It’s all very well measuring digital progress, but how does that help address shortcomings on the ground in Eastern partner countries?

Availability of data plays a key role in the development of digital transformation strategies in Eastern partner countries and their harmonisation with European level strategies. Part of the EU4Digital DESI Accelerator activities focuses on developing a clear and concise methodology for measuring gaps in current digital skills, business and government digitalisation, and related indicator collection in the Eastern partner countries. This will consider each country’s background and tailor the methodology accordingly.

A harmonised approach for digital progress measurement allows the identification of digital skills shortfalls and gaps in the digitalisation process on business and governmental levels. This will help to seek remedies and assess the impact of regional and national initiatives. Tailoring national-level development strategies to concrete data measured in line with EU practices will also help to identify problem areas and supply-and-demand gaps. Although DESI is a composite index, it uses measures of concrete indicators in its calculations; this can lead to the improvement of decision-making processes in specific digital economy and society areas, such as internet users’ skills, digital technologies for businesses, the intensity of digital technology adoption, and digital government development. Harmonised data measurement also makes it possible to compare individual progress in digital developments among the Eastern partner countries and with EU countries.