Urban Agenda for the EU and digital transition: leveraging technology to address urban challenges
The contribution of the Digital Transition Partnership
In 2016, the Pact of Amsterdam recognised 'Digital Transition' as one of the priority themes and cross-cutting issues of the Urban Agenda for the EU. The Digital Transition Partnership began its work in early 2017, aiming to support European cities in leveraging the opportunities of digitalisation, empowering citizens to thrive in the digital era, and assisting European businesses in creating innovations and new global market opportunities.
The Partnership outlined essential components for a successful digital transition, such as: improving the knowledge, competence, and digital skills of EU citizens and administrations at all levels; advancing citizen-centred e-government; ensuring equitable access to and use of data; accelerating the adoption of emerging digital technologies; and promoting a business model approach in cities to achieve sustainable digitalization.
As part of the key outcomes, the members of the Digital Transition Partnership initiated pilot projects in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Helsingborg, Sweden, to test various models for offering equitable access to digital services. Additionally, valuable insights were gathered from similar initiatives in Oulu, Finland.
Building on these experiences, the Partnership developed a comprehensive model and toolbox for establishing a Digital Centre. The outcomes have been compiled into a booklet, that emphasises the importance and benefits of establishing such centres. These physical spaces facilitate collaboration and learning between cities and citizens, promoting a collective digital transition.
Another significant contribution of the Partnership was its work on developing the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) at the local level (DESI local). This initiative enables cities to benchmark themselves not only against other European cities but also against their national average digitalisation level. To advance this effort, the Partnership encouraged its partner, the Committee of the Regions (CoR), to advocate for the development and implementation of a local DESI index in its official policy position.
Following the adoption of this position, the Committee of the Regions, in collaboration with the ESPON programme, initiated the development of a set of indicators to establish a monitoring framework for measuring digital transformation at regional and local levels (LORDI). This framework is independent of the national DESI index and enables direct data collection from local and regional authorities, making the process more cost-effective and adaptable.
Additional key results and outcomes of the Partnership are presented in the final report.
Challenges and solutions from other ongoing Urban Agenda Partnerships
Digital transition continues to be a major issue for other ongoing Thematic Partnerships.
The Sustainable TourismPartnership for example, is taking a practical, need-driven approach to digitalisation with Action 3 “Developing Competences for Tourism Professionals and Local & Regional Authorities in Digital Touristic Services & Products”. Instead of creating new tools, this action focuses on matching tourism SMEs and local authorities with existing digital solutions that can enhance efficiency, sustainability, and visitor experiences.
By March 2026, local stakeholder groups will conduct surveys to identify specific digital needs across different destinations. These insights will drive a matchmaking process, connecting identified challenges with proven technologies—ranging from smart tourism services and AI-driven solutions to digital marketing tools and data analytics platforms. A final adaptable toolkit will ensure these connections remain relevant and scalable across different urban contexts.
Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, Action 3 is about bridging the gap between needs and solutions, making digitalisation accessible, targeted, and action-oriented for tourism professionals and local and regional authorities alike.
Leveraging digital technologies is also a central component of one of the actions identified by the Cities of Equality Partnership, which focuses on “Collecting and sharing practice-based guidance on citizen engagement and participatory governance methods, tools and frameworks”. The aim is to identify both digital and analogue tools and platforms that can inform and engage residents in urban decision-making. This approach seeks to address unequal participation in civic and political processes, as well as the limited co-designing approaches in local services.
Digital Innovation as a key EU policy priority
Another relevant example comes from the Public Procurement Partnership, which in its latest Action Plan for 2025-2028, has focused one of its capacity-building actions on innovation procurement. This initiative aims to explore how technologies, such as big data and AI, can be utilised to address societal and urban challenges.
“The Urban Agenda Partnership on Public Procurement aims to stimulate innovation procurement as a strategic tool. This also includes digital innovation procurement. In our Action Plan 2025-2028 we incorporated the necessity of digital innovation into our actions Capacity Building and Advocacy. Our Position Paper underlines this as a future EU policy priority. Member cities of our Partnership can achieve their own digital (and other) challenges through participating in our Action Teams; they can share their thoughts and knowledge to fulfil their digital procurement needs.”
As emphasised by past and ongoing Urban Agenda Thematic Partnerships, digital technologies must be leveraged to tackle key urban challenges, such as enhancing access to services and civic participation, as well as improving the efficiency and sustainability of solutions adopted by both public administrations and private businesses.