Cohesion policy: helping Europe get fit for the digital age
1. Introduction
Digital technologies are transforming
the world at an unprecedented speed. They have changed how we communicate, live
and work. They have changed our societies and our economies. Progress in Artificial
Intelligence, Internet of Things, robotics, automation, block-chain or 3D
printing is bringing about technology-led transformations across all European
industries. After knowledge and people, it is now physical devices and sensors
that are linking up with each other. Digital technologies are key ingredients
for innovations that can help us to find solutions to societal challenges, from
health to farming, from security to manufacturing.
The public sector has an
important role in stimulating digital transformation. This starts with a
different mind-set: We need to move from “need to know” to “need to share”.
Cohesion
Policy embraced these principles and leads on this by example via the Open Data platform and e-Cohesion.
The Digital Single
Market initiative sets out the current EU
policy framework. It aims to open up digital opportunities for
people and business and enhance Europe's position as a world leader in the
digital economy.
2. An overview of cohesion policy investment
EU Cohesion Policy makes a key contribution to delivering Digital Single
Market objectives on the ground, in particular through significant financial
allocations from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), totalling more than EUR 14 billion for EU financing over the current investment period 2014-2020,
complemented by national public and private co-financing. The focus of digital
investments under Cohesion Policy is to overcome the digital divide both
socially and geographically, e.g. by supporting digitalisation of firms, by
improving access to e-government, e-health, and digital skills, and by
fostering the roll-out of broadband in remote and rural regions, so that no EU
region is left behind.
Cohesion Policy
supports in particular:
2.1. Digitising European Industry
... to ensure that businesses, SMEs, digital and
non-tech industries can benefit from digital innovations to create a higher
value chain. This strategy links national and regional initiatives and boosts
investment:
- Over 100 ERDF programmes support the specifically the development and up-take of digital technologies by SMEs and cooperation between large firms and SMEs on ICT products and services. Many more support technology transfer and advanced advisory services for SMEs that often include strong digital elements. ERDF helped build up Digital Innovation Hubs and LivingLabs in many EU regions.
- In order to enhance the impact of these investments, Member States and regions prepared digital growth strategies, or included a digital dimensions in their smart specialisation strategies, tailored to their specific needs and potentials.
- The Commission runs a pilot action for “regions in industrial transition” to test new approaches in regions with a lack of appropriate skills-base, high labour costs and deindustrialisation, aiming to harness the benefits of technological change, including the change to digital and customised systems of production.
2.2. Improving broadband
connectivity and access
... to boost productivity for businesses,
efficiency of public services and access to digital opportunities and amenities
for citizens across Europe. The EU broadband
mapping shows that mainly in rural and
remote regions there is a dire need to improve connectivity and make it
affordable.
- There are more than 80 ERDF programmes in 17 Member States that invest in rolling out broadband, mainly in local access loops for high-speed broadband of more than 30 Mbps in line with the relevant national or regional broadband plans.
- There are currently several major ERDF broadband projects each with over EUR 50 million investment volume. This complements important private investments and is complemented by measures to implement the Directive on measures to reduce the cost of deploying high-speed electronic communications networks.
- The Connecting Europe Broadband Fund , the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, and the European Fund for Strategic Investments can complement the ERDF investments in broadband.
- The Commission facilitates the preparation of the technologically and legally challenging broadband projects via the Broadband Competence Offices Network and the REGIO TAIEX peer 2 peer support.
2.3. Creating
a digital society and economy
.... which benefits from digital opportunities, via building smart
cities, improving access to e-government,
e-health, digital skills and the
take-up of digital solutions in public utilities, while ensuring cyber-security.
- More than 130 ERDF programmes in 21 Member States foresee investments in e-Government services and applications, e-Inclusion, e-Accessibility, e-Learning and education and in ICT solutions for healthy, active ageing and e-Health.
- More than 130 ERDF and Cohesion Fund programmes in 23 Member States foresee investments in intelligent energy distribution systems (incl. smart grids) and intelligent transport systems.
- More than 80 ERDF programmes in 16 Member States foresee support for making public sector information accessible, including for e-tourism and e-culture. This is the raw material for enterprises using artificial intelligence and big data.
- The Urban Agenda for the EU has a strong digital transition dimension that helps making cities smarter and helps optimising the impact of the over EUR 10 billion from the ERDF for the implementation of integrated strategies for sustainable urban development. The Urban Innovative Actions give seven cities an opportunity to experiment creative, innovative and durable solutions to address the challenges, including those linked to digital transition.
2.4. Investing
in developing innovative digital technologies
... such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, augmented and virtual
reality, gamification, human-machine interfaces, and supercomputing:
- There are more than 100 smart specialisation priorities in digital technologies, and most regions’ smart specialisation strategies aim expressly at using innovative ICT solutions in their priority fields. Thus, a substantial share of the over EUR 44 billion ERDF funds for innovation is dedicated to digital technologies.
- Many of the interregional partnerships that formed in the Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms, and four of the pilots for interregional innovation investments are about digital value chains: 3D printing, cybersecurity, High Tech Farming, or traceability.
