Digitalisation in Europe 2021-2022 E-Book

• Herausgeber: European Investment Bank
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 51

Beschreibung

The coronavirus crisis accelerated the digital transformation of Europe's economy. Before the pandemic, cutting-edge digital technologies were primarily used by the most innovative and modern firms. The COVID-19 crisis, however, brought the digital transformation to the larger society — and made digitalisation integral to firms' survival. Digital firms were better able to cope with the disruption unleashed by the pandemic, and they were less likely than non-digital firms to see sales decline significantly from 2020 onwards. Many of them used the crisis an opportunity to accelerate their digitalisation.  The Digitalisation in Europe 2021-2022 report uses results from the EIB Investment Survey (EIBIS), conducted from April to July 2021, to shed light on the level of digitalisation among Europe's small and medium firms.

Leseprobe

DIGITALISATION

IN EUROPE 2021-2022

Evidence from the EIB Investment Survey

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Investment Bank.

About the European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank Group is the EU bank and the world’s biggest multilateral lender. We finance sustainable investment in small and medium-sized enterprises, innovation, infrastructure, and climate and environment. We have financed Europe’s economic growth for six decades and are at the forefront of EU crisis response, leading the world in climate investment and backing development of the first COVID-19 vaccine. We are committed to triggering €1 trillion in investment in climate and environmental sustainability to combat climate change by the end of this decade. About 10% of all our investment is outside the European Union, where our EIB Global branch supports Europe’s neighbours and global development.

Table of Contents

Overview

Digitalisation in the European Union

The EIB Corporate Digitalisation Index

Role of the environment: digital infrastructure and digital skills

Where does the European Union stand relative to the United States in digital adoption?

The role of digitalisation during COVID-19

Digitalisation, intangible investment, innovation and firm productivity

Digitalisation, employment and management

Digitalisation and climate change

Policy recommendations

References

Austria (AT)

Belgium (BE)

Bulgaria (BG)

Croatia (HR)

Cyprus (CY)

Czech Republic (CZ)

Denmark (DK)

Estonia (EE)

Finland (FI)

France (FR)

Germany (DE)

Greece (EL)

Hungary (HU)

Ireland (IE)

Italy (IT)

Latvia (LV)

Lithuania (LT)

Luxembourg (LU)

Malta (MT)

Netherlands (NL)

Poland (PL)

Portugal (PT)

Romania (RO)

Slovakia (SK)

Slovenia (SI)

Spain (ES)

Sweden (SE)

Appendix: The EIB Corporate Digitalisation Index

Appendix: Comparing EIBIS to other data sources

Overview

The coronavirus crisis has accelerated the digital transformation of Europe’s economy. Close to half of firms in the European Union report investing in digitalisation as a response to COVID-19 — for example, by providing services online — according to the results of the EIB Investment Survey (EIBIS) conducted from April to July 2021. Until recently, the implementation of digital technologies was considered important for market success and was usually associated with the most innovative and modern companies. However, the pandemic has made the digital transformation an integral part of society — and integral to firms’ survival.

Digital firms were better able to cope with the disruption unleashed by the pandemic. They were less likely than non-digital firms to experience a strong decrease in sales from the beginning of 2020. In addition, while policy support for the private sector was widespread and did not target digital firms in particular, digital firms report more often than other firms that they used the crisis as an opportunity to accelerate digitalisation. This suggests that the crisis forced them to find more efficient ways of working with digital technologies. Overall, digital firms tend to perform better than non-digital firms. They are more productive, export more, invest more, are more innovative, grow faster and pay higher wages on average.

With digitalisation advancing, the digital divide in Europe is also increasing, opening a digital dilemma. Digitalisation can transform business dynamics, work organisation, education, health and government services. Some EU firms are at risk of being left behind, in particular in regions where digital infrastructure is lacking. One in six EU firms consider access to digital infrastructure to be a major obstacle to investment, but there are differences across EU countries and among regions within the same country. Significant investment in digital infrastructure is needed across the European Union to support a broad-based economic recovery. Firms’ characteristics also play a role. Small firms are less likely to adopt digital technologies, with negative implications for long-term competitiveness. These firms need to embrace transformation, exploiting the opportunities offered by the new technologies and investing in skills. Digital investment will help ensure survival and future competitiveness in a new, more digital environment.

To accelerate the pace of digital innovation and adoption, Europe needs to focus above all on three elements: an enabling ecosystem, a European vision to counter the imbalances across the European Union and adequate policy support to address finance and skills gaps. The EIB Group is playing an important role in all three aspects. As we recover from the pandemic, Europe will need to push forward with the green and digital transformation to lead the way.

Debora Revoltella

Director, Economics Department

European Investment Bank

Digitalisation in the European Union

The pandemic led to wider recognition of the importance of the digital transformation. Until recently, the implementation of digital technologies was considered important for market success and was usually associated with the most innovative and modern companies. Now, however, the pandemic has made the digital transformation integral to firms’ survival. Many of the changes associated with digitalisation — services provided remotely, teleworking and online meetings — are likely to stay. Investment in digitalisation is vital to preventing business disruption, organising work remotely, improving communication with customers, suppliers and employees and selling products and services online.

As a response to the COVID-19 crisis, many firms invested in digitalisation. In the European Union, 46% of firms report that they took action to become more digital — for example, by providing services online — according to the results of the EIB Investment Survey (EIBIS) conducted from April to July 2021.[1] However, significant differences exist across firm size classes, sectors and countries. Comparing the different EU regions, 48% of firms in Western and Northern Europe reported taking steps or investing to become more digital, compared with 43% in Southern Europe and 37% in Central and Eastern Europe.

Firms that invested to become more digital as a response to COVID-19 (in %), by country

Source: EIBIS (2021).

During the COVID-19 crisis, firms put more complex digitalisation processes on hold.