Earlier this year, the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Agenda and Telecom Alexander De Croo launched the Digital Agenda for Belgium. The project aims to get the country in the digital top three of the European Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), for 1,000 new start-ups to take root in the country, and for the digital revolution to deliver 50,000 new jobs in a variety of sectors.
'Digital Minds for Belgium', a group of mostly business people, but which also includes some academics, venture capitalists and opinion-makers, will support the launch and roll-out of the Digital Agenda for Belgium.
Open data portal
The Digital Agenda for Belgium has defined five main pillars:
- digital infrastructure,
- digital confidence and digital security,
- digital economy,
- digital government, and
- digital skills and jobs.
These serve as an umbrella for about 20 so-called priority projects through which Belgium aims to eventually realise its ambitions. One of the projects is the creation of a single "next-generation" open data portal for the federal government.