HOW TO SPEND IT: A digital investment plan for Europe
#AStrongerDigitalEurope HOW TO SPEND IT: 2 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
FOREWORD
Digital technologies have proved themselves to be essential for society and citizens during the COVID-19 crisis. As we retreated back into our homes and away from offices, schools, restaurants and large gatherings, digital solutions kept us in touch with what mattered. They are no longer simply “nice to have”. HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 3
Many citizens, businesses and public sector What we must do is therefore clear. We institutions have made a huge “digital must invest in digital to: leap” in the last few months. We have seen years’ worth of digital transformation in a Make sure we have the data and few short months. Yet despite the gradual infrastructure to prevent, track and treat opening we are now seeing, the economic COVID-19 or other diseases in the future situation remains dire – the worst recession in decades, possibly centuries. Develop our industry into one that is competitive, resilient, green, innovative The investment decisions of today will and secure shape Europe for the next five years, and Accelerate the digital transformation of speed is of essence. For example, before our public services the crisis we knew that 52 per cent of the workforce needed to be reskilled over the Decrease our energy consumption next five years due to digitalisation. Now Promote inclusion and create good, it looks like this must happen in the next well-paying jobs in sectors that have 12 months, as millions have been made a viable future unemployed or have been placed on government furlough schemes. Make sure that everyone has the skills to get a good job and participate in an The unprecedented increasingly digitised society, regardless common €750 billion of their background stimulus package and Connect rural areas into a digital inclusive society 2021-2027 budget present Protect critical digital infrastructure a historic opportunity for from cyberthreats Europe. There is a strong consensus that investment The question now is not if, but how. in digital technologies must In this paper we aim to point decision- makers both in Brussels and in the Member be one of the pillars of the States in the right direction. We want to recovery. inspire as well as put forward visionary ideas for pan-European projects and Announced in President von der Leyen’s Member State investments. State of the Union speech and endorsed by FOREWORD European leaders, 20 per cent of the new In the pages that follow, you will see the recovery and resilience funding must be types of projects that have the potential to spent on digital investments. take Europe forward and help it reinvent itself.
As a continent, we are now weakened by the COVID-19 crisis, but if we invest wisely we will emerge as a stronger digital Europe than before.
Hilary Mine Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl President, Director-General, DIGITALEUROPE DIGITALEUROPE TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword 02 Executive summary 06 Our manifesto for a stronger digital Europe 08
PART 1 - T en investment ideas for Europe’s 12 digital recovery 1. A European digital upskilling and reskilling 15 programme 2. B ringing schools into the digital age 16 3. Using artificial intelligence to predict the jobs 17 of the future 4. Modernising and securing the EU’s 19 health systems 5. H arnessing health data to benefit patients 20 and speed up research 6. B oosting SME growth and cross-border trade 23 through a Europe-wide e-Administration Portal 7. Unlocking open public data to empower scale-ups 24 8. A digital “Renovation Wave” and a modernised 27 construction sector 9. B ridging the urban–rural digital divide 31 10. Boosting growth of traditional manufacturing 32 through 5G connectivity
PART 2 – Case studies 34 Digital education, skills and inclusion 38 Digital healthcare 46 Digitalising SMEs and scale-ups 52 Digital transformation, innovation and the Green Deal 56 Connectivity and infrastructure 66 HOW TO SPEND IT: 6 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Earlier this year we outlined five broad areas for digital investment in our COVID-19 Recovery Plan:
Digital education, Digital healthcare skills and inclusion
Digitalising SMEs and scale-ups
Digital transformation, innovation and Connectivity and the Green Deal infrastructure EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Building on this, Connectivity and infrastructure 9. Bridging the urban–rural digital How to spend it: A digital divide investment plan for Europe 10. Boosting growth of traditional is divided into two parts. sectors through 5G connectivity In the second part, we outline concrete In the first part, we outline the ten case studies from our members of digital investment ideas under each of these projects at national level that could be cross-cutting headings in more detail. scaled up and help achieve these aims.
Digital education, skills and inclusion These concrete case studies are intended 1. A European digital upskilling and to complement and illustrate the guidance reskilling programme provided by the Commission to Member 2.Bringing schools into the digital age States on priority digital flagship areas. 3.Using artificial intelligence to predict the jobs of the future
Digital healthcare 4. Modernising and securing the EU’s health systems 5. H arnessing health data to benefit patients and speed up research
Digitalising SMEs and scale-ups 6. Boosting SME growth and cross-border trade through a Europe-wide e-Administration Portal 7. Unlocking open public data to empower scale-ups
Digital transformation, innovation and the Green Deal 8. A digital ‘Renovation Wave’ and a modernised construction sector HOW TO SPEND IT: 8 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Our manifesto for a stronger digital Europe: 18 months on Back in 2019, we released a set of 22 success indicators that Europe should aim to achieve by 2025. All of the investment ideas in this guide will help Europe reach these goals. In some cases, we have updated the KPIs, or added new ones, to take into account the changing circumstances.
By 2025, By 2025, By 2025,
of SMEs should be using big of SMEs should trade across more of schoolteachers should data analytics. At the moment, than one European border. At the feel ready to use digital only 12 per cent do so1. moment, only 8,4 per cent do so2. technologies. At the moment only 40 per cent do3.
By 2025, one in three Member States should offer cross-border access to
Today, it is not possible to access your medical records if you cross a border.
By 2025,
of people who are without formal education should be regular internet users. At the moment 67,8 per cent of people with low or no education use the internet less than once a week4.
Share of fixed broadband subscription >= 100Mbps By 2025, 35% 33,3% 30%
25%
20%
of European households 15% should have a broadband connection with 100 Mbps 10% or more. Today, only one 5% out of three does5. reskilling in need of workers % of 0% 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
1 European Commission, Digital Economy and Society Index Report – Integration of Digital Technology, 2020 2 Eurostat, Selling online Cross-border, 2018 3 OECD, TALIS results: Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners, 2018 4 Eurostat, Individuals who are regular internet users (at least once a week), 2019 5 Eurostat, Share of fixed broadband subscriptions, 2019 HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 9
By 2025, enterprises in Europe By 2025, all Member States should have updated their should be providing ICT training to
to adapt to the needs of 5G and in line with EU’s connectivity objectives. Today, only 17 Member States have already of their employees. Today, only assigned spectrum in the 5G pioneer bands7. 23,9 per cent of all European enterprise do so6.
By 2025, By 2025, By 2025,
of Research and Innovation of EU citizens should be of working women spending should be targeted using eGovernment services, should be ICT specialists. at ICT technologies. Currently, compared to the current 56 Currently only 1.4 per only 6,9 per cent is8. per cent9. cent of women in the EU are employed as ICT specialists10.
By 2025, every European By 2025, Members States By 2025, Member States, household should have and companies across universities and business access to Europe should have should be completed retraining for 20% of the workforce, leaving only 32% of workers in need of reskilling.
for the most in-demand Today, one household out of jobs, including: data analysis ten in rural areas still does not scientists; AI and machine have this basic connectivity learning specialists; big right11. data specialists; and digital of workers need some form transformation managers. of reskilling12.
6 Eurostat, Enterprise provided training to their personnel to develop/upgrade their ICT skills, 2019 7 European Commission, Digital Economy and Society Index Report – Connectivity, 2020 8 Join Research Centre, PREDICT Report – ICT sector analysis, 2020 9 Eurostat, Individuals who used the internet for interaction with public authorities, 2020 10 Eurostat, ICT specialists, by Gender, 2017 11 Eurostat, Rural 4G mobile broadband coverage, 2017 12 World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report, 2018 HOW TO SPEND IT: 10 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
By 2025, all large European enterprises should By 2025, fewer than have a clear
Efforts need to be made for Small and of internet users should Medium-Sized Enterprises to implement be deterred from online cybersecurity strategies by an additional 20 per purchases due to safety cent. In 2015, only 31,6 per cent had formally concerns. In 2015, 19 per defined their ICT security policy. On this matter cent of internet users were there is a great variance with 72,1 per cent of large discouraged from online enterprises having done so against only 27,1 per purchases because of security cent of small ones13. concerns14.
% of enterprises with a formally defined ICT security policy
72,1% By 2025, Europe should strive to invert the increasing gap of 50,9% cybersecurity professionals that it requires. As of now, the gap is expected to rise to 31,6% 27,1%
by 202215.
All enterprises Small Medium Large enterprises enterprises enterprises (10-49 (50-249) (250+) By 2025, Europe should have employees) saved
By 2025, By 2025,
of CO2 emissions by digitising resource-intensive sectors. According to estimates, of all the material used connections should 15,8 billion tonnes can be in the economy should be cover at least 200 saved from the electricity recovered and re-used. million users18. sector, 9,9 billion tonnes Today it is only the case from the logistics sector, and for 11,7 per cent17. 540 million tonnes from the automotive sector alone16.
13 Eurostat, Enterprises with a formally defined ICT security policy, 2015 14 Eurostat, Security concerns kept individual from ordering or buying online, 2015 15 Frost & Sullivan, 2017 Global Information Security Workforce Study, 2017 16 World Economic Forum, How can digital enable the transition to a more sustainable world?, 2016 17 Eurostat, Circular material use rate, 2016 18 CSS Insight, 1 Billion Users of 5G by 2023, with More Than Half in China, 2018 HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 11
By 2025, European countries should be By 2025, spending
of European manufacturing industries should on Research & Innovation – Japan already leverage big data analytics. At the moment meets that target with 3,3 per cent spending, just 10,8 per cent do so20. and in the US it is 2,8 per cent. The EU average is 2 per cent19.
