Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Indicators and weighting of the Digital Economy 
and Society Index (DESI) 2019 
 
n
Indicator 1: Connectivity 
 
Connectivity is calculated as the weighted aver-
age of the following five sub-indicators: landline 
broadband (18.5%), mobile broadband (35%), fast 
broadband (18.5%), ultra-fast broadband (18.5%) 
and a price index (9.5%).
 
n
Indicator 2: Human capital 
 
Human capital is calculated as the weighted aver-
age of two sub-indicators: basic knowledge of in-
ternet use (50%) and advanced skills (50%).
 
n
Indicator 3: Internet use 
 
Internet use is calculated as the weighted average 
of the following three sub-indicators: use of con-
tent (25%), communication and online activities 
excluding transactions (50%) and online transac-
tions by citizens (25%).
 
n
Indicator 4: Integration of digital technology
Integration of digital technology is calculated as 
the weighted average of two sub-indicators: the 
digitalisation of firms (60%) and e-commerce 
(40%). 

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1. Current Trends
39
 
n
Indicator 5: Digital public services 
 
This dimension encompasses electronic govern-
ment services in administration (80%) and elec-
tronic data processing in the healthcare system 
(20%).
These five indicators make it possible to compare the 
EU 28 countries (see Fig. 1-16). Austria ranks 13th 
when the countries are compared using the cumula-
36 The online analysis tool for the DESI index on the European Commission website allows users to change the weighting of the five 
dimensions. Fig. 1-16 shows the score produced by applying the following weightings: indicators (1) Connectivity and (2) Human 
capital at 25% each, indicators (3) Internet use and (5) Digital public services at 15% each, and indicator (4) Integration of digital 
technology at 20%. This weighting is used as the standard method for comparing digitalisation in different countries (see 
https://
digital-agenda-data.eu
).
tive result of all five dimensions.
36
This means that, 
despite a slight improvement (see Table 1-8), Austria 
is only marginally above the EU average of 52.5 with 
a score of 53.9 (out of a possible 100). The field is led 
by the Nordic countries of Finland, Sweden and Den-
mark alongside the Netherlands. Very little separates 
these countries in the index. Austria is around fifteen 
points off this group in the index and just under ten 
points behind the UK in fifth.