Cohesion policy had been contributing to Europe’s efforts to deploy digital technology to reach growth and sustainability goals for over a decade. One of the policy’s funds, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), allocated over EUR 14 billion for 2014-2020 to digital investments, to be complemented by national and private funding. This was part of efforts to meet the goals of the digital single market initiative, announced in 2015.
The focus of these cohesion policy investments was to support the digitalization of firms, expand access to e-services by government and the health sector, promote digital skills and roll out broadband networks in remote and rural regions to ensure everyone has access to digital technology.
