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THE SIgNIFIcANcE OF EUROPEAN STRUcTURAl ANd INVESTMENT FUNdS FOR THE REPUBlIc OF cROATIA IN THE AREA OF INFORMATION ANd cOMMUNIcATIONS TEcHNOlOgIES

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the leading role in the transformation of business, government services, lifestyles of citizens, and thus society. They are the foundation of the digital society as well as the knowl-edge society, which are systematically promoted and gradually built by the EU with the aim of encouraging innovation, creativity, and competitiveness of the European industry and the rest of the world. Digitalization implies wider use of the Internet and greater involvement of people, government and companies that are engaged in it and regularly use it. Higher quality broadens the availability and intensive use of ICT infrastruc-ture are the main priorities for the investment of ESI funds, particularly from ERDF. Allocation for that priority within Croatian Operational Programmed Competitiveness and Cohesion is EUR 307.95 million out of 6, 881 billion. 1633INTERDISCIPLINARY MANAGEMENT RESEARCH XVThis allocation must be directed towards the development of the innovative e-services of modern public administration by the “smart government” principles, including providing full services, digitizing business and administrative pro-cesses, and opening public administration information through various chan-nels available at any time, anywhere and through different devices. The main purpose is to improve the lives of Croatian citizens and to boost the competi-tiveness of the economy by supporting the development of the digital economy to include the unique EU digital market.The paper gives results of comparative analysis of key indicators of the digital economy and society level (DESI) of Croatia and EU 28 countries and mea-sures to be taken to reach the level of EU development.

ICT, competitiveness, digitalization, e-services, broadband

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