The European Union is closing the digital gap with the United States. More than half of European firms invested in digitalisation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they are rapidly catching up with their US peers in implementing advanced digital technologies. Despite the progress, however, Europe is not well positioned in digital innovation, and it is at risk of developing dependencies in several critical technologies. Some key takeaways: Digitalisation has helped European firms adjust at a time of repeated economic shocks. Digital firms also tend to be more productive. Successfully managing the digital transition and taking advantage of its long-term benefits goes beyond technology adoption – it requires societal change. Firms' digitalisation depends on several factors, such as adequate digital infrastructure, competition-friendly regulation and labor market skills. The report, Digitalisation in Europe 2022-2023 : Evidence from the EIB Investment Survey, uses data collected from firms to shed light on the progress small and medium firms in Europe are making on digitalisation.

Currently, there is an ongoing debate about the future of public administration. The role of public administration is evolving and changing, thus impacting the dynamics and mechanism of public affairs. Its models, programs, characteristics, and expectations at all levels have radically grown to facilitate public concerns. This book looks into the future efficiency of public administrations and attempts to predict their meaning and role in the future. It is a useful guide for the world’s public administration leaders as it will help administrations to change their everyday operations, ethics, and policies. It presents the critical skills and tools needed to master public administration, supplementing the efforts of governments to work for people's welfare. It advances the connection between administrative authorities and citizens and channelizes a more logical way of gaining a country's progression. The book contains six chapters that articulate the foundation of the future of public administration. By embracing digital transformation, prioritizing citizen engagement, and addressing public concerns, the future of this field is an exciting frontier which ensures a brighter, more connected, and equitable future for all of us.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2024-503/ In this report leading researchers within law and digitalisation from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Denmark present the fundamental characteristics of the digitalization of their national public administrations from a legal perspective. An important conclusion of the DigiLaw project is that the Nordic-Baltic countries possess different specialised expertise and experiences when it comes to public digitalisation, and from different angles and at various levels, all researchers recommend strengthening the Nordic-Baltic cooperation when it comes to sharing experiences and handling challenges related to public digitalization.

This report provides an international benchmarking of Germany’s artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem and discusses progress in implementing its national AI strategy. The report draws on quantitative and qualitative data and insights from the OECD.AI Policy Observatory and from the OECD Programme on AI in Work, Innovation, Productivity and Skills (AI-WIPS) – an OECD research programme financed by the German Federal Government – and results from a series of interviews with a wide range of stakeholders in Germany. The review discusses Germany’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges in AI, and provides recommendations to steer AI policy in Germany in the coming years. The evidence is presented according to the core focus areas outlined in Germany’s national AI strategy, which include: 1) minds; 2) research; 3) transfer and applications; 4) the world of work; 5) policy and regulatory frameworks; and 6) society. Furthermore, the report discusses AI infrastructure and it includes three sector spotlights on AI in the public sector, AI and environmental sustainability and AI and healthcare.

Political strife caused by the war in Ukraine, an energy crisis and tightening credit are hitting EU firms just as they were beginning to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis. While the pandemic was a major shock, sizable policy support enabled firms to survive and transform. Relatively easy access to funding also helped them weather the crisis. Pandemic support has since been pulled back, however, and now firms are grappling with high inflation, instability and tighter credit conditions. These combined pressures are souring firms' outlook. The report provides insight into the state of the European economy and its ability to withstand these crises while also becoming greener and more digital. The analysis is based on the EIB Group's annual Investment Survey, which surveyed 13 000 firms in the European Union from April until July 2022 on their performance, investment, financing issues and challenges. These key findings, provide a short accessible summary of the main report's messages.

This edited collection analyses various aspects of Slovakia's economy – including recent developments and events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine – highlighting issues that arise from the current economic model, making it difficult for Slovakia to revitalize and adapt the economy to new circumstances.

The year 2023 marked the tenth anniversary of Croatia’s membership of the European Union, the last acceding country to the EU, and thus represents a fitting opportunity to explore the political, economic and social dimensions of this tremendous transformation. This book examines how Croatia has changed over the last ten years and looks at the driving forces as well as the obstacles on its post-accession path of Europeanisation. The book argues that the Croatian case has special importance given that the last decade of European integration has arguably been the most challenging one yet. It started with the Eurozone-wide sovereign debt crisis and ended with the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s aggression on Ukraine. Such demanding circumstances where agenda was often defined in an ad hoc way posed a huge test for Croatia’s governmental capacity. The book provides answers to the question of how successful Croatian policymakers were in dealing with the crises-related challanges and other needed adaptations. The book explores how EU membership has affected the design and implementation of selected national public policies, the functioning of governing institutions and patterns of cooperation between main social actors. Expert contributors analyse the impact of the EU membership in two principal areas: political and economic, with individual chapters addressing relevant topics. The book is intended for researchers, academics and students interested in these issues, as well as policymakers, entrepreneurs and lobbyists concerned with European integration.

The chapters collected here examine the economic development, main experiences, lessons learned, and the challenges and perspectives ahead of the new member states of the EU to identify the determinants of imbalances in the economic development of these countries.