Through Global Gateway, the EU is strengthening connections between Europe and the world and helping partner countries address the digital divide and further integrate into the global digital ecosystem.
Digital transformation is an important driver of sustainable development and offers great potential to amplify social and economic benefits across a large number of sectors. However, current rates of digitalisation are very unequal: more than 3 billion people are not digitally connected, including many women. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, digitalisation can foster better education, reduce inequalities, boost economic growth, research and innovation and support better governance.
A more digitalised society requires the promotion of sustainability and the building of a global, open, stable and secure cyberspace, grounded in the rule of law, human rights and democratic values that leaves no-one behind. Today, the digital transformation is driven largely by data and is a key factor for global competitiveness, with great potential for generating economic growth and development and innovative solutions.
Digital transformation is bringing fast change that affects our labour markets. With the Communications on Shaping Europe’s digital future and the 2030 Digital Compass Decade, the EU has put forward a human-centric approach to digital transformation.
Highlighted projects
This Initiative on Digital Interoperability in Central America aims to facilitate Central American trade and promote its economic integration. In 2023, it will launch the Digital Trade Platform to facilitate trade and promote interoperability of national systems.
This Human-Centred Digitalisation Initiative in Kenya will construct optic fibre infrastructure and last mile connections to underserved areas, with a particular emphasis on school connectivity and digital servicing. It will also develop mobile access networks in rural areas by extending broadband access. As part of this project, an EU-Kenya Trade and Investments Business Forum will be organised in March 2023.
This Digital Transformation and Connectivity Initiative in the Philippines is part of the Sustainable Connectivity Regional Team Europe Initiative. It aims to scale up service provision from the Copernicus mirror site to all ASEAN countries to provide high-speed internet capacity. In 2023, the European Space Agency will sign an Administrative Arrangement with the Philippines to provide tools for Copernicus technology and data transfer.
The Black Sea Digital Connectivity builds a new digital cable under the Black Sea to better cater to the increasing internet traffic in the region. The new cable will be essential to accelerate the digital transformation of the region and increase its resilience by reducing its dependency on terrestrial fibre-optic connectivity transiting via Russia. In 2023, the European Investment Bank is planning to submit a proposal for a €20 million investment grant to support this project.
The Medusa Optical Fibre Cable project will install a 7 100 km state-of-the-art submarine optical fibre cable in the Mediterranean to connect Northern African countries with Cyprus, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The aim is to increase by 200 times the speed of internet in Northern African universities. In addition, small and medium sized enterprises will benefit from this project. The grant contribution agreement between the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations and the European Investment Bank is currently in preparation and will be signed during 2023.
The Digital4Development Hub (D4D) is the EU’s key instrument for shaping and promoting digital transformation and supporting the Team Europe approach. There is a need for a global umbrella that bundles the thematic strands and overarching digital priorities (global D4D hub and secretariat, technical assistance for regional D4D hubs) that will be supported by the programme.
The Team Europe Initiative on Digital Connectivity will enhance Central Asian businesses and citizens' access to a secure internet through trusted satellite connectivity. Earth stations and other digital infrastructure such as internet exchange points and green data centres will be positioned across the territories of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, linking to existing broadband infrastructure.
The EurAfrica Gateway cable connecting the EU with Africa along the Atlantic Ocean coast, will foster the digital sovereignty of the two continents by ensuring the highest infrastructure and cyber security standards increasing inter-continental data flows development. The EU will also support Building Regional Fibre Optic Backbones across Africa.
The Africa Europe Digital Innovation Bridge initiative supports partner countries to strengthen their digital and innovation ecosystems and promote intercontinental cooperation between stakeholders in Africa and Europe. The ultimate vision is to establish a single market for digital innovation between both continents. The initiative will
- facilitate the launch and scale-up of innovative African start-ups and SMEs
- strengthen digital innovation ecosystems in African countries and link them to European digital innovation ecosystems
- support the creation of new Digital Innovation Hubs in Africa and strengthen existing ones
The EU-Latin America and Caribbean Digital Alliance is a Team Europe Initiative that proposes a comprehensive cooperation framework. It aims to address the digital divide and to achieve an inclusive digital transformation focused on the human dimension. It includes
- the extension of the BELLA (Building the Europe Link to Latin America) cable to Central America and the Caribbean
- the establishment of Copernicus regional centres
- the setup of a digital accelerator to support local start-ups and to mobilise European private capital and joint ventures
- the improvement of the regulatory environment
The Team Europe Initiative on Data Governance in Africa supports the African Union Commision, Regional Economic Communities, as well as their Member States to develop data policy frameworks building on the AU Data Policy Framework; develop data use cases to showcase the value of data; and support the identification of investments in green and secure data infrastructure in Africa, by leveraging partnerships with the private sector and financial institutions.
The EU-AU Data Flagship will support the development of Green Data Centres, with the aim to support Africa in building a data economy and foresting its data sovereignty through secure data storage and processing capacities. The EU-AU Data Flagship is a major inter-regional programme aiming to leverage data economy and digitial technologies for the benefit of citizens and businesses, to create an environment in which innovation can thrive, while fully respecting the rights to privacy and data protection