By 2025, By 2025, Europe should be home to
of internet users should order goods or of the world’s unicorns. In 2017 we were home services across EU borders – last time it was to just 11,6 per cent (and nearly half of them recorded that figure was a paltry 18 per cent21. are based in the UK), far behind the US and China23.
By 2025, 30% of EU citizens should use health and care services provided online By 2025, % of people using health services online 60%
50% 60% 40% of EU citizens should use 30% health and care services 18% % of individuals % of provided online, following 20% the example of Estonia and Finland where almost 50 10% per cent of citizens take advantage of such services 0%
online. In 2018 for the EU, Italy
Spain
Malta
Latvia
France
Cyprus
Austria
Poland
Ireland
Greece
Estonia
Finland
Croatia
Sweden
Czechia
Belgium
Slovakia
Slovenia
this figure was a meagre Bulgaria
Portugal
Hungary
Romania
Denmark Lithuania
Germany 22
Netherlands
18 per cent . Luxembourg
United Kingdom United
European Union 28 Union European
19 UNESCO, Research and development expenditure, 2015 20 Eurostat, Enterprises analysis big data from any source, by Economic sectors, 2018 21 Eurostat, Individuals ordering good or services online, from sellers from other EU countries, 2014 22 Eurostat, Individual using health and care services provided online, 2018 23 CB Insights, The complete list of Unicorn Companies, 2018 © Schneider TEN INVESTMENT IDEAS FOR EUROPE’S DIGITAL RECOVERY HOW TO SPEND IT: 14 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Digital education, skills and inclusion HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 15
According to European Commission figures, 42 per cent of European adults do not have basic digital skills. In addition, 52 per cent of the workforce need reskilling due to changes in the job market. At the same time, there are hundreds of thousands of unfilled vacancies for ICT professionals in Europe.
As highlighted in the European Skills Agenda and the Digital Education Action Plan, Member States and the relevant local authorities should prioritise digital skills.
1. A European digital upskilling and reskilling programme
COVID-19 has intensified the need for We also propose to add demands By 2025, reskilling the European workforce. Workers to the coalitions to professionalise 90 per cent of in a range of sectors – such as tourism, management and institutionalise at board people who are manufacturing and healthcare – have level the collaboration between the EU, without formal seen their jobs radically change in the governments, the private sector, unions past few years, and this has accelerated and education providers, and collaborate education should during the pandemic. directly with the “Digital Hubs” being set be regular up in each region. internet users. All Europeans must be able to see At the moment themselves as a part of the future job Another idea is to introduce vouchers 67.8 per cent of market and digitalisation should leave and loans to promote adult vocational people with low no one behind. Beyond employability, training, aimed at employees and/ basic digital skills are also essential to or employers to contribute to qualified or no education empower citizens to take advantage of training programmes. The priorities of use the internet e-government services and participate such trainings should be digital upskilling, less than once a fully in modern democracies. a tailoring to the labour market’s needs week. in each sector and region with proven Learning new skills has the double positive methodologies that would ensure By 2025, effect of supporting people in their maximum effectiveness. Members States employability and allowing our businesses to gain skilled workers, so that both can Part of the solution will also be to and companies take advantage of the opportunities identify, scale up and replicate existing across Europe afforded by digitalisation. public-private partnerships among all should have stakeholders. In “Part II – Case studies”, completed Member States need to invest heavily in we offer some examples. Member States retraining of this area in the coming months and years should dedicate funding to these sector- 20 per cent of to ensure that those made unemployed specific digital upskilling programmes. the workforce, by COVID-19 can bounce back into the Europe’s support – for example, through labour market. the newly proposed European Digital leaving only Education Hub – will be essential to 32 per cent of Several initiatives are already in provide harmonised guidance to national workers in need place, such as the Digital Skills and and regional authorities and promote the of reskilling. Jobs Coalitions, but they are often same pace of digital upskilling throughout Currently an underfunded and understaffed. We Europe. estimated 52 per propose to invest heavily in national coalitions, gathering all initiatives under cent of workers one hat in each Member State. need some form of reskilling. HOW TO SPEND IT: 16 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
2. Bringing schools into the digital age
By 2025, The use of digital tools and online This is crucial to ensure that 80 per cent of video platforms in education have educational systems meet the needs schoolteachers enabled pupils and teachers to stay of society and labour markets, and connected around the world during address digital skills shortages as well should feel the COVID-19 lockdown. For the as lack of technology uptake. ready to foreseeable future, we are likely to use digital see hybrid teaching methods, mixing Retraining school teachers is particularly technologies in-person and remote learning. important, when less than 40 per cent of – at the moment them feel ready to use digital technologies. only 40 per cent However, the COVID-19 crisis is also We must empower them not only to carry do. exposing gaps and areas where on their work during lockdowns, but also improvements are still needed. In to inspire their students in integrating schools that were ill-equipped for technology in their everyday life and By 2025, lockdowns, children have gone many become innovators themselves. 6 per cent of months without proper education. working women In addition, we should invest in secure should be ICT Online teaching is now essential to our technologies to accelerate digital specialists – education systems, and knowledge uptake, as well as in modern equipment of coding, cybersecurity and privacy and high-quality connectivity. Indeed, currently only are vital skills for our children and connecting our schools to high-quality 1.4 per cent of their future careers. We recommend secure broadband and creating the right women in the EU a major investment in the digital digital infrastructure will allow teachers are employed as upskilling of teachers with online to use expanded educational materials, ICT specialists. teaching methods and to ensure that access e-learning, and collaborate from they can deliver digital skills training. different locations. We should also modernise school curricula to include digital upskilling, These opportunities will also benefit the basics of programming and people living in remote rural areas, teacher training and guidance. allowing them to access the best teaching available regardless of their location. It would also allow for the sharing of competences and skills across the EU. Teaching is no longer limited by borders and this could open up a new world of collaboration between educators in different member states.
To this end, collaboration is vital. The private sector, national and local authorities, training and education providers, and NGOs must work together to develop ad-hoc distance learning modules and toolkits for teachers. The digital industry is already helping design forward-looking courses and trainings, as detailed in case studies in Part II. HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 17
3. Using artificial intelligence to predict the jobs of the future
Good policymaking requires a solid DIGITALEUROPE member AGORIA, By 2025, base of evidence and well-developed the Belgian association, have already Member States, predictions to inform and guide policy launched such a project at national level. universities and decisions and implementation. Foresight Their analysis of the Belgian job market business should can help improve education and training predicts that equipping people with the systems, solve current educational right skills can lead to 268,000 vacancies be training challenges, offer projections of the future being filled by 2030. specialists for the trends in employment and analyse the most in-demand current and future population’s skills base. The project, called “Be The Change”, is jobs, including: assessing the impact of digitalisation both data analysis To begin with, this means mapping out in terms of the number of emerging and scientists; AI and vital skills needs at different levels and disappearing jobs and of the evolving machine learning for different roles. This mapping should skillsets people need to navigate an be conducted on a regional basis, to evolving labour market. The algorithmic specialists; big ensure a useful level of detail. Based model behind the analysis allows to data specialists; on this wealth of evidence, we can then predict the impact of policy and social and digital define what technology investments and measures on the shape of Belgian labour transformation large-scale training facilities are needed market. managers. to provide those skills across a number of sectors, in both cities and rural areas. More than 80 companies have already signed up to the “Be The Change” charter, By 2025, We therefore recommend that the pledging to adapt the management of enterprises in Commission coordinates an AI-powered their human resources to the challenges of Europe should skills forecasting project covering all tomorrow's labour market. be providing Member States. This would look at ICT training to potential job disruption and the future job In addition to the study and the pledge, 70 per cent of markets and be based on methodologies “Be The Change” offers the DigiSkills their employees. already in place. The method and Passport, a tool providing every individual algorithms can be adapted to each with insights on the digital skills and the Today, only country and sector to take into account training pathway linked to their unique 23.9 per cent different circumstances. needs and ambitions. of all European enterprises do so. HOW TO SPEND IT: 18 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Digital healthcare HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 19
Digital connectivity and tools have been instrumental in providing and expanding vital healthcare during the COVID-19 health crisis. Now is the time to build on and accelerate the digitisation we have started during the pandemic. This will ensure the resilience and preparedness of our healthcare systems for this and future crises, but it will equally address pre-existing challenges and create new opportunities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the lack of investment in and adoption of digital health solutions in Europe, leaving the potential of health data untapped and making health systems and organisations more vulnerable to crises.
