Digital Performance in V4 Countries

Curentul Juridic, 2023

The study was published in Curentul Juridic (2023) vol. 26. no. 1. pp. 21-34. Digitization in the European Union is a key, important policy aiming to build the digital economy and society in the European Union, which requires a complex legal relationship between the EU and the Member States. This is one of the reasons why membership of the European Union entails many rights and obligations for our country. One such obligation is that the Union develops a set of indicators from data provided by Member States. With these indicators the Union can compare the Member States' performance in different (economic) areas. One of these is Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) which is a complex indicator that summerizes relevant indicators of the Union's digital performance and monitor the development of EU Member States' digital competitiveness. In the present study we examine the performance of Hungary in the European Union in recent years through the DESI indicators.

TalTech journal of European studies, 2023

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) in recent years has brought about signifi cant changes in many social sectors such as communication, economy, entertainment, and others. To defi ne the key role that ICT plays in its development course, the European Union (EU) has developed a composite indicator, the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), to assess the digital policy performance of its Member States. In the current work, an attempt is made to evaluate the performance of the EU countries on the digital economy and society with respect to implemented EU digital policies by studying the fi ve dimensions of the DESI for the years 2014-2019, using the corresponding DESI reports (DESI 2015-DESI 2020). Moreover, the digital convergence among EU Member States, in terms of similarity of their performance in the fi ve dimensions of the DESI by grouping them according to the optimal number of clusters, is also examined. Since the optimal number of clusters is two, EU Member States are classifi ed in two groups, one of high and one of low performance in the fi ve dimensions of the DESI. The evolution of each member country and the possible transitions from one group to another during the years 2014-2019 is also a point of interest. The grouping of EU Member States into the two clusters showed that socioeconomic factors may aff ect the overall DESI. Linear mixed eff ect models confi rm the positive eff ect of Gross Domestic Product per capita, the public expenditure for education

Regional Statistics

We build on the argument that measurement of digitalization is essential for effective public policy strategies in order to to govern digital transition. Developing this argument, we investigate the five principal dimensions of the European Commission´s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) using a series of multivariate statistics. The analysis can be divided into three groups. First, we analyse the linear relationships between dimensions by correlation analysis, partial correlation analysis, and principal component analysis. In the partial correlation analysis, causal relationships between the dimensions show high correlations. Second, we assign countries into groups with cluster analysis and multi-dimensional scaling. The groups obtained by the two methods are very similar. Finally, we rank the European Union (EU) countries using statistical methods and compare with the results obtained with the overall DESI index. The correlation between the two rankings shows a strong linear relationship. Based on these results we draw conclusions on how to effectively use the DESI data for public policy analysis.

Economics of Networks eJournal, 2017

We live in the Digital Age in which both economy and society have been transforming significantly. The Internet and the connected digital devices are inseparable parts of our daily life and the engine of the economic growth. In this paper, first I analyzed the status of digital economy and society in Hungary, then compared it with Ukraine and made conclusions regarding the future development tendencies. Using secondary data provided by the European Commission I investigated the five components of the Digital Economy and Society Index of Hungary. I performed cross country analysis to find out the significant differences between Ukraine and Hungary in terms of access to the Internet and device use including smartphones, computers and tablets. Based on my findings, I concluded that Hungary is more developed in terms of the significant parameters of the digital economy and society than Ukraine, but even Hungary is an emerging digital nation. Considering the high growth rate of Internet,...

Research for Rural Development

Today technological progress is reshaping global economic development and changing the overall welfare of societies. Therefore, it is important to assess challenges and readiness of the European Union to use its capacity to ensure that technologies benefit people and bring them towards more inclusive societies enhancing opportunities to use artificial intellect for making health, education, agriculture, services and manufacturing industries more efficient and user friendly. The Digital Economy and Society Index analyses the digital performance of the EU Member States across five main dimensions: connectivity, human capital, use of internet, integration of digital technology, digital public services. However, despite intention to jointly develop Digital Single Market, the gap between the EU top digital countries and less digitally advanced countries remains large. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the digital performance indicators of the EU countries, in particular focusing to Poland and Latvia to assess their progress and potential of their human capital's digital skills. The research is based on theoretical literature studies on industrial revolution stages, European Union Commission documents, indexes and publications available in relevant public institutions such as ministries and industry reports. The research employed monographic method, analysis and synthesis methods as well as graphical data analysis. The research results give evidence that currently Poland's human capital is significantly better prepared for making use of future digital economy challenges than Latvia's human capital, and there is a close link between countries' R&D expenditures proportion of GDP and their human capital's readiness to integrate in digital economy.

