Digital tracking

The digital transition is a core element of the Commission’s competitiveness agenda. Beyond enhancing EU competitiveness, including leadership in artificial intelligence innovation, it serves as a vital catalyst for prosperity, economic recovery and resilience while enabling innovative solutions to tackle global challenges.

In 2021, the Commission presented its vision for the EU’s digital transformation by 2030, with a digital compass for the EU’s Digital Decade that evolves around four digital dimensions:

skills,
secure and sustainable digital infrastructure,
digital transformation of businesses, and
digitalisation of public services.

On 14 December 2022, the co-legislators adopted the Digital Decade policy programme, taking up the digital compass and its vision, setting up quantitative EU targets for the four cardinal points to be reached by 2030, and establishing a cooperation mechanism with the Member States to progress towards these targets.

Information and communication technology specialist: 20 million specialists and gender convergence
Basic digital skills: at least 80% of the population
Technology uptake: 75% of EU companies using cloud / artificial intelligence / big data
Innovators: grow scale-ups & finance to double EU unicorns
Late adopters: more than 90% of small and medium-sized enterprises reach at least a basic level of digital intensity
Connectivity: gigabit speed for everyone, 5G everywhere
Cutting edge semiconductors: double the EU share in global production
Data – edge & cloud: 10 000 climate-neutral highly secure edge nodes
Computing: first computer with quantum acceleration
Key public services: 100% online
e-health: 100% of citizens having access to medical records
Digital identity: 80% of citizens using digital identification

Achievements

Almost 16.2 million dwellings gained access to very high-capacity internet networks, including 5G networks and gigabit speed, through measures under the Recovery and Resilience Facility by the end of 2024.
First exascale supercomputer (one quintillion calculations per second) was launched in Europe to support researchers, industry and artificial intelligence development. Jedi – the first module of the Jupiter exascale supercomputer – ranked first in the list of the world’s top 500 greenest supercomputers in June 2024.
Under the Connecting Europe Facility, 5 000 terabits per second of additional capacity were created in 2024 by deployed backbone networks, including submarine cables.
Under the space programme, 4 billion Galileo-enabled devices were in use in 2024. The positioning accuracy performance of Galileo is three times better when compared to other global navigation satellite systems, with excellent availability.

How much do we spend?

The 2025 stocktaking exercise to estimate EU spending on the digital transition was conducted for the implementation of the 2021-2027 EU budget over the 2021-2024 period. The findings show that the EU budget, including NextGenerationEU, is channelling significant contributions to all of the digital transition’s key dimensions. The Commission’s ambition is to build on the findings to develop a comprehensive and robust methodology for measuring the EU budget’s overall contribution to the digital transition across all programmes.

Based on the results of the stocktaking exercise, EUR 208.1 billion of the EU budget (including NextGenerationEU) was dedicated to the digital transition between 2021 and 2024, representing almost 15.1% of the total EU budget for that period ⁽¹¹⁾. A significant share of this amount came from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which dedicated EUR 149 billion towards the digital transition during the same period.

Estimated contributions to the digital transition of the EU budget programmes, in 2021-2023 (cumulatively) ^(*)

^{(11) Given that a fully-fledged tracking methodology for the digital contributions of the EU budget has not yet been established, any aggregation of the contributions of individual programmes at this stage should be interpreted with caution. This is because the methodologies employed by individual spending programmes may not be strictly comparable. Despite this, such aggregation can still provide a general estimate of the total digital contribution from the EU budget.}

Estimated contributions to the digital transition of the EU budget programmes, in 2021-2024 (cumulatively)

^{(*) Including NextGenerationEU, in EUR million.}
^{For readability purposes, the scale is broken, as the Recovery and Resilience Facility provides more than 10 times more support to the digital transition than the next most contributing programme.}