4. Modernising and securing the EU’s health systems
It is key for the EU to invest in digital The future viability of our health By 2025, tools and equipment to modernise systems will also need digital-savvy 60 per cent of EU and secure its health systems. doctors, nurses and clinical staff in citizens should Spending on software, databases general. use health and and ICT services in healthcare has been modest for far too long Strengthening telehealth is also vital care services compared to other sectors. This must to ensure that everyone – especially provided online, change quickly if we want to achieve those in rural areas, vulnerable groups, following the long-term sustainability, security, and the elderly – can benefit from example of accessibility, and resilience in our continuity of care, even in times of Estonia and health systems. pandemics and lockdowns. Finland where almost 50 per Digitalising hospitals – for instance, New technologies – such as AI – by moving to a digital documentation will also play an important role in cent of citizens system and integrating data into improving diagnostics and treatment. take advantage it – is crucial to enable a systemic New excellence centres across the EU of such services approach to mitigate cross-border should partner with healthcare actors online. In 2018 for health threats to the Union. This must to test AI solutions in real operational the EU, this figure go hand in hand with a digital skill environments. was a meagre 18 programme targeted at healthcare professionals and with appropriate per cent. investments in digital equipment for medical facilities. Up to 70 per cent of health professionals report not using digital solutions due to gaps in knowledge and skills in data analytics. HOW TO SPEND IT: 20 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
5. Harnessing health data to benefit patients and speed up research
By 2025, Health systems now produce as much as Harnessing health data will also benefit one in three 30 per cent of the world’s stored data. researchers from the public and private Member States Unfortunately, much of it is paper-based sectors, who need quick and safe access and remains siloed in hospitals and other to this data to develop treatments and should offer specific organisations. It is also exposed vaccines, as the COVID-19 pandemic has cross-border to data breaches and ransomware highlighted. access to attacks with a significant privacy impact electronic health on patients and financial impact on The digital technology for moving to records. Today, our hospitals. As well as a bold legal a paperless environment is there, but it is not possible framework supported by Member States, adoption of electronic health records to access your investment is needed to digitise, connect stands at just 3 per cent in Europe. and secure these disparate data systems. Similarly, investment in secure software medical records applications in healthcare is insufficient if you cross a Investment will also be needed for a and trails that of many other sectors. border. pan-European health data infrastructure. Electronic health records are at the core of a patient-centred, interoperable, trust-based Common European Health Data Space that will propel the EU towards new predictive and preventative models of care. © UnitedHealth© Group HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 21 HOW TO SPEND IT: 22 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Digitalising SMEs and scale-ups HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 23
As the backbone of the European economy and one of the hardest-hit sectors by the COVID-19 crisis, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need specific support. The digitisation of SMEs can enable them to move their activities online and maintain operations in case of future lockdowns. As in previous crises, those companies that could adapt their business swiftly with the help of secure digital technologies are the most likely to survive. Streamlining processes and moving away from paper can also save costs and help businesses to expand.
6. Boosting SME growth and cross-border trade through a Europe-wide e-Administration Portal
Excessive paperwork is a huge problem This can be done by defining a standard By 2025, for smaller and medium-sized companies. for electronic receipts and by investing 75 per cent Manually entering receipts into the into structures for conveying structural of EU citizens accounts system, filling out invoices and economic information. This information should be using reporting to authorities are arduous and forms a basis for automated collection time-consuming tasks and stop smaller of taxes and dramatically reduces the eGovernment businesses from being more productive. administrative burden both on the public services, sector and on companies. Datasets compared to Only 8.4 per cent of the European SMEs gathered from electronic receipts are also the current trade across one European border, very valuable and could form the basis for 56 per cent. which shows that the Single Market new kinds of economic services. is still underdeveloped. The majority By 2025, of administrative tasks in the logistics A similar initiative is already being sector are still done on paper. This is piloted in the Nordic Countries under 30 per cent of because national administrations are not the Nordic Smart Government (NSG) SMEs should equipped for digital transactions and the project. Upgrading this to cover the whole trade across different systems that do exist are not continent would strengthen the European more than one interoperable. Single Market and help companies gain European border millions in productivity. - at the moment Europe already has a standard for electronic invoice. The next logical step Standardised structured financial only 8.4 per cent is to launch a project for a wholly digital information and the relevant sharing do so. economy for business data. This would infrastructure will especially help allow real-time information about cross-border trade and operations of cashflow and could automatise reporting SME companies. According to the NSG to authorities and creditors. evaluation, two million Nordic SMEs could save €500 million by 2025, by switching We propose a Europe-wide to completely digitalised business e-administration portal to ensure that information and administration. smaller businesses can take advantage of new technologies and free up resources to drive their businesses forward. HOW TO SPEND IT: 24 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
7. Unlocking open public data to empower scale-ups
By 2025, 50 Open public data has huge potential Furthermore, over one million Europeans per cent of to transform sectors across our whole are already employed in generating, SMEs should be economy: from energy production and providing, aggregating, re-using, and consumption, to transport and mobility, enriching open data. This could rise to two using big data to water and waste management, to million within five years – and only covers analytics. At the agriculture. those directly employed. moment, only 12 per cent do so. Today it is primarily larger companies But we’ve barely scratched the surface that have the resources to most benefit of what releasing public data can By 2025, Europe from data. Harnessing data can be a achieve. Much of it is still trapped in siloes should be home gamechanger for smaller companies across different institutions, sometimes looking to grow quickly and be the next unreadable or in the wrong formats. To to 25 per cent European unicorns. Areas as diverse as make European data spaces a reality, of the world’s transport, farming and retail could see we first need data that is rightly labelled, unicorns. In 2017 15.7 per cent growth if they use open annotated, and interoperable – meaning we were home data. that it is easily comprehensible to all to just 11.6 per researchers and companies from across cent (and nearly Back in 2003, the European Union Europe, no matter their size. made its first strides towards releasing half of them are the potential of the huge quantities EU funds from national recovery and based in the UK), of data held by public institutions; this resilience funds, as well as the Digital far behind the became in 2013 the Open Data Directive, Europe programme, could be spent on US and China. complemented today with the EU Data giving public authorities the resources Portal, a great resource acting as a they need to make their data usable repository for all this information. and secure at EU level. This will boost scalability and growth for hundreds of thousands of SMEs and scale-ups.
Open data for smarter, greener cities
Use of data and data-driven technologies offers a powerful solution to manage essential resources such as energy and water: that’s why all urban planning should be “smart”, i.e., leverage data to make traditional networks, infrastructure and services more efficient. In 2050, two-thirds of the world population will live in towns, consuming over 70 per cent of energy and emitting roughly the same proportion of greenhouse gases. As city populations grow, demand for services but also pressure on resources will increase.
HOW TO SPEND IT: 26 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Digital transformation, innovation, and the Green Deal HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 27
Digital has enormous enabling potential to facilitate the EU’s transition to a low carbon circular economy. According to a recent study, digital technologies have the potential to enable a 20 per cent reduction of global CO2 emissions by 2030, in particular in traditional sectors like energy, transport, construction, agriculture and manufacturing. That is ten times more than we produce as a sector.
Policymakers should mainstream digital in public investments, such as in cities and infrastructure, to support innovation and the transition to a more productive and sustainable economy. For instance, investments from public authorities in transport and urban planning should also be “smart” – i.e. digitalised.
One way to encourage industry-wide change would be a public-private partnership aimed at establishing a “digital lighthouse factory” in every traditional industry sector, from cement production to electronics manufacturing. Such a real-life, entirely digitised production site would not only demonstrate the potential of existing, commercially available technologies; it should also serve as vocational training centres and as research sites for academic and private partners, in particular start-ups, to learn and replicate innovative production methods.
8. A digital “Renovation Wave” and a By 2025, Europe should have modernised construction sector saved 26 billion
tonnes of CO2 One particular sector that will greatly Newer buildings must be constructed emissions by benefit from digital investments is the according to minimum requirements, but digitalising construction sector, as acknowledged by older buildings still represent the majority resource- the Commission in its “Renovation Wave”, of the building stock. There is therefore intensive sectors. which aims to upgrade Europe’s buildings huge potential to reduce emissions, create According to with digital energy-saving solutions. comfortable and healthy living spaces, estimates, 15.8 and improve citizens’ quality of life by On average, people spend 80 per cent of digitally upgrading the existing stock of billion tonnes can their lives inside a building. Construction buildings. be saved from is an essential sector, yet it requires the electricity substantial spending to fabricate, maintain Through a network of sensors, smart sector, 9.9 billion and renovate buildings. Digital technologies meters, edge computing and energy tonnes from the such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI management systems, management of logistics sector, will radically change the way we monitor heating, cooling and ventilation systems and manage our building stock. can be optimised to ensure maximum and 540 million efficiency. Similar projects have seen tonnes from The construction sector is also a pillar of reductions of energy needs of over 15 per the automotive the EU economy. It provides 18 million cent, as well as improving quality of life sector alone. direct jobs and contributes to about 9 for citizens (see, for example, Panasonic’s per cent of the EU’s GDP. Yet buildings “Future Living Berlin” and Schneider By 2025, 15 per generate about 40 per cent of the EU’s Electric's smart warehouse). cent of all the energy consumption and 36 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions. The public sector must lead by example. material used Many Member States have not yet in the economy Around three quarters of greenhouse presented their long-term renovation should be gases emitted by buildings are caused strategies under the revised Energy recovered and by their heating and cooling systems. Performance of Buildings Directive. While re-used. Today The main reason for this large carbon required budgets will be large, there is it is only the case footprint is that the energy performance great potential for the mobilisation of of our buildings remains far too low. private investments. for 11.7 per cent. HOW TO SPEND IT: 28 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
The Recovery Fund will be instrumental Why stop at renovation? in allocating extra spending to retrofit older, publicly-owned buildings such as Construction is the least digitised sector social housing, schools, hospitals and town in the EU, and we are lagging behind halls. Digital public-private partnerships North America in the adoption of digital should be a key pillar in such renovation building techniques. When constructing strategies. new buildings, investments should be made in Building Information Modelling Beyond the environmental benefits, these (BIM) and digital building twins (i.e., investments will create jobs for a wide a real-time digital representation of a range of skilled workers, from architects, building or infrastructure). For instance, designers, installers, construction workers DIGITALEUROPE member Siemens is to data engineers and other technicians, successfully using BIM to first develop both in cities and rural areas. a building virtually, with physical construction only beginning after all Digitally upgrading buildings will also save expectations and specifications are met. money for national and local authorities in the long-term thanks to lower energy bills. Studies also suggest that public investments in “deep renovations” of this kind could trigger three to four times as much investment from the private sector. © Siemens HOW TO SPEND IT: 30 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Connectivity and infrastructure HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 31
Given the unprecedented transition to mass home working, living and leisure, the quality of connectivity will be more critical than ever. Connectivity will also enable strategic digital technologies like AI and IoT and will allow European companies to grow so that they can come out of the crisis stronger.
