Digital Portugal – behind but slowly closer to the European average – Observer
The Human Capital dimension measures the population’s level of digital skills, the number of professionals in the ICT area and higher education. In this dimension, Portugal registered one of the most positive developments, recovering from 18th to 14th place, among the 27 EU countries, scoring above average for the first time.
Standing out, as basic software skills, in 14th place, the recovery in advanced skills in particular, to 12th place, as well as the sensitivity of ICT specialists (12th), of women ICT specialists (13th), and also the percentage of ICT training companies, all of which are above the European average.
Despite the progress observed in this dimension, in general Portugal maintains the third-to-last place in the percentage of ICT graduates, which reflects the urgency of mitigation measures by universities and polytechnics, namely through investment in bachelors, licentiate degrees and training courses. specialization that focus on digital skills.
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In 2021, Portugal disconnected. In this dimension, we went back from 15th to 18th place among the 27 Member States. We were well attached to fixed broadband and fiber optic coverage (3rd) and made it into the top 10 in very high capacity fixed network (VHCN) coverage. In the remaining indicators, Portugal is most important: it occupies the penultimate place in 5G coverage and 23rd in terms of both mobile broadband take-up and broadband price.
The results increase in these indicators of adjustment of the country’s performance in the dimension of connectivity, being fundamental the percentages of coverage of very high capacity networks and broadband extension, including in rural areas.
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The Digital Technologies Integration dimension measures the adoption of digital technologies by companies in the execution of their activity, ranging from the use of social networks, through electronic commerce, the most implemented forms of digital adoption. a cloud, big data or artificial intelligence.
Portugal, for the first time, a place above the European average, moving from 17th place in 2021 to 12th place in 2022. The use of ICT for environmental sustainability stands out positively – where we lead –, the use of artificial intelligence and electronic information sharing – both in place – followed by e-commerce in 12th position.
On the negative side, the percentage of SMEs with a digital basic level is much lower than the European average, the adoption of configuration (18th) a cloud is lower than the average in the EU (17th), electronic invoicing (18th) and SMEs selling online (19th).
Although they work mostly by promoting traditional sectors with low literature, it is essential to continue to invest in the integration of digital technology in business processes, promoting entrepreneurship, knowledge and intellectual property and, in parallel, complementing with digital training and requalification of employees. professionals. A note for a computing strategy a cloud for the public administration, a C-TIC load that could represent for Portugal an important accelerator of the European trajectory in this area.
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This dimension assesses the adoption of digital technologies by the public administration in its relationship with citizens and companies, through the provision of online services, that is, through the availability of access to open data platforms. Portugal remains in 14th place, two places above the EU average.
The availability of digital services to citizens and companies stands out positively (12th place). On the negative side, note the low use and profitability of open data, occupying the 23rd position, and the number of users of public services remains far below the EU media, in the 21st.
The national strategy for computing a cloud, of January 21, addresses legal, contractual and financial issues, concerns with the data issue, as well as security in terms of location, with a view to standardizing and simplifying concepts, which may adopt measures to digitize public services. In parallel, the effort to improve basic functions will allow a greater percentage and population to benefit from these services.
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Portugal seems to start in Human Capital and Integration of Digital Technologies, for the first time, to be above the average of the 27 Member States. The result reflects the importance and impact of the integrated and transversal execution of the Government’s digital transition plan, in each of the three pillars – Companies and the State -, with the objective of having more competitive companies, more people with digital skills, better digital services and a smarter and more empowered public administration.
It is essential to understand that, despite all the national initiatives in this region, the remaining 26 Member States continue to develop new actions that allow them to maintain their leadership in digital, as can be seen in the temporal evolution of each action. DESI and digital transition initiatives cannot be won in the Sprint Does classification innovation, but if an annual marathon was selected, with a large, continuous and fast pace, where the adoption of new technologies, retraining and learning are the great short and long term drivers.