The Belgian strategic roadmap for the Digital Decade developed by the Ministry of the Economy Belgium sets out the strategic goals to be achieved by 2030, monitoring their achievement, and the target paths and key measures have been developed.
The report uses the data in the Digital Decade Report 2023 on the National Base Value of the Digital Decade Targets, the EU baseline value for Digital Decade Targets in 2023 and the EU target value for 2030. Belgium is scoring around the EU average in terms of population with basic digital skills and above the EU average in terms of the share of ICT specialists. 54% of people have at least basic digital skills, which coincides with the EU average. Moreover, Belgium scores at the EU average for citizens with above basic digital skills and at least basic digital content creation skills (67% compared to 66% at EU level).
Measures contributing to the achievement of the target
Belgium has taken notice of the recommended actions that have been proposed by the Commission in the Digital Decade repot 2023. The main directions for achieving digital goals are: BUSINESS, INFRASTRUCTURE, E-GOVERNMENT and SKILLS.
The “SKILLS” direction of the Roadmap includes 63 measures covering the following main topics:
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Digital Skills Assessment & Development
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Digital Transformation in Education
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Digital Inclusion
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Cybersecurity Awareness
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Supporting Services
The ambitions of the various regions, communities, private organizations and other political and non-political levels show a huge emphasis on the “skills” axis.
Priorities for the development of digital skills
Belgium is currently implementing several measures that are expected to help increase the level of basic digital skills. Belgium strongly emphasizes the importance of equality and equity, so several entities have adopted a plan to promote STEM and ICT education and jobs for women. Belgium has a large range of measures in place to enhance the number of ICT-profiles in the labour market and the number of STEM-graduates as well as uplifting basic digital skills and reducing the digital divide.
Key challenges to overcome
- The proportion of people with at least basic digital skills matches the EU average, however, it is below the EU average for young people, particularly those with a low level of education.
- While the proportion of tertiary education graduates is high in Belgium, the proportion of graduates in science and technology is still below the EU average. The situation is even more problematic for girls, where the graduation rate is among the lowest in the EU.
- Although the share of individuals employed as ICT specialists is above the EU average, demand for ICT specialists remains high.
- The rapidly increasing shortage of skilled teachers is also a thread to be monitored closely. Additional efforts to elevate adult training could help to attain the targets of digital skills towards 2030.
Source: European Digital Skills & Jobs Platform
