Spain remains at the forefront of the main EU economies in terms of digitalisation and connectivity

The European Commission has published its new 'Digital Decade Report 2023' (which replaces and extends the series of reports published in previous years entitled Digital Economy and Societies Index -DESI- and includes the actions that each country has taken to achieve the goals and objectives established in the Digital Decade), aimed at measuring and evaluating, through individualised monitoring, the progress and evolution of each of the member states of the EU in terms of digitisation.

The report on Spain shows an improvement in all indicators compared to the previous DESI report, and the European Commission presents a very positive view of the efforts made in the various digitisation projects and initiatives deployed with the Digital Spain Agenda, aligned with the objectives of the Digital Decade programme.

The report highlights the commitment of the Spanish authorities to digital transformation, as well as the significant progress made in the four dimensions of the Digital Decade analysed in the document presented by the Commission: digital skills, digital infrastructure, digitisation of enterprises and digitisation of public services.

The European Commission also values the leadership of our country developed in recent years in the promotion of digital rights with the Charter of Digital Rights and its influence in international forums such as the OECD and the Ibero-American General Secretariat. And it recognises Spain's leadership in ethical AI and in becoming the first country in the EU to have a State Agency for the Oversight of Artificial Intelligence.

Digital skills

In terms of digital skills, Spain performs well, with 64% of the population with basic digital skills (compared to 54% in the EU) and 38% with skills above basic (compared to 26% in the EU). It also ranks fourth in the EU in terms of advanced digital skills.

The report shows significant progress, mainly in terms of the notable increase in the percentage of ICT graduates, rising from 4% to 4.8% in just one year, placing Spain above the EU average (4.2%) for the first time.

Spain also continues to increase the percentage of ICT specialists in total employment, rising from 4.1% to 4.3% of the total number of people of working age, and is on the podium in terms of the percentage of female ICT experts, behind only Germany and France. The Commission recommends Spain to accelerate efforts in the area of digital skills to speed up the increase in the number of ICT specialists, and to promote the study of digital disciplines among women to close the gender gap in this area.

The Commission points out that the percentage of companies that offer ICT training to their employees in Spain now exceeds 20%, as well as the Government of Spain's efforts to implement "highly ambitious" programmes, such as the Generation D Pact, Educa en Digital, Uni Digital and the Digital Vocational Training Plan.

Digital Infrastructures

Regarding digital infrastructures, the report highlights Spain's important contribution to the EU's collective efforts to achieve the Digital Decade goals in this area. The document underlines that "Spain is at the forefront of fibre deployment in the EU", standing 35 points above the EU average.

In fact, the country is a leader in the adoption of ultrafast broadband -mainly with fibre optics; more than 87% of the population with broadband access has these services (more than 100 Mbps).

Spain ranks first among large European economies in very high-capacity network coverage: 93% of individuals had access to very high-capacity fixed networks (more than 100 Mbps), 20 points higher than the EU average.

It also points out that it is one of the countries with the best results in digital connectivity, despite its large size (2nd in the EU), orography and large population (48 million inhabitants).

The good results are proof of the tangible results of the Digital Spain Agenda, the government's strategy to make digitalisation a lever for economic growth. In fact, Spain has earmarked almost 30% of European funds for the NextGenerationEU funds (€20 billion) to digitalisation.

In the last legislature, more than €2 billion have been invested in the universalisation of digital infrastructures - fixed and mobile - within the framework of the Digital Spain Agenda. The specific aim is to close the digital divide in ultra-fast fibre optic and satellite connectivity, and to deploy 5G technology networks, with a special focus on rural areas.

In this area, the report highlights that coverage is 82% of the population as a whole, 23 points higher than in 2022, and that 98% of 5G spectrum has been allocated - 30 points above the EU average. This deployment is being undertaken primarily by the private sector, complemented by public investment, in rural and sparsely populated areas. Public support for 5G deployment will exceed €1 billion once the UNICO 5G Active call is launched.

Boosting innovation

The document also highlights that Spain has taken steps to increase semiconductor production in Europe and to meet the challenge of achieving digital autonomy in this sector with the implementation of the PERTE Chip, which will mobilise an investment of €12.25 billion with European funds.

It also confirms that Spain is one of the member states with the most co-investment agreements, thanks to which it is expected to play an important role in the development and deployment of innovative cloud solutions through the IPCEI Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI-CIS). It also highlights the measures implemented to contribute to the development of the EU's first quantum-accelerated computer through the Quantum Spain programme and the Artificial Intelligence R&D Missions programme.

Digitisation of companies

According to the Commission's report, Spain is taking positive steps towards the integration of advanced technologies by companies: 12.3% of companies use AI and 14.3% use Big Data for internal analysis.

In terms of the digitalisation of SMEs, Spain is practically in line with the European average: the percentage of companies with at least a basic level of digitalisation is 68% compared to 69% in the EU. The Commission has acknowledged the efforts of the Spanish authorities in this regard, and has highly appreciated programmes such as the Digital Kit, whose results will be reflected in future versions of this report, as the data on the digital development of SMEs predate the implementation of these programmes.

In this regard, the report shows that Spanish SMEs sell online 10 points more than the European average. The Commission also highlights in the document the implementation of projects and initiatives such as the Next Tech Fund, the Acelera PYME programme, the Startups Law or Generación D PYME; and Spain is encouraged to provide supportive framework conditions for start-ups and new scale companies.

Digital public services

With regard to the digitisation of public services, the Commission's text highlights Spain's good performance and its position above the European average in practically all the areas analysed. In particular, Spain ranks well above the EU average in indicators measuring the number of users of eGovernment services (84% vs. 74%); the availability of online public services for citizens (86% vs. 77%) and businesses (91% vs. 84%); the proactivity of public administrations in providing pre-filled forms to citizens and businesses (83% vs. 68%); and access to electronic health records (83% vs. 72%).

Since the launch of the definitive version of the application "My Citizen Folder" at the end of last year, new functionalities and improvements requested by users have been incorporated, such that citizens can consult data and procedures with a single click.

In this regard, the European Commission has highlighted in the report the work that Spain is carrying out to collect health data from different information systems, and to process and analyse them to improve a number of areas, such as diagnosis and treatment, prediction of health risks, identification of patterns and improvement of quality of life.

Non official translation