The initiative launched in 2016 by the European Commission to support the industry's transition to digital technologies has had only limited and very uneven effects, concluded the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in a report which was published on Tuesday 22 September.
The auditors' work focuses on the 2016 initiative ‘Going digital for European businesses’, which aimed to ensure that every business in Europe benefits from digital innovations. This initiative – supported by the Horizon 2020 programme and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) – was expected to mobilise almost €50 billion of public and private investment over the five years following its inception.
In order to assess the impact, the Court of Auditors studied several programmes in four Member States, namely Germany, Hungary, Poland and Portugal. It concluded that although the Commission's strategy had received some support from Member States, they lacked adequate performance indicators and expenditure monitoring. This is evidenced by the fact that by 2019, only Germany and Portugal had digital conversion strategies in place, while Hungary and Poland did not.
The same applies to the digital innovation hubs (DIHs), the setting up of which was nonetheless encouraged in the 2016 initiative. Only Germany, however, has followed up on this. In this respect, the auditors note that there should be a framework for the establishment of a network of European DIHs covering all regions of Europe. According to the proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework (2021–2027), DIHs should receive 10% of the Digital Europe programme.
See the report: https://bit.ly/2FTZ7Ia (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)