Using a digitization index to measure the economic and social impact of digital agendas

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to measure the cumulative, holistic impact of discrete information and communication technologies. It also provides a glimpse of applications and service adoption, which complements more traditional perspectives such as technology penetration. This approach is utilized to measure achievements in implementing a policy such as Europe's Digital Agenda. Design/methodology/approach – Measuring digitization should cover the transition to digitally intensive societies across multiple sets of metrics, capturing not only technology penetration, but also its use in order to understand the full impact of digitization. For this purpose, a composite index was developed based on six overarching components: affordability, infrastructure investment, network access, capacity, usage, and human capital. Findings – These concepts were utilized to assess Europe's performance in terms of its digitization. Significant gaps were highlighted both in terms of its uneven development, but also ...