- Also in the Pilot Action for Regions in Industrial Transition, the role of digital technologies and automation is addressed, together with globalisation, decarbonisation and skills issues.
3. Planned ERDF investments to make Europe fit for the digital age
The detailed allocations to specific actions and investment progress are set out in the 3 charts below:
- "Planned ERDF Digital investment 2014-2020" - showing the latest planned values by intervention field;
- "ERDF support to digital investments: 2014-2020 timeseries" showing changes over time in aggregate planned amounts and implementation progress;
- "ERDF planned support and implementation by digital intervention fields" chart showing progress in delivering the planned investments by intervention field (filters by country / year).
The global filter below allows users to filter the three charts presenting financial allocations and progress by year, country and fund.
4. Examples of projects in the digital field
Digitising
European Industry:
- Puglia’s Living Lab matches ICT innovation with market needs (Italy): link
- Making our open data your business in Finland: link
- Mechatronics for SMEs forms networks of German and Dutch businesses: link
- INNOVATHENS promotes and supports the local knowledge and ICT-based entrepreneurship in Greece: link
- Digital Innovation Hub: Ventspils High Technology Park (Latvia): link
- Digital Innovation Hub: am-LAB in Szombathely (Hungary): link
- Digital Innovation Hub: HPC-Cloud and Cognitive Systems for Smart Manufacturing processes, Robotics and Logistics in Zaragoza (Spain): link
- Interreg Europe: Strengthening SME capacity to engage in Industry 4.0: link
- Interreg: Supporting Atlantic digital start-ups to go international: link
- Interreg Europe: Regional policies for competitive cybersecurity SMEs: link
- Urban Innovative Action: AS-Fabrik -Bilbao Alliance for smart specialisation in advanced services towards the digital transformation of the industry (Spain): link
- Supporting smart mobility with RFID technology (Italy): link
Projects improving
broadband connectivity and access:
- Improving broadband access in rural Lithuania: link
- Broadband access for disadvantaged areas in Romania: link
- Fibre optic infrastructure Western French Guiana: link
- Fibre optic network increases access to broadband in Pomerania (Poland): link
- High-speed broadband for Auvergne (France): link
Projects creating
a digital society and economy:
- French-Spanish-Portuguese cooperation results in innovative ICT tools to promote personalised medicine: link
- One-stop online service in Sardinia providing information on starting a business, an innovative self-certifying system, and standardised forms (Italy): link
- Intelligent transport tools give Wroclaw a new lease of life (Poland): link
- Digital registration of land and property in rural Romania: link
- e-Schools project to increase ICT use in Croatia's education system: link
- Constructing Sofia’s integrated urban transport system (Bulgaria): link
- Interreg: Advancing Communities towards low-Carbon Energy Smart System: link
- Urban Innovative Action: Cluj Future of Work (Romania): link
- E-university: Cyprus University of Technology to become an electronic university: link
- Bridging the digital divide in Galicia (Spain): link
Projects investing
in developing innovative digital technologies:
- Smart technology tested in Germany allows older people to live independently: link
- TecBIS boosts high-tech companies in central Portugal: link
- Innovative ICT based solutions for agriculture, ranching, agri-food and forestry (Interreg Spain-Portugal): link
- Innovative chirurgical navigation (Germany) : link
- Laser micro-machining innovations in Trentino (Italy): link
- Research institute to explore the extraordinary potential of graphene (UK): link
- High-performance computing infrastructure for brain imaging (UK): link
- Partnership for 3D printing in Tampere (Finland): link
- Custom 3D printed implants set to revolutionise spinal surgery (Poland): link
5. Expected results and how to track them
The project examples above are a small selection of the actions implemented in the framework of cohesion policy which are expected to have a direct positive impact on peoples' lives, productivity of companies, effectiveness of public administrations, etc..
Some of the expected results and progress in achieving them are summarized in the following graphs:
6. Looking ahead
For the next
investment period 2021-2027, the
Commission has proposed two specific policy objectives that prioritise digital
investments:
- Smarter Europe, through innovation, digitisation, economic transformation and support to small and medium-sized businesses
- A more Connected Europe, with digital networks
Other policy objectives will
also include digital investments, in particular the take-up of digital solutions:
- a Greener, carbon free Europe,
- a more Social Europe,
- a Europe closer to citizens.
The Commission promotes digital
transformation investments also under the next generation of Cohesion Policy
programmes. In its 2019
European Semester country reports it recommended investments in
digitisation for practically all Member States and, for more than ten Member States, in broadband.
7. Further information
- 2014-2020 Cohesion Policy thematic objective 2: Information and communication technologies
- Regional policy (programmes and Managing Authorities): REGIO ATLAS
- ERDF Project examples
- INTERREG projects
- The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI)
- Other Commission proposals for post 2020: Connecting Europe Facility , Digital Europe Programme , Horizon Europe and Single Market Programme
- Find more #ESIFOpenData stories here.
Contact
We are REGIO's research, business & digital team. Contact us at: REGIO-G1-HEAD-OF-UNIT@ec.europa.eu
European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, Smart and Sustainable Growth