The Diplomat
The Governments of Spain and Estonia signed yesterday in Tallinn a Joint Declaration of cooperation and exchange of good practices in the field of digital government.
The signing between the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas, and the Estonian Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, Kristjan Järvan, took place yesterday in the framework of the Tallinn Digital Summit, which began yesterday and will conclude today, Tuesday.
Spain and Estonia are in the top 10 of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) of the European Union; specifically, Spain is ranked seventh and Estonia ninth. Estonia leads the ranking in the European Digital Public Services indicator, while Spain ranks fifth in this same indicator.
In accordance with what has been agreed, the Spanish State Secretariat for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence and the Estonian Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Information Technologies will seek opportunities to collaborate in the exchange of best practices and projects.
Specifically, the collaboration will focus on six key areas: innovation in digital governance, strategies for the delivery of digital services through mobile applications, unified delivery of digital public services to citizens, strategies for administrative simplification, interoperability and interconnection of systems and data between different public administrations at regional, national and European level and exchange of measures, capabilities, services and solutions in cybersecurity for public administrations.
Spain is represented by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation at the Tallinn Digital Summit, an annual event that brings together leaders, international organizations and the private sector to address the most outstanding challenges in the technological field, as well as the opportunities to move towards a connected digital future. Carme Artigas participated in the panel Trusted Data in Pursuit of Trusted AI, on data as a geostrategic asset.
DESI Index
The Digital Economy and Society Index, published by the European Commission, is a composite index that summarizes five indicators of Europe’s digital progress and allows tracking the evolution of EU Member States in digital competitiveness. These five indicators are connectivity, human capital, internet usage, digital technology integration and digital public services.
Each year, DESI reports publish countries’ progress results, combining quantitative data from more than 30 indicators with analysis on the policies and best practices that have been developed in each country. This helps Member States to identify areas for priority action, such as thematic chapters, which provide an EU-wide analysis of digital areas of digital transformation.