxembourg 

2. Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Luxembourg 

DESI 
2021 

56% 

2020 

1.9% 

2020 

92% 

2020 

72% 

2020 

94% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

61% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

69% 

2021 

4.4% 

2021 

93% 

2021 

75% 

2021 

96% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

61% 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

6.7% 

2022 

93% 

2022 

76% 

2022 

96% 

2021 

93% 

2022 

61% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

Luxembourg  is  one  of  the  EU’s  best  performers  in  digital  infrastructure  making  an  important 
contribution to reach the EU targets. 

There  has  been  a  steady  increase  in  VHCN  coverage,  from  91.7%  in  2020  to  92.6%  in  2021  and 
93.3%  in  2022.  Further  roll-out  of  fibre  will  have  a  key  role  to  play  in  meeting  the  ‘Gigabit  for 
everyone’  target173,  as  cable  networks  have  followed  their  upgrade  to  the  DOCSIS  3.1  standard. 
Luxembourg  performs  very  well on  overall Digital  infrastructure. The main  reasons  for this  are  the 
high VHCN and FTTP coverage. 

173 See Decision EU 2022/2481 establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, article 4(1(2a) (fixed) 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Thanks  to  the  wide  availability  of  VHCNs,  Luxembourg  performs  very  well  in  the  uptake  of  fixed 
broadband services of at least 100 Mbps: 74% of households have opted for such subscriptions, well 
above  the  EU  average  of  55%.  Uptake  of  1  Gbps  services  is,  however,  much  lower  than  the  EU 
average174  6.7%  of  households  in  Luxembourg  compared  to  13.8%  at  the  EU  level.  The  calculated 
monthly retail price for a 100 Mbit/s fixed internet subscription is in the range of EUR 29.00 to EUR 
60.28 for a cable connection and EUR 58.57 to EUR 60.28 for a fibre connection. The price range for a 
1 Gbit/s subscription, based on a cable or fibre connection is EUR 53.90 to EUR 109.38. As a result, 
people need to pay only double the price for a tenfold increase in capacity. 

Broadband  services  (based  on  representative  baskets  of  fixed,  mobile  and  converged  broadband 
offers, adjusted for national household income levels) are more expensive than the EU average. 

The National strategy for ultra- high-speed networks for 2021-2025 was published in October 2021. 
Its  goals  include  deploying  VHCN  networks  (1  Gbps  downstream  and  200  Mbps  upstream)  to  all 
households in the country and all households in Luxembourg being subscribed to a service offering a 
minimum  connection  speed  of  at  least  100  Mbps  downstream  and  20  Mbps  upstream  by  2025. 
Luxembourg  still lacks  a roadmap  for  how  to achieve the  Gigabit target by 2030. The strategy  also 
aims to improve transparency and strengthen consumer protection as well as develop Luxembourg 
as  the  launchpad  of  choice  for  ICT service  providers.  For  2023,  the  priority will  be  to  promote  the 
take-up  of  Gigabit  subscriptions  and  eliminate  white  spots,  targeting  areas  with  no  VHCN 
connectivity. At the end of 2021, the government created a new structure called “MyConnectivity”, 
with a specific team devoted to implementing the strategy’s objectives, notably with regard to white 
spots.  

Despite  there  being  no  public  funding  for  broadband  roll-out,  the  100%  state  owned  incumbent 
operator is the only significant contributor to fibre-roll-out. Cable operators increase the coverage of 
their Gigabit-capable networks. 

On  planning  and  co-ordinating  civil  works,  operators  and  administrations  work  together  in  a 
transparent  way  and  exchange  information  on  a  mutual  basis.  The  national  permit  granting 
procedure  is  still  an  issue  to  be  tackled  to  achieve  fast  and  efficient  deployment  of  broadband. 
Furthermore,  operators  reported  difficulties  with  access  to  public  property  to  install  network 
equipment. More than 67% of households are connected to the incumbent’s fibre optic network and 
have  access to ultra high-speed services of up to 1 Gb/s. Its network  is an open access, multi-fibre 
network. The slowdown in the annual increase of FTTP coverage may reflect higher real roll-out costs 
in areas which are not (fully) covered yet, overall inflation and more specifically the increase in prices 
for raw materials, components and for civil works. Switch-off of the copper network where fibre is 
available will start in spring 2024.  

By mid-2022, 5G coverage figures stood at 51% in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band and 93% (total), well above 
the  EU  averages  of  41%  in  the  3.4-  3.8  GHz  band  and  81%  (total).  With  further  roll-out  of  5G, 
Luxembourg  would  be  on  track  to  meet  the  EU  target  for  2030175.  On  mobile  connectivity, 
Luxembourg  scores  61%  on  the  5G  spectrum  indicator.  5G  services  were  commercially  launched 
relatively  late,  in  the  second  half  of  2020.  Following  a  public  consultation  at  the  end  of  2020,  no 
imminent  spectrum  demand  in  the  26  GHz  band  has  been  identified.  Accordingly,  no  rights  of  use 
have been assigned for that band, mainly due to a lack of interest from stakeholders. This was again 
informally confirmed by one of the mobile operators in March 2023. While the long-term award of 

174  According  to  ILR  figures,  FTTP  technology  had  a  share  of  56.3%  of  all  broadband  subscriptions  in 
Luxembourg by mid-2022. 
175 See Decision EU 2022/2481 establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, article 4(1(2a) (wireless) 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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the spectrum has been postponed, temporary licences are available to interested parties. The three 
national  mobile  network  operators  have  increased  their  efforts  to  reduce  the  environmental 
footprint, mainly through the sunset of the legacy 2G and 3G networks. The largest mobile operator 
stopped operating its 3G network in 2022.  

In  addition,  the  not-for-profit  association  ‘Digital  inclusion’  is  operating  a  ‘mobile  bag’  initiative, 
which  consists  of  a  number  of  ready-to-post  envelopes  distributed  all  over  Luxembourg  allowing 
people  to  return  any  kind  of  mobile  device  to  this  association.  Phones  that  are  still  usable  will  be 
refurbished  by  the  association  and  provided  to  people  in  need.  Phones  that  are  too  old  or  out  of 
order to be reused are recycled. 

National  stakeholders  are  taking  part  in  study  and  work  projects  on  5G  cross-border  corridors  co-
funded through the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (Digital). For example, the 5G MELUSINA project 
will  prepare  to  put  5G  infrastructure  in  place  along  a  cross-border  section  of  the  North  Sea 
Mediterranean rail link between Metz (France) and Luxembourg City (Luxembourg), to improve train 
passengers’ connectivity and the digitalisation of rail operations. The ‘Seamless cross border mobility 
5G DeLux’ project aims to support uninterrupted coverage along the cross-border corridor between 
Saarbrücken (Germany) and Frisange (Luxembourg). 

Luxembourg  is  participating  in  the  Important  Project  of  Common  European  Interest  –  Cloud 
Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI) on Cloud Infrastructure and Services (CIS), currently involving 12 
Member States. It will create a cloud-edge-continuum and grant the right for applications and data to 
freely  “roam”  from  one  cloud-provider  to  another.  Luxembourg  provides  a  focus  on  open  source 
cybersecurity  tools  generating  synergies  and  on  privacy  and  trade  secrets  preserving  technologies. 
Luxembourg has also focussed on cross-company and cross-border collaboration and the creation of 
synergies.  All  documentation,  products  and  services  will  be  published  as  open  source  via  the 
Luxembourg Open Source Promotion Office. The connected data lakes will be running on edge cloud 
to  guarantee  low  latencies  for  large  users  and  contributors.  Luxembourg  is  financing  the  IPCEI-CIS 
initiative with a national state aid funding of a maximum of EUR 25 million for the next 3 years. Of 
this, EUR 2 million envisaged for the development of the edge node with the open cybersecurity data 
lake  in  close  proximity  to  MeluXina  to  enable  secure  machine  learning.  A  side  budget  for  private 
companies of roughly EUR 1.5 million will be invested in cloud and edge cloud technologies. This will 
assist Luxembourg in contributing to the EU-wide target of 10 000 edge nodes by 2030. The GAIA-X 
initiatives  Luxembourg  started,  foster  the  creation  of  edge-cloud  nodes  coordinated  under  the 
governance  of  the  data  space.  The  most  advanced  is  a  project  by  the  hospital  ‘Hôpitaux  Robert 
Schuman’ (HRS) in cooperation with the NTT Luxembourg to create a proof of concept. Luxembourg 
has allocated EUR 25 million for GAIA-X projects in the next three years. 

In  the  context  of  the  European  initiative  EuroQCI,  Luxembourg  has  started  the  national  project 
LuxQCI,  to  develop  and  build  a  quantum  communication  infrastructure  in  Luxembourg  to  be 
interconnected with the EuroQCI. The national experimental testbed began operating in November 
2022,  set  up  by  the  government  and  the  University  of  Luxembourg.  The  connection  of  two 
geographically  distant  points  on  the  ground  with  end-to-end  quantum  communication  by  using 
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) was scheduled for the first half of 2023. Luxembourg has dedicated 
EUR 10 million from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to the LuxQCI project. Luxembourg has 
also signed a grant  agreement with the  European Commission for additional cofounding under the 
Digital  Europe  Programme  (DEP),  to  extend  research  and  development  activities  for  the  terrestrial 
segment. Luxembourg also intends to develop and construct one of the first national optical ground 
stations, needed to create the link between the terrestrial segment and the first European quantum 
satellite Eagle-1, the only way to bridge long distances for QKD. With the DEP funding, the University 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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of  Luxembourg  intends  to  provide  courses  for  students  in  the  field  of  quantum  technologies, 
expected to start in September 2023.  

Luxembourg is active in the area of HPC with a new university master programme to complement the 
in  Luxembourg  after  the  first  major  milestone  of  acquiring  the  Meluxina 
HPC  ecosystem 
supercomputer. 

In autumn 2022, Luxembourg published a specific high performance computing call for projects with 
a budget of approx. EUR 8 million, intended to make HPC accessible to SMEs. 

Blockchain technology is currently being integrated into the process of applying for financial aid for 
higher education. The DLH focusses on Blockchain and FinTech among other areas. Together with the 
Luxembourg Blockchain Lab, the hub identities job profiles and offers relevant training in this area. 
The  range  goes  from  elementary  classes  on  digital  and  distributed  transaction  ledgers  and 
cryptocurrencies, up to the legal aspects of a blockchain and to programming a blockchain in a secure 
environment. 

Luxembourg  supports  the  deployment  of  the  European  Blockchain  Services  Infrastructure  (EBSI), 
including through hosting two validator nodes, one hosted by the Ministry for Digitalisation and one 
hosted by Infrachain. There were no reported developments and initiatives on quantum computing 
and on semiconductors in Luxembourg. 

Best practice: Cybersecurity 

As part of Luxembourg’s data driven innovation strategy, cybersecurity requirements are considered 
to be increasingly discriminatory in terms of complexity and costs and unaffordable to the majority of 
economic actors. SMEs can neither afford nor operate effective tools while larger companies mostly 
use external providers to operate the tools for them. Providers have created a closed data economy 
for Indicators of Compromise (IOC) that they collected from their customers. Data are not accessible 
for research and are only provided to paying customers. Luxembourg authorities believe that there is 
a  market  failure  due  to  lack  of  coordination  exists  and  they  are  financing  the  creation  of  an  open 
cybersecurity data space accessible to any entity that can demonstrate a legitimate interest. The data 
will also be made available for research to promote innovation in unattended AI based cybersecurity 
tools for SMEs. In the context of the IPCEI-CIS, Luxembourg is financing a public entity to create this 
open cybersecurity data space in accordance with EU law. Luxembourg has a lot of experience with 
this type of threat information systems as it is a core developer for MISP, a threat sharing platform 
co-financed by the EU.  

Luxembourg  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  on  digital  infrastructure.  In  particular,  it 
could take additional measures to incentivise the take-up of gigabit and 5G connectivity and continue 
efforts  on  the  roll-out  of  gigabit  connectivity,  in  particular  streamlining  the  permit  procedures  and 
facilitating access to public property to extend fixed and densify mobile networks. Luxembourg should 
also develop further actions in the field of edge nodes and quantum in order to help the EU become a 
strong market player in these areas.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud176 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Luxembourg 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

40% 

2021 

34% 

2021 

19% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

9% 

2021 

NA 

2021 

7% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

66% 

2022 

40% 

2021 

34% 

2021 

19% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

8% 

2022 

NA 

2022 

7% 

2021 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

41% 

2019 

29% 

2019 

19% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

14% 

2020 

9% 

2020 

NA 

2020 

8% 

2019 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

176 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, Digital Economy and 
Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Luxembourg  shows  room  for  improvement  on  the  digitalisation  of  businesses.  66%  of  SMEs  in 
Luxembourg have at least a basic level of digital intensity and it is slightly below the EU average of 
69%.  In  line  with  the  country’s  ambition  for  a  transition  to  a  data-driven  economy,  Luxembourg 
performs well on the share of businesses that (1) have implemented electronic information sharing 
(40%  versus the  EU average  of 38%), (2) use  social media (34% versus the EU average  of 29%), (3) 
analyse big data (19% versus the EU average of 14%) and (4) use AI (13% versus the EU average of 
8%). By contrast, the share of businesses using cloud services remains at 29%, below the EU average 
of  34%.  Luxembourg  also  continues  to  perform  well  below  the  EU  average  on  the  share  of  SMEs 
selling  online,  with only  8%  compared  to  the EU  average  of  19%.  The  share  of  SMEs  selling  online 
cross-border continues to stand at 7%, below the EU average of 9%.  

Industry  supports  the  European  Commission  in  its  political  will  to  simplify  and  reduce  reporting 
requirements in the proposed Cyber Resilience Act. As part of the European Digital Innovation Hubs 
Network,  Luxembourg  has  one  hub  which  supports  the  digital  transformation  of  its  manufacturing 
sector. 

SMEs  in  Luxembourg  tend  to  be  relatively  small  or  even  very  small.  Digitalisation  of  businesses  is 
concentrated  in  large  companies  that  are  active  in  sectors  such  as  banking  or  data  centres.  These 
structural factors explain why the digitalisation of SMEs remains slightly below the EU average. The 
Ministry  of  Employment  is  preparing  a  new  draft  law  for  a  skills  plan,  to  be  submitted  to  the 
government  council  at  the  end  of  April,  providing  aid  to  SMEs  for  training  their  staff  for  future 
challenges. The first budget will be EUR 6 million. Upskilling and reskilling resulting from of the digital 
transition are the main focus of the plan. The ‘Fit 4 Digital’ programme is an example of an initiative 
which already contributes to increased digital intensity among SMEs. It is managed by the economic 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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interest  grouping  (GIE)  and  helps  SMEs  to  assess  their  level  of  digital  maturity  in  terms  of  IT 
infrastructure,  cybersecurity  and  software  and  to  identify  actions  and  investments  to  improve  the 
business’s digital readiness. A grant of EUR 5 000 covers 100% of the cost of an analysis carried out 
by  an  independent  third  party.  Up  to  50%  of  the  consultancy  fees  and  up  to  20%  of  the 
implementation costs are funded by the state.  

‘SME  Packages  -  Digital’,  an  initiative  managed  by  the  House  of  Enterprises  and  the  Chamber  of 
Skilled  Trades  and  Crafts  provides  a  fixed  grant  of  EUR  5 000  to  companies  carrying  out  a  project 
costing  between  EUR  6 650  and  EUR  25 000  to  implement  a  tool  related  to  digital  marketing,  a 
management  system  or  electronic  invoicing.  In  2022,  approximately  EUR  1.7  million  in  aids  was 
disbursed  by  the  General  Directorate  for  SMEs  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Economy.  The  online  sales 
platform  Letzshop.lu  continued  to  support  the  retail  and  hospitality  sectors  by  familiarising 
merchants  with  online  trading  and  by  promoting  sales  through  online  channels  allowing  national 
merchants  to  sell  their  goods  online.  In  2022,  Letzshop  had  a  budget  of  EUR  1.6  million  and  478 
companies were registered as sellers on the platform. 

19% of enterprises in Luxembourg analyse big data. This is well above the EU average of 14%. 

None of the 249 unicorns in the EU were located in Luxembourg. However, at least one out of the 
EU’s  over 300  start-ups  with  a  market  capitalisation between  USD 100 million and  USD  1  billion  is 
located in Luxembourg and actively producing additives for materials such as lithium and glass.  

Luxembourg will join the ‘Europe Start-up Nations Alliance’, ensuring optimal framework conditions 
for setting up and funding a company, attracting and retaining talent, accessing financial instruments 
and  use  of  finance.  In  2022,  the  Young  Innovative  Enterprise  funding  scheme  has  continued  to 
support  ambitious  start-ups  in  any  sector  in  their  scale-up  phase  with  up  to  70%  of  the  financing 
need,  limited  to  EUR  800 000.  The  aim  is  to  support  the  international  expansion  of  technology 
companies with scalable business models and a potential impact on the economy. In addition, start-
ups  and  scale-ups  investing  in  research,  development  and  innovation  projects  can  receive  grants 
from the Ministry of the Economy, covering between 50% and to 80% of the eligible costs.  

The  national  credit  and  investment  institution  SNCI  also  provides  direct  loans  for  research, 
development,  and  innovation  projects  to  innovative  SMEs.  The  Catapult:  Kickstarter  acceleration 
programme, developed and operated by the LHoFT Foundation and supported by the Ministry of the 
Economy,  runs  twice  a  year  and  supports  start-ups  that  provide  digital  innovative  solutions  for 
Luxembourg’s  financial  sector.  The  two  2022  editions  of  the  programme  attracted  320  project 
proposals of which 20 were invited to participate in the bootcamps. Of those, ten selected projects 
can now apply for financial aid of up to EUR 50 000 to develop their business outside Luxembourg.  

The  Digital  Tech  Fund  is  a  EUR  20.33  million  seed  venture  capital  fund  created  in  2016  by  the 
government with a group of private investors to support the financing and development of ICT start-
ups. By the end of 2022, the fund managed by Expon Capital had made a total of 13 Investments.  

The Luxembourg Future Fund is a EUR 150 million fund stimulating the diversification and sustainable 
development of the Luxembourg economy, set up by the EIF and the SNCI. The Luxembourg Future 
Fund  invests  directly  or  indirectly  in  Venture  Capital  funds  and  SMEs  to  support  the  sustainable 
development of Luxembourg strategic sectors.  

In  2022,  the  Ministry  of  the  Economy  and  Luxinnovation,  in  collaboration  with  Belgian  and  Dutch 
public  and  private  partners,  organised  a  US-focused  internationalisation  programme  for  start-ups. 
Run  by  BelCham  New  York,  the  Benelux  Catalyst  programme  allows  selected  start-ups  from 
Luxembourg, Belgium and The Netherlands to discover the US market from New  York, to establish 
commercial contacts and to evaluate the suitability of their products for the American market. The 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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two-week programme, physically held in the US includes workshops, lectures and individual sessions 
on product market fit, fundraising, pitching to investors, go-to-market and growth strategies.  

The  Start-up  Luxembourg  is  a  public  initiative  established  to  promote  Luxembourg’s  start-up 
ecosystem at national and international level. The web platform, the social networks and the start-up 
mapping were complemented in 2022 by a start-up directory facilitating matchmaking with potential 
financial,  technical  or  business  partners.  The  Luxembourg  Startupstart-Association,  created  in  July 
2022 by a group of private entrepreneurs to represent innovative Luxembourg start-ups at all stages, 
aims to support the emergence of digital champions and supporting entrepreneurs in Luxembourg. 
Luxinnovation regularly updates its sectorial mappings for HealthTech, Cybersecurity, Manufacturing 
and Creative Industries. In 2022, AutoMobility Ecosystem and Sustainability Enablers mappings were 
added. Start-up mapping also facilitates monitoring of the start-up ecosystem in Luxembourg and the 
key technologies used by start-ups. Currently, big data solutions, software and applications, (cyber) 
security and risk management are the most used technologies.  

The  Fit4Start  acceleration  programme,  initiated  in  2015  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Economy  and 
organised  by  Luxinnovation,  focuses  on  innovative,  technology  and  data-driven  start-ups  in  ICT, 
space and health tech that use information technology such as IOT, blockchain, big data, AI, machine 
learning, robotics, cybersecurity and open source technology at the core of their business. Fit4Start 
offers a 6-month coaching and mentoring programme, free incubation and financial aid of up to EUR 
150 000. The two 2022 editions of the programme attracted 517 projects from over 60 countries. 35 
start-ups were finally selected to participate in the programme.  

Two Luxembourg-based  start-ups  received  EIC  accelerator  funding  to  further develop  and  scale-up 
their solutions: Arspectra, a global pioneer in the development of medical augmented reality glasses 
and  automated  battery  upcycling  specialist  Circu  Li-ion.  Both  companies  are  graduates  of 
Luxembourg’s Fit4Start acceleration programme, demonstrating the high quality of this initiative. 

In  2023,  the  Start-up  Genome  published  an  analysis  of  the  start-up  ecosystem  in  Luxembourg 
prepared on behalf of the Ministry of the Economy. The study177, which is based on research done in 
2022,  found  that  there  has  been  a  significant  increase  in  performance  on  some  metrics  (such  as 
number  of  venture  capital  deals)  over  the  past  decade.  There  also  remain  several  obstacles  to 
ecosystem growth, which act as deterrents in realising its potential as a highly productive engine for 
economic impact.  

Best practice: Supporting the development of the commercial space industry 

Luxembourg has built  a thriving space industry, currently comprised of 60 companies and research 
labs and including a growing number of firms that build solutions for the commercial exploration and 
utilisation of space resources. It supports further development through several initiatives.  

The  European  Space  Resources  Innovation  Centre‘s  tart-up  Support  Programme  (ESRIC  SSP), 
launched at the end of 2021, is fully dedicated to utilisation of space resources and supports early-
stage ventures and start-ups who design  novel technologies for space resources applications when 
refining  their  business  plan,  attracting  customers  and  securing  their  initial  investments.  Specific 
support is provided for prototype development of terrestrial and space applications along the value 
chain, with access to technical laboratories from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology 
and  the  European  Space  Agency.  In  the  first  3-months  phase  of  ESRIC  SSP,  five  start-ups  were 

177  https://gouvernement.lu/dam-assets/fr/publications/rapport-etude-analyse/minist-economie/luxembourg-
start-up-ecosystem/luxembourg-startupstart-uptem-assessment-and-benchmarking-study.pdf  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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selected  remotely  by  validating  the  proposed  technical  project  in  light  of  expected  market 
opportunities. In the second phase, launched in January 2023, one start-up was selected to receive 
EUR  200 000  in  funding  to  prove  the  technical  value  of  the  proposal  and  to  conduct  initial  pilot 
customers/field  tests  in  Luxembourg  for  a  period  of  up  to  24  months.  The  business  development 
phase is the last step, allowing follow-up on technical developments and to supporting the increase 
of the pool of sales and customers for a period of up to 36 months at the  Technoport incubator in 
Luxembourg. In 2021, the Luxembourg government and the European Investment Fund (EIF) already 
invested  alongside  private  investors  in  Orbital  Ventures,  a  EUR  120  million  venture  capital  fund 
managed by Promus Venture, focusing on early-stage, space-related companies.  

Luxembourg should step up its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses. Particular attention 
should be paid to supporting the development and deployment of advanced technologies, including 
AI,  big  data,  and  especially  cloud  computing  among  enterprises,  in  particular  in  SMEs,  including 
through  incentives  for  investment,  as  well  as  capacity  and  knowledge  building.  Luxembourg  should 
also reinforce the dissemination and exploitation efforts and the implementation of strategies jointly 
developed  by  both  public  and  private  actors  to  strongly  boost  the  use  of  new  advanced  cloud 
solutions among SME ecosystems. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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4 Digitalisation of public services  

Luxembourg 

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

93 

2021 

97 

2021 

69 

2021 

88 

2021 

98 

2021 

95 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

91% 

2022 

95 

2022 

97 

2022 

72 

2022 

90 

2022 

98 

2022 

97 

2022 

67 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Luxembourg is one of the EU’s frontrunners in the roll-out of digital public services to people and 
businesses  and  in  the  use  of  e-government  services  The  country  performs  particularly  well  in 
providing  digital  public  services  with  a  score  of  almost  100  for  key  public  services  available  for 
citizens  (score  of  95)  and businesses (score  of 97), very  close  to  the  Digital  Decade  target  score  of 
100.  This  significant  offer  of  services  has  been  well  received  by  internet  users,  standing  at  91%  of 
Internet users using e-government services, compared with an EU average of 74%. Luxembourg also 
performs  above  –  and  in  many  cases  significantly  above  -  the  EU  average  on  pre-filled  forms, 
transparency of services, on user support and on mobile friendliness of e-government services.  

The Ministry for Digitalisation’s central coordination role has lead to further improvements in digital 
public administration. Almost all services are available online and cross-border. Features to improve 
convenience such as videoconferencing with the administration, the possibility of using mobile apps 
and electronic wallets are being added. 

However,  Luxembourg  ranks  particularly  low  on  open  data  maturity.  This  indicator  measures 
progress  on  publishing  public  sector  information  and  on  facilitating  its  use  by  people,  businesses, 
research,  and  the  general public.  The  creation  of  the  Luxembourg  National  Data  Service  (LNDS),  in 
July  2022,  should  help  to  improve  open  data  maturity,  because  this  organisation  was  set  up  to 
address problems of governance between multiple institutions and the technical challenges of data 
platforms at scale to enable a more efficient and secure secondary use of public sector data.  

The  governance  strategy  and  the  portal  through  which  e-government  services  are  made  available 
was outlined in the 2022 report. A new version of the portal is being developed, with improved user 
guidance, better access to online procedures and better visibility for easy language. A dedicated web 
portal  for  digital  inclusion  was  launched  in  2022.  The  government  has  also  begun  a  legal  and 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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technical feasibility study on the introduction of a digital proxy to enable a third party to carry out 
digital administrative procedures on behalf of a relative. 

In  2022,  Luxembourg  took  a  number  of  good  initiatives  to  further  improve  the  provision  of  e-
government  services.  In  order  to  facilitate  and  accelerate  the  transmission  of  administrative 
documents,  between  the  government  and  the  various  state  administrations  and  services,  and 
between  state  services  and  the  public,  a  new  draft  law  provides  for  the  possibility  of  affixing 
electronic  signatures  or  seals  to  administrative  documents  and  sending  these  electronically.  The 
digital identifier will allow the individual to whom the document is addressed, and any administration 
to which a person presents a copy to access the place where the original document is stored.  

In  addition,  a  new  electronic  signature  verification  and  validation  platform  will  allow  state 
representatives  to verify and validate electronic signatures in accordance with the requirements of 
the eIDAS Regulation. The user uploads the document to the platform that validates the signatures, 
stamps  and  electronic  timestamps  present  on  the  document,  allowing  a  detailed  report  to  be 
downloaded. The document is automatically deleted on the platform after the validation report has 
been issued. 

The  official  national  geographic  data  and  information  platform  has  been  integrated  into  the 
MyGuichet.lu  portal  as  a  geolocation  function,  allowing  users  to  display  maps,  select  elements, 
embed geoinformation in drawings and transmitting geoinformation to the administration.  

With the MyGuichet.lu app the users can now connect from their smartphone or tablet, whenever or 
wherever  they  wish,  to  the  functionalities  that  were  previously  only  available  via  computer.  This 
includes the possibility of electronically signing every procedure where a signature is required, while 
an online payment  functionality allows  fees for such  procedures to be paid  directly. Administrative 
documents  can  be  stored  in  the  individual’s  or  businesses’  private  e-space  for  use  as  supporting 
documents in procedures on MyGuichet.lu. A smartphone push notification function can notify users 
of  new  procedure-related  communications.  The  MyGuichet.lu  app  has  been  installed  on  280 000 
mobile devices. With the GouvID app, citizens can use their Luxembourg electronic identity card (e-
ID) in conjunction with their smartphone to identify themselves on a PC or tablet with online public 
services. No card reader or other authentication product is necessary. At the beginning of 2022, the 
GovTech  Lab  launched  an  innovation  partnership  to  implement  a  videoconferencing  solution 
enabling  a  person  to  interact  with  the  administration  in  complete  confidentiality  and  to  attend 
appointments  virtually  a  physical  presence  at  the  administration  is  currently  required.  The 
implementation  of  this  solution  was  not  yet  complete  by  at  the  time  this  report  was  drafted.  For 
cross-border administrative procedures, Luxembourg participates in the European project aiming to 
set  up  a  large-scale  pilot  in  2023  involving  many  EU  Member  States,  to  simplify  administrative 
procedures  and  more  specifically  for  cross-border  procedures  that  will  become  mandatory  in  the 
coming years. Luxembourg contributed in terms of solution design and document proofreading and 
quality assurance. Since February 2022, an electronic assistant, available on MyGuichet.lu, guides the 
citizen through the different stages of his digital personal income tax declaration.  

Luxembourg has a national e-ID scheme in place, to which all citizens have access, in line with the 
eIDAS Regulation, ensuring that citizens and businesses can access public online services also in other 
EU  Member  States.  Luxembourg  is  well  prepared  for  the  proposed  amendments178  to  the  eIDAS 
Regulation. The above-mentioned mobile ID app (GouvID), which can be used with the Luxembourg 
administration was launched in February 2022. A proof of concept is envisaged by the Luxembourg 
administration  to  change  the  cryptographic  certificates  currently  implemented  in  the  (physical) 

178 currently under examination by the European Parliament and the Council 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Luxembourg  identity  card  and  based  on  the  RSA  algorithm  by  elliptic  curve  certificates.  This  could 
increase the validity period of eID certificates to 10 years, from 5 years currently. 

A  national  electronic  wallet  is  being  developed  allowing  users  to  manage  and  present  digital 
certificates  of official  documents on their  smartphones,  with  a  first  version  supporting  the  identity 
card. In addition, the GouvCheck app checks the authenticity of an official document, allowing users 
to print electronically signed documents and to verify the electronic signature and the authenticity of 
the  information  on  the  document,  based  on  a  QR  code  on  a  document  such  as  a  certificate  of 
residence.  An  update  of  GouvCheck  is  being  developed  to  read  and  verify  the  codes  used  in  the 
eWallet. Person A will be able to show the code of his e-ID stored in the e-wallet and person B will be 
able  to  verify  it  with  the  GouvCheck  app.  The  government  taking  part  in  the  ‘Pilots  for  European 
digital identity wallet (POTENTIAL)’ consortium. 148 participants from 19 Member States and Ukraine 
join  forces  to  pilot  the  new  prototypes  of  the  EU  Digital  Identity  Wallet  (EUDIW)  through  six  use 
cases (e-government  services, bank  account, mobile driving license  and remote qualified electronic 
signature), allowing citizens to store their ID in a secure digital wallet valid across borders. 

In December 2021, the amending law on e-invoicing in public procurement and concession contracts 
came  into  force.  Since  then,  the  electronic  invoicing  has  become  obligatory  for  all  economic 
operators  in the  context of  public  procurement.  The  invoices  have  to  be  submitted  via  the Peppol 
eDelivery  network  or  via  one  of  the  two  types  of  web  forms  made  available  on  MyGuichet.lu. 
Numerous communications, awareness-raising and training measures accompanied the introduction 
of  this  requirement  and  the  gradual  introduction  of  mandatory  e-invoicing  over  a  one-year  period 
started  in March  2022.  In 2022,  public  sector  bodies  received more  than  120 000  e-invoices,  while 
nearly 1 million is expected in 2023. By June 2023, around 700 public sector bodies were connected 
to Peppol and could receive e-invoices. 

Since  autumn  2022  the  new  digital  class  diary  e-bichelchen  has  facilitated  the  exchange  of 
information,  with  teachers,  educators  and  parents  able  to  supervise  the  pupil,  when  the  teacher 
enters the homework and the pupil checks off the tasks once completed.  

For access to electronic health records, the national gateway to health data is the Dossier de Soins 
Partagé (DSP). It is accessible for doctors and other health professionals, health funds/companies and 
the  person  whose  health  report  it  is.  It  includes  electronic  prescriptions  and  allows  electronic 
retrieval  of  prescriptions  and  reporting  that  the  medicine  has  been  given  out  to  the  patient.  The 
national  e-ID  scheme  serves  as  a  secure means  of  authentication.  Luxembourg  does  not  provide  a 
secure means of authentication, using of an eIDAS (pre-)notified eID scheme. The range of data that 
is  accessible  remains  limited  and  does  not  yet  assure  that  access  to  electronic  health  records  is 
provided  with  a  timely  updated  minimum  set  of  health-related  data  stored  in  public  and  private 
electronic health-record (EHR) systems. Currently only Patient Summary data, e-Prescription and e-
Dispensation  data  or  electronic  lab  results  are  available  while  hospital  discharge  reports,  imaging 
reports  and  medical  imaging  are  not  included.  For  the  moment,  only  private  and  public  primary, 
secondary and tertiary healthcare providers are connected to the services and provide the relevant 
health data. While Luxembourg law provides that the DSP is automatically created – by opt-out mode 
– for any citizen affiliated to the Luxembourg social security system, there is only an access rate of 
80-100% of the population to the DSP online portal and mobile application. All Luxembourg citizens 
and cross-border workers can access their DSP, and an electronic vaccination record functionality is 
gradually  being  rolled  out  to  all  vaccinating  doctors.  Different  technical  solutions  are  being 
considered  for  using  the  MyGuichet.lu  platform  to  allow  the  exchange  of  documents  between 
doctors  and  other  health  professionals,  individuals  and  health  funds/companies.  These  documents 
will  include  invoices  for  direct  payment, electronic  prescriptions, certificates of  incapacity for  work 
and vaccination documentation. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Luxembourg 

Luxembourg  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular, 
Luxembourg authorities should continue their digital public administration initiatives and keep their 
high level of ambition. Access to open data should be improved. Luxembourg should improve access 
to electronic health records, ensuring a timely updated minimum set of health-related data stored in 
public and private electronic health-record systems. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023   

Malta 

 
 
 
 
 
 
300 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

Malta is expected to make a very strong contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the EU’s 
Digital  Decade  targets  and  objectives.  Malta  has  made  significant  progress,  especially  on 
connectivity  and  digital  public  services,  but  more  targeted  efforts  are  needed  for  Malta  to  further 
contribute  to  the  Digital  Decade  targets  on  digital  skills  and  the  digitalisation  of  businesses. 
Developing people’s basic digital skills is crucial for ensuring Maltese citizens and businesses can use 
the  ubiquitous  gigabit  internet  connections  and  digital  public  services  in  Malta  to  their  greatest 
advantage,  e.g.  to  participate  in  democratic  life  or  implement  innovative  business  ideas,  helping 
Malta to advance on the general objectives of the Digital Decade. Maltese enterprises identify skills 
shortages  as  one  of  the  main  barriers  to  investing  more  in  digitalisation.  Encouraging  the 
development of more advanced and specialist digital skills is therefore crucial for them to be able to 
fully digitalise and to realise their full innovation potential, and for enabling small and medium-sized 
enterprises (SMEs) to remain the pillars of a sustainable and competitive economy. 

Malta’s  digital  transformation  got  fresh  impetus  in  2022  with  the  launch  of  the  Malta  Diġitali 
Strategy 2022-2027  and efforts  to improve  the overall coordination of digital policy initiatives.  The 
new digital strategy establishes clear links to the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030. It sets out a 
list of actions to improve the lives of Maltese citizens, enable businesses to thrive, make government 
services  more  accessible,  and  innovate  for  economic  growth  and  environmental  sustainability. 
Stakeholders  from  society,  business  and  government  are  represented  on  the  newly  established 
Malta Diġitali Governance Board set up to oversee its implementation. Malta has also set up a Digital 
Initiatives  Coordination  Committee  to  facilitate  collaboration  in  the  Ministry  for  the  Economy,  EU 
Funds and Lands and between it and other Ministries as needed. Taken together, these measures are 
expected  to  result 
in  a  more  coordinated  approach  to  digital  policy  development  and 
implementation,  including the  implementation of  Malta’s  sectoral  digital  strategies,  with  a  view to 
strengthening the country’s contribution to the 2030 Digital Decade targets and objectives in close 
cooperation  with  stakeholders.  As  a  frontrunner  in  digital,  Malta  is  in  a  good  position  to  play  a 
leading role in promoting digital rights and principles for a human-centric, inclusive, and sustainable 
digital transformation at national and Union level.  

Malta is currently only involved as observer in the work aiming at the set-up of a European Digital 
Infrastructure  Consortium  (EDIC)  on  the  Innovative Massive  Public  Administration  inter-Connected 
Transformation Services, to develop a new generation of advanced cross-border services. 

Digital in Malta’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Malta’s  amended  RRP  devotes  EUR  67.6  million  (26%)  to  the  digital  transformation.  A  large  part 
thereof  is  expected  to  contribute  to  the  Digital  Decade  targets179,  in  particular the  digitalisation  of 
public  services,  followed  by  the  digital  transformation  of  businesses  and,  to  a  lesser extent,  digital 

179 Each RRP must dedicate at least 20% of the plan’s total allocation to digital objectives. To this end, the plans 
had to specify and justify to what extent each measure contributes fully (100%), partly (40%) or has no impact 
(0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation.  Combining  the  coefficients  with  the  cost 
estimates  of  each  measure  allows  assessing  to  what  degree  the  plan  contributes  to  digital  objectives  and 
whether it meets the 20% target. Furthermore, a further qualitative assessment of the data took place to allow 
for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measure to the Digital Decade targets. The information 
provided  refers  to  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  as  adopted  by  the  Council  before  1  September  2023, 
without prejudice of potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

skills. None of the RRP measures is dedicated to digital infrastructure targets. In the context of the 
first payment disbursed in March 2023, Malta achieved two digital milestones: 

• 

In  2021,  Malta  adopted  a  Smart  Specialisation  Strategy,  which 
identifies  digital 
technologies as a priority area for investment (see section 3), ii) calls for more international 
cooperation on research and innovation (R&I) activities, and  iii) recommends strengthening 
synergies between public and private investments, in line with Digital Decade objectives. 

i) 

•  To  further  advance  the  digitalisation  of  the  public  administration,  Malta  made  legislative 
amendments allowing for people to appear in court through live video conferencing links and 
for judicial documents to be filed by electronic means (see section 4).  

Other RRP commitments due by the end of 2022 included launching a scholarship scheme to support 
graduate studies in AI, data science, and related fields (see section 1), launching a grant scheme for 
businesses  seeking  to  invest  in  digital  technologies  (see  section  3)  and  further  investing  in  digital 
hardware and software for the public administration (see section 4).  

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

28% 

2020 

4.3% 

2020 

6.0% 

2019 

Malta 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

86% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

87% 

2021 

61% 

2021 

35% 

2021 

71% 

2021 

28% 

2020 

4.7% 

2021 

6.5% 

2020 

91% 

2022 

61% 

2021 

35% 

2021 

71% 

2021 

28% 

2022 

4.8% 

2022 

6.6% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Addressing Malta’s remaining skills gaps and shortages is key to ensuring Malta’s progress towards 
achieving the Digital Decade targets and objectives across all dimensions: Maltese businesses depend 
on skilled employees to digitalise (see section 3), and at least a basic level of digital skills is required 
to use Malta’s digital public services (see section 4). The updated National eSkills Strategy 2022-2025 
provides  a  framework  for  existing  and  new  initiatives,  which  aim  to  promote  the  inclusive  and 
equitable development and use of basic, advanced and specialised digital skills in line with the 2030 
EU  targets.  Its  implementation  is  being  coordinated  by  the  eSkills  Malta  Foundation,  which  is  the 
national  coalition  of  digital  skills  and  jobs  with  representatives  from  government,  industry  and 
education. 

Malta performs above the EU average on basic digital skills, but gaps remain, particularly among 
disadvantaged groups. Looking at the overall population, 61% of people in the country have at least 
basic digital skills, compared to 54%  in the EU. The percentage is similar among women (61%) and 
men  (62%).  However,  Malta’s  lead  is  less  pronounced  among  people  who  are  older,  have  a  lower 
level of education and/or are not part of the workforce. For example, only 40% of people in Malta 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

with  at  least  one  of  these  three  characteristics  possess  basic  digital  skills,  which  is  the  same 
percentage  as  in  the  EU  overall180.  Therefore,  while  Malta  is  expected  to  make  an  important 
contribution to the 2030 target of having at least 80% of the population equipped with basic digital 
skills,  a  key  challenge  is  to  ensure  that  its  contribution  aligns  with  the  Digital  Decade  objective  to 
bridge digital divides. 

Malta provides several opportunities to learn digital skills, including specific training for vulnerable 
groups.  For  example,  in  the  academic  year  2022/23,  the  Ministry  for  Education,  Sport,  Youth, 
Research and Innovation, as part of the ‘one tablet per child’ project, launched training on using an 
online,  cloud-based  solution  for  students  in  compulsory  education  as  well  as  their  teachers  and 
parents to share projects and interact in real time on one platform. The Ministry also started a series 
of  courses  for  21st  century  skills,  which  includes  digital  literacy  training  for  more  than  400  people 
over the age of 15 who are not covered by compulsory education in the academic year 2022/2023. 
To further promote gender convergence, the public-private partnership Tech.mt trained 87 women 
in  2022  to  develop  basic  and  advanced  digital  skills  for  job  profiles  ranging  from  customer  service 
support  to  junior  web  developer  as  part  of  its  ongoing  participation  in  the  Europe-wide  multi-
stakeholder  partnership  Women4IT.  In  April  2023,  the  eSkills  Malta  Foundation  launched  the  first 
version  of  the  online  Malta  Digital  Skills  and  Jobs  Platform  to  provide  one  single  access  point  to 
available  courses,  jobs,  events  and  best  practices  related  to  digital  skills  in  Malta.  The  platform  is 
linked with a European core system to exchange data, presenting a multi-country approach.  

Malta's RRP addresses persistent digital divides with the Digital Connect Scheme. According to the 
interim  report  submitted  by  the  Maltese  authorities,  the  2-year-pilot  scheme  concluded  in  August 
2022  after  providing  1 664  individuals  from  low-income  households  with  a  laptop  and  an  internet 
connection,  and  63  with  an  internet  voucher.  A  participant  survey  suggested  low  interest  in 
complementary  training  offers.  While  Malta  will  only  analyse  the  scheme’s  impact  on  the  digital 
literacy  of  low-income  households  in  a  following  step,  the  above  country-level  data  suggests  that 
complimentary training offers could still be useful in helping disadvantaged individuals develop basic 
digital  skills.  Overall,  Malta’s  RRP  only  dedicates  EUR  2.6  million  (below  4%  of  its  overall  digital 
expenditure) to digital skills. 

Malta  is  investing  in  digital  teaching  and  learning  resources  as  well  as  digital  competences  for 
educators. To facilitate remote learning, the Ministry for Education, Youth, Sport and Innovation has 
committed to  investing  EUR  209 000  annually over  the  next  5  years (2022-2027)  in  an  educational 
app store that will enable teachers and students in state schools to download licensed educational 
software to their own devices. To equip educators with digital competencies, the University of Malta 
added a Master’s programme in ‘Open Networked Learning in Higher Education’ to its existing offer 
of  digital-focused  programmes  for  educators.  The  University  also  introduced  a  professional 
development programme for educators and social workers on the topics of problematic internet use 
and  digital  citizenship.  Moreover,  Malta  is  participating  in  the  CybARverse  strategic  partnership 
project,  launched  in  November  2022  and  funded  by  the  Erasmus+  programme,  which  will  train 
teachers  on  how  to  recognise  and  react  to  cyberattacks.  This  is  a  significant  important  bottom-up 
contribution  to  achieving  the  general  Digital  Decade  objectives  of  improving  the  resilience  to 
cyberattacks  in  public  and  private  organisations  across  the  Union  and  fostering  digital  capacities 
within horizontal education systems.  

180 Indicator DSI 2.0 - Individuals with at least basic overall digital skills, broken down by Individuals with at least 
one of the three following characteristics: 55 to 74 years old; low education; unemployed or inactive or retired. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

Malta has a higher share of ICT graduates and ICT specialists than the respective EU averages but 
shortages in its labour market persist. The percentage of ICT specialists in the Maltese workforce is 
4.8%,  slightly  above  the  EU  average  of  4.6%.  However,  there  is  still  a  significant  gender  gap,  as 
women  in  Malta  make  up  18%  of  employed  ICT  specialists  compared  to  19%  in  the  EU  overall. 
Malta’s performance is significant for collective EU efforts to increase the number of employed ICT 
specialists  to  20  million181  by  2030  with  an  increased  gender  convergence,  but  more  needs  to  be 
done  to  satisfy  the  demand  of  Maltese  enterprises:  69%  report  hard-to-fill  vacancies  for  jobs 
requiring  ICT  specialist  skills,  compared  to 63%  in  the  EU  overall  and  up  3  percentage  points  since 
2020182.   

Malta  Enterprise,  the  country’s  economic  development  agency,  offers  financial  incentives  for 
upskilling including on digital skills. For example, in 2022, the Skills Development Scheme supported 
290  businesses  with  approximately  EUR  2.5  million  in  cash  grants  and  tax  credits  to  train  their 
employees  in  digital  skills.  However,  the  number  of  Maltese  enterprises  providing  ICT  training  to 
their employees stagnated at 28% since 2020. Another ca. EUR 9.5 m in tax credits were invested in 
2022  rewarding  a  total  of  5084  individuals  for  successfully  completing  a  certification,  diploma  or 
university degree as part of the Get Qualified scheme, with 664 beneficiaries qualifying in computing 
studies.   

