📋 Tender Overview
Cyprus recorded significant progress in the European Commission's annual Report "State of the Digital Decade 2024", which assesses the digital readiness of European Union (EU) member states and the path towards implementing the goals of the Digital Decade 2030. Our country is on a steady upward trend in a number of indicators, with the highest increase recorded in the development of Gigabit connectivity infrastructure and the percentage of specific Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the labor market.
Specifically, the coverage of very high capacity networks (VHCN) reached 77.1% in 2023, recording an increase of 28.5% compared to last year, while Cyprus is expected to achieve the target of 100% by the end of 2025 through a state subsidy for the expansion of networks in areas of non-private interest. It is worth noting that Cyprus has already achieved 100% coverage in terms of 5G mobile networks, reaching the European target for 2030 seven years earlier.
Particularly encouraging are also the results in terms of the increase in the proportion of ICT specialists, which has exceeded the European average of 4.8% and now stands at 5.4%. This is a crucial axis for accelerating digital transformation, as well as for the uptake of advanced key technologies for developing innovative solutions to socio-economic and environmental challenges. An important challenge, however, remains the upgrading of the digital skills of the general population, as well as the further development of e-health services.
In the dimension "digitalization of public services", a key government priority, Cyprus recorded an improvement of 16.3%, which is many times higher than the 3.1% that constitutes the average growth rate in Europe, with more and more digital services being offered to both citizens and businesses of the country.
Despite the fact that the majority of Cypriot SMEs are at a satisfactory level of digital maturity, adoption rates of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence are still relatively low. Encouraging, however, are the results regarding the use of cloud services by businesses, where Cyprus ranks above the European average (38.9%) with a percentage of 45.5%.
Regarding the results, the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Dr. Nikodemos Damianou expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the country's digital ecosystem is developing at a steady pace and is taking steps in the right direction. "The Government," the Deputy Minister said, "remains committed to the goal of digital transition and the implementation of digital solutions with a direct impact on the daily lives of Cypriot citizens. The Digital Decade indicators are the roadmap on the basis of which we formulate our strategy in order to achieve the ambitious goals set at national and European level. We will proceed with a serious and thorough analysis of the individual indicators, adjusting and aligning our actions to ensure they meet the facts, needs, objectives and challenges we face."
