DESI local: Developing the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) at local level

Currently, the level and progress of Europe’s digital performance is measured regularly only at the Member State level. EU member states’ digital competitiveness is measured by the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), a composite index summarising progress on connectivity, digital skills, use of internet by citizens, integration of digital technology by businesses and digital public services, and no joint index, which is measured regularly, exists currently at the local government level.

As the services and solutions made available digitally to citizens are expected to increase dramatically along with the development of digital technologies, there is a clear need for an evaluation method at the local level to be put in place.

Through Action 5 of the Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Digital Transition has been working on developing the DESI for the local level.

Partners have made preliminary findings on this topic available, such as potential data collection methods for possible indicators. Additionally, data collection methods and data sources were tested and validated by an external expert in order to use them for calculating DESI indicators on the local administrative unit level. This resulted in a report showing the various analyses and assessments related to DESI at a local level.

The report concluded with two suggestions on how to develop and apply DESI at a local level which can be used in the future. Read the full report below!

• Please refer to the Action Plan of the Partnership for further information
• You can view all deliverables of the Partnership here