The  mismatch  between  the  supply  of  and  demand  for  ICT  specialist  skills  is  being  partially 
addressed at secondary school and university levels. The share of ICT graduates slightly increased to 
6.6% in 2021. This lies above the EU average (4.2%) but has still not returned to 2014 levels (10%), 
even though the number of university graduates overall in Malta has increased steadily during this 
period183. To address this, Malta extended  ICT as a compulsory subject to  upper secondary level in 
the 2022/2023 academic year, having introduced the subject at lower secondary level in 2018/2019. 
In parallel, the eSkills Malta Foundation enabled 80 students aged 14-15 to shadow ICT jobs under its 
Career Exposure Scheme, and provided ICT career sessions to around 50 teachers and 250 students 
in secondary schools with the aim of sparking interest early on. As part of the 2022 EU Codeweek, 
the  foundation  organised  516  coding  related  activities  with  more  than  8 000  participants  (81%  of 
whom  at  in  schools),  resulting  in  Malta  ranking  second  in  terms  of  activities  organised  per 
population.  At  university  level,  in  2021,  Malta  launched  the  Pathfinder  MDIA  Digital  Scholarship 
scheme  as  part  of  its  RRP  to  support  studies  in  AI,  data  science  and  information  studies,  among 
others.  According  to  the  Maltese  authorities, a  total  of  19  students  have  since  benefited  from  the 
scholarship  (13  in  2021  and  6  in  2022).  The  Demand  and  Supply  Monitor,  issued  biennially  by  the 
eSkills Malta Foundation, remains an important source for identify gaps in the ICT sector.  

Malta  should  continue  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digital  skills.  To  further  narrow  the  digital  divide, 
Malta  should  encourage  people  to  take  part  in  digital  skills  training  by  raising  awareness  and 
facilitating access, with a special focus on vulnerable groups. Moreover, Malta should continue skill 
forecasting and improve cooperation with industry and civil society to regularly evaluate and adjust 
education  and  training  offers  to  labour  market  needs  and  encourage  women  to  become  ICT 
specialist184. 

181 Corresponds to about 10% of the workforce. 
182  Eurostat:  ICT  specialists  -  statistics  on  hard-to-fill  vacancies  in  enterprises  (as  %  of  enterprises  which 
recruited/tried to recruit ICT specialists), 2022. 
183 2022 Education and Training Monitor 
184 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Malta 

DESI 
2021 

45% 

2020 

1.2% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

54% 

2021 

2.5% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

60% 

2022 

6.4% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

100% 

73% 

100% 

2020 

41% 

2020 

79% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

17% 

2021 

2021 

48% 

2021 

87% 

2021 

20% 

2021 

25% 

2022 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

100% 

2022 

25% 

2023 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

100% 

Malta has reached the Digital Decade targets for connectivity and is well placed to collaborate with 
other Member States in the area of semiconductors and quantum. Investing in relevant use cases for 
connectivity  would  enable  Maltese  businesses  to  further  leverage  the  existing  infrastructure  for 
productivity  gains.  Furthermore,  Malta  could  capitalise  its  strengths  in  digital  infrastructure  and 
technologies to support its green transition.   
Substantial  progress  on  5G  and  fibre  coverage  strengthened  Malta’s  overall  connectivity 
performance.  Since  2019,  all  Maltese  households  have  had  access  to  very  high  capacity  networks 
(VHCNs)  offering  download  speeds  of  up  to  1Gbps  since  2019  provided  by  a  hybrid  fibre-coax 
network based on the DOCSIS 3.1 standard. In 2022, fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) coverage caught up 
with the EU average of 56%, as the incumbent operator continues to invest in its fibre network with 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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the  aim  of  reaching  full  coverage  over  the  coming  years.  In  parallel,  a  recent  entrant  in  the  fixed 
market has started to deploy fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in selected localities after securing a EUR 20 
m loan from the European Investment Bank  (2021) with the commitment to cover 25% of Maltese 
households by 2024. On 28 April 2023, the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) opened a public 
consultation on its  proposal for a review of the wholesale local access market185, as the regulatory 
measures  currently  in  force  were  imposed  on  the  basis  of  a  market  analysis  adopted  in  2013. 
Moreover, in December 2022, the MCA deregulated the wholesale dedicated capacity market186 after 
finding it to be effectively competitive.  

While Malta has already reached the gigabit connectivity target for the Digital Decade, remaining 
obstacles  to  deployment  weaken  network  efficiency  and  resilience  and  may  inhibit  further 
progress to symmetric gigabit speeds. To date, a large part of the connectivity networks in Malta is 
aerial  and  bringing  it  underground  would,  according  to  operators,  require  improved  access  to 
physical infrastructure and coordination of civil works, not least to minimize the risk of outages from 
accidental  cable  cuts.  Operators  also  call  for  clearer  procedures  regarding  access  to  in-building 
infrastructure. Transport Malta is still working to integrate all relevant network data in one place, as 
provided for in Malta’s Connectivity Toolbox Roadmap.  

Take-up of very high speeds continued to improve, but is far from corresponding to the available 
nationwide  coverage.  In  2022,  60%  of  households  subscribed  to  fixed  internet  services  of  at  least 
100 Mbps, up 6 percentage points from the previous year and above the EU average of 55%. Take-up 
of  gigabit  speeds  increased  from  2.5%  of  households  in  2021  to  6.4%  in  2022,  but  still  lies 
significantly below the EU average of 14%.  

Malta is implementing measures to drive the take-up of higher speeds by public institutions. This 
includes Tech.mt’s efforts to upgrade the free wi-fi provided in public buildings to higher speeds as 
part of the WiFi4EU initiative. Moreover, through national and ongoing exploration of potential EU 
funds,  Malta  is  investing  at  least  EUR  33  million  over  a  7-year  period  to  prepare  the  network 
infrastructure in schools for higher speeds and data volumes, including by installing new wi-fi (6E). A 
subset of the initial 7 selected schools is expected to benefit from new infrastructure by the end of 
2023. 

Malta already achieved nationwide 5G coverage in 2022, but there is room for improving coverage 
on  essential  bands  for  enabling  advanced  applications  requiring  large  spectrum  bandwidth.  One 
mobile  operator  already  operates  a  nationwide  5G  network,  and  the  other  two  operators  plan  to 
reach full coverage by the end of 2023, in line with spectrum assignment conditions. Spectrum in all 
three  5G  pioneer  bands  was  made  available  in  2021  and  the  three  Maltese  mobile  operators  are 
each assigned a contiguous frequency block of 100 MHz in the 3.5-3.8 GHz band. The  residual 100 
MHz  in  the  3.6  GHz  pioneer  band  (3.4-3.5  GHz)  remains  unassigned.  The  MCA  has  to  date  not 
assigned  spectrum  in  the  700  MHz  and  26  GHz  bands,  pointing  to  the  lack  of  market  demand, 
possibly stemming from the small size of the country and its market. As of 2022, 5G coverage on the 
3.4-3.8  GHz  pioneer  spectrum  band  stands  at  20%,  significantly  below  the  EU  average  of  41%.  5G 
services are being delivered using spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.5 GHz 
and  3.6  GHz  bands.  Operators  cite  a  lack  of  relevant  use  cases  and  end  users  being  locked  into 
bundled offers with lower speeds as possible reasons for the continuing low demand for 5G services. 
Moreover,  some  end  users  seem  unable  to  benefit  from  available  5G  services  because  some 

185  Corresponding  to  Market  1/2020  (wholesale  local  access  provided  at  a  fixed  location)  under  the  2020 
Recommendation on Relevant Markets. 
186  Corresponding  to  Market  2/2020  (wholesale  dedicated  capacity)  under  the  2020  Recommendation  on 
Relevant Markets.  

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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handsets manufacturers do not prioritise Malta in their handset customisation schedule. In 2023, the 
MCA  plans  to  further  develop  the  licensing  framework  of  the  26  GHz  band  to  prepare  it  for  new 
applications and use cases.   

Migrating from legacy networks to more energy-efficient technologies is the next step to improve 
the  environmental  impact  of  Malta’s  electronic  communications  networks.  The  three  Maltese 
operators currently run multiple concurrent mobile (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G) and fixed networks. The  MCA 
works closely with them to manage the efficient migration from legacy networks to newer and more 
efficient technologies, while protecting competition and end-users at all stages of the process. One 
operator  has  started  to  gradually  decommission  its  copper-based  network  in  areas  where  it  has 
deployed  fibre.  Consultations  with  all  operators  will  continue  throughout  2023  with  a  view  to 
switching off the  legacy networks and improving  the  sustainability of the sector more broadly, e.g.  
by including environmental objectives in spectrum reassignment decisions.  

Malta’s  new  National  Cyber  Security  Strategy  2023  –  2026  responds  to  the  growing  threat 
cyberattacks  pose  to  the  country’s  digital  infrastructure.  In  line  with  EU  overall  trends,  Maltese 
telecom operators report an increase in cyberattacks on their connectivity networks. In this context, 
the  new  cybersecurity  strategy  outlines  actions  to  increase  Malta’s  cyber  defence  capacity  and 
strengthen  cybersecurity  awareness  and  skills  in  the  public  and  private  sector.  The  strategy  also 
encourages collaboration and information sharing between Maltese stakeholders and their European 
and international counterparts. The Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), recognised as the 
country’s  National  Cybersecurity  Coordination  Centre187,  has  been  allocated  almost  EUR  3  m  in 
Digital  Europe  funds  to  implement  the  strategy.  Moreover,  the  MCA  is  currently  consulting  on 
measures to enhance the security and integrity of electronic communication networks and services 
(e.g., minimum security requirements and reporting obligations, security audits, incident reporting, 
etc.)  with  the  aim  to  develop  a  revised  security  framework  for  the  sector  in  Malta  to  be  adopted 
before the end of 2023.   

Malta  currently  has  no  known  edge  node  deployment  plans  but  could  benefit  from  additional 
computational  capacities  to  complement  its  powerful  connectivity  infrastructure  and  contribute  to 
the Digital Decade target of deploying at least 10 000 climate-neutral highly secure edge nodes in the 
EU by 2030.  

Malta  is  part  of  the  European  semiconductor  ecosystem,  specialising  in  back-end  packaging 
operations  which  mainly  cater  to  the  automotive  and  telecommunications  sectors.  The  country 
takes  part  in  the  IPCEI  on  Microelectronics  and  Communication  Technologies  with  its  largest 
semiconductor back-end operator. Furthermore, following the conclusions of the negotiations on the 
European Chips Act, Malta is looking to strengthen the cooperation between educational institutions 
to attract design operations to the country. In this way, it can contribute to collective EU efforts to 
increase  the  production  of  cutting-edge  semiconductors  in  the  EU  to  at  least  20%  of  world 
production in value.   

Malta is helping to pave the way for the EU to be at the cutting edge of quantum capabilities by 
2030.  Since  2021,  Malta  is  active  in  the  QuantERA  programme,  a  European  network  of  public 
organisations funding transnational R&I projects in quantum technologies. Moreover, Malta was one 
of the seven initial signatories to the EuroQCI Declaration in 2019 and the EUROQCI initiative is now 
well  underway  to  developing  and  deploying  a  quantum  communication  infrastructure  (QCI)  across 
the EU. 

187 Under EU Regulation 2021/887.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Best practice: leveraging digital technologies for sustainability  

Malta and Italy  are  partners  on the  GIFLUID  project (2021-2023), partially funded by the  European 
Regional  Development  Fund  (ERDF),  which  uses  computational  models  to  simulate  the  effect  of 
different  green  infrastructure  designs  on  how  rainwater  drains  in  urban  and  sub-urban  areas.  The 
replicable computational model provides a useful tool to help identify the best climate change green 
adaptation  strategies  for  Mediterranean  Countries  suffering  from  flooding  due  to  increased 
variability  in  precipitation  due  to  climate  change.  This  is  a  good  example  of  using  advanced  digital 
technologies to innovate for sustainability, in line with the European Green Deal as well as the Digital 
Decade objectives and principles. 

Malta  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  on  digital  infrastructure.  Malta  should  regularly 
assess emerging market demand in the 700 MHz and 26 GHz bands. In parallel, Malta should step up 
efforts  to  incentivise  the  take-up  of  gigabit  and  5G  connectivity,  including  by  accelerating  the 
development of 5G ecosystems throughout the country. Malta should cooperate with other Member 
States,  for  example,  on  using  digital  technologies  to  address  environmental  challenges,  facilitate 
traffic and energy management  as  well as  long-term sustainable city planning.  Malta’s activities  in 
the  development  of  infrastructure  for  advanced  technologies  such  as  semiconductors  and  quantum 
computing should be sustained in order to help the EU become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

NA 

Malta 

DESI 
2021 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud188 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

32% 

2019 

43% 

2019 

30% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

22% 

2020 

24% 

2020 

9% 

2020 

NA 

2019 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

39% 

2021 

43% 

2021 

30% 

2020 

48% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

22% 

2020 

26% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

78% 

2022 

39% 

2021 

43% 

2021 

30% 

2020 

48% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

22% 

2020 

30% 

2022 

8% 

2022 

13% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

188 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Maltese  businesses  boast  a  high  level  of  digitalisation  compared  to  the  EU  average.  However,  a 
shortage of skilled workers is inhibiting an even greater contribution to the targets and objectives of 
Europe’s  Digital  Decade.  The  Maltese  business  community  cites  attracting  and  retaining  skilled 
workers  is  cited  as  a  main  challenge  and  barrier  to  digitalisation,  preventing  businesses  from 
investing more in using and developing innovative digital technologies to make their operations more 
resource  and energy efficient  and prevent loss of productivity due  to labour shortages. Addressing 
this is key to strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of Malta’s economy in the face of 
an ageing workforce,  environmental challenges, and increased international competition for skilled 
workers.  

The share of SMEs that have reached a basic level of digital intensity is higher in Malta (78%) than 
in  the  EU  overall  (69%).  With  78%  of  SMEs  making  use  of  basic  digital  technologies  and  digital-
technology-enabled  features,  Malta  is  well  placed  to  contribute  to  the  EU  target  of  90%  by  2030.  
Zooming  in  on  e-commerce,  a  comparatively  high  percentage  of  Maltese  SMEs  sells  online  (30% 
compared  to  19%  in  EU  overall),  yet only  8%  of  total  SME  turnover was  generated  through  online 
sales according to the 2022 EU survey on ICT usage and e-commerce 2022 (compared to 11% in the 
EU overall), 1 percentage point below 2020 levels. Numbers may increase as more individuals from 
start-ups  and  SMEs  get  certified  in  “e-commerce  practices”  as  part  of  the  next  round  of  e-Biznify 
courses organised by the eSkills Malta Foundation and the Malta Communications Authority.  

The Maltese RRP supports investments in the digitalisation of businesses with two grant schemes 
with a total budget of EUR 15 million. The schemes were launched in summer 2022 and applications 
are  open  on  a  rolling  basis.  According  to  the  Maltese  authorities,  as  of  June  2023,  52  enterprises 
were selected under the SME Digitalisation Grant Scheme to receive grants of up to EUR 50 000 for 
acquiring ICT hardware and software and/or developing customised software solutions using AI and 

 
 
 
 
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cloud computing. The Digital Intensification Scheme offers the same (relatively low) support to larger 
enterprises, which may explain why  the Maltese authorities report  no successful applications as of 
June 2023. To reach its RRP target of supporting 360 undertakings by Q2 2026, Malta  issued a third 
scheme  in  Q2  2023  targeting  Micro  Enterprises  in  Q2  2023.  The  scheme  is  called  ‘Digitalise  your 
Micro Business’ and three grants have been awarded as of June 2023.   

The  use  of  advanced  digital  technologies  is  significantly  more  widespread  among  enterprises, 
including SMEs,  in Malta than in the EU overall.  This is especially the case  for the  use of big data 
analytics (30% versus 14%) and cloud computing (48% versus 34%). The use of AI lies slightly above 
EU average (10% versus 8%), but far below the Digital Decade target of having at least 75% of Union 
enterprises  take  up  one  or  more  of  these  three  advanced  digital  technologies  in  line  with  their 
business operations.  

Malta  Enterprise,  the  country’s  economic  development  agency,  runs  several  schemes  which  can 
help  Maltese  enterprises  digitalise  their  business  operations.  The  Business  Re-engineering  & 
Transformation Scheme (2020-2023) complements the RRP funding for hardware and software with 
a  total  of  2.5  million  in  funding  for  SMEs  to  get  expert  advice  on  business  reengineering  and 
transformation  processes.  The  Smart  and  Sustainable  Investment  Grant  (2021-2023),  updated  in 
2022, funds projects to make business activities more sustainable and resource efficient with a total 
budget of EUR 3.3 million. Both schemes can be used for integrating advanced digital technologies in 
business operations. 

Despite a comparatively good performance in the uptake of digital technologies, Malta falls further 
behind the EU average in R&I in the  European Innovation Scoreboard 2022. This can be traced in 
particular to a lack of skilled workers and low public and private R&I investments. Malta’s RRP seeks 
to address this with the 2021-2027 Smart Specialisation Strategy adopted as part of the first payment 
request,  which  identifies  digital  technologies  (e.g.  AI,  high-performance  computing,  distributed 
ledger technologies) as one of six priority areas for investment. Moreover, the Malta Diġitali Strategy 
2022-2027 emphasises the importance of accelerating digital R&I for ensuring sustainable economic 
growth despite the country’s small size and resource limitations. 

Malta’s digital innovation hub (DIH) will focus on making high performance computing as well as 
other advanced digital technologies accessible to SMEs and public sector organisations189. The hub 
was selected to participate in the network of EDIHs in 2022 and will benefit from funding through the 
Digital Europe Programme. The Malta-EDIH is expected to house its own high-performance computer 
as  well  as  the  necessary  technical  expertise  to  allow  businesses  to  test  the  technology  before 
investing in high-performance computing (HPC) and other advanced digital technologies like AI and 
virtual reality. 

In  2022,  Malta  was  home  to  three  unicorns  suggesting  steady  but  slow  progress  since  the  first 
Maltese  unicorn  was  registered  in  2017190.  To  compare,  the  number  of  unicorns  in  the  EU  has 
increased  by  over 4.5  times  from 55  in  2017 to 249  in 2022.  Malta  has  ambitions to  speed  up  the 
positive trend by establishing itself as Europe’s start-up hub, as announced by Prime Minister Abela 
in the 2023 budget speech, in which he specifically earmarked aviation, the maritime sector, eSports 
and video game development as drivers of future economic growth.   

189 The hub is made up of Malta Communications Authority (MCA), University of Malta, Malta College of Arts, 
Science  &  Technology  (MCAST),  Malta  Information  Technology  Agency  (MITA)  and  the  Malta  Chamber  of 
Commerce.   
190  Dealroom  (date  of  extraction  24/03/2023).  ‘Unicorn’  means  undertaking  with  a  valuation  of  over  USD 
1billion.  ‘Potential  unicorn’ means  undertaking  with  a  market  valuation between  EUR  100  million  and  EUR  1 
billion. 

 
 
 
 
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Regarding  its  ambition  to  become  Europe’s  start-up  hub,  Malta  is  most  advanced  in  gaming, 
including  iGaming191.  This  sector  had  been  one  of  the  drivers  of  Malta’s  strong  economic 
performance before the pandemic and of its swift recovery afterwards. It benefits from a proactive 
regulatory  framework  and  well-developed  connectivity  infrastructure,  which  continues  to  attract 
large gaming operators as well as innovative video game and eSports start-ups seeking to integrate 
digital  technologies  like  virtual  reality,  AI  and  blockchain  into  their  offers.  The  Gaming  Malta 
Foundation,  an  independent  non-profit  set  up  by  the  Maltese  Government  and  the Malta 
Gaming Authority  (MGA),  runs  an  incubator  facility,  Basecamp,  to  facilitate  start-up  growth. 
Moreover, Malta can leverage the research on games conducted at the Institute for Digital Games at 
the University of Malta as well as existing partnerships between industry and education institutions 
to give its businesses a head start in helping to develop virtual worlds, in line with EU ambitions. 

Malta’s  attractiveness  for  digital  start-ups  is  bolstered  by  its  strategic  approach  to  innovative 
digital technologies as well as several public support measures.  Since 2018, Malta has a dedicated 
strategy and legal framework for distributed ledger technologies and, as a member of the European 
Blockchain  Partnership,  has  progressed  throughout  2022  in  implementing  a  node  of  the  European 
Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) with completion expected in Q4 2023. Under the AI Strategy 
launched in 2019, Malta continues its initiatives to position the country as a hub for AI applications. 
For  example,  between 2022  and 2023,  the  Malta  Digital  Innovation  Authority (MDIA)  received  five 
applications  for  the  Technology  Assurance  Sandbox  which  provides  a  safe  environment  for 
individuals or companies developing AI-based solutions. Moreover, Malta is in the process of joining 
the  Europe  Start-up  Nations  Alliance  (ESNA)  to  benefit  from  funding  and  shared  best  practices  to 
facilitate  start-up  growth.  In  2022,  Malta  Enterprise  updated  Start-up  Finance  2020,  a  scheme 
providing  up  to  EUR  800 000  in  repayable  grants  to  innovative  start-ups  that  have  successfully 
expanded their economic activity. As of June 2023, the scheme has awarded a total of approximately 
EUR 6.7 million and is expected to run until the end of the year. Start-ups in an early development 
phase can also apply to Business Start 2021, a seed funding scheme updated in 2022, to receive cash 
grants of up to EUR 10 000 for developing their business proposals. As of June 2023, the scheme has 
awarded a total of approximately EUR 1 million and is also expected to run until the end of the year.  

Best practice: improving cybersecurity awareness and measures of local businesses 

In 2023, Malta introduced Mind the Gap, a project with a self-assessment and funding component to 
help e-Commerce service providers improve their cybersecurity levels. In a first step, businesses can 
use  a  free  self-assessment  tool  provided  by the MDIA  to  identify  their  cybersecurity  strengths  and 
weaknesses, with the option to obtain a certificate of participation for public display. Businesses who 
have  completed  the  assessment  can  then  apply  for  funding  under  the  Cybersecurity  Improvement 
Scheme. The EUR 10 000 budget is managed by Tech.mt and promoted together with the MCA. As of 
June  2023,  nine  applicants  completed  the  self-assessment.  This  is  a  good  example  of  national 
authorities  working  together  to  improve  the  cybersecurity  awareness  and  measures  of  local 
businesses,  thereby  helping  to  improve  the  cybersecurity  resilience  of  the  EU  overall  in  line  with 
Digital Decade objectives and principles.  

191 iGaming or online gaming involves betting money on the outcome of an event or a game using the internet, 
including, e.g. casino games and sports betting. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

Malta  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In 
particular,  Malta  should  further  facilitate  access  to  secure  and  sovereign  advanced  digital 
technologies  and  solutions  and  encourage  investment  in  digital  research  and  innovation.  It  should 
raise  awareness  about  the  benefits  of  digital  technologies  and  to  increase  participation  in  existing 
funding  schemes,  especially  among  the  many  family-owned  micro,  small  and  medium-sized 
businesses making up Malta’s economy. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Malta 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

100 

2021 

97 

2021 

87 

2021 

98 

2021 

100 

2021 

98 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

83% 

2022 

100 

2022 

97 

2022 

88 

2022 

98 

2022 

100 

2022 

99 

2022 

78 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Malta  makes  a  very  strong  contribution  to  EU’s  targets  on  the  digitalisation  of  public  services. 
Considering Malta’s strong performance and investment in this dimension, there are opportunities to 
pilot  the use of advanced digital technologies in public administration  to stimulate overall demand 
for innovative ICT, as set out in Malta’s digital strategy. The Committee for the Digitalisation of the 
Public Administration192, established in 2022, provides a governance structure to consolidate Malta’s 
leadership  role  in  providing  digital  public  services  in  Europe,  as  outlined  in  the  5-year  strategy 
‘Achieving a Service of Excellence’ (2022-2026). The strategy recognises digital technologies as a key 
enabler  to  improve  the  quality,  accountability  and  sustainability  of  the  public  service,  and,  among 
other  things,  promotes  the  use  of  AI  and  distributed  ledger  technologies  to  make  public  services 
more personalised, accessible and accountable.  

Malta  is  a  leader  in  digital  public  services  and  has  already  reached  the  Digital  Decade  target  of 
providing  100%  of  key  public  services  to  citizens  online.  Citizens  can  access  all  key  digital  public 
services  (score  100/100)  and  businesses  almost  all  key  public  services  (score  97/100)  through  the 
government’s one-stop-shop portal servizz.gov. The services offered score well on transparency and 
allow  users  to  manage  their  personal  data  (score  98/100).  Online  support,  help  features,  and 
feedback  mechanisms  are  widely  available  (score  100/100). This  is  reflected  in  user  satisfaction:  in 
2022, 79% of Maltese people found the provision of public services to be good, a 10 percentage point 

192 The Committee will be chaired by the Principal Permanent Secretary and will have representation from the 
Ministry Chief Information Officers, Malta Information Technology Agency, servizz.gov, and the Ministry for the 
Economy, European Funds and Lands.    

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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increase  compared to 2021  and  well  above  the  EU average  of 52%193.  As  of 2022,  83%  of  internet 
users  in  Malta  make  use  of  e-government  services,  above  the  EU  average  (74%),  but  there  is  still 
room for improvement.  

Malta’s  RRP  includes  several  investments  in  digital  technologies  to  further  improve  the  usability 
and security of digital public services.  Planned measures include using AI solutions to improve the 
user  experience  on  servizz.gov,  a  platform  to  facilitate  property  ownership  transfers,  and  registers 
for data sharing and reuse to simplify administrative processes and avoid duplication. The plan also 
includes  investments  in  the  government’s  IT  infrastructure  to  strengthen  overall  security  and 
performance,  e.g.  by  improving  the  capacity  and  resilience  of  data  centres,  implementing  tools  to 
monitor cloud security, and providing cybersecurity tools and training to public officers.  

Malta  is  piloting  the  use  of  innovative  digital  technologies  in  public  administration.  Proposed 
initiatives  under  the  ‘Achieving  a  Service  of  Excellence’  strategy  include  using  AI  to  deliver  more 
personalised  services  through  an  online  portal,  introducing  chatbots  and  integrating  an  AI-based 
voice recognition system to receive and interpret user instructions, gather feedback and implement 
targeted improvements. A national language technology platform has been launched with the aim to 
support  the  integration  of  the  Maltese  language  in  various  digital  solutions  using  voice  to  text 
converter  technology.  Moreover,  Malta  is  currently  implementing  the  six  pilot  projects  launched 
under  the  2019  AI  Strategy  to  develop  AI-based  tools  in  the  fields  of  transport,  education,  health, 
customer care, tourism, and water and energy. These projects are supported by a budget of over EUR 
3.9 million and with contractual timelines ending in late 2023 and 2024. After this, their viability for 
wider roll-outs will be assessed.  

In stark contrast to the country’s top performance in online public services, Malta scores lowest in 
the EU on facilitating the access to and use of open data194. The National Data Portal, launched in 
2019, is still in beta version and only provides access to a limited set of data. This seriously inhibits 
the  ability  of  businesses  to  use  public  sector  data  to  develop  innovative  new  services  as  well  as 
people’s  ability to hold government institutions to account,  therefore obstructing key objectives of 
the  Digital  Decade.  Malta’s  new  Public  Administration  Data  Strategy  2023-2027  is  expected  to 
provide a framework for fostering open data policies and practices in the country. 

Malta scores 78 out of 100 on citizen access to electronic health records, compared to an average 
of  72  in  the  EU.  Citizens  in  Malta  have  online  access  to  most  electronic  health  data  as  part  of  a 
minimum health data set, but medical images still need to be made available to citizens in a usable 
digital  format.  Malta  only  scores  36  out  of  100  regarding  healthcare  providers  connected  and 
supplying relevant health data, significantly lower than the EU average score of 55, as health data are 
mainly supplied by government-owned healthcare institutions. Social partners report that hospitals 
often  still  work  with  paper  records  and  that  it  remains  difficult  in  practice  for  public  and  private 
hospitals  to  transfer  digital  records  between  each  other.  The  National  Electronic  Health  Records 
platform is expected to facilitate  the  exchange of data between the  government-owned and other 
healthcare institutions in the future.  

The National Health Systems Strategy 2023-2030 earmarks the digital patient portal, myHealth, for 
further  development  and  expansion  to  fulfil  the  target  of  100%  of  citizens  having  access  to 
electronic health records data by 2030. According to data provided by the Maltese authorities, over 
177 000  people  (39%  of  the  population  over  14)  used  the  portal  to  access  their  electronic  health 
records in 2022, up 16% from the previous year. To further increase take-up, the Ministry of Health is 

193 Standard Eurobarometer 97 
194 2022 Open Data Maturity Report (based on country self-assessment survey) 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Malta 

planning to invest around EUR 500 000 to enable extra functionalities for patients and doctors until 
2026.  This  includes  making  more  health  data  available  through  the  myHealth  portal  and  helping 
private practitioners provide an improved and wider range of services, thereby reducing demand on 
public hospitals and improving the efficiency of Malta’s health system overall. 

Malta  is  also  investing  in  the  digitalisation  of  the  justice  system.  As  part  of  first  RRP  payment 
request,  the  country  implemented  legislative  amendments  allowing  presence  in  court  through  live 
video conferencing links and for electronic filing of judicial documents. This will pave the way for a 
EUR 10 million digitalisation investment in a system which, to date, still faces serious challenges to its 
efficiency.   

Malta has notified to the Commission one electronic identification (eID) scheme under the eIDAS 
Regulation and is advancing on cross-border use. According to 2022 eGovernment Benchmark, eID 
can be used to log in to 91% of online public services. There are plans to create a formal framework 
to  boost  the  use  of  eID  for  digital  signatures  and  to  implement  a  ‘digital  wallet’  that  can  store  an 
electronic version of all official documents. The authorities report they have completed the technical 
work  allowing  residents  to  use  their  electronic  identity  to  access  e-government  services  in  other 
Member  States,  in  line  with  the  EU’s  Single  Digital  Gateway  Regulation195  and  the  Digital  Decade 
objective to promote interoperable digital services that are accessible to all, everywhere in the EU.  

Malta  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  Malta 
should  monitor  the  effective  use  of  digital  public  services  as  well  as  possible  divides.  Regarding  e-
health, Malta should continue efforts to connect additional types of healthcare providers to e-health 
records. Moreover, it should promote digital skills development among public officers, particularly in 
the  health  and  justice  system.  Significant  measures  are  needed  to  make  more  and  higher  quality 
public sector data available, both by developing open data policies and expanding the national data 
portal.   

195 Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

The Netherlands 

 
 
 
 
 
 
319 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

The Netherlands has historically been an EU frontrunner in digital transformation and is expected 
to make a very strong contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the EU’s 2030 digital targets, 
as  established  in  the  Digital  Decade  Policy  Programme  (“DDPP”).  The  government  believes  that 
digitalisation  will  increase  economic  welfare  through  innovative  products,  efficiency  gains  and  the 
rise  of  new  enterprises,  as  well  as  society’s  welfare  in  a  broader  sense.  Its  national  digital 
transformation  revolves  around  four  themes:  (1)  digital  foundation,  (2)  digital  economy,  (3)  digital 
government,  and  (4)  digital  society.  Within  these  themes,  working  agendas  have  been  developed 
with the Digital Decade in mind.  

Capitalising on its strong position, the Netherlands has set national ambitions to progress beyond 
some Digital Decade targets. For example, the government has set a target of 95% of SMEs in the 
Netherlands having a basic level of digitalisation by 2030, which goes beyond the 90% target set out 
in the Digital Decade Policy Programme.  

The performance of the Netherlands benefits the EU’s overall digital transformation. However, for 
the Netherlands to keep reaping the benefits of this transformation, it needs to stay on course. The 
government is aware of most of its shortcomings, for example in the use of AI by businesses, and the 
labour  market.  Furthermore,  the 
availability  of  ICT-specialists  and  graduates 
Netherlands still lags behind in the allocation of all available 5G spectrum. Finally, it is the last in the 
EU in terms of the take-up of gigabit connectivity. 

in  the  Dutch 

In terms of policy developments, the Netherlands has continued to implement various measures to 
advance  its  digital  transformation.  These  vary  from  large  scale  initiatives  such  as  AiNed,  for  the 
advancement  of  artificial  intelligence  in  the  Netherlands,  to  relatively  small-scale  subsidy  schemes 
such  as  one  to  help  employers  retrain  employees  with  ICT  skills.  Finally,  private  industry  and 
educational institutions play an important role in implementing measures put in place by the Dutch 
government. Public-private partnerships that have proven their added value are being scaled up to 
increase their impact.  

On achieving the Digital Decade objectives, the Netherlands is making progress notably in human-
centric  digital  transformation.  Examples  of  this  progress  are  the  national  strategy  for  the  digital 
economy, as well as in specific measures, such as making government websites more accessible.  

The  Dutch  approach  to  cybersecurity  is  also  being  implemented  at  all  levels  of  government.  Most 
recently, the government presented the new Agenda Coalitions for a Digital Society focusing on how 
to  address  societal  challenges  with  the  help  of  digitalisation.  The  first  iteration  of  this  annually 
updated agenda refers, among other things, to digital ethics, sustainability and digitalisation. 

The  Netherlands  has  also  adopted  a  general  policy  on  open  strategic  autonomy  which  includes, 
among other things, the monitoring of dependencies and vulnerabilities in the digital sphere. The 
policy will also see the Netherlands seeking to lessen these dependencies, both in the digital sphere 
and in the area of raw materials and export control. Finally, it is doing research on emissions in the 
stack of the digital economy in the Netherlands in order to propose new policy in this area.  

The  Netherlands  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility  to  set  up 
European  Digital  Infrastructure  Consortia  (EDICs)  on:  (i)  establishing  an  Alliance  for  Language 
Technologies, to develop a common infrastructure in the field of natural language processing and to 
develop  large  multi-language  models;  and  (ii)  Mobility  and  Logistics  Data,  to  enable  the  access, 
sharing and reuse of data in these domains. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Digital in the Dutch Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The Recovery and Resilience Plan by the Netherlands was approved by the Council of the European 
Union in October 2022. Under the EUR 4.7 billion plan, 25.6% of the total envelope will be geared 
towards  digital  measures.  EUR  834.4  million  will  aid  in  the  progress  towards  Digital  Decade 
targets196. The Netherlands has yet to submit a first payment request. 

The component dedicated to accelerating the digital transformation is divided into three categories; 
investments  to  promote  innovative  technologies  and  digital  skills,  future-proofing  the  mobility 
sector,  and  future-proofing  the  government’s  IT  infrastructure.  In  this  first  category,  measures 
relating  to  artificial  intelligence  and  quantum  technology  can  be  found,  further  detailed  in  this 
country report. Furthermore, an investment to give an impulse to digitalisation in education is part of 
the plan. 

Full  implementation  of  the  first  investment  under  the  RRF,  namely  digitalisation  of  the  criminal 
justice  chain,  is  planned  for  December  2023.  Completion  of  the  project  will  allow  citizens  to  file 
police reports and perform actions during pending criminal proceedings digitally. 

Other milestones and targets meant to be fulfilled in 2023 are those relating to future-proofing the 
mobility  sector,  namely;  ensuring  the  installation  of  591  intelligent  roadside  stations  and  finalising 
the  design  of  European  Rail  Traffic  Management  System  for  North  Netherlands.  These  milestones 
and  targets  are  based  on  the  Council  Implementing  Decision  on  the  Netherlands  Recovery  and 
Resilience Plan. 

196  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
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1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

24% 

2020 

5.9% 

2020 

3.1% 

2019 

Netherlands 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

93% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

94% 

2021 

79% 

2021 

52% 

2021 

83% 

2021 

24% 

2020 

6.7% 

2021 

3.4% 

2020 

94% 

2022 

79% 

2021 

52% 

2021 

83% 

2021 

29% 

2022 

7.2% 

2022 

3.7% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Digital skills are crucial for solving and preventing digital divide so that everyone benefits from digital 
transformation as well as for enabling a digitally skilled workforce that meets the demands of today’s 
labour market. 

The Netherlands performs very well on digital skills. 79% of individuals in the country have at least 
basic digital skills, close to the 80% EU 2030 target for basic digital skills. In response to an observed 
decrease  in  foundational  literacy  and  numeracy,  the  government  has  established  a  Masterplan  on 
basic competencies, which includes actions to improve digital literacy from a young age. A first step 
in this masterplan is to identify shortcomings in the current curriculum in digital literacy, and define 
adequate targets on the basis of these monitoring efforts. A general reform of the school curricula is 
expected  to  be  implemented  from  the  school  year  2024-2025  onwards.  Once  implemented,  these 
actions are expected to positively affect the level of digital skills for those at a young age.  

In  addition,  in  2022,  712  ‘Code  Week’  activities  were  organised  in  the  Netherlands.  In  the  2022 
edition of Code Week, the Netherlands ranked 7th among the 78 participating countries, with 2.009 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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activities,  most  of  which  were  organised  in  schools  (95%),  attracting  51  660  participants,  50%  of 
whom were girls. 

These actions complement measures taken as part of the National Growth Fund which financed four 
projects in the field of digital education in 2022. One project,  Npuls, which has been allocated EUR 
560 million, will run for 8 years and involves all 108 public vocational education institutions, higher 
education  institutions  and  universities  in  the  Netherlands.  Among  the  actions,  each  institution  will 
establish its own centre for teaching and learning supporting educators in  using current innovative 
digital tools. It is expected that this will improve functional and key digital skills of both learners and 
educators. 

EUR 210 million from the National Growth Fund has been conditionally allocated to upscaling current 
public-private  partnerships  in  vocational  education,  focusing  on  partnerships  that  have  an  explicit 
link  with  the  climate  and  energy  transition,  or  the  digital  transition.  Furthermore,  the  STAP 
(Stimulering  Arbeidsmarkt  Positie)  initiative,  which  provides  funding  to  encourage  people  to  enter 
the Dutch labour market, was very popular in 2022. The available budget of EUR 160 million was fully 
used. The programme is not set to continue after 2023 due to cuts in the overall government budget. 
For the remaining funds allocated to the STAP budget, the Dutch government plans to explore how 
these can be allocated in a more targeted way. Both of these measures have not specifically targeted 
the training and retraining of ICT professionals, but rather they have a more general focus.  

In 2022, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy continued with a EUR 10 million subsidy 
scheme for employers launched in 2021, where businesses were able to request funding to retrain 
employees towards jobs in the engineering or ICT sector, sectors which have a considerable labour 
shortage. For the general adult population, the country also takes action regarding basic digital skills. 
For instance, through the Count on skills programme, the Netherlands aims to improve basic digital 
skills  among  adults  with  courses  and  training,  e.g.  at  libraries  and  via  employers.  In  addition, 
municipalities receive EUR 80 million a year to fund courses in basic digital skills for adults. 

At 7.2%, the Netherlands is performing above the EU average when it comes to availability of ICT 
specialists on the labour market. At the same time, the inflow of new talent on the labour market 
in the form of ICT graduates stands at 3.7%, below the EU average. Moreover, with the proportion of 
women  ICT  specialists  standing  at  19.4%  (which  is  only  slightly  above  the  EU  average),  a  gender 
balance in ICT specialists is far from being reached.  
The  extent  to  which  the  actions  mentioned  in  the  previous  paragraph  will  address  specific 
shortcomings  in  the  availability  of  ICT  specialists on  the  Dutch  labour  market  is  to  be  seen,  as  the 
initiatives are still relatively new.  

However,  action  carried  out  under  the  ‘Human  Capital  Agenda  ICT’  must  be  acknowledged.  This 
programme, in force since 2015, aims to increase the number of ICT specialists in the country. This 
has led to at least 80 regional public-private  partnerships, with intermediate and higher  vocational 
education  institutions  included.  In  April  2021,  an  action  plan  to  scale-up  this  collaboration  was 
presented. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has invested around EUR 600 000 in 
the agenda and is planning to invest an additional EUR 700 000 in 2023.  

In a new action, in February 2023, five industry associations in the field of ICT launched a proposal – 
Aanvalsplan Chronisch Tekort ICT’ers – to tackle the chronic shortage of ICT specialists in the Dutch 
labour market. It describes the challenges that the sector will face and measures it will take, focusing 
on  scaling  up  existing  initiatives.  For  example,  an  apprenticeship  initiative,  Cloud  IT  Academy,  has 
already  been in place  for several years to match students with employers in the  field of cloud and 
software engineering during their studies. The action plan launched by five industry associations calls 
upon the government to assist the associations in their current and future efforts.  

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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The government has laid out its own plans for the labour market shortage in the engineering and ICT 
sector in its Action Plan Green and Digital Jobs (Actieplan Groene en Digitale Banen). It measures that 
currently almost 36 000 vacancies in ICT need to be filled, and this number is expected to rise to over 
58 000  by  2026.  Solving  these  shortages  is  an  essential  step  in  successfully  undergoing  Europe’s 
digital  and  green  twin  transition:  helping  the  Dutch  government  achieve  its  ambition  to  become 
climate neutral by 2050 and having 1 million digitally educated people by 2030. The action plan by 
the  government  proposes  specific  actions  across  four  dimensions,  namely:  (1)  actions  to  increase 
STEM  education,  (2)  maintaining  and  increasing  enrolment  into  the  specific  labour  market,  (3) 
increasing labour productivity, and (4) strengthening governance and preventing fragmentation.  

To promote women’s access to the ICT sector, in 2021 the government helped develop a taskforce on 
diversity & inclusion for the ICT sector. Over the course of 2.5 years, EUR 385 000 has been invested. 
The taskforce works together with businesses to increase the participation of girls in tech education 
and  the  associated  labour  market,  as  well  as  advancement  and  retention  of  women  active  in  the 
sector. It is estimated that only 19% of employed ICT specialists are women.  

Best practice: Digital inclusion in the Netherlands 

A successful digital transformation means  no person should be  left  behind in enjoying the  benefits 
that digitalisation can bring to society. The government has proposed further actions on closing the 
digital gap and on ways to ensure a value driven digital transformation in the work agenda on value-
driven digitalisation. Under the pillar of closing the digital gap, several initiatives are already in place 
such  as  i) DigiHulplijn,a  helpline  for  questions  on  digital  issues,  and  ii) #allemaaldigitaal,  which 
involves the collection of used digital devices to be passed onto people without sufficient means to 
acquire a device themselves . 

Furthermore,  the  Digital  Society  Alliance  (Alliantie  Digitaal  Samenleven),  a  public-private 
collaboration  with  civil  society  organisations,  aims  to  take  the  steps  needed  to  prevent  a  digital 
divide.  One  of  their  actions  was  to  organise  the  Day  for  Digital  Inclusion,  a  conference  on  digital 
inclusion that first took place in 2022. During the first conference, the Alliance presented a manifesto 
for a joint approach to achieving a digital society for all. 

The  Netherlands’  position  in  the  field  of  digital  skills  remains  strong.  The  Dutch  government  is 
aware  of  shortcomings  preventing  further  progression  in  digital  skills  and  has  proposed  several 
actions to increase and maintain digital literacy across all generations of society. In addressing labour 
shortages  in  the  ICT  sector,  a  strong  focus  is  put  on  scaling-up  existing  public-private  partnerships 
that  may  have  proven  their  potential  in  early  stages.  Successful  digital  transformation  in  the 
Netherlands, with a strong ICT workforce as one of its key enablers, is at risk if this bottleneck is not 
sufficiently and effectively resolved. 

The Netherlands should continue implementing its policies in the area of digital skills. In particular, 
action  is  encouraged  to  step  up  upskilling  and  reskilling  in  the  field  of  digital  skills  in  the  labour 
market as well as to achieve a more gender balanced specialist ICT workforce197. 

197 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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2 Digital infrastructures 

The  Netherlands  has  traditionally  shown  a  strong  performance  on  digital  infrastructure.  On 
connectivity, it is already close to reaching the targets set for 2030 taking into account 5G coverage 
in  all  spectrum  bands.  However,  it  remains  far  below  the  EU  average  in  terms  of  fixed  broadband 
take-up  for  speeds  of  at  least  1  Gbps.  The  Netherlands  is  also  contributing  to  the  EU’s  digital 
advancement in the field of edge nodes and quantum computing. Successfully contributing to the EU 
targets  in  these  fields  would  bring  to  life  the  government’s  ambition  to  become  the  digital 
intersection of the EU. 

The Netherlands is closing in on full gigabit coverage across the country, with near complete VHCN 
coverage  and  continuously  increasing  FTTP  coverage.  The  increase  in  VHCN  coverage  can  be 
attributed  to  further  modernisation  of  the  national  cable  network  infrastructure,  enabling  gigabit 
speeds,  as  well  as  roll-out  of  fibre-to-the-home  (FTTH).  In  December  2022,  one  of  the  operators 
completed its transformation of its nationwide cable network to support DOCSIS 3.1 technology that 
enables  gigabit  speeds.  In  addition,  it  announced  plans  to  start  testing  DOCSIS  4.0  technology  in 
2023.  

Data  collected  by  national  regulatory  authority  ACM  in  2022  showed  strong  infrastructure 
competition: as of Q3 2022, the incumbent operator, as well as smaller fibre operators provided 5.34 

EUEUDESI 2021DESI 2022DESI 2023DESI 20232030 target2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up44%47%53%55%% households20202021202220222a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up<0.1%<0.1%<0.1%13.8%% households20202021202220222a3 Fixed Very High Capacity Network (VHCN) coverage90%91%98%73%100%% households20202021202220222a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage36%52%63%56%% households20202021202220222b1 Mobile broadband take-up90%94%94%87%% individuals20182021202120212b2 Overall 5G coverage80%97%100%81%100%% populated areas20202021202220222b3 5G spectrum33%33%33%68%Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum2021202220232023Netherlands 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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million  households  with  FTTH  coverage.  According  to  the  Dutch  industry  association  for  fibre  and 
broadband, in 2022 alone one million new homes were connected to a fibre network.   

Despite near-complete access to gigabit speeds, most households do not yet opt for higher speeds: 
the take-up of 1 Gbps speeds currently stands at 0% compared to the EU average of 13.8%. However, 
as of 2022, 63% of households in the Netherlands are covered by fibre-to-the-premises, up from 53% 
in 2021. Despite  this  advancement,  take-up of higher speeds remains low  in the  Netherlands, with 
take-up  of  speeds  of  at  least  100  Mbps  just  below  EU  average  at  53%,  and  there  is  no  take-up  of 
gigabit speeds throughout the Netherlands.  