We need to ensure Europe has the right overall connectivity mix (submarine networks, fibre, 5G) capable of delivering what is required in terms of coverage, capacity, speed, latency, reliability, redundancy, and security to enable a modern and inclusive society to function properly, increase its potential in terms of value creation and competitiveness, also in challenging times of crisis.
9. Bridging the urban–rural digital divide
All countries continue to have a significant This distribution of resources should be By 2025, 70 per urban–rural digital divide, mainly due to rebalanced. cent of European the higher cost and risk associated with households network deployment in less dense areas. As remote access to corporate or should have As pointed out by Commission President public sector networks requires new Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the cybersecurity solutions, all investments a broadband Union speech, 40 per cent of people in should include appropriate security connection with rural areas still do not have access to fast measures integrated across all cloud, 100 Mbps or broadband connections. endpoint, and traditional network more. Today, environments. only one out of The crisis has shown that bridging this three does. digital divide is a societal imperative, The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated essential for the socio-economic that the increase of remote work – both empowerment of citizens and businesses in the private and the public sector – has By 2025, all residing outside of the large metropolitan made our society more vulnerable to large European areas. cyber attacks. enterprises should have The EU and Member States need to This exposed the need for significant a clear increase funding for available and investments in security of institutions like cybersecurity affordable high-quality network hospitals, at the frontline of the pandemic infrastructure, such as fibre and 5G, in and frequent victims of such attacks. strategy, with areas where the market conditions are Addressing this underinvestment in critical an additional 20 such that private investments will not be functions of our societies must be a top per cent of SMEs able to deliver such networks on their priority for the EU and the Member States. implementing own. Most countries today already have cybersecurity some level of public funds available strategies for broadband deployment projects in rural areas, but these funding levels compared with remain significantly lower than those for today. other key infrastructures such as roads. HOW TO SPEND IT: 32 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
10. Boosting growth in traditional sectors through 5G connectivity
By 2025, High-speed 5G connectivity will be Smart manufacturing is just one area 5G connections critical to enable smart factories, where where digital technologies can have a should cover at wireless communications and industrial positive impact. Another example is in IoT are transforming manufacturing agriculture, where the same study found least 200 million through hybrid cyber-physical systems. that by transforming the sector through users. digital technologies and 5G connectivity, In a smart factory, almost every asset is we could increase EU GDP by €45 connected: this allows a more efficient billion. production system through a range of advantages, from machinery monitoring Establishing sensor networks for crops for predictive maintenance and and livestock, for instance, will greatly remote-control to real-time supply chain improve pest detection and moisture visibility. 5G is particularly suitable to level monitoring. Bringing a higher this environment due to its low latency, degree of connectivity into the field high reliability for remote control of will also allow untethered surveillance processes, and high bandwidth enabling drones and more efficient autonomous high-volume data traffic for surveillance agriculture machinery. This has and monitoring of machinery. important consequences for the sector’s environmental footprint, as it will reduce There are also social and environmental carbon emissions as well as waste and benefits to be considered, such as product use through greater efficiency increased security and safety thanks and less land use. to remote control and a reduction in energy and material consumption. A more digital and connected agriculture sector will also help support A study by DIGITALEUROPE members rural and remote areas, boosting local Ericsson and Qualcomm has estimated industries including fishing, tourism and that an investment of €12 billion in farming, and helping rural producers accelerating the 5G uptake for smart market their products beyond their production would add €70 billion to the immediate surroundings by using EU GDP. e-commerce platforms.
There are also social and environmental benefits to be considered, such as increased security and safety thanks to remote control and a reduction in energy and material consumption. © Ericsson © Schneider CASE STUDIES © ØRSTED HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 37 Digital education, skills and inclusion
Learning digital skills to re-enter the workforce
The People2Work programme provides The programme has a proven impact SAP training in both digital and soft on jobs and growth. In Germany, for skills to job seekers, unemployed or example, it has created measurable underemployed people, looking to social impact since its start over 20 years re-enter the workforce. ago, with 80 per cent placement rates. In 2019, 21,000 students were trained, and This funded programme provides 14,000 students received SAP software job seekers with certified skills in certification. People2Work is particularly SAP software, opening up new useful as it includes the tracking of opportunities for them to find skilled participants’ success rate in employment work (i.e. consultant, end-users such as records. accountants, HR professionals). It also helps to boost digital skills in the labour The programme has a high potential for market and European industry to find scalability: it has been so far rolled out talent and grow the business in Europe. in Germany, Denmark, and France, with plans to expand to Spain and Greece. The ambition is to scale it across the European Union and to the wider Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
DIGITALEUROPE member - SAP HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 39
Creating new opportunities for engineers in connected and electrified driving
European industry and especially re-qualified and transferred over 170 the automotive sector face disruptive associates to new positions in the areas of changes in the next decade. On the electrification and connected solutions. one hand, new business opportunities are arising through digital services The programme has a unique flexible and expanding electrification and approach of combining theory from automation technologies. On the other e-Universities with practical exercises hand, traditional parts of the business that prepare the candidates for specific are declining or are undergoing a major positions. It is organised in different transformation. modules, allowing a flexible timing and learning pathway depending on the This shift opens up possibilities of new existing qualifications and the needs of career profiles building on digital skills. the new position. Re-training programmes, such as the one Bosch is implementing, will allow All these characteristics make it companies to prepare for this transition easy to scale and suitable to smaller and to help the workforce secure suppliers too, as well as providing a high-quality, well-paid jobs. well-grounded educational model for other manufacturers. Future plans include To counter the recent decline in diesel expanding the programme to other areas, business, Bosch has launched a pilot such as data science, data engineering programme called “Mission to move”, and AI. which focuses on the “shift to software” as its re-training target. Since 2018, the DIGITALEUROPE member - Bosch programme has already successfully Reskilling young job seekers in crisis-hit regions
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis Through ad-hoc intensive virtual in Spain, approximately 900,000 people Instructor-Led Training provided in have lost their jobs, including about Spanish, students develop highly 550,000 temporary workers. Spain’s sought-after cloud computing skills official unemployment figure rose to 3.5 paired with industry-led certification. million. Furthermore, with all training activities being provided remotely, the course was As part of a reaction to the crisis, able to be rolled out rapidly, even during Amazon Web Services (AWS) is working the lockdown. with technology cluster IDiA in the Aragon region to provide digital skills training for Participants in the programme will young (under 30) unemployed people to have the chance to access Aragonese increase their employment opportunities tech companies in the IDiA cluster in the ICT sector. who require ICT professionals. The Aragonese Employment Agency funds the programme.
DIGITALEUROPE member - Amazon HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 41
Excellence in e-learning with the digital transformation of universities
Keeping pace with technology is critical The implementation of a so-called for any higher education establishment “lecture capture system”, alongside wanting to attract students and achieve video conferencing and audio-visual academic success. Integrated solutions solutions, creates a flexible teaching with computers and tablets for faculty space that radically improves the learning and staff, projectors, digital whiteboards, experience. Such a solution has already classroom audio solutions, digital signage been designed for and deployed at the and professional AV equipment can Otto Beisheim School of Management in help reach new standards in terms of Germany and in more than 50 leading teaching, learning and the overall student universities all over Europe. Panasonic is experience. This is particularly important supporting this roll-out through proof of to provide high-quality remote education. concepts studies.
