Image is illustrative. Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
Certainly not. Policy development is designed to involve all the relevant stakeholders, as well as the wider community, in shaping policy that reflects the group’s/community’s identity and values. The more complex a policy problem is, the greater the need to bring diversity of knowledge and expertise in order to improve the quality of policy development. All stakeholders must also be given an equal opportunity to contribute their first hands-on experience and resources to the stages of formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies and their courses of action. With this understanding, in the context of digital transformation, the EU has enabled people from across Europe to share their ideas and help shape our common future at the first major pan-European democratic exercise – Conference for the Future of Europe.
When it comes to digital transformation, governments and stakeholders must shape a common digital future that makes the most of the immense opportunities that digital transformation holds to improve people’s lives and boost economic growth for countries at all levels of development, while ensuring that nobody is left behind. Because digital transformation is one of the EU’s priorities, and because it impacts most areas of our lives, the European institutions are committed to helping shape holistic policies that will
- strengthen Europe’s capacities in new digital technologies
- open new opportunities for businesses and consumers
- support the EU’s green transition and help it to reach climate neutrality by 2050
- support people’s digital skills and training for workers
- help digitalise public services, while ensuring respect for basic rights and values
Whereas governments need to consider ways for effective, robust and sustainable policy development for digital transformation, they also can use digital technologies to improve efficiency and targeting, enable innovative policy design and rigorous impact evaluation, and expand citizen and stakeholder engagement. Many governments and administrations are currently exploring the possibilities, testing the potential, and evaluating the effectiveness of using digital technologies for improving policy design, implementation, and enforcement.
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