2015-05 Digital Development Index

The European Chamber ranked the European countries according to their Digital Development, in order to highlight the countries with the most favorable environment to start a business in IT related fields.

Finland is leading the transition toward digitization by virtue of the wide availability of digital technologies and contents, which boost the developing of new products, services and organizational models. With Sweden (2nd), Norway (6th) and Denmark (in the 7th place), the Scandinavian region can be considered the main hub for digital businesses. Switzerland, backed by a high-skilled workforce, and Netherlands, entirely provided with internet access, hold the third and fourth positions.

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EuCham Research
May 2015

Digital Development Index

1	Finland	8.54
2	Sweden	8.49
3	Switzerland	8.33
4	Netherlands	8.12
5	Germany	7.84
…
44	Albania	4.67

EuCham data based on WEF Global IT Report, 2014
44 European countries were considered

Finland offers the most prosper digital environment, performing an overall score of 8.54
Albania, at an earlier stage of its digitization process, occupies the last position
There is a visible asymmetry between Northern and South-Eastern countries

Source: eucham.eu/research

Detailed Information

Digitization of businesses is a great enabler, leading to innovation, competitiveness and new employment opportunities. Therefore, building and fostering a digital ecosystem is becoming of paramount importance for growth. “I call data the new oil. Because it is a fuel for innovation, powering and energizing our economy” stated Neelie Kroes, former European Commission Vice-President.

EuCham lists the European countries according to their Digital Development, in order to individuate the countries with the most favorable environment to start a business in IT related fields. Finland is leading the transition toward digitization by virtue of the wide availability of digital technologies and contents, which boost the developing of new products, services and organizational models. With Sweden (2nd), Norway (6th) and Denmark (in the 7th place), the Scandinavian region can be considered the main hub for digital businesses. Switzerland, backed by a high-skilled workforce and Netherlands, which are entirely provided with internet access, hold the third and fourth positions.

Despite positive results of Europe on a global perspective, the digital divide in the region is still pronounced (see Figure 2). Albania, Serbia and Moldova, suffering from a business environment which less innovation impulse, occupy the last positions of the chart. The EU is currently tackling the problem through the “Digital Agenda for Europe”, an initiative aiming to harmonize the digital ecosystem of the region.

Figure 1: Digital Development Index

Figure 2: Digital Development Map

Methodology

The score has been calculated based on three main pillars: the Digital Environment, infrastructures and business conditions that can create the premise for the flourishing of a digital enterprise; the Business Usage, to monitor the status transition to ICT and the Economic Impact, to quantify the actual benefits to the society.

⅓ Digital Environment: Availability of latest technology, Venture capital availability, Tax rate %, No. of days to start a business, No. of procedures to start a business, Intensity of local competition, Tertiary education gross enrollment rate %, Quality of management schools, Government procurement of advanced technology products, Electricity production kWh/capita, Mobile network coverage % population, Internet bandwidth, Secure internet servers, Accessibility of digital contents.

⅓ Business Usage: Firms technology absorption, Capacity for innovation, PCT patents, Business to business internet use, Business to consumer internet use, Extent of staff training.

⅓ Economic Impact: Impact of ICT to new services and products, Impact of ICT on new organizational models, No. of ICT patents, Knowledge intensive jobs % workforce.

The original data has been extracted from the Global Information Technology Report 2014 of the World Economic Forum.

Table 1: Digital Development Index

Rank	Country	Digital Development Index	Subindexes
Rank	Country	Digital Development Index	Digital Environment	Rank	Business Usage	Rank	Economic Impact	Rank
1	Finland	8.54	8.48	1	8.57	2	8.57	1
2	Sweden	8.49	8.34	3	8.57	3	8.57	2
3	Switzerland	8.33	8.29	5	8.71	1	8.00	3
4	Netherlands	8.12	8.22	6	8.14	5	8.00	4
5	Germany	7.84	7.82	10	8.29	4	7.43	5
6	Norway	7.76	8.43	2	7.71	8	7.14	8
7	Denmark	7.69	7.94	9	8.14	6	7.00	9
8	Luxemburg	7.57	7.71	13	7.57	9	7.43	6
9	United Kingdom	7.52	8.13	7	7.29	11	7.14	7
10	Austria	7.29	7.72	12	7.71	7	6.43	14
11	Belgium	7.25	7.74	11	7.29	10	6.71	12
12	Iceland	7.19	8.30	4	6.86	13	6.43	15
13	Ireland	7.15	8.03	8	6.57	14	6.86	10
14	France	7.04	7.28	18	7.00	12	6.86	11
15	Estonia	6.79	7.51	15	6.29	15	6.57	13
16	Malta	6.34	7.44	17	5.86	17	5.71	17
17	Slovenia	6.27	7.51	16	5.71	20	5.57	20
	Europe average	6.26	7.07		5.99		5.71
18	Lithuania	6.21	6.91	25	5.86	18	5.86	16
19	Portugal	6.18	7.24	19	5.71	19	5.57	19
20	Spain	6.12	6.94	23	5.71	21	5.71	18
21	Czech Republic	6.03	7.10	20	5.86	16	5.14	23
22	Cyprus	5.95	7.55	14	5.29	27	5.00	28
23	Latvia	5.92	7.05	21	5.43	24	5.29	21
24	Montenegro	5.74	6.95	22	5.14	30	5.14	25
25	Turkey	5.71	6.86	27	5.57	22	4.71	35
26	Croatia	5.67	6.87	26	5.00	33	5.14	26
27	Hungary	5.62	6.29	35	5.29	28	5.29	22
28	Azerbaijan	5.56	6.11	40	5.43	23	5.14	27
29	Poland	5.53	6.73	28	5.00	31	4.86	33
30	Italy	5.47	6.27	36	5.29	26	4.86	31
31	Slovakia	5.45	6.19	38	5.29	25	4.86	30
32	Kazakhstan	5.45	6.34	31	5.14	29	4.86	32
33	Russia	5.44	6.31	33	4.86	36	5.14	24
34	Armenia	5.43	6.30	34	5.00	32	5.00	29
35	Bulgaria	5.40	6.93	24	4.71	39	4.57	36
36	Macedonia	5.33	6.56	29	4.71	40	4.71	34
37	Greece	5.17	6.50	30	4.71	38	4.29	40
38	Romania	5.09	6.26	37	4.71	37	4.29	42
39	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5.05	6.01	41	4.86	34	4.29	39
40	Ukraine	5.05	5.86	42	4.86	35	4.43	38
41	Georgia	5.02	6.34	32	4.57	42	4.14	43
42	Moldova	4.94	5.83	43	4.43	43	4.57	37
43	Serbia	4.85	6.12	39	4.14	44	4.29	41
44	Albania	4.67	5.73	44	4.57	41	3.71	44

No data: Andorra,Belarus, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, San Marino

Source: World Economic Forum, Global Information Technology Report (2014)
EuCham Research Department – Compiled by Fabio Diroma 2015-05-01