Top digital performer: the Netherlands

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A new four-party coalition cabinet was formed in the Netherlands recently. As part of the new governing coalition, Prime Minister Mark Rutte will keep his position and become the country’s longest-serving leader. The newly formed government plans to tackle major issues such as climate emergency and housing shortage. However, according to the coalition agreement, the new cabinet also plans to focus on a topic that is becoming increasingly important in Europe – digitalization.

The Netherlands is commonly regarded as one of the continent’s leaders in the field of digitalization. Eventhough a lot has already been achieved on this front, changing times bring new challenges but also provide a chance to go even further. At the same time, local leaders are bound to embrace the transformation when responding to the issues that today’s urban development brings. It is therefore possible that digital transformation will soon become one of the central topics for Dutch cities.

“The current digital revolution offers great opportunities for our society and economy. Those chances we will leverage with excellent digital skills, a strong European digital market, state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and ambitious collaboration in technological innovation.

At the same time, digitization is creating a digital divide and growing inequality in our society. Our security, rule of law, democracy, human and fundamental rights and competitiveness is under pressure. This requires solid rules of the game, supervision and strategic autonomy,” the four parties agreed in their coalition agreement.

In recent years, the Netherlands has consistently been among the top performers in the European Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). In the 2021 edition, the Netherlands was ranked fourth, behind Denmark, Finland and Sweden. The most recent analysis relies primarily on data from 2020, and portrays the condition of the digital economy and society in the first year of the pandemic across European Union member states. Due to its strong foundation in terms of digitalization, the Benelux state was ready to respond to the crisis fairly better than many other member states.

The Netherlands, however, does not plan to stop there and will continue its digitalization journey equally strong, with a fresh focus on newly emerging needs and challenges. Primarily, The Netherlands is looking to become the digital hub of Europe with robust, fast and secure Internet access in all parts of the country. Furthemore, science, business sector, knowledge coalitions and government are said to join forces to capitalize on the opportunities that digital technology offers.

The Netherlands is also looking to take the leading position in the European context and strengthen cooperation between member states in the areas of digitisation, including the people-oriented use of artificial intelligence, digital ethics, digital identity and cybersecurity. The new coalition agreement also focuses on digital equality, making sure everyone can develop digital knowledge and skills through education and retraining. 

Furthemore, the new Dutch government will also recognize fundamental civil rights online and strengthen secure digital communications at the same time. Investing in a strong position of the Personal Data Authority and boosting cooperation and coherence between the various digital regulators has also been named one of the cabinet’s upcoming tasks. Additionally, collecting only the necessary data and developing rules for data ethics in the public sector remains essential. As a result, all Dutch citizens are to be given their ‘online’ identity and take full control over it.

The digital transformation is moving at a lightning speed and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the necessity for countries to accelerate the processes and harness the full economic and social potential of digital technology. Digitalisation entails a real change of a wide range of activities in our societies and there are very few areas that have not been completely reinvented by this process. 

The digital transition is happening in front of our eyes. The example of the Netherlands only proves that digitalization is a journey rather than a destination. Despite being one of the pioneers in this field, many opportunities remain untapped. As the Netherlands continues its digitalization journey, final limits of this process are not yet in sight. (photo credit:Vecteezy)