Switzerland ranks 6th in the world for digital transformation

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Nowadays, digitalization is one of the key components of everyday lives. This trend quietly started dominating every aspect of life, business and administration processes included. Today, so many things can be done with a couple of clicks on the smartphone, from ordering lunch to filing for a new passport. For a country like Switzerland, which boasts one of the highest rankings in nearly every department, this process is of crucial importance. 

With Switzerland’s stable political system and many government initiatives, it presents an ideal starting point for companies searching to develop in a digital sense.

Digital transformation is not only the path of every modern and open country, but it also poses as a key factor in establishing sustainable development and growth. This is all part of the wider project presented by the UN called Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

In order for this process to have any effect, the Swiss administration started collaborations on all levels. Every civil society, business, science organization and local administration have gotten together to make this possible. To help all these organizations implement their digital transformation strategies, the Federal Council presented its program “Digital Switzerland”. This program is primarily focused on implementing new and specific measures, similar to guidelines, in order to help achieve digital transformation in its fullness.

Strategy “Digital Switzerland” presented 41 goals, with every one of them being sorted in 9 different fields of action. First field, called “Education, research and innovation”, is primarily focused on educating as many people as possible in order to fully implement digital transformation. This will be done through various research and innovation projects, which will bring digitization closer to young people. Some of the innovation projects are based around establishing framework conditions, in order to maximize the exploitation of digital transformation.

Second group, called “Infrastructure”, will primarily focus on further development of this sphere in order to enhance existing and future performances even more. It is important to point out that Switzerland has one of the best communication networks in Europe. This network is reliable, efficient and sustainable. Furthermore, it is supplemented by mobility, which is often described as intelligent and productive in all areas.

Third group, called “Security”, primarily revolves around protecting existing networks from any type of attack. It also aims at developing projects in the future which will serve to protect the other, existing ones.

“Environmental protection, natural resources and energy”, the 4th group, revolves around processes which will make consumption of resources more optimized through digitalization. It will enable the energy supply system to be more efficient, secure and reliable, since it will provide different organizations with enough information about this sphere.

5th group, “Political participation and e-government”, is meant to bring politics and administration processes closer to citizens and visitors, through use of advanced digital networks. There are various programs and digital platforms that enable people and businesses to use these methods for their government related processes.

The sixth group, called “The economy”, aims at promoting Switzerland as one of the countries with the most desirable economy. Through its digital platforms and networks, Swiss government provides information which shows that Switzerland has high employment rates and good-quality working conditions, as well as incorporation and promotion of smaller regions and municipalities for their high capacity for innovation.

“Data, digital content and artificial intelligence” is the 7th group which focuses on promotion of digital transformation as a coherent process in Switzerland. This field establishes a database with information about various projects, such as open data networks and appropriate datasets. This section enables users to freely discover the progress of this country and experience the high level of digitalization.

Eight groups, “Social affairs, healthcare and culture”, aims at promoting digital transformation for usage in this particular field of everyday life. It enables users to freely exercise digital health provisions provided by department of health, enhancing cultural creation and security of cultural heritage and making barrier-free and non-discriminatory access to digital products and services.

The last group called “International commitment” intends the establishment of international collaboration in order to supply Switzerland and its partner countries with suitable bases, from which they can further expand their digital transformation processes.

Thanks to all the effort put into digital transformation, Switzerland was ranked sixth in the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking. Switzerland is ahead of Germany and France by more than ten positions in this ranking and it maintained this position throughout the years. This is a proof of an excellent digital strategy and Switzerland is an inspiration for all other countries that strive to achieve similar accomplishments in regards to digital transformation. (photo credit: fabio/Unsplash)