site.btaElectronic Governance Already Underway, Minister Says

"Electronic governance is already underway, there will be no more delays, and Bulgaria will meet the Digital Decade target for full deployment of digital public services for business by 2030," Bulgarian Electronic Governance Minister Alexander Yolovski said here on Friday.

"According to the latest data, the score of digital public services for Business in Bulgaria is 81, compared to an EU average of 84," the Minister said further.

"At 77%, access to electronic health records in Bulgaria is higher than the 72% average in the rest of the EU Member States," said Yolovski, crediting the implementation of a National Health Information System for this success.

He noted that despite the good examples in the roll-out of e-governance, Bulgaria is lagging far behind in digital skills: merely 31% of Bulgarians have essential digital skills, against an EU average of 54%. "Big data, cloud services and artificial intelligence pose challenges not only to the administration but to business, too, and especially to small and medium-sized enterprises, which is an indication of a substantial lag in the number of people with more than essential digital skills, too," Yolovski commented. 

He noted that the share of working IT professionals in Bulgaria is low, 3.8%, down from 4.6% EU average. At the same time, just 9% of companies offer specialized training to their employees, which is 13 percentage points down from the EU average. "The good news, though, is that this share has been growing in recent years," the Electronic Governance Minister said.

"We need to join forces with business in order to improve the environment for the acquisition of digital skills. Making it happen will take commitment, investments and a team effort. Digital education policies require a coordinated approach to be developed, implemented and assessed," Yolovski stressed.

He was speaking at the opening of the 3rd Annual Conference of the Southeast Europe Innovation, Technology and Sourcing (SEE ITS) Summit. The event was co-organized by the Association for Innovation, Business Excellence, Services and Technology (AIBES) and the Bulgarian Entrepreneurial Association (BESCO).