We need a digital revolution in Slovenia

Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia provides active measures for digital transformation

In the area of digital skills, Slovenia is in a rather unenviable position compared to other countries of the European Union. Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia (DIH Slovenia) with partners who, after successful application for the public tender Digitization of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, signed a contract on Friday, December 21, with the representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology o Co-financing the operation. As a single connection point for digital innovation, good digital business practices and the promotion of digital transformation in Slovenia, the DIH continues to be a bridge between the European Commission and the Slovenian government. Knowing modern digital tools and understanding the requirements of the environment are crucial for the digital transformation of the active work force population. Slovenia can not boast with a high level of digital skills. More than 20% of the Slovenian population do not have any digital skills. They do not use Internet, and almost half of the population has very low or only basic digital skills. "In today's society and existing modern services, the active population, regardless of the profession, must learn various digital technologies, for which they need at least basic digital competences. The latter is dominated by just over 60% of the population of Slovenia, which means that over-average skills have only a good 30% of the population," said Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia director, Emilija Stojmenova Duh. With distinct goals, Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia is committed to digital innovation, good digital business practices and the promotion of digital transformation in Slovenia. "The strategies we are working on at European level are implemented in the framework of the DIH together with partners in 3 pillars: at the level of educational organizations, the economy and public administrations (municipalities)," added the Stojmenova Duh. It is also important to note that the number of services in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector is further increasing. DIH, among other things, provides access to the latest knowledge, research, practices and technologies in the field of digital business. "The proliferation of the use of ICT technology in more and more activities means that both ICTs and the area that we digitize need to be promoted. There are really many challenges," added the professor at the University of Ljubljana, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the Chairman of the Commission for Innovation of the University of Ljubljana, prof. Andrej Kos. Slovenia needed a digital competence connector, stresses Nenad Šutanovec, Director of the Association for Informatics at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia: "Slovenia is small, the market is small, but it can represent an excellent development environment. Knowledge and competences are important, which is crucial for our economy. Small businesses do not have as much resources as big, so they need someone to help them. DIH will work on developing digital competencies, helping in career plans, identifying gaps, setting up experimental environments that companies can take advantage of when checking new digital services to correct errors as soon as possible and then make them more successful." The founder of Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia is Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia. Important strategic partners are the Association for Informatics and telecommunications, ICT horizontal network, SRIP PMiS at GZS, the University of Ljubljana, the University of Maribor, the FabLab Slovenia Network, the ICT Horizontal Network, the Technological Park Ljubljana, SRIP TOP, TECOS, the Smart Factories Cluster, the Wood Industry Cluster and the IIBA. Digital Innovation Hub Slovenia will continue to actively strive for the integration and development of services to support the digital transformation of the economy, the education sphere and public administration, the development of digital competences and the anticipation of the needs of digital personnel, the promotion of a breakthrough in innovation, the creation of new business models, access to experimental and pilot environments. As part of the broader social role, the role is directed towards standardization, regulation and modernization of the education system, and in the context of internationalization, integration into, transfer of experience and examples of good practices among members of the DIH's network.