With new COVID-related restrictions, EU funding targeted at modernising universities are looking to create a equipment and digitising teaching connected learning environment to meet systems would greatly benefit universities the needs of remote students. Clearly, and schools across Europe. This will result students need more than a recording of in a shift towards new, innovative learning a lecture: the whole approach we have models and to more inclusive education to teaching needs to change, including systems, open to students from abroad new ways for professors to interact with and remote areas alike. students and new opportunities to track their learning progress. DIGITALEUROPE MEMBER - Panasonic © Panasonic © HOW TO SPEND IT: 42 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Spain’s “Connected Schools” programme
Spain’s “Connected Schools” programme The 330 million euro programme is in (“Escuelas Conectadas”) aims to bring fact co-financed through the European ultrafast connectivity to more than 6.5 Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and million students and more than 16,500 would be an excellent candidate for a schools, enabling those schools to offer project under the Recovery and Resilience new and improved teaching materials Facility. and methods. The programme was established prior to the COVID-19 EU-managed funds, such as the pandemic, and it has become all the Connecting Europe Facility Digital, have more relevant as we move towards hybrid great potential in improving schools’ learning models in the effort to ensure connectivity and digital infrastructure: for resiliency and readiness in the face of example, the WiFi4EU initiative could be future crises. expanded to cover in-school connectivity. This, combined with good use of The Spanish “Connected Schools” decentralised development funds, will programme is also an excellent example enable Member States to fully bring their of how European countries can make best education systems into the digital era. use of EU funds for regional and economic development. DIGITALEUROPE member - Cisco © Cisco © HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 43
Rolling out cloud computing skills across Europe
AWS re/Start is a full-time, classroom- AWS re/Start also provides learners based skills development and job training with resume and interview coaching programme that prepares individuals to prepare for employer meetings and for entry-level cloud positions. AWS re/ interviews to launch an entry-level cloud Start works with non-profit, philanthropic, career, and it connects alumni with and government organizations to deliver potential employers. a learning experience that provides a pathway to earning AWS Certification, The AWS re/Start project is helping to and supports participants as they launch close the ICT skills gap, equipping young their cloud careers. people and job seekers with extremely valuable and sought-after cloud skills, The program’s mission is to build local and helping them enter one of the fastest- talent by providing AWS Cloud skills growing parts of the tech sector. development to individuals who are unemployed or underemployed—and Training content for the AWS re/ otherwise might not have access to this Start program is curated by AWS in path. collaboration with local organisations. re/Start has been running in London AWS re/Start prepares learners for (co-funded with European Social entry-level cloud roles, such as cloud Fund and Power Up), in Paris and in operations, site reliability, infrastructure Amsterdam. support, and technical adjacent business support functions. Each cohort of learners, DIGITALEUROPE member - Amazon supported by professional mentors and accredited trainers, completes a 12-week training featuring real-world scenario-based learning, hands-on labs, and coursework. HOW TO SPEND IT: 44 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Ensuring graduates have the ICT skills that employers need
Many of DIGITALEUROPE members offer The courses can either be set up in the a range of skills-related courses which classroom or accessed remotely via a dovetail with government-funded or cloud environment. supported curricula. However, given the pace of digital change, bridging the gap This is extremely relevant in light of between academia and industry is vital COVID-19 restrictions, where more and to equip students leaving university with more ICT classes are delivered virtually by skillsets that are immediately usable in the professors, which often requires accessing labour market. labs via cloud. Upgrading universities’ digital infrastructure goes hand in hand The Red Hat Academy is an academic with modernising curricula, and regional programme providing an open source funds for education will play a big role in curriculum at no costs for students. that. University ICT professors deliver these market-related courses which have a high DIGITALEUROPE member - Red Hat component of lab exercises (between 30 and 40 per cent of the content). © Red Hat HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 45
Supporting women reinvent their careers in the digital sector
Companies are increasingly understanding programme delivery, to work placements the value of hiring women and having a – which often lead them to hire them the multi-generational and gender balanced alumni. workforce which better reflects a diverse customer base. “Women ReBOOT” is a programme for women with ICT skills, experience and At the same time, there are still significant qualifications, who have taken a career barriers for experienced, qualified, and break and are now trying to re-enter the skilled women to join or re-join the digital sector. The initiative equips participants sector after a career break. Up to 70 with an understanding of the evolution of per cent of female ICT workers can take job roles, business models and sectoral a career break when their families are trends, so that they can successfully adapt young. By not supporting these women their existing experience and knowledge to retrain and adapt to new workplaces, new workplace contexts. To date, over 150 Europe is missing out on an extraordinary women have been supported to re-enter opportunity to increase inclusivity and the digital sector and continue successful alleviate ICT skills shortages. careers. The project is sponsored by over 40 leading tech and financial services Over the last four years, DIGITALEUROPE companies throughout Ireland. member Technology Ireland has implemented a range of initiatives “Women TechStart” retrains women from to support women return to work, in different backgrounds who have a range partnership with Skillnet Ireland. Each of professional skills, qualifications and project is tailored to a specific segment experience, and who want to retrain for the of women, taking into account their tech and digital sectors. Its programmes background and competences, but they focus on intensive technical skills training share the overall goal: helping women for a number of in-demand roles and have with past work experience and graduate been joined by 69 participants so far. The or postgraduate qualifications enter initiative is supported by Dell, VMware and or re-enter the sector. This enables McAfee. companies to fill open roles with a diverse and unique set of competencies, improve Finally, “Women TechLEARN” aims to the generational and gender profile of help women kick-start their digital career their workforce, and drive innovation by offering beginner digital learning through a new set of perspectives. programmes. So far, 50 women have taken part in its online training and coaching, Average participants are in their forties and in association with the tech skills platform have been out of the workplace for some Pluralsight. time (typically around eight years, but it can be up to 23 years). That means that while These projects are helping shift standard they do not possess up-to-date digital skills, recruitment practices towards a new hiring they bring a suite of strong competencies environment open to women and people and knowledge that, through coaching, from diverse backgrounds. They also have mentoring and digital skills training, they an extraordinary employment rate, with can rapidly adapt to a new workplace. 97 per cent of “Women ReBOOT” and “Women TechStart” alumni being hired All programmes are sponsored by within six months after the programme. companies in the digital industry, who are actively involved throughout all DIGITALEUROPE member implementation stages, from selection, to - Technology Ireland HOW TO SPEND IT: 46 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Digital healthcare
Improving the continuity of care by digitising patient information
In Austria, the roll out for the nationwide An important goal of ELGA is especially Electronic Health Record (ELGA) started the support of medical, nursing and five years ago, in 2015. Today, work is therapeutic treatment and care through already underway on the implementation a better flow of information, especially of valuable extensions, such as the when several health care institutions or eVaccination pass or care networks as professional groups work together along part of ELGA. a treatment chain.
As a modern and secure infrastructure, ELGA is working with different models of ELGA is available to all citizens and all opt-out, leading to a general coverage of those who receive care in the Austrian 97 per cent of the insured population as health care system. It facilitates access to enrolled ELGA users. health data for patients and authorized ELGA health service providers - attending DIGITALEUROPE member physicians, hospitals, nursing homes or - Siemens Healthineers pharmacies.
Why stop at health records?
Our Austrian member Internet Offensive proposes to go beyond electronic health records by implementing a “Digital Healthcare Platform”. The aim is to help citizens organise every aspect of their healthcare online. Such a platform will bring citizens and healthcare providers together in a secure manner, be easily accessible by smartphone, and improve user experience through the healthcare system with predefined “health pathways”, for example for the birth of a child. HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 47
Accessing healthcare from the comfort of your own home
In COVID times, easing the burden questions can trigger alarms that are on hospitals has been a central followed up by healthcare personnel. public policy objective. Patients were It is documented that participating discouraged from coming to hospitals patients are more involved in their except in urgent circumstances. own care, they exercise more, use less ‘Telehealth’ technologies have helped welfare services and have reduced the provide care in the meantime, either number of hospital admissions. through consultations with medical professionals or by monitoring ongoing In a report on telehealth, staff spend 75 health conditions. per cent less time on patient monitoring and the number of inpatient days for Remote patient monitoring is enabling women with pregnancy complications has patients to monitor their own condition been reduced by 44 per cent. with support from healthcare personnel. The monitoring is done by measuring DIGITALEUROPE member vital signs (like oxygen saturation, blood - Siemens Healthineers pressure, body weight, glucose etc.) and answering questionnaires relevant to the patient’s condition. Measurements and
COVID-19 patient data sharing between hospitals
To fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the The portal is available to all Dutch Netherlands has developed an online hospitals. Since its launch in March 2020, portal allowing Dutch hospitals to share 95 per cent of them have connected patient information seamlessly. The to the portal to digitally exchange project was the result of a cooperation COVID-19 patient data. between the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Jeroen Bosch Hospital DIGITALEUROPE member - Philips (‘s-Hertogenbosch) and the Dutch Ministry of Health.
