Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2022 Integration of digital technology

Abstract

Digital technologies enable businesses to gain competitive advantage, improve their services and products and expand their markets. In a recent study by McKinsey, 93% of surveyed EU executives believe that better access to data would be important to their organisation (with approximately 40% designating this as very important)1. Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggests that productivity of companies investing in data-driven innovation and data analytics grows by approximately 5% to 10% faster than that of companies not investing2. The EU’s digital sovereignty will depend on the capacity to store, extract and process data while satisfying requirements of trust, security and fundamental rights3. This requires a high-capacity infrastructure and the adoption of innovative technologies, which will enable the development of energy-saving, climate-neutral, high-efficiency and interconnected services. Additionally, the EU’s digital sovereignty should be restored through more resilient supply chains and less dependence on imports, notably of semiconductors.