Digital transformation strategy for development of digital Montenegro

The Montenegrin Cabinet, at the proposal of the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media, has adopted the Digital Transformation Strategy of Montenegro 2022-2026 with the Action Plan for the period 2022-2023, which is a development framework that defines the prerequisites and initiatives needed for rapid adaptation to the increasingly complex digital environment, and agile and proactive development of digital Montenegro.

The Digital Transformation Strategy is a key component of meeting digital ambitions, as well as a means to improve public services and user experience, strengthen the digital skills of society as a whole, reduce the digital divide, but also enable digital transformation and good governance across the country, said Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media Tamara Srzentić.

Challenges in the digital transformation of Montenegro are addressed through two strategic goals that reflect the digital reality and are channeled within seven operational goals through priority areas or groups of activities in order to achieve the desired progress, said Minister Srzentić.

The first strategic goal, as she noted, focuses on improving the capacities and capabilities for digital transformation, and the second on strengthening the digital awareness of Montenegrin society and digital competitiveness of the ICT sector.

We must make Montenegro competitive in the region, in Europe and in the world. While we are focused on our long-term economic recovery, Montenegrin citizens expect to be supported and connected, their data to be safe, secure and accessible, to be able to do most things completely online, not to wait in long lines in public institutions, in daily interaction with the public administration or the economy, and not to spend huge amounts of paper, said Srzentić.

The strategy will help, through numerous activities in cooperation with other ministries, ICT companies, civil and academic sectors, ensure that citizens have digital skills and access to participate, work and succeed in the digital world, and actively participate in the development of government programmes and services, said Srzentić.

As the most important activities on which the Ministry will work with partners, Minister Srzentić emphasises the strengthening of digital skills and the development of IT staff of strategic importance for Montenegro. The most important activities are the launch of the Digital Academy - a platform for educating public servants, students and vulnerable groups.

Also, the Ministry in cooperation with the University of Montenegro and the ICT business community is working on establishing the Institute, which aims to create rapid educational programmes for further training of engineers in accordance with market needs and retraining of unemployed university students for basic IT jobs. Our goal is to work together on the development of new training programmes and occupations, strengthening digital skills and IT staff, which will be the greatest resource on the path to the development of digital Montenegro, said Minister Srzentić.

As public servants, but also as employees in the private sector, we all want to ensure that the policies, products and services we design meet the needs of users, whether our users are parents, students or the elderly. Our goal is to improve the capacities and capabilities for the digital transformation of Montenegro, but also to strengthen the digital awareness of Montenegrin society and the digital competitiveness of the ICT sector. Only through joint efforts can we successfully implement all activities from the Digital Transformation Strategy and work on improving the entire digital environment, said Srzentić.