Digital Working Group

Issues in focus

High-quality digital infrastructure and digital public services at the regional level act as significant factors for attracting and retaining talent. Given the rapid pace of digitalisation and the twin challenges of demographic shifts and the green transition, ensuring equitable and timely access to digital tools and services, even in remote areas, has become increasingly important. This calls for the exploration of innovative digital solutions and service delivery models that increase coverage while addressing disparities in digital access and improving working conditions. It also calls for a reassessment of skills’ requirements in sectors heavily impacted by these transitions, ensuring a workforce equipped to navigate the evolving digital and green landscape.

It is therefore essential to bring relevant digital actors together and enhance dialogue, exchange of experiences and knowledge building between them and to identify opportunities and approaches to help mitigate challenges associated with population decline of tertiary educated population and how to harness talent in the digital sector.

Objectives of the group

The Digital Working Group is committed to supporting necessary developments both at the policy level and on the ground, by improving digital inclusion and accessibility, tackling digital skills mismatches and declining tertiary-educated labour force in the sector. Specifically, the Digital Working Group has dedicated its efforts to addressing the following issues:

1. Digital inclusion and accessibility: Ensuring access to affordable and high-speed digital connectivity and to key digital public services for all, regardless of age, socioeconomic status, or physical abilities, in order to create a more diverse and talented workforce.
2. Digital innovation ecosystems: Promoting the development of digital technologies and digital innovation ecosystems, in order to foster digital innovation and entrepreneurship.
3. Education and training (E&T) and digital skills: Ensuring that everyone can acquire the education and skills necessary to enjoy the benefits of digital technology, in order toto tackle the digital skills gap and skills mismatch.

Finally, the WG also has the ambition to increase the analytical knowledge in order to support evidence-based policies on regional development and migration and facilitate policy making from EU regional authorities (in particularly those at risk/in a talent development trap).

For further information, please read more about the different topics in the respective issue papers.

Envisioned outputs

During its first year in operation, the Working Groups investigated, framed and described the issues they deem most prominent and which they would like to address (please see the issue papers in the download section). The groups have now moved on from this initial incubation phase to the delivery phase, working on the production of intermediary and final outputs.

As intermediary outputs, the Digital Working Group is focussing on:

1. ✔ A Good Practices Catalogue (Volume 1), in collaboration with all other WGs. The catalogue presents a pool of cases from across the WGs, combined with initial reflections on their contribution to harnessing talent. Digital WG members have collected good practices focusing on enhancing the digital skills of teaching and training staff, implementing strategic initiatives to enhance digital skills, and implementing useful and efficient digital public services.

As final outputs, the Digital Working Group is looking at:

1. An EU Digital Funding Toolkit for SMEs: this toolkit will support SMEs in navigating available funding opportunities for digital innovation.
2. Self-assessment tool to evaluate regional readiness to attract, retain, and develop talent, in collaboration with the R&I WG (Leader: Digital WG). This tool will provide a diagnostic framework, enabling regions to pinpoint gaps in their ability to harness and translate knowledge into tangible innovative products.
3. A Recommendation paper on access to essential services and quality of life, in collaboration with all other WGs (Leader: Territorial WG). Recognising that access to high-quality digital infrastructure and services is a critical enabler of overall quality of life, the Digital WG will provide suggestions and ideas for potential actions that policymakers should consider ensuring equitable access to digital tools and technologies. Additionally, the Digital WG will incorporate aspects of the green transition and sustainability in its inputs.
4. A Good Practices Catalogue (Volume 2), in collaboration with all other WGs. The catalogue will follow a similar structure to the first edition. The publication of this second catalogue will allow the Digital WG to contribute with additional good practice cases that are relevant to the issues tackled by the Digital WG.

For more details, please visit the strategic roadmap document in the download section.

Meet our members

What the WG Leaders have to say

During our last physical meeting, we have asked our WG Leaders a few questions. Please watch the video below to understand what motivates them to be part of the HTP community and how they think the work of the groups can add value.

Downloads