During a pandemic, being able to share patient data between hospitals in real time is essential to optimising the use of healthcare resources. It can assist, for instance, in transferring infected patients between hospitals to avoid local overload in intensive care units. HOW TO SPEND IT: 48 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Decongesting hospitals by telemonitoring COVID-19 patients
In countries like France, the COVID-19 questionnaire on a daily basis, from a crisis and the subsequent lockdown web portal or a smartphone. In case of period raised two major challenges acute symptoms, an automatic alert is for healthcare and governmental send to a general practitioner (GP) or institutions. First, there was an urgent an emergency room (ER) team, who will need to maintain containment get in touch with the patient to provide measures, in order to decongest adequate solutions and follow-up care. hospitals and let them focus on high-risk patients, while allowing remote As a result, patients presenting light detection of serious cases. Second, data symptoms can be monitored efficiently, had to be collected in order to monitor without overcrowding hospitals and GPs. the spread of the virus and detect outbreaks. In April 2020, thanks to the joint support of Janssen (pharmaceutical companies In March 2020, French digital health of DIGITALEUROPE member Johnson & start-up Nouvéal and AP-HP – the Johnson), Novo Nordisk, La Poste, and Paris area’s university hospital – Malakoff Humanis, the solution was co-developed Covidom, a digital made available free of charge to all of solution addressing both of those needs. metropolitan France’s hospitals, private It consists in a telemonitoring app GPs and nurses. To date, more than for patients that have contracted the 23,000 healthcare professionals and virus (or are suspected to) but do not 110,000 patients have been using the require hospitalisation. During a first application. consultation, the doctor creates the patient’s profile and provides key DIGITALEUROPE member medical and administrative data. Then, - Janssen (pharmaceutical companies of the patient is asked to answer a simple Johnson & Johnson) Providing each citizen with personalized, digital guidance on COVID-19
How to provide each citizen with With more than 5.5 million questionnaires adequate guidance regarding their completed, the website also forms personal COVID-19 situation without one of the biggest pool of structured overwhelming hospitals? Another epidemiological data in the world, digital solution was developed since covering all phases of the pandemic. the beginning of lockdown by Pasteur Using this information, researchers were Institute and AP-HP through the website able to validate anosmia (the loss of the maladiecoronavirus.fr, with the financial sense of smell) as one of the disease’s support of Johnson & Johnson and other symptoms, and to create a number of leading industry partners. predictive models. It also helped detect several clusters within the French territory. This website allows anyone who suspects The data is currently being used in they may have been exposed to COVID-19 research studies at the Pasteur Institute, to conduct a self-assessment in just a which already led to four international few clicks and benefit from personalised scientific publications. recommendations adapted to their state of health. This is possible through The platform is still active today, helping an algorithm that was approved and monitor the virus progression after the supported by the French Ministry of Health. end of lockdowns and anticipating future outbreaks. The website was released as early as 16 March, and has gathered more than 10 DIGITALEUROPE member million visitors to date. Statistical studies - Janssen (pharmaceutical companies of conducted in the Paris area show that it Johnson & Johnson) managed to reduce the number of calls to the French ER hotline by a factor of 8. HOW TO SPEND IT: 50 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Hospitals’ digital maturity improves clinical outcomes and patient care
Portugal’s Cascais hospital, managed The journey started with the in a private-public partnership by transformation of the pharmacy Lusíadas, is one of only six hospitals framework and introduction of in Europe to have achieved Stage 7 barcode enablement for all drugs and validation by Healthcare Information medical devices. This simplified drug and Management Systems Society administration to patients saving nurses (HIMSS) for advancing health and two hours per shift, prevented over 5,000 wellness through information and near-misses, and improved patient technology. satisfaction (NPS - Net Promoter Score) from 37 to 69. Lusíadas worked with local vendors who built a unique solution based on Today, the Cascais hospital is a totally feedback by the Cascais clinical staff. paperless hospital, using electronic health The hospital created new roles to act as records and clinical algorithms based on champions in introducing technology to historical data and best practices to triage staff and building digital skills internally: patients, automate clinical order sets, and Chief Medical Information Officer, Chief fast-track procedures. For example, the Nurse Information Officer, and Chief electronic fast-track programme for a Pharmacy Information Officer. broken hip has reduced door-to-surgery time for patients by more than 50 per The Cascais hospital has a strong cent, decreased their in-hospital mortality tradition of clinical leadership, and rate from 8 per cent to 0.2 per cent, and reaching the highest level of digital reduced the length of their stay in hospital. maturity in infrastructure, analytics, coordination of care and clinical Due to its track record, the Cascais documentation has further improved hospital has been asked to mentor Global clinical outcomes and patient care. Digital Exemplar hospitals in the UK.
DIGITALEUROPE member - UnitedHealth Group (Lusíadas) © UnitedHealth© Groupl © UnitedHealth Group HOW TO SPEND IT: 52 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Digitising SMEs and scale-ups
An interoperable system for SMEs to exchange paperless logistics information
In the European logistics sector, many An interoperable European-wide system large companies have already digitised for the exchange of electronic freight their internal processes, but many SMEs transportation information would use have yet to do so. Around 99 per cent of existing building blocks – blockchain, cross-border transport operations in the eDelivery and electronic IDentification, EU still involve paper documents. Many Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) SMEs stick to paper as national authorities – from the Connecting Europe Facility. still do not accept electronic versions, in Additional financial grants would help addition to the lack of universally agreed SMEs implement the system and retrain rules and the technical means for SMEs staff to acquire the technical know-how. to exchange information electronically. Given that SMEs form the backbone of Digitisation will enable businesses to the European economy, this puts us at a manage their information and supply tremendous competitive disadvantage. chain more effectively, optimise their processes, improve the data quality and In 2019, public and industry partners in reduce the risk of recurring errors. It could the Baltic-Nordic region committed to the create savings worth €20-27 billion by digitalisation of cross-border road freight 2040 thanks to the reduction transportation, aiming to accelerate the in administrative costs. move from paper to the e-version of cross-border road consignment note. This In the COVID-19 context, paperless project will enable businesses to optimise logistics operations also ensure more processes and integrate activities into a safety and physical distancing. For public common network of information systems. authorities, it will reduce time spent manually checking freight papers and While the initiative aims to stimulate help combat offences related to tax the digital economy and accelerate the avoidance and transport safety. creation of a Digital Single Market in the Baltic-Nordic region, it has great potential Moving to electronic logistics information
to be scaled at the pan-European level. will also reduce CO2 emissions by 1.3 million tonnes by 2040. With an average of one to five copies of each document per shipment, about two to eight billion sheets of paper would be saved – the equivalent of between 180,000 and 900,000 trees annually.
DIGITALEUROPE members - INFOBALT (Lithuania), ITL (Estonia) and KIGEiT (Poland). HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 53
Digital signing services for SMEs
Not all business processes are This leaves no doubt as to the identity sufficiently digitised today, even if the of the signer or the legal validity of the technology has already been available signature placed. The platform also for a long time. And those SMEs that ensures the authenticity and integrity of are less digitised are being hit harder the content. by the COVID-19 crisis. Digital signing platforms allow The use of digital signatures has SMEs not only to benefit from digital become even more vital in a COVID-19 transformation, but also offer a perfect scenario when in-person signing is not springboard for cross-border trade. EU always practicable. Digital signatures funding will be vital in providing direct are a trustworthy and safe method financial support for SMEs that adopt to ensure physical distancing and such a signing platform. avoid transactions being delayed or cancelled due to lockdowns. This service also has the potential to be complemented by the adoption of The Zetes digital signing platform a notified digital identity with a link facilitates a signed agreement to a cloud-based signing certificate between merchant and consumer, available for every citizen of an EU maintaining each parties’ rights. The Member State. The latter would improve consumer can sign from home at any the confidence and ease of digital moment. This platform identifies the transactions online and support the consumer remotely in a unique and growing importance of mobile devices. unambiguous way, in line with the eIDAS EU910/14 Regulation. DIGITALEUROPE member - Panasonic (Zetes) HOW TO SPEND IT: 54 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Supporting women-owned SMEs scale their businesses through the power of technology, access to capital and networking
Since 2010, the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur With COVID-19, many SMEs needed to Network (DWEN) has empowered female establish remote working practices and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses improve their online presence while through the expansion of their personal navigating cash flow problems. The networks, power of technology and digital transition proved particularly access to capital. difficult for smaller businesses that lacked in-house expertise in areas ranging from DWEN provides women-owned SMEs online payments to security and data with the opportunity to partner with breaches. To help SMEs navigate this a technology advisor who helps them transition, DWEN connected members determine which IT solutions best suit their with business information and support, business needs, for example, whether providing tailored resources on how to they should choose a local data centre access funding opportunities and finance or rather a cloud solution. The network technology needs. also gives members access to financing experts from Dell Financial Services, DWEN has local chapters in France, Ireland, who can recommend financing solutions the Netherlands and the UK. The ambition for purchasing IT equipment, including is to scale it across the EMEA region. rewards and tailored discounts, enabling SMEs to afford new technologies. DIGITALEUROPE member: - Dell Technologies
Helping SMEs shift to data-driven business models
The European Commission estimates Sitra’s IHAN business programme will help that the value of the EU data market will SMEs develop new products and services increase to €1,054 billion by 2025. Yet, and identify the skills they will need. As part across Europe, only 8 per cent of SMEs of the programme, data specialists from are using big data analytics. across Finland offer their advice and ideas.
According to Sitra’s 2019 report, almost The programme’s ambition is to develop half (46 per cent) of Finnish SMEs are an effective model through best practices hesitant about the opportunities afforded and lessons learned that can be then to them by the data economy. In addition, scaled and rolled out country-wide and in many of these smaller companies are other European Member States. lacking in-house expertise. DIGITALEUROPE member company Through Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, - Technology Industries Finland 22 Finnish SMEs from a range of different industries are now being supported in their shift to new business models using data. HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 55
Preparing SMEs for Industry 4.0
In cooperation with IFKA, The gap between these assessment DIGITALEUROPE member IVSZ shows that solutions should take into launched “Ipar 4.0”, a free program account all factors, rather than just providing hands-on experience technology obstacles. Investing in skills, and knowledge to productive coaching and mentoring programmes, micro- and SMEs to learn about and supporting SMEs owners to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies and their a strategic and pragmatic mindset are applicability, and thus increase their all crucial steps. competitiveness and digital uptake. The project therefore integrated a The initiative has been possible variety of services in its SME support, through the EU’s Economic from technology workshops and Development and Innovation demonstrations to business planning Operational Programme (EDIOP) and production practices. Thanks and covers so-called “convergence to this hands-on approach and the regions”, or regions with a GDP professional mentor support, the pro-capita of less than 75 per cent of SMEs started their transformation the EU-25 average. journey. Participants in the project reported increased productivity, more Over 60 per cent of Hungarian SMEs efficient communication with clients are family businesses and have very and suppliers, and increased use of AI simple management models: only 13 and automatisation tools in production to 15 per cent of these companies has plans. a business strategy at all. 70 per cent of small business owners are around To date, over 2,600 SMEs were 55 years old, and often lack familiarity reached and 131 completed a and know-how of digital tools. Clearly, digitalisation roadmap. The plan for this poses a risk to their opportunities the next two years is to implement of digitally transforming. a searchable public digitalisation solution cadastre for SMEs. To understand their challenges in technology and management uptake, IVSZ conducted self assessments DIGITALEUROPE member - IVSZ and mentor-assisted surveys that highlighted lack of financial resources and access to technology, lengthy bureaucracy, difficulty to attract the right talents, even scepticism that such an investment would be worth it.
