DESI or the The Digital Economy and Society Index tracks and measures the progress of the EU’s digital performance.
Photo: Prime Minister Xavier Bettel at the Connecting Tomorrow conference / Image Credits: Digital Luxembourg
From being on the tenth place in 2020. Luxembourg progressed and is now on the eight place out of 27. DESI focuses on five “key areas” in terms of digitalization – Human capital, connectivity, integration of digital technology, digital public services and research and development in ICT, and also the have the “Women in Digital (WiD)” scoreboard.
Denmark, Finland and Sweden are the top three countries on the list, with the Netherlands, Ireland, Malta and Estonia also being in front of Luxembourg. The “worst” three countries are Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece.
The Luxembourgish Department of Media, Telecommunications and Digital Policy swiftly published a comment about the DESI Index.
“Luxembourg has an excellent score in terms of connectivity, where it ranks 4th. This positioning is due in particular to the implementation of 5G infrastructures and the continuation of optical fiber coverage”, it says, while at the same time they emphasize that the new ultra-high speed strategy presented this October plans to attack more aggressively the problem of households without access to an ultra-high speed connection.
“We are rewarded for our investments. But we do not stop there.”
They have also confirmed that they are working on Luxembourg increasing the number of ICT specialist, although it is already above the EU average – it is worth mentioning that there is a rise in numbers of women ICT specialists. The government supports the organization Women in Digital Empowerment (WIDE).
Prime Minister Xavier Bettel says that “we are rewarded for our investments. But we do not stop there: the ambition of our new ultra-high speed strategy is not only to continue the deployment of latest generation technologies, but also to offer quality infrastructures to across socio-economic cleavages and less well-connected places.”
In the Human capital dimension, Luxembourg ranks 6th. It ranks above the EU average on the three digital-literacy indicators. 65% of 16-74 year-olds in Luxembourg have at least basic digital skills compared to the EU average of 56%. Luxembourg continues to report an increase in the share of ICT specialists as a percentage of total employment and is well above the EU average (6.3% and 4.3% respectively). 20% of specialists are female, slightly above the EU average of 19%”, states the DESI per country profile on Luxembourg.
The overarching tone of the DESI profile is generally positive, and it shows that in almost all key areas, Luxembourg has been moving forward in an organized and relatively fast manner. It works to better the infrastructure, as well as educate people of all ages regarding digitalization through plethora of projects, some which start already in primary school.
“Our responsibility is to look ahead, we need to address the next challenges of our network. One bottleneck is the so-called ‘last mile. 4G is here, 5G is being deployed, and we are looking into 6G technology. We are looking at the future of a technology that connects our society”, said Eric Krier from Digital Luxembourg talking about the “Connecting Tomorrow” conference that was held in October, one of many events in Luxembourg that focuses on a digital(ised) future.
