Support of the European Committee of the Regions to the process of EU Digitisation
Digital Infrastructure covering the full territory of the EU and obviously also the V4 territory is one of the key challenges for the upcoming European Smart Infrastructure and will be decisive for the competitiveness of the EU and the V4 countries. It is to be seen in the context of a dramatic struggle which will reward the fastest movers and punish the ones coming too late. In order to put this smart infrastructure in place, we need new smart approaches for reaching a digital infrastructure covering also remote region areas and making the citizens and companies of the EU, including notably the SMEs, fit for the industry 4.0 and the sharing economy process. Most specifically, we need a new approach for creating synergies at regional and cross-border level with new instruments like European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) and a massive effort in developing public-private partnerships using both EU instruments (Invest EU) and private financial sources via notably the recently established Digitisation Fund.