Increasing the level of ambition of the 2030 digital targets of the EU – CSC recommends more strategic use of the key performance indicators

CSC welcomes the draft implementing decision on the key performance indicators of the EU’s 2030 digital targets. However, we continue to regret the rather sporadic and narrow nature of the targets themselves. We hope that the 2026 review of the targets, as provided for in Recital 20 of the Digital Decade policy programme, will indeed expand the targets to cover the data economy, sustainability, cybersecurity and other relevant dimensions that are missing from the current targets. Taking a more comprehensive approach is instrumental in order to go beyond the merely technological aspects. It means recognising the profound systemic change that digitalisation drives, and only this recognition enables reaping the benefits for the economy and society at large.

More comprehensive target-setting will require an approach that moves away from administrative silos, similarly to how Finland’s national digital compass has been prepared in good cooperation across all ministries. It is also crucial to design the KPIs so that the right issues are measured. This can be done already before the 2026 review by using the KPIs of the existing targets to widen the scope of the targets as much as possible, aiming to take into account also the societal implications. The Commission is already suggesting such widening for target 1a by adding gender convergence in the KPI, although this aspect is regrettably not featured in the target itself. In the attached position paper, we recommend similar approach for some of the other indicators.

In summary we recommend the following:

Target 1b: Measuring not only the number of ICT specialists as a whole but also in the sectors that are key for the development of the digital single market and data economy, e.g. data management, data analytics, AI and quantum development, cybersecurity; also, measuring digital skills in other fields than ICT, e.g. law, economics, social sciences.

Target 2c: Measuring not only the number of the edge nodes but also their interoperability with the wider ecosystem of data and computing infrastructures; also, the climate-neutrality of the edge nodes mentioned in the target must be reflected in the KPI.

Target 2d: Measuring the interoperability of quantum infrastructures with the rest of the ecosystem as well as the number of qubits in Europe’s top quantum computers.

Targets 3a and 3b: Measuring the cooperation between enterprises and higher education institutions + clarifying the footnotes.

Target 4a: Measuring not only the provision of digital public services but also the uptake of those services and/or the citizens’ ability to use them as well as interoperability between the services.

Target 4b: Assessing how the mechanisms for citizen online access to health data support access for secondary use purposes.

Target 4c: Assessing also the Union-wide recognition of the national eIDs.

Read the full statement here