Digital Austria in a European comparison

Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI)

---

Integration into the Digital Decade 2030

The European Commission's Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) is the central instrument for measuring the degree and progress of digitalisation in the EU member states. Between 2014 and 2022, the DESI compiled indicators to measure Europe’s digital performance and track the progress of EU countries.

As of 2023, in line with the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030, the European Commission has integrated DESI into the State of the Digital Decade report to monitor progress toward the digital targets.

In line with Europe's Digital Decade (2020 - 2030), the focus is on four core areas that play a central role in the digital transformation. These include the dimensions ‘human capital’ with regard to digital skills, the topic area ‘infrastructure’, the area ‘use of digital technologies by companies’ and the field of action ‘digital administrative services’.

Thera have been regular updates to DESI in order to improve the methodology of the index, provide an up-to-date picture of the digital “performance” of the EU member states and take account of the latest technological developments.

The DESI consists of a dashboard with indicators, fully aligned with the defined digital objectives. It includes all key performance indicators defined in the Commission Implementing Act and allows decision-makers to identify which values are available or could be estimated at the national level. To enable a clear link between indicators and related targets, indicators are grouped into dimensions related to the Digital Decade targets and sub-dimensions populated with KPIs and related supplementary indicators. The dashboard contains indicators and metadata that be accessed and analysed via the visualisation tool for all available years.

Dashboard for the Digital Decade (europa.eu)

More about Digital Decade: The Austrian way (German)

Digital Decade: Overview of the Country reports

---

Austria's performance with regard to the goals and targets of the Digital Decade

The country report highlights two areas of positive progress and two areas where Austria still needs to make improvements.

Connectivity infrastructure: Austria has made good progress in the area of connectivity infrastructure, particularly in the provision of very high capacity networks (VHCN). 67.6% of households are covered by VHCN. Although this data is below the EU average of 78.8%, the annual progress amounts to an increase of 23.3%.

Cloud use by companies: Although only 35.6% of companies have adopted cloud technologies, which is below the EU average of 38.9%, Austria has made good progress in this area (+11.2%), outperforming the EU growth rate.

However, some challenges remain in the coverage of high-quality gigabit networks, particularly in Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and in the introduction of data analysis. Only 41% of Austrian households have Fibre to the Premises coverage, which is still below the EU average of 64% despite progress of plus 11.9%.

Adoption of advanced digital technologies by companies: 57.9% of companies have at least basic level of digital intensity, which is in line with the EU average of 57.7%. The Digital Intensity Score is based on a count of how many of the twelve selected technologies are used by companies. 23.9% of companies have carried out data analysis, which is well below the EU average of 33.2%. This includes the use of technologies or software tools to analyse data in order to gather important insights for decision-making. The aim of data analysis can be, for example, to improve performance (increase production and reduce costs).

The overview table of the key performance indicators can be found in the Country Report 2024 for Austria as a PDF at:
 

Digital Decade Country Report 2024 Austria (PDF Download)

Positive performance above the EU average

In a comparison of D-A-CH countries (German-speaking countries), Austria is significantly ahead of Germany, which ranks 26^th, and Switzerland, which ranks 31^st.

A consistent upward trend is evident, with Austria showing an overall improvement of four percent compared to the previous year. Additionally, this year's benchmark highlights the 'Digital Age Verification' and 'E-Government Strategy 2023' services as internationally recognized best practices.

In the 'Cross Border eID' category, Austria secured second place, improving by 17 percent and moving up two spots compared to the previous year.

In the 'Transparency' category, Austria, alongside Hungary, contributed the most to the overall improvement with an increase of nine points. Together with Estonia, Austria also boasts the highest number of government websites that meet the relevant security standards.

Furthermore, Austria achieved a full score in the areas of “user-friendly mobile services” and “digital postal traffic”.

The results of the eGovernment Benchmark are a clear mandate to continue working intensively on expanding the E-Government offering. The goal is to be able to complete all administrative procedures and applications on the move - with ID Austria serving as the foundation for this.

Since 2001, the eGovernment Benchmark has performed analysis of digital administrative services in nine different areas of life that are relevant to citizens and companies.

Overview of the eGovernment Benchmark 2024
For the 2024 edition, the eGovernment Benchmark examined the 27 EU member states as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Moldova and Ukraine.

The life situations were analyzed in two phases for the eGovernment Benchmark 2024: firstly, the processes of starting a business, pursuing a career, starting a family, and studying, which were evaluated in November and December 2022; and secondly, the aspects of regular business activities, health, moving house, initiating small claims proceedings, and transport, assessed in October and November 2023. This report now presents the results for 2022 and 2023, reflecting the average across the nine life events.

For the assessment, Mystery Shoppers from the participating countries were involved to analyze thousands of websites. Additionally, automated assesment tools examined aspects such as mobile friendliness, findability, basic accessibility, and cybersecurity.

eGovernment Benchmark 2024

---

eGovernment Monitor 2024: D-A-CH countries comparison

Increasing digitalisation is transforming public administration, providing citizens with quick, cost-effective, and transparent handling of various administrative processes. Austria already offers a wide range of constantly improving electronic services. Assessing administrative services from the citizens' perspective can offer valuable insights into their satisfaction and trust in the government. The eGovernment Monitor summarises these results based on an online survey in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Since 2010, the eGovernment Monitor has offered an extensive annual overview of the usage and acceptance of digital administrative services in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Initiative D21 (registered association) and the Technical University of Munich, carried out by Kantar, conduct this representative study. In 2024, the study will also reveal how well citizens have embraced the digital transformation of public administration and highlight areas of success as well as weaknesses. We can use the results of the Citizen Survey to assess the progress of digital administration and identify specific measures to enhance digital administrative services, ultimately fostering user-centered offerings in the future.