While 98% of Dutch households are covered by a fixed VHCN, according to a study commissioned by 
the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, without public intervention it is expected that 
close to 19 000 households will ultimately remain without coverage of a fixed network providing at 
least  100  Mbps  by  the  end  of  2023.  The  study  presented  in  March  2022  estimates  that  public 
measures  amounting  to  a  maximum  of  EUR  195  million  would  be  required  to  ensure  fibre 
connectivity  to  these  houses,  assuming  there  is  an  additional  EUR  55  million  funded  by  private 
parties.  The  Ministry  of  Economic  Affairs  and  Climate  Policy  is  exploring  to  what  extent  this 
investment  could  be  made  using  public  funds.  However,  the  actual  number  of  underserved 
households and the moment  market  roll-out in rural areas will come to a  stop depends  on market 
dynamics. To facilitate that market parties can include underserved households in their roll-out plans 
as much as possible, the government has given them access to a list of addresses that, as of the end 
of 2022 according to the most recent broadband mapping exercise, were still not covered by a fixed 
network providing at least 100 Mbps. 

Overall  5G  coverage  has  reached  100%  in  the  Netherlands  in  2022,  mainly  making  use  of  the  700 
MHz and 1 800 MHz bands. However, the country has a complete lack of 5G coverage in the 3.4-3.8 
GHz  band  due  to  obstacles  in  the  course  of  assigning  this  band.  In  early  2023,  the  Ministry  of 
Economic  Affairs  and  Climate  Policy  expected  that  the  licenses  in  the  3.6  GHz  band  could  be 
auctioned off in the second half of 2023, but uncertainty surrounding the move of a satellite service 
provider to Greece to free up frequency, together with a new appeal to the National Frequency Plan, 
have caused further delays.198 The Netherlands has a clear understanding of the possible scenarios 
towards the introduction of additional 5G coverage through the 3.6 GHz band. It must assign this 
band without further delay, in line with EU law. The issues surrounding current and future local use 
standing in the way of this assignment needs be resolved swiftly. The lack of a prompt roll-out in the 
3.6  GHz  band  will  not  only  have  negative  consequences  for  future  user  experience  but  will  also 
hamper future development by industry of new and innovative local network use cases. 

An assessment of the commercial interest in the 26 GHz band will be launched in the second half of 
2023.  The  2020  public  consultation  showed  no  market  interest  in  the  band  in  the  Netherlands. 
According to its outline policy on digitalisation, the government still aims to allocate the 26 GHz band 
during its current period in office.  

The  Netherlands  is  the  only  Member  State  with  an  entire  semiconductor  value  chain  within  its 
borders  and  its  semiconductor  equipment  industry  holds  a  key  position  worldwide.  However, 
within the semiconductor industry, the country does not yet fully capture the benefits of the most 

198 Plans to make available the band for mobile communication use as early as September 2021 were delayed 
due to conflicting use of the band. An advisory committee appointed to find a solution on how to make this 
band  available  for  mobile  communications  was  published  in  May  2022.  The  committee  advised  that  the 
operations  of  a  satellite  service  provider  should  be  moved  to  Greece  so  the  3.6  GHz  band,  with  300  MHz 
assigned  for  national  5G  licenses,  can  be  made  available  for  mobile  communications  use.  The  newly  revised 
National Frequency Plan, published in February 2023, is currently being challenged in court. 

 
 
 
 
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valuable  element  of  the  value  chain.  The  Dutch  network  of  semiconductor  businesses,  Holland 
Semiconductors,  describes  how  the  Netherlands  is  not  fully  reaping  the  benefits  that  the 
semiconductor  design  branch  can  bring  to  the  country,  for  example  by  capturing  the  value  chip 
design created within its own borders. The association has developed a national agenda that includes 
ambitions to i) improve the process for producing semiconductors from their design to application, 
ii) better  respond  to  market  demand,  iii) attract  more  critical  personnel  for  the  sector,  and 
iv) improve the Dutch industry environment. In the years to come, these ambitions will be developed 
into  a  concrete  industry  action  programme.  In  2022,  EUR  450  million  from  the  National  Growth 
Fund  was  allocated  to  a  consortium  that  will  develop  a  high-tech  equipment  ecosystem.  The 
consortium NXTGEN HIGHTECH will help develop new equipment that among others can be used to 
improve the manufacturing process of photonic chips. Another EUR 471 million from the same fund 
was  granted  to  PhotonDelta,  which  combined  with  private  investments  results  in  an  additional 
investment  of  EUR  1.1  billion  in  the  development  of  the  photonic  semiconductor  industry  in  the 
Netherlands. 

In  line  with  the  government’s  ambition  to  become  the  Union’s  digital  intersection,  the  Dutch 
government is also taking part in the IPCEI Cloud Infrastructure and Services. A co-investment of EUR 
70  million  is  planned  which  will  allow  dozens  of  edge  nodes  to  be  set  up.  A  prerequisite  for  the 
investment  is  that  the  edge  nodes  must  be  sustainable  in  order  to  help  the  EU  develop  10 000 
climate-neutral edge nodes, which are intended to be deployed by 2030. 

Similar  to  its  global  position  in  the  semiconductor  industry,  the  Dutch  quantum  industry  can  be 
considered  to  play  a  key  role  worldwide.  In  the  Netherlands,  Quantum  Delta  NL  is  a  national 
programme  that  advances  Dutch  quantum  technologies.  It  has  been  awarded  EUR  615  million  to 
implement  the  national  quantum  agenda  over  an  8-year  period,  originating  from  the  2021  call  for 
projects  for  the  National  Growth  Fund.  Funding  is  complemented  by  investments  by  industry 
partners.  Quantum  Delta  NL  implements  various  research  programmes,  for  quantum  computers, 
internet,  and  sensors.  Under  the  quantum  computing  development  programme,  it  funds  Quantum 
Inspire developments, a quantum computing platform providing user access to various technologies 
to perform quantum computations and insights into principles of quantum computing. Just like with 
semiconductors, the Netherlands also has access to the entire supply chain for quantum computing 
components within its borders, with start-ups and SME’s capable of supplying different components 
required to build quantum computers. 

The Netherlands also plays an important role in European Quantum Projects such as EuroQCI, the 
Quantum Flagship and EuroHPC. Also Quantum Delta NL’s project on quantum networking will soon 
be connected to other networks within the European Union as part of EuroQCI.  

On  digital  infrastructure,  in  April  2023,  the  Dutch  government  signed  a  pact  for  innovation  and 
sustainable growth with the French government. In this pact, the governments set out their intention 
to  further  advance  and  strengthen  cooperation  in  the  field  of  semiconductors  and  quantum 
computing.  

The  Netherlands’  ambition  to  be  Europe’s  digital  infrastructure  intersection  is  coming  to  life:  it  is 
already  an  important  hub  for  internet  cables,  data  centres  and  internet  exchanges.  However,  the 
benefit of gigabit connectivity for households has yet to be unlocked. Apart from connectivity, the 
Netherlands fosters a very strong ecosystem for advanced digital infrastructure.  

The  Netherlands  should  accelerate  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure,  in  particular  Gigabit 
coverage.  The  Netherlands  should  take  all  steps  necessary  to  assign  the  3.6  GHz  band  for  mobile 

 
 
 
 
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communications  without  any  further  delay,  in  line  with  its  obligations  under  EU  law.  It  should 
furthermore consider taking measures to incentivise the take-up of gigabit connectivity.  
Measures  taken  by  the  Netherlands  in  the  field  of  semiconductors,  edge  nodes  and  quantum 
computing should continue in order to help the EU to become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud199 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Netherlands 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

47% 

2019 

37% 

2019 

27% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

25% 

2020 

19% 

2020 

13% 

2020 

13% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

43% 

2021 

49% 

2021 

27% 

2020 

60% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

25% 

2020 

23% 

2021 

15% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

80% 

2022 

43% 

2021 

49% 

2021 

27% 

2020 

60% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

25% 

2020 

25% 

2022 

16% 

2022 

13% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

199 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
329 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

Many Dutch enterprises are already taking advantage of the benefits of digitalisation, with 80% of 
SMEs  having  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital  intensity.  In  November  2022,  the  Dutch  government 
presented a strategy for the Digital Economy, aiming to bring about a resilient and prospering digital 
economy. The  strategy  lays  out  the  ambition  to speed  up  the  digital  transformation of  enterprises 
and to create the right environment for digital markets and services. In this strategy the government 
also announced its ambition to exceed the digital decade target of 90% of SMEs to reach at least a 
basic level of digital intensity by at  least  five  percentage  points: 95%. The Netherlands aims at the 
same time to remain within the top three countries in the European Union for this indicator. 

Various  actions  are  already  being  implemented  to ensure  SMEs  increase  their  basic  level of  digital 
intensity  under  a  specific  programme  to  advance  SME  digitalisation.  As  part  of  a  public-private 
partnership, governments, educational institutions, and regional businesses  have  already set  up 20 
Digital  SME  workspaces.  These  workspaces  bring  together  students  and  businesses,  to  help 
businesses adopt digital technologies. New workspaces can be set up with financial aid in the form of 
co-financing from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, with EUR 7.4 million allocated 
for a 5-year period. 

From  June  2022  to  November  2022,  the  Ministry  of  Economic  Affairs  and  Climate  Policy  together 
with  private  and  public  stakeholders  also  provided  subsidies  to  micro  retailers  to  invest  in  IT 
technologies as part of a pilot of the My Digital Store (Mijn Digitale Zaak) programme. Entrepreneurs 
could request up to EUR 2 500 out of the EUR 1.7 million programme to be used for advice on and 
implementation  of  digital  technologies  in  their  business.  The  subsidy  was  offered  to  help  SMEs  to 
achieve  a  basic  level  of  digitalisation,  with  eligible  digital  solutions  ranging  from  setting  up  a  web 
shop to making use of point of sale systems. 

 
 
 
 
 
330 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

Furthermore, the  third Smart Industry Programme  was introduced. This aims to improve  the  SMEs 
digitalisation in the manufacturing industry. One of its goals is to improve digital skills of employees 
through  Smart  Makers  Academies,  which  are  regional  hubs  where  employees  can  receive  such 
training. Businesses in the industry will be helped in digitalising parts of their production process to, 
among other things, increase efficiency and production quality. 

Enterprises are less developed when it comes to making use of advanced digital technologies in the 
field  of  big  data  and  AI.  The  Netherlands  is  already  advanced  compared  to  European  peers,  with 
60%, 27%, and 13% of Dutch enterprises already making use of respectively cloud, big data and AI, 
respectively 

In the field of big data, existing projects such as the Data Sharing Coalition are  complemented by 
sector specific projects, such as the Digital Infrastructure Logistics programme. This project received 
EUR 51 million funding through the National Growth Fund in 2022 to support data sharing between 
actors  in  the  logistics  chain,  a  chain  in  which  the  Netherlands  fulfils  an  important  role  given  its 
numerous transport ports. EUR 36.2 million for this project will be drawn from the RRP, if milestones 
for this project are reached. 

Projects  in  the  field  of  AI  also  continue  to  be  rolled  out.  The  AiNed  National  Growth  Fund 
Investment  Programme  started  in  2021  and  in  2022  it  received  EUR  116.5  million  of  its  allotted 
investment of  EUR  276 million from  the National Growth Fund. The Dutch AI coalition has set up 
seven regional hubs that create networks between stakeholders making use of AI. Additional funding 
for  AiNed  will  be  drawn  from  the  RRF,  under  which  Applied  AI  Learning  Communities  have  been 
proposed,  connecting  SMEs  with  questions  on  AI  with  students.  At  the  same  time  the  learning 
communities  should  serve  to  improve  education  and  research  in  the  field  of  AI  at  participating 
universities. If all RRP targets are met, the Netherlands will receive EUR 59.85 million of which EUR 
15.85 million specifically for the purposes of the Applied AI Learning Communities.  

On  cloud  computing,  as  mentioned  above,  the  Netherlands  is  one  of  the  Member  States  which, 
together  with  hundreds  of  European  companies,  take  part  in  the  Important  Project  of  Common 
European  Interest  on  Next  Generation  Cloud  Infrastructure  and  Services  (IPCEI-CIS)  which  forms 
part of the Multi-Country Project on a Common Data Infrastructure and Services. The IPCEI-CIS aims 
to equip the European Union with the next generation of advanced, distributed, secure, sustainable, 
and  innovative  cloud-to-edge  capabilities  that  individuals  and  businesses  need.  It  aims  to  support 
Dutch businesses in the uptake of cloud and contribute to the Netherlands’s effort towards fulfilling 
the Digital Decade’s cloud uptake target via its businesses which is set at 75% by 2030. It could foster 
the  exploitation  of  new  advanced  cloud  solutions  among  enterprises,  in  particular  SMEs,  and 
contribute  to  cloud  upskilling  including  on  cloud  security  and  environmental  performance  while 
paying attention to gender equality. 

Six European digital innovation hubs (EDIH) have been established and began work in early 2023. 
The EDIHs are to receive a combined investment of EUR 30 million. Each regional EDIH specialises in a 
field of interest specific to its region, complementing the work of the smart industry hubs established 
under the smart industry programme mentioned above.  

Techleap.nl, previously known as  Start-upDelta, aims to foster a strong ecosystem for innovative 
scale-ups.  There  are  already  24  unicorns  in  the  Netherlands,  contributing  significantly  to  the 
increase  of  the  number  of  unicorns  within  the  European  Union.  A  further  39  enterprises  can  be 
considered potential future unicorns, meaning that they have a valuation between USD 250 million 
and USD 1 billion. However, the government is aware of various bottlenecks that pose a threat to the 
development  of  this  ecosystem,  such  as  the  shortage  of  digitally  skilled  professionals  mentioned 
above,  and  the  ability  of  Dutch  companies  to  access  growth  funding.  On  a  European  level,  the 

 
 
 
331 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

Netherlands has signed the Joint Declaration for a pan European scale-up initiative launched by the 
French Presidency of the Council. However, while also a signatory to the Europe Start-ups Standard, 
it has not yet identified a legal entity to represent the country.  

The Netherlands possesses a strong ambition to bring the benefits of digitalisation to enterprises, 
with its national-level targets surpassing those at European level. Various partnerships and funding 
schemes are in place to further advance the position of SMEs on the development and use of digital 
technologies. Use of advanced digital technologies is generally still low, but actions are in place that 
aim to advance the Netherlands’ position in this regard.  

The  Netherlands  should  continue  implementing  their  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of 
businesses.  In  particular,  the  Netherlands  should  continue  helping  SMEs  to  access  advanced 
technologies,  especially  big  data,  cloud  and  AI,  through  sustained  measures  to  promote  their 
development and take-up. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
332 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

Netherlands 

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

85 

2021 

88 

2021 

94 

2021 

81 

2021 

99 

2021 

95 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

97% 

2022 

85 

2022 

89 

2022 

94 

2022 

81 

2022 

99 

2022 

98 

2022 

69 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
333 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

In the digitalisation of public services, the Netherlands scores high across the board. Following the 
NL Digibeter Agenda (Digi-‘better’) and the Dutch digital strategy, at the end of 2022, a new agenda 
was  presented  to,  among  other  things,  further  develop  the  digitalisation  of  public  authorities  and 
their services. In its value-driven digitalisation agenda, the Netherlands sets new goals to improve the 
government’s  information  governance  and  systems,  as  well  as  information  management  for 
indivuiduals and businesses. Furthermore, specific attention is given to the position of the Caribbean 
part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In this area, one of the goals is to ensure equivalent access 
to public services between the Caribbean part and the European part of the Netherlands. 

The Netherlands has submitted three reforms under the RRF to make IT at government level future-
proof,  with  a  budget  of  almost  EUR  170  million.  One  of  these  plans  is  called  Information 
Management  Government,  which  aims  to  improve  public  access  to  government  documents.  If 
properly  implemented,  this  plan  should  ultimately  result  in  the  target  of  a  minimum  of  330  000 
available documents becoming available on the Open Government platform, ranging from laws and 
parliamentary papers to decision memos on government policies. This should lead to a more open 
and  transparent  government,  with  more  transparent  decision  making  as  well  as  increased 
democratic accountability. This would be in line with the European Declaration on Digital Rights and 
Principles,  which  states  that  wide  accessibility  and  re-use  of  public  sector  information  should  be 
ensured. 

With a score of 85 and 89 respectively, the Netherlands is well above the EU average: many digital 
public  services  are  available  both  for  citizens  and  businesses.  Notably  for  citizens,  a  digital 
transformation of the criminal justice judicial system is taking place, benefiting from a EUR 91 million 

 
 
 
 
 
334 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

investment from the RRF. As part of this transformation, people will be able to file police reports and 
carry out actions during pending criminal proceedings digitally. 

All  citizens  and  enterprises  in  the  Netherlands  can  use  a  national  eID:  DigiD  and  eHerkenning 
(eRecognition) respectively for citizens and enterprises.  

Public authorities that use authentication means are obliged to use DigiD, which has had a positive 
effect on the uptake of this scheme. In the ‘My Government’ portal individuals have an overview of 
data stored by public authorities, as well as access to an online message box containing digital mail 
from public authorities. As of May 2023, the portal had over 10 million active accounts. However, it 
only  serves as  a  front  office  for  government  interaction,  not  a one-stop shop for direct  interaction 
between the public and all levels of administration.  

The role of DigiD and eHerkenning for authentication purposes is being formalised on a national level 
through  the  new Digital Government  Law.  It  lays  down  rules  for the  means  of  authentication with 
public  authorities  and  semi-governmental  organisations  as  well  as  for  specific  designated 
organisations of public interest, such as universities and healthcare providers. 

Furthermore,  as  part  of  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior’s  European  digital  identity  programme,  the 
development of an open-source Dutch digital wallet is underway. The first demo version of the wallet 
was presented in January 2023. With this project, the government hopes to gain experience and set 
an example for national organisations and other Member States. 

Work  on  improving  digital  availability  and  exchange  of  medical  records  is  underway  in  the 
Netherlands,  with  still  some  room  for  progress  to  reach  the  Digital  Decade  target.  Currently, 
patients are able to view medical records digitally, mainly through patient portals provided by their 
healthcare  providers.  According  to  the  Dutch  e-healthmonitor  2022  produced  by  the  National 
Institute  for  Public  Health  and  the  Environment  (RIVM),  88%  of  general  practicioners  and  80%  of 
medical  specialists  provide  patients  with  a  digital  portal  to  view  available  medical  records. 
Specifically,  private  primary,  secondary  and  tertiary  healthcare  providers  (physicians,  community 
centres,  hospitals,  clinics)  and  pharmacies  make  electronic  health  data  accessible.  With  a  fully 
decentralised  and market-based  healthcare system  and  IT  infrastructure,  people  are  provided  with 
several ways to access their electronic health records. According to the report mentioned above, the 
estimated  number  of  patients  using  a  specialised  digital  environment  to  collect  their  medical 
records from various sources centrally is significantly lower. Medmij, a Dutch online service for the 
exchange of medical records between patients and healthcare providers, allows transfers of records 
through  such  personalised  digital  health  environments.  However  the  spectrum  of  accessible  and 
updated health data remains limited and fragmented.  

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has set aside a budget of EUR 180 million in the coming 
years  to  support  the  decentralised  developments  of  these  central  personal  health  records 
environments. It aims at onboarding between 1 and 2 million users on the available environments by 
2025. Additionally, EUR 1.4 billion in funding is made available until 2028 for accelerating health data 
availability  through  the  Coalition  Accord.  Furthermore,  the  Netherlands  takes  part 
in  the 
MyHealth@EU programme that allows patient summaries to be received from other connected EU 
Member  States,  as well  as  in  a  joint  action  under the  European  Health  Data  Space  and  the  xShare 
project to improve interoperability across Europe.  

The  new  law  on  the  electronic  exchange  of  information  in  healthcare  (Wet  elektronische 
gegevensuitwisseling  in  de  zorg),  aims  to  regulate  the  use  of  digital  medical  records  between 
healthcare  providers,  sets  standards  to  be  applied  for  these  exchanges,  and  allows  patients  to 
receive  medical  records  through  their  personal  digital  healthcare  environment  where  possible. 
Implementation  of  this  new  law  will  take  place  gradually  following  a  multiannual  agenda,  which 

 
 
 
335 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
The Netherlands 

gradually  mandates  certain  types  of  medical  record  exchanges  to  take  place  digitally.  These 
developments should prove beneficial for people in the Netherlands as they will have wider online 
access to medical records. 

The new framework laws setting rules on digital interaction with public authorities and the digital 
exchange  and  availability  of  medical  records  are  a  welcome  step  to  further  digitalising  public 
services  in  the  Netherlands.  However,  its  success  and  added  value  to  people  will  depend  on  the 
detailed rules that are to follow and that the stakeholders involved, both public and private, properly 
and promptly implement them. 

Best practice: Accessibility of digital government 

The European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles includes to a commitment to leave nobody 
behind  in  the  digital  transformation,  including  in  particular  persons  with  disabilities.  The  design, 
development, deployment and use of technological solutions should, among other things, promote 
solidarity and inclusion. 

The Netherlands has introduced the Dutch Digital Accessibility Law, based on the UN Convention on 
the  rights  of  persons  with  disabilities  and  Directive  2016/2102  on  the  accessibility  of  the  websites 
and  mobile  applications  of  public  sector  bodies.  To  monitor  the  status  of  digital  accessibility  of 
government  organisation  websites  and  apps,  a  central  register  was  developed  which  houses  all 
published accessibility declarations. Some 3 822 accessibility statements have been published so far. 

The  dashboard  Digitoegankelijk  complements  the  accessibility  declaration  registry,  by  giving  their 
websites  and  apps  different  statuses  depending  on  the  degree  of  accessibility.  In  contrast  to  the 
registry,  the  dashboard  also  makes  visible  the  websites  and  apps  that  do  not  yet  comply  with 
accessibility requirements. A first step to addressing the shortcomings in accessibility is making the 
accessibility  gap  visible,  with  the  dashboard  serving  as  aid  for  organisations  themselves  as  well  as 
supervisory authorities. Initial accessibility measures have already been taken for 1 034 government 
websites and 26 apps to make sure they will fully meet all accessibility requirements over time. 

The Netherlands should continue implementing its policies to digitalise public services. 

 
 
 
 
 
336 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Poland 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Poland 

 
 
 
 
   
 
 
337 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Poland 

Poland  has  scope  to  improve  its  performance  in  the  digital  transition  and  to  contribute  to  the 
collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets.  There  has  been  progress  in  the 
digitalisation of public services, with notable improvements to the flagship e-Government app and in 
e-health. Poland has also made progress on skills, but it should strive further to achieve the  Digital 
Decade  targets.  Efforts  in  digital  infrastructures  also  need  to  be  stepped  up,  as  5G  core  spectrum 
bands  are  still  not  available,  and  the  EU  regulatory  framework  is  not  in  place.  At  the  same  time, 
operators have continued to invest in fixed connectivity.  

Poland’s  performance  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  business  remains  below  the  EU  average  with 
important progress still needed in terms of the uptake of advanced technologies. 

The coordination of digital policies was moved to the newly re-created Ministry of Digital Affairs on 1 
May 2023.  

In cybersecurity, an update of National Cybersecurity System in Poland, that has been for a few years 
in the making has yet to be adopted and would be a necessary counterpart of the actions undertaken 
by the public administration bodies.  

Poland  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility  to  set  up  European 
Digital Infrastructure Consortia (EDICs) on: (i) establishing an Alliance for Language Technologies, to 
develop  a  common  infrastructure  in  the  field  of  natural  language  processing  and  to  develop  large 
multi-language  models;  and  (ii) 
inter-Connected 
Transformation Services, to develop a new generation of advanced cross-border services. Poland is 
one of the Member States that have jointly submitted a formal application to set up the  European 
Blockchain  Partnership  and  the  EDIC  on  European  Blockchain  Infrastructure,  supporting  EU-wide 
cross-border public services. 

Innovative  Massive  Public  Administration 

 Digital in Poland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Measures contributing to the digital transition account for 21.3% (over EUR 7.5 billion) of the plan’s 
total  allocation  which  EUR  6.8  billion  is  expected  to  contribute  to  achieving  the  Digital  Decade 
targets200.  The  comprehensive  set  of  measures  is  expected  to  have  a  lasting  impact  on  Poland’s 
digital transformation, especially in (i) developing the broadband and 5G network, (ii) improving the 
delivery  of  public  services  to  businesses  and  citizens,  digitising  public  administration,  and 
strengthening  resilience  and  cybersecurity.  They  will  also  help  digitalising  of  the  education  system 
and the development of digital skills. This is also true for other sectors: the digitalisation of electricity 
networks  should  contribute  to  better  integration of renewables  and to  reducing  energy  losses  and 
emissions;  making  greater  use  of  e-health  digital  solutions  is  also  expected  to  strengthen  the 
efficiency, accessibility and quality of health services. Poland has yet to submit a payment request for 
the first instalment of the RRF money. 

200  Each  recovery  and  resilience  plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
338 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Poland 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

18% 

2020 

3.4% 

2020 

3.8% 

2019 

Poland 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

81% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

84% 

2021 

43% 

2021 

21% 

2021 

57% 

2021 

18% 

2020 

3.5% 

2021 

3.7% 

2020 

86% 

2022 

43% 

2021 

21% 

2021 

57% 

2021 

25% 

2022 

3.6% 

2022 

4.1% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

In  the  digital  skills  dimension,  there  is  significant  room  for  improvement  for  Poland.  Figures  for 
digital skills remain lower compared to the EU average, with 43% of people aged between 16 and 74 
having at least basic digital skills (EU 54%) and 21% having above basic digital skills. On at least basic 
digital  content  creation  skills,  Poland  scores  57%,  below  the  EU  average  of  66%.  In  addition,  ICT 
specialists account for a slightly lower percentage of the workforce in Poland compared with the EU 
average.  On  the  other  hand,  ICT  graduates  currently  account  for  4.1%  of  all  graduates  in  Poland, 
equal  to  the  EU  average.  That  said,  Poland  has  more  enterprises  investing  in  ICT  training  for  their 
employees  than  the  EU  average  (25%  vs  22%).  The  AI4Youth  pilot  project,  which  was  run  by  the 
Ministry  of  Economic  Development  and  Technology  in  cooperation  with  a  private  company, 
concluding in November 2022, helped young people develop competences in artificial intelligence.  

In  2022,  the  governmental  institutions  rolled  out  final  projects  that  started  under  the  2014-2020 
Operational Programme Digital Poland, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). 
This included the Zdalna Szkoła+ (Remote School) project that provided grants to almost 2 800 Polish 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
339 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Poland 

municipalities and districts to purchase equipment for pupils and teachers. The Lekcja:Enter project 
implemented  by  three  non-profit  entities:  Orange  Foundation,  Fundacja  Rozwoju  Społeczeństwa 
Informacyjnego  and  Instytut  Spraw  Publicznych,  provided  support  to  teachers  involved  in  remote 
education. 

Besides comprehensive, long-term programmes, ad hoc courses and conferences took place in 2022. 
The  largest  event  was  the  Digital  Festival  comprising  over  100  events.  For  pupils,  students  and 
teachers in Poland, the EU Code Week continued to be a major event.  In 2022, as many as 14 000 
activities  were  organised  involving  over  300  000  participants,  mainly  primary  school  students,  the 
third  highest  number  in  the  EU  in  absolute  figures  and  taking  into  consideration  the  country’s 
population. As in previous years, the National Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs assisted everyone 
involved in coordinating actions that supported digital skills, upskilling and reskilling. 

The  Polish  regulator  (Office  of  Electronic  Communications,  UKE)  runs  a  series  of  educational 
campaigns  to  improve  digital  skills  among  the  population.  They  form  part  of  the  Cybersecurity 
Strategy  of  the  Republic  of  Poland  for  2019-2024,  particularly  its  objective  4:  ‘Building  public 
awareness and competencies  in the area of cybersecurity’201. This includes teaching  people  how to 
behave responsibly on the internet, as well as the rights and obligations on the telecommunications 
services  market.  UKE  runs  campaigns  targeted  at  various  groups:  children  and  young  people, 
teachers, parents, guardians, consumers,  older people, consumer advocates as well as people with 
special needs. 

In  2022,  digital  subjects  were  being  mainstreamed  into  formal  tertiary  education.  Universities 
provided  more  and  more  courses  focusing  or  using  technologies  that  helped  an  increase  in  the 
number of ICT graduates. One of the many actions in this area was the EU-financed project Academy 
of Innovative Applications of Digital Technologies (AI Tech), led by a consortium of five universities202. 
A key government policy document, the Digital Competence Development Programme203 (Program 
Rozwoju  Kompetencji  Cyfrowych,  PRKC),  was  adopted  in  February  2023.  It  is  a  comprehensive, 
multiannual document  providing both  an overview  of the situation on digital  skills in Poland and a 
plan  for  governmental  actions.  The  budget  foreseen  for  the  programme  is  expected  to  be  around 
EUR  600  million  with  the  bulk  (92%)  coming  from  EU  funds,  including  the  RRP.  The  cross-cutting 
nature  of  the  PRKC  means  that  various  entities  are  involved  in  its  implementation.  The  Digital 
Competence  Development  Center  at  the  Ministry  of  Digital  Affairs  will  be  coordinating  the 
programme which will be both a challenge and an opportunity for it to carry out cross-departmental 
actions with the Ministry of Education and with the Ministry of Family and Labour, as well as other 
ministries. 

Poland also plans to develop a comprehensive digitalisation strategy for education that would focus 
on  efficient  and  meaningful  integration  of  digital  technologies  into  teaching,  learning  and 
assessment.  This  would  include  establishing  minimum  binding  standards  for  equipping  all  schools 
with  digital  infrastructure  to  ensure  equal  access  to  digital  education.  At  the  same  time,  a 
participatory  approach  in  the  development  of  any  major  policies,  involving  local  and  regional 
governments, schools, educators, experts in digital education and civil society, is of particular value. 
The public consultations on this new policy, that is foreseen in the RRP to constitute the  necessary 

201 https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/actions/national-initiatives/national-strategies/poland-
cybersecurity-strategy-republic-poland-2019 
202 The consortium consist of Gdańsk University of Technology, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, 
Poznań University of Technology, University of Warsaw and Adam Mickiewicz University. 
203 https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/actions/national-initiatives/national-strategies/poland-digital-
competence-development-programme 

 
 
 
 
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basis for the investments in digital infrastructure in schools, including making available computers for 
pupils, have not started in 2022. 

Best practice: Grant project for the development of digital skills 

In 2017-2022, a grant project for developing of digital competences worth over EUR 27 million was 
implemented  as  part  of  the  Digital  Poland  Operational  Programme.  Municipalities  received  grants 
worth between EUR 3 300 and EUR 33 000 to organise training for their residents. For their training 
needs,  communes  were  able  purchase  IT  equipment  (up  to  maximum  of  40%  of  the  grant  value), 
which they passed on  transferred to  the  schools  after the project  ended. The scale of the  projects 
was adapted to the needs of the commune and its inhabitants.  

Almost 172 000 people were trained throughout Poland under this project.  

Poland should step up its efforts in the area of digital skills. In particular, Poland should strengthen 
digital skills in primary, secondary, and vocational education and training and step up the upskilling 
and reskilling of the labour force, paying special attention to advanced and emerging technologies204. 

204 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Poland 

DESI 
2021 

49% 

2020 

1.5% 

2020 

65% 

2020 

45% 

2020 

73% 

2018 

10% 

2020 

0% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

58% 

2021 

2.8% 

2021 

70% 

2021 

52% 

2021 

84% 

2021 

34% 

2021 

0% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

65% 

2022 

3.4% 

2022 

71% 

2022 

60% 

2022 

84% 

2021 

63% 

2022 

0% 

2023 

Regarding  the  digital infrastructure,  despite  some  positive changes,  there is  still significant  room 
for  improvement.  Over  recent  years,  Poland  experienced  a  steady  increase  in  the  percentage  of 
households covered by fixed very high capacity networks – 71% in 2022 compared to 65% in 2020. 
Notably, a major part of this increase was recorded in the Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) coverage that 
increased from 45% in 2020 to 60% in 2022. 

Regarding  fixed  broadband  take-up,  65%  of  households  subscribed  to  at  least  100  Mbps  fixed 
broadband  connection  in  2022,  which  is  above  the  EU  average  of  55%.  However,  at  1.1%  of 
households, the take-up of 1 Gbps broadband remains significantly below the EU average of 3.4%. At 
the same time broadband prices in Poland remain below the EU average. 

The perspective on the developments in fixed broadband should take into consideration that people 
living  in  rural  areas  account  for  nearly  40%  of  the  country's  population  and  that  the  average 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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population density of rural areas in Poland is about 50 people per square kilometre. This continues to 
be a major factor behind the high costs of building telecommunications infrastructure, resulting in a 
general low level of attractiveness for investment in rural areas. A potential solution for this problem 
could be the wider use of smart grids in energy as wind and solar sources are usually dispersed and 
their integration into the grid needs strong electronic communication. 

Poland plans to use a mix of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the European 
Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to finance its future connectivity actions. Poland estimates that 
the RRF and the 2021-2027 ERDF actions will together contribute with EUR 2 billion overall, subject 
to compliance with applicable State aid rules.  

This should provide at least 1.5 million households in Next Generation Access-white areas, increasing 
the rate of those with access to the gigabit society’s level of services up to more than 80%. The RRF 
contains a set of reforms in connectivity, some of which are being implemented in line with the plan. 
This 
infrastructure  and  services 
inventory205, adopted in March 2023. 

includes  a  new  regulation  on  annual  telecommunications 

On mobile connectivity, 63% of households were covered by 5G technology in 2022, which is below 
the  EU  average  of  81%.  Poland  has  not  yet  assigned  radio  spectrum  for  5G  deployment,  and  the 
current  deployment  is  based  on other  frequencies  thereby  not  allowing  for  advanced  applications. 
The 5G deployment  is moving  ahead with some mobile  providers replacing their 3G networks with 
more advanced network services. One big mobile operator is currently switching off the 3G network 
in the 2.1 GHz band, allocating the released frequencies to increase the capacity and speed of its 4G 
and 5G networks. Another operator slated a similar process for 2024. 

Regarding the legal environment, key EU regulations have not been implemented yet. In particular, 
the  European Electronic  Communication Code  (Directive  2018/1972)  has  yet  to  be  transposed  into 
national law the deadline was 21 December 2020 and Poland has yet to notify full transposition to 
the Commission. As a result, the Commission referred the case to the Court of Justice of the EU in 
April  2022.  Moreover,  the  deployment  of  high  quality  5G  networks  is  hampered  by  the  failure  to 
assign the 5G pioneer bands.  In May 2020, the Polish government cancelled the  auction of the 3.6 
GHz band, about six weeks after the regulator began the procedure, offering four licences that would 
have  been  valid  until  30  June  2035.  At  the  end  of  2022,  the  Office  of  Electronic  Communications 
(Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej, UKE) launched a consultation of documentation for an auction of 
the band, and in June 2023 the auction itself opened for four frequency licences in the 3.4-3.8 GHz 
range.  The  selection  procedure  and  issuing  the  licences  is  expected  to  be  completed  in  the  fourth 
quarter of 2023206. 

For the 700 MHz band, the situation is unclear as Poland plans to use part of this band for services of 
the still-to-be appointed Operator of the Strategic Security Network, a state-owned entity that would 
provide  telecommunications  services  to  key  public  administration  entities  with  the  goal  to  ensure 
they fulfil tasks for defence, state security and public safety and order.  

The Operator will be established by an act amending the law on the National Cybersecurity System 
(Krajowy  System  Cyberbezpieczeństwa).  The  government  has  adopted  the  blueprint  for  legislation 
and  has  submitted  it  to  the  Parliament.  However,  there  is  only  a  little  time  to  proceed  it  as  the 
general elections will take place in October 2023. 

205 Rozporządzenie Ministra Cyfryzacji z dnia 8 marca 2023 r. w sprawie informacji o infrastrukturze technicznej 
i kanałach technologicznych oraz o stawkach opłaty za zajęcie pasa drogowego (sejm.gov.pl) 
206 https://www.uke.gov.pl/akt/ruszyla-aukcja-5g,483.html#! 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Poland 

During  a  public  consultation  on  the  26  GHz  band  between  July  and  September  2020,  the  Polish 
operators expressed  no  interests  the  band  before  2023.  Given  the  ongoing  auction of  the  3.6  GHz 
band, there are currently no consultations on the 26 GHz band. 

The largest part of the financial resources allocated to digital matters in the RRP is earmarked for 
connectivity, aimed at boosting the deployment of very high capacity networks, including fibre and 
5G as necessary to address identified market failures and in compliance with the applicable State aid 
rules.  This  will  be  done  in  line  with  the  best  practices  of  the  EU  Connectivity  Toolbox.  The  total 
amount allocated to investments in network infrastructure is EUR 1.4 billion for fixed broadband and 
EUR 1.2 billion for mobile broadband. With these resources Poland aims to provide universal access 
to high-quality telecommunication infrastructure and modern electronic communication services in 
areas  throughout  the  country  where  there  has  been  a  market  failure,  narrowing  the  gap  between 
urban and rural areas. The investments will focus on:  

(i) 

covering 930 000 households in areas, not covered by networks providing speeds of at least 
30 Mb/s download with broadband internet access with a capacity of at least 100 Mb/s;  
(ii)  supporting the roll-out of the 5G network by building the 5G bases stations in areas where 

there had been a market failure.  

These  measures  are  expected  to  help  achieve  of  the  EU’s  5G  and  gigabit  connectivity  objectives. 
From the policy perspective, the main goal of the Polish Digital Transformation Strategy for 2025, as 
outlined in the National Broadband plan, is to ensure that all households have internet access with a 
downstream connection speed of at least 100 Mbps, with the option to upgrade to gigabit speeds. 
For Poland to achieve these goals, the plan sets out the required financial and legislative measures, 
aimed at removing legal barriers hindering the rapid development of broadband networks. However, 
the  goals  of  the  Digital  Decade  Policy  Programme  are  not  currently  reflected  in  the  National 
Broadband plan. 

In December 2022, the Information System on Access to Fixed Broadband Internet Services (SIDUSIS) 
was implemented. The system is a database that collects information about the availability of fixed-
line  internet  services  based  on  notifications  from  customers  and  internet  service  providers.  It 
facilitates access to broadband Internet services for consumers but also enables operators to adjust 
network expansion plans to the real needs of customers. 

On  1 January 2023,  the  Regulation  on  the  inventory  of  telecommunications  infrastructure  and 
services  entered  into  force.  The  inventory  is  a  source  of  reliable  data  on  the  spatial  availability  of 
telecommunications infrastructure and networks. The inventory is also subject to information on the 
route  of  fibre-optic  and  other  than  fibre-optic  cable  lines  providing  or  enabling  the  provision  of 
broadband Internet access. The inventory allows for a significant improvement of the planning and 
construction of public telecommunications networks, including the rationalization of their location by 
considering the route of the existing networks. 

The  Polish  authorities  are  currently  working  on  detailed  measures  implementing  the  Connectivity 
Toolbox,  in  terms  of  facilitating  5G  network  deployment.  In  one  of  the  planned  reforms,  Poland 
would like to use State support to complement for investments incentivising 5G network roll-out. In 
this  context,  Poland  plans  to  implement  measures  supporting  the  network  development  in  areas 
with low population density and alongside road infrastructure in 2023. 

In  2022,  Poland  adopted  the  National  Scientific  Policy  document  (Polityka  Naukowa  Państwa), 
indicating  the  High  Performance  Computing  and  Quantum  Computing  as  the  main  priorities  for 
Polish  science  over  the  coming  years.  As  a  result,  Poland  supports  several  initiatives  to  develop 
quantum  computing  resources.  One  of  them,  EuroQCS-PL,  is  a  project  coordinated  by  the  Poznań 
Supercomputing  and  Networking  Centre  (PSNC).  It  plans  to  create  a  quantum  computer  within  4 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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years. Poland also takes part in LUMI-Q, multinational consortium coordinated by Czechia, working 
to  provide  a  Europe-wide  quantum  computing  environment 
integrated  with  the  EuroHPC 
infrastructure. Both projects  concern quantum computers integrated into existing supercomputers. 
In all, two of the six quantum computers to be built by EuroHPC Joint Undertaking will be located in, 
or supported by Poland. 

In 2022, also a Quantum Hub was launched in Poznań - the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking 
Center. The Hub develops quantum computing technologies and their implementations thanks to the 
cooperation of Polish scientists and IBM. 

Best practice: Poland’s support for Ukraine in the telecommunications 

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Polish government has been involved in 
activities  that  help  Ukrainian  citizens.  Up  until  January  2023,  Poland  has  delivered  over  14  000 
satellite terminals to Ukraine. It also committed to financing the subscription fees for the transferred 
Starlink terminals until the end of 2023. Furthermore, Poland supports the rebuilding of the civilian 
telecom  infrastructure  struck  by  rocket  attacks  from  Russian  forces.  In  March  2023,  devices  for 
storing  energy  and  powering  elements  of  the  communication  infrastructures  were  transferred  to 
Ukraine.  The  devices  make  it  possible  to  power  devices  and  elements  of  telecommunications 
infrastructure anywhere in Ukraine, regardless of damage or destruction of the energy infrastructure 
from which these devices and infrastructure elements have been powered so far. Since the beginning 
of  the  conflict  UKE  has  cooperated  with  the  Ukrainian  Regulator  in  strengthening  border 
communications and security for Ukrainians coming to Poland. In addition, Polish operators signed an 
agreement at EU level on regarding the support for Ukraine and provided such support, e.g. free SIM 
cards. 

Poland  should  step up  its efforts on  connectivity  infrastructure.  To  incentivise the  development  of 
robust  connectivity,  the  current  EU  regulatory  framework  needs  to  be  transposed  into  the  national 
regulations. The assignment of the radio spectrum needed for 5G connectivity in a transparent, open 
and  non-discriminatory  way  is  also  necessary  to  achieve  the  Digital  Decade  5G  targets.  Measures 
taken by Poland in the field of semiconductors and quantum computing should continue in order to 
help the EU to become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud207 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Poland 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

29% 

2019 

14% 

2019 

9% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

13% 

2020 

13% 

2020 

NA 

2020 

5% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

32% 

2021 

18% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

19% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

13% 

2020 

14% 

2021 

NA 

2021 

5% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

61% 

2022 

32% 

2021 

18% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

19% 

2021 

3% 

2021 

13% 

2020 

14% 

2022 

8% 

2022 

5% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

207 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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There  is  significant  room  for  improvement  regarding  Poland’s  performance  in  the  area  of 
digitalisation of businesses, since the country remains – in most of aspects – below the EU average. 
61%  of  Polish  SMEs  have  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital  intensity,  which  is  slightly  below  the  EU 
average of 69%. Polish enterprises are taking advantage of the digital opportunities and are involved 
in online commerce, with 14% of SMEs selling online and 5% selling across borders to other Member 
States.  Advanced  technologies  are  slowly  but  steadily  gaining  popularity  among  Polish  enterprises, 
with  19%  using  cloud  computing  services  (EU  average:  34%).  32%  of  Polish  enterprises  are  using 
electronic  information  sharing  (EU  average:  38%).  Nevertheless,  only  18%  of  Polish  enterprises 
actively use social media and 3% are integrating AI technologies into their operations. e-Invoices and 
big data are not yet widely used. This shows that Poland would have to make a significant effort to 
help achieve the 2030 Digital Decade target of at least 75% of enterprises taking up cloud services, 
big data or artificial intelligence (AI). 

In  2022,  integration  of  digital  technology  into  businesses’  activities  has  progressed  steadily.  The 
private  sector  has  made  the  most  effort,  fuelled  by  the  business  opportunities  and  the  natural 
evolution  of  the  economy.  However,  various  governmental  bodies  have  also  supported  this  drive 
using public funding, in particular from the EU funds. The remaining projects for R&D and innovation 
under  the  Smart  Growth  2014-2020  Programme  were  implemented,  and  the  Polish  Agency  for 
Enterprise  Development  (PARP)  supported  training  and  advice  to  managers  of  micro,  small  or 
medium-sized  enterprises 
innovation  processes.  In 
in  adapting  their  human  resources  and 
September  2022,  the  European  Funds  for  a  Modern  Economy  (Fundusze  Europejskie  dla  Nowej 
Gospodarki,  FENG)  a  cohesion  policy  instrument  financing  digital  business,  was  approved  by  the 
European Commission. The projects are expected to be rolled out soon. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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As in previous years, authentication services were heavily used by the companies, with some banks 
providing their customers with such services through the ‘Trusted Profile’ (Profil Zaufany), tool which 
makes it possible to log in to all online public services and securely sign official documents. 

Regarding AI, after enacting the national strategy Policy for the development of artificial intelligence 
in Poland from 2020 in December 2020, government agencies started to promote the goals, set out 
in  the  strategy.  Poland  also  continued  to  support  the  development  of  digital  technologies  through 
EU-coordinated programmes. It is a member of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking on high-performance 
computing and of the European Blockchain Partnership. In 2022, Poland also launched the European 
Blockchain Service Infrastructure (EBSI) node in NASK National Research Institute and has since been 
developing  various  parts of  the  system  since.  In  February  2023 Poland  confirmed  its  interest  in  an 
EDIC on Blockchain. 

Eleven  Polish  European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (EDIHs),  multi-country  projects  selected  under  the 
Digital  Europe  Programme  with  a  total  budget  of  EUR  23  million,  will  support  the  digital 
transformation  of  SMEs.  Examples  of  concrete  activities  proposed  by  the  EDIHs  are  ‘test  before 
investing, short-term advanced digital courses and training and network building  events. The EDIHs 
are part of a European network  of soon to be  over 200 hubs covering all EU regions (plus Iceland, 
Norway, Lichtenstein, sectors and technologies). 

