Within the Work package 1(State-of-the-Art Analysis) the researchers from all consortium institutions involved in the project conducted a comprehensive review of existing literature and indicators on digitalization and the digital divide in Europe and Southeast Asia. They identified similarities, differences, and gaps in digital transformation processes, which allowed to specify priorities for subsequent work packages. WP1 also facilitated the establishment of a research framework and interdisciplinary teams for collaborative studies. Within WP1 43 mobilities took place (64 researcher-months), 23 datasets were uploaded in the project library in ZENODO, 34 research studies were prepared, and 2 network-wide events (conferences) were organized.
Work Package 2 (Data Analysis of the Digital Economy) was based on the activities focused on mapping of the state of digitalization in Central and Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The research activities were also focused on creating comparative datasets and specifying benchmarks to assess digital progress and disparities. These activities create the ground for further quantitative analyses and actionable insights within WP3 and WP4. During WP2, 53 mobilities took place, and 78 researcher-months of secondment mobilities were implemented. 32 datasets were uploaded in the project library in ZENODO, 43 research studies were prepared, and 2 network-wide events (conferences) were organized.
Throughout the whole implementation of the project the management of the project was implemented effectively in cooperation across the whole consortium. Regular Project Steering Committee meetings took place to plan and evaluate the implementation of the project activities. Three external quality experts (including one ethics expert) were involved in the external quality assurance of the project activities. Ethics expert has been involved in the ethics review of research outputs to ensure the compliance with EU ethical standards framework. The Ethics guidelines were developed for participating researchers and ethics training was implemented to train researchers in academic research ethics. The findings and the project have been disseminated through academic publications, conferences and conference presentations, and the stakeholder outreach was carried out through numerous activities using electronic and traditional channels.
Main Achievements
The activities carried out so far led to the following key achievements:
• Provided an empirical foundation to understand digital gaps and foster academic research collaboration between Europe and Southeast Asia.
• Delivered insights to support progress towards the standardized digitalization measurement and formulation of transformation strategies.
• Established an open-access data-sharing and open publication-sharing system promoting transparency and accessibility of project results for all stakeholders.
