12.05.2022
THE DIGITAL FUTURE OF BULGARIA
Specialist analysis
Digitalization has an impact on many processes - on the strategic potential of economic development, improving labor productivity, quality of life and even the formation of different communities, informed by different channels.
This is true for the whole world and Bulgaria is no exception. We have many new opportunities at our disposal to build a modern society that is sustainable in the long run. The strategy for digital transformation undertaken by the European Commission is a headwind for our country, which faces the serious challenge of building an even more open and even more competitive economy.
How digital is Bulgaria?
In order to measure the digital progress of the Member States, the Commission has been using the Digital Economy and Society Index since 2014. Bulgaria continues to rank last with Romania in 2020, which shows that there is huge potential for progress.
The rise of Bulgaria in this important ranking will happen with significant investments from both the public and private sectors. Any delay leads to an increase in the cost of funding, as well as the time it will take for each person to increase their digital knowledge needed to achieve higher added value, as well as to build a sustainable society and a competitive business.
Human capital, technology, digital public services - we can do more
According to the index, the digital skills of the population are divided into basic skills for using the Internet and digital devices and more complex ones, indicating the presence of IT specialists, students and training companies. According to this criterion, Bulgaria is in last place. With more sophisticated skills, however, our country is even at the level of France, which is the EU average. In other words, our focus should be on improving the basic digital skills of as many people as possible. Statistics show that 1 in 5 people in Bulgaria has never used the Internet.
Another important measure that forms the final index is the introduction of digital technologies. They allow businesses to gain a competitive advantage, improve their services and enter more markets. The EU's digital sovereignty will depend on the ability of states to store, retrieve and process data, while respecting the requirements of trust, security and fundamental rights. According to this indicator, Bulgaria is in last place and urgent and purposeful efforts are needed to achieve change. The EC monitors the availability of 12 technologies that companies are developing. In our country, as well as in Romania, Latvia and Hungary, 50% of companies have invested only in a small number of them - from 0 to 3. Among these technologies can be seen typical as having a website with a description of products/services and opportunity for shopping, but also more detailed such as 1% of turnover from e-commerce, big data management, as well as the use of industrial robots or 3D printing. For example, in Bulgaria only 5-6% of companies use big data in their main business processes.
Interaction of citizens with state institutions through digital channels is also an important criterion. 36% of Internet users in Bulgaria communicated with the authorities online in 2020. The interesting thing here is that in fact the availability of digital public services in our country is not so far from the EU average compared to the previous criteria of the index, which shows the need by explaining to citizens what, where and how they can use the digital channel. The fact is, however, that public communication systems are obsolete, but the newly formed Ministry of e-Government is making serious demands to change them.
High level technology sector
Bulgaria is in the first half of the Member States whose technology sectors account for a significant percentage of GDP. For 2018 it is 5.5%, and preliminary NSI data show that this percentage is already close to 8. The productivity of the ICT sector is also in the top 5, which shows that despite its smaller scale in absolute value, the people in it work at a high level.
Recent years have given rise to important organizations for the digital development of our country. One of them is the Institute "Big Data for the benefit of intelligent society" GATE at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski ”, which aims to be a kind of bridge between science, government and business. As of this year, it is officially NATO's test center in the field of big data and artificial intelligence.
The INSAIT Institute of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology was officially opened in April this year. It was established in partnership between Sofia University and two of the world's leading technological universities - the Swiss ETH Zurich and EPFL. The project is the first of its kind in Eastern Europe and is recognized by global companies such as Google and DeepMind, which will invest nearly 6 million over the next 3 years, and Amazon Web Services with 7 million. For its part, Bulgaria will invest 170 million over the next 10 years.