The  Digital  Platform,  a  publicly  accessible  digital  tool  operated  by  the  Future  Industry  Platform 
Foundation, integrates efforts all interested parties in the Polish 4.0 ecosystem. Poland is one of the 
12  Member  States  participating  in  the  Important  Project  of  Common  European  Interest  on  Next 
Generation  Cloud  Infrastructure  and  Services  (IPCEI-CIS),  which  forms  part  of  the  Multi-Country 
Project  on  a  Common  Data  Infrastructure  and  Services.  The  IPCEI-CIS  aims  to  equip  the  European 
Union with the next  generation of advanced, distributed, secure, sustainable and innovative cloud-
to-edge capabilities that citizens and businesses need. It will help boost the cloud services uptake by 
Polish enterprises, therefore helping achieve the Digital Decade’s target for digital transformation of 
businesses. 

With the RRF support, Poland will take part in a multi-country project on Cloud and Edge Computing, 
to develop joint capabilities in data processing with the participation of Polish businesses and other 
actors  important  for  digital  technology.  Moreover,  to  help  businesses  become  digitalised,  the  RRP 
envisages supporting 3 000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises out of nearly 2 million with 
advice on digitalisation, remote training for staff and the purchase of licences and software to enable 
remote communication.  

The requirements to make websites and mobile applications accessible were ensured a few years ago 
with  the  implementation  of  the  relevant  EU  directives208.  The  private  sector  followed  with  an 
initiative  called  the  Business  Accessibility  Forum  that  provides  a  platform  for  organizations  to 
promote  accessibility  to  all  internet  users.  The  members  committed  themselves  to  developing  a 
common  position  for  the  business  community  in  social  consultations,  and  to  carrying  out  public 
awareness actions. 

Poland  should  significantly  step  up  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In 
particular,  Poland  should  facilitate  access  to  advanced  technologies  including  AI,  big  data  and  the 
cloud  through  sustained measures  including  improved  access to training,  incentives  and  knowledge 

208 EU 2019/882 and EU 2016/2102. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Poland 

transfer.  It  should  also  continue  to  support  SMEs  in  their  efforts  to  raise  their  uptake  of  advanced 
technologies and by encouraging start-up ecosystems. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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4 Digitalisation of public services 

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Poland 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

57 

2021 

70 

2021 

74 

2021 

42 

2021 

60 

2021 

94 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

63% 

2022 

60 

2022 

73 

2022 

78 

2022 

57 

2022 

70 

2022 

93 

2022 

86 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Poland  has  room  for  improvement  as  far  as  the  digitalisation  of  public  services  is  concerned.  In 
2022, as much as 63% of internet users relied on e-Government services, below the EU average (74% 
in 2022). For the  new target on e-health records access, Poland  scores  significantly better than  EU 
average  (86  against  72). On  pre-filled  forms,  Poland  also  scores  significantly  above  the  EU average 
(78 against 68).  

Thanks to the mObywatel app, Poland excels in mobile friendliness (93, same as the EU average) and 
performs well in the transparency of service delivery, design, and personal data. However, regarding 
the Digital Decade targets on availability of services, Poland is still underperforming in the availability 
of digital online services, scoring 60 on digital public services for citizens (EU average: 77) and 73 for 
businesses (EU average: 84), while the EU target for both indicators is set to 100 by 2030.   

The  flagship  service  provided  by  the  government  to  the  individuals  is  the  mObywatel  application. 
Launched in 2015, it acts as a digital wallet for documents (e.g. ID card, driver’s licence or pensioner’s 
card). Recently, it has been transformed into a digital assistant that allows to handle various official 
matters.  It  has  gained  in  popularity,  with the  number  of  users  hitting  2 million  in  December 2020, 
rising to 9.1 million by December 2022.  

Following  the  Russian  invasion  of  Ukraine  in  February  2022,  the  government  also  made  the 
mObywatel app available on the Diia.pl service that allows Ukrainian citizens staying legally in Poland 
to confirm their identity in the whole EU. The service allows them to download personal data from a 
dedicated registry, as well as store it in an encrypted form on their mobile device and to present it to 
other actors to confirm their identity. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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In  the  wake  of  the  changes  brought  about  by  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  the  use  of  e-government 
services also increased among businesses. To facilitate the move towards the digital sphere, a new 
version of the Biznes.gov.pl portal was launched in January 2022. The portal offers access to about 
400  online  services  and  over  1  000  descriptions  of  procedures.  These  services  are  widely  used,  in 
particular  the  authentication  service  ‘Trusted  Profile’  (Profil  Zaufany),  which  enables  nearly  16.5 
million people to identify and authenticate with a trusted signature in public online services, as well 
as enables them to sign documents. 

The eID card is a secure tool containing certificates enabling electronic identification (an eID called 
personal profile) and the creation of an advanced electronic signature (called a personal signature). It 
may  contain  a  qualified  electronic  signature  from  a  trust  service  provider  (chosen  by  the  holder). 
Moreover,  the  ICAO  application  is  also  implemented  in  the  ID  card.  Between  March  2019  and 
December  2022,  over  10  million  eID  cards  were  issued  and  more  than  3.6  million  people  have 
activated the electronic layer in these cards and can use identification and authentication certificates 
and personal signatures. 

The  podatki.gov.pl  portal  allows  legal  and  natural  persons  to  declare  their  taxes  online,  obtain  all 
necessary tax information and make an appointment with a tax office. In 2020 a new service called e-
Urząd Skarbowy (eTax Office) was launched on the podatki.gov.pl portal, allowing all of the National 
Tax Administration’ customers to handle their tax affairs quickly, easily and comprehensively, at any 
time  and  from  any  device.  In  2022,  there  were  almost  30  million  logins  to  the  e-Urząd  Skarbowy 
portal  with  over  120  000  certificate  requests  made,  of  which  around  90000  were  processed 
automatically.  A  total  of  11.27  million  annual  tax  declarations  were  filed  through  the  Your  e-PIT 
service, accounting for 52.1% of all documents filed. Over a 2-year period, customer satisfaction after 
a visit to the offices increased reportedly from 78% to 92%, and the rate of dealing with cases during 
the first visit to the office increased from 77% to 86%.  
In  the  cloud  domain,  the  ZUCH  system209,  an  IT  tool  available  to  both  central  and  local  public 
administration  for  searching,  comparing,  and  purchasing  cloud  services  has  been  operating  over 
recent  years,  based  on  the  2019  Common  State  Information  Infrastructure  (WIIP)  program. 
Expanding  the  programme,  in  the  first  quarter  of  2023,  a  government  cloud  service  (Rządowa 
Chmura  Obliczeniowa210,  RChO)  was  launched.  As  part  of  RChO,  cloud  infrastructure  services  are 
available, allowing for key IT environments for the public administration to be built.  

The government has announced it will set up a National Centre of Data Processing (Krajowe Centrum 
Przetwarzania  Danych)  that  will  ensure  public  services  continue  to  be  provided.  It  plans  to  build 
three standardised and energy-efficient data processing establishments connected by dedicated fibre 
links  and  powered  by  green  energy.  The  government  submitted  a  special  bill  about  building  this 
centre to the Polish parliament in April 2023. 

In  healthcare,  the  Patient’s  Portal  provides  increasingly  more  sophisticated  services  capitalising  on 
the successful introduction of e-prescriptions in January 2020. Access to the patient’s online account 
(Internetowe Konto Pacjenta, IKP) is enabled through the mObywatel and mojeIKP applications. Using 
the IKP, a patient can also authorise other people, including medical staff, to access their health data, 
submit  a  declaration  of  choice  of  their  general  practitioner,  or  apply  for  the  Electronic  Health 
Insurance Card. Recently, the prescription renewal system was rolled out.  

The mojeIKP app, a mobile version of the IKP, is constantly being upgraded. The citizens can access 
their electronic health data, comprising identification and personal information, data on procedures 

209 System Zapewniania Usług Chmurowych - Gov.pl (chmura.gov.pl) 
210 ZUCH - Informacje (chmura.gov.pl) 

 
 
 
 
352 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Poland 

or  operations  and  prescribed  medicines.  People  can  also  view  electronic  results  and  reports, 
including  medical  images,  updated  e-Prescription,  and  the  e-Dispensation  information.  The  system 
emphasises  the  need  for  security  as  it  requires  citizens  to  authenticate  themselves  in  the  online 
portal and mobile app using a notified eID that complies with the eIDAS Regulation.  

Until June  2023 more  than 17.2 million patients have  accessed their individual IKP. The app  is also 
provided in Ukrainian and English, making it available to Ukraine’s citizens. 

Regarding objectives on cybersecurity, to improve the way it works and adjust it to the requirements 
set  at  the  EU  level,  the  government  set  out  in  2020  to  amend  the  National  Cybersecurity  System 
(Krajowy System Cyberbezpieczeństwa, KSC). However, the related legislative proposal has yet to be 
adopted. 

The  public  sector  was  facing  difficulties  in  attracting  cybersecurity  experts  due  to  the  wage  levels 
offered in key public institutions. To address this problem, the Cybersecurity Fund was created, and 
in  2022 more  than  3000 cybersecurity  experts  working  for  national  institutions  received  additional 
remuneration to increase the attractiveness of the posts. 

The  government  and  some  private  companies  also  participate  in  the  PWCyber  -  Cybersecurity 
Cooperation Programme, established in 2019. It is run in the form of a public-private partnership in 
order to step up cybersecurity for both public and private entities. 

In 2022, the upgrade of the Safer Internet Centre started with an EU funded project worth EUR 1.6 
million. The Centre is managed by NASK and the Empowering Children Foundation and runs several 
very practical programmes: (i) ‘Saferinternet.pl’, comprehensive awareness-raising activities children 
and young people aimed at promoting safer use of the internet and new technologies; (ii) a hotline 
helping  provide  assistance  to  young  internet  users,  parents  and  professionals  in  cases  of  risks 
associated  with  internet  use;  and  (iii)  a  Dyzurnet.pl  hotline  that  received  reports  about  illegal 
internet content, such as child abuse images, racism and xenophobia. 

Digitalisation of public services has enabled them to be more user-friendly and easier to access, as 
evidenced by the mObywatel app. It can also pave the way for the digital transformation, provided 
that complementary rules are in place. Promoting the use and understanding of the benefits of these 
services  would  further  increase  demand.  In  this  context,  proper  implementation  of  the  EU 
cybersecurity rules is currently a pressing issue in Poland.  

Best practice: Open data 

Poland  performs  very  well,  when  it  comes  to  open  data,  both  in  terms  of  regulation  and  practical 
tools. In the ‘Open Data Maturity 2022’, it ranked third, scoring well above the average for Member 
States.  The  government’s  actions  are  guided  by  the  Data  Opening  Programme  for  2021-2027.  The 
aim of the strategy is not only to increase the volume of valuable public data available for re-use but 
also to promote a proactive model of data sharing by the public sector, including local authorities, so 
that the useful information is available in the user-friendly formats directly on the Internet. It creates 
an environment in which various actors may use the data to deliver new products and services. The 
figures show the continuous efforts to increase the supply of data available on the Dane.gov.pl for re-
use:  there  are  currently  31  250  resources  published,  298  data  publishers  and  502  application 
programming interfaces (APIs) registered.  

Poland should step up its efforts to digitalise public services.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
353 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Portugal 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Portugal 

 
 
 
 
   
 
 
354 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Portugal 

Portugal is expected to make a positive contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the EU’s 
Digital  Decade  targets.  Comprehensive  policies  and  swift  implementation  can  optimise  Portugal’s 
digitalisation  efforts,  enhance  capabilities  and  incentivise  technology  adoption.  The  country  has 
shown  a  strong  performance  in  connectivity  infrastructure  both  fixed  and  mobile.  Portugal  is 
focusing efforts on reskilling its workforce and investing in digital skills for the older population, on 
the  understanding  that  investing  in  education  and  training  across various  demographics  is vital.  By 
continuing to invest in digital skills development and digital public services, Portugal can advance its 
digital competitiveness and positively contribute to the EU’s Digital Decade goals. 

In 2022, digital policies came within the Prime Minister’s responsibility, and a new Secretary of State 
for  Digitalisation  and  Administrative  Modernisation  was  appointed.  This  measure  reflects  the 
government’s awareness of the cross-cutting nature of digital transition for the government, where 
such  policies  were  previously  coordinated  by  the  Minister  for  Economy  and  Digital  Transition.  An 
inter-ministerial Commission for Digitalisation was set up, consisting of secretaries of state from all 
ministries, chaired by the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Administrative Modernisation.  

Portugal  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility  to  set  up  European 
Digital  Infrastructure  Consortia  (EDICs)  on:  (i)  establishing  the  European  Cybersecurity  Skills 
Academy;  and  (ii)  establishing  an  Alliance  for  Language  Technologies,  to  develop  a  common 
infrastructure in the field of natural language processing and to develop large multi-language models. 
Portugal is one of the Member States that have jointly submitted a formal application to set up the 
European  Blockchain  Partnership  and  the  EDIC  on  European  Blockchain  Infrastructure,  supporting 
EU-wide cross-border public services. 

Digital in Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Portugal has allocated 22% i.e. EUR 3.6 billion of its digital expenditure in its RRP to prioritising digital 
skills,  digital  transformation  in  businesses  and  investments  in  public  administration  helping 
modernise  public  financial  management.  This  allocation  is  expected  to  contribute  to  achieving  the 
Digital Decade targets: EUR 816 million for basic digital skills, EUR 544 million to ICT specialists, EUR 
1.3 billion to digital public services, EUR 360 million to e-health, EUR 213 million to unicorns and EUR 
213 million for cloud, AI and big data211. In February 2023, Portugal received its second disbursement 
of  EUR  1.8  billion  for  digital  measures,  including  the  new  Secure  Mobile  Communications  System 
providing  secure  voice,  messaging  and  video  communication  for  government  employees.  The 
Portugal Digital Academy and the Employment+Digital programme allow the public and businesses to 
assess  their  digital  skills,  get  training  plans  and  boost  their  digital  skills.  In  December  2022,  the 
government  approved  the  national  strategy  for  connectivity  in  Very  High  Capacity  Electronic 
Communications Networks for 2023-2030. A resolution will make it possible to launch public tenders 

211  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Portugal 

to  install,  manage  and  operate  high  capacity  networks  in  ‘white  areas’.  In  addition,  17  digital 
innovation  hubs  support  companies  in  adopting  automation  technologies.  The  country's  legal 
framework  for  digitalising  the  public  administration  has  come  into  effect,  including  provisions  for 
information security and cybersecurity.   

 
 
 
356 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Portugal 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

23% 

2020 

3.9% 

2020 

2.3% 

2019 

Portugal 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

76% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

80% 

2021 

55% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

61% 

2021 

23% 

2020 

4.7% 

2021 

2.6% 

2020 

83% 

2022 

55% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

61% 

2021 

24% 

2022 

4.5% 

2022 

2.5% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Portugal scores around EU averages in basic digital skills and ICT graduates. The government views a 
high value in boosting the digital skills of the public and it’s the country’s workforce as a requisite 
for digital leadership. Portugal’s RRP reflects that importance, allocating almost EUR 816 million to 
digital skills (22% of its digital funding). A budget of EUR 1.41 billion is dedicated to investments in 
digital education for primary and secondary schools (EUR 559 million), public administration (EUR 86 
million), vocational training (EUR 521 million), youth STEAM initiatives (EUR 130 m), and digital skills 
training for workers (EUR 100 m). A separate adult learning program worth EUR 14 m is also in place. 
Portugal’s  INCoDe.2030  programme  is  a  major  policy  initiative  for  boosting  the  digital  skills  and 
qualifications of its population through customised trainings for various demographics. INCoDe.2030 
focuses on five areas: I) training young people in digital skills, ii) professional training for adults, iii) 
digital  technology  training  for  the  public,  iv)  higher-level  training  and  v)  production  of  new 
knowledge in disruptive technologies. 

Portugal is advancing on basic digital skills, yet a quicker pace is needed to contribute significantly 
towards  the  Digital  Decade  target.  Just  over  half  of Portugal’s  population  (55%)  has  at  least  basic 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
357 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Portugal 

digital skills, while the share of those with above basic digital skills is 29%, slightly above EU averages 
of  respectively  54%  and  26%.  The  Portuguese  with  at  least  basic  digital  content  creation  skills 
account  for  61%,  trailing  behind  the  EU  average  (66%).  Given  the  stable  trend  over  the  years, 
Portugal is poised to contribute towards the 2030 EU target of at least 80% of the population having 
basic digital skills with gender convergence if it accelerates and scales up its efforts. 

Portugal has implemented measures to boost the basic digital skills of adults. Digital competence is 
one  of  the  core  competences  in  the  standard  for  adult  education  and  training.  At  the  basic  level, 
digital  competency  covers  information  literacy,  communication  and  citizenship,  content  creation, 
security and privacy. The national catalogue of qualifications incorporates digital literacy trainings for 
individuals aged 18+ who lack basic digital skills regardless of their employment status. The Qualifica 
programme uses the key competences standards for adult education and training at basic and upper-
secondary levels, which include digital competence. Over 400 000 adults have already achieved full 
or partial qualification in digital competences through Qualifica, 56% of whom are adults with under 
upper-secondary  education.  In  addition,  the  Digital  skills  certificate  programme  offers  short  and 
medium-term  training  on  digital  skills  training  to  adults,  enhancing  increasing  their  employability. 
The strategy targets people with limited to no experience using the internet. Volunteers in training 
centres  across  Portugal  offer  online  training  free-of-charge  on  navigating  the  internet,  using  email 
and social media, and privacy and security standards. The training is approved by Estrutura de Missão 
Portugal  Inovação  Social  and  is  funded  by  Social  Impact  Bonds.  Jovem+Digital/Young+Digital  trains 
unemployed  young  adults  aged  18-35  in  cybersecurity,  e-commerce,  data  analysis,  programming, 
UX/UI design and automation. When someone completes any short and medium-term course under 
this Jovem+ Digital programme they are awarded a certificate of qualifications for the specific course 
taken. However, only those who have gone through the entire programme will receive a digital skills 
certificate.  Component  6  of  the  RRP  aims  to  set  up  225  local  projects  for  basic  qualifications, 
including  digital  competences  for  active  adults  aged  23+  without  upper-secondary  education, 
involving basic literacy, numeracy and digital skills. The Qualifica Accelerator aims to stimulate adult 
participation  and  certification  through  recognition,  validation  and  certification  of  competences 
(RVCC). The goal is to reach 100 000 RVCC certifications by 2025. 

Portugal is also improving digital education in schools. As part of its RRP, the Ministry of Education 
is  involved  in  developing  digital  educational  resources  for  all  subjects  on  the  curriculum.  RRP 
component  20  focuses  on  installing  1 300  digital  laboratories  in  basic  and  secondary  schools.  The 
main  goal  of  the  initiative  is  to  boost  skill  development  and  promote  STEAM  subjects  (Science, 
Technology,  Engineering,  Arts,  and  Mathematics).  To  bolster  digital  literacy  among  students  under 
18, Portugal has rolled out the School Digitisation Programme (2021 -2026). It aims to equip students 
and teachers with the tools and resources to enhance boost their digital skills by e.g. distributing of 
computers, increasing connectivity, and providing access to high-quality digital educational materials. 
The  programme’s  total  budget  is  EUR  687  million,  derived  from  PT2020  and  RRP  sources,  to  be 
allocated until 2025.  

The  COVID-19  lockdowns  highlighted  the  need  for  Portuguese  teachers  to  boost  their  digital 
pedagogical  skills.  To  address  this,  the  Ministry  of  Education  launched  a  national  teachers’  digital 
training  plan  with  the  support  of  the  91  national  teacher  training  centres.  The  plan  is  organised 
according to DigCompEdu, and aims to integrate digital technologies into the teaching and learning 
processes. Over 90 000 public school teachers out of around 111 000 have completed their training.  

 
 
 
358 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Portugal 

Schools  were  also  invited to  prepare  their  own  action  plans  for  digital  development,  based on  the 
results  of  the  SELFIE  tool  and  DigComOrg.  These  plans  aim  to  improve  digital  development  at 
organisational, pedagogical and technological levels.  

Beyond the RRP, the government is rolling out initiatives for the skilling, upskilling and reskilling of 
the  workforce.  To  address  the  demand  for  digitally  skilled  workers  in  the  business  sector,  the 
government  introduced  the  Employment+Digital  programme  in  collaboration  with  SMEs  and  social 
sector organisations. It encompasses four measures: i) Training Employment +Digital for customised 
digital skills courses for employees; ii) More Digital Leader offering advanced digital skills training for 
managers; iii) More Digital training voucher for individuals to acquire digital skills and qualifications; 
and  iv)  More  Digital  Trainer  to  increase  the  number  of  certified  professional  trainers.  The 
programme’s  budget  is  financed  by  RRP's  component  16  Companies  4.0.  Training  is  tailored  to 
companies’ needs in priority sectors. The first phase trained 28 000 workers, while the second aims 
to train 200 000 with a budget of EUR 94 million.  

Portugal  is  on  a  par  with  the  EU  average  on  ICT  specialists  in  employment  but  has  a  lower 
percentage of ICT graduates (2.6% versus 3.9% for the EU) which has stagnated for the last 3 years. 
The low rates of ICT enrolment and graduates undermine the EU’s prospects of reaching the Digital 
Decade target of 20 million ICT specialists by 2030.   

Portugal is rolling out initiatives to address this shortcoming. Component 6 of its RRP is funding the 
creation  of  365  specialised  technological  centres  in  public  and  public/private  professional  schools 
over the period 2022-2025, which will improve professional courses in IT, digital, renewable energies 
and  manufacturing  /  industry  4.0,  environmental  efficiency  and  gender  equality.  However  this 
measure does not cover Azores and Madeira. INCoDe.2030 aims to extend lifelong digital training for 
72 000 professionals, train 3 000 unemployed people so they can pursue a career in ICT, and build 
the  digital  skills  of  320 000  people  through  the  platform  Academia  Portugal  Digital  by  2023. 
Portugal's  indicators  aim  to  have  at  least  5%  and  7%  employed  ICT  specialists,  25%  and  30%  of 
employed female ICT specialists, and 4% and 5% doctoral or equivalent level in ICT graduates by 2025 
and 2030, respectively. 

One  of  the  goals of  INCoDe.2030  is  to  strengthen  the  digital  skills of civil  servants  with the  aim of 
training  professionals  in  cyber  and  information  security  by  2023.  The  C-Academy  is  an  advanced 
training  programme  under  the  RRP.  In  collaboration  with  academia,  it  aims  to  train/retrain  9,800 
cybersecurity  specialists  in  businesses  and  public  administration  by  Q1  2026.  Courses  will  cover  i) 
basic cybersecurity training for employees; ii) training of trainers; iii) training for implementation of 
controls in the National Cybersecurity Framework; iv) training for computer security response team 
or security operations centre specialists; and v) cybersecurity training for IT professionals. The target 
number  is  based  on  some  1 000  national  entities  e.g.  operators  of  essential  services,  critical 
infrastructures operators and main public administration bodies with an estimate of 10 cybersecurity 
experts per entity (number of experts needed to perform cybersecurity tasks and processes in order 
to achieve high maturity in those type of entities).  

The  UPSKILL  programme  partners  with  IEFP,  CCISP,  ISCTE,  Algarve  University  and  APDC  to  offer 
intensive specialised training in the digital area to 3 000 people so they can become ICT professionals 
by 2023.  

Portugal’s  18  sector  councils  for  qualifications  update  qualification  standards  and  vocational 
education  and  training  (VET).  They  run  as  collaborative  platforms  gathering  VET  and  labour 
representatives  to  design  qualifications.  No  qualification  is  integrated  in  the  National  Catalogue  of 
Qualifications without consulting the respective sector council, the one which focuses on electronics, 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Portugal 

computers  and  telecommunications.  Portugal's  System  for  the  Anticipation  of  Qualification  Needs 
(SANQ) plays a vital role in managing skills development strategies. Its goal is to increase the quality 
of information for young people, job seekers, employers, teachers, trainers and policymakers when 
making decisions on skills investment. SANQ gathers data from skills anticipation exercises to inform 
policymaking  on  skills  and  plans  the  provision  of  education  and  training  in  the  public  and  private 
sectors.  A  multistakeholder  approach  involving  local  communities,  VET  providers  and  employers 
determines SANQ’s relevance. 

Addressing the  demand for digitally skilled workers in the business  sector, Portugal introduced the 
Academia Portugal Digital platform (2022) to encourage people to learn digital skills and seek career 
opportunities via online courses. It is  part of INCODE.2030 and is funded by RRP investment under 
Component 16. It runs until 2026. 

Best practice: The UPSKILL programme 

With  rising  demand  for  ICT  talent  in  Portugal,  unemployed  professionals  and  employed  people  in 
jobs below their capabilities have the potential to pursue careers in ICT through reskilling/upskilling. 
UPSKILL is a requalification programme aiming to train 3 000 people by 2023 with a budget of EUR 25 
million. As the low percentage of ICT graduates is perceived to be a national problem, UPSKILL was 
included in the action plan for the digital transition. It is a collaboration between the IEFP - Institute 
of Employment and Professional Training, ICT companies and higher education institutions (HEI), the 
latter two setting out  the training needs and offer. The  IEFP recruits  the candidates, pays for their 
training  and  ensures  that  the  HEIs  receive  funding.  It  offers  6  months  theoretical  training  and  3 
months  of  work  practice.  Trainees  receive  a  monthly  scholarship  equal  to  the  minimum  wage.  An 
innovative feature is ensuring that at least 80% of the trainees who complete the course are hired 
with a gross salary of at least EUR 1 200. Currently, 70 companies take part in the programme which 
entered its third stage in October 2022.  

Portugal  should  accelerate  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digital  skills.  In  particular,  Portugal  should 
accelerate  the  implementation  of  its  digital  skills  programmes  and  reach  a  critical  mass  of  people 
across all demographics. Portugal should encourage private sector investment in digital skills training 
and  a  culture  of  lifelong  learning  to  adapt  to  evolving  technologies  and  industry  needs.  Portugal 
should increase enrolments in ICT studies through targeted actions that ensure capacity, traceability, 
and evaluation, and provide funding, scholarships and incentives for ICT specialists212. 

212 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Portugal 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Portugal 

DESI 
2021 

67% 

2020 

1.4% 

2020 

87% 

2020 

82% 

2020 

72% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

8% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

73% 

2021 

2.0% 

2021 

91% 

2021 

88% 

2021 

82% 

2021 

0% 

2021 

61% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

77% 

2022 

4.5% 

2022 

93% 

2022 

91% 

2022 

82% 

2021 

70% 

2022 

61% 

2023 

The successful coexistence of public and private investment, and the national regulatory authority’s 
efforts  to  improve  market  competition  mark  Portugal’s  considerable  progress  on  fixed  very  high 
capacity network (VHCN) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) coverage over the last few years, especially 
its ability to close the gap between urban and less populated areas. 

Portugal is expected to make a positive contribution to the achievement of the Digital Decade goals 
for digital infrastructures. Portugal performs particularly well on fixed VHCN and FTTP coverage (93% 
and 91% respectively compared to the EU average of 73% and 56%) as well as at least 100 Mbps fixed 
broadband take-up (77%). However, take-up of at least 1 Gbps (4.5%) and mobile broadband take-up 
(82%)  are  below  the  EU  average.  On  overall  5G  coverage  (70%)  the  country  scores  below  the  EU 
average (81%).    

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Portugal is currently implementing several measures that can help increase the level of Gigabit and 
5G  network  deployment. In  August  2022, Portugal  adopted  the  law on electronic  communications 
(Law  16/2022  of  16  August)  that  transposes  Directive  (EU)  2018/1972  of  the  European  Electronic 
Communications Code (EECC). This law updates Portugal’s regulatory framework in the field with the 
aim  of facilitating investments  into the  country’s very  high capacity network. In parallel, Portugal’s 
national  strategy  for  the  decade  and  its  strategic  framework  on  national  and  EU  funding  under 
Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 98/2020 sets out the country’s plans on deploying VHCN to 
households as well as to industrial, commercial and agricultural premises by 2030. In this context, a 
call for tenders on deployment, operations and maintenance of fixed VHCN in "white areas” will be 
launched by the end of Q2 2023. 

Regarding 5G, in 2021, Portugal assigned two of the 5G pioneer bands i.e. the 700 MHz and 3.6 GHz 
bands as part of a multi-band auction that concluded in October of the that year. The “5G Auction 
Regulation” on allocating rights to use these frequency bands set out significant coverage obligations 
to incumbent operators, acquiring rights of use in the 700 MHz band. These include coverage for 95% 
of  the  population,  90%  of  the  population  in  low  density  areas  and  in  each  parish  of  autonomous 
regions  (Madeira  and  Azores).  For  new  entrants  the  coverage  obligations  in  Portugal  by  2025  of 
certain road and rail infrastructures are only limited to 25% of highways, main railways and national 
roads. This Regulation also established network development obligations associated with the 3.6 GHz 
band. Those concern the installation of base stations in low-density municipalities and in those with 
over 50 000 inhabitants. New entrants acquiring any frequency in the auction are entitled to national 
roaming  access  for  at  least  10  years  in  the  geographic  areas  where  they  would  not  have  mobile 
coverage using the frequencies assigned to it (subject to coverage and time conditions). Portugal has 
launched two public consultations on the 26 GHz band so far (in 2018 together with other 5G bands, 
and in 2022), and the band has yet to be auctioned. On take-up, since late 2021, Portuguese mobile 
network  operators  have  been  offering  their  mobile  subscribers  free  access  to  the  5G  services.  In 
2022, Portugal’s national regulator Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) reviewed some 
prices for access to:  i) circuits  connecting the mainland and the autonomous regions of the  Azores 
and Madeira (CAM circuits) as well as prices of circuits linking some islands in the Azores (inter-island 
circuits)  over  submarine  cables  owned  by  the  operator  with  significant  market  power  (SMP)  MEO; 
and ii) ducts and poles i.e. Reference Duct Access Offer (RDAO) and the Reference Poles Access Offer 
(RPAO),  laying  down  a  monthly-fee  reduction  of  around  35%  and  20%  respectively  in  particular  to 
MEO’s infrastructures. In July 2022, ANACOM introduced further amendments to MEO's RDAO and 
RPAO.  

In  2021,  Portugal  also  approved  Decree-Law  66/2021  that  sets  out  a  social  tariff  for  broadband 
internet  access  services.  That  allows  low-income  consumers or  people  with  special  social  needs  to 
access broadband internet services (fixed or mobile, with 15Gb of data) at a lower price. 

In November 2022, the national competition authority (Autoridade da Concorrência) was notified of 
a telecom operator’s acquisition of another operator that controls a mobile virtual network and had 
acquired  spectrum  reserved  for  new  entrants  in  the  3.6  GHz  band.  The  national  competition 
authority is still evaluating the merger.  

Regarding the semiconductors target, Portugal is participating in the Important Project of Common 
European  Interest  (IPCEI)  on  Microelectronics  and  Communication  Technologies  ecosystem  with 
associated participants (receiving aid below the GBER threshold). 
With  respect  to  the  quantum  target,  Advanced  Computing  Portugal  (ACP.2030)  is  a  science  and 
innovation strategy aligned with INCoDe.2030 and AI Portugal 2030, which aims to expand Portugal’s 
supercomputing  infrastructure  by  2030.  Activities  include  creating  a  supercomputing  infrastructure 
for  R&I,  provide  experts  with  advanced  computing  skills,  and  implement  a  public  policy  info-

 
 
 
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structure. A milestone in this area was the inauguration of the Minho Advanced Computing Centre 
(MACC)  in  2019,  home  to  Portugal’s  first  supercomputer,  BOB.  This  machine  is  part  of  the  Iberian 
Advanced Computing Network and marks Portugal's participation in the European High-Performance 
Computing  initiative  (EuroHPC).  Deucalion,  Portugal’s  second  EuroHPC  supercomputer  will  also  be 
installed at MACC. The national HPC network and the DIH network will be introducing new cloud-to-
edge market offers and promoting cloud computing. 

Portugal  leads  DISCRETION,  a  multi-country  project  with  Austria,  Italy,  and  Spain  using  software-
defined  networks  and  quantum  key  distribution  to  address  emerging  threats  and  strengthen 
European  defence  in  secure  communication  and  military  activities  that  rely  on  radio  spectrum. 
Portugal  is  committed  to  the  Euro  QCI  project,  and  is  setting  up  a  national  ultra-secure  quantum 
communications technology infrastructure covering mainland regions, Azores and Madeira, thereby 
expanding the EU network. The project brings the EU closer to its Digital Decade target of having its 
first  computer  with  quantum  acceleration  and  being  at  the  forefront  of  quantum  capabilities  by 
2030.  

Portugal  is  well  on  track  towards  achieving  the  Digital  Decade  connectivity  targets  for  2030  and  is 
expected  to  make  a  positive  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  Digital  Decade 
targets  on  connectivity,  especially  in  terms  of  VHCN  by  closing  the  gap  between  urban  and  less 
populated  areas.  However,  the  country  is  lagging  on  5G  coverage,  mainly  due  to  some  delay  in 
auctioning the 700 MHz and 3.6 GHz bands, and there is no estimated date for the auctioning of the 
26 GHz band. 

Best practice: replacement of the submarine cable system 

The replacement of the submarine cable system connecting mainland Portugal, Azores and Madeira 
(CAM Ring) and the inclusion of the SMART (Science Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications) 
component was decided by a Council of Ministers Resolution in November 2022. The CAM Ring will 
be among the first underwater electronic communication cable with SMART component. It involves 
placing sensors along the cable so underwater electronic communication systems will no longer be 
used  exclusively  for  that  purpose,  making  it  possible  to  monitor  environmental  indicators  (water 
temperature, level, salinity, etc.) and measure seismic activity. The specifications were developed by 
included  the 
the  LEA  Consortium 
Telecommunications  Institute, Portuguese  Institute  of  Sea  and  Atmosphere  and  Institute  D.  Luiz of 
FCUL.  Recently,  the  LEA  published  ‘’’Description  and  implementation  of  the  ‘"Observer  Part’  of  a 
SMART  Cable’  to  support  the  analysis and ordering of  SMART  Cable.  Internationally, the  Joint  Task 
Force  on  SMART  cables  has  been  developing  the  SMART  concept  supported  by  UN  agencies,  the 
International  Telecommunication  Union,  the  World  Meteorological  Organization  and  the 
Intergovernamental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO).  

(‘Listening  to  the  Earth  under  the  Atlantic’)  which 

Portugal should continue its efforts on connectivity infrastructure, accelerating those supporting 5G 
implement  measures  to  grant  access  to  network 
coverage.  In  particular,  Portugal  should 
local  regulations  to  accelerate  the 
infrastructure,  further  simplify  processes  and  harmonise 
deployment of gigabit connectivity.  
Portugal’s efforts in the area of semiconductors should be sustained in order to help the EU become a 
strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

Portugal 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud213 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

42% 

2019 

16% 

2019 

11% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

17% 

2020 

19% 

2020 

16% 

2020 

8% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

52% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

11% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

17% 

2021 

17% 

2020 

16% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

70% 

2022 

52% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

11% 

2020 

29% 

2021 

17% 

2021 

17% 

2020 

18% 

2022 

13% 

2022 

8% 

2021 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

213 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Overall, Portugal is expected to make a positive contribution to the Digital Decade targets linked to 
the digitalisation of business. 70% of its SMEs have at least a basic level of digital intensity, surpassing 
the  EU  average  of  69%.  Enterprises  using  cloud  and  big  data  stand  at  11%  and  29%  respectively, 
trailing the EU average of 14% and 34%. However, Portuguese businesses using AI account for 17%, 
more than twice the EU average.  

Investing  in  knowledge-based  capital  and  ICT  equipment  could  encourage  Portuguese  SMEs  to 
adopt digital technologies. SMEs dominate Portugal’s business economy. They are concentrated in 
traditional sectors, most with fewer than 10 employees. Recent economic growth has improved SME 
activity  and  investment  levels,  but  productivity  remains  a  challenge  in  traditional  sectors.  Public 
support  for  SMEs  includes  financial  instruments,  tax  incentives  and  qualification  programmes  to 
boost  the  skills  of  the  workforce.  Funding  for  digitalisation  projects  is  limited  for  SMEs  that  lack 
sufficient  collateral  or  own  funds.  Portugal  has  prioritised  digitalisation  with  public  initiatives  and 
post-pandemic  economic  stimulus  packages.  Business  associations  and  clusters  promote 
digitalisation, good practice, and connect buyers and with sellers, while training and advising SMEs. A 
modest, yet growing start-up ecosystem has been encouraged through events like Web Summit and 
incubators,  as  well  as  venture  capital  financing  with  substantial  public  support.  Currently  Portugal 
counts only one unicorn, towards the Digital Decade target of doubling the number of unicorns.  

The government’s initiatives and financial tools to support SMEs across sectors include equity, debt 
and guarantees by public agencies, tax incentives (Sistema de Incentivos Fiscais à I&D Empresarial - 
SIFIDE)  and  qualification  training  by  the  Instituto  do  Emprego  e  Formação  Profissional  and  the 
Agência para a Competitividade e Inovação. Portugal’s RRP launched Indústria 4.0 – a comprehensive 
plan for digitalisation and innovation for the next 4 years.  

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Public  programmes  and  funding  have  contributed  to  Portugal’s  digitalisation,  but  the  landscape  of 
resources  can  be  complex  to  navigate.  Different  entities  manage  many  programmes,  addressing 
Indústria 4.0 objectives directly or indirectly. The main public agencies - SPGM, PME Investimentos, 
IFD and Portugal Ventures - also channel funding for innovation and digitalisation projects. Providers 
of  digital  solutions  are  fragmented  across  digital/start-up  SMEs  and  competence/R&D  centres 
associated  with  clusters  and  larger  companies.  These  diverse  resources  and  structures  make  it 
challenging for businesses to gain access to resources for digitalisation.  

The  Digital  Commerce  Districts  programme  aims  to  provide  50  districts  with 
local  digital 
infrastructure, targeting small businesses with a budget of EUR 52.5 million. Within its RRP, Portugal 
is  implementing  measures  to  boost  enterprises’  digital  intensity:  the  testbeds  national  network, 
Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs),  a digital transition services catalogue,  a digital maturity assessment 
tool  and  seal,  proximity  accelerators,  vouchers  for  accelerators,  internationalisation  of  commercial 
businesses,  etc.  The  RRP  allocates  funds  for  companies  to  set  up  test  beds  under  the  national 
network  initiative  in  order  to  experiment  with  innovative  products  and  services  through  the 
infrastructure of entities that have capability in 5G, AI, big data and blockchain.  

The DIH national network promotes digital transformation for companies and the public sector, with 
16  of  the 17  DIHs  part  of the  European  network.  The  DIH measure  will  fund 4  000  SMEs  from the 
RRP. Based on sectoral and geographical coverage, its technological scope aligns with EU priorities in 
AI, high-performance computing (HPC), cybersecurity, cloud, big data and analytics. The goals include 
knowledge  transfer,  strengthening  technological  capacity,  the  entrepreneurial  ecosystem  and  new 
technologies  with  the  Free  Zones  for  technology  and  the  national  test  beds  network.  The  DIH 
network  could  also  be  a  vehicle  for  adoption  of  digital  maturity  seals  in  the  field  of  cybersecurity, 
privacy,  data  protection  and  accessibility.  Funded  by  the  RRP,  the  programme  is  run  by  the 
Portuguese  Institute  of  Accreditation,  the  Institute  of  Quality  and  the  Imprensa  Nacional  Casa  da 
Moeda, and is monitored by the Portugal Digital Mission Structure. The initiative aims to issue 15 000 
seals by 2025 with a budget of EUR 30 million. The Portugal Digital Mission Structure launched the 
digital  maturity  assessment  tool  for  companies  to  self-assess  their  strategy  and  innovation, 
cybersecurity,  information  management  and  operations.  The  online  catalogue  for  digital  transition 
services allows enterprises to access service packages, and service providers can gain accreditation. 
The platform implements measures from the RRP's Component 16, including support for enterprises 
to increase their digital maturity with programmes like Digital Commerce Accelerators, Coaching 4.0 
and certification seals.  

Under the RRP, the e-commerce internationalisation measure supports SMEs that are new exporters 
in training and consulting through a programme for market diversification and international exposure 
through digital channels. Its total budget is EUR 25 million.  

Vouchers  for  incubators/accelerators  aim  to  support  start-ups  less  than  10  years  old  and  SMEs 
certified by the Instituto de Apoio às Pequenas e Médias Empresas e à Inovação (IAPMEI) looking to 
develop digital business models through open data or AI, and highly qualified human resources, R&D, 
incubation, acceleration or consulting. Commercial micro-enterprises and SMEs will receive support 
for  their  digital  transition  from  25  proximity  accelerators.  Financial  incentives  for  digital  business 
models are part of the initiative funded through the RRP, with a total allocation of EUR 20 million and 
a  voucher  per  accelerator/incubator  worth  between  EUR  30 000  and  EUR  150 000.  In  parallel,  the 
Start-up Vouchers programme, also funded by the RRP with EUR 90 million, will give out a maximum 
of EUR 30 000 per start-up that deploys digital and green innovative solutions. 

To promote  entrepreneurship, a bill that entered into force  in May 2023 establishes  a competitive 
regime  for  start-ups,  scale-ups  and  disruptive  tech  companies  through  a  legal  framework  of  tax 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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benefits and incentives. Start-up Portugal will lead the entrepreneurship agenda and roll out actions 
to support the ecosystem as part of the RRP.  

Best practice: Portugal’s national Test Beds Network  

The Test Beds Network of 30 test beds plans to develop of 2 711 pilot products by the end of 2025. It 
has a budget of EUR 150 million funded by RRP. Test beds are infrastructures where SMEs and start-
ups  test  new  products  and  services  in  a  physical  space  with  a  strong  digital  element  or  a  virtual 
simulator.  They  aim  to  increase  the  number  of  commercial  products,  shortening  their  innovation 
cycle and helping them cross the ’valley of death’. The measure is aligned with the European Testing 
and Experimentation Facilities co-financed by the Digital Europe Programme, complementing other 
measures  like  DIHs  and  the  Technological  Free  Zones.  Portuguese  enterprises  and  its  public 
administration will be able to access advanced digital competencies, specialised training, advice on 
funding for digital transition, as well as collaborate with SMEs, larger companies and entities in the 
R&I system.  

Portugal  should  accelerate  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In  particular, 
Portugal  should  simplify  its  application  processes  for  public  financing  by  using  consistent  eligibility 
criteria. Portugal should support the use of cloud computing while ensuring data privacy and security 
protection. Portugal should encourage the development of DIHs in particular by integrating them into 
the  national  framework  for  SME  digitalisation,  and  encouraging  collaboration  between  DIHs, 
businesses and other stakeholders. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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4 Digitalisation of public services 

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Portugal 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

79 

2021 

82 

2021 

76 

2021 

70 

2021 

88 

2021 

88 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

81% 

2022 

78 

2022 

82 

2022 

81 

2022 

71 

2022 

88 

2022 

90 

2022 

63 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Portugal  is  expected to make  a  positive  contribution  to the  collective efforts  to achieve  the Digital 
Decade goals for the digitalisation of public services.. Online services for individuals account for 78%, 
while those for businesses are 82% against the Digital Decade target of providing key public services 
that are 100% online. In Portugal, e-government users make up 81% of the population. The country 
has  made  digitalising  public  services  a  centrepiece  of  its  administrative  modernisation  by  reducing 
the  administrative  burden  and  using  ICT  to  deliver  better  public  service.  A  politically-empowered 
governance  structure  and  a  central  digital  modernisation  agency  with  strong  implementation 
capabilities  has  yielded  profound  transformations  in  public  administration  operations  and  service 
design  sustained  across  governments  and  time.  Portugal  has  pioneered  people-driven  digital 
solutions, redesigning service delivery rather than digitising outdated processes, tailoring services to 
people’s  lives  and  realities  and  reducing  bureaucracy.  The  e-Portugal  platform  (2019)  organises 
services around life events, not the structure of the public administration. 

Portugal's investment in digital infrastructure focused on cross-government digital enablers such as 
digital  identity  and  interoperability  platforms.  Strategic  initiatives  like  the  SIMPLEX  programme  for 
administrative  simplification  (2006),  with  21  measures  in  2022,  have  maintained  it’s  the  country’s 
progress. The Digital Transition Action Plan214 has simplified procedures for critical public services in 
health  and  justice.  In  parallel,  the  national  strategy  for  the  digital  transformation  of  public 
administration extends the scope of the Interoperability Platform of the public sector (iAP) through 
seamless  services  and  the  once-only  principle,  implementing  document  interoperability  across  the 

214 Official Gazette publication on 21.04.2020 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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public sector, and integrating base registries into iAP. Four enablers have been critical in reaching the 
strategy goals: i) common technical, government-wide  solutions i.e. digital identity, the mobile  key 
and the interoperability platform as the foundations of digital services; ii) supporting strategies i.e. 
the Open Government strategy, the National Cyberspace Security strategy and sectoral strategies in 
the  judicial  and  health  sectors;  iii)  integrating  new  technologies  such  as  AI,  big  data  and  data 
analytics into the public administration; and iv) developing human capital. 

Flagship initiatives include: i) the Citizen Card – the national ID card entailing both physical and digital 
documents; ii) the Digital Mobile Key (DMK) - an authentication mechanism using a mobile phone; iii) 
Zero Licensing – a service simplifying the process for issuing certain business licenses; iv) medical e-
prescriptions enabling digitised medical prescriptions; v) e-Portugal – a digital single access point for 
all  public  services;  vi)  the  Citizen  Shops,  the  Citizen  Spots  and  the  Business  Spots  for  face-to-face 
public services; vii) interoperability platform providing shared tools for interconnecting systems; viii) 
the  SIMPLEX  programme  for  simplifying  public  administration  following  a  citizen-driven  approach 
laboratory  for 
involving  participation  and  service  co-creation; 
experimenting  with  innovation  in  the  public  sector:  and  x)  AMA  Academy  –  a  programme  for  civil 
servants  to  develop  digital  skills.  Both  the  Digital  Mobile  Key  and  the  Citizen  Card  are  eIDAS-
compliant with a ‘high’ level of assurance. 

ix)  LabX  –  the  government 

Portugal is positively contributing and moving steadily towards the Digital Decade target of 100% 
of EU citizens having access to secure means of electronic identification (eID) that are recognised 
throughout the EU, enabling them to have full control over identity transactions and shared personal 
data.  Making  eID  a  priority  has  yielded  positive  outcomes  such  as  Portugal’s  implementation  of 
digital  identification  mechanisms  and  their  adoption  by  the  public,  businesses  and  the  public 
administration.  The  strategy  for  the  digital  transformation  of  public  administration  for  2021-2026 
aims to increase the public services that require authentication through the national eID system. This 
goal is part of the  national RRP, which guarantees sufficient funding. It  brings together all national 
electronic authentication and signature solutions with a common Application Programming Interface 
for  service  providers,  enabling  secure  identification  on  both  public  and  private  sector  portals  and 
applications. Since  January  2023, users  can activate the  DMK  using video calling and biometrics. In 
addition, users with an active DMK can use biometrics on their mobile devices to sign documents and 
authenticate themselves in over 300+ public and private websites integrated with the DMK. ID.gov.pt 
is the official app for accessing and sharing digital versions of personal ID documents. 

