The latest Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) ranking puts Ireland in ninth place with a score of 0.52, which is slightly above the EU average of 0.44.
This ranks Ireland ahead of Germany, Spain and France, but just behind the UK and well down on index leader Denmark (0.67).
The score is a slight improvement on the figures from 2014 when Ireland ranked eleventh with an overall score of 0.49, again just above the average.
The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) is a composite index developed by the European Commission to assess the development of EU countries towards a digital economy and society. It aggregates a set of relevant indicators structured around 5 criteria: connectivity, human capital, use of internet, integration of digital technology and digital public services.
Broadband adoption
According to the index report, during the past year, the adoption of fast broadband in Ireland has increased considerably, with subscriptions in the last year increasing from 30% to 40%. The use of internet services has also increased, with 71% using video on demand, 63% use social networking, 62% used online shopping and 60% use online banking, while 56% of internet users use eGovernment actively.
The index report said that more progress is required on increasing digital skills, as only 53% of the population have sufficient digital skills to operate effectively online, which is down from 56% in 2012. Furthermore, there are concerns raised over the number of skilled ICT professionals in the economy, as around half of enterprises trying to employ ICT specialists report difficulties doing so, as well as in the integration of digital technologies by enterprises. For example, the index cites only 23% of businesses use electronic information sharing technologies and 4% use RFID.
The report classifies Ireland among the “medium-performance cluster” of countries which comprises Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
There are one or two highlights for Ireland in the index report. Ireland ranks second for science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates per 1,000 population.
Digital technologies
In digital technology, Ireland scores second in terms of eCommerce turnover among smaller businesses, and fifth for SMEs selling online. However, electronic information sharing among businesses (23%) ranks well below the average (31%).
“The adoption of digital technologies is an important driver of labour productivity growth and needs to be strengthened,” said the index report.
“The percentage of businesses using technologies such as electronic information sharing (Enterprise Resource Planning – 23%) and RFID (4%), are relatively low and Ireland ranks 21st and 13th, respectively, in the EU for these two indicators. In terms of eInvoices and cloud take up Irish businesses perform slightly better than the EU average.”
“Take-up of Social Media, at 31% of enterprises, is advanced; and Ireland ranks 2nd in the EU with respect to this indicator. Irish SMEs have taken to eCommerce relatively more readily than those in most other EU countries. 24% of Irish SMEs sell online, significantly above the average for the EU of 15%. 37% of their turnover comes from this source. On average in the EU it is 8.8%. 11% of Irish SMEs sell cross-border.”
Public services
Modern public services offered online in an efficient manner are a vehicle for reduction of public administration expenditure as well as for efficiency gains for both enterprises and citizens, says the index report.
While active eGovernment use in Ireland is reported at more than half (56%), which is above the EU average (33%), the provision of pre-filled forms in online services is relatively low ranking Ireland 18th out of 28. Conversely, says the index report, Ireland performs relatively well with respect to online service completion (5th) and Open Data (8th).
In the domain of eHealth the index reports that more than a third (37%) of General Practitioners use Medical Data Exchange, but at 5%, ePrescriptions are significantly less widely used than the EU average (27%).
TechCentral Reporters
Ltd