^{The abbreviations used stand for:}^RRF^{– Recovery and resilience facility;}^HORIZONEU^{– Horizon Europe;}^NDICI^{– Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe;}^DIGITALEU^{– digital Europe programme;}^{ESF PLUS}^{– European Social Fund+;}^JTM^{– Just Transition Mechanism;}^SPACE^{– EU Space Programme;}^CEF^{– Connecting Europe Facility;}^{IPA III}^{– Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance III;}^IBMF^{– Integrated Border Management Fund;}^ISF^{– Internal Security Fund;}^CREATIVEEU^{– Creative Europe Programme;}^CAP^{– common agricultural policy;}^EMFAF^{– European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund;}^{SECURE CONNECTIVITY}^{- EU Secure Connectivity Programme;}^TSI^{– Technical Support Instrument; ESC – European Solidarity Corps;}^OCT^{– Decision on the Overseas Association, including Greenland;}^RIGHTS^{– Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme;}^TCC^{– Turkish Cypriot community.}
^{Source: European Commission based on the first stock-taking.}

Almost all EU budget programmes contribute to the digital transition. However, due to data limitations, digital-related expenditure for the 2021-2024 period could only be tracked for 31 out of the 53 spending programmes implemented in 2024. The Ukraine Facility and the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans entered into force in 2024. As the implementation of operations under these two programmes only began in the second half of the year, budgetary commitments contributing to the digital transition were not included in this year’s reporting exercise.

In terms of thematic concentration, 89% of the reported digital expenditure this year could be attributed to the four categories of the digital compass. Significant efforts are being made to support the digitalisation of public services (in particular government ICT solutions, e-services and applications, and the digitalisation of healthcare) and businesses, with strong support directed towards small and medium-sized enterprises. More information is provided in the following sections.

Estimated contributions to the digital transition by key digital dimensions (2021-2023) (*)

^{(*) Including NextGenerationEU, in EUR billion.}

^{Not all programmes could be taken into account due to methodological limitations. Approximately 89% of the reported expenditure could be disaggregated into the above categories.}

^{Source: European Commission, based on the 2025 stock-taking exercise.}

Budget
12 June 2025

Digital overview 2025

Digitalisation of businesses and public services

The EU budget (including NextGenerationEU) is making a significant contribution to the digitalisation of the private and public sectors. Estimates for 2021 to 2024 are that EUR 61.0 billion was dedicated to the support of the EU budget to e-government (including the digitalisation of health and justice systems) and EUR 40.3 billion for the support of the digitalisation of businesses. The Recovery and Resilience Facility, the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund are important contributors to this investment. From 2021 to 2024, 11.6% of the amounts from the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund were used to finance interventions that advance the digital transition, in particular supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and public services.

Estimated contributions of the EU budget to the digitalisation of public services (2021-2024)^(*)

^{(*) Including NextGenerationEU.}
^{These amounts are the result of the first stock-taking exercise conducted for the years 2021 to 2023 and exclude the external action programmes and the common agricultural policy due to methodological limitations.}
^{Source: European Commission, based on the 2024 stock-taking exercise.}

The EU budget is also contributing significantly to the digitalisation of transport system, with an estimated EUR 7 billion dedicated to it in 2021 and 2022, of which almost EUR 6 billion from the Recovery and Resilience facility and EUR 0.7 billion from the Connecting Europe Facility.

Supporting the development and deployment of digital technologies and research

From 2021 to 2024, estimates indicate that the EU contributed EUR 27.7 billion to investment in digital capacities and the deployment of advanced technologies, and EUR 4.7 billion to research. These numbers are lower than those reported during the last reporting cycles, mainly because of an updated methodology applied under Horizon Europe. These figures are not yet final and will be updated as more information from funded projects becomes available.

The main contributing programmes towards investment in digital capacities and the deployment of advanced technologies, and research are the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Horizon Europe, the EU space programme, the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Mechanism and the Digital Europe programme.