Yet, while the eID Citizen Card is mandatory, it can be challenging to use for some, particularly older 
people, people with disablilities or people living in remote areas.  

Initiatives  are  underway to streamline processes and provide more convenience targeting different 
end-users.  These  have  added  new  features  like  mobile  eSignatures,  which  have  been  swiftly 
integrated  into  digital  public  services  by  government  sectors,  and  adopted  by  the  private  sector, 
including  banking  and  utilities.  Other  actions  include  centralising  energy  purchases  for  the  public 
administration  in  a  secure,  dematerialised  way,  and  automating  the  Firms  and  Denominations 
Exchange. Professionals can register authentic acts and authenticate private documents and remote 
recognitions through a dedicated platform. Primary healthcare units have expanded their capabilities 
with interactive voice response, allowing faster, more efficient interaction.  

Portugal and 20 other countries are members of the POTENTIAL European consortium funded by the 
Digital Europe programme to test the European digital identity wallets, which are to be launched in 
conjunction  with  the  revision  of  the  eIDAS  Regulation.  Running  from  June  2023  to  May  2025,  the 
project has a budget of EUR 62 million, EUR 17 million of which is EU co-funding. It will pilot cases like 
online  authentication,  opening  online  bank  accounts,  ePrescriptions,  mobile  driving  licences, 
eSignatures and SIM registration. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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The  tax  authority  is  simplifying  online  tax-filing  and  improving  the  user  interface  of  the  tax  portal. 
The country has also been modernising its public procurement through mandatory e-invoicing since 
2020.  The  private  sector  is  encouraged  to  adopt  e-invoicing  voluntarily.  Paperless  invoicing  is 
becoming common as people can receive digital invoices for purchases in supermarkets, pharmacies, 
restaurants,  etc.  that  use  adherent  billing  systems.  Funded  by  the  RRP215,  the  Paperless  Invoices 
Platform (December 2022) aims to reach 250 000 users and issue 700 million electronic invoices by 
the end of 2025.   
The Plataforma de Atendimento à Distância (Remote Service Platform) of April 2022216 provided by 
the Ministry of Justice,  allows  people to  carry out  formal acts online  such as real estate purchases 
and  mutual  consent  divorce  without  having  to  meet  in-person.  These  acts  carry  the  same  legal 
weight  as  in-person  acts.  Pension  requests  can  be  made  online  with  related  activities  being  fully 
dematerialised.  Justice  LAB  is  an  innovation  and  education  programme  (2022)  for  civil  servants  in 
justice  bodies  to  provide  efficient,  people-centred  services.  The  online  Justice  Practical  Guide  Tool 
(2023)  provides  simple  access  to  justice-related  information,  drawing  on  data  from  public 
administration portals. The Justice Govtech Strategy (2023) brings justice organisations closer to the 
entrepreneurship  ecosystem.  It  aims  to  expedite  the  sector’s  digital  transformation  and  create  a 
culture  of  innovation  addressing  issues  such  as  authentication,  new  business  models,  automation 
and data exploration. The Portuguese RRP217 also aims to transform social security services through 
digitalisation  using  cloud-based  IT  infrastructure.  The  plan  includes  the  implementation  of  an 
innovative  omnichannel  model  integrating  public,  business  and  social  security  service  interactions 
into the cloud. 

Portugal's public health services have untapped digital potential and aim to ensure 100% of people 
can access their electronic health records in line with the Digital Decade goal. Ranking 21st in the EU 
for online access to electronic health records (scoring 63 against EU average of 72), Portugal's Serviço 
Nacional de Saúde 24 – SNS 24 allows 80-100% of people in Portugal to access their health records  
via web, app, telephone and physical counters using eID authentication. It provides electronic patient 
data,  ePrescription  and  eDispensation  information,  but  not  test  results  and  reports  e.g.  laboratory 
tests,  medical  images,  and  hospital  discharge  reports.  It  only  collects  data  from  public  healthcare 
providers,  not  private  ones  or  public  rehabilitation  centres,  geriatric  nursing  homes  and  mental 
health facilities. Portugal's efforts in expanding online accessibility to public health services align with 
the Digital Decade target. To support this goal, Portugal participates in several multi-country projects 
for  electronic  health  record  services,  which  aim  to  establish  a  common  framework  for  medical 
imaging,  lab  results,  hospital  reports  and  cross-border  ePrescription/eDispensation.  They  work  to 
improve the exchange of health information between Member States and develop a mobile app for 
Europeans to access their patient summary through MyHealth@EU in different languages.  

Portugal is well positioned to make a positive contribution to achieve the Digital Decade targets on 
the  digitalisation  of  public  services.  Its  digital  journey  shows  that  modernising  the  government 
requires  transforming  government  practices,  reimagining  the  relationship  between  the  public  and 
public  institutions.  Implementing  robust  data  protection  and  cybersecurity  measures  to  safeguard 
sensitive information collected from people is essential to boost take-up. Clear guidelines for using 

215 C16-i03: Catalysing the digital transition of enterprises for EUR 10 million  
216 Decree-Law No 126/2021 
217 TD-C17-i03 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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digital public services, and ensuring that people know how their data are used will strengthen trust in 
the system.  

Best practice: MOSAICO 

MOSAICO  is  a  common  model  for  designing  and  developing  digital  public  services.  It  comprises 
essential  principles  for  the  evolution  of  public  services,  promoting  coherence  and  consistency  in 
people’s and businesses’ relationship with the state. The dedicated webportal provides information 
and  documentation  of  technical  architectures  of  the  public  administration  platforms  e.g.  digital 
identity  (authentication,  signature,  certification  of  attributes),  open  data  portal,  interoperability 
platform, catalogue of entities and services, electronic notifications system, ePortugal (single digital 
gateway for public services). 

Portugal should accelerate its efforts to digitalise public services. In particular, it should continue the 
outreach to inform the public about the advantages of eID, improve the eID application process, and 
develop user-friendly interfaces.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

A number of measures are starting to be implemented in Romania, partly under the Recovery and 
Resilience  Plan  (RRP).  These  touch  on  most  dimensions  of  digital  transformation,  notably  e-
Government  and  human  capital,  but  also  digitalisation  of  businesses.  If  well  implemented,  these 
measures  will over  time  generate  concrete  results  for  citizens  and  businesses  and  bring  significant 
benefits to the economy. While Romania’s economy continues to grow fast and catch up with the EU 
average,  there  is  still  significant  untapped  potential  in  terms  of  reaping  the  benefits  of  digital 
transformation.  

Romania  has  scope  to  improve  its  performance  in  the  digital  transition  and  to  contribute  to  the 
collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets.  Notable  exceptions  are  fixed 
connectivity, especially Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP), where Romania performs best in the EU, and is 
still  progressing  rapidly,  and  the  very  high  relative  number  of  ICT  graduates,  with  a  high  share  of 
female ICT specialists, where Romania could make an important contribution to EU’s Digital Decade 
targets.  

There  is  also  progress  on  digital  public  services,  where  Romania’s  scores  are  still  below  the  EU 
respective averages, and important planned measures are still to deliver results. Romania is catching 
up  with  the  EU  average  on  certain  business  digitalisation  indicators.  On  the  other  hand,  Romania 
continues to perform poorly on digital basic skills and 5G coverage.  

A few developments are worth noting as relevant contributions towards the objectives of the Digital 
Decade Policy Programme. 

Law  No.  232/2022  regarding  the  accessibility  requirements  applicable  to  products  and  services, 
transposing the Accessibility Directive 2019/882, is a step towards making the online participation of 
persons  with  disabilities  possible.  A  National  Strategy  on  the  Rights  of  Persons  with  Disabilities, 
entitled "A Fair Romania", which covers digital products and services, also entered into force with the 
approval of Government Decision No. 490/2022.  

Romania adopted last year, in the context of its RRP implementation, a Cyber Security Strategy, for 
the  period  2022-  2027,  as  well  as  an  Action  Plan  to  implement  it.  The  Law  on  cybersecurity  and 
defence  of  Romania  was  adopted  by  the  Romanian  Parliament  on  21  December  2022.  Further 
cybersecurity investments are planned, either under the RRP, or under operational programmes co-
funded  by  ERDF,  to  ensure  cyber  protection  for  both  public  ICT  infrastructure  and  private 
infrastructure  with  critical  importance  for  national  security  and  to  improve  the  cybersecurity  skills 
and capabilities in public and private entities.  

Finally,  as  an  example  of  a  digital  investment  for  sustainability,  the  Romanian  RRP  finances  an 
innovative digital system to combat illegal logging, a problem that Romania has long been struggling 
with.  The  investment  covers  an  integrated  IT  system  deployed  over  a  surface  of  approximately 
70 000 km2).  

During  the  reporting  period  the  Ministry  of  Research,  Innovation  and  Digitalisation  has  been 
reorganised and now incorporates the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania, previously under 
the Prime Minister’s office. In the absence of an updated comprehensive digital strategy aligned with 
the  Digital  Decade  targets,  the  upcoming  national  Digital  Decade  roadmap  could  be  an  important 
tool to monitor Romania’s progress in digital. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Digital in Romania’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Romania’s  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  contributes  with  EUR  5.97  billion  (i.e.  20.5%  of  Romania’s 
total  allocation)  to  the  country’s  digital  transformation.  Of  this,  EUR  4.98  billion  is  estimated  to 
contribute to the Digital Decade targets218.  

Component  7,  worth  EUR  1.81  billion,  focuses  on  the  digital  transformation  of  the  public  sector, 
cybersecurity and connectivity. Reforms such as the 5G security law, the 5G auction and the adoption 
of the government cloud and interoperability laws are included there. Other relevant measures are in 
component  4  (digitalisation  of  transport),  component  8  (digitalisation  of  the  tax  and  pension 
authorities),  component  9  (support  for  the  digitalisation  of  businesses  and  for  digital  R&D),  and 
component 15 (digitalisation of education). 

A first payment of EUR 2.6 billion was disbursed to Romania in October 2022, based on the fulfilment 
of 21 milestones and targets linked to the first instalment. These cover also reforms contributing to 
the digital transition, in particular, the set up of the Task force for digitalisation, the adoption of the 
5G  security  law  and  of  cybersecurity  strategy.  The  second  payment  request,  with  a  positive 
preliminary  assessment  adopted  by  the  Commission  on  27  June219,  covers  important  deliveries  for 
digital  transformation,  including  the  5G  auction,  key  reforms  relevant  for  the  development  of  a 
governmental cloud and measures for the digitalisation of education.  

218  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives. To this end, the plan had to specify and justify to what extent each measure contributes fully (100%) 
or partly (40%) to digital objectives, using Annex VII of the RRF Regulation. Combining coefficients with the cost 
estimated  of  each  measure  allows  assessing  to  what  degree  the  plan  contributes  to  digital  objectives  and 
whether it meets the 20% target. Furthermore, a qualitative assessment of the data took place to allow for an 
estimation  of  the  possible  contribution  of  the  plan  to  the  Digital  Decade  targets.  The  information  provided 
refers  to  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  as  adopted  by  the  Council  before  1  September  2023,  without 
prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 
219 C_2023_4438_1_EN_annexe.pdf (europa.eu)  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

6% 

2020 

2.4% 

2020 

6.3% 

2019 

Romania 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

76% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

82% 

2021 

28% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

41% 

2021 

6% 

2020 

2.6% 

2021 

6.7% 

2020 

84% 

2022 

28% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

41% 

2021 

9% 

2022 

2.8% 

2022 

6.9% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Romania is carrying out several measures in the area of digital skills, but it remains well below the 
EU  average in  terms  of current  results,  which  represents  a risk  for  the collective  achievement  of 
EU’s targets.  

Only 28% of people have at least basic digital skills, below the EU average of 54% and the EU target 
of 80%. The gap with the EU average is equally big when it comes to women with at least basic digital 
skills (26% compared with 52% at EU level). Moreover, only 9% of individuals have above basic digital 
skills  compared  with  the  EU  average  of  26%.  When  compared  to  EU  2030  targets,  these  results 
suggest that Romanian authorities and all the stakeholders involved will need to make significant 
efforts to narrow these gaps. Furthermore, a significant change of pace would lead to productivity 
gains, to a more widespread use of technology across the economy and to higher take-up of public 
services by citizens.   

During the reporting year, several significant measures aimed at developing digital skills have been 
implemented,  including  reforms  and  investments  under  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility  (RRF), 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

projects co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the European Social 
Fund  (ESF).  Romania’s  RRP  contribution  towards  raising  basic  skills  levels  is  estimated  at  EUR  760 
million,  while  its  contribution  towards  achieving  the  ICT  specialists  target  is  estimated  at  EUR  507 
million220. 

A new legislative framework for digitalising education was established in 2022. Notably, Minister’s 
Order no. 4150/29.06.2022 set out the digital skills profile for the professionals in education, as well 
as  the  mechanism  for  validating  teachers’  digital  skills  in  school  exams,  in  line  with  the  European 
Digital Competence Framework for Educators. Digital education and media skills has been introduced 
as a new subject for upper secondary education students, starting with academic year 2022/2023, via 
Order  no.  4800/2022.  Further  Minister’s  Orders  were  adopted  with  the  aim  of  i)  improving  the 
continuous  training  of  teachers  in  pre-university  education,  the  quality  assurance  of  the  teachers’ 
professional development programmes, and education, and ii) including a digital component in the 
vocational and training standards, etc.  

Furthermore,  various  grant  schemes,  supporting  digital  skills  directly  or  indirectly,  through  the 
provision of infrastructure and equipment, were launched during the reporting year. According to 
the Romanian authorities, calls for proposals, launched under the RRP during the reporting year, aim 
at upskilling and reskilling the employees of 2 000 SMEs, and developing the professional and digital 
skills of students and of teaching and research staff. 

 Another project aimed at increasing the digital skills of the general public, launched in 2022, involves 
turning  libraries  into  hubs  for  developing  digital  skills  in  local  communities.  It  aims  to  provide 
computer and technical equipment to 1 030 libraries, train 1 100 librarians and 100 000 community 
members served by applicant libraries. 

As regards infrastructure and equipment, a call was launched to establish 10 regional consortia that 
infrastructure  for  dual  education,  covering  European  Qualifications 
would  develop  campus 
Framework levels 3-8, adapted to the profiles of the high schools and technological higher education 
institutions. Another one aims at the provision of digital equipment and technological resources for 
high schools and the creation of at least 1 100 Smart Labs, to support all curriculum areas to develop 
advanced  digital  skills.  Another  call  is  aimed  at  providing  digital  equipment  and  technological 
resources for high schools and creating at least 1 100 smart labs to develop advanced digital skills in 
all curriculum areas.  

The country has a low share of ICT specialists: 2.8% of total employment, remaining below the EU 
average  (4.6%),  while  the  share  of  ICT  graduates  of  6.9%  puts  Romania  among  the  EU’s  leaders. 
The  discrepancy  is  explained  to  a  large  extent  by  the  difficulty  in  retaining  talent  in  Romania. 
Romania’s  performance  is  well  advanced  as  regards  women  in  the  digital  sector:  female  ICT 
specialists  represent  25.2%  of  ICT  specialists,  against  an  EU  average  of  18.9%.  Romania’s 
performance in ICT graduates has positive implications for EU’s collective efforts to reach the Digital 
Decade target of 20 million ICT specialists, with an increased gender convergence. 

Further measures targeted specifically at increasing the number of ICT specialists include a legislative 
measure modifying and completing the list of occupations within the national economy, which now 
lists  highly  specialist  ICT  professions  (blockchain  technology  architects,  digital  game  designers  and 
developers, complex data engineer etc.) as well as various measures to increase the attractiveness of 

220  As  estimated  by  the  Joint  Research  Centre  (Papazoglou  M.,  Torrecillas  J.,  Cardona  M.,  Calza  E.,  Vázquez-
Prada Baillet M., Righi R., Mapping EU level funding instruments to Digital Decade targets. Application to main 
digital instruments in 2014-2027, López Cobo, M. and De Prato, G. editors, Publications Office of the European 
Union, Luxembourg, 2023, JRC134647, https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC134647  

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

participating  in  ICT  university  degree  programmes,  including  the  approval  of  four  new  ICT 
specialisations for 2022-2023 academic year.  

The private sector involvement  in policies aimed  at the development of digital skills is still  at an 
early stage  but  increasing. In terms of purely private initiatives, only 9% of enterprises provide  ICT 
training to their employees, well below the EU average of 22%, although this percentage increased 
significantly over the past year.  

Romania  also  participated  in  Code  Week  2022,  a  public-private  initiative  providing  support  to 
increase  basic  digital  skills  across  Member  States.  With  2 297  activities  organised,  most  of  them 
(93%)  organised  in  schools,  Romania  ranked  5th  among  all  participating  countries.  The  activities 
attracted 79469 participants, 45% of whom were girls. Reinforced action in skills will also generate 
higher scores for adoption and use of digital technologies and very high capacity networks but will 
also lead on the long term to high labour force productivity and a more innovative economy. 

Best practice: CRED and PROF 

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the existing CRED project started to support teachers with 
specific  training  modules  for  digital  skills  improvement  (56 615  teachers  participated  up  to  April 
2023, amounting to 48% of the total number of teachers in primary and secondary education) and 
with  a  large-scale  continuous  training  programme  for  teachers  "Digital  educational  resources: 
creation, use, and evaluation”. Up to present, around 3900 teachers have completed this course and 
around 8 700 open educational resources have been made available. The training portal had over 2.4 
million pages viewed during the last year and over 90 million pages viewed since its launch. 
Based  on  the  cooperation  between  4  universities  and  11  Teachers  Resources  Centres,  the  PROF 
project  develops  interventions  for  the  teachers  career  mentoring,  which  include  an  significant 
component  of  digital  education:  training  programs  in  mentoring  and  digital  skills  (2 846  teachers-
mentors  trained  up  to  December  2022),  continuous  training  of  25 000  teachers  by  the  end  of 
December 2023, by using the  e-Prof IT platform and the training programmes for school managers 
and teachers. 

Romania should significantly step up its efforts in the area of digital skills. In particular, Romania 
should  further  involve  private  stakeholders  in  the  development  and  delivery  of  policies  for  digital 
skills. Romania should also pay special attention to reinforcing efforts for upskilling and reskilling, as 
well as to the attraction and retention of ICT specialists221. 

221 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Romania 

DESI 
2021 

68% 

2020 

8.5% 

2020 

76% 

2020 

76% 

2020 

65% 

2018 

12% 

2020 

21% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

76% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

81% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

18.3% 

23.3% 

13.8% 

2021 

2022 

2022 

87% 

2021 

87% 

2021 

82% 

2021 

25% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

96% 

2022 

96% 

2022 

82% 

2021 

27% 

2022 

38% 

2023 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

Digital infrastructure  is  the  area  where  Romania  performs  best,  already  fulfilling  one  of  the  pre-
conditions  for  a  successful  digital  transformation  and  making  an  exemplary  contribution  to  the 
EU’s digital targets target for Gigabit connectivity for all.    

In  particular,  fixed  connectivity  is  the  area  where  Romania  is  among  EU’s  frontrunners,  and  still 
progressing quickly, with 96% of households having gigabit network coverage. VHCN coverage is at 
96% compared with the EU average of 73%. Romania performs the best among Member States on 
FTTP coverage at 96% compared with an EU average of 56%. Take-up has also developed positively, 
with 81% of individuals taking up subscriptions of at least 100 Mbps compared with the EU average 
of  55%,  and  23%  of  individuals  taking  up  connections  of  at  least  1Gbps  compared  with  the  EU 
average  of  14%.  Prices  are  rising  across  all  baskets  but  remain  at  about  half  of  the  EU  average. 
Moreover, some large rural urban disparities remain in some parts of Romania, where rural areas are 
still below the EU average in terms of VHCN coverage. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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The RoNET project was completed in 2022, having brought speeds of up to 10 Gbps to 695 localities 
that were previously uncovered. The National Regulatory Authority ANCOM is currently mapping the 
localities still uncovered by VHCN. Currently, it remains to be seen how the commitments under the 
RRP (worth EUR 94 million) will be met or how the funding from ERDF (EUR 100 million) will be used 
to cover the remaining white spots. 

In terms of market regulation, the market for wholesale dedicated capacity remains deregulated as 
the retail market for high quality electronic communications services provided at a fixed location was 
found to be effectively competitive. The market shares of operators in the fixed broadband market, 
based on lines, remain fairly stable. 

The situation is different regarding the 5G rollout, where Romania stands at 27% overall household 
coverage, the lowest percentage in the EU, where the average is 81% and the EU target is to cover 
all  populated  areas.  However, most  of  Romania’s 5G  coverage  is  in  the  3.6 GHz  band,  an essential 
band  for  enabling  advanced  applications  requiring  large  spectrum  bandwidth,  where  Romania  is 
covered  up  to  26%,  compared  to  an  EU  average  of  41%.  During  the  last  measurement  exercise  in 
2022,  only  22%  of  the  5G  spectrum  was  allocated  but  this  changed  towards  the  end  of  the  year. 
Mobile broadband take-up, at 82%, is also slightly below the EU average of 87%. Similar to the fixed 
broadband  market,  the  mobile  broadband  market  shares,  based  on  active  connections  has  not 
experienced major changes over the reporting period. 

Several notable legal and regulatory developments took place in 2022, relevant to both fixed and 
mobile connectivity. The Law no. 198/2022, transposing into the national legislation the provisions 
of  the  Electronic  Communications  Code,  has  entered  into  force.  This  new  legislative  framework 
revises, among others, the security measures required to be taken by the providers and gives them 
new responsibilities to inform subscribers about significant threats and ways to protect themselves. 
Furthermore,  it  strengthens  the  regulatory  and  supervision  power  of  the  national  regulatory 
authority (NRA).  

Furthermore,  Romania  has  progressed  in  implementing  12  out  of  the  39  recommendations 
included  in  the  broadband  cost  reduction  toolbox  at  EU  level,  as  part  of  its  RRP.  The  measures, 
preliminarily  positively  assessed  by  the  Commission  on  27  June  2023  as  part  of  Romania’  second 
payment request, are expected to be of particular support to the 5G rollout objective, in accordance 
with security regulations, and provide broadband coverage for white areas.  

Notably,  as  regards  5G  rollout,  following  the  transposition  of  the  Code,  ANCOM  carried  out  a 
selection procedure for awarding spectrum usage rights, auctioning off 555 MHz in the 700 MHz, 
1500 MHz, 2600 MHz and 3.4-3.8 GHz frequency bands. In the 700 MHz band, three FDD blocks (2x5 
MHz each) were awarded (valid during 2023-2047), out of the six FDD blocks and three SDL blocks 
that were available. In the 3.4 – 3.8 GHz band, 310 MHz TDD were awarded (valid during 2026-2047), 
out of the 400 MHz available. As regards the 26 GHz band, there was no interest expressed from the 
market  players.  The  total  value  of  the  licence  fees  amounts  to  EUR  432.6  million,  to  be  paid  in 
instalments,  up  to  November  2028.  The  three  winners  of  the  spectrum  usage  rights  had  coverage 
obligations imposed on them, including i) coverage of 95% of the (existing and future) highways and 
modernised  railways,  ii)  coverage  of  a  number  of  white  areas  within  a  period  of  6  years,  iii)  the 
progressive roll-out of networks in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, by installing a number of base stations in 
various  categories  of  urban  localities  up  to  31  December  2033,  as  well  as  iv)  coverage  of  all  the 
(existing and future) international airports in Romania.  

Moreover,  the  NRA  adopted  several  regulatory  measures  to  facilitate  5G  rollout,  including  i) 
indicative  tariffs  for  access  to  network  operators’  poles,  ii)  the  identification  of  main  network 
operators that own, administer or hold as a concession poles that are/could be used by the providers 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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of  public  electronic  communications  networks,  iii)  indicative  access  tariffs  for specific categories of 
network  operators  (e.g.  local  public  transport  service)  and  iv)  maximal  prices  for  access  to  public 
property real estate.   

However, doubts remain regarding the expected rollout of 5G vis-à-vis the 2030 target, and some 
of the coverage obligations run until 2033. Among the potential reasons are general affordability in 
the consumer market and the current lack of a clear local business case for verticals. The good FTTP 
coverage  was  also  invoked  by  stakeholders  as  a  possible  reason  for  potential  lack  of  demand.  The 
situation observed and the expectations described represent a clear risk to the achievement of the 
Digital Decade target of full 5G coverage by 2030. 

All  in  all,  Romania  is  very  well  placed  to  reach  the  Gigabit  target  early  on,  due  to  a  mix  of 
favourable  market  dynamics  and  public  intervention,  including  regulation  and  funding.  However, 
for the time being, and in spite of having caught up on 5G spectrum assignment and of several other 
regulatory measures put in place to facilitate rollout, there is a real risk of Romania not reaching the 
2030 5G target.  

With  respect  to  the  semiconductor  target,  Romania  takes  part  participates  in  several  European 
projects and initiatives, in particular the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on 
Low-power processors and semiconductor chips, with a current budget allocation of EUR 500 million 
under its RRP. 

Romania  is  involved  in  the  EuroQCI  initiative  to  build  a  pan  European  quantum  communication 
infrastructure and is developing further competences in quantum.  

Best practice: RO-NET  

 The RO-NET project, worth EUR 85 million, co-financed by ERDF, rolled out almost 5 000 km of fibre 
to cover 695 localities in rural areas of Romania, bringing them potential speeds of 10 Gbps, as well 
as six radio towers in the Danube Delta. These localities represent over 30% of the areas considered 
white  at  the  start  of  the  project.  Other  operators  than  those  that  were  involved  in  rolling  out  the 
dark  fibre  now  need  to  provide  last  mile  connections  to  the  end  users,  with  60  operators  being 
reported  as  active  at  present  in  this  respect.  The  long-term  impact  is  estimated  at  120  000 
households being connected thanks to this project.  

Romania  should  accelerate  its  efforts on  connectivity  infrastructure,  notably  on  the roll-out  of  5G 
connectivity, exploring all available sources of financing to shoulder private investments in the areas 
which are not commercially viable. 
Romania’s  efforts in the area of semiconductors  and quantum should be sustained in order to help 
the EU become a strong market player in these areas.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud222 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Romania 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

24% 

2019 

8% 

2019 

5% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

17% 

2020 

17% 

2020 

8% 

2020 

6% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

17% 

2021 

12% 

2021 

5% 

2020 

11% 

2021 

1% 

2021 

17% 

2020 

12% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

4% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

53% 

2022 

17% 

2021 

12% 

2021 

5% 

2020 

11% 

2021 

1% 

2021 

17% 

2020 

10% 

2022 

8% 

2022 

4% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

222 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

There is a significant untapped potential regarding Romania’s performance on the digitalisation of 
businesses and its contribution to the collective efforts to reach EU’s targets in this area. The scores 
for  the  adoption  of  advanced  digital  technologies  are  particularly  low:  adoption  of  AI  is  at  1% 
compared with an EU average of 8%; adoption of cloud services is at 11% compared with the 34% EU 
average; and big data is at 5% compared with 14%. It is to be recalled that the Digital Decade calls for 
the  adoption  of  advanced  technologies  by  75%  of  businesses.  As  regards  the  percentage  of  SMEs 
with a basic level of digital intensity, the gap with the EU is not as wide as for the other indicators 
(53%  versus  the  69%  EU  average;  and  against  a  2030  EU  level  target  of  90%).  There  was  progress 
over the last year concerning enterprises that sell online and concerning the E-Commerce turnover; 
and there  are early signs of convergence,  although Romania does  still score  below the EU average 
across all these indicators. 

The RRP’s overall contribution to the take-up of advanced digital technologies is estimated at EUR 
119.8  million  and  the  contribution  for  the  90%  basic  digital  intensity  target  is  estimated  at  EUR 
359.5  million.  Further  funding  is  available  under  the  ERF  for  both  the  previous  (2014-2020)  and 
current (2021-2027) programming periods.  

Moreover, 7 of the 12 digital innovation hubs pre-selected by the Romanian authorities have been 
selected by an EU-restricted call under the Digital Europe Programme to become part of a network 
of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) and have already received their funding.  EDIHs help 
SMEs and local public authorities (LPAs) address digital challenges and improve business/production 
processes  and  products/services  using  digital  technologies.  Their  main  support  is  in  (i)  identifying 
investors,  (ii)  training  in  acquiring  digital  skills,  (iii)  testing  before  investment,  and  (iv)  creating  an 
ecosystem for innovation and networking. Co-funding under the ERDF is envisaged. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

A  new  artificial  intelligence  strategy  is  currently  being  prepared  by  the  government,  within  the 
framework  of  the  existing  2022–2027  National  Strategy  for  Research,  Innovation  and  Smart 
Specialisation  (approved  through  Government  Decision  No  933  of  20  July  2022).  Special  attention 
will  be  paid  to  developing  trustworthy,  robust,  secure  and  safe  AI  systems,  as  well  as  to  the 
transparency of algorithms, diversity, equity and the contribution to social well-being. Moreover, a 
Romanian Committee for Artificial Intelligence is currently being operationalised and will serve as a 
support  organisation  and  a  single  point  of  contact  and  information  regarding  AI  opportunities  in 
Romania.  

A notable project is the Romanian Artificial Intelligence Hub, a recipient of ERDF funding of over EUR 
52  million  and  a  multi-stakeholder  project  that  will  create  the  collaborative  means  to  leverage  AI 
resources (particularly high-performance computation and open access to training data pools) at the 
national  and  international  levels.  In  particular,  it  will  be  used  to  finance  the  projects  of  Romanian 
researchers, joint research projects with internationally renowned institutes, etc. It will also find AI 
solutions to help citizens and generate start-up and spin-off projects.  

As  regards  the  unicorns  Digital  Decade  target,  two  Romanian  companies  have  been  reported  as 
having  the  potential  to  achieve  unicorn  status (i.e. with  a valuation  of  between  EUR  100 million 
and 1 billion). The Romanian ICT sector is one of the five most important sectors of the economy in 
terms  of  employment.  Its  real  annual  growth  rate  is  significantly  above  that  of  the  economy  as  a 
whole (on average 15% during 2014-2020) and it makes a significant contribution to Romania’s GDP 
growth, (contributing approximately three times more than one would expect given its share of the 
overall  economy).  However,  it  is  not  yet  sufficiently  innovation-driven  and  is  largely  reliant  on 
outsourcing by foreign companies223. Romania’s total R&D intensity is the lowest in the EU (at 0.48% 
of GDP) and is far below both the EU average of 2.27% and Romania’s own target of 2%. The level of 
public  R&D  is  particularly  low.  Innovation  activity  and  R&D  absorption  capacity  at  company  level 
remain  limited224.  The  ecosystem  density  of  start-ups  is  relatively  low  and  the  scaling-up  of 
innovative domestic firms is hindered by the limited size of the local venture capital market. Romania 
is  one  of  the  EU  top  performers  in  terms  of  productivity  growth,  but  the  productivity  level  of  the 
Romanian economy is still well below the EU average.  

Measures  are  being  taken  to  tackle  this  issue.  For  example,  the  2014-2020  Competitiveness 
Operational Programme includes measures to develop digital innovation clusters as well as a more 
innovation-driven ICT sector. 

Furthermore,  several  relevant  regulatory  and  legal  developments  were  reported.  The  Investment 
and Development Bank was established in 2022 through Government Decision No. 1204/2022, as a 
credit  institution, wholly owned  by the  Romanian  state  throughout  its  operational  period,  through 
the Ministry of Finance. Law No 179/2022 regarding open data and the reuse of the public sector 
information  entered  into  force,  transposing  Directive  (EU)  2019/1024.  It  facilitates  open  access  to 
public  administration  data,  the  reuse  of  data  for  R&D  processes  and  the  development  of  new 
products  and  information  services.  The  national  open  data  portal  data.gov.ro  is  aligned  with  EU 
practices, including on licensing and the application profile for data portals. Romania is considered a 

223 ANIS - Studiu privind impactul industriei de software si servicii IT 
224 Business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) has been stagnating in recent years and, at 0.29% of GDP, is 
around a fifth of the EU average of 1.53% in 2020. 

 
 
 
 
384 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

follower in terms of open-data maturity, with an improved rating in 2022 and scoring relatively well 
on policy governance, portal feature usage and sustainability, and impact awareness225. 

Further  measures  carried  out  under  the  RRP  are  expected  to  make  it  easier  for  businesses  to 
operate.  The  Emergency  Government  Ordinance  No.  140/2022  on  the  single  industrial  license,  as 
well  as  the  Government  Ordinance  No.  18/2022  regarding  the  authorisation  and  operation  in 
Romania  of  the  representative  offices  of  foreign  companies  and  economic  organisations  can  help 
achieve  this.  Further  relevant  measures  under  the  RRP  (e.g.  a  platform  for  stimulating  the 
competitiveness  of  the  business  environment,  ensuring 
legislative  transparency,  reducing 
administrative burden and procedural simplification) are expected to be completed in 2024.  

Some  relevant  measures  are  under  way,  but  further  measures  to  support  the  digitalisation  of 
businesses,  digital  innovation  and  more  generally  the  ecosystem  of  start-ups  (including  facilitating 
SMEs’ access to finance) are needed to contribute well to the EU targets and catch up with the EU 
averages. Progress would also significantly improve the competitiveness of the Romanian ICT sector 
and of the economy as a whole.  

Best practice: ION 

The  Romanian  Government  launched  ION,  the  first  governmental  counsellor  based  entirely  on 
artificial intelligence at the start of 2023. ION will capture public opinion and inform the members of 
the cabinet accordingly. It will also raise awareness of the potential and benefits of innovative digital 
technologies. 

Romania  should  significantly  step  up  its  efforts  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In 
particular,  Romania  should  scale-up  measures  to  support  the  digitalisation  of  businesses  and  help 
create a business environment with a stronger focus on innovation. 

225 https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/country-factsheet_romania_2022.pdf 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Romania 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

44 

2021 

42 

2021 

19 

2021 

41 

2021 

72 

2021 

75 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

24% 

2022 

48 

2022 

45 

2022 

41 

2022 

44 

2022 

68 

2022 

77 

2022 

57 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

A series of major reforms and investments aimed at the digital transformation of public services were 
initiated  under  the  RRP  in  2022,  in  accordance  with  the  2021–2027  strategic  framework  for  the 
adoption and use of innovative technologies in the public administration.  

Romania’s  performance  in  this  area  remains  however  still  to  be  improved.  Only  24%  of  internet 
users  use  e-Government  services,  compared  with  the  EU  average  of  74%.  Romania  scores  48  on 
digital public services for citizens compared with the EU average of 77. Similarly, the score for digital 
public services for business is 45, below the EU average of 84 but  catching up with it. These rather 
low scores are consistent across the various dimensions of the eGovernment Benchmark study (i.e. 
user  support,  mobile  friendliness,  transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and  personal  data,  and 
pre-filled forms).  

The Romanian RRP has contributed an estimated EUR 1 570 million to the digital transformation of 
government. In terms of important developments over the past year, Interoperability Law No 242 of 
20 July 2022  entered  into  force  and  is  expected,  in  the  medium  term,  to  significantly  improve  the 
quality of public service, traceability and transparency. In accordance with the ‘once-only principle’, 
once the national interoperability platform is implemented, public institutions will no longer have the 
right  to  request  information  that  can  be  found  on  the  national  interoperability  platform  and  the 
citizen’s  physical  presence  at  the  counter  will  be  gradually  reduced.  Furthermore,  essential  digital 
public services will also be available cross-border. 

Furthermore,  Government  Emergency  Ordinance  No  89  of  28 June 2022  on  the  establishment, 
administration and  development  of  cloud  IT  infrastructures and  services  used by  public  authorities 
and institutions has created the legal framework for the government’s cloud platform. The ordinance 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

clarifies  the  various  competences  and  addresses  concerns  regarding  citizens’  privacy  and 
transparency regarding access to data by public institutions. 

These measures have laid the foundations for a profound digital transformation of the public sector. 
If  well  implemented,  they  can  lead  to  integration  and  interoperability  of  services;  uniformity  and 
accessibility  of  data  sets  for  digital  use;  enhanced  management  and  security  of  information; 
improved  cooperation  of  state  institutions  with  citizens;  and  better  management  of  policies  in 
support of social welfare and environmental protection. 

Further  measures  are  being  implemented  in  this  area  and  are  expected  to  benefit  citizens  and 
business  in the  short  and medium  terms.  Two  examples  are: (i)  the  development of  an  electronic 
public  procurement  system,  which  operationalises  standard  e-forms  for  the  publication  of  public 
procurement  notices;  and (ii)  the  development of the  Technology  Interoperability  System with  the 
Member  States,  which  will  be  based  on  the  construction  of  the  e-IDAS  node  for  Romania, 
interconnecting  it  with  the  e-IDAS  nodes  of  the  other  Member  States  and  with  the  Romanian 
providers of identity and electronic services. 

As  regards  the  e-ID  target,  Romania  has  not  yet  notified  any  e-ID  schemes  under  the  e-IDAS 
Regulation  by  Romania,  but  one  pre-notification  is  in  progress.  The  current  EUR  200  million  RRF 
funded  investment  is  expected  to  deliver  up  to  8.5  million  electronic  identity  cards  by  2026  and 
authorised digital signatures.   

These  cards  will  make  it  easier  for  citizens  to  access  various  electronic  services,  thus  significantly 
simplifying  their  relationship  with  public  authorities,  and  increasing  the  quality  and  accessibility  of 
public  services.  Romania  is  also  involved  via  public  and  private  entities  in  two  large-scale  pilot 
projects  that  are  testing  the  European  Digital  Identity  Wallet  in  a  number  of  everyday  use  cases 
(funded  under  the  Digital  Europe  Programme  with  an  overall  grant  request  of  approximately 
EUR 0.4 million).  Furthermore,  a  Centralised  Software  Platform  for  Digital  Identification  (PSCID)  is 
being  developed,  co-funded  by  the  ERDF  and  expected  to  be  delivered  by  the  end  of  2023.  The 
expected result is a national registry of electronic identities, which are to be interconnected with the 
e-IDAS node and with the catalogue of e-government services.  

With a score of 57, Romania ranks 23 in the EU regarding access to electronic health records (the 
EU average score is 71). The country has implemented a centralised access service for citizens that 
includes  electronic  patient  summary  data  (identification,  personal  information,  allergies,  current 
diagnoses,  medicines,  procedures)  except  for  information  on  medical  devices  and  implants.  Both 
public  and  private  primary  healthcare  providers  as  well  as  pharmacies  provide  relevant  health-
related  data  accessible  by  citizens.  Furthermore,  e-prescription  and  e-dispensation  information  as 
well as hospital discharge reports are available to citizens. However, laboratory test results, medical 
imaging reports and medical images are not available. It is estimated that between 40% and 59% of 
the  national  population  are  technically  able  to  use  the  national  access  service.  Citizens  can  access 
their electronic health records by logging in to an online portal using two-factor authentication with a 
nationally  notified  e-ID  scheme.  Access  via  a  dedicated  mobile  app  is  not  available.  In  view  of  the 
target of 100%  citizen  access  to electronic  health  records, Romania  should make  further  efforts  to 
roll-out access services across the entire population, including disadvantaged groups, and to different 
types  of  healthcare  providers.  Moreover,  citizens  would  benefit  from  having  updated  health  data 
available and having access to electronic results and reports other than discharge reports.   

Furthermore,  in  relation  to  the  e-health  target,  the  National  Health  Insurance  House  (NHIH)  is 
currently  implementing  an  e-prescription  project,  co-funded  under  ERDF,  to  create  prescriptions 
that are recognised and can be issued in all Member States. This is expected to be delivered by June 
2025. Moreover, the NHIH is, in partnership with the Special Telecommunications Service (STS) and 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Romania 

the Authority for the Digitalisation of Romania, setting up a computer system for connecting to the 
DES (Electronic Health Record), thus bringing together all actors involved in a medical act (including 
the  providers  of  paraclinical,  clinical,  physical  and  rehabilitation  services,  home  healthcare,  home 
palliative care, dentistry, medical devices, assistive devices and technology, emergency consultations 
at  home  and  unassisted  medical  transport  activities).  The  project  will  extend  the  existing  system 
which  already  brings  together  medical  data  at  the  level  of  primary  care,  hospitals  and  the  main 
national  insurance  institutions  (i.e.  SIUI,  SIPE  and  CEAS).  In  addition,  the  RRP  includes  significant 
investment in e-Health infrastructure and telemedicine services connecting patients and caregivers.  

All  these  investments  are  a  major  opportunity  to  improve  Romania’s  performance  in  the  digital 
transformation  of  government  and  to  bring  significant  benefits  to  citizens  and  businesses,  once 
implemented effectively.  

Best practice: Ghiseul.ro 

Several ongoing projects are gaining traction and illustrating the benefits of e-government services to 
citizens and businesses in terms of simplification and limiting administrative burden. ‘Ghiseul.ro’ is a 
nationwide payment platform and an online app that is implemented by the ADR and the Romanian 
Electronic Payments Association. It allows citizens to view and pay fees, taxes, fines, etc. online. 400 
types  of  payments  can  be  made  with  it  and  1.8  million  citizens  and  businesses  have  used  the 
platform  so  far.  In  the  first  3  months  of  2023,  75  public  institutions  started  using  the  platform  to 
receive payments, and 250 000 end users registered – thus indicating that the platform is becoming 
increasingly successful. 

Romania  should  step  up  its  efforts  to digitalise public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  continue  to 
implement  the  planned measures  swiftly  and  effectively,  including  via  the  RRP,  as  they  represent  a 
major opportunity for the digital transformation of government, with significant benefits for citizens 
and businesses.  

 
 
 
 
  
389 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
   
 
 
390 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

Slovakia has scope to improve in the digital transition and to contribute to the collective efforts to 
achieve  the  EU’s  Digital  Decade  targets,  particularly  in  the  field  of  digital  skills  and  digital  public 
services  where  progress  is  evident.  However,  despite  recent  advances,  Slovakia  should  scale-up 
efforts in the digitalisation of businesses and connectivity, in particular in the roll out of 5G. Slovakia 
is  participating  in  the  multi-country  project  aimed  at  deploying  5G  corridors  across  Europe.  In 
December 2022, the Slovakian government adopted the Action plan for the digital transformation of 
Slovakia for 2023-2026 and the National digital skills strategy of the Slovak republic and action plan 
for  the  years  2023-2026.  Together  with  the  strategy  document  ‘The  National  Concept  of 
Informatization  of  the  Public  Administration  for  years  2021-2026‘adopted  at  the  end  2021,  these 
documents are aligned to the Digital Decade Policy Programme. 
Slovakia  continuously  monitors  the  state  of  the  security  and  resilience  of  electronic 
communications  networks  and  cybersecurity,  working  in  cooperation  with  ENISA,  the  EU’s 
cybersecurity agency. In 2021, Slovakia adopted an amendment to the national Act on Cybersecurity, 
which included the EU toolbox for 5G cybersecurity. The country plans further updates to its national 
regulation  on  obligations  for  registered  companies  with  regard  to  the  security  and  integrity  of 
networks  and  services  as  well  as  cybersecurity,  in  line  with  European  Electronic  Communications 
Code and with the NIS2 Directive.  

Digital in Slovakia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The Slovakian modified Recovery and Resilience Plan (along with the REPowerEU chapter) amounts 
to  EUR  6.4  billion  in  grants.  The  Slovak  plan´s  digital  ambition  remains  broadly  unchanged 
maintaining  EUR  1.3  billion  (i.e.  21%)  of  its  total  allocation  to  be  devoted  to  the  digital 
transformation  and,  out  of  this  amount,  EUR  1.2  billion  are  expected  to  contribute  to  the  Digital 
Decade targets 226.  

Slovakia has already received two disbursements, and in total (including the pre-financing), EUR 1.9 
billion  has  been  already  paid  out.  The  two  instalments  included  so  far  a  few  of  milestones  and 
targets,  focusing  on  digitalisation  and  cybersecurity  in  public  administration  and  digital  skills.  The 
country  adopted  a  National  Concept  for  Informatisation  of  Public  Administration,  which  aims  to 
update  cybersecurity  requirements  and  increase  the  standardisation  of  solutions  for  all  public 
administration bodies. Furthermore, Slovakia completed the pilot phase of the 'senior tablet' project 
which distributed tablets to 1 000 older people and disadvantaged people and gave training on how 
to use the devices.  

For  requesting  the  next  RRF  payment,  Slovakia  shall  implement  several  measures  linked  to  digital, 
including  building  a  network  of  four  European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  and  one  additional 
digitalisation centre, an Action Plan for the Digital Transformation of Slovakia for 2023-2026, and the 
National Digital Skills Strategy as well as adopting the list of priority electronic services. 

226  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

In  April  2023,  Slovakia  submitted  a  modified  RRP  to  take  into  account  the  decreased  financial 
allocation  (grant  allocation  is  reduced  by  EUR  321  million)  and  the  integration  of  a  REPowerEU 
chapter  to  decrease  the  country’s  dependence  on  Russian  fossil  fuels  and  support  the  green 
transition. The modified Recovery and Resilience Plan was adopted in July 2023. 