The key topics for the 2024 eGovernment Monitor include government performance, E-Government situation report, and artificial intelligence.

---

Performance and Situation Report

The trust that society places in the state is heavily dependent on a digital administration that fulfils the needs of users and makes their everyday lives easier. Around 70% of respondents (Germany 70%, Austria 71%, Switzerland 72%) expect to be able to use the services of the public administration online just as easily and conveniently as those of private companies. E-Government provides an advantage over traditional administration by enhancing efficiency through the strategic application of new technologies. Citizen satisfaction with E-Government services is 74% in Austria, 79% in Switzerland, and 62% in Germany, with satisfaction in Germany rising by 4% compared to 2023.

People can only make use of digital services when they are available, recognized, and easy to find. For the Austrian population, the use of digital administrative services is characterized by three key aspects:

• A central platform (all digital administration services in one place): 42%
• Faster service delivery (compared to traditional methods, e.g., passport): 44%
• Personalization (one-time data entry): 38%

The eGovernment Monitor identifies the digital utilization gap as untapped potential within digital administration. In this regard, Austria outperforms Germany, with 21% of Austrian citizens feeling that their online government service needs are not currently met, compared to a significantly larger gap of 31% in Germany.

While the population is generally open to digital services from the administration, the study also indicates a clear mandate: stakeholders must accelerate digital transformation with a stronger focus on impact.

Mobile Device Usage

People in Austria (80%) and Switzerland (77%) most commonly use mobile devices for digital identification. In Germany, people primarily use them to prepare for personal interactions with authorities (83%). The moderate adoption of online ID cards in Germany may explain the lower frequency of smartphone or tablet use for identification. However, the percentage of German ID cardholders utilizing their online ID card has increased from 14% in 2023 to 22% in 2024.

Mobile E-Government usage is notably higher among younger individuals compared to older population. This gap is evident in all three countries, with Germany showing the largest difference at 28 percentage points. In Austria, 74% of individuals aged 16 to 34 engage with mobile E-Government services.

Digital Identification

Digital identity enables access to a wide range of public administration services. ID Austria serves as the foundation for various digital ID cards. Following the introduction of the digital driving license, digital registration certificate, and digital proof of age, users can now also verify their identity digitally. The number of users of the “Digitales Amt” (“Digital Office”) app has increased in recent years, receiving a notable boost in 2024 due to ID Austria. Among smartphone users surveyed, 57% utilize the app, representing a 19% increase from 2023. The option for single sign-on has also significantly contributed to this growth.

---

E-Government and Artificial Intelligence

The integration of artificial intelligence can optimize administrative processes, alleviating the workload on staff, particularly for routine tasks. Additionally, providers can tailor services more effectively to meet the needs of citizens. Transparent communication and citizen involvement are crucial for the successful implementation of artificial intelligence and for building trust in new technologies among the public.

In Germany, researchers surveyed citizens about their concerns regarding the use of artificial intelligence in administration. The most common responses included uncertainty about who is responsible for the decisions made by AI systems (45%), worries that AI systems may make mistakes (42%), and challenges in understanding how AI systems reach their decisions (40%).

According to the eGovernment Monitor, 52% of Austrian respondents know roughly what the term AI means and 30% can explain it. Respondents were also asked about the acceptance of AI in the administration, with the country comparison providing similar results:

• The use of AI would be okay for me under certain conditions (Germany: 75%, Austria: 77%, Switzerland: 76%)
• The use of AI would be fine for me in any case (Germany: 11%, Austria: 9%, Switzerland: 10%)

The population is therefore generally open to the use of AI in public administration.

eGovernment MONITOR 2024 I Initiative D21 (German - PDF Download)

Review 2023: eGovernment MONITOR | Initiative D21 (German - PDF Downlaod)

Ministry of Finance press release: eGovernment Monitor 2023: Austria still top in D-A-CH comparison (German)

Statistics of Austria: ICT in companies

In 2024, 20% of companies will already be using artificial intelligence/AI technologies. According to the Statistics Austria study on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in companies, this is almost twice as many companies as in the previous year (2023: 11%). Company size and business activities are the main factors determining the use of artificial intelligence. Proportionally, larger than small companies use AI technologies and more companies from the service sector than from the manufacturing sector.
More than half (65%) of companies using AI use artificial intelligence primarily for text recognition and processing. Other popular areas of application are speech synthesis (41%), data analysis (34%), speech recognition (29%) and process automation or AI as a decision-making aid (24%). The use of AI for image recognition and processing (17%) and in autonomous machines or vehicles (6%) is very low.  More on the survey in Press release 13 449-215/24.

All studies (from 2018) on the use of ICT in companies are available for download here (German).
 

Statistics of Austria: ICT in households

Three out of ten people in Austria report having come across content online in the three months prior to the survey that they perceive as hostile or humiliating. Online hate is most frequently directed against political and social views. People who are active on social networks are confronted with such content much more frequently than people who do not use social networks.

Almost 95% of all people in Austria between the ages of 16 and 74 used the internet in the last three months before the survey, which was conducted from April to July 2023. This represents a slight increase compared to the previous year (+1.7%) . The majority, around 77%, used the internet several times a day. Social media channels are also used by a large proportion (63%) of the population. In total, around 31% of the Austrian population have perceived online content that they perceive as hostile or humiliating towards certain (groups of) people. More on the survey in the press release: 13 184-212/23 (German)

All studies (from 2017 onwards) on the use of ICT in households are available for download here (German).