The representative study “The Tech Divide: Policy” shows that 60% of European respondents don’t believe their governments have the will to develop digitisation.
The Vodafone Institute published the results of a global study that found that Europeans don’t believe national governments have the will to advance digitisation in their countries. However, despite concerns about the state’s digital abilities, people still regard governments as the most important authority for upholding ethical principles in the digital age.
“The Tech Divide: Politics” is the third part of the Vodafone Institute’s technology acceptance studies, following the recent publication of “People and Society” and “Industry and Employment”. The study, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Vodafone Institute, examines whether the different degrees of digitisation correlate with the attitudes of the population. 9,000 people across 9 countries were surveyed for one of the first global studies on technology acceptance against the background of digitisation.
Key findings:
- 60% of European respondents do not believe their governments have the will to develop digitisation.
- 66% are not convinced that they have the skills to do so.
- In the USA and India, confidence in government is higher. 75% of Indians and 59% of US-Americans say their government has the necessary skills to advance the progress of digitisation.
- 59% of Europeans believe that the state should be the entity to police unethical behaviour, while just 15% believe it should be the responsibility of technology companies.
- Only 28% of Europeans think that their country’s government protects their data.
- 51% of Europeans surveyed think their government should cooperate with IT specialists or companies in order to expand their digital competencies.
- According to the respondents, three measures stand out through which EU governments can support digitisation: support for small and medium-sized enterprises (42%), extensive investment in digital education (38%) and investments in digital infrastructure (36%).
Joakim Reiter, Chairman of the Advisory Board, Vodafone Institute, and Group External Affairs Director, Vodafone, said: “This underlines the need for a new era of cooperation between governments and business in this fast paced age in order to ensure that we are doing all we can, and leveraging all stakeholders’ different strengths, to maximise Europe’s success in transforming to a digital society.”
Digitising Europe Summit
The study will be discussed at the Digitising Europe Summit “The Future of Made in Europe” on 19 February 2019 in Berlin. This serves as a platform for debate between high-ranking representatives from business and politics for an EU vision for the digital age. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Nick Read, CEO, Vodafone Group, will give keynote speeches. Other speakers include Philippe Donnet (Generali), Thomas Enders (Airbus) and Alex Karp (Palantir).