 
 
 
 
 
392 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

16% 

2020 

4.2% 

2020 

3.9% 

2019 

Slovakia 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

88% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

87% 

2021 

55% 

2021 

21% 

2021 

72% 

2021 

16% 

2020 

4.3% 

2021 

4.4% 

2020 

88% 

2022 

55% 

2021 

21% 

2021 

72% 

2021 

15% 

2022 

4.3% 

2022 

4.4% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Slovakia scores slightly better than the EU average on at least basic digital skills but below the EU 
average  on  above  basic  digital skills.  55%  of  individuals  are  reported  to  have  at  least  basic  digital 
skills in Slovakia, which is slightly above the EU average of 54%. In terms of individuals having at least 
basic  digital  content  creation  skills,  Slovakia  is  at  72%,  significantly  above  the  EU  average  of  66%. 
However, the  percentage of individuals  with  above  basic  digital skills is lower than the EU  average 
(21% vs 26%). The percentage of enterprises providing ICT training (15%) is also significantly below 
the EU average (22%). While the percentage of internet users has slightly increased, up from 87% in 
2021 to 88% in 2022, Slovakia remains below the EU average of 89%.  

Slovakia’s National Digital Skills Strategy and Action Plan for 2023-2026 was adopted in December 
2022.  It  addresses  the  need  to  improve  digital  competences  in  Slovakia  to  contribute  to  the 
collective effort to achieve the 2030 Digital Decade target of 80% of individuals aged 16-74 having at 
least basic digital skills. More specifically, the national Action Plan seeks to (i) develop the digital skills 
of young people and teachers; (ii) develop the digital skills of the active labour market participants, 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

by promoting upskilling or reskilling; (iii) reduce the digital skill gap and minimise the impact of digital 
exclusion.  The  Action  Plan  sets  out  measures  with  clear  and  measurable  targets  for  each  of  these 
areas  and  allocates  significant  funding  to  them.  These  measures  include:  (i)  supporting  and 
strengthening  the  Slovak  National  Coalition  for  Digital  Skills  and  Jobs;  (ii)  establishing  an  effective 
model  for managing  and  coordinating  activities  in the  field  of  digital skills  between  relevant  public 
administration bodies; (iii) creating a National Centre for the Digital Transformation of Education and 
developing a curriculum for Digital for primary and secondary schools, offering trainings specifically 
for  older  people  and  disadvantaged  groups  via  a  dedicated  IT  platform;  and  (iv)  increasing  digital 
skills and competences of women and girls to improve their position on the Slovak labour market by 
creating a platform for women in the digital age, by developing a career centre and programme for 
female  STEM  graduates  who  do  not  have  sufficient  experience  and  for  women  who  have  taken  a 
career  break.  At  4.3%,  the  share  of  ICT  specialists in  Slovakia  is  slightly  below  the  EU  average  of 
4.6%. The percentage of ICT specialists has grown since 2017, at a rate slightly above the EU average, 
but has now stalled compared with the previous reporting period. Of these ICT specialists, only 14.9% 
are women, which is one of the lowest shares in the EU. Slovakia ranks above the EU average for the 
number of ICT graduates. 4.4% of graduates in Slovakia have  an ICT degree, which is slightly above 
the EU average of 4.2%.  

Slovakia’s National Digital Skills Strategy and Action Plan for 2023-2026 also addresses the need to 
improve in this area. It sets out several measures to increase the percentage of ICT specialists in the 
workforce  and  ICT  graduates  and  create  conditions  and  support  activities  to  increase  the  share  of 
women  in  ICT.  These  measures  include  educational  campaigns  aimed  at  promoting  STEM  subjects 
and ICT career paths to high school students as well  as projects and campaigns to raise  awareness 
and encourage girls to familiarise themselves with digital technology and potential ICT career paths 
(including coding camps and similar projects). 

Some  of  the  measures  taken  to  increase  the  share  of  ICT  specialists  and  graduates  have  been 
designed and implemented together with Czech, Slovenian, and Ukrainian partner institutions. 

Moreover, Slovakia is home to a well-established and active national coalition for digital skills and 
jobs (Digitalna Koalicia). It brings together ministries, universities, associations, and tech companies, 
and its main initiatives aim to increase people’s digital competences.  

Slovakia participated in EU Code Week 2022, with 163 activities organised, 74% of which in schools, 
and with a total of 6 654 participants.  

Best practice: IT Fitness Test 

Slovakia uses a comprehensive ‘IT Fitness Test’ (conducted by the IT Association of Slovakia and the 
Slovak  National  Coalition  for  Digital  Skills  and  Jobs)  to  assess  the  ICT  skills  of  individuals  living  in 
Slovakia every year. The outcome of the tests helps monitor the progress towards achieving the 2030 
Digital Decade targets and corresponding national targets in the Slovak Action Plan.  

Slovakia should accelerate efforts in the digital skills area. Particular attention should be given to 
closing the digital gap, and to ensuring the inclusion of vulnerable groups in all digital trainings,  to 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

maintaining  a  positive  trend  for  the  number  of  ICT  graduates  as  well  as  to  the  attraction  and 
retention of ICT specialists227. 

227 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Slovakia 

DESI 
2021 

28% 

2020 

0.4% 

2020 

50% 

2020 

49% 

2020 

75% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

67% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

29% 

2021 

1.1% 

2021 

67% 

2021 

62% 

2021 

86% 

2021 

14% 

2021 

67% 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

DESI 
2023 

33% 

2022 

0.9% 

2022 

71% 

2022 

67% 

2022 

86% 

2021 

55% 

2022 

67% 

2023 

Slovakia  has  significant  room  for  improvement  on  digital  infrastructure.  In  2022,  Slovakia  made 
progress  on  fixed  networks.  The  percentage  of  households  covered  by  fixed  very  high  capacity 
networks, provided on  fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and DOCSIS 3.1  infrastructures,  increased from 
67% in 2021 to 71% in 2022, which is just below the EU average of 73%.  

On the take-up of fixed broadband of at least 100 Mbps, Slovakia remains with 33% significantly 
below  the  EU  average  of  55%.  The  take-up  of  at  least  1  Gbps  broadband  stands  at  only  0.9%  of 
households in the country, well below the EU average of 13.8%. 

A  National  Broadband  Plan  (NBP),  approved  by  the  Slovak  government  in  2021,  aims  for  all 
households, urban and rural, to have access to an internet connection of at least 100 Mbps, with 
the possibility of upgrading to gigabit speed. The plan also aims for major socio-economic actors to 
have access to gigabit connectivity. In 2022, a feasibility study was launched to help implement the 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

plan  in  such  a  way  to  achieve  the  2030  Digital  Decade  objectives.  The  study  also  includes 
environmental conditions that must be part of the grants/calls for communications infrastructure in 
the  preferred  models  for  action.  The  results  were  delivered  in  April  2023.  The  Slovak  authorities 
emphasised,  however,  that  full  coverage  with  VHCN  is  a  very  challenging  goal  given  that  the 
country’s natural features present significant challenges. 

In November 2022, a mapping exercise and public consultation was launched to determine the status 
of the current and planned gigabit coverage of Slovakia. The  results will be  used to implement the 
objectives of the national broadband plan.  

On  the  financial  side,  Program  Slovakia  co-funded  by  the  ERDF  was  approved  by  the  European 
Commission in November 2022 and provides for EUR 112 million dedicated to gigabit connectivity.  
The Slovak RRP does not include investments in connectivity. 

No  major  deregulatory  steps  were  taken  during  the  reporting  period,  rather  a  modification  of  the 
prices of regulated access included in the reference offer of the SMP operator.  

New  measures  were  taken  by  the  national  regulatory  authority  to  define  the  quality  of  universal 
service. It is now analysing the availability and affordability of the universal service. 

On mobile networks, 67% of the total harmonised 5G spectrum has been assigned in Slovakia, and 
55%  of  populated  areas  are  covered  by  5G.  This  is  a  significant  increase  compared  to  the  14% 
coverage of the previous year, but the coverage remains below the EU average of 81%. The coverage 
in  the  3.4-3.8  GHz  spectrum  band,  needed  for  advanced  applications  requiring  high  bandwidth,  is 
with 39% close to the EU average of 41%.  

The  Slovak  national  regulatory  authority  imposed  obligations,  as  part  of  the  2020  5G  auction,  to 
ensure  that  at  least  95%  of  the  population  of  each  regional  capital  of  Slovakia  is  covered  by  a  5G 
network by the end of 2025 and that at least 90% of the population living outside regional cities  is 
covered by 5G by the end of 2027.  

Moreover, in 2016, Slovakia had already assigned frequencies in the 3.6 GHz band, with rights of use 
extending  until  the  end  of  2024.  As  frequencies  were  allocated  in  line  with  the  principle  of 
technological neutrality, mobile network operators who hold these rights are already entitled to use 
them  to  provide  5G  services.  The  first  commercial  5G  network  in  the  3.6 GHz frequency  band  was 
introduced  in  October  2020.  To  give  rights  to  use  frequencies  in  the  3.6  GHz  band  as  of  2025,  on 
launched  a  selection  procedure,  which  was 
1 March 2022,  the  Slovak  regulatory  authority 
successfully completed on 5 May 2022. The whole 3.4  – 3.8 GHz band was assigned in this auction, 
with  the  validity  of  the  rights  of  use  set  to  last  until  the  end  of  2045.  The  successful  bidders  are 
required to build an electronic communications network with two 5G access points in each district of 
Slovakia and with at least 300 5G access points throughout the country by the end of 2027. The new 
licenses are valid until 2045.  

The 26 GHz frequency band is not assigned yet, due to limited demand.  

A study funded under Connecting Europe Facility Digital is ongoing with the aim of preparing the 
implementation  of  5G  and  FRMCS  communication  systems  in  view  of  Connected  and  Automated 
Mobility on the railway corridor Brno (CZ) – Bratislava (SK). It is expected to be completed by the end 
of 2023  

Slovakia did not report any specific measure to contribute to the EU’s collective efforts to achieve the 
semiconductors  target  and  targets  on  edge  nodes  and  quantum  computing.  However,  the  Action 
Plan  for  the  Digital  Transformation  of  Slovakia  for  2023-2026  acknowledges  the  importance  of  all 
advanced  technologies, 
including  edge  computing.  The  deployment  of  all  advanced  digital 
technologies is one of the strategic targets in the Action Plan. 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

Slovakia  should  step up its  efforts on  connectivity infrastructure,  to  accelerate  both the rollout  of 
gigabit and 5G connectivity, especially fibre to the premises in rural areas. The swift implementation 
of the ERDF measures is very relevant.  
Slovakia’s efforts in the area of semiconductors should be sustained in order to help the EU become a 
strong market player in these areas.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud228 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Slovakia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

31% 

2019 

18% 

2019 

6% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

17% 

2020 

17% 

2020 

11% 

2020 

7% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

31% 

2021 

21% 

2021 

6% 

2020 

31% 

2021 

5% 

2021 

17% 

2020 

13% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

7% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

60% 

2022 

31% 

2021 

21% 

2021 

6% 

2020 

31% 

2021 

5% 

2021 

17% 

2020 

14% 

2022 

9% 

2022 

7% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

228 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

Slovakia has room for improvement on digitalisation of businesses. The percentage of enterprises 
analysing  big  data  was  6%  in  2020  which  is  significantly  below  the  EU  average  of  14%.  31%  of 
enterprises in Slovakia reported to be using cloud computing services in 2021, which is below the EU 
average of 34%. The percentage of enterprises using AI technology was also below the EU average 
(5% vs 8%).  

Electronic information sharing in enterprises is low compared to other Member States. Only 31% of 
enterprises  reported  using  an  enterprise  resource  planning  software  package  to  share  information 
between different functional areas. This is significantly below the EU average of 38%. 

The  use  of  social  media  is  below  the  EU  average.  Only  21%  of  enterprises  reported  to  use  two  or 
more  of  the  social  media  tools  considered  as  part  of  the  assessment,  which  again  is  significantly 
below the EU average of 29% of enterprises.  

The  uptake  of  e-invoicing  for  automated  processing  is  very  low  in  Slovakia.  17%  of  enterprises 
reported  to  be  sending  e-invoices  in  2020,  which  is  significantly  below  the  EU  average  of  32%. 
Slovakia is one of the four lowest ranking countries for this indicator. 

The share of SMEs in Slovakia selling online to other Member States is with 7% below the EU average 
of 9%.  

Slovakia acknowledges the need to improve in this area. In December 2022, the Slovak government 
adopted  an  Action  Plan  for  the  Digital  Transformation  of  Slovakia  for  2023-2026.  Supporting 
innovation and the adoption of digital technologies in SMEs is one of the priority areas set out in the 
action  plan. More  specifically,  Slovakia  identified  the  need to  ensure  that  entrepreneurs  and  SMEs 
have the right digital skills, and the need to support the technological and knowledge transfer from 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

research  and  innovation  clusters  to  real world  business  use  cases.  A  specific  chapter  of the  Action 
Plan for the Digital Transformation focuses on supporting the basic level of digital intensity of SMEs. 
It sets as a measurable goal of more than 67.6% of SMEs in Slovakia reaching at least a basic level of 
digital intensity by 2026.  

Moreover,  the  Action  Plan  for  the  Digital  Transformation  of Slovakia  for 2023-2026  confirms  the 
country’s intention to contribute to the collective efforts in the EU to reach the 2030 Digital Decade 
target of at least 75% of enterprises using cloud computing, big data or AI. It defines clear goals at 
national level and sets at 42.6% the number of enterprises using cloud computing, big data, and/or 
artificial  intelligence  by  2026.  Specific  measures  and  investments  set  out  in  the  Action  Plan  are 
intended  to  help  Slovak  enterprises  to  reach  this  goal  collectively.  Strategic  goals  in  the  area  of  AI 
include,  in  particular,  supporting  (i)  collaboration  between  academia  and  businesses,  (ii)  use  and 
deployment of AI in medicine, and (iii) creation of an ecosystem to deploy AI using data. 

Slovakia  has  four  European  Digital  Innovation  Hubs  (EDIH)  funded  under  the  Digital  Europe 
Programme  (co-funding  under  the  RRF  is  also  envisaged),  and  one  EDIH  funded  directly  by  the 
National government. The EDIH cover a broad selection of technologies and sectors, including critical 
digital  technologies,  healthcare,  manufacturing,  the  automotive  sector  and  mobility.  They  will 
support  SMEs  mainly  by:  (i)  identifying  investors,  (ii)  providing  training  on  digital  skills,  (iii)  testing 
before investment, and (iv) creating an ecosystem for innovation and networking. 

There  are  currently  no  unicorns  based  in  Slovakia  and  no  scale-ups  have  been  identified  as 
potential unicorns with a current market valuation between EUR 100 million and EUR 1 billion. The 
Action  Plan  for  the  Digital  Transformation  includes  measures  to  support  innovative  businesses  in 
Slovakia. It remains to be seen what effect these measures will have.  

Slovakia should step up its efforts in the area of digitalisation of businesses. In particular, Slovakia 
should facilitate access to training, information and knowledge sharing and other supportive actions, 
including through European Digital Innovation Hubs, to make further progress in the digitalisation of 
businesses. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Slovakia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

65 

2021 

75 

2021 

45 

2021 

44 

2021 

74 

2021 

83 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

82% 

2022 

67 

2022 

78 

2022 

56 

2022 

46 

2022 

80 

2022 

88 

2022 

45 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
402 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

Even though Slovakia still scores below the EU average for most of the monitored indicators, the 
country has made visible progress compared to the previous year.  

Slovakia’s scores for digital public services for citizens and businesses remain below the EU average, 
but have increased compared to the previous year. For citizens the score increased from 65 in 2021 
to  67  in  2022,  which  is  still  significantly  below  the  EU  average  of  77.  For  businesses  the  score 
increased from 75 in 2021 to 78 in 2022, which again is below the EU average of 84.  

With 82% e-Government users among internet users, Slovakia ranks above the EU average of 74%. 
This suggests significant potential for e-Government services.  

The  country  has  introduced  several measures to  support  progress  in  this  area.  Notably,  the  Slovak 
authorities  have  introduced  measures  to  ensure  the  fulfilment  of  the  principles  of  the  Berlin 
Declaration  on  digital  society  and  digital  government  based  on  values,  which  will  be  taken  into 
account  by  the  national  strategic  documents.  The  overall  aim  is  to  ensure  that  public  electronic 
administration services are safe, easily accessible to every citizen, and uphold human rights.  

Slovakia  ranks  low  on  citizen’s  access  to  electronic  health  records,  with  a  score  of  45  which  is 
significantly below the EU average score of 72. The country introduced a national online service for 
citizens to access their electronic health records, but less than 20% of the population are currently 
reported to technically be able to make use of the electronic access service through the online portal. 
When accessing the online portal, authentication is done with a nationally notified eID scheme based 
on two-factor authentication. This service includes electronic prescription data and electronic patient 
summary data such as information about allergies, current diagnoses, medical devices and implants, 
procedures,  and  current  and  past  medications.  The  health-related  data  are  not  typically  updated 

 
 
 
 
 
403 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovakia 

within  a  few  days  or  a  few  hours  after  each  incident  of  care.  Furthermore,  eDispensation 
information, electronic results, and reports are not accessible to citizens at the current state. This is a 
big inconvenience for citizens using the service. A mobile app is not available. Citizens are supplied 
with relevant health-related data in their electronic health records from primary public and private 
healthcare providers as well as pharmacies. Other healthcare providers are not connected to national 
access  services  at  this  point.  The  roll-out  of  the  electronic  access  service  facilitating  citizens’  full 
access to their electronic health records is ongoing and largely in early stages with a low population 
coverage and few healthcare providers supplying relevant data.  

Almost  4  million  people  (around  72%  of  the  citizens)  have  access  to  an  electronic  identification 
(eID) scheme, which has been notified to the European Commission under the eIDAS Regulation. 
Slovakia  is  also  involved  via  public  and  private  entities  in  one  large-scale  pilot  project  testing  the 
European  Digital  Identity  Wallet  in  several  everyday  use  cases  funded  under  the  Digital  Europe 
Programme.  

In  June  2022,  the  Slovak  authorities  launched  a  national  mobile  identity,  linked  to  various  e-
government  services.  The  mobile  application  called  Slovakia  on  mobile  offers  users  access  to  the 
Central Government Portal (Slovensko.sk) by utilizing the app without a reading device. The country's 
electronic  mobile  services  will  be  expanded  over  time  and  open  to  all  residents,  not  only  current 
Slovensko.sk subscribers. This is an essential service for citizens as they are now able to communicate 
easily with the authorities through their mobile phones.  

Overall,  Slovakia  has  made  efforts  to  improve  its  scores  in  digital  public  services.  However, 
individuals and businesses still face difficulties when using digital public services which are reported 
to lack usability and to have limited transparency.  

Slovakia  should  step  up its  efforts  to digitalise public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  monitor  the 
effective use of digital public services as well as possible challenges for particular groups of citizens. 

 
 
 
 
404 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Slovenia 

 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
405 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

Slovenia is expected to make a positive contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the Digital 
Decade targets. Further efforts are needed to attain its level of ambition and to further contribute to 
achieving  the  Digital  Decade  targets  and  objectives,  especially  as  regards  ICT  specialists  and 
connectivity  in  rural  areas.  Slovenia’s  active  involvement  in  multi-country  projects  on  advanced 
technologies  should  be  maintained.  Slovenia  is  actively  preparing  a  framework  for  its  digital 
transformation.  The  government  has  set  up  a  Digital  Transformation  Ministry  and  adopted  a 
comprehensive digitalisation strategy, Digital Slovenia 2030, which is aligned with the Digital Decade 
targets and take note of the Digital Decade Policy Programme. 

Slovenia  is  currently  preparing  the  groundwork,  with  some  initial  steps  that  are  essential  for 
successful implementation. First, Slovenia prepared a thorough analysis of its state of play: strengths 
and challenges per area are well identified and described in several different strategies. Second, on 
the implementation of strategies, Slovenia plans to collect  and analyse  data and other evidence to 
continuously adapt and improve its implementation activities. Initial activities are ongoing, including 
the appointment of an inter-ministerial group that will prepare the  Action Plan for Digital Slovenia 
2030.  It  is  key  that  those  results  are  available  on  time  and  taken  into  account  in  the  design  and 
development of current and future measures and activities. 

Slovenia  is collaborating  with  other Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility to  set  up  European 
Digital Infrastructure Consortia (EDICs) on: (i) establishing an Alliance for Language Technologies, to 
develop  a  common  infrastructure  in  the  field  of  natural  language  processing  and  to  develop  large 
multi-language  models;  and  (ii)  the  Networked  Local  Digital  Twins  Towards  CitiVerse  project,  using 
disruptive and immersive technologies for future city related projects. Slovenia is one of the Member 
States that have jointly submitted a formal application to set up the European Blockchain Partnership 
and  the  EDIC  on  European  Blockchain  Infrastructure,  supporting  EU-wide  cross-border  public 
services. 

Digital in Slovenia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The Slovenian Recovery and Resilience Plan amounts to EUR 2.5 billion and EUR 0.5 billion (21%) is 
devoted to the digital transformation – of which EUR 471 million are expected to contribute to Digital 
Decade targets229.  

In  the  context  of  the  first  payment  request,  amounting  to  EUR  49.6  million  and  disbursed  in  April 
2023, Slovenia achieved 12 milestones and targets and four of them are related to digital measures. 
The  digital  measures  focus  on  two  areas:  First,  the  digitalisation  of  the  economy,  covering  the 
adoption of a Strategy for the digital transformation of enterprises and the identification of potential 
participants  for  the  multi-country  projects  on  the  European  Common  Data  Infrastructure  and 
Services and on the Low-Power Processors and Semiconductor Chips. The second area covered is the 

229  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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digitalisation  of  public  services:  A  State  Administration  Informatics  Development  Council  was 
established to coordinate, among others, IT investments, standards and back-office systems. Those 
milestones are generally a first step to prepare the ground for the further implementation of those 
measures.   

Slovenia  is  currently  working  on  an  amendment  of  its  RRP  to  take  into  account  the  decreased 
financial  allocation  (the  grant  allocation  is  reduced  by  EUR  286  million)  and  the  integration  of  a 
REPowerEU  chapter  to  reduce  the  dependence  on  Russian  fossil  fuels  and  to  support  the  green 
transition.  A  draft  was  opened  to  public  consultation  in  March  2023  and  submitted  to  the 
Commission on 14 July 2023. 

 
 
 
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1 Digital skills  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

A  digitally  skilled  population  increases  the  development  and  adoption  of  digital  technologies  and 
leads  to  productivity  gains.230  A  digitally  skilled  workforce  is  more  likely  to  find  and  maintain  jobs. 
This is particularly relevant in Slovenia, which is among the countries with the highest share of jobs at 
high risk of automation, almost twice as high as in other OECD countries.231 

Slovenia 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

85% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

26% 

2020 

4.4% 

2020 

4.1% 

2019 

88% 

2021 

50% 

2021 

20% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

26% 

2020 

4.8% 

2021 

4.1% 

2020 

88% 

2022 

50% 

2021 

20% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

29% 

2022 

4.5% 

2022 

4.5% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Basic digital skills are a little less widespread in the Slovenian population aged 16-74 than in the EU 
on average. Only 50% of people aged 16-74 have at least basic digital skills, which is below the EU 
average of 54%. The gap with the EU average is even larger when it comes to above basic digital skills 
(20% compared with 26% at EU level). But the level of penetration of software and regular internet 
use are at par with the EU average. However, with regard to the gender balance, the share of women 
with at least basic digital skills is – as for the population in general - below the EU average. Slovenia’s 
best performance in this area is on enterprises providing ICT training – the country has the 6th highest 

230  OECD  Economic  Outlook,  Digitalisation  and  productivity  (2019):  A  story  of  complementarities,  OECD 
Economic Outlook, Volume 2019 Issue 1 | OECD iLibrary (oecd-ilibrary.org). 
231 IMAD: productivity report 2020, aPoP_2020_splet.pdf (gov.si).  

 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
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share  of  enterprises  who  provided  ICT  training  to  their  personnel.  In  its  strategy  Digital  Slovenia 
2030, Slovenia aims at 60% of the population having basic digital skills by 2025 and reaching the EU 
target  of  80%  of  the  population  by  2030.  Taking  into  account  Slovenia’s  starting  point  and  its 
ambition,  it  can  make  a  positive  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  reach  the  Digital  Decade 
targets, provided that the efforts are stepped up and planned measures are implemented timely and 
in a consistent manner.  

Slovenia  is implementing several  measures  aimed  at  building  basic  digital  skills in the  context  of 
the Promotion of the Digital Inclusion Act. The level of digital skills of vulnerable groups is generally 
considerably lower than in the population in general, but in line with the EU average for vulnerable 
groups.  A  key measure  to address  this  issue  is  the  Promotion  of Digital  Inclusion  Act.  It  sets  out  a 
framework for several actions targeting the increase of basic digital skills in the broader population 
and  the  reduction  of  the  gender  gap.  More  specifically,  the  Act  aims  to  raise  awareness  of  the 
benefits of digital skills and technologies and to strengthen understanding and use of them.  

In 2022, one of the most prominent actions under the Act was the digital voucher. Between June 
and November 2022, EUR 29 million was disbursed to almost 200 000 pupils and students in digital 
vouchers, worth EUR 150 each, to purchase basic computer equipment. In March 2023, the Act was 
amended to support not only the purchase, but also the borrowing of basic computer equipment and 
to  broaden  the  group  of  possible  beneficiaries  to  cover  vulnerable  groups.  In  addition,  a  first 
proposal for a new law, addressing the target groups not yet included in the current Act, is expected 
by the end of 2023.  

This  activity  is  complemented  by  the  Active  Labour  Market  Policy  Plan  which  was  adopted  in 
December 2022 and includes digital skills training for unemployed people. 

With  its  Digital  Education  Action  Plan,  Slovenia  lays  out  a  comprehensive  national  programme  in 
the area of digital education. The country has implemented several actions and projects in this area 
in  recent  years,  but  it  has  been  several  years  since  it  planned  to  implement  a  comprehensive 
programme  like  the  Digital  Education  Action  Plan.  Several  stakeholders  were  involved  in  its 
preparation.  The  Plan  aims  at  improving  a  number of  points,  including  the  digital  skills of  teachers 
and  pupils,  and  at  fostering  digital  infrastructure,  ecosystem  and  digital  education.  First  activities 
have already been launched, notably as part of the RRP. For example, Slovenia published a call at the 
end of 2022 which is expected to provide 20 000 teachers and principals (around 40% of all Slovenian 
teachers), with an an average of 13 days of training in digital skills, sustainability and financial literacy 
by mid-2026. A consortium responsible for the training programmes has been selected.  

An  example  of  learning  and  training  activities  for  pupils  is  the  workshop  for  primary  school 
children  ‘Safety  on  the  Internet’.  Around  20  000  pupils  learned  in  five  workshops  about  online 
safety,  fake  news  and  responsible  interaction  with  online  media.  Furthermore,  Slovenia  promoted 
coding and digital literacy for pupils in CodeWeek 2022 with 145 activities (including 95 in schools) 
with around 3 400 participants. Only 43% of the participants were girls, which is one of the lowest 
shares in the EU. Digital skills are expected to become  a more systematic part  of school education 
when the curriculum reform will be implemented until the end of 2025.   

Slovenia  scores  around  the  EU  average  in  advanced  digital  skills,  but  it  scores  far  behind  the 
Member  States  that  are  innovation  leaders.  Recruiting  a  sufficiently  skilled  workforce  remains  a 
challenge  for  enterprises  in  Slovenia.  After  a  steady  increase  in  recent  years,  the  share  of  ICT 
specialists in total employment decreased compared with the last reporting period (4.5% vs. 4.8%). 
Furthermore,  after  scoring  at  or  above  the  EU  average  in  recent  years,  Slovenia’s  share  of  ICT 
specialists is now slightly below the EU average of 4.6%. The share of ICT graduates remains above 
the EU average (4.5% vs. 4.2%) and increased compared with the last reporting period, after a recent 

 
 
 
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stagnation. Slovenia scores just above the OECD average for ICT bachelor graduates, but its share is 
lower  for  master  and  doctorate  graduates232.  The  country  has  a  slightly  lower  share  of  female  ICT 
specialists  than  the  EU  average  (17.6%  vs.  18.9%).  Moreover,  Slovenia  is  in  very  strong  need  of 
additional  ICT  specialists:  78%  of  Slovenian  enterprises  reported  difficulties  in  recruiting  ICT 
specialists,  which  is the  highest  percentage  in the EU  (EU  average  is  at  63%). In  its  strategy  Digital 
Slovenia 2030, the country aims to have 6% of employed ICT specialists in the workforce by 2025 and 
to reach the EU target of 10% in 2030233. Regarding gender balance, Slovenia aims at 20% female ICT 
specialists by 2025 and 25% by 2030.  

Slovenia  is currently  implementing several  programmes  and  initiatives  to  address  the  need  for  a 
more  digitally  skilled  workforce.  To  identify,  forecast  and  meet  labour  market  needs,  Slovenia  is 
putting  into  place  a  Platform  for  Competence  Prediction.  The  Ministry  of  Labour,  Family,  Social 
Affairs and Equal Opportunities is implementing the project, which is co-financed with EUR 800 000 
by the European Social Fund, together with public employment services. It includes short-, medium- 
and long-term forecasting (i.e. covering a timespan between below one year and up to 10 years) of 
job  and  skills  needs.  Moreover,  it  aims  at  establishing  institutional  cooperation  between  key 
stakeholders  to  further  develop  lifelong  education  policies  and  career  guidance.  In  2022,  a  job 
vacancy  search  engine  was  added  to  the  platform,  which,  on  top  of  its  original  functionality,  also 
provides  an  overview  on  short-term  trends  and  data  for  short-term  forecasts.  The  first 
implementation  phase  was  finalised  in  March  2023  and  is  expected  to  be  continued  in  the 
Operational Programme for the Implementation of European Cohesion Policy. 

In  addition,  Slovenia  implements  measures  in  the  area  of  up-  and  reskilling,  e.g.  it  continues  to 
implement  the  SME  funding  programme  to  enhance  the  digital  skills  of  SME  employees.  The 
programme has a total budget of EUR 1.3 million. It started in 2021 and plans to finance 200 projects 
with  grants  of  up  to  EUR  10  000  (capped  at  a  maximum  of  60%  of  the  total  investment)  in  micro 
enterprises and SMEs in less developed areas. These grants are supporting investment in technology 
equipment,  digitalisation  of  production,  the  transition  to  a  low-carbon  economy  and  the  skillset 
required  to  implement  the  projects  in  question.  Since  Q2  2022,  around  EUR  2  million  has  been 
invested in more than 370 projects. In March 2022, Slovenia adopted a Resolution on the National 
Programme  of  Adult  Education  to  make  adult  education  offer  more  flexible,  including  the 
introduction  of  short-cycle  ICT  courses  leading  to  micro-credentials.  In  the  context  of  an  Inter-
ministerial Working Group, Slovenia is trying to identify and remove obstacles to the fast recruitment 
of highly skilled foreign ICT specialists. Concrete actions include the amendment of several laws, e.g. 
the  amendment  of  the  Employment,  Self-Employment  and  Work  of  Foreigners  Act  at  the  end  of 
March 2023, and the preparation of a fast-track visa for highly skilled workers.  

In  addition,  the  private  sector  recently  launched  a  number  of  activities  to  tackle  the  lack  of  ICT 
specialists,  notably  by  raising  awareness  of  the  need  for  digital  skills  in  different  industries.  In 
2022, the ICT Association of Slovenia performed an analysis of the ICT labour market and made some 
proposals  to  increase  the  number  of  ICT  specialists  by  2030,  including  reforming  the  education 
system  and  facilitating  the  employment  of  foreign  professionals.  Moreover,  the  ICT  Association 
started  education  programmes  to  increase  digital  skills  of  workers  in  areas  such  as  artificial 
intelligence and agile programming in 2022. 

232 OECD Economic Survey: Slovenia 2022. In 2019, the share of ICT graduates of bachelor’s degree courses was 
4.6%  (OECD  average  4.4%)  and  2.2%  (OECD  average  3.7%)  for  master's  and  2.5%  (OECD  average  3.5%)  for 
doctorate levels.  
233 The 20 million target represents about 10% of total employment. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Best practice: Mobile Heroes 

Mobile Heroes is a ‘classroom on wheels’ that provides educational courses to elderly people to help 
them  develop/increase  their  basic  digital  skills.  The  courses  cover  basic  digital  skills  and  individual 
support  in  the  use  of  digital  tools  and  devices  like  computers  and  smartphones.  Furthermore, 
awareness-raising for the challenges posed by digital tools and their safe use are part of the courses. 
Mobile  Heroes  provides  support  to  a  population  group  that  has  a  generally  lower  digital  literacy 
knowledge and lower basic digital skills. It therefore contributes to the Digital Decade objectives that 
are  linked  to  digital  citizenship.  The  Mobile  Heroes  pilot  project  started  in  autumn  2022  and  19 
workshops  with  270  participants  in  19  locations  (including  rural  areas)  have  taken  place  so  far. 
Activities currently being planned include a training programme in digital competences for at least 4 
000 peopled aged 55 and older in all Slovenian municipalities. 

Slovenia should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills. Notably, Slovenia should increase 
the  level  of  basic  and,  in  particular,  advanced  digital  skills  to  allow  its  population  and  economy  to 
make full use of the potential of the digital transformation. It should strengthen early identification of 
labour market needs and further complement them by additional and quicker reactions, especially in 
digital  upskilling-and  reskilling  and  adapting  the  (higher)  education  curricula  to  the  latest  digital 
needs.  A  further  reinforced  collaboration  between  industries,  (higher)  education  institutions,  the 
public administration and relevant stakeholders can increase the effectiveness of those actions234. 

234 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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2 Digital infrastructures 

Slovenia’s  size,  its  sparsely  populated  rural  areas  and  its  topography  complicate  the  broad 
development and availability of digital infrastructure. Rural areas very often lack gigabit connectivity. 
However,  despite  the  comparatively  small  size  of  the  country  and  its  economy,  Slovenia  is  very 
active, including in multi-country projects, in developing the infrastructure for advanced technologies 
like semiconductors, quantum computing and blockchain.  

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Slovenia 

DESI 
2021 

33% 

2020 

DESI 
2022 

43% 

2021 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

2020 

2021 

66% 

2020 

66% 

2020 

75% 

2018 

0% 

2020 

98% 

2021 

72% 

2021 

72% 

2021 

87% 

2021 

37% 

2021 

98% 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

52% 

2022 

4.5% 

2022 

76% 

2022 

76% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

64% 

2022 

98% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

Slovenia  shows  a  varied  picture  for  fixed  broadband  coverage:  The  very  high  capacity  network 
(VHCN)  coverage  has  been  steadily  increasing  over  the  last  reporting  periods  and  the  fibre 
coverage is considerably above the EU average. However, a significant gap persists between rural 
and urban areas. The coverage of fixed VHCN is, with 76% of households covered, slightly above the 
EU average of 73%. However, despite some progress made with this indicator, a considerable gap still 
exists between urban and rural areas, where only around half of the households are covered by fixed 
VHCN (51% compared with 46% in the last reporting period) and where the country’s topography is a 
challenge.  Concerning  Fibre  to  the  Premises  (FTTP)  coverage,  Slovenia  ranks  well  above  the  EU 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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average  of  56%,  with  76%  of  households  covered.  The  percentage  of  households  with  fixed 
broadband take-up of at least 100 Mbps (megabits per second) has again increased significantly, in 
line with the trends of the previous reporting periods, and is now very close to catching up with the 
EU  average.  In  2022,  Slovenia  registered  a  remarkable  improvement  concerning  the  percentage of 
households  with  a  take-up  of  at  least  1  Gbps  (gigabit  per  second),  which  went  from  a  negligible 
0.02%  in  2021  to  4.5%  in  2022.  In  spite  of  the  progress  registered  in  this  area,  Slovenia  is  still 
considerably below the EU average of 13.8% for this indicator.  

The Plan for the development of gigabit infrastructure until 2030 was approved by the Government 
in  August  2022.  It  sets  several  strategic  goals  regarding  the  development  of  Gigabit  infrastructure 
and is aligned with the Digital Decade targets, including:  

-  Gigabit  connectivity  for  all  major  socio-economic  drivers,  such  as  schools,  cultural 
institutions,  transport  hubs  and  major  public  service  providers,  and  digital-intensive 
businesses by the end of 2025; 

- 

100 Mbps internet access, upgradeable to Gigabit speeds, for all rural and urban households 
by the end of 2025; 

-  Gigabit connectivity for all households, businesses and other socio-economic drivers in rural 

and urban areas by the end of 2030. 

One  of  the  major  recent  regulatory  developments  relates  mainly  to  the  transposition  into  the 
Slovenian  regulatory  framework  of  the  European  Electronic  Communications  Code  (Directive  (EU) 
2018/1972),  which was  finalised  in  October  2022 with  the  approval of  ZEKom-2.  The approval  and 
entry into force of ZEKom-2 will also facilitate the implementation in Slovenia of the 21 best practices 
(out of 39) of the Connectivity Toolbox that are not implemented yet, pending the approval of the 
law. 

Under  its  RRP,  Slovenia  put  forward  investments  for  the  deployment  of  gigabit  infrastructures 
through dedicated reforms and investments in rural areas.  

For mobile coverage, Slovenia also shows a mixed picture: despite a considerable improvement in 
5G coverage, the country is still far below the EU average. But the coverage with essential bands to 
enable advanced applications that require large spectrum bandwidth is well above the EU average. 
Notable improvement has been made concerning the overall 5G coverage which has increased by 27 
percentage  points  since  last  year  (from  37%  to  64%),  but  it  is  still  below  the  EU  average  of  81%. 
However, for 5G coverage on the  3.4-3.8 GHz pioneer spectrum bands, Slovenia scores well above 
the  EU  average  (55%  vs.  41%).  The  3.4-3.8  GHz  bands  are  essential  for  enabling  advanced 
applications requiring large spectrum bandwidth. As for fixed broadband coverage, there is also still a 
gap between urban and rural areas for overall 5G coverage, for which the overall 5G coverage score 
is  only  14.1%.  Since  the  98%  of  the  overall  available  spectrum  was  already  assigned  in  2021,  this 
indicator  is  expected  to  rapidly  increase  in  the  coming  years.  Further  assignment  of  spectrum  is 
planned in 2023. The mobile broadband take-up is in line with the EU average and has consistently 
been growing over the last three reporting periods. As part of the Plan for the development of gigabit 
infrastructure until 2030, Slovenia has set strategic goals for 5G coverage, which are aligned with the 
Digital  Decade  targets.  These  goals  include  uninterrupted  5G  coverage  for  all  urban  areas  and  all 
major land transport routes until the end of 2025 and 5G network coverage for all populated areas 
by the end of 2030.  

In relation to the multi-country projects, Slovenia has examined the opportunity of a 5G cross border 
study project with a consortium of neighbouring countries. This resulted in two projects applying to 
CEF  DIGITAL  5G  cross  border  corridor  calls.  With  Italy,  a  project  covering  three  border  crossings 
where one is on TEN-T roads, and with Croatia, a project covering one border crossing on TEN-T road 

 
 
 
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are  being  prepared.  Universities,  road  operators  and  telecom  operators  from  both  countries  are 
involved in the projects. 

Slovenia  has  made  significant  progress  in  the  latest  reporting  periods  as  regards  regulatory 
developments. The transposition of the Electronic Communications Code in October 2022, together 
with other regulatory and market developments, represents a milestone for the modernisation and 
competitiveness  of  the  Slovenian  electronic  communications  sector  and  will  support  Slovenia’s 
contribution to achieve the EU’s Digital Decade targets on connectivity.  

The objective  of  this multi-country  project  is  to  increase the  resilience  of  the  semiconductor value 
chains. In the context of its RRP, Slovenia plans to support this multi-country project and submitted 
the  list  of  six  potential  project  participants  in  April  2022.  On  top  of  its  multi-country  project 
contribution,  Slovenia  is  preparing  the  ground  for  additional  bilateral  collaboration  activities  with 
other  Member  States,  in  particular,  Austria,  Italy  and  Belgium  (the  latter  with  the  research  and 
development organisation Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre, IMEC).  

Slovenia  is  also  launching  activities  to  establish  an  ecosystem  of  stakeholders,  which  are  mostly 
active in semiconductor design and highly specialised electronic board production. A small number 
of companies are active in chips design and a few smaller chips-user companies are mainly active in 
the  manufacturing  of  printed  circuit  board.  Furthermore,  some  research  institutes  and  university 
faculties are involved in chip research and development. Slovenia is planning to support the project 
Chips.SI, which is a competence centre for microelectronics, sensor systems and integrated photonics 
and optoelectronics to support the ecosystem.  

Slovenian’s main contribution to the edge nodes target so far has been the participation in the multi-
country  project  on  Common  Data  Infrastructure  and  Services  (see  ‘Digitalisation  of  businesses’  for 
more details).  

Slovenia  is  involved  in  a  few  multi-country  projects  and  initiatives  on  quantum  computing.  The 
country is a member of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) 
and  plans  to  co-finance  a  quantum  computer  consortium  to  strengthen  the  quantum  computing 
capacities with EUR 1 million at a location selected by the EuroHPC. Slovenia is also participating in 
the  European  Quantum Communication  Infrastructure  (EuroQCI)  and  will  implement  (until  2026)  a 
project that aims at developing a national network and ecosystem for quantum key distribution. The 
total budget of the project is planned to amount to EUR 6 million. In the first phase of the project, 
which  started  in  early  2023,  a  national  QCI  network is  developed  and  connected  with  networks of 
neighbouring  countries.  In  a  second  phase,  the  plan  is  to  connect  the  QCI  network  via  an  optical 
ground station to satellites. A part of the project features as an investment under the RRP. Moreover, 
in  2022,  Slovenia  launched  the  research  programme  Physics  of  quantum  technologies  in  order  to 
build  a  quantum  infrastructure  in  Slovenia  in  collaboration  with  industry,  public  sector  and 
government stakeholders.  

Slovenia  is  very  active  in  blockchain,  including  by  being  involved  in  several  initiatives  and  multi-
country projects. In addition to the formal application to set up the European Blockchain Partnership 
and  the  EDIC  on  European  Blockchain  Infrastructure,  Slovenia  participates  in  four  European 
Blockchain Infrastructure (EBSI) projects that were selected in the Digital Europe Programme call in 
2022. First, the Traceability Reference Architecture Conformant (TRACE4EU) project led by Slovenia 
with more than 50 participating European organisations and companies from 15 Member States will 
design  and  implement  solutions  for  trustworthy  products  (e.g.  traceability  of  metals  for  battery 
production)  and  data  traceability  (e.g.  customer  data  retrieval  for  identification,  and  ‘know  your 
customer’ (KYC)). The more general objective of this project is to create an “umbrella architecture” 
based  on  existing  EBSI  services.  Second,  the  EBSI-enabled  verifiable  credentials  and  trusted 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

organisations registries (VECTOR) project will allow self-sovereign identity technologies in education 
and  social  security  in  20  participating  countries  (i.e.  users  will  be  able  to  self-manage  their  digital 
identities  without  depending  on  third-party  providers  to  store  and  manage  data).  Third,  the  EBSI 
Nodes Expansion consortium aims to reinforce the robustness and maturity of the EBSI production 
network by increasing the number of validator nodes by 18 and by providing support services by 24 
entities  across  15  European  Member  States.  Fourth,  the  European  Digital  Identity  Wallet  (EUDIW) 
will  establish  cross-sectoral  and  cross-border  cases  in  the  areas  of  identity,  signature,  education 
credentials  and  social  security  (e.g.  issuance  of  A1  document  confirming  the  country  in  which  an 
employee currently pays for social security contributions).  

Slovenia  is  contributing  to  the  Important  Project  of  Common  European  Interest  (IPCEI)  on 
Microelectronics and Communication Technologies ecosystem with associate participants (receiving 
aid below the GBER threshold).  

Slovenia  should  accelerate  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure.  It  should  continue  and 
complement  the  efforts  to  address  the  connectivity  challenges,  especially  in  rural  areas.  Moreover, 
Slovenia’s activities, including in multi-country projects, in the development of the infrastructure for 
advanced technologies like semiconductors, quantum computing and blockchain should be sustained 
in order to help the EU become a strong market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

Slovenia has high ambitions for the digitalisation of businesses. In the context of its Strategy for the 
Digital Transformation of the Economy, adopted in January 2022 as a reform under the Recovery and 
Resilience Plan, the country declares its aspiration to make a significant contribution to the collective 
efforts to achieve the Digital Decade targets on the digitalisation of businesses. 

Slovenia 

DESI 
2021 

DESI 
2022 

DESI 
2023 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

NA 

NA 

67% 

69% 

90% 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 

3b4 Cloud235 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

75% 

75% 

75% 

33% 

2019 

24% 

2019 

7% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

58% 

2020 

17% 

2020 

12% 

2020 

12% 

2019 

36% 

2021 

30% 

2021 

7% 

2020 

38% 

2021 

12% 

2021 

58% 

2020 

19% 

2021 

14% 

2021 

13% 

2021 

2022 

36% 

2021 

30% 

2021 

7% 

2020 

38% 

2021 

12% 

2021 

58% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

13% 

2022 

13% 

2021 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

235 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

Slovenia scores well on the use of the advanced technologies artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud 
services  in  enterprises,  but  is  far  behind  as  regards  enterprises  analysing  big  data.  The  country 
scores above the EU average for AI (12% vs. 8%) and cloud services (38% vs. 34%). However, based 
on data from 2020, the share of enterprises analysing big data is only half as high and Slovenia is fifth 
last in the EU. Big data analysis is a relevant basis for several other advanced technologies, so this low 
performance  could  be  one  possible  explanation  for  the  observation  of  the 
Institute  of 
Macroeconomic  Analysis  and  Development  of  Slovenia  that  the  use  of  several  digital  technologies 
and  tools  (e.g.  CRM  systems)  remains  a  challenge  for  Slovenian enterprises, especially  for  SMEs236. 
The  OECD  has  also  highlighted  the  relevance  of  data  collection  and  analysis  for  a  more 
comprehensive  digital  transformation  and  wider  use  of  advanced  technologies  in  Slovenia237.  In  its 
‘Digital Slovenia 2030’ strategy, Slovenia states its – considering its starting point ambitious – goal of 
35%  of  enterprises  using  AI,  30%  using  big  data  and  50%  using  cloud  in 2025  and  to  reach  the  EU 
target of more than 75% of enterprises using artificial intelligence, big data or cloud in 2030 for all 
the three technologies.  

