Zagreb’s digital progress

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Croatia is a member country of EU since July 1, 2013. Since then, the country has made notable progress in the digitalization of its economy and society.

Digitalization is important because it offers countries the advantage of new markets offered by digital platforms and to exploit production possibilities that are enabled by digital technologies.

In 2019, four in five young people aged 16 to 24 in the European Union had basic or above basic digital skills. This was 24 percentage points higher than the share of individuals aged 16 to 74.

When comparing the 2021 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) and the previous editions, Croatia made remarkable improvements. These results show that Croatian citizens are above-average users of the Internet and their digital skills are only progressing year by year.

One of the positive developments in the country was connectivity, which is the assignment of harmonized spectrum for 5G in August 2021. This is a stepping stone for further acceleration of the digital transformation and is bringing benefits to both businesses and individuals in the country. 

With funding from the “Next Generation EU” instrument, the country will receive € 9.15 billion for regional development and cohesion policy over the next seven years which will make certain changes in the country and its further digitalization. 

This amount is 16% of last year’s Croatian GDP and it is particularly important because it is the highest share compared to all other EU countries.

These funds will be the driver of accelerated development and will provide the country of Croatia with an important aspect of development, and that is the green transition.

Zagreb is a city that is in line with global trends and is increasingly turning to smart technologies, renewable energy sources and sustainability in all forms of business and operations when it comes to infrastructure.

A Working Group for Digitization has been established in the city to conduct expert analyzes and opinions related to the topics of digitalization, data opening, and building the IT infrastructure of the city of Zagreb.

The tasks of the Working Group are to support mayor of Zagreb Tomislav Tomašević and the city administrative bodies in the transition period towards the formation of new structures in the management of digitization processes.

This initiative will further help the city in its digitalization process and offer many solutions and strategic planning for the application of digital technologies in the City of Zagreb.

Zagreb Digital City program tries to provide all operators of public communication services with equal conditions for providing services on liberalized communication market, aiming at cheaper services. The program also provides digital participation and transparent city management and the development of urban digital infrastructure as well as the digital green transition and ultimately position Zagreb as a promoter of technological development.

This is a construction project of a modern electronic communication network that enables users to freely choose one or more operators with various services while satisfying the needs of other utility companies.