On the other hand, solution providers reported often encountering a lack of digital competences, management capabilities, and user practice as main obstacles in their trading with SMEs. HOW TO SPEND IT: 56 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Digital transformation, innovation and the Green Deal
Buildings A smart warehouse that produces 40
per cent less CO2 emissions than its peers
DIGITALEUROPE member Schneider The warehouse produces energy Electric helped build this ultra-modern primarily with its own solar panels, and warehouse for Lidl in Finland. It energy is stored for later use whenever integrates their EcoStruxure™ possible, which makes the entity as Microgrid and EcoStruxure Building self-sufficient as possible in terms Operation solution that runs fully on of electrical energy. The electricity clean energy. This leads to 40 per cent consumption in the warehouse center
less CO2 emissions, 30 per cent less was designed to be flexible, with the energy consumption and a 50 per cent main purpose of cutting down the reduction in energy costs. amount of electricity used.
Light sensors will automatically dim However, the warehouse can also feed the lights to a suitable level in daylight, its excess electricity back to the network and motion sensors control the outdoor, thanks to its batteries and reserve office and warehouse lighting so that power machinery. In this way, the they will dim down the lights during the center is able to operate on the reserve night and only switch them on when and balancing electricity market of someone is on the premises. This saves Fingrid – the company responsible for 45 per cent of energy compared to a Finland’s main grid – helping balance standard lighting system. the consumption and production of Finland’s power systems. The heat recovered from refrigeration systems is used for the building’s All of this is digitally managed. Through energy needs, and is also supplied to cloud-based analytics and intelligent Järvenpää's residents, heating water management system, the facility’s for approximately 40 private homes, managers can optimise energy producing about 700 MWh/y of heat. resources by using real-time data and predictive learning algorithms. Through the software, Lidl’s team can monitor and manage the power and heat, energy storage as well as the heating and cooling system. For real-time energy optimisation, the system also takes into account the utilisation rate, price, consumption of electricity, and weather in Finland.
DIGITALEUROPE member - Schneider Electric HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 57
Smart cities Using big data to create smart coastal cities
Many coastal cities rely on tourism, These insights help cities implement, which has been one of the sectors monitor, evaluate and revise urban hardest-hit by the COVID-19 crisis. planning strategies that integrate climate They are also the most affected by adaptation measures, addressing rising sea levels. challenges such as climate change and population growth that require smarter DIGITALEUROPE member Dell solutions in the city of tomorrow. Technologies joined forces with four European waterfront cities to realise For instance, Cork has used these new the H2020 CUTLER (Coastal Urban insights to enhance the city’s potential developmenT through the LEnses of as a tourist destination, assessing costs Resiliency) project,24 which developed of new investments against potential a platform enabling policymakers to benefits. Through sentiment analysis, use data analytics to improve scenario the city is also able to gather citizens’ and urban planning in coastal cities. opinions and predict the number of visitors and revenue for new projects. By pushing an evidence-driven approach, cities are able to make The objective of CUTLER is to build informed decisions that will reduce a platform and gather enough use water-wastage and pollution, improve cases that can be replicated by residents’ lives, create jobs and protect cities in all EU countries with coastal urban areas from the effects of regions. The CUTLER platform can be climate change. Through a network of easily customised to meet the specific sensors, a wealth of data is generated requirements of different cities around daily on things like the weather, flood Europe. risks, hazard maps, visitor numbers, economic impact, visitor surveys, and DIGITALEUROPE member traffic. - Dell Technologies © Derekjmc ©
24 The CUTLER project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 770469. HOW TO SPEND IT: 58 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
A new smart quarter with intelligent energy management
Working with building management This is possible because the highly company GSW, Panasonic has digitalised energy management system contributed to the development of is connected to heat pumps, 600 solar “Future Living Berlin®”. panels and energy storage equipment, allowing a 15 per cent reduction in The digital and smart energy energy consumption and contributing management system which is currently to very low carbon emissions being tested at “Future Living Berlin®” throughout the year. optimises the on-site production, use and storage of electricity. Tenants DIGITALEUROPE member - Panasonic could therefore benefit from reduced energy consumption, and thus lower energy bills. © Panasonic © HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 59
Open source collaboration across Europe to drive smarter cities
FIWARE is a curated framework of Prior to the pandemic, FIWARE and open source platform components various DIGITALEUROPE members that together help accelerate the have been engaged in the delivery of development of smart solutions. It is smart city solutions around the world. renowned for its ability and speed to Underpinned by a fast and secure address urgent challenges and the telecommunications infrastructure and needs of society, companies and public taking advantage of IoT and machine- administrations. to-machine communications, smart cities have the potential to deliver The need for ready-to-use solutions, benefits in a number of areas. based on open source and open standards principles – to help automate DIGITALEUROPE member - Red Hat data sharing – grows rapidly as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds across the globe. With that in mind, FIWARE have approached their community to present off-the-shelf technology solutions to help in the fight against the pandemic.
Transport and logistics Enhanced connectivity and operational efficiency at major travel hubs
As one of the first sites in Belgium and Nokia and Lufthansa Technik, a leading one of the first airports in Europe, provider of technical aircraft services, Brussels Airport Company is building have deployed a 5G industrial-grade a 5G-ready network in collaboration private wireless network to accelerate with Nokia and Citymesh to speed up a project that enables the remote the airport’s operational efficiency and inspection of engine parts for Lufthansa’s enable further technology innovations. civil aviation customers. The Lufthansa Technik’s “Virtual Table Inspection”, A private 5G-ready network offers a combined with the hyper-fast 5G private more efficient, more reliable and faster wireless network, will remove the need connectivity than current solutions for Lufthansa customers to travel and across the airport grounds. Thanks to physically attend servicing by providing the higher capacity of 5G and to Nokia’s remote real-time high-definition video Digital Automation Cloud platform, the access to the engine overhaul site. This airport will be able to deploy additional new approach improves operational technologies and innovative solutions, efficiency, productivity and service. such as IoT, automated vehicles, mobile safety systems or track and trace DIGITALEUROPE member - Nokia technology. HOW TO SPEND IT: 60 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Turning Rotterdam into the smartest port in the world
Rotterdam is Europe’s biggest and The only way to achieve the dual goals busiest port, creating direct and indirect of growth and sustainability was to employment for some 385,000 people in streamline the port’s operations. So it businesses throughout the Netherlands. embarked on a digitisation journey to To maintain its global competitiveness, become the “smartest” port in the world. it aims to be the world’s smartest and most sustainable port by introducing By introducing IoT sensors which gather technology that makes shipping mission-critical data – for example, safer, more efficient, and more about water and weather conditions – environmentally friendly. analysed through a software, the port is now able to optimise route planning and One of the biggest challenges berthing of the ships, which increases Rotterdam faces is growth. There is no fuel efficiency, saves money, reduces more physical room to expand, and at carbon emissions, and improves air the same time, the port has a target to quality. decrease its environmental footprint by up to 95 per cent in 2050. DIGITALEUROPE member - Cisco © Cisco © Creating a Mediterranean connected transport corridor
The Barcelona-Perpignan cross-border The infrastructure will support remote 5G corridor, 5GMed, will test use cases driving pilots, advanced traffic for connected and automated mobility, management, applications and business including road and rail, on the basis service continuity in railway, and of 5G network infrastructure between follow-me infotainment both in main road France and Spain. This EU-funded project and railway scenarios. brings together different stakeholders (mobile network operators, road and rail Demonstrations will be carried out in operators, as well as innovative SMEs and three small scale testing facilities in order research centres) to develop a sustainable to replicate real conditions. Based on the 5G deployment model for future mobility. outcomes of the tests, a final integration and validation will be carried out in the Its ambition is to become the lighthouse cross-border area between Figueres project for 5G deployment in cross-border and Perpignan, a strategic region in the scenarios (including for railways) that Trans-European Transport Network since can be replicated across Europe and it sustains 55 per cent of road traffic and trigger further investments through the 65 per cent of rail traffic between the Connecting Europe Facility programme. Iberian peninsula and the rest of Europe. 5GMed will, in particular, demonstrate the multi-application and multi-stakeholder DIGITALEUROPE member - AMETIC potential of 5G infrastructure for joint projects in the field of road and rail, which will greatly improve connectivity for road users and train passengers. HOW TO SPEND IT: 62 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Energy efficiency Using data analytics for predictive maintenance and wind farm engineering
The Danish renewable energy company Modern, cloud-based tools also help Ørsted develops, builds, and operates the over 6,000 Ørsted employees work offshore wind farms that provide clean and collaborate more efficiently. The power to more than 11 million people, computations to design wind turbine roughly a quarter of the world’s offshore foundations used to take weeks. With wind power market. computing in the cloud, results can be obtained within a day. To reach its goals, Ørsted relies on a digital strategy that includes advanced The data analytics provided by this analytics and artificial intelligence, collaboration between Microsoft and working with Microsoft technology. Ørsted are also helping the company Ørsted transforms data from its 1,500 shift away from fossil fuels and toward offshore wind turbines into insights for renewable energy. Ørsted divested its predictive maintenance that saves time upstream oil and gas business in 2017 and resources. and has reduced its coal consumption by 82 per cent in the last decade. By 2025, Each turbine is equipped with thousands Ørsted will have increased its offshore of sensors, and each second, minute, wind capacity to 15 gigawatts – enough and hour, they produce vast quantities of to power more than 30 million people. data which Ørsted analyses to optimize Also by 2025, Ørsted will have reduced operations and maintenance. Using its carbon emissions by 99 per cent. data, Ørsted is able to increase turbine availability by early detection and repair DIGITALEUROPE member - Microsoft of faults, and to avoid unneeded and costly maintenance – all contributing to the low cost of offshore wind power. © ØRSTED HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 63