Investing in digital skills

From 2021 to 2024, the EU budget, including NextGenerationEU, made a significant contribution to both basic and advanced digital skills, with an estimated investment totalling EUR 29.6 billion. In addition to supporting the development of digital skills at all levels, along with information technology services and applications for digital skills and digital inclusion, particular emphasis was placed on supporting young people. The main programmes contributing to this dimension are the Recovery and Resilience Facility (EUR 23.6 billion) and the European Social Fund Plus (EUR 3.8 billion), providing support to youth employment and the socioeconomic integration of young people.

Enhancing digital connectivity

The EU budget, including NextGenerationEU, is contributing to enhancing digital connectivity, which will give citizens and businesses new opportunities to benefit fully from the digital single market and accelerate economic growth. Between 2021 and 2024, investment in digital connectivity, including investment in very-high-capacity broadband networks and 5G network coverage, is estimated to have reached EUR 22.1 billion. The main programmes contributing are the Recovery and Resilience Facility (EUR 13.3 billion), the cohesion policy funds (EUR 1.2 billion) and the Connecting Europe Facility.

The common agricultural policy plays a key role in improving broadband access in rural areas by supporting broadband infrastructure and improved access to e-government services. The first results on the implementation of the common agricultural policy show that almost 8% of the rural population has benefited from improved access to services and infrastructure through support from the programme.

Under the Connecting Europe Facility, 5 000 terabits per second of additional capacity were created by deployed backbone networks, including submarine cables. A total of EUR 500 million was awarded to 43 projects to support the digitalisation of the trans-European transport network, notably through support for the European Railway Traffic Management System technology. The programme also aims to modernise energy grids and deploy digital connectivity infrastructure to support the EU’s digital transition. Specifically, the programme will support the deployment of 5G systems and high-capacity digital networks to transform various sectors, including healthcare, education and manufacturing. This will enhance digital readiness, competitiveness and inclusiveness, particularly in the outermost regions, and contribute to the EU’s economic recovery and growth.

The European Investment Fund allocated EUR 3.64 billion to support small and medium-sized enterprises in innovation and digitalisation through a dedicated guarantee supported by InvestEU. This guarantee supports various digitalisation efforts, including innovative business models and digital skills acquisition. Additionally, the fund’s equity product for small and medium-sized enterprises and research includes a sub-product that specifically supports investment in digital, cultural and creative industry solutions.

The twin transition: exploiting synergies

The twin green and digital transitions are deeply interconnected, offering the potential to create significant synergies. The EU budget is instrumental in this process, acting as a key enabler in unlocking these synergies. It provides the necessary financial support for initiatives that align with the objectives of both transitions, thereby ensuring that the potential benefits can be fully realised. The table below illustrates some of the synergies that are being achieved with the support of the EU budget.

Financed by Horizon Europe, the TwinPolitics project explores the socio-technical challenges of creating a digital twin of the ocean to aid in climate change mitigation and ocean data management. By addressing development, access and legal challenges, the project aims to enhance the use of digital twins of the ocean in national and international contexts. This initiative supports informed decision-making to protect marine environments.

Supporting smart grids, such as those under the Connecting Europe Facility energy strand, contributes to sustainable development by the integration of energy from renewable sources and the development of smart energy grids. An example is the completion of one of the internal lines that is part of the Finland–Sweden interconnection, which aims at increasing the transmission capacity between the Member States.

In addition, the cohesion policy funds earmarked EUR 5 billion for the investments in smart energy systems through the entire 2021-2027 programming period, of which EUR 1.44 billion have been allocated to selected projects that should result in additional 1.94 million end users connected to the smart energy systems.

As part of the EU’s broader efforts to modernise and innovate agricultural practices and rural development under the common agricultural policy, the support for the implementation of digital technologies, such as precision farming, contributes to the EU’s goal for a more sustainable agricultural sector.

The EU’s Galileo satellite system supports technologies that are key enablers for smart and sustainable transport, and in particular for connected and autonomous driving. In road transport, using navigation and positioning services from Galileo leads to a range of innovative applications that enable smart mobility and multi-mode transport digitalisation with optimised travel routes, in turn allowing for a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. In air transport, using the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service for the efficient definition of flight routes helps reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.