Since 2014, the European Commission has been monitoring Member States' digital progress with reports on the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI).
Digitization and digital goods have proven to be even more important for our economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Networks, connectivity, artificial intelligence, supercomputing, digital competencies and skills allowed us to continue working during the pandemic and to be able to monitor the spread of the virus. They will also help in finding medicines and vaccines. Digital technology will also play a key role in the economic recovery.
Slovenia has improved its ranking and now ranks 16th among the 28 EU Member States according to the DESI Digital Economy and Society Index for 2020. According to the data before the pandemic, Slovenia improved its assessment in all five dimensions, but advanced in the ranking only in the dimension of digital technology integration.
In the human capital dimension, the estimate has risen from 46.3 to 48.3 and is now close to the EU average of 49.3. The estimate for the use of the Internet also increased from 49.8 to 51.7, but Slovenia still lags behind the EU average of 58.0.
In terms of connectivity, Slovenia has progressed from a score of 48.6 to 50.2 and is now just above the EU average of 50.1, and has also fallen behind by several places in the ranking. Slovenia has improved its assessment in the integration of digital technology from 39.1 to 40.9 and now ranks very close to the EU average of 41.4.
It has significantly improved its score in the digital public services dimension from 64.5 to 70.8, well below the EU average of 72.0. Slovenia has risen one place in its ranking in the digital public services dimension.
Our country is currently implementing the Digital Slovenia 2020 strategy, adopted in March 2016. The strategy covers all areas of life and development: public services, entrepreneurship, households and education. Slovenia is currently preparing an all-inclusive artificial intelligence strategy and updating the Digital Slovenia strategy. In November 2019, UNESCO decided that Slovenia should host the International Research Center for Artificial Intelligence at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana.
You can read the full report here.
