On 9 March 2021, the European Commission published its Communication on the 2030 Digital Compass. Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market and Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age presented a high-level vision for the future of Europe by 2030, charting a path towards the Digital Decade and building on the 2020 European digital strategy.
Towards a digital Europe that puts people first
This vision revolves around 4 cardinal points: a digitally skilled population and highly skilled digital professionals; high-quality, secure and sustainable digital infrastructures; the digital transformation of businesses; and the digitalisation of public services. Each cardinal point sets specific milestones and key target for success – aiming to enable a digitally sovereign Europe, which pursues human-centric policies, empowers people and businesses, and sets the course for a more prosperous digital future by 2030. Given the impact of the COVID-19 crisis throughout Europe and on a global scale, this future also has to address current vulnerabilities, reduce dependencies, and streamline investment.
Digital competence and advanced digital skills, tailored to the changing nature of the job market are two key building blocks towards this shared European future: by 2030, 80% of Europeans should have basic digital skills. The European Commission also wants to see 20 million professionals employed in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector and diversify the talent pool. The Digital Compass translates the goals of these, and the other cardinal points into concrete targets and tools – and sets the deadline for 2030.
How will the Digital Compass work in practice?
The Commission aims to enable the Digital Decade with a set of concrete tools, including:
- key targets and milestones for each cardinal point.
- a governance structure to facilitate joint commitments between the Member States and the Commission.
- a mechanism to operate and deploy Multi-Country Projects that combine investments from EU Member States, the Commission and the private sector.
To ensure that the digital ambitions are translated into concrete terms and European citizens and businesses are ready for the next step of Europe’s future, the Commission is preparing a proposal for the policy programme and put forward a coherent operational approach.
How can I share my views on the Digital Compass?
On 22 June 2021, the European Commission launched a consultation and a discussion forum in view of preparing the Digital Decade policy programme, building upon the Communication on the Digital targets for 2030. It is now inviting stakeholders and interested citizens to have their say on the programme’s implementation and help shape the Digital Compass policy.
The Commission aims to gain feedback on accelerating the digital transformation, on reaching the 2030 digital targets, on ensuring coordinated and swift actions, on identifying the policy options to support the objectives and on implementing multi-country projects to drive investments.
Representatives from throughout the private and public sectors are encouraged to participate, including start-ups, SMEs, researchers, public administrations and regional authorities, organisations and companies. Interested citizens can also take part in the consultation and share their views on the way forward when it comes to the digital future of Europe. They can share valuable experience and insights about digital transformation by replying to the survey for the part of their interest and joining the online discussions on the Digital Compass.
To share your views on how you (or your organisation) can contribute to reaching the Digital Decade’s targets, you can also join the discussion thread in the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform’s Community.
Copyright: EC – Audiovisual Service, European Union 2021.
