Scientific monitoring and research of the ‘Everyone Digital’ action plan

Project Description

This research assignment covers the scientific monitoring and research within the framework of the ‘Everyone Digital’ action plan. The objective of the assignment, which was commissioned by ABB (the Flemish department of domestic governance), is threefold:

1. The annual monitoring of the various pathways within the Everyone Digital action plan and measures the outcomes of the rolled-out pathways based on scientific research so that adjustments can be made where necessary.
2. Set-up of a short-term policy studies in response to the questions that arose during the corona crisis, e.g. regarding the safeguarding of the right to education, work, care and, related to this, the equal opportunities of everyone in the digital Flanders and Brussels of today and tomorrow. The focus is on identifying the different thresholds experienced by digitally vulnerable target groups and on providing future policy and actions needed.
3. Inform local authorities and organizations working on digital inclusion in Flanders of concrete recommendations arising from the research results.

The role of SMIT

The research activities of SMIT in this project are on (1) monitoring & impact measurement through qualitative monitoring and a yearly quick scan, (2) policy studies & recommendations by means of literature research and multi-stakeholder interviews