The uptake of digital technologies by businesses has the potential to improve services and products, and to increase competitiveness. The crisis caused by COVID-19 has also shown that digitalisation is crucial for improving the economic resilience of businesses.
In 2021, 56% of EU enterprises reached a basic level of digital intensity. A basic level entails the use of at least four of twelve selected digital technologies (such as using any AI technology; having e-commerce sales account for at least 1% of total turnover; etc.). A basic level includes businesses with a low, high and very high level of the Digital Intensity Index (DII), excluding the very low level. Of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 55% reached a basic level of digital intensity compared with 88% of large enterprises.
Source dataset: isoc_e_dii
Only 3% of EU SMEs reached a very high level of digital intensity while 18% reached a high level. Most of the SMEs recorded low (34%) or very low (45%) digital intensity levels.
According to one of the targets of the Digital Compass – the EU’s vision for the decade of the digital transformation - more than 90% of EU SMEs should reach at least a basic level of digital intensity by 2030. In 2021, EU SMEs were 35 percentage points (pp) shy of the ambition set in the Digital Compass.
Source dataset: isoc_e_dii
The biggest proportion of enterprises reaching a very high level of the DII was in Finland, Denmark and Malta (all 10%) and Sweden (9%). Meanwhile, Romania and Bulgaria were lagging behind with around three quarters of enterprises characterised by a very low digital intensity (77% and 74%, respectively).
For more information:
- Statistics Explained article on Towards Europe’s Digital Decade targets
- What’s New article on the Digital Decade
- Database on digital economy and society
- Dedicated section on digital economy and society
- Europe's Digital Decade website
Methodological notes:
- The Digital Intensity Index (DII) is a composite indicator, derived from the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises. With each of the 12 included variables having a score of 1 point, the DII distinguishes four levels of digital intensity for each enterprise: count of 0 to 3 points entails a very low level of digital intensity, 4 to 6 – low, 7 to 9 – high and 10 to 12 points – very high DII. The DII composition varies between different survey years, depending on the questions included in the survey, hence the comparability over time may be limited.
- The data in this article are based on the annual survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises and refer to enterprises with at least 10 employees or self-employed persons in NACE Rev. 2 sections C to J, L to N and group 95.1.
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