Connect University: Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 – The Way Forward 

On the 31st of January, five speakers representing key stakeholders involved in shaping Europe’s digital future, met to discuss the Digital Decade Policy Programme (DDPP) for the first time since its entry into force on the 9th of January 2023. 

The DDPP is a monitoring and cooperation mechanism which aims to achieve common targets and objectives for Europe’s digital transformation by 2030. For the first time, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Member States have jointly agreed on concrete objectives and targets to achieve in the next decade, as well as on a governance framework that will guide this achievement. On top of this, they signed a Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles, ensuring a human-centred European digital transformation.  

To kick-start the webinar, Deputy-Director General, Renate Nikolay, and the Member of the European Parliament, Martina Dlabajová, delivered two keynote speeches addressing the importance of the DDPP and the tools needed to reach its targets.  

Ms. Nikolay began by reminding us about the context in which the DDPP was shaped: a COVID crisis which acted as a wake-up call and a catalyst for the development of digital. A period she described as transformational as it changed some of our professional and social practices forever. She also mentioned today’s geopolitical context, with the war in Ukraine: a situation which further brought to the forefront the digital challenges we need to address. 

It is in this context that the DDPP saw the day, she said, while listing the 4 areas of focus of the programme: Digital skills, digital infrastructures, digitalisation of businesses and online public services. However, digital is not only about technology and algorithms, it is also about empowering people, and this is why digital principles were established in the process.  

On her side, Ms. Dlabajová, came back on the negotiation process of the DDPP, which she followed closely as Rapporteur in the European Parliament. She described it as complex but marked by constructive compromises. The goals of the programme, she said, include the breach of digital divides, a more competitive market and the promotion of innovation. Among her many recommendations, she suggested an increased sharing of best practices, as well as the involvement of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the consultation process. Most importantly, she highlighted the need for people’s trust to make the governance mechanism work.   

To achieve the programme’s targets, the following tools were listed:  

• An annual report: to assess where we stand and point to potential gaps (the first one to be issued in June 2023) 

• National roadmaps: containing policies, measures and actions designed by Member States to meet the digital objectives and targets 

• Multi-Country Projects (MCPs): to be implemented through European Digital Infrastructure Consortiums (EDICs) 

The key-note speeches were followed by a panel discussion between three experts in the field, each representing a specific angle. Laura Eiro exposed the Finnish, Member State perspective, Federica Bordelot the local perspective and Alice Albizzati the investor perspective.   

Laura Eiro started the discussion by reminding the necessity of the four compass points, on which she believes we should progress at the same time. She followed with some sector-specific remarks: in Finland, she said, the digitalisation of public services is an area where a big impact is expected. In fact, forty of the most significant life packages are to be digitised, if not automated. The mobility service and logistics sectors are also crucial for the country. At the moment, they seem to have a lot of unused potential and high costs which digitalisation could help mitigate. Finally, one of the approaches of the country has been to raise the level of ambition set at EU level, aiming at, for example, 87% instead of 80% for basic digital skills and education.  

More generally, Ms. Eiro described the Finnish effort as collaborative and cooperative. The first step has been to set up a ministerial working group, to coordinate activities related to digitalisation. Then a coordination group was added, with representatives from all the Ministries, to coordinate the cooperation between them and serve as a contact point for correspondence. The Ministry also opened discussions with stakeholders at a very early stage, inviting them for online working sessions. For instance, they scheduled two rounds of consultations for the compass, one for each draft.  

During the discussion, Ms. Eiro encouraged everyone to keep up the good work and share their experiences, whether good or bad. 

Federica Bordelot from Eurocities, also mentioned the need for collaboration. She explained that Eurocities is involved in several different projects and initiatives, the most valuable being the Living-in.EU community, she said. On this platform, the goal is to capitalise from all the practices that are and have been developed in the years by regions and cities, but also at national level. The results are then brought together and shared with a much bigger community.  

About the implementation of the programme, Ms. Bordelot raised awareness on the need to cooperate within each country and administration to make it more efficient. Moreover, from a city perspective, she explained that we need to facilitate the access to funding and guide the various players involved. In other words, collaboration needs resources.  

If Europe’s digital decade provides a framework to develop further specific actions, cities develop and implement their digital strategies, which can strongly contribute to the success of the EU agenda. It is hence very important to involve the local level.  

To finish the round of discussion, Alice Albizzati from Revaia introduced an investor perspective. Revaia is a leading European sustainable growth investor partnering with entrepreneurs who have global ambitions and sustainable leadership. The DDPP is very much aligned with what is done at Revaia, said Ms. Albizzati. The focus of their investment is coherent with the four compass points of the programme. When Revaia invests, it looks for companies that have the potential to scale. It also analyses the business models and prioritises positive ones, the goal being for companies to be the best in terms of environment, social and government. 

On the implementation side, Ms. Albizzati believes that what can be done from an investor perspective is to create more tech companies in the EU. And in fact, one of the goals of the DDPP is to double the number of unicorns by 2030. She however identified one issue: the lack of EU investors. Unfortunately, the tech industry is growing a lot in Europe but most of the investment is done by non-EU investors (mostly from the United States and Asia). 

The panel ended with some main take-aways. The panellists all agreed on the need for an early and agile cooperation, involving every single actor. They also agreed on the need for European investment at early and later stages, while making sure to respect very concrete sustainability targets. Last but not least, the importance of synergies was highlighted. This is not a one-level exercise, citizens, businesses and public administrations need to work together for a successful digitalisation to happen. 

Participation 

647 people attended the webinar on the day itself

So far, the recording of the webinar was seen around 950 times:  

CONNECT University: Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 – The way forward - YouTube