- The Government of Catalonia is celebrating the fact that the Commission has incorporated many of its suggestions and has noted the complete match between Catalan digital policies and the European trends for the forthcoming decade.
- Issues addressed include an increasing presence of women in ICTs and improvements in cybersecurity and digital competencies among professional civil servants.
- The application of artificial intelligence in public services and the use of other advanced digital technologies such as robotics, big data and computer vision were also proposed to the European Commission.
The Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya), via the Ministry for Digital Policy and Public Administration, has participated in the public consultation held by the European Commission on the European regulation which is set to roll out the first European investment programme specifically for the digital sector. The vast majority of the government of Catalonia’s contributions and proposals were incorporated by the European Commission. The Digital Europe programme will be implemented within the European Union’s next budgetary framework for the period 2021-2027.
For the first time, the European Commission has proposed that the EU’s new financial framework should include a specific programme worth 9.194 billion euros for investments in digital projects, including key issues like cybersecurity, the digitalisation of public administrations, supercomputing, artificial intelligence and improvements in citizens’ training and digital skills. Among its most prominent new features, the programme plans to create Digital Innovation Centres, which will act as unique windows for SMEs and public administrations and will provide access to tech knowledge and facilities for experimentation and consulting.
In its response to the public consultation, the government has praised the main avenues of the Digital Europe programme because “it is aligned with the needs and challenges that Europe is facing in this field”, especially “the acceleration of the digitalisation of the economy and the democratisation of innovation”. It has also asked the European Commission to promote territorial cooperation.
Catalonia, on the cutting edge in the design of digital policies
Furthermore, the government believes that the objectives that the European Commission proposes for the forthcoming decade “are totally aligned with the main avenues of the digital policies being implemented in Catalonia”. Since last June, the government has had a ministry which comprehensively oversees all digital policies and innovation in the public administration and civil service. This puts the Generalitat on the cutting edge in fostering digital innovation as the engine of a new economy and the improvement of public policies.
The minister for Digital Policy and Public Administration, Jordi Puigneró, recently explained to the media that the government’s main avenues of action particularly stress the goals of empowering a trained, protected digital citizenry and achieving a cybersecure country which protects its citizens, companies and institutions. He also mentioned the aim for Catalonia to be a cohesive territory with digital infrastructures and smart cities which focus on applying advanced digital technologies such as blockchain, big data, robotics and artificial intelligence, and that it must have a 21st-century government and public administration that are open, digital and efficient.
Contributions to the European Commission’s consultation
The Ministry for Digital Policy made an entire series of technical contributions to the proposal for the Digital Europe programme, many of which have already been incorporated by the European Commission. Among other issues, it stressed promoting specific European projects to encourage the presence of women in the field of ICTs and in scientific and technological careers, as well as a focus on promoting digital competencies among professionals in the public administration. To further improve public services, the government of Catalonia has asked the Commission to ensure that the programme has sufficient funding to achieve the interoperability of the new technologies shared by the different administrations and to promote the use of key collaborative innovations, such as blockchain.
The government’s contributions also stressed the potentialities of applying artificial intelligence in the innovation of public services and the transformation of the public administration, and it asked that data processing algorithms be regulated in order to guarantee neutrality and ethical use. With regard to supercomputing, it encouraged research and energy-efficiency considerations in equipment development and maintenance. It also proposed that other advanced digital technologies besides artificial intelligence be borne in mind, such as robotics, big data and computer vision.
In the field of cybersecurity, the government believes that it is important to determine which services the public administrations should provide citizens and companies and to step up training programmes. Furthermore, it asked that collaborative structures be promoted in order to improve security levels.
Finally, the Ministry for Digital Policy conveyed to the European Commission the need for the data collection from the reference index of the process of digitalisation of the economy and society be not only by member state but also by region in order to evaluate specific compliance and shortcomings.
New Digital Europe Programme 2021-2027
The first Digital Europe investment programme dovetails with Europe’s goals of implementing a single market in the digital sphere as well fostering innovation and improving the sector’s competitiveness. This programme will be included in the European Union’s forthcoming financial framework for the period 2021-2027. Among other initiatives, the programme calls for 2.7 billion euros to promote supercomputing and data processing, 2 billion euros for cybersecurity, 2.45 billion to capitalise on artificial intelligence applied to multiple sectors, 1.3 billion for the digitalisation of public administrations and to guarantee interoperability among member states, and 700 million to improve citizens’ digital training.
As its star measure, the programme proposes developing “European libraries” of common algorithms available to everyone in order to help the public and private sectors locate and acquire the best solutions to fit their needs. Digital Europe also plans to make open platforms available to the entire EU and provide access to spaces for artificial intelligence in the Digital Innovation Centres, which will offer SMEs and local innovators testing facilities and knowledge. To this end, there are plans to hold an open call for applications for subsidies to create these Digital Innovation Centres all over the European Union.
This new programme will be complemented by other programmes and funds, such as the Internal Security Fund for cybersecurity, the Horizon Europe Programme in the sphere of research and innovation, the Connecting Europe Facility for connectivity infrastructures, and the European Structural and Investment Funds to develop Digital Innovation Centres in all the European regions. Synergies will also be created with other instruments, such as the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus and Erasmus+.
