Digital or Sustainable: A Comparative Analysis of Digitalization Levels and Sustainable Development in European Regions

María del Pilar Rodríguez Pita

33rd European Regional ITS Conference, Edinburgh, 2025: Digital innovation and transformation in uncertain times from International Telecommunications Society (ITS)

Abstract: This study develops two composite indices to evaluate digitalization and sustainability across European NUTS-2 regions using Eurostat and OCDE data. Employing PCA analysis we construct a Regional Digitalization Index and a Regional Sustainable Development Index, applying k-means clustering to identify typologies. Results reveal a strong positive correlation between digital infrastructure and SDG performance, with clusters of high-performing "leaders" localized in the northerns and western regions and low-performers in the southern and eastern, highlighting the existing disparities in the single market. Based on these insights, we propose targeted policy interventions to promote equitable twin transitions.

Keywords: Digitalization; Sustainable Development; NUTS 2; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-eur and nep-sbm
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:itse25:331300

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