Digital Croatia Strategy 2032
The aim of the Digital Croatia Strategy 2032 is to establish guidelines for achieving the envisaged transformation of our country towards a green and digital way of life, as prerequisites for future sustainable economic growth and social development. The Strategy is also one of the strategic planning acts supporting the implementation of the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia 2030 (NDS), which provides long-term direction for the development of society and the economy across all key areas of importance to Croatia.
Information and communication technologies play a key role in achieving most of the European Union's priorities, as set out in the Digital Single Market Strategy, and in meeting the objectives of ensuring a fair, open and secure digital environment. In 2021, the European Commission adopted the ten-year Digital Compass, which sets out the European Union's digital ambitions for 2030, including the digitalisation of public services, the digital transformation of businesses, secure, efficient and sustainable digital infrastructure, digitally skilled citizens and highly qualified professionals.
In line with the European Union's priorities, the Digital Croatia Strategy 2032 has been developed, with the participation of 140 representatives from 41 institutions across the public sector, business community, academia and relevant professional associations. At its session held on 9 December 2022, the Government of the Republic of Croatia adopted the Draft Proposal of the Digital Croatia Strategy 2032 and submitted it to the Croatian Parliament for consideration. At its session held on 16 December 2022, the Croatian Parliament adopted the Digital Croatia Strategy 2032.
The Strategy consists of eight chapters: Foreword; Introduction to the Digital Croatia Strategy 2032; Development needs and potential for digitalising the Croatian society, justice, public administration, and the economy ; Strategic objectives of the Digital Croatia Strategy 2032; Indicative financial framework with an overview of financial assumptions for realising strategic objectives; Monitoring and evaluation framework; Management of Strategy Implementation; and the Environmental impact assessment of the Strategy.
To ensure a comprehensive and structured transformation of the Republic of Croatia, the Strategy establishes clear objectives for Croatia's digital transition over the next ten years and defines priority areas for public policy implementation. Based on an understanding of information and communication technology trends, development needs and potential have been identified across all four priority areas: the digital transformation of the economy, the digitalisation of public administration, the development of broadband electronic communications networks, and the development of digital skills and digital jobs.
The vision of the Digital Croatia Strategy 2032 is: ‘Croatia empowered through digital transformation.’ Building on this vision, which defines what digitalisation aims to achieve, and on the analysis of the current situation and identified development needs and potential, four strategic objectives have been established:
1. A developed and innovative digital economy;
2. Digitalised public administration;
3. Developed, accessible and widely used very high-capacity networks; and
4. Digital skills for life and work in the digital age.
Through the digital transformation of the economy and public administration, improvements to the necessary infrastructure, the digitalisation of business processes and services, the enhancement of digital skills across all segments of Croatian society, and the implementation of the Strategy's objectives over the next ten years, the expected outcome will be a Croatia empowered through digital transformation. The aim is for Croatia to become, by 2032, a country with digitally and economically competitive businesses and digitalised public administration, with the active involvement of all levels of government and citizens in digital processes being of particular importance.