State of the Digital Decade 2026: DESI methodological note

The European Commission has published the DESI 2026 methodological note accompanying the ‘State of the Digital Decade 2026’ Communication.

• Main announcement: The Commission introduces the DESI 2026 dashboard featuring around 50 national-level indicators, with new indicators on generative AI use, trust and safety of online content, environmental impact of the digital sector (ICT carbon footprint), ICT trade & web sales, and a new enterprise cybersecurity indicator tracking the percentage of enterprises adopting at least five ICT security measures; the dashboard uses 2025 (or latest available) reference years and aligns with the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 targets (e.g., 100% VHCN/FTTP/5G coverage by 2030, 10,000 climate-neutral edge nodes target by 2030).
• Background and implementation details: Data are sourced from Eurostat, Communications Committee (COCOM), Grant Thornton Advisory / LS telcom (Connectivity Coverage in Europe 2025), Edge Observatory, Dealroom.co (unicorns dataset downloaded 21/01/2026), Capgemini / Capgemini Invent; the DESI 2026 cut-off date for indicators was 20 April 2026; the methodological note accompanies the Commission Communication and will feed into country-level KPI tables and an Interactive Country Profile (example shown for France).