Decentralised energy trading infrastructure for private households
Current European electricity grids face marketplace, where they are able to trade two major challenges: an increasing they power they don’t need with others in amount of volatile and decentralised the neighbourhood. This can considerably power generation and potentially reduce the stress on energy grids, in higher electricity loads, for example addition to providing households with an due to an increasing use of electricity in extra source of income. the transport and cooling and heating sectors. A smart electricity supply and But how could we manage this data demand management becomes key exchange? This project proposes to maintain stability in the grid and an to establish a decentralised digital adequate and secure power supply under marketplace, based on secure multi-party all circumstances. computation and digital ledger technology. These technologies ensure The team behind the “Economy of Things” data privacy through cryptography, strategic advanced engineering project at and prevent information asymmetry by Bosch Research is working on the vision of providing a transparent, verifiable and a data-preserving energy trade between consensus-based transaction history. In households. this way, platform operators and private households could trade their load shifting From a technical standpoint, digital capacity and consumption prediction in a solutions can already optimise energy fair and sustainable manner. consumption in a single household. Smart home appliances allow private The trading would be also managed households to monitor and optimise their by “digital energy agents”, i.e. highly electrical loads: for example, by setting automated self-learning software. The the washing machine to run only when agent software would be able to make it is most economical – i.e. when the predictions about how much energy the system is generating excess power – or household will need and when. It could the refrigerator to regulate its own energy then use this information combined with consumption based on its contents. This the actual capabilities to target optimum would flatten peak electricity demand economy for the household, balancing the and contribute to grid stability. interests of the private consumer with grid stability. This effect can be enhanced by linking private households by a common DIGITALEUROPE member - Bosch © Bosch © HOW TO SPEND IT: 64 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Re-using waste heat from mobile base stations and data centres
Approximately 90 per cent of the energy Using a similar approach, Nokia used to power technology infrastructure achieved a 20 per cent improvement – such as mobile base stations and data in energy efficiency and 90 per cent
centres – ends up as waste heat. By reduction in CO2 emissions in its Tampere implementing liquid-cooling solutions Data Centre, which contains 13,000 and connecting the heat thus generated square feet of hardware with an output to a wider grid, we could repurpose of 4 megawatts of energy. power currently wasted to contribute to the population’s energy needs. Heat produced by the data centre is cooled down through water, which is At the same time, getting rid of then routed back to the city’s grid line for air-cooling systems would greatly district heating, usually at a temperature improve the energy efficiency of of 23-24 degrees Celsius. While not technology infrastructure, contributing warm enough to heat up entire buildings to fewer carbon emissions and a lower on its own, nonetheless, this water needs environmental impact. less energy to be raised to the required temperature by the heating system Such a system has been implemented pumps and can thus be more easily in Finland by Nokia and Elisa, a leading distributed to public facilities. communication service provider. Mobile base stations are usually cooled by DIGITALEUROPE member - Nokia air-conditioning systems, which use a great amount of energy and end up generating heat which cannot be re-used.
By switching to liquid-cooling systems – 50 per cent smaller, 30 per cent lighter, much less noisy than air fans and easier to maintain – Elisa was able to reduce
its CO2 emissions by approximately 80 per cent, while at the same time achieving significant savings and longer component life.
© Cisco_national broadband broadband Cisco_national ©
Connectivity and infrastructure
Bridging the rural digital connectivity gap with national broadband plans
Unequal access to broadband The Italian government has earmarked translates into inequality of opportunity. around €6 billion between 2014 and 2020 People in rural areas that lack to this end. Part of the funding is through broadband face higher unemployment direct grants, while the rest mixes public rates and encounter fewer job and and private funding, including through economic opportunities. Children from various kinds of preferential finance these communities might end up falling conditions. behind their peers in schools. Of course, this is not just a rural issue – broadband Through geographic segmentation deserts exist within urban areas as well, analysis, the government identified where costs can be unaffordable and 7,300 cities where the market has failed availability non-existent. to provide sufficient connectivity, which represent half of the country’s population. The Italian National Broadband Plan These are areas where no private presents a good example of how policy investment is planned, and therefore the and public funding can be tailored to state can step in with public funds and different markets and existing coverage grants without falling foul of state aid situations, in different parts of the country. rules.
DIGITALEUROPE member - Cisco HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 67
5G-based fixed wireless access in suburban and rural areas
With Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) From a sustainability point of view, based on 5G, it is possible to offer having the possibility to work from high-speed broadband connectivity home to a larger extent means for consumers and business in reduced journeys and thus reduced areas not reached by full-fibre environmental impact. networks. FWA could also support implementation of other 5G uses, Public subsidies have an important such as telehealth and remote patient role to play in making mobile networks monitoring. suitable for 5G rural coverage. This includes encouraging partnerships As well as reducing the digital divide, between governments and the mobile better connectivity could help slow or industry to deliver consistent 5G reverse the population decline in rural mobile coverage, for example through areas, thus contributing to maintaining shared deployment models, including these communities. It also offers connecting remote premises, rural opportunities for local businesses industry and rural transport routes. At to access wider markets for their the European level, 5G FWA should be products via e-commerce, supporting eligible for targeted funding aimed rural sustainability. at fostering superfast and ultrafast broadband provision. 5G connectivity in rural areas will also enable remote working and help DIGITALEUROPE member - Ericsson create a better work–life balance – something that has become all the more important during the COVID-19 pandemic. © Ericsson HOW TO SPEND IT: 68 A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE
Voucher scheme to bring gigabit broadband to rural areas
The UK government is rolling out throughout the hotel are business-crucial gigabit-capable broadband for a busy city centre hotel with high connections, which offer the fastest occupancy. Previous download speeds and most reliable speeds available, to of less than 100 Mbps meant that the homes and businesses in rural areas, hotel’s connectivity was being spread far thus helping close connectivity gaps too sparsely around over 40 users with and foster growth. Rural premises with multiple devices. broadband speeds of less than 100Mbps can use vouchers worth £1,500 per With the grant, the hotel was able to home and up to £3,500 for each SME install full-fibre broadband connection to support the cost of installing new fast using a gigabit voucher to offset and reliable connections. the installation cost. This delivered synchronous download and upload The investment has been a crucial boost speeds of 200 Mbps for less than they for SMEs like the Bauhaus Hotel and were paying before. Kitchen in Aberdeen. Links to online booking systems and Wi-Fi availability DIGITALEUROPE member - techUK
Creating a 5G hub in Southern Europe
5G Barcelona is a public-private The rollout of 5G will bring about a initiative that works towards technological transformation in services transforming the metropolitan area of and infrastructures, reduce the digital Barcelona into an open, urban, citizen- divide and generate opportunities for oriented laboratory for adopting 5G new generations. technologies and applications in a real environment. The project hopes to turn Neutrality is an essential part of 5G the city of Barcelona into a European Barcelona. This means that the initiative digital innovation hub and a 5G leader is not exclusively linked to any institution in Southern Europe. This initiative or private company. is promoted by the Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona City Hall, Mobile DIGITALEUROPE member - Ametic World Capital Barcelona, i2CAT, CTTC, Atos and the UPC.
The idea is to facilitate access to the IoT, paving the way for a new generation of services such as driverless and connected vehicles, drones, 4.0 industry and access to e-health services, all while improving user experience. HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 69
A digitally connected and modernised public administration
SYZEFXIS II is Greece’s flagship By providing upgraded electronic project to modernise the State’s services to the institutions and digital infrastructure by creating a modernising the Greek public country-wide telecommunications administration, it will reduce network, which will enable provision of bureaucracy, improve cooperation and upgraded electronic communications interoperability in the public services, services such as telephony, internet, and foster a digital culture in the video, etc. at a reduced cost. It is at the executives of the Greek public sector. core of the plan to establish a Public Sector Network for e-Government. The project will also provide upgraded services to citizens through automated The project's purpose is to provide an and user-friendly transaction upgraded digital telecommunications information and processing systems, infrastructure to all General thus reducing the digital divide in line Government entities. The goal is to with the national and European digital connect 34,000 state-owned buildings strategy. through a modern and more cost effective network all over Greece over DIGITALEUROPE member - SEPE a period of three years.
SYZEFXIS II will enable the creation of a broadband environment for all public bodies and the lifting of the digital exclusion that exists today. NOTES HOW TO SPEND IT: A DIGITAL INVESTMENT PLAN FOR EUROPE 71 DIGITALEUROPE represents the voice of digitally transforming industries in Europe. We stand for a regulatory environment that enables businesses to grow and citizens to prosper from the use of digital technologies.
We wish Europe to develop, attract and sustain the world’s best digital talents and technology companies.
DIGITALEUROPE’s members include over 35,000 companies in Europe represented by 76 Corporate Members and 40 National Trade Associations.
www.digitaleurope.org
@DIGITALEUROPE
For more information please contact: Chris Ruff, Director of Communications & Political Outreach [email protected] +32 485 55 22 54
DIGITALEUROPE Rue de la Science, 14 B-1040 Brussels [email protected] +32 2 609 53 10