PLOS Digital Health, 2022

Digital divides are globally recognised as a wicked problem that threatens to become the new face of inequality. They are formed by discrepancies in Internet access, digital skills, and tangible outcomes (e.g. health, economic) between populations. Previous studies indicate that Europe has an average Internet access rate of 90%, yet rarely specify for different demographics and do not report on the presence of digital skills. This exploratory analysis used the 2019 community survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals from Euro- stat, which is a sample of 147,531 households and 197,631 individuals aged 16-74. The cross-country comparative analysis includes EEA and Switzerland. Data were collected between January and August 2019 and analysed between April and May 2021. Large differences in Internet access were observed (75-98%), especially between North-Western (94- 98%) and South-Eastern Europe (75-87%). Young populations, high education levels, employment, and living in an urban environment appear to positively influence the development of higher digital skills. The cross-country analysis exhibits a positive correlation between high capital stock and income/earnings, and the digital skills development while showing that the internet-access price bears marginal influence over digital literacy levels. The findings suggest Europe is currently unable to host a sustainable digital society without exacerbating cross-country inequalities due to substantial differences in internet access and digital literacy. Investment in building digital capacity in the general population should be the primary objective of European countries to ensure they can benefit optimally, equitably, and sustainably from the advancements of the Digital Era.

Annals - Economy Series, 2018

New IT technologies have generated changes in the economic and social system, and the rapidity with which countries adopt these technologies is essential for increasing economic and social competitiveness in the future. Thus, the measuring of ITC technologies integration in the economy and society is essential, and at the level of the EU-28 countries there is a Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) that shows how a country evolves digitally compared to others. The 2017 report shows significant disparities within the EU28 regarding digitization. Although Romania ranks 2nd in the EU28 for high-speed broadband subscriptions, it is ranked the last in the EU28 from the point of view of Internet usage. In this paper, we will limit to identifying the regions in Romania with the highest percentages of Internet usage and commenting on the main causes underpinning the regional gaps. The research method used was cluster analysis that identified 3 clusters in terms of Internet usage. The dat...

Management şi Marketing, 2022

The first computers were made as early as in the 20 th century, but the rapid development of digitalisation took place in the 21 st century. Nowadays, Industry 4.0 has created a network connection between man and machines. Without computers and the Internet, the world is unthinkable. Digitalisation is pervading every part of our lives. Whether at work or in our leisure activities, digitalisation and the use of digital tools are present. The digital revolution was started by computers and is now an indispensable our lives, for example with the internet, mobile phones, cloud solutions and self-driving cars. It's no coincidence that digital competence is no longer an expectation, but an obligation for employers and employees alike. Several studies have undertaken to define digital skills; however, we can talk about a rather complex competence. The current study examines the question in the dimension of the European Union from a multitude of aspects. The authors use the DESI index and EU statistics on this topic to find correlations between digital potential, use of tools and the exploitation of opportunities offered by digitalisation in thirteen countries. The authors primarily examined the impact of the level of digital infrastructure and the frequency of Internet use on digital skills. It is outlined from statistics that Scandinavian countries have a leading role in the digital competition. Nevertheless, our results throw light on the individual level that digital skills forcefully improve during browsing on the internet, and practical activities have a significant role in development, which the authors named PMP.

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 2021

In general, the digital economy plays an important role in the achievement of sustainable economic development, creation of a favourable investment climate, increase in income, and improvement of the welfare of the population. The digital economy is a very broad concept and it refers to the digitalization of the economy as a whole. However, it is based on infrastructure and the intensity of the use of Internet technology. To what extent do the EU countries differ in terms of availability and use of Internet technology? What trends occur in the dynamics of disparities in the level of use of Internet technology in the EU countries? In relation to the abovementioned questions, it is necessary to monitor and analyse the level of use of Internet technology in various EU countries in dynamics. The purpose of the research is to assess the level of use of Internet technology in the EU as a basis of the digital economy, as well as to assess disparities in the use of Internet technology in the EU in the period 2012-2020.

New Trends in Sustainable Business and Consumption

The current paper examines the current state of the digitalization in Romania and the European Union (EU), considering also the first year of pandemic. The purpose is to identify those zones with a significant performance gap between Romania and EU regarding digitalization and to highlight barriers that prevent digitalization. At EU level, one of the evaluation tools regarding the success of the digitalization strategies is the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). We have used this tool in this article. Our research revealed a number of relevant indicators pertaining to digital economy where Romania ranks above the EU average however, most of them have values below EU average. Based on a comparative and a factorial analysis, we have assessed a set of elements that may influence the digitalization. We have created a statistical model that uses historical data and linear regression in order to estimate how the digitalization dimensions look like without the influence of pandemic and we have compared this estimation with the actual data from the first year of pandemic. The originality of the article consists of the comparative analysis between the actual evolution of the digitalization during pandemic and the estimated trend of this evolution should the pandemic did not occur. For this, we have used the most recent formula for DESI, which is the 2021 edition. As the new data from DESI 2022 becomes available, the new researches might be able to evaluate more accurately the impact that pandemic had on the digitalization of Romanian society and economy.