In the past few years, the Czech Republic has been trying to digitalise its economy, with some solid progress in some areas. However, the lack of digital technology integration has been hampering its growth, according to the European Commission experts.
The Czech Republic possesses a wealth of natural resources.
It has been relatively successful in developing its online and digital infrastructure, but that’s not to say there’s no room for improvement.
The country faces infrastructural bottleneck issues along the way that could hinder future digitalisation efforts.
Solid progress in the overall DESI score
Czechia has made relatively solid progress in the overall DESI score since 2017, which improved at a marginally higher pace than the score of the Union as a whole.
It ranks 19th among the 27 EU Member States in the 2022 edition of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI).
For comparison, the country ranked 18th one year before.
Compared to 2021, Czechia’s ranking has improved in terms of Digital public services and Connectivity, with the strongest performance in the Human capital dimension.
One crucial area that the government needs to focus on is the Integration of digital technology, and I will talk more on that below.
In the Human capital dimension, Czechia ranks 15th of the 27 EU.
60% of Czechs have at least basic digital skills, which is well above the 54% of the EU average.
Its connectivity reforms were translated into some improvements in the country’s performance in connectivity.
Some of these reforms include the ‘Strategy on the Implementation and Development of 5G Networks in the Czech Republic’ and the ‘National Plan for the Very High Capacity Networks Development.’
That’s how the proportion of households covered by Fixed Very High Capacity Networks has significantly risen.
Czechia has also improved its ranking in digital public services from 20th position to 17th in 2022.
The share of e-government users has grown significantly to 76% and is now well above the EU average (65%).
Enough graduates – not enough ICT specialists
The lack of ICT specialists is one of Czechia’s biggest obstacles to digitalisation.
After all, it can really hamper the pace of digital transformation across the economy – from enterprises to public administration.
So, for instance, according to Eurostat, 76% of Czech enterprises have reported difficulties in hiring ICT specialists.
To put it into perspective, the EU average is only 55%.
The thing is that there’s a relatively high share of graduates in ICT even compared to the EU (CZ: 5% vs EU: 3.9%.)
A recent survey shows that the economy can absorb an additional 14 000 ICT specialists.
To overcome this problem, the central Digital Czechia strategy and the Education strategy 2030+ are the most critical documents the government has issued to coordinate actions and policies on human capital.
Moreover, The Czech National Coalition for digital skills and jobs (DigiKoalice) is an active partnership focusing on education.
It’s a coalition between the public and private organisations, including several ministries, universities, startups, leading ICT companies etc.
Basic level of digital technology integration
According to the DESI index, Czechia ranks 19th out of 27 EU countries in the Integration of digital technology dimension — four positions below its 2021 ranking.
The proportion of SMEs with at least a basic level of digital intensity is 2% lower than the EU average (55%).
All the e-commerce performance indicators are above the EU average even though they have decreased compared to 2021.
However, the share of enterprises that use software to share information areas remains stable and in line with the EU average (38%).
That being said, Czechia is still far from the Digital Decade target of at least 75% of enterprises using cloud computing, AI or big data.
Final remarks
The Czech government has actively supported the digital transformation of its economy and society.
Its actions align with the main EU technology strategies, particularly with the Digital Decade and its targets.
In order to move closer to these targets, it needs:
- to increase the proportion of companies that use advanced digital technologies
- to train more ICT specialists
- to ensure cross-border interoperability of digital public services
The government needs to transfer the achievements of the private sector to the public sector.
That way, it can harness its society’s potential for digitisation so that an efficient e-government system may be developed.
Sources:
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/desi-czech-republic
