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Digital Inclusion
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The internet is a resource for everyone. It connects billions of people and offers countless ways to interact, communicate, be creative and productive. This means new opportunities in terms of how we live, work, and learn. It is vital that everyone is given the opportunity to participate fully in today’s digital world.
The first phase of the National Digital Strategy was launched in July 2013. This strategy focuses on digital engagement and how Ireland can benefit from a digitally engaged society. It sets out a clear vision and a number of practical actions to help increase the number of citizens and businesses engaging online through industry and enterprise, citizen training, schools and education.
Building on Phase 1, the government is looking to develop a new National Digital Strategy. This is in response to technological change over the years and the range of opportunities and challenges this presents to Irish society.
A public consultation on a new National Digital Strategy was held at the end of 2018. This consultation invited members of the public and interested stakeholders to make submissions that would inform the scope and delivery of the new strategy which is now being drafted.
Web accessibility ensures people can use and operate websites and mobile application based services, especially people with disabilities. When websites are correctly designed and developed, all users generally have equal access to information and functionality.
The European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies) Regulations 2020 (SI 358/2020) requires public sector bodies to ensure that their websites and apps are accessible to users, especially people with disabilities, by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. The regulations came into force on 23 September 2020 and transpose EU Web Accessibility Directive 2016/2102.
All public sector bodies are required to prepare, and regularly update, a detailed, comprehensive and clear accessibility statement on the compliance of their websites and mobile applications with these Regulations, to be placed on the website or alongside their mobile application. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1523 contains a model accessibility statement.
The National Disability Authority is the national monitoring body under these regulations. They can advise on how to make your websites and content more accessible to users.
In a connected society, digital skills are essential if we are going to realise the full social and economic potential of the digital world. The government has introduced several initiatives and programmes to help develop the digital skills of people all over Ireland.
The Digital Skills for Citizens Scheme supports and empowers citizens who have not used the internet to take their first steps in getting online. Since 2017, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has provided €5.5 million to community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations to deliver informal basic digital skills training to people nationwide.
Training classes are available to all citizens who don’t have the confidence, motivation or skills to benefit from digital inclusion. Training is targeted at people over 45, farming communities, small business owners, the unemployed, persons with disabilities and disadvantaged groups.
The government is committed to promoting the use of technology in education, and creating an environment that supports positive outcomes in line with the National Digital Strategy and the Digital Strategy for Schools. The School Digital Champion Programme is a unique opportunity for second level students to take part in an innovative programme that enables them to develop their creativity, critical-thinking and communications skills. Students are asked to complete a project using their digital and communications skills to develop a project that could benefit their school, local community or local business.
The internet connects billions of people all over the world, giving them continued access to new markets and products. The future of business and enterprise is reliant on digital platforms; no business now can afford to ignore the potential of digital markets.
For many businesses though, the question is not whether to trade online, it's how to start. Designed to assist small businesses, the Trading Online Voucher Scheme offers training and advice, along with financial assistance of up to €2,500. This programme was developed under the National Digital Strategy, funded by DECC and delivered by the nationwide network of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs).
The scheme is aimed at businesses with limited online trading presence and:
Since 1 January 2021, responsibility for this scheme has moved to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA) was established in 2003 to oversee the Digital Hub initiative. The original decision to establish the Digital Hub was taken in light of the success of other high-tech clusters around the world and was seen as an important contributor to Government policy for the development of the digital tech industry. The DHDA property portfolio comprises a campus of circa 5.6 acres located in the Liberties area of Dublin.
The DHDA played an important role in the early development of the tech sector in Dublin and over 400 companies have progressed through the Hub since its foundation and have included Stripe, Slack and Etsy.
There are currently 31 companies employing 270 people located in the Digital Hub Campus.
The Government recently announced that the DHDA is to be dissolved and its properties are to be transferred to the Land Development Agency. The decision was made following a strategic review commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, which concluded that the digital tech sector in Dublin has developed significantly in the past twenty years, and that the Agency is no longer required in order to sustain the continued growth of the sector. The strategic review report can be found here .
The managed wind down, which will take account of the needs of the clientele and staff of the DHDA and the community, is expected to be completed by mid-2022. The Digital Hub will continue to provide office space and business support services to growing technology companies and industry organisations during the wind down period.
The National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) , established in 2006, is a Government initiative to support early stage innovative digital enterprises start-ups through accelerator and pre-seed investment supports. The NDRC delivers a mentorship-driven accelerator with €100,000 founder-friendly pre-seed funding, and early stage supports including non-equity pre-accelerator programmes to entrepreneurs across Ireland. It invests in start-ups building “global solutions to global problems”, to create internationally scalable Irish companies.
The company was established by five educational institutions: UCD, TCD, DCU, IADT and NCAD ran the NDRC from 2006 under two concession agreements. An independent review, commissioned by the Department, concluded that the initiative had added economic value, that it would not be provided by the private sector in the absence of State support and should be continued. Following a public procurement process, the contract to deliver the NDRC services was awarded to a consortium led by Dogpatch Labs on 30 November 2020.
The principal services, which are provided under the NDRC name, include:
1. Accelerator Programmes and capital investments in early stage digital enterprises
2. Regional services: pre-accelerator programmes and “training the trainer” services
3. Investment portfolio management.
There is a strong regional dimension to the services which are delivered through Dogpatch Labs, based in Dublin and its regional hub partners at the Republic of Work, Cork, RDI Hub in Kerry and Portershed in Galway. The regional partners all play a central role in the design and the delivery of the early stage supports and pre-accelerator programmes. Through a ‘hub and spoke’ model each hub has relationships with other emerging hubs, universities and incubators in its region to maximise entrepreneurial support across every county in Ireland.
The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) is designed to support the digital transformation of Europe’s society and economy and forms part of the Multiannual Financial Framework running from 2021 to 2027. The budgetary allocation of €7.5 billion was agreed in December 2020. €2.2 billion will be dedicated to supercomputing, €2.1 billion to artificial intelligence, €1.7 billion to cybersecurity, €1.1 billion to encouraging the use of digital technologies and €580 million to advanced digital skills. DIGITAL aims to increase European competitiveness globally under the five identified key areas: Artificial Intelligence, High Performance Computing, Cybersecurity and Trust, Advanced Digital Skills and Interoperability.
The first calls for proposals for funding (in the areas of AI, deployment, trust services, data spaces, QCI, digital skills, an European Digital Innovation Hubs) were launched in November of this year.
Read more about a Digital Europe
The EU’s Connecting Europe Facility 2 (CEF2) Digital programme (2021-2027) builds on the previous one, CEF1, which supported cross-border digital infrastructures and services, as well as free internet access for local communities through the WiFi4EU initiative between 2014 and 2020.
Under CEF2, the European Commission will co-fund actions aiming to equip Europe's main transport routes and providers of key services in local communities with 5G connectivity, as well as actions to deploy or upgrade backbone networks based on advanced technologies.
With a planned budget of €258 million, the first calls under the programme will focus on infrastructure connecting federated cloud services, backbone infrastructures for digital global gateways, such as submarine cables, as well as preparatory actions to set up operational digital platforms for transport and energy infrastructures across the EU. This follows the adoption of the first Work Programme for CEF2 Digital in December 2021 that earmarked more than €1 billion in total funding for the period 2021-2023.
CEF2 Digital calls are mainly open to entities, including joint ventures, established in Member States and overseas countries or territories.
The first 11 CEF 2 Digital calls closed on 20 April, and the next set of calls is expected to be launched in September 2022. Links to these calls will be published on gov.ie when they launch. In the meantime, more information on the programme can be found on the European Commission website.
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