Digital Czech Republic: Lack of digital technology hindering digitalisation efforts

Mohammad J Sear

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Futurist and Digital Government Advisor

In the past few years, digital 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, the digital Czech republic 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 digital 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 survey shows that the economy can absorb an additional 14,000 ICT specialists.

To overcome this problem, the central Digital Czech Republic 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 Digital Czech Republic 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://joinup.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/inline-files/DPA_Factsheets_2022_Czech_Republic_vFinal.pdf

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/desi-czech-republic

https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Digital_Government_Factsheets_Czech%20Republic_2019.pdf

http://www.amcham.cz/news/e15-digitization-of-czechia-key-public-services-should-be-completely-online-by-2030-in-czech#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20Digital%20Economy,below%20the%20ranking%20in%202020.

https://www.mpo.cz/en/guidepost/for-the-media/press-releases/road-to-digital-economy–government-approved-document-for-the-implementation-and-development-of-5g-networks–252109

About the Author

Mohammad J Sear is focused on bringing purpose to digital in government.

He has obtained his leadership training from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA and holds an MBA from the University of Leicester, UK.

After a successful 12+ years career in the UK government during the premiership of three Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair, Mohammad moved to the private sector and has now for 20+ years been advising government organizations in the UK, Middle East, Australasia and South Asia on strategic challenges and digital transformation.

He is currently working for Ernst & Young (EY) and leading the Digital Government practice efforts across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and is also a Digital Government and Innovation lecturer at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France.

As a thought-leader some of the articles he has authored include: “Digital is great but exclusion isn’t – make data work for driving better digital inclusion” published in Harvard Business Review, “Holistic Digital Government” published in the MIT Technology Review, “Want To Make Citizens Happy – Put Experience First” published in Forbes Middle East.

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