State of the Digital Decade 2026: without urgent action, EU risks missing out on 20 million ICT experts target

On 17 June 2026 the European Commission published the 2026 edition of the State of the Digital Decade report and package. According to the 2026 report, Europe marks progress when it comes to the digital transformation of its services, industries and society - with foundational cornerstones of digitalisation well in place. Yet, more effort is needed to bridge gaps in implementation, with aspects like scale, speed, and overall coordination requiring more attention. Significant gaps remain especially in foundational technologies, computing capacity, cybersecurity, uptake of advanced digital technologies, and digital skills and scale up capacity. 

The days when the digital transformation was only mentioned in the context of innovation and productivity gains are long gone - in 2026, it seems to be increasingly tied to matters of resilience, security and democracy, as well as linked to core EU values. The 2026 State of the Digital Decade report suggests that meeting these challenges will depend on the success of an inherently human-centric digital transformation process, and one that underpins core aspects related to the Union's competitiveness, resilience and safety. All roads seem to lead to an overall ambition to strengthen European technological sovereignty - and avoid this coming at the cost of its main enablers, people. 

Mapping EU progress in 2025: despite tangible progress, gaps persist

Rather than simply taking stock of recent trends, the 2026 State of the Digital Decade report goes one step further, diving into the structural factors that drive or impede European digital performance, reforms and investments. A conclusion that resonates throughout the report casts a shadow on progress made in recent years: despite a number of tangible advancements that have taken place since 2022, the current pace of developments remains insufficient to bring the EU closer to the Digital Decade targets and fails to address the challenges brought about by the digital age. 

Skills-focused areas in the 2026 State of the Digital Decade report: how do we fill gaps?

The 2026 State of the Digital Decade report identifies three predominantly skills-focused areas, where especially-urgent effort is needed to close existing gaps: 

    1) Digital skills

The 2030 EU Digital Decade targets aim to get to 80% of EU citizens with basic digital skills and 20 million ICT specialists in employment. In 2026, over 60% of Europeans possess basic digital literacy and basic technical knowledge. The ratio of ICT specialists, however, is significantly lower - in 2025, ICT specialists made up 5% of the total workforce (half of the 10% target in the strategic communication). Women remain substantially underrepresented in the world of IT work, accounting for less than 20% of ICT experts. 

    2) Technology adoption and uptake by businesses

One-fifth of European businesses have successfully deployed AI within operational processes. AI adoption in itself has skyrocketed compared to the previous year, jumping by 48% in 2025. Close to half of businesses (46,5%) use cloud computing and close to 40% work with data. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of European economy, representing almost all businesses in Europe. Yet, they continue to struggle with barriers connected to skills, resources, access and infrastructure, despite improved levels of digital maturity across small businesses observed by the report. 

   3) Looming societal challenges at the intersection of digital technology and social needs. 

With increased digitalisation come increasing societal risks. Aspects like the protection of vulnerable groups and especially children (a worrying aspect for over 90%), online manipulation, disinformation and misrepresented, harmful AI-generated content (87%) worry most European citizens. Almost all Europeans (80%) believe AI should be regulated with caution. 

How close is Europe to the EU Digital Decade goals? Progress in skills remains fragmented 

Since 2022, the Digital Decade Policy Communication has acted as a strategic governance mechanism, charting a concrete path to make the next decade more digital, human-centric, and in line with core EU values. The Digital Decade Policy Programme combines shared objectives and targets with an all-round monitoring cycle and streamlines EU member States' involvement through the National Digital Decade Strategic Roadmaps (national roadmaps) and EU-level coordination with Member States through the Digital Decade Board. 

As Figure 1 below illustrates, progress is both measurable and palpable in many areas. Yet, key aspects, including ones related to skills development, are lagging behind. 

One example is the state-of-play with ICT experts in employment, where progress seems to be stagnating. Progress in equipping the EU population with basic digital skills is also lagging behind the 2030 target. In digital public services, uneven progress sees services for both citizens and businesses reaching just around 90% of the target by 2030. 