Measures  in  the  Slovenian  RRP  are  expected  to  contribute  to  the  increase  of  the  use  of  the 
advanced  technologies  in enterprises,  including  AI,  cloud  services  and  big  data  analysis.  The  RRP 
investment Industrial/Business Digital Transformation Programme will support the use of advanced 
technologies  in  SMEs  and  large  companies–  of  which  at  least  EUR  10  million  will  be  dedicated  to 
SMEs.  Furthermore,  the  measure  is  expected  to  support  the  Digital  Decade  objectives  linked  to 
sustainability.  According  to  the  Slovenian  authorities,  some  projects  are  intended  to  contribute  to 

236 Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development of Slovenia: Productivity Report 2022. 
237 OECD Economic Surveys Slovenia, 2022. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

lower greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. In total, 23 consortia (each composed 
of  at  least  one  large  company  acting  as  leading  project  partner  and  at  least  two  SMEs  or  start-
ups/scale-ups) were selected in September 2022 and the preparation of the project launch, i.e. the 
signing of the contracts with the leading project partners, took place in December 2022. According to 
the  Slovenian  authorities,  the  projects  must  use  at  least  three  of  the  following  advanced 
technologies: robotics and/or process automation, Internet of Things (IoT), AI, blockchain/distributed 
ledger technology, digital twins, cloud computing, big data, quantum computing, virtual, enriched or 
augmented reality or 3D printing.  

Particularly relevant for the cloud uptake target is the Slovenian participation in the multi-country 
project on Common Data Infrastructure and Services, as part of its RRP. The project aims to develop 
and deploy the next generation of advanced, distributed, secure, sustainable and innovative cloud-
to-edge  capabilities.  These  activities  are  therefore  expected  to  support  advanced  cloud  uptake 
among Slovenian enterprises and Slovenia’s efforts to contribute to the Digital Decade cloud uptake 
and edge nodes target.  

The  private  sector  has  also  launched  a  few  activities  to  support  enterprises  in  their  uptake  of 
advanced  technologies.  One  example  is  the  Ai4si  initiative,  led  by  the  ICT  Association  of  Slovenia, 
which  promotes  the  uptake  of  AI  in  the  economy  and  is  intended  to  support  a  faster  knowledge 
transfer from research into businesses. Representatives from businesses, state administrations and 
research institutes organise workshops and seminars (e.g. a Machine Learning Academy for Business 
Applications),  and  provide  information material  (e.g.  a  guide  to  introduce  AI  to  SMEs)  which  helps 
SMEs to identify opportunities, challenges and the first steps to implement AI.  

Slovenia  scores  fairly  well  in  the  digitalisation  of  SMEs.  The  country  scores  slightly  below  the  EU 
average for SMEs with at least a basic level of digital intensity (67% vs. 69%) and is a mid-performer 
when it comes to SMEs’ share and turnover in selling online. However, the country is in the EU top 5 
for SMEs selling cross-border online (13% vs. 9%) as well as for enterprises sending e-invoices (58% 
vs. 32%). In its ‘Digital Slovenia 2030’ strategy, Slovenia aims at 65% of SMEs having at least a basic 
level of digital intensity by 2025 and reaching the EU target of 90% of SMEs in 2030238.  

Slovenia  is  currently  mainly  continuing  to  implement  measures  that  were  in  preparation  or 
launched previously to support SMEs in increasing their level of digital transformation.  As part of 
the  RRP  reform  ‘Strategy  for  the  Digital  Transformation  of  the  Economy’,  Slovenia  is  laying  out 
strategic  orientations  to  increase  the  development  and  use  of  advanced  digital  technologies,  to 
develop  a  supportive  business  ecosystem  and  framework  conditions.  Moreover,  the  Slovene 
Enterprise  Fund  implemented  in  2021  a  voucher  system  which  continues  to  support  the  digital 
transformation of SMEs with grants of up to EUR 10 000 (amounting to a maximum of 60% of eligible 
costs per voucher) to help them prepare a digital strategy, gain knowledge in digital marketing (e.g. 
online  shop),  acquire  digital  skills  (training  for  at  least  20%  of  a  SME’s  employees)  or  improve 
cybersecurity  (e.g.  system  security  screening).  This  measure  covers  a  rather  selective  range  of 
digitalisation activities, but it can contribute to address the issue that the ICT investments in Slovenia 
are below the OECD average239. So far, SMEs have received around 3 700 vouchers, a large majority 
focusing on digital marketing. The Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia is closely involved in the voucher 

238 The Slovenian target values are based on the Digital Economy and Society Index 2022 indicator data, where 
55% of Slovenian SMEs had at least a basic level of digital intensity. There is a break in series for this indicator, 
therefore no comparison of indicator results are possible between 2022 and 2023. 
239  OECD  Economic  Surveys  Slovenia,  2022.  The  OECD  explains  that  one  possible  reason  for  low  investment 
could be that SMEs have limited access to external funding for investment in ICT.  

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

programme,  notably  it  developed  a  digital  maturity  assessment  that  is  used  in  this  context  and 
evaluated the programme’s impact in 2022. The evaluation will inform the following programmes.  

In addition,  two European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), multi-country projects selected under 
the  Digital  Europe  Programme  with  a  funded  budget  of  EUR  3.2  million,  will  support  the  digital 
transformation  of  SMEs.  One  of  the  EDIHs  targets  manufacturing  businesses  and  public 
organisations  with  a  focus  on  high  performance  computing,  artificial  intelligence,  cybersecurity, 
blockchain  and  robotics  (Smart,  resilient  and  sustainable  communities  (SRC-EDIH))  and  the  other 
EDIH supports the digital transformation of SMEs in the manufacturing, agrifood, health and tourism 
sector  via  several  advanced  technologies  (Digital  Emergency  Response  for  Slovenia  (EDIH  DIGI-SI)). 
Another additional EDIH proposal received a Seal of Excellence  (Public, Private, People, Partnership 
Digital Innovation Hub (4PDIH)) and will support industry, public administration and communities in 
building digital skills and innovative processes. Examples of concrete activities proposed by the EDIHs 
are  ‘test  before  invest’,  short-term  advanced  digital  courses  and  training  and  network  building 
occasions. The EDIHs are part of a European network which will soon include over 200 hubs covering 
all EU regions (plus Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein), sectors and technologies. 

In  addition,  the  private  sector  launched  some  activities  to  support  companies  in  their  digital 
transformation.  For  example,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Industry  and  the  ICT  Association  of 
Slovenia  organise  the  annual  GoDigital  conference.  The  2022  conference  focussed  on  the 
opportunities and success factors for the digital and green transition. As part of the conference, an 
expert  panel  selected  the  best  digital  project  of  the  year  for  the  GoDigitalAward.  The  winner 
produces mobile homes and buildings and won the award because of the IT system monitoring of its 
production processes, which contributed to increasing the efficiency of the production line by 30% in 
the  past  two  years.  Another  event  dealt  with  cybersecurity.  Furthermore,  the  ICT  Association  of 
Slovenia  also  provides  training  and  helps  companies  to  use  e-invoicing  and  other  e-documents  to 
digitalise the B2B process via its Centre for promotion of e-business. 
There is still neither a unicorn240 nor a potential future unicorn in Slovenia241 and there is room for 
improvement in the commercialisation of R&D in the ICT sector. The R&D intensity of the Slovenian 
ICT  sector  is  below  the  EU  average242.  The  quality  of  the  scientific  research  in  computer  science  is 
comparable  to  OECD  peers,  but  only  6.2%  of  IP5  patents  (i.e.  patents  filed  in  at  least  two  patent 
offices worldwide, including one of the five largest IP offices) concerned ICT-related technologies – 
which is less than a third of the OECD average. Furthermore, fewer new firms are created – the share 
of  start-ups  (up  to  2  years  old)  in  the  business  environment  is  nearly  10%  lower  than  the  OECD 
average243. 

An additional hindrance is the lack of access to finance, notably equity, for start-ups and scale-ups. 
Venture capital investment in Slovenia amounts to 0.003% of GDP, which is the lowest value in the 
EU  (the  EU  average  is  0.074%).244  Slovenian  enterprises  rely  heavily  on  bank  credits,  which  are 
structurally  not  very  well  suited  to  financing  new  and  riskier  digital  start-ups  and  companies  with 

240 Based on data from Dealroom (date of extraction 16/01/2023). Unicorn is an undertaking founded after 31 
December 1990 which had an initial public offering or trade sale above USD 1 billion or an undertaking that has 
been valued at over USD 1 billion in its last private venture funding round, including where  the valuation has 
not been confirmed in a secondary transaction.  
241 Based on data from Dealroom (date of extraction 24/02/2023). A potential future unicorn is a start-up with 
a market valuation between EUR 100 million and EUR 1 billion.  
242 JRC (2022): PREDICT Dataset: The EU ICT sector and its R&D performance. 
243 OECD Economic Surveys Slovenia, 2022. 
244 Invest Europe May 2022. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

innovative  business  models,  but  little  collateral245.  Related  to  this,  stock  market  capitalisation  of 
listed domestic companies remains lower than in other Member States246.  

The  above  challenges  are  also  reflected  in  the  Strategy  for  the  Digital  Transformation  of  the 
Economy and Slovenia has set out objectives and concrete actions to address them. For example, it 
intends to increase the number of digital patents and the share of private funding of digital start-ups 
and  scale-ups  by  30%  over  the  next  five  years.  The  Slovenian  RRP  includes  measures  that  are 
expected to contribute to this: an Act on Forms of Alternative Investment Funds entered into force in 
August 2022 to improve access to finance and the functioning of the capital markets in Slovenia. In 
addition,  the  RRP  includes  the  adoption  of  a  Capital  Markets  Development  strategy  setting  out 
specific measures to further develop the capital markets in the country. According to the Slovenian 
authorities, the strategy was adopted in March 2023. To improve the efficiency and the coordination 
of  the  Research,  Development  and  Innovation  (RDI)  governance  in  Slovenia,  the  Act  on  Research, 
Development  and  Innovation  Activities  entered  into  force  in  January  2022.  When  it  comes  to 
concrete  funding  programmes,  Slovenia  provided  grants,  seed  capital  and  non-financial  support, 
including mentoring and training, mainly via the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020.   

Slovenia  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses,  in 
particular by quickly implementing and complementing the efforts to provide supportive framework 
conditions, including a highly skilled workforce, especially for SMEs and start-ups. 

245 OECD Economic Surveys Slovenia, 2022. 
246 Worldbank, World Federation of Exchanges database (accessed on 3 April 2023), measured in % of GDP.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Slovenia 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

69 

2021 

84 

2021 

68 

2021 

62 

2021 

80 

2021 

90 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

81% 

2022 

71 

2022 

83 

2022 

72 

2022 

64 

2022 

82 

2022 

94 

2022 

80 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
421 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

Slovenia performs fairly well on the digitalisation of public services. In 2022, Slovenia made several 
new digital services available to citizens, in the category of family life events (e.g. parental leave and 
allowance).  However,  Slovenia  still  performs  below  the  EU  average  for  digital  public  services  for 
citizens (score of 71 vs. 77). The country is very close to the EU average for digital public services for 
businesses  (score  of  83  vs.  84).  There  is  a  generally  high  level  of  online  interaction  with  public 
authorities in Slovenia. The share of e-Government users is well above the EU average (81% vs. 74%), 
although the possibility to communicate electronically-only with citizens and entrepreneurs via email 
is below the EU average (score of 44 vs. 76)247. In its ‘Digital Slovenia 2030’ strategy, Slovenia aims at 
a score of 85 for digital public services for citizens and businesses and to reach the EU target of 100 in 
2030.  

The Digital Public Services Strategy 2021-2030 is a key measure that lays out strategic orientations 
to  improve  the  governance  of  the  digital  transformation  in  the  public  administration.  More 
concretely, it intends to provide user-friendly, simple, interoperable and secure digital services and 
to provide the public administration with the necessary tools for better services and decision making. 
The strategy was adopted in December 2022 and is part of the reform related to the strengthening of 
the  governance  of  the  digital  transformation  of  the  public  administration  in  the  Slovenian  RRP. 
According to the Slovenian authorities, it will be further operationalised with an Action Plan that will 
include  concrete  measures  with  a  timeline  and  attributed  budget  for  a  period  of  2-3  years.  The 
Action Plan is currently being prepared and expected to be adopted soon.  

247 eGovernment benchmark 2022, Factsheets. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Slovenia 

Slovenia  is  implementing  several  projects  to  improve  its  IT  infrastructure:  For  example,  in  the 
context  of  the  European  High  Performance  Computing  Joint  Undertaking,  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Administration  promoted  the  use  of  high-performance  computing  technology 
in  public 
administrations, including by inviting state administration employees to training courses and events 
on this topic– the project concluded at the end of 2022 and had a budget of around EUR 50 000.  

Slovenia  scores  above  the  EU  average  on  the  access  to  electronic  health  records  for  its  citizens 
(score  80  vs.  72).  Apart  from  private  mental  health  facilities,  citizens  are  provided  with  relevant 
health-related information from most public and private healthcare providers. Citizens are required 
to use a two-factor authentication with a nationally notified eID scheme to get access. 

The  e-health  Strategy  2022-2027  –  e-health  for  a  healthier  society,  sets  out  the  objectives  and 
priorities  for  a  national  e-health  framework.  It  was  published  in  November  2022  and  has  the 
components  governance  model  (a  high-level  organisation  structure  including  national  and  local 
level),  strategic  orientations  for  funding,  user-centric  and  supporting  services,  IT  infrastructure 
including  common  standards  to  develop  electronic  health  records, workforce  with  digital  skills  and 
legislation to adapt the legal framework so as to implement the strategy. Furthermore, the strategy 
sets  out  the  modalities  for  introducing  a  common  electronic  health  card  and  a  remote  health 
framework  (telemedicine),  and  for  facilitating  the  exchange  and  flow  of  data.  The  strategy  was 
developed with the support of the European Commission’s Technical Support Instrument. Moreover, 
in Q1 2023, the Ministry of Health updated the Central Registry of Patient Data with new data and 
functionalities (e.g. integrate demographic patient data, attribute-based access control and national 
language  processing  text  search).  The  measure  is  expected  to  contribute  to  prepare  the  way  for  a 
further increase in the availability of electronic health records.  

The issuance of an electronic identity card, part of the Slovenian RRP, was launched in March 2022 
and was notified under the eIDAS regulation in May 2023. The card is notified at level of assurance 
‘high’ and can be used for authentication and qualified electronic signatures via an eID card reader. 
In addition, the mobile app eOsebna, which also serves as an eID card reader, was launched to allow 
the contactless use of the card using NFC (Near Field Communication) at the end of 2022. The budget 
for the app’s development is around EUR 100 000. The card can be used as a health insurance card 
since April 2023 and this use case is expected to help increase the use of the eID card. Slovenia also 
collaborates  with  other  Member  States  in  this  area.  The  Ministry  of  Digital  Transformation 
participates in the European project Potential, which aims at implementing and testing the European 
Digital  Identity  Wallet  for  different  public  services,  including  cross-border,  use  cases.  Slovenia 
participates in the SIM eRegistration pilot. 

The  Strategic  orientations in  several  areas  that  are  relevant  for  the  digitalisation  of  public  services 
were recently adopted.  

Slovenia  should  accelerate  its  efforts  to  digitalise  public  services.  In  particular,  it  should  quickly 
translate  the  strategic  orientations,  in  a  participatory  manner  (e.g.  including  user  feedback),  into 
ambitious  and  concrete  measures  to  provide  efficient  and  user-friendly  digital  online  services.

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Spain 

 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
424 

Introduction 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

Spain  is  expected  to  make  a  positive  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  EU’s 
Digital Decade targets, given its large population share in the EU, and its dynamic evolution on digital 
transformation. The Spanish authorities have made significant endeavours in recent years, laying the 
foundation  for  an  ambitious  digital  transformation  of  the  Spanish  economy.  Spain  is  making 
significant progress in all four dimensions to address its main digital challenges.  

Spain presented the ‘Digital Spain 2026’ strategy in 2022 as an update of the previous ‘Digital Spain 
2025’.  The  aim  of  the  strategy  is  to  promote  the  country’s  digital  transformation  through  a  set  of 
reforms  and  significant  public  and  private  investments,  aligned  with  the EU’s  Digital  Decade  Policy 
Programme and the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade. 

Spain  is  collaborating  with  other  Member  States  in  exploring  the  possibility  to  establish  European 
Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDICs) on: (i) the Alliance for Language Technologies, to develop a 
common  infrastructure  in  the  field  of  natural  language  processing  and  to  develop  large  multi-
language models; (ii) Genome, to enable effective and secure cross-border access to repositories of 
personal  genomic  datasets;  (iii)  and  the  Networked  Local  Digital  Twins  Towards  CitiVerse  project, 
using disruptive and immersive technologies for future city related projects. 

On the promotion of digital rights to put people at the centre of the digital transformation, following 
adoption of the Charter of the Digital Rights in July 2021 Spain has been taking the lead on this issue 
in  international  forums  such  as  the  OECD  and  the  General  Secretariat  for  Ibero-America,  which 
recently adopted the Ibero-American Charter of Digital Rights. 

Digital in Spain’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

Spain’s RRP, with a total budget of up to EUR 69.5 billion in transfers, contains an ambitious set of 
reforms  and  investments  in  digital  and  assigns  28.2%  of  the  allocation to  digital  (EUR  19.6  billion), 
including an expected EUR 18.8 billion248 to help meet the Digital Decade targets.  

In the context of the payment of the first RRF instalment, Spain satisfactorily fulfilled 52 milestones 
and targets. A number of them were related to measures in the area of digital and notably concerned 
major reforms  and strategies  to facilitate the digital transition of Spain’s economy and society (i.e. 
the adoption of the Digital Spain 2025 strategy; the National Digital Competences Plan; the strategy 
for the promotion of 5G technology; the SME Digitalisation Plan 2021-2025; the national AI strategy; 
and the Plan for the Digitalisation of Spain's Public Administration 2021-2025). 

For  the  second  instalment,  on  30  April  2022,  Spain  submitted  to  the  Commission  the  payment 
request based on the achievement of 40 milestones and targets, including some relevant measures 
on: 1) 5G spectrum and deployment (i.e. assignment of the 700 MHz band and the legal act on 5G 
spectrum  reduction  taxation);  2)  digital  skills  and  education  (#CompDigEdu,  #EcoDigEdu  and  Royal 
Decree  640/2021);  3)  adoption  of  eight  agreements  on  supplementary  R&D&I  plans  (Royal  Decree 

248 Each Recovery and Resilience Plan must assign at least 20% of its total allocation to digital objectives.  The 
plans therefore had to specify and justify to what extent each measure contributes fully (100%), partly (40%) or 
not at all (0%) towards digital objectives, using Annex VII of the RRF Regulation. Combining the coefficients with 
the cost estimates of each measure makes it possible to assess to what degree the plan contributes to digital 
objectives and whether it meets the 20% target. Furthermore, a further qualitative assessment of the data took 
place to make it possible to estimate the possible contribution of RRF measures to the Digital Decade targets. 
The  information  provided  refers  to  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  as  adopted  by  the  Council  before  1 
September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

991/2021 of 16 November 2021 and Royal Decree 287/2022 of 19 April 2022); and 4) Spain’s Charter 
of Digital Rights.  

On  the  third  instalment,  on  11  November  2022,  Spain  submitted  to  the  Commission  the  payment 
request based on the achievement of the 29 milestones and targets, including the entry into force of 
Spain’s  General  Telecommunications  Law  11/2022 of  28  June;  General  Audiovisual  Communication 
Law  13/2022  of  7  July  2022;  Law  17/2022  of  5  September  on  Science,  Technology  and  Innovation 
digitisation;  and  Organic  Law  3/2022  of  31  March  2022  on  the  organisation  and  integration  of 
vocational training. A measure on the promotion of major cultural services was also undertaken. 

Regarding  the  58  milestones  and  targets  of  the  fourth  instalment  that  are  meant  to  be  fulfilled  in 
2022249, there is a wide range of digital measures such as: Royal Decree-Law 7/2022 of 29 March on 
5G cybersecurity; the Start-up Law; the assignment of the 26 GHz band; the release of the National 
Cybersecurity Industry Support program; and the budget commitment of investments under both the 
Kit Digital and Agents of Change programmes; among other measures.  

In  June  2023,  Spain  submitted  its  addendum  to  the  RRP  (reinforcing  its  digital dimension)  which  is 
currently being reviewed by the Commission. 

249 Compliance and fulfilment of the milestones and targets laid down in the fourth instalment will be assessed 
by the Commission once Spain formally submits the related payment request.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

20% 

2020 

3.9% 

2020 

4.2% 

2019 

Spain 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023  2030 target 

91% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

92% 

2021 

64% 

2021 

38% 

2021 

74% 

2021 

20% 

2020 

4.1% 

2021 

4.0% 

2020 

93% 

2022 

64% 

2021 

38% 

2021 

74% 

2021 

21% 

2022 

4.3% 

2022 

4.8% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Spain performs well on digital skills, especially on ‘at least basic’ digital skills (64% of the population) 
and  is  making  progress  towards  achieving  the  Digital  Decade  targets.  However,  efforts  are  still 
needed to equip more than one third of Spain’s population with basic digital skills. Spanish users use 
regular internet (93%) and have at least basic digital content creation skills (74%). The percentage of 
enterprises providing ICT training (21%) is slightly below the EU average (22%) and the percentage of 
ICT specialists (4.3%) is growing slowly in alignment with the path registered in the EU but  is still 
below the EU average (4.6%). The lack of ICT specialists is partly being addressed as the percentage 
of  ICT  graduates  has  now  increased  significantly  above  the  EU  average  (4.8%  vs.  4.2%),  thus 
contributing  to  narrowing  the  gap  with  their  continuously  growing  demand.  The  share  of  women 
among the ICT specialists is at 18% just below the EU average.  

Spain is currently implementing several measures that can further increase the level of basic digital 
skills. In November 2022, as part of the National Digital Competences Plan with a budget of EUR 3.7 
billion, Spain presented the Generation D Pact, an ambitious public-private initiative that is aimed to: 
1) provide a public space for public-private cooperation to boost digital skills; 2) raise awareness on 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

how to overcome the digital divide; 3) make digital skills training and activities easily accessible; 4) 
promote digital skills certifications; and 5) foster cooperation between all levels of administration.  

Some targeted plans have been launched on child, primary and secondary education. Following and 
complementing  the  Educa  en  Digital  programme  (approved  in  July  2020),  Spain  presented  in 
November  2022  a  digitalisation  and  digital  skills  plan  for  education  #DigEdu  that  is  focused  on 
schools and all members of the education community and is based on four pillars: 1) development of 
digital education skills (schools, teachers and students); 2) digitalisation of the Education Centre and 
Centre’s  Digital  Plan;  3)  creation  of  educational  resources  in  digital  form;  and  4)  advanced  digital 
methodologies  and  skills.  Under  this  plan,  and  as  part  of  component  19  (’Digital  Skills’)  of  Spain’s 
RRP,  Spain  launched  two  territorial  cooperation  programmes  in  September  2021  to  improve 
digitalisation in the education system: 1) #CompDigEdu to improve pupils’ and teachers’ digital skills, 
and  to  transform  schools  into  digitally  competent  educational  organisations  (2021-2024);  and  2) 
#EcoDigEdu  to  facilitate  teachers’  and  pupils’  access to  digital means  and  to  provide  teachers with 
relevant training to use them (2021-2025). As a result, publicly supported schools will be equipped 
with  at  least  300  000  digitally  connected  devices  and  connectivity  (enhancing  previous  measures 
under the Educa en Digital programme) and at least 240 000 classrooms will have new or upgraded 
interactive  digital  systems;  at  least  22  000  schools  will  develop  their  own  digital  strategies;  and  at 
least  700 000  teachers will  receive  digital  skills training  (over  80%  of  them  will  be  certified).  Spain 
also launched other initiatives in 2022 to improve the basic digital skills of children and, will in 2023 
deploy a programme focused on people at risk of digital exclusion, including people over 65, people 
with disabilities, and vulnerable groups.  

Public-private initiatives are also supporting efforts to increase basic digital skills in Spain. In the 2022 
edition  of  Code  Week,  students  participated  in  923  activities  across  Spain  (ranking  28th  out  of  78 
countries),  most  of  them  (78%)  in  schools  and  attracting  59 937  participants  (50%  of  whom  were 
girls).  Spain was also one of the six countries  developing the  Code Week School Label pilot and  six 
Spanish schools were awarded a Code Week label of excellence. 

Spain  is currently implementing  and  developing  several  initiatives to  increase  the  number  of  ICT 
specialists, both in the education system and business (upskilling and reskilling), since the need was 
already identified in the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, the Digital Agenda 2026 and the 
Spanish RRP. 

As  regards  vocational  education  and  training  (VET),  in  March  2022,  Spain  adopted  Organic  Law 
3/2022  of  31  March  2022  to  modernise  the  VET  system  by  1)  upskilling  low  skilled  workers  to 
improve their employability; 2) addressing skills mismatches; 3) updating the National Catalogue of 
Professional  Qualifications  to  fit  the  future  needs  of  the  economy;  and  4)  improving  the 
attractiveness  of,  and  enrolment  in,  higher  VET  programmes.  In  April  2021,  Spain  published  Royal 
Decree  279/2021  of  20  April,  establishing  a  VET  specialisation  course  on  AI  and  big  data.  In  June 
2022, Spain approved the disbursement of EUR 87.5 million (as part of component 20 ‘Strategic Plan 
to  Boost  Vocational  Training’  of  the  Spanish  RRP)  to  Spain’s  autonomous  communities  for  the 
upskilling and reskilling through modular training of more than 160 000 workers over the year. These 
training  courses  will  form  part  of  a  vocational  training  degree  or  a  professional  certificate.  In 
addition, a network of 1 500 digital training centres vocational training is being set up within the FP 
Digital  Plan.  With  an  investment  of  EUR  29.5  billion,  1 050  digital  training  centres  were  already 
created  at  the  regional  level  during 2022  and  a  further  510 will  be  added  to  these  in  the  scope  of 
local  entities  with  funding  of  EUR  12.5  billion.  In  addition,  further  collaboration  and  coordination 
between education and businesses would help close the ICT specialist gap. 

In higher education, Spain launched two calls in November 2022 to fund 32 academic chairs on both 
artificial  intelligence  and  cybersecurity,  in  order  to  promote  synergies  between  universities  and 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

research  centres  through  inter-university  cooperation  networks,  as  well  as  with  companies  and 
public  administrations.  The  Uni  Digital  Plan,  which  was  presented  in  2021  (budget:  EUR  142.85 
million),  aims  to  improve  the  digitalisation  of  the  university  system.  Up  to  16  agreements  were 
signed in 2022 to deploy very high connectivity in academic and research centres. 

Spain should accelerate its efforts in the area of digital skills, notably in the upskilling and reskilling 
of the labour force, in particular, in advanced and emerging technologies, to address the lack of ICT 
specialists.  Additionally,  Spain  should  continue  to  encourage  more  students  to  specialise  in  ICT  and 
promote diversity and a gender-balanced uptake of this subject, reducing any possible stereotypes in 
the teaching and learning of informatics.250 

250 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
429 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

2 Digital infrastructures 

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

Spain 

DESI 
2022 

83% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

87% 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

DESI 
2021 

76% 

2020 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

<0.1% 

<0.1% 

14.6% 

13.8% 

% households 

2020 

2021 

2022 

2022 

2a3  Fixed  Very  High  Capacity  Network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

92% 

2020 

85% 

2020 

85% 

2018 

13% 

2020 

65% 

2021 

94% 

2021 

89% 

2021 

94% 

2021 

59% 

2021 

65% 

2022 

93% 

2022 

91% 

2022 

94% 

2021 

82% 

2022 

98% 

2023 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

Spain is making an important contribution to the EU’s collective efforts to reach the Digital Decade 
targets  in  digital  infrastructure.  The  country  is  at  the  forefront  of  fibre  deployment  in  the  EU, 
standing well above the EU average on fixed very high capacity network (VHCN) (93% vs. 73%), fibre 
to the premises (FTTP) coverage (91% vs. 56%), at least 100 Mbps fixed broadband take-up (87% vs. 
55%), and at least 1 Gbps take-up (14.6% vs. 13.8%). Regarding overall 5G coverage, Spain is slightly 
above  the  EU  average  (82%  vs.  81%),  mainly  due  to  initial  delays  in  auctioning  all  the  5G  pioneer 
bands, but has now assigned 98% of all the 5G pioneer bands. Spain is actively proceeding with the 
copper switch-off process, with the objective of ending copper usage in 2026. 

Spain’s share of semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies production is very low despite its high 
importance  for  semiconductor-intensive  manufacturers  (for  example,  Spain  has  the  EU’s  second 
largest car  manufacturer  and  a  top  electric  domestic  appliance  manufacturer) and  despite  the  fact 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

that  it  hosts  one  of  the  EU’s  leading  supercomputing  centres.  However,  Spain  is  taking  steps  to 
address this challenge, including by approving the PERTE Chip. 

Spain is currently implementing several measures that can help increase the level of Gigabit and 5G 
network deployment, notably under component 15 (‘Connectivity’) in Spain’s RRP.  

Spain  is  one  of  the  EU’s  best  performers  in  digital  connectivity  despite  its  large  area  (the  second 
largest in the  EU)  and complex orography; its high population (almost 48 million people) with very 
low population density in certain areas; and a fragmented and diverse regulatory framework at the 
local level (with different planning and permit regulations). The high degree of VHCN coverage was 
achieved  mainly  through  private  investment  encouraged  by  a  pro-investment  regulation  that  has 
made a dynamic and competitive market possible. The digital divide between urban and rural areas 
has been reduced due to the increasing deployment of new access networks in rural areas by both 
the incumbent  and the  alternative  operators, as well as due  to subsidies for deployments in white 
and grey areas. However, differences between urban and rural areas still exist, and the country is a 
middle-of-the-range  performer  in  5G  coverage,  though  coverage  levels  may  be  improved  with  the 
ongoing  700  MHz  deployments.  Market  consolidation  started  right  after  the  COVID-19  pandemic’s 
outbreak and is ongoing. 5G and VHCN deployment continues to be based on private investment but 
is also supported by public investment, mainly RRF funding, especially in rural and low dense areas. 

In June 2022, Spain adopted a new Telecommunications Law that transposes the European Electronic 
Communications  Code  (EECC).  This  law  updated  Spain’s  regulatory  framework  in  the  field with  the 
aim of further promoting and facilitating VHCN investments. The law also introduces most of the best 
practices of the  EU Connectivity Toolbox  in order to facilitate  and improve the rollout of fixed and 
mobile  VHCN  as  well  as  to  reduce  network  operators’  costs  of  deployment.  In  March  2022,  Spain 
adopted  the  Royal  Decree-Law  7/2022  of  29  March  on  requirements  to  ensure  the  security  of  5G 
electronic  communications  networks  and  services.  This  regulation  incorporates  into  national 
regulation both the EU toolbox for 5G security and Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/534 of 
26 March 2019 on the cybersecurity of 5G networks.  

The national regulatory authority for electronic communications services (CNMC) has adopted pro-
competitive measures  to encourage  investment in VHCN, following the measures fostered through 
EU regulations. As a result of such measures, Spain is one of the  Member States with the most co-
investment  agreements,  access  to  physical  infrastructure  is  widespread  and  a  light-touch  access 
regulation  to  VHCN  (such  as  the  European  Commission  Economic  Replicability  Test  for  active 
wholesale  access  products  in  less  competitive  areas)  is  applied.  In  this  context,  in  2022  the  CNMC 
reviewed  the  conditions  for  accessing  the  largest  operator’s  poles,  which  is  key  for  deployment  in 
less populated areas, and resolved a number of disputes regarding access to the largest operator’s 
infrastructures  and  other  stakeholders’  infrastructure  (based  on  the  Broadband  Cost  Reduction 
Directive) setting relevant criteria for this area.  

On  5G,  all  three  pioneer  bands  have  now  been  assigned  since  the  26  GHz  band  auction  was 
completed on 21 December 2022 (following the auctions of the 700 MHz and 3.4-3.8 GHz bands in 
2021 and 2018). The outcome was lower than expected and some spectrum was unassigned:1.8 GHz 
of the national spectrum (out of 2.4 GHz offered) and one regional licence (out of 38 offered) were 
awarded.  Spain  had  reserved  450 MHz  in  the  26 GHz  band  for  private  networks.  In  order  to 
accelerate  5G  deployment,  Spain  has  also  launched:  1)  a  reduction  of  5G  spectrum  taxation 
(introduced  in  Spain’s  Law  22/2021  of  28  December  on  the  General  State  Budget  for  2022,  to  be 
continued  in  2023);  2)  the  Universalisation  of  Digital  Infrastructures  for  Cohesion  Programme 
(‘UNICO’)  UNICO-5G  Redes  Backhaul  (budget:  EUR  450  million;  launched  in  2022)  which  promotes 
fibre optic backhaul connection for mobile sites in areas with fewer than 5 000 inhabitants (excluding 
those  areas  where  5G  coverage  obligations  had  been  set  out);  and  3)  the  UNICO  Sectorial  5G 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

programme (the first call budget was EUR 60 million; launched in February 2023; and the second call 
budget  was EUR 15 million  and  launched in July  2023) to finance  projects based on 5G technology 
that will have an impact in different sectors. The UNICO 5G Redes Activas programme was recently 
published, and will have  a budget of more  than  EUR 500 million to deploy 5G active  equipment in 
small underserved municipalities in areas that do not have 50 Mbps mobile coverage. 

On broadband and Gigabit connectivity, Spain launched: 1)  UNICO-Banda Ancha  (the first two calls 
were launched in 2021 and 2022 with a budget of EUR 494 million; and a new call will be launched in 
2023  with a  budget  of  EUR  150 million)  to provide fixed broadband networks (with symmetric 300 
Mbps  speed  upgradeable  to  1  Gbps)  to  up  to  2  million  premises  located  in  rural,  remote  and  less 
populated  areas; 2)  UNICO-Demanda  Rural  (the  first  call was  launched  in December  2022;  budget: 
EUR  84.4  million)  aimed  at  improving  take-up  of  at  least  100  Mbps  broadband  services,  mainly  in 
remote rural areas by charging affordable prices to end-users and subsidising all installation costs; 3) 
UNICO Bono Social  (budget: EUR 30 million; launched in 2021)  to temporarily  stimulate  vulnerable 
groups’  broadband  take-up  (at  least  30  Mbps)  through  connectivity  vouchers;  and  4)  UNICO 
Demanda  Bono  PYME  (budget:  EUR  50  million;  to  be  launched  in  2023)  to  provide  broadband 
internet access (at 100 Mbps) and related services to SMEs in Spain.  

On  market  developments,  several  nationwide  operators  are  deploying  fibre  access  networks  and 
competing to provide VHCN throughout Spain. There are also regional and wholesale-only operators 
which focus on rural areas. The 50/50 joint venture between two large mobile players (announced in 
March 2022) is currently under EU’s antitrust evaluation and over-the-top (OTT) platforms continue 
to grow in terms of market share in the media and audiovisual sector. 

Spain’s achievement of the connectivity target is well on track regarding VHCN fixed connectivity, but 
efforts  need  to  be  continued  regarding  mobile  5G  connectivity,  because  private  investment  in  5G 
seems  to  be  losing  momentum.  However,  coverage  levels  may  be  improved  with  700  MHz 
deployments, given that the band was put out for tender in 2021 and there has not yet been time for 
deployments to be completed. 5G Stand alone is beginning to become a reality with several operator 
announcing  its  deployment.  The  outcome  of  the  last  two  5G  auctions  was  lower  than  expected 
(especially  for  the  26 GHz  band)  and,  apart  from  RRF-funding  investments  and  5G  coverage 
obligations in the 700 MHz band, private investment is now relatively low. However, the alternative 
fixed operators enjoy regulated access to physical infrastructure, which allows massive investment in 
new  VHCNs.  In  addition,  structurally  fragmented  regulation  regarding  permits  and  procedures  at  a 
regional and local level in Spain appears to be reducing the effectiveness and efficiency of network 
deployment.  

To help Member States overcome their connectivity gap (including for their outermost regions, such 
as the Canary Islands) the Connecting Europe Facility Digital finances projects with a co-financing rate 
of up to 70% (in the case of outermost regions). The Commission has supported the region in taking 
up  such  funding  opportunities  at  EU  level  in  line  with  its  Outermost  Regions  Communication 
(COM(2022)  198  final).  Three  submarine  cable  projects  from  the  Canary  Islands,  which  have  been 
selected for grants worth over EUR 37 million, were successful in the first round of CEF Digital calls 
that was completed in 2022. 

Spain  is  planning  and  implementing  some  measures  to  increase  the  share  of  production  of 
semiconductors in Europe. In May 2022, Spain approved the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery 
and  Transformation  (PERTE)  on  microelectronics  and  semiconductors  (PERTE  Chip).  This  PERTE 
(budget: EUR 12.25 billion) is intended to strengthen the industry’s design and production capacity in 
Spain in order to promote national and EU strategic sovereignty in line with the Digital Decade and 
the  proposed  European  Chip  Act.  The  PERTE  Chip  will  cover  the  whole  industry  value  chain,  from 
concept  and  design  to  production  and  energisation  of  ICT  electronics  manufacturing,  and  is  based 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

around  four  lines  of  action:  1)  boosting  scientific  capacity,  with  a  special  emphasis  on  R&D&I;  2) 
design strategy, strengthening the design ecosystem in Spain by developing fabless, pilots and digital 
skills and education networks; 3) setting up manufacturing plants to produce state-of-the-art (below 
5 nm) and medium-range (over 5 nm) semiconductors; and 4) stimulating ICT manufacturing industry 
in  Spain  based  on  the  assessment  of  industry’s  state  of  play.  Spain  participates  in  the  IPCEI  on 
Microelectronics  and  Communication  Technologies  that  will  promote  a  more  resilient  EU  chips 
supply chain, from design to production, with the aim of reducing dependency on third countries and 
ensuring  the  EU  market’s  needs  and  industry’s  long-term  sustainability.  Additionally,  the  country 
participates  in  the  IPCEI  on  Microelectronics  and  Communication  Technologies  with  11  direct 
participants  active 
in  various  fields  (material,  open-source  design,  equipment,  packaging, 
connectivity, photonics). 

Other  measures  will  be  launched  in  2023,  like  the  Catedras  Chip  programme  (budget:  EUR  80 
million),  which  promotes  the  training  of  skilled  professionals  throughout  the  value  chain  of  the 
microelectronics and semiconductor industry. 

On the target of at least 10 000 climate-neutral highly secure edge nodes, Spain is expected to play 
an important role in the Next Generation Cloud infrastructure and Services IPCEI (IPCEI-CIS), which 
is part of the Multi-Country Project on Common Data Infrastructure and Services, and in which up to 
12 Member States and more than 100 companies participate. This project is to develop and deploy 
innovative  cloud  and  edge  solutions  that  will  contribute  to  building  a  European  Common 
Infrastructure and Smart Processing Services, providing the next generation of advanced, distributed, 
secure, sustainable, and innovative cloud-to-edge capabilities. Spain is also collaborating with other 
Member States with a view to proposing numerous European Digital Infrastructure Consortia. 

Spain  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  that  can  contribute  to  achieving  the  EU’s  first 
computer  with  quantum  acceleration  by  2025.  In  2021,  Spain  launched  the  Quantum  Spain 
programme  (budget:  EUR  22  million)  under  component  16  in  Spain’s  RRP  with  the  aim  of 
strengthening the national quantum computing ecosystem and infrastructure by: 1) creating a high-
performance  quantum  computer;  2)  creating  a  remote  cloud  access  service  to  the  quantum 
computer; and 3) developing useful quantum algorithms to real life problems. As a result, in October 
2022, the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) selected Spain to 
host one of the EU’s six first quantum computers. The computer (budget: EUR 12.5 million, 50% co-
financed  by  the  EU  and  Spain)  will  be  installed  at  the  Barcelona  Supercomputing  Center  –  Centro 
Nacional  de  Supercomputación  (BSC-CNS)  –  and  will  be 
into  the  forthcoming 
MareNostrum  5  supercomputer.  Spain  also  participates  in  the  EuroQCI  multi-country  project,  and 
will  (within  the  EuroQCI-Spain  programme)  deploy  quantum  key  distribution  and  quantum  crypto-
technologies in Spain and, notably, quantum communication nodes in Madrid and Barcelona.  

integrated 

Long-impact  measures  and  a  comprehensive  approach  in  new  infrastructure  initiatives  (e.g.  PERTE 
Chip, quantum computing and  cloud) will further improve  the  country’s digital ecosystem, creating 
economies of scale and maximising return on investments across value chains. 

Spain should continue implementing its policies on digital infrastructure, in particular accelerating 
5G  coverage.  It  should  accelerate  the  setting  up  of  5G  ecosystems  in  cities,  factories  and  relevant 
rural  zones,  and,  in  this  context,  encourage  partnerships  between  innovative  companies  and  large-
scale companies providing the infrastructure to be deployed. Measures taken by Spain in the field of 
semiconductors and quantum computing should continue in order to help the EU to become a strong 
market player in these areas. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud251 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Spain 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

49% 

2021 

39% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

27% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

33% 

2020 

25% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

9% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

68% 

2022 

49% 

2021 

39% 

2021 

9% 

2020 

27% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

33% 

2020 

29% 

2022 

10% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

43% 

2019 

29% 

2019 

9% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

33% 

2020 

24% 

2020 

10% 

2020 

7% 

2019 

251 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, Digital Economy and 
Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

On  the  digitalisation  of  businesses,  the  percentage  of  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity is slightly below the EU average (68 vs. 69%), although the Spanish authorities are making 
efforts  to  improve  enterprises’  digitalisation.  The  percentage  of  e-commerce  turnover  (10%)  and 
online  cross-border  selling  (9%)  is  in  line  with  the  EU  average,  while  the  number  of  SMEs  selling 
online  is  constantly  increasing  (up  to  29%  in  2022).  Spain  is  taking  positive  steps  towards  the 
integration of advanced technologies by enterprises, and according with the latest data provided by 
Spain252, referring to 2022, 12.3% of enterprises use AI and 14.3% use Big Data for internal analysis. 
In addition, the Spanish Statistical Office published that 41,6% of enterprises were using social media 
in 2022. On e-Invoices, Spain’s enterprises rank slightly above the EU average (33% vs. 32%) although 
the data is not updated since 2020. According to data from 2021, Spain is well above the EU average 
on electronic information sharing (49% vs. 38%) and social media presence (39% vs. 29%).  

SMEs  are  particularly  relevant  in  Spain,  where  almost  2.7  million  SMEs  (over  99.9%  of  the  total) 
contributed 58% of total value added (EUR 288 138 million) and employed 8.5 million people ( 68% of 
the  total  workforce  )  in  2020253.  SMEs’  importance  relevance  and  share  in  the  country’s  economy 
means that reforms and investments to improve scalability and digitalisation of SMEs not only have a 
direct effect on SMEs’ basic and advanced digitalisation but also have an indirect multiplier impact on 
other  dimensions  and  targets  (e.g.  the  number  and  quality  of  ICT  specialists,  infrastructure,  and 
digital public services) and the overall economy of the country. 

252 These figures were not included among the KPIs for this year’s report as they do not correspond to the 
period of comparison between Member States (2020 and 2021), as Spain is the only country to have provided 
Eurostat with data for 2022. 
253 Eurostat. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

Spain is currently implementing several measures to increase the number of EU enterprises taking 
up cloud computing, big data, and AI services in Spain. 

Reforms and investments under component 13 ‘Support to SMEs’ in Spain’s RRP not only affect the 
specific target of SMEs’ basic digital intensity but also  affect the targets related to advanced digital 
technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and AI. In this context, Spain has launched: 1) the Kit 
Digital  initiative  (budget:  EUR  3  067  million)  to  promote  scalable,  high-impact,  and  public-private 
collaboration mechanisms to accelerate the digitalisation of SMEs (especially micro-enterprises) and 
the self-employed; and 2) the Agents of Change programme (budget: EUR 300 million), whose bases 
were  published  in  December  2022,  and  which  will  provide  SMEs  with  grants  to  hire  digital 
transformation experts. Both measures could complement and have a positive impact on this target.  

In  addition,  some  measures  on  AI  have  been  launched  recently  under  component  16  ‘Artificial 
Intelligence’  in  Spain’s  RRP  and  the  National  AI  Strategy  presented  by  Spain  in  December  2020.  In 
2022, Spain launched the Integration of AI into value chains programme (budget: EUR 105 million), 
which includes an action line to support SMEs integrating AI and robotisation into their value chains; 
and  the  Science  and  Innovation  Missions  on  AI  programme  (budget:  EUR  125  million),  which  will 
finance  businesses’  R&D&I  projects  to  improve  the  competitiveness  of  Spanish  enterprises  and 
public-private cooperation (a minimum of EUR 20 million is reserved for SMEs’ projects). Spain also 
approved in March 2022, the PERTE New language economy programme (budget EUR 1.1 billion) to 
take  advantage  of  the  potential  of  Spanish  and  the  co-official  languages  as  a  factor  of  economic 
growth and international competitiveness in areas such as artificial intelligence, translation, learning, 
research and science. 

