IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

In the Digital Economy and Society Index 2016 (DESI 2016) published by the European Commission, Malta has been placed 11th out of the 28 EU Member States.

Malta's score is above the EU average and its performance is equivalent to that of countries which have developed faster than the EU during last year. Nonetheless, Malta is still lagging behind when it comes to making government data available online and the take up of mobile broadband.

Mr Madelin delivered a presentation about the digital agenda during a business breakfast organised by the European Union representation in Malta.

The European Commission adopted the ‘Digital Agenda for Europe’ last May by unveiling a detailed action plan aimed to improve the competitiveness of the ICT industry by infusing a real EU-wide single market for online products and services.

The 9th e-Government Benchmarking Report, which measured public sector performance in the deployment of e-Government in 32 countries (the 27 European Union member states together with Croatia, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey) found Malta to be the best performing country by achieving 100% in five of the six core indicators measured.

IT minister Austin Gatt said that such a result reflected Malta’s vision and strategy in e-Government.

Moves one place up the ranking to 12th

Malta has been making steady progress in its digital economy and now ranks 12th out of the 28 EU member states, moving up one place since 2015.

The EU’s mid-term review of the 2015 Digital Single Market strategy highlighted a number of projects being undertaken by the Malta Communications Authority and other stakeholders to improve the ranking.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, responding to the 5th survey carried out by Eurochambres on this topic, said that the Maltese government would meet the deadline but other chambers are expressing a drop in confidence, the first since Eurochambres started to monitor the process.

The benchmarking exercise, which was commissioned by the European Commission, evaluated e-government services in all 27 EU member states, as well as Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland (EU27+).

The last measurement, which ranked Malta in second place, was made in September 2007.

81% of Maltese internet users read news online - Malta scores low in making government data available

A European digital performance index released by the European Commission has ranked Malta 11 out of the 28 member states of the European Union.

In the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2016, Malta received an overall score of 0.56, ranking particularly strong in broadband deployment and take-up. It was also reported that all Maltese households were covered by fixed broadband and all networks provide at least 30 Mbps.

From connectivity and digital skills to public services, EU countries have made progress since last year which marked the launch of the Digital Single Market Strategy by the European Commission.

While highlighting improvements, results of the 2016 edition of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), released on Thursday, by the European Commission, also show that the pace of progress is slowing down. Action is needed, both at EU and national levels, to remove the obstacles that prevent EU countries from fully benefit from digital opportunities.

EU report finds that Maltese still unlikely to use public services online

Malta is the only country in Europe where all public services are available online, a European Union benchmarking report has found.

The EU Commission's 2016 eGovernment Benchmarking Report found that Malta, Austria, Estonia, Portugal and Finland lead the way in Europe when it comes to the online provision of government services.

Malta ranks third, behind Iceland, at 86.7 per cent, and Korea, at 95.9 per cent, in a survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The Communications Ministry welcomed the figures, saying the increase in the take-up of broadband was the most significant product of the government’s initiatives to narrow the digital divide.

Malta has just been reconfirmed as leader in the delivery and performance of eGovernment services amongst 33 countries (28 European Union member states together with Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey). The results were published in the eGovernment Benchmark Report 2015 issued earlier today by the European Commission.

The benchmarking study carried out by Capgemini, IDC, Sogeti and the Politecnico di Milano measures four top-level indicators as well as compares the performance of eGovernment services between the participating countries. As in last year, Malta has again attained an exceptional result by leading in all the top-level indicators and ranking first in the overall results.

The 27,367 new broadband lines in Malta were among the over 17 million installed in the EU during that time.

The system has been designed to quickly and easily capture the necessary biometric information for issuing the travel document. In addition, it facilitates consolidation of the data with the visual information system of the European Union, the VISA Information System.

Malta is in first place in the European Union in ‘egovernment’ according to the eGovernment Benchmark 2018 report published by the European Commission. In a statement, the Government said that Malta received top marks when it comes to user centricity, transparency, accessibility for other European citizens, and technological infrastructure.

The Government said that this administration worked tirelessly to bring public services closer to the people, instead of people having to go from department to another to get what they need. The statement also spoke of €40 million in ‘Converge’, “to strengthen integration between the public Service and its clients.”

• A new study on eGovernment services in the EU reveals that online public services are becoming increasingly accessible across Europe, 81% now being available online
• Malta leads rankings in all top key indicators measuring the delivery and performance of eGovernment services
• Analysis of user-centricity, transparency, cross-border mobility and general quality of use shows that growth across the EU is very uneven and a substantial number of member states are still lagging behind

Malta was confirmed the leader in the delivery and performance of eGovernment services amongst 34 countries – 28 European Union member states, plus Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and Montenegro – according to the eGovernment Benchmark Report 2016 issued on Monday by the European Commission.

The survey ranked services according to a number of criteria in an exercise carried out every two years. Malta was second in the last survey.

The result was greeted with satisfaction this afternoon by IT Minister Austin Gatt, who said the results were particularly welcome as the concept of e-government was only launched nine years ago.

The report found Malta performs well in the fields of eCommerce, eBusiness and the provision of eGovernment services, and displays a relatively high proportion of eSkills among employees.

This was announced by Minister Austin Gatt together with MITA Chairman Claudio Grech.

Figures published yesterday by Eurostat show that over a four year period, Malta also registered the highest increase in the number of computer graduates in the bloc. According to surveys commissioned by the EU’s statistics office, back in 2005 only 1.9 per cent of all local graduates were in ICT-related fields but by 2009 the figure had gone up to 5.6 per cent. In the EU on the other hand, the average number of ICT graduates shrink to 3.4 per cent from four per cent in 2005.