Finland: Finland invites ministers from digitally advanced EU countries to discuss Europe’s competitiveness

NordenBladet — The group of ministers from digitally advanced EU countries (D9+) will discuss the European Commission’s goal of making the 2020s a Digital Decade. The virtual meeting will be held on 27 January 2021 and chaired by Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.

A discussion paper prepared by Finland will be used as a basis of the meeting on Europe’s competitiveness and the objectives of the Digital Decade. According to Finland, the main factors affecting technological competitiveness include artificial intelligence, quantum technologies as well as 5G and 6G technologies.

The European Commission’s viewpoints will be presented by the Commission’s Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager. Pekka Ala-Pietilä, who chaired the European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence in 2018–2020, will give an introductory speech on technological competitiveness in Europe. Eeva Raita, Head of Strategy and Culture at Futurice, will speak about artificial intelligence as a catalyst for competitiveness.

D9+ countries focus on digitalisationD9+ is a ministerial group of digitally advanced EU countries that promotes the utilisation, implementation and sharing of best practices of digitalisation. The meeting will be attended by the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Czech Republic and Estonia.

All of the countries rank high in the Commission’s DESI index, which measures digital capacity and its development among the EU member states. DESI monitors digitalisation in the EU countries in five areas: connectivity, human capital (including digital skills), use of internet services by citizens, integration of digital technology by businesses, and digital public services.