On  big  data,  Spain  launched  in  March  2022  its  Gaia-X  Hub,  which  complements  the  work  of  the 
European  Gaia-X  in  creating  and  coordinating  the  data-sharing  ecosystem  and  helping  enterprises 
solve business problems and create value in the data economy.  

Regarding cloud technology, Spain is investing in both human capital and research, with a particular 
emphasis  on  women  and  knowledge  transfer  from  academia  to  businesses.  In  2022,  under  Span’s 
RRP, the country launched the UNICO I+D Cloud programme (budget: EUR 43 million), which provides 
grants to support innovative cloud computing projects in public research centres and foundations as 
well as public  universities. In the context of the IPCEI on Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and 
Services  (IPCEI-CIS),  Spain  is  expected  to  actively  contribute  to  increasing  cloud  uptake  among 
businesses  and  to  investing  in  new  green-cloud  infrastructure  models  (i.e.  introducing  sustainable 
operating models fully decarbonised with the use of natural refrigerants). 

As regards the Digital Decade target of more than 90% of the EU’s SMEs reaching at least a basic 
level of digital intensity, the above mentioned Kit Digital programme is a successful case not only in 
terms of design but also in terms of implementation and monitoring. All three calls (EUR 1.5 billion; 
EUR 500 million each) have already been launched and awarded: the first one (enterprises from 10 to 
fewer  than  50  employees)  in  March  2022;  the  second  one  (enterprises  from  3  to  fewer  than  10 
employees) in September 2022; and the third one (companies from 0 to fewer than 3 employees) in 
October 2022. Most  of the  beneficiaries  are part of the retail and hospitality sectors and the main 
actions  were  classified  as  follows:  websites  (20%),  process  management  (15%),  social  media 
management  (15%),  business  intelligence  and  analytics  (9%),  client  management  (8%),  and 
cybersecurity (7%). The effects derived from this programme  are not yet reflected in the indicators 
for monitoring the digitisation of companies, because the first call for the programme was launched 
at  the  end  of  the  first  quarter  of  2022.  However,  the  Kit  Digital  programme  is  expected  to 
significantly boost Spanish SMEs’ level of digitalisation. The Agents of Change initiative will support 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

companies  from  50  to  249  employees  to  hire  young  ICT  specialists  to  help  them  in  their  digital 
transformation.  

Other initiatives such as Acelera PYME; Activa Industria; Generación Digital PYME; or Strengthening 
cybersecurity for citizens, SMEs, and professionals; are aimed at promoting digitalisation across SMEs 
and its ecosystem in Spain. 

Spain  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  that  can  help  increase  the  level  of  emerging 
companies and unicorns. In December 2022, Spain approved the Start-ups Law, which aims to boost 
the  number  of  start-ups  in  Spain  by  streamlining  requirements  and  providing  considerable  tax 
incentives. Spain has also launched some other initiatives to improve the start-up ecosystem in Spain 
such  as:  1)  Fondo  Next  Tech,  which  aims  to  promote  the  development  of  high-impact  innovative 
digital projects and investment in scale-ups by strengthening public financing instruments, attracting 
international funds and boosting the venture capital sector; 2) Start-up Acceleration; and 3) Desafia 
San Francisco and Desafia Telaviv. Other measures are particularly focused on women entrepreneurs 
(e.g.  the  Female  Entrepreneurship  Attraction  Programme  'The  Break'  or  ENISA  Emprendedoras 
Digitales). 

The new Start-ups Law and subsequent initiatives in the field lay down the necessary pro-investment 
conditions  to  further  develop  Spain’s  start-ups  ecosystem,  which  has  increased  from  10  to  14 
unicorns  in  just  a year,  between  2021  and  2022254.  Effective  implementation  of  those  reforms  and 
investments will help Spain contribute to the achievement of the Digital Decade targets. 

It is worth mentioning the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) that is expected to 
make an important contribution to the EU’s collective efforts to reach the Digital Decade targets in 
the  digitalisation  of  businesses.  Spain  has  12  EDIHs  funded  under  the  Digital  Europe  programme 
(DEP) and Spain’s RRP, and 13 EDIHs labelled with a ‘Seal of Excellence’ that are funded directly by 
Spain (also under its RRP).These relate to a wide range of technologies and sectors throughout Spain 
and will, for example,  support SMEs in identifying investors; improving digital skills, modelling, and 
testing; and creating an ecosystem for innovation and networking. 

Digitalising industries and businesses, with a specific focus on Spanish SMEs and micro-enterprises, 
will  help  in  the  transition  towards  the  digitalisation  of  productive  processes  and  distribution 
channels. Spain’s RRP sets out a wide set of measures to improve SMEs’ digitalisation that is having a 
very  positive  impact  on  SMEs’  basic  level  of  digital  intensity.  Despite  the  great  success  in  the 
implementation of the  Kit Digital initiative,  the real impact will be  seen from 2024 onwards as the 
software  services  are  often  provided  via  annual  subscriptions.  In  addition,  the  Agents  of  Change 
programme  that  will  be  deployed  during  2023  will  ensure  the  solidification  of  the  digital 
transformation  of  SMEs,  as  these  will  have  a  professional  guiding  them  in  the  further  take-up  of 
cloud  computing,  big  data  or  AI.  This  will  improve  SMEs’  productivity  and  scalability,  reach  new 
markets, and fully benefit from the potential of the digital economy.  

Best practice: the Kit Digital programme  

The Kit Digital programme, under component 13 in Spain’s RRP, is good benchmark not only because 
of  its  outcome  and  contribution  to  the  Digital  Decade  targets  of  digitalisation  of  businesses  (i.e. 
promoting public-private collaboration mechanisms to accelerate the digitalisation of Spanish SMEs, 
especially  micro-enterprises  and  the  self-employed)  but  also  because  of  the  timely  and  massive 
integration  of  cutting-edge  technologies  (e.g.  AI,  cloud  computing,  and  big  data)  in  its  design, 

254 Dealroom.co 

 
 
 
 
 
437 

implementation, and monitoring.  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

Spain should continue implementing its policies concerning the digitalisation of businesses, notably 
it  should  continue  supporting  the  development  and  deployment  of  advanced  technologies,  in 
particular, in SMEs, and to provide supportive framework conditions for start-ups and scale-ups.  

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

Spain 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

87 

2021 

94 

2021 

78 

2021 

72 

2021 

86 

2021 

90 

2021 

NA 

DESI 
2023 

84% 

2022 

86 

2022 

91 

2022 

83 

2022 

73 

2022 

87 

2022 

92 

2022 

83 

2022 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
439 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

Spain performs well on e-Government and digital public services in the EU. It continues to update 
its services and infrastructure to bring them into line with rapid technological developments and the 
needs  of  people  and  businesses.  In  particular,  Spain  performs  well  above  the  EU  average  on  the 
indicators measuring the number of internet users that engage with e-government services (84% vs. 
74%), the reuse of information across administrations (83 vs. 68), and access to e-Health records (83 
vs.  72).  In  addition,  on  transparency  of  service  delivery,  design,  and  personal  data,  and  on  user 
support, the country’s score is also increasing (up to 73 and 87, respectively) above the EU average 
(65 and 84). On digital public services for citizens (86) and for businesses (91), Spain also performs 
above  the  EU  average.  The  only  indicator  Spain  scores  slightly  below  the  EU  average  is  mobile 
friendliness (92 vs. 93), although Spain has improved (from a score of 90 in 2021). Making progress 
with  the  interoperability  of  digital  public  services  at  national,  regional  and  local  levels,  is  a 
continuous  challenge  for  Spain  because  of  the  country’s  high  administrative  decentralisation  (17 
autonomous communities (regions), two autonomous cities and up to 8 131 municipalities).  

Spain is currently implementing several measures that will improve the level of the most demanded 
public  services  accessible  online  both  for  citizens  and  businesses.  Under  the  Plan  for  the 
Digitalisation  of  Spain's  Public  Administration  2021-2025,  which  further  develops  reforms  and 
investments  set  out  under  Spain’s  RRP  in  component  11  ‘Modernisation  of  Public  Administration’, 
the  country 
improve:  1)  digital 
transformation of the State administration; 2) high-impact projects for the public sector digitalisation 
and  trust;  and  3)  the  digital  transformation  and  modernisation  of  the  Ministry  of  Territorial  Policy 
and Public Function as well as the regional and local administrations.  

important  measures  to 

is  developing  and 

implementing 

 
 
 
 
 
440 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

In 2022, Spain launched the App Factory programme for the development of mobile applications and 
services for citizens, thus  facilitating a more fluid relationship between citizens and administration. 
As  part  of  this  measure,  the  Citizen's  Folder  App  was  launched  in  December  2022  to  offer  all  its 
services through a new mobile application (it has already been downloaded by over 1 400 000 people 
and the service has been accessed by 1 900 000 different users). Spain launched two calls for tender 
(budget:  EUR 391.4  million)  in  2021  and 2022  to  improve  Spain’s  local entities’  modernisation  and 
digitalisation,  and  a  third  call  (budget:  EUR  145.5  million)  is  planned  for  2023.  In  July  2022,  Spain 
confirmed  its  commitment  to  launching  an  inter-administrative  digital  ecosystem  plan  that  will 
facilitate digital interaction across all entities participating in the Sectoral Conferences framework. In 
November  2022,  the  country 
launched  the  National  Cloud  Services  Strategy  for  Public 
Administrations that will improve cloud services across all levels of the administration, based either 
on  its  own  initiatives  or  through  cooperation  with  private  entities.  The  Spanish  digital  strategy 
encourages its public entities to use innovation procurement as a means to modernise public services 
at  all  levels  across  the  country.  Finally,  the  nationwide  GovTechLab  strategy,  which  is  intended  to 
incorporate  innovation  and  advanced  technologies  for  the  transformation  of  public  services,  is 
expected to be rolled out in 2023 and the territorial networks of technological specialisation (RETECH) 
initiative will in this context articulate various regional projects on digital transformation. Spain has 
also  developed  a  robotic  process  automation  (RPA)  and  the  Intelligent  Automation  Service  (SAI), 
which  will  improve  the  services  and  processes  of  the  State  administration  through  intelligent 
automation technologies. 

Under the Digital Europe programme, Spain is also participating in several multi-country projects: 1) 
Digital Credentials for Europe  (DC4EU); 2) The European Blockchain Services  Infrastructure  -  Nodes 
Expansion (EBSI-NE); and 3) GovTech Incubator. 

Spain  continuous  to  be  active  in  cybersecurity.  The  National  Security  Scheme  focuses  in  national 
cybersecurity and  promotes  the  cybersecurity capabilities of  public administrations and the private 
sector (particularly, providers of technology to the public sector). In 2022, the government approved 
the  National  Cybersecurity  Plan,  a  new  National  Security  Framework  and  the  deployment  of  the 
Cybersecurity  Operation  Centres  of  the  General  State  Administration;  and  the  National  Cryptologic 
Centre promoted the National Network of SOCs to integrate and coordinate the SOCs of the public 
sector in the agile and effective exchange of information in order to improve capacity to detect and 
respond to possible cyber incidents. 

As regards the target of 100% of EU citizens having access to their electronic health records, under 
component 18 of Spain’s RRP ‘Modernisation of the National Health System’, Spain is undertaking a 
health  data  lake  to  collect  health  data,  from  different  information  systems,  and  to  process  and 
analyse  it  so  as  to  improve  a  number  of  areas,  such  as  diagnosis  and  treatments;  health  risk 
predictions; identification of patterns; and citizens’ access to their health records. In addition, Spain 
has participated in the EU initiative My Health@EU since its creation in 2011. This initiative is aimed 
at ensuring citizens’ continuity of care, access to safe and high-quality healthcare within the EU, and 
promotion  of  a  European  e-prescription 
interoperability  system.  In  the  particular  case  of 
MyHealth@EU digital health services, Spain is the largest EU Member State incorporated into the EU 
Patient  Summary  and  ePrescription/eDispensation  services.  Spain’s  healthcare  system  is  highly 
decentralised  and  access  services  to  electronic  health  records  are  provided  at  a  regional  level, 
although the Ministry of Health  does  provide  harmonisation criteria for national interoperability in 
three  key  services: 
the  national 
ePrescription/eDispensation  system  (RESNS);  and  the  national  healthcare  records  exchange  system 
(HCDSNS). However, health-related data availability may differ between different regions. People in 
Spain  can  access  their  electronic  health  records  through  an  online  portal  by  authenticating 

the  master  patient 

registry  of 

the  NHS 

(TSI-SNS), 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Spain 

themselves  with  a  (pre)-notified  eID  that,  complies  with  the  eIDAS  Regulation,  but  a  dedicated 
mobile app is not yet available. Dedicated mobile apps are available in some regions, while portals 
allowing access to the national healthcare records exchange systems exist in all regions.  

Concerning the target of 100% of EU citizens having access to secure electronic identification (eID), 
Spain’s  Documento  Nacional  de  Identidad  electrónico  (DNIe)  scheme  has  been  certified  with  the 
‘high’ level of assurance.  Related to the  ID, Spain participates in the  DC4EU consortium, which  will 
test the reference wallet for its use with educational and professional diplomas and social security 
documents, as the country is coordinating their pilot project. 
Promoting the complete automation of public services will lead to more efficient and effective public 
services, thus reducing administrative costs. Spain continues to make progress in the digitalisation of 
public services and their usability, quality, and accessibility to enterprises and people in Spain. In this 
regard, Spain provides a one-stop shop portal, the General Access Point of the Administration, where 
enterprises and citizens can interact with the administration regardless of its level and jurisdiction or 
place. This facilitates and improves public interaction. 

Spain  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  to  digitalise  public  services.  Notably,  it  should 
continue to increase its efforts to connect additional kinds of healthcare provider to electronic health 
records until full coverage is achieved. Spain should also continue taking measures to ensure that a 
comparable quality of service and completeness of electronic health data is provided at regional level. 

 
 
 
 
  
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Sweden 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 

Sweden 

 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
443 

Introduction  

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Sweden 

Sweden  is  expected  to  make  a  very  strong  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the 
Digital Decade targets.  

Sweden  has  become  digitalised  at  an  early  stage  and  has  a  long  history  of  high  connectivity  and 
making use of digital tools. As a digitally mature country, Sweden continues to perform well across all 
dimensions of the Digital Decade. However, progress has slowed down on connectivity and Sweden 
continues  to  significantly  lag  behind  on  5G  coverage.  The  population  has  a  high  level  of  digital 
competences and skills, but it is a challenge to meet the industry’s high demand for ICT specialists. 
The  digitalisation  strategy  of  2017  underlines  the  importance  of  a  digitally  competent  workforce.  
However, the strategy does not specify any targets. 

Digital in Sweden’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) 

The  Swedish  RRP  has  a  budget  of  EUR  3.3 billion  of  which  EUR 650 million  support  attaining  the 
Digital  Decade  targets.255  The  RRP  will  in  particular  promote  broadband  expansion  by  using 
EUR 464 million to connect more households in 2023-2025.  

Moreover, the plan includes investments in vocational and higher education of EUR 165 million, with 
a particular focus on digital skills to meet  future needs of the labor market. The  RRP also allocates 
EUR 21 million  to  upgrading  of  digital  services  in  public  administration,  including  a  joint  digital 
infrastructure.  Sweden  has  not  yet  submitted  its  first  payment  request  under  the  RRP.  The 
Commission is currently reviewing the addendum to the RRP that Sweden submitted on 24 August 
2023. 

255  Each  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plan  must  dedicate  at  least  20%  of  the  plan’s  total  allocation  to  digital 
objectives.  To  this  end,  the  plans  had  to  specify  and  justify  to  what  extent  each  measure  contributes  fully 
(100%),  partly  (40%)  or  has  no  impact  (0%)  on  digital  objectives,  using  Annex  VII  of  the  RRF  Regulation. 
Combining the coefficients with the cost estimates of each measure allows assessing to what degree the plan 
contributes  to  digital  objectives  and  whether  it  meets  the  20%  target.  Furthermore,  a  further  qualitative 
assessment of the data took place to allow for an estimation of the possible contribution of RRF measures to 
the Digital Decade targets. The information provided refers to the Recovery and Resilience Plan as adopted by 
the Council before 1 September 2023, without prejudice to potential ongoing revisions of the plan. 

 
 
 
 
 
444 

Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Sweden 

1 Digital skills  

1a1 Internet use 

% individuals 

1a2 At least basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a3 Above basic digital skills 

% individuals 

1a4 At least basic digital content creation skills 

NA 

% individuals 

1a5 Enterprises providing ICT training  

% enterprises 

1b1 ICT specialists 

% individuals in employment aged 15-74 

1b2 ICT graduates 

% graduates 

32% 

2020 

7.5% 

2020 

4.3% 

2019 

Sweden 

EU 

EU 

DESI 2021  DESI 2022  DESI 2023  DESI 2023 

2030 target 

95% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

95% 

2021 

67% 

2021 

36% 

2021 

77% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

8.0% 

2021 

4.7% 

2020 

96% 

2022 

67% 

2021 

36% 

2021 

77% 

2021 

34% 

2022 

8.6% 

2022 

5.5% 

2021 

89% 

2022 

54% 

2021 

26% 

2021 

66% 

2021 

22% 

2022 

4.6% 

2022 

4.2% 

2021 

80% 

20 million 

~10% 

Sweden  is  expected  to  make  a  very  strong  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the 
Digital Decade targets on skills. Sweden’s population has a high level of digital skills. Sweden scores 
well  on  the  indicators  for  at  least  basic  and  above  basic  digital  skills.  Despite  this,  the  Swedish 
industry  continues  to  report  that  it  is  difficult  to  recruit  ICT  specialists.  An  increased  supply  of  ICT 
specialists should improve productivity. 

67% of people have at least basic digital skills,  which is above the EU average of 54%. Sweden also 
scores above the EU average for individuals with above basic digital skills (36% in Sweden vs 26% in 
the EU) and at least basic digital content creation skills (77% vs 66% at EU level). 

Sweden  is  expected  to  make  a  very  strong  contribution  to  reaching  the  Digital  Decade  targets, 
including that at least 80% of adults will have basic digital skills to use tech for everyday tasks and 20 
million ICT experts will be employed in the EU. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Sweden 

Sweden  is  currently  implementing  several  measures  to  further  increase  the  level  of  basic  digital 
skills.  The  Swedish  National  Agency  for  Education  conducts  targeted  initiatives  for  school 
digitalisation, for those aged 6-16. This set the ground for basic digital skills for people aged 16-74. 
The  government  assigned  several  agencies  (including  the  Swedish  Public  Employment  Service,  the 
Agency for Digital Government and the Swedish Agency for Innovation) to develop a cohesive data 
infrastructure  for  skills  provision  and  lifelong  learning  (initiated  in  June  2021  as  part  of  the  data 
strategy).  The  goal  of  the  measures  is  to  help  authorities  and  other  actors  to  create  and  provide 
digital services that empower individuals in the labour market while the public and private sectors' 
competence needs are met. 

Some  private  sector  initiatives  also  support  increasing  the  basic  digital  skill  level.  Several  study 
associations offer  adult  education  across  Sweden.  They  provide  different  courses  to  increase  basic 
digital skills.  

Sweden  carried  out  97  activities  in  2022  under  Codeweek,  with  a  female  participation  of  51%. 
Digitalidag  is  an  annual  and  national  day  on  the  theme  of  opportunities  and  challenges  of 
digitalisation.  The  fourth  edition  of  Digitalidag  took  place  on  14 October 2022  with  1 000  activities 
and 250 actors in 215 locations. Business, municipalities, authorities, libraries, academia, civil society 
and other social actors participated in order to encourage more people to want and be able to take 
part in digital development. During 2022, special focus  was directed at helping people to complete 
new digital abilities regardless of age. 

Sweden  has  a  high  share  of  ICT  specialists:  the  percentage  of  employed  ICT  specialists  in  the 
workforce  is  8.6%  and  remains  above  the  EU  average  of  4.6%.  This  is  not  sufficient,  however,  to 
meet industry’s demand for ICT specialists. 5.5% of graduates are studying in ICT programmes, which 
is  higher  than  the  EU  average  of  4.2%.  In  parallel,  34%  of  businesses  provide  ICT  training  to  their 
employees,  which  is  12  percentage  points  above  the  EU  average.  Sweden’s  performance  is  also 
above the EU average as regards the presence of women in the digital sector: female ICT specialists 
represent 22.9% of ICT specialists, compared with an EU average of 18.9%. Sweden’s performance is 
expected  to  make  a  significant  contribution  to  the  collective  efforts  to  achieve  the  Digital  Decade 
targets.  

Sweden is currently working on several programmes and initiatives to increase the number of ICT 
specialists. In 2019, the Swedish Government tasked the Swedish Higher Education Authority and the 
Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth with proposing ways to ensure access to cutting-
edge  digital  expertise  in  both  the  short  and  long  terms.  As  part  of the  assignment, these  agencies 
started  a  dialogue  on  collaboration  among  stakeholders  (particularly  representatives  from  higher 
education  institutions,  the  labour  market,  regional  development  organisations  and  other  public 
authorities) about the needs of their respective organisations for cutting-edge digital expertise. The 
goal  is  to  increase  access  to  these  and  to  improve,  to  the  extent  possible,  access  to  statistics  and 
forecasts on supply of and demand for cutting-edge digital expertise on the Swedish labour market. 

The Swedish Higher Education Authority and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth 
issued  the  final  report  on  31 October 2022.  The  report  presented  a  broad  package  of  policy 
suggestions  on  how  to  increase  access  to  cutting-edge  digital  expertise  in  both  the  short  and  long 
terms, and on how to minimise the gender gap. The report made a number of suggestions, including 
the  creation  of  ‘Digital  Skills  Sweden‘,  involving  actions  on  education  and  research,  enhanced 
cooperation  between  relevant  actors  and  actions  to  enhance  knowledge  on  the  need  for  cutting-
edge digital expertise. The government is now assessing these suggestions. 

Stockholm  University,  with  financial  support  from  Digital  Europe  Programme  and  the  Swedish 
Innovation  Agency  (Vinnova),  created  an  advanced  digital  skills  programme  on  AI  and  Health 

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Sweden 

together  with  Université  Aix-Marseille,  Università  di  Pisa  and  Universitat  Autònoma  de  Barcelona. 
The aim of the programme is to set up a pan-European master's degree programme in AI and Health 
for more than 150 students, workshops and courses. The project is running from December 2022 to 
December 2023. 

The private sector has also  undertaken a considerable number of activities to address the unmet 
demand  for  ICT  specialists,  notably  with  upskilling  and  reskilling  efforts  by  companies  for  their 
workforce. The industry organisation, TechSverige, has rolled out a campaign to attract more talent 
(including  college  graduates)  to  the  industry.  It  has gathered  links  and  tips  about  study  and  career 
choices. People can also take an interest test and read reports about others who already work in the 
tech industry. 

The  Swedish  National  Digital  Skills  and  Jobs  Coalition,  established  in  2018,  is  a  multi-stakeholder 
partnership that brings together organisations that play an active role in fostering the development 
of  digital  skills  and  strengthening  overall  digital  competence  in  Sweden.  With  approximately  30 
member  organisations,  the  Swedish  Coalition  covers  a  broad  range  of  sectors:  from  government 
agencies  and  universities  to 
industry  associations,  private  sector  representatives  and  non-
governmental organisations. 

Sweden  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digital  skills.  To  meet  the 
increasing  demand  for  ICT  specialists,  Sweden  should  closely  monitor  plans  to  encourage  more 
students  to  specialise  in  ICT  by  implementing  specific,  time-bound,  and  measurable  actions  that 
would  improve  traceability,  evaluation,  and  follow-up  of  programmes  and  their  impact  on  the 
population256. 

256 The recommended policies, measures, and actions in this document reflect the Commission Communication 
‘Report on the state of the Digital Decade’ COM(2023) 570. 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Sweden 

2 Digital infrastructures  

2a1 At least 100 Mbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a2 At least 1 Gbps broadband take-up 

% households 

2a3  Fixed  very  high  capacity  network  (VHCN) 
coverage 

% households 

2a4 Fibre to the premises (FTTP) coverage 

% households 

2b1 Mobile broadband take-up 

% individuals 

2b2 Overall 5G coverage 

% populated areas 

2b3 5G spectrum 

Assigned spectrum as a % of total harmonised 5G spectrum 

Sweden 

DESI 
2021 

75% 

2020 

4.1% 

2020 

81% 

2020 

80% 

2020 

90% 

2018 

14% 

2020 

49% 

2021 

DESI 
2022 

80% 

2021 

5.0% 

2021 

83% 

2021 

82% 

2021 

95% 

2021 

18% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

85% 

2022 

6.1% 

2022 

85% 

2022 

84% 

2022 

95% 

2021 

20% 

2022 

84% 

2023 

EU 

2030 
target 

100% 

100% 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

55% 

2022 

13.8% 

2022 

73% 

2022 

56% 

2022 

87% 

2021 

81% 

2022 

68% 

2023 

Sweden  continues  to  make  progress  on  connectivity  but  is  falling  behind  the  overall  EU  average, 
primarily due to the delayed deployment of 5G. Most (85% in 2023; 76% in rural areas) households 
have access to gigabit connectivity, but the roll-out of fibre has slowed down since reaching its peak 
in  2016.  Despite  continued  high  levels  of  investments  in  infrastructure,  the  gaps  in  gigabit  access, 
especially in rural areas, need to continue being addressed. According to the latest estimates by the 
Swedish Post-  and Telecom Authority (PTS), at most  98% of  households will have  gigabit access by 
2025. However, take-up of gigabit connectivity is only at 6.1% (below the EU average of 13.8%).  

As  far  as  5G  is  concerned,  roll-out  has  accelerated  now.  The  delays  in  auctioning  the  relevant 
spectrum  have  been  addressed,  but  Sweden  still  lags  behind  as  regards  coverage  (at  around  20%, 
compared with 81% for the EU as a whole in 2022) and take-up. Mobile broadband take-up continues 
to score highly at 95%. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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In October 2022, a state-owned operator announced the liquidation of its subsidiary which provided 
mobile broadband services to peripheral homes and small businesses. The impact is expected to be 
particularly noticeable in northern Sweden. Alternative options are being explored. 

The  main  structural  market  development  in  2022  was  that  the  incumbent  operator  completed  its 
divestment of 49% of its tower business in Sweden. 

With  regard  to  ensuring  gigabit  connection  for  everyone,  Sweden’s  objective  is  set  out  in  the 
Swedish National Broadband Strategy: 98% of all households and businesses should have access to 
broadband at a minimum capacity of 1Gbit/s by 2025. EUR 464 million or 14% of Sweden’s Recovery 
and  Resilience  Facility  (RRF)  has  been  allocated  to  supporting  broadband  expansion  by  setting 
specific targets for the number of buildings to be connected every year. 

The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) has during the last 3 years coordinated the State aid 
programme  for  broadband  infrastructure  investments  (gigabit  connectivity).  State  aid  of  almost 
SEK 1.3 billion was approved from Q2 2022 to Q1 2023. The state aid programme focuses on sparsely 
populated  areas  that  lack  access  to  high-speed  broadband  infrastructure  and  do  not  have 
commercial  prerequisites  for  broadband  expansion.  The  programme  makes 
it  possible  for 
approximately 34 000 buildings to connect to highspeed broadband. 

On spectrum to support the connectivity targets, Sweden has so far assigned the 5G pioneer bands 
(700 MHz,  3.6 GHz  and  26 GHz).  The  700 MHz  band  was  assigned  in  December  2018,  the  3.6 GHz 
band  was  assigned  in  January  2021  and  the 26 GHz  band  was  made  available  for  local  licensing  in 
November  2021.  During  the  reporting  period,  the  only  change  was  that  an  additional  2x40  MHz 
(80 MHz in total) in the 3.6 GHz band was made available for local licenses. The PTS also concluded 
the  process  of  regional  prioritisation  of  areas  eligible  for  coverage  obligations  within  the  900 MHz 
band, ahead of the planned 2023 spectrum auction. From May to September 2022, the 21 regions of 
Sweden were offered the opportunity to identify and justify which of the areas within the regional 
territory  that  the  NRA  had  identified  as  lacking  coverage,  should  be  part  of  the  final  coverage 
obligation. 

Sweden has established a national cyber security centre with the mission of strengthening Sweden's 
ability to prevent, detect and manage cyber threats. 

Sweden  participates  in  the  consortia  forming  LUMI  (lumi-supercomputer.eu)  of  the  EuroHPC  JU. 
LUMI has been in full operation since December 2022. In May 2022, LUMI was listed as one of the 
world’s  supercomputers  in  the  Top500  and  Green500  lists.  As  part  of  EuroHPC  JU,  the  EuroCC 
National  Competence  Centre  Sweden  (ENCCS)  provides  high-performance  computing  training  and 
support for industry, academia and public administration. 

Sweden  has  a  number  of  ongoing  projects  to  support  the  production  of  cutting-edge 
semiconductors within the EU. Smarter Electronic Systems started 20 new projects during 2022 with 
a total budget of EUR 6 million in the area of electronic systems. New projects include components 
for  multi-antenna  systems,  front-end  circuits  for  fixed-wireless  access  and  quantum-computing 
components, with over 30 companies participating.  The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research 
(SSF) opened a call in 2022 to establish advanced research centres in semiconductor design with the 
objective  of  strengthening  Sweden’s  status  as  a  country  at  the  forefront  of  semiconductor  design. 
The budget is EUR 6 million. In 2022, Vinnova issued a call for interest regarding a new generation of 
research  centres  where  funding  is  coming  from  Vinnova,  universities,  industry  and  SMEs.  One  of 
several  focal  points  for  research  centres  is  semiconductor  components,  including  wide-band-gap 
technologies. The budget for each research centre is approximately EUR 20 million over 5 years. The 
new  research  centres  will,  like  previous  centres,  involve  EU  collaboration  and  play  a  role  in  the 
European Ecosystem in its area.  

 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
Sweden 

On climate-neutral highly secure edge nodes, TECoSA started on 26 March 2020, bringing together 
the  Royal  Institute of Technology  (KTH)  and 15  industrial  partners.  The  aim  is  to  provide  methods, 
tools and theory for building safe, secure and predictable systems that rely on edge computing. The 
AI Sweden Edge Learning Lab was launched on 27 January 2021. The purpose is to explore distributed 
learning  on  edge  computing  in  collaboration  with  other  partners.  These  initiatives  are  intended  to 
help Sweden make a relevant contribution to the Digital Decade edge nodes target. 

The Wallenberg Centre  for  Quantum  Technology  (WACQT)  is  Sweden’s main  quantum  initiative.  It 
was  established  in  2018  and  includes  several  universities  and  industrial  partners.  WACQT  has  two 
parts:  an  excellence  programme  for  quantum-related  research  and  a  core  project  on  quantum 
computing. The Chalmers quantum computer now has 25 quantum bits (or qubits). The target is 100 
qubits by 2029. WACQT will build a copy of the quantum computer and make it available as a test 
bed for companies and researchers to run algorithms. Vinnova also provides government funding for 
quantum  technology.  The  objective  is  to  facilitate  the  implementation  of  a  Swedish  stakeholders’ 
National Quantum Agenda257, presented in March 2023, to establish common goals for cooperation, 
to promote cooperation with platforms and to foster entrepreneurs in start-ups and intrapreneurs in 
industry.  Furthermore,  the  Commission’s  European  Quantum  Communication 
Infrastructure 
(EuroQCI) initiative will create a secure quantum communication infrastructure spanning the whole 
EU,  including  its  overseas  territories.  Sweden  is  participating  with  quantum  research  through  the 
NQCIS  project  funded  by  Digital  Europe.  Sweden  is  therefore  in  a  strong  position  to  contribute  to 
fulfilling the Digital Decade targets on quantum. 

The  open  call  for  CEF  Digital  in  2022  will  contribute  to  digital  infrastructure  projects  in  the  EU, 
notably  in  the  areas  of  5G  transport  corridors,  5G  smart  communities  and  the  upgrade  of  existing 
backbone  networks  such as  submarine  cables.  Concerning  submarine  cables,  the  call made  it clear 
that Swedish stakeholders have a strong interest in developing digital infrastructure not only via the 
Arctic  (for  example  the  Polar  Connect/North  Pole  Fiber 
initiative  aims  to  develop  digital 
infrastructure to the Indo-Pacific region and North America), but also in the Baltic and the Skagerrak. 

Sweden  should  accelerate  its  efforts  on  connectivity  infrastructure.  In  particular,  Sweden  should 
accelerate  5G  roll-out  in  line  with  emerging  market  demand  and  by  assigning  the  remaining 
spectrum  in  5G  pioneer  bands.  Specifically,  Sweden  should  regularly  assess  emerging  market 
demand  for  the  remaining  unassigned  spectrum  in  the  26  GHz  band  (to  incentivise  and  facilitate 
deployment  of  5G  services  for  advanced  applications)  and  assign  it  when  the  demand  emerges. 
Moreover, Sweden  should  assign  remaining  spectrum  in  the  2.1  and  2.6  GHz  bands  and  900 MHz 
band without further delay. 
Measures  taken  by  Sweden  in  the  field  of  semiconductors,  edge  and  quantum  computing  should 
continue in order to help the EU to become a strong market player in these areas. 

257 https://www.vinnova.se/globalassets/bilder/publikationer/the-swedish-quantum-
agenda.pdf?cb=20230328130156 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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3 Digitalisation of businesses 

3a1  SMEs  with  at  least  a  basic  level  of  digital 
intensity 

% SMEs 

3b1 Electronic information sharing 

% enterprises 

3b2 Social media 

% enterprises 

3b3 Big data 

% enterprises 
3b4 Cloud258 

% enterprises 

3b5 AI 

% enterprises 

3b6 e-Invoices 

% enterprises 

3c1 SMEs selling online 

% SMEs 

3c2 e-Commerce turnover 

% SME turnover 

3c3 Selling online cross-border 

% SMEs 

EU 

2030 
target 

90% 

75% 

75% 

75% 

Sweden 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

37% 

2019 

40% 

2019 

19% 

2020 

NA 

NA 

45% 

2020 

31% 

2020 

15% 

2020 

10% 

2019 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

35% 

2021 

48% 

2021 

19% 

2020 

69% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

45% 

2020 

33% 

2021 

19% 

2021 

11% 

2021 

DESI 
2023 

87% 

2022 

35% 

2021 

48% 

2021 

19% 

2020 

69% 

2021 

10% 

2021 

45% 

2020 

36% 

2022 

16% 

2022 

11% 

2021 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

69% 

2022 

38% 

2021 

29% 

2021 

14% 

2020 

34% 

2021 

8% 

2021 

32% 

2020 

19% 

2022 

11% 

2022 

9% 

2021 

258 Enterprises buying sophisticated or intermediate cloud computing services indicator, see Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2023 Methodological Note. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Sweden is expected to make a significant contribution to the collective efforts to achieve the Digital 
Decade  targets  on  the  digitalisation  of  businesses.  Sweden  performs  above  the  EU  average  on  the 
use of cloud, AI, or big data.  

Sweden already  has several initiatives to  promote the use of cloud, AI and big data  by companies 
across the country. Between 2021 and 2024, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth 
is  implementing  efforts  to  strengthen  micro  and  small  businesses  in  rural  areas  by  harnessing  the 
potential  of  digitalisation.  The  network  of  regional  digitalisation  coordinators,  under  the  Swedish 
Agency  for  Economic  and  Regional  Growth  is  working  to  ensure  that  the  opportunities  of 
digitalisation  are  better  exploited  in  Sweden’s  21  regions.  The  regional  digitalisation  coordinators 
work together and coordinate the strategic development within the framework of regional economic 
development  work.  The  Royal  Swedish  Academy  of  Engineering  Sciences’  has  a  smart  industry 
project  to  encourage  digital  transformation  in  SMEs  by  a  number  of  means,  including  highlighting 
and sharing good examples. 

Vinnova funds innovation in all sectors. Projects using or developing AI are common in all thematic 
calls. Specific calls, such as ‘Advanced and innovative AI’, support Swedish development of advanced 
and innovative solutions in AI. The purpose is to strengthen Sweden´s capacity and ability to innovate 
in the area. The call welcomes well-defined projects that aim at high potential and state of the art 
solutions.  Vinnova  also  offers  support  for  short-term  staff  exchange  for  applied  AI.  In  the  call, 
companies can apply  for a grant  for staff exchange  between Sweden and international partners to 
increase an organisation´s AI competence and initiate long-term cooperation.  

The  Advanced  Digitisation  program  was  launched  in  2021  to  help  Sweden  and  Swedish  businesses 
become world leaders in the development of digital technology in selected areas of strength and to 
introduce and realise the effects of new technology in various industries and sectors of society. The 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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programme involves cooperation between the government and  businesses with half of the funding 
from public funds. It has so far launched 10 calls for proposals with 92 granted projects and a total of 
230  involved  actors  from  universities,  institutes,  and  large  and  small  companies.  Interest  has 
exceeded the current scope of the programme. The Swedish government has so far invested around 
SEK 480 million. One of the projects is a pilot project to set the vision and technical standards for a 
Swedish cloud infrastructure. 

To achieve the target of more than 90% of SMEs reaching at least a basic level of digital intensity 
by 2030, the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) is running a project called Smart Industry 
which  promotes  the  digitalisation  of  SMEs  and  helps  strengthening  Swedish 
industry's 
competitiveness and green transition. The project started in 2016 and will run until 2024.  

A combination of funds from DIGITAL and ERDF has been identified by the government as a possible 
co-financing response for the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH). During the year, the Swedish 
Agency  for  Economic  and  Regional  Growth  has  worked  with  the  regions,  primarily  through  the 
digitalisation  coordinators,  but  also  via  the  forums  that  the  Swedish  Agency  for  Economic  and 
Regional Growth has at its disposal, including regional dialogues. To make co-financing with the ERDF 
possible,  the  Swedish  Agency  for  Economic  and  Regional  Growth  has  ensured  that  the  application 
and decision processes are suited to handle applications with co-financing from DIGITAL. 

Sweden  is  one  of  the  frontrunners  in  the  EU  in  the  number  of  unicorns.  To  further  increase  the 
number  of  unicorns  in  the  EU,  Vinnova  and  Formas  are  financing  17  strategic  innovation 
programmes. Through cooperation in areas that are strategically important  for Sweden, conditions 
are created for sustainable solutions to address global societal challenges and increased international 
competitiveness. As part of the programmes, companies, academia and organisations jointly develop 
the  sustainable  products  and  services  of  the  future.  In  September  2021,  the  government  tasked 
Vinnova and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth with developing the conditions 
for  research-intensive  companies  with  long  development  cycles  to  grow  in  Sweden.  The  report 
showed that, although access to capital is relatively good for Swedish start-ups in general, financing 
is  still  a  challenge  for  deep  tech  start-ups.  One  key  recommendation  from  the  report  was  to 
strengthen access to capital for deep tech start-ups. 

Sweden  should  continue  implementing  its  policies  in  the  area  of  digitalisation  of  businesses.  In 
particular,  Sweden  should  continue  to  support  the  development  and  deployment  of  advanced 
technologies, including AI/big data/cloud computing, in particular by participating in relevant multi-
country projects. 

 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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4 Digitalisation of public services  

4a1 e-Government users 

% internet users 

4a2 Digital public services for citizens 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a3 Digital public services for businesses 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a4 Pre-filled forms 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a5  Transparency  of  service  delivery,  design  and 
personal data 

NA 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a6 User support 

Score (0 to 100) 

4a7 Mobile friendliness 

Score (0 to 100) 

4b1 Access to e-health records 

Score (0 to 100) 

NA 

NA 

NA 

Sweden 

DESI 
2021 

NA 

DESI 
2022 

NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

85 

2021 

88 

2021 

85 

2021 

63 

2021 

77 

2021 

100 

2021 

NA 

EU 

DESI 
2023 

74% 

2022 

77 

2022 

84 

2022 

68 

2022 

65 

2022 

84 

2022 

93 

2022 

72 

2022 

DESI 
2023 

96% 

2022 

88 

2022 

88 

2022 

86 

2022 

66 

2022 

79 

2022 

100 

2022 

70 

2022 

EU 

2030 
target 

100 

100 

100 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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Sweden scores  above  average in  terms  of  online  provision  of  key  public services  for citizens  and 
businesses. Most public administrations are offering online interactions. There is guidance for user-
driven  development  that  has  been  developed  to  support  public  organisations.  The  guidance 
describes  how  an  organisation  can  identify,  analyse  and  evaluate  needs,  also  when  they  extend 
across organisational boundaries. 

Sweden is already a strong performer on innovation procurement of digital solutions (3rd in the EU). 
The national digital strategy promotes innovation procurement as a key tool that public authorities 
should  use  to  drive  the  digital  transformation.  The  level  of  investments  in  transformative  digital 
technologies,  including  those  that  are  new  to  the market,  is well  above  the EU  average.  However, 
Sweden  could  benefit  from  higher  investment  levels,  both  in  R&D  procurements  and  in  public 
procurements  that  focus  on  the  adoption  of  innovative  ICT  solutions.  This  would  help  further 
accelerate the adoption of advanced digital solutions in public services (such as AI / big data, virtual 
reality / metaverse, robotics, HPC, blockchain etc). Tackling this challenge is key to offer top quality 
public  services  with  a  rich  set  of  functionalities  that  enable  interaction  in  a  more  efficient  and 
personalised way. 

GovTech Sweden is an exchange platform for ideas and innovations to secure and increase societal 
value in the digital transformation. GovTech Sweden has increased its efforts to make better use of 
innovation procurement in public procurement procedures to allow start-ups and innovative SMEs to 
compete with larger private-sector actors.  

JobTech Development  is  the  Swedish  public  employment  service's  investment  in  a  sustainable  and 
common infrastructure for digital matching services in Sweden. It is based on the idea of fewer silos 

 
 
 
 
 
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Digital Decade Country Report 2023 
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and  more  common  technical  solutions  and  standards.  In  collaboration  with  others,  the  idea  is  to 
contribute  to  innovation  and  sustainable  solutions  that  are  easy  for  everyone  to  use.  At  Jobtech 
Development,  actors  from  the  private  and  public  sector  gather  in  an  open  digital  ecosystem  to 
collaborate  and  share  data.  The  ecosystem  currently  has  around 200  companies  and  organisations 
that actively share the platform data, knowledge and code that are freely available for everyone to 
use.  

Sweden  currently  has  three  eID  means  notified  under  the  Swedish  eID  (Svensk  elegitimation) 
scheme.  Sweden  is  involved  via  public  and  private  entities  in  two  of  the  large-scale  pilot  projects 
funded under the Digital Europe Programme, with an overall grant request of over EUR 2.4 million. 
Sweden is coordinating one of the pilot projects with a particular focus on digital travel credentials, 
payments and organisational digital identity. Sweden has a high uptake of access to secure eID and 
eIDs are widely used.  

With an eID, Swedes can access and read their health records through the e-service portal 1177.se 
which had 169 million visits in 2022. With a composite score of 70 out of 100, Sweden ranks 17th in 
the  EU  (two  points  below  the  EU-average  of  72)  regarding  the  degree  of  citizens’  online  access  to 
their electronic health records. Citizens can access their electronic health records (Journalen) online 
via 1177.se, and the dedicated mobile app, which is provided by the regions that are responsible for 
organising local healthcare. 80-100% of Sweden’s national population has access to electronic health 
records, albeit with some regional differences. The access service is jointly financed by municipalities 
and by public primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare providers. Rehabilitation centres as well as 
pharmacies are connected to the service and supply relevant health-related data for the Journalen. 
This  also  includes  private  providers  that  are  publicly  funded.  The  Journalen  provide  citizens  with 
frequently  updated  information  on  current  diagnoses,  current  and  relevant  past  medicines, 
ePrescription and eDispensation, laboratory test results and hospital discharge reports. However, for 
example, medical imaging reports or medical images are not yet accessible. Sweden has the ambition 
of becoming a world leader in using digitisation and e-health to make it easier for people to achieve 
good  and  equal  health  care  and  welfare,  and  to  develop  and  strengthen  their  own  resources  for 
increased independence and participation in social life.  

In June 2022, the government tasked the Agency for Digital Government (Digg) to analyse and submit 
proposals for the production and operation of a government eID. On 31 January 2023, Digg outlined 
a proposal for a technical solution for a new eID. On 22 December 2022, the government decided to 
appoint a special inquiry that will submit proposals for the introduction of an eID in Sweden at the 
highest security level. The inquiry will report no later than 31 May 2024. 

Best practice: Mina ombud - digital powers of attorneys  

Sweden has implemented a national infrastructure for a standardised and secure handling of digital 
powers  of  attorneys  called  Mina  ombud.  Currently,  this  service  significantly  eases  the  process  for 
legal persons by providing them with a centralised, digital platform to manage and oversee their legal 
representation  in  an  easy,  secure,  and  efficient manner.  The  aim  is  to  extend this  service  to  cover 
natural  persons  in  the  near  future.  'Mina  ombud'  makes  it  possible  to  represent  legal  persons  in 
digital services, thus minimising the administrative burden and freeing up time for service providers 
to focus on their core operations. 

'Mina ombud' makes it possible to grant permissions via attributes so that anyone with  a power of 
attorney (regardless of their role) can assist an organisation. It includes a national webservice for the 
digital  powers  of  attorneys  whereby  users  can  manage  various  actions  (e.g.,  creating  new  powers 

 
 
 
 
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and revoking a power of attorney. 

'Mina ombud' also stores powers of attorneys and allows service providers to administer templates 
and  permissions  for  powers  of  attorneys.  This  level  of  transparency  and  traceability  for  all 
representative  relationships  not  only  simplifies  life  for  legal  persons  but  also  plays a crucial  role  in 
preventing economic crime. By making it harder for dishonest actors to exploit the system for illegal 
purposes such as money laundering or fraud, 'Mina ombud' has become a powerful tool to protect 
the economy from criminal activities.  Its utility and reach will increase still further as the service  is 
extended to natural persons. 

Sweden should continue implementing its policies to digitalise public services. In particular, it should 
ensure that all individuals have access to an eID scheme. Sweden should also increase its investments 
to support advanced digital technologies in its public services.