EU4Digital stakeholder workshop explores national-level acceleration of results adoption

The activities of the EU4Digital Facility are driven by the needs of countries in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. These activities are carried out in close cooperation with bilateral activities managed by EU Delegations as part of the EU-EaP joint agenda. To maximise results during the EU4Digital Facility’s current, second phase, EU4Digital hosted a workshop in Brussels with key EU and Eastern partner country stakeholders on 18 October 2023. The meeting provided an opportunity for participants to review the project results, give feedback and explore how to accelerate the adoption of EU4Digital activities at national level.

Following a successful first phase in 2019–2022, the EU4Digital Facility re-started in June 2022 for three more years. Preceding the annual Digital Conference for the Eastern Partnership and the EU4Digital Steering Committee meeting scheduled for 14-15 November 2023, the Brussels pre-steering workshop was an important moment to deep dive into the six thematic areas supported by EU4Digital Facility Phase II and pave the way for further collaboration. The main objective was to explore ways to accelerate the uptake of EU4Digital activities and results on the ground, especially regarding their adoption into bilateral and national agendas, and to bridge the gap between activities at the regional and national levels.

The workshop brought together representatives from the Eastern partner countries, EU delegations to the partner countries, the European Commission (DG NEAR, DG CNECT) and the EU4Digital project team, both face-to-face and online. European Commission representatives started the session by introducing the flagship EU4Digital Initiative, and thanked participants for their active contributions to the EU4Digital Facility, which is at the core of the initiative. They recalled that investing further in a resilient digital transformation is a top priority for both the EU and the Eastern partnercountries, as confirmed in the 2021 EaP Summit. In the context of emerging technologies and cyber threats, building digital sovereignty and resilience based on common standards is of utmost importance. 

The project team started the meeting with a brainstorming session, asking for feedback on the results and challenges faced by the EU4Digital Facility since it started its second phase in 2022. The team presented the three main pillars guiding the work of the EU4Digital Facility: 

• supporting harmonisation with EU standards and best practices; 
• piloting projects designed to facilitate the uptake of EU solutions, and preparing the ground for large-scale investments under the Economic and Investment for the region and the Global Gateway Strategy. 
• coordinating communications around the activities, EU policies and other EU-funded projects that support digital transformation of the Eastern Partnership region under the EU4Digital umbrella. 

The other sessions of the day served to review the achievements and upcoming activities of the six main thematic areas of EU4Digital: Telecom Rules, eTrust and Cross-border Digital Services, eTrade, eHealth, Digital Skills and ICT Innovation and Start-up Ecosystems. This allowed participants to share their insights and thoughts, highlighting country-by-country and regional challenges in these areas. Country representatives asked about upcoming activities and expressed interest in taking part in those relevant to their priorities and flagship projects under the EU-Eastern Partnership agenda. After these exchanges, the EU4Digital team summarised the day’s main points and representatives of the European Commission made closing remarks.

Next steps

As a follow-up to the event, several actions will be initiated to further reinforce the synergies and collaboration in the EaP region at regional and national level.

The participants will meet again, this time with the wider network of EU and Eastern partner country stakeholders, at the Digital Conference for the Eastern Partnership on 14 November and the EU4Digital Steering Committee meeting on 15 November 2023.

Join us at the Digital Conference on 14 November

The EU4Digital Steering Committee meeting is a formal, by-invitation-only internal event for officially appointed sponsors and stakeholders of the EU4Digital Initiative. However, anyone who is interested in EU4Digital and topics around digital transformation in the Eastern Partnership region will be welcome to participate in the Digital Conference for the Eastern Partnership on 14 November 2023. 

• Save the date and stay tuned for information about the agenda, speakers and registration in the coming weeks!
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• Highlights of the events will be published in a special edition of the EU4Digital newsletter: to receive such updates by email, please subscribe to the newsletter.