Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020

Table 1-11: Integration of digital technology (Indicator 3) in the digital economy and society index
Austria
EU average
DESI 2017*
DESI 2018
DESI 2019
DESI 2019
Value
Value
Value
Ranking
Value
Electronic exchange of information
% of all companies
41% 
2015
40% 
2017
40% 
2017
7 
34% 
2017
Social media
% of all companies
19% 
2016
21% 
2017
21% 
2017
11 
21% 
2017
Big data
% of all companies
N/A 
2016
N/A 
2016
6% 
2018
26 
12% 
2018
Cloud services
% of all companies
10% 
2016
11% 
2017
11% 
2018
23 
18% 
2018
SMEs with e-commerce
% of all SMEs
15% 
2016
16% 
2017
13% 
2018
18 
17% 
2018
Sales from e-commerce
% of SME sales
6% 
2016
6% 
2017
7% 
2018
22 
10% 
2018
International e-commerce
% of all SMEs
10% 
2015
14% 
2017
14% 
2017
2 
8% 
2017
* Not all indicators in the DESI reports are updated annually; some therefore refer to the previous year. For each value in the table, the year to which the 
data relate is given below. 
Source: European Commission (2019f). Graphic: iit.

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42
Austrian Research and Technology Report 2020
its borders with other nations where people speak 
the same language.
Since 2001, the EU Commission has devoted an an-
nual report – the “eGovernment Benchmark”
37
– to 
digital public services, which is one of the five DESI 
dimensions. This comparison is based on the four in-
dicators of user-centricity, transparency, cross-border 
mobility and key enablers (key technological ele-
ments for online service processing). Austria has 
moved up three places in the current ranking and is 
now third out of the 36 countries studied behind only 
Malta and Estonia. Austria also enjoys a top position 
in the categories of availability and user-friendliness 
as well as key technologies (e.g. electronic ID cards 
and electronic document transfer) and can even boast 
maximum points in the e-delivery sub-category 
thanks to its “right to electronic communications with 
the authorities”. The only area still requiring some 
catching-up work is the use of e-government, with 
Austria only just above the European average in terms 
of settling matters involving public authorities online. 
Austria’s standing with regard to the availability, 
use and application of ICT is presented below, in-
cluding with the help of the three indicators from the 
Global Innovation Index.
38
As in the Austrian Re-
search and Technology Report 2019, two indicators 
are assessed: (1) Availability and (2) Use of the inter-
net, mobile broadband and data transfer.
39
These are 
based on data from the World Telecommunication/
ICT Indicators Database and use scores of between 
0 and 100 as the values from the sub-indicators ei-
ther express a percentage or are standardised. A fur-
ther indicator used in addition to those presented in 
the 2019 report is (3) “Online creativity”, which is in-
cluded in the Global Innovation Index 2019. To enable 
internationally comparable data to be studied, this 
analysis is based on the registration of internet do-
mains, the scope of entries in Wikipedia and the 
37 See 
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/egovernment-benchmark-2019-trust-government-increasingly-import-
ant-people
38 See Cornell University, INSEAD and WIPO (2019).
39 See Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology 
(BMVIT) and Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW) (2019).
spread of mobile applications (“apps”). An indicator 
of this kind can be interpreted as a rough indication 
of creative work in the digital economy and openness 
to digital applications.