OÖ-DESI 2019 – Digital Economy and Society Index for Upper Austria

DESI (Digital Economy and Society Index) is an index developed by the European Commission and collected annually at the country level. It allows a comparison of the "digital performance" among the EU countries in five dimensions and a monitoring of its development over time. With OÖ-DESI 2017, a regionalised version of the index for the Land Upper Austria was developed for the first time two years ago. As a follow-up project, OÖ-DESI 2019, published in this report, allows for the first time not only to determine the competitive position of Upper Austria in national and international comparisons, but also to follow the progress of the digital change in Upper Austria in detail over time and to derive economic policy measures to control it. OÖ-DESI 2019 shows a comparatively good digital performance and competitiveness for Upper Austria. In comparison with the 28 EU countries, Upper Austria ranks 12th and is one place ahead of Austria as a whole. While improving the score in four of the five index dimensions, Upper Austria's overall ranking declined slightly. In a comparison with Austria, the good performance with regard to the integration of digital technologies in Upper Austrian companies stands out in particular.