Dimension skills: challenges ahead of the 2030 targets

The digital transformation, envisioned in the Digital Decade Policy Communication, is one that puts people at the very heart of the technological transition. In this context, the report looks at digital skills as both a "sovereignty asset" and an "adoption enabler" - and the EU’s shortfall in both dimensions, basic skills and ICT specialists, remains one of acute dimension. 

Basic digital skills: reaching the target but 7 years later? 

Despite significant national investment commitments, the EU remains off-track to meet the 2030 target for basic digital skills (80% of the population), currently projected to be reached in 2037. For instance, Commitments made under the National Digital Decade Roadmaps total up to close to 300 billion EUR, including 205.9 billion stemming from public budgets - a bit over 1% of EU-27 GDP.

At the same time, just 60% of Europeans have basic digital skills. With the current pace of developments, by 2030 this figure is expected to only go up to 68%. Lower rates encompass older people, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and people in rural areas - where aspects like digital exclusion are most prominent. But what are the distinct challenges in front of basic digital skills attainment? 

A first structural challenge relates to the limited reach of existing systems and their lack of ability to reach vulnerable groups. Current ways of delivering training fails to reach those most in need - and this dimension is especially strong if we look at tertiary education rates. Second, investment in digital skills seems to be concentrated around formal education and general digital inclusion, yet does not succeed to involve hard-to-reach groups. Third, the rapid development of digital technologies renders targets slightly outdated. The current target of 80% was defined in a pre-AI era, and while the subject of AI literacy has been gaining traction, advances remain limited. This creates a risk that even achieving the target may not create the level of competence required in practice by 2030.

ICT experts ratio: when the shortage becomes a strategic disadvantage

Swift action is needed to bridge pronounced, large gaps in ICT employment that loom large ahead of the Digital Decade targets. New and fast-advancing technologies like AI, high-performance computing, or big data could hold the key to solving many societal challenges - but capitalising on their benefits requires a skilled workforce with the right mix of technical and soft skills - which is, at large, missing on European soil. 

In 2025, the EU crossed just halfway the 2030 target, with 10.5 million ICT experts in employment. This is set against the backdrop of a rapidly-changing environment, bringing about a revolution in skills needs. Why is this the case? 

Several structural factors tied to the EU's capacity to boost its ICT workforce at the pace set by the Digital Decade are at play here. First, Europe does not produce enough graduates in ICT, leading to further bottlenecks in the labour market. In 2023, just 2.7 of every 1000 young people were graduates in ICT. For comparison, in the United States, this number stood at 3.7, and in the United Kingdom - at 4.6. This tells us this skills gap cannot be filled by up- and re-skilling alone. Instead, targeted investment in education systems, from an early age all the way to higher education, needs to be put at work to bridge this shortage. 

Second, there is a giant mismatch between the skills the labour market needs and actively seeks out, and the skills available in the current workforce. Technologies like AI, cloud and data have evolved so fast that they have effectively rendered educational institutions unable to catch up, and have outpaced the capacity of training curricula to follow. Vendor-specific certifications further complicate this picture, reducing the overall flexibility of the labour market. 

Third, the gender imbalance in tech is still more than pronounced, and progress in this area remains limited. This trend is observable across the education and career pathway - from fewer girls interested in STEM to fewer young women going into STEM subject and fewer women embarking onto tech careers. This is why the recent launch of the STEM Education Strategic Plan in March 2025 lays the much-needed basis for anchoring STEM as a priority in the EU education and skills policies and provides a policy and funding framework for advancing the quality of STEM education and participation in these sectors. 

Last but not least, demand for advanced digital skills has surpassed the remits of the ICT sector. With the increased uptake of AI across virtually all key sectors (healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, public administration, and others), skills needs now exceed current workforce projections. The European Legal Gateway Office pilot in India, launched in February 2026, is a step in the right direction, recognising the need for the EU to attract global talent. 

Further reading 

The State of the Digital Decade package 2026 was published by the European Commission on 17 June 2026. This includes the 2026 State of the Digital Decade Report: Closing structural gaps and mobilising investments for 2030 and beyond, Annexes, and country pages. A Commission Staff Working Document with recommendations and high-level EU analysis also makes up part of the package.