10 years measuring local digital maturity: IMD 2024

On May 20th, the award ceremony was held. tenth edition of the Open Administration AwardsFor ten years now, the AOC has been evaluating and giving visibility to the city councils and county councils that are leading the digital transformation. It is not just recognition: it is a tool to move the entire local world forward, generating useful benchmarks and encouraging continuous improvement.

The Administration Recognitions are currently based on the Digital Maturity Index (IMD), the tool promoted by the AOC that allows local entities know your level of digital maturity objectively and comparatively.

This year, the IMD is a project finalist in the NovaGob Excellence Awards 2025 and we would love to have your support to make IMD the winning project in the Digital Transformation category. It's very easy, just fill out the IMD voting form before the 30 in June of 2025.

Vote IMD – “Digital Transformation” Category

From map to IMD: 10 years of evolution towards strategic assessment

The first Recognitions, in 2015, were based on the Municipal Map of Electronic AdministrationIt was evaluated whether the city council had an electronic headquarters, a catalog of procedures, a generic instance, digital regulations... About twenty indicators obtained mostly manually from municipal websites.

Over the years, the evaluation system has become richer and more complete, maintaining an updated, rigorous and useful methodology:

2019: digital activity indicators such as notifications, electronic invoices or consultations on Via Oberta are incorporated. Transparency is also assessed, with data from Infoparticipa and the Catalan Ombudsman.
2020: the Digital Maturity Index (DMI) is created. For the first time, the evaluation is based on three dimensions: implementation, activity and open government. The focus shifts from knowing which services have been implemented to measuring how they are used.
2021: Cybersecurity indicators are introduced, in collaboration with the Cybersecurity Agency of Catalonia.
2022: The IMD gains depth and demands: it review and improve up to 6 indicators.
2023: the collection of data from local authority websites is automated, gaining precision and efficiency; and improves cybersecurity assessment.
2024: a robust model is consolidated, with more than 30 indicators, data from 14 public and private sources and a fully automated methodology. The IMD is no longer just a photo: it is a management and improvement tool.

Results 2024: more maturity, less inequalities

This year, The average IMD score of local authorities was 61 points.. It's the highest yet. But what's important is not just the number, but what's behind it:

91% of municipalities exceed 50 points. This means that 9 out of 10 have a medium-high or high level of digital maturity.
There is also fewer municipalities with low scores. The municipalities that are between 25 and 50 points have been reduced by 66% in two yearsThis is a key fact: it indicates that fewer and fewer administrations are falling behind.
At the other end, there is always more leading municipalitiesThose who exceed 75 points have grown by 25%They don't just digitize, they do it with quality and vision.

Small municipalities have taken an important step forward. It is a demonstration that common services and the support of provincial and district councils are yielding results. All this happens with an IMD that is more demanding every year. Improving in this context has more value.

What does the IMD 2024 tell us? Analysis by dimensions

Digital rights: the big breakthrough

It is the dimension that has improved the most, with a average of 73 pointsThat's 5 points more than last year and 13 more than in 2020.
Small municipalities, with fewer resources, obtain an average of 72 points. This confirms that theThe territorial gap is narrowing when there are common services and effective support.
The and is consolidatedtotal implementation of electronic processingAll city councils have been offering generic online applications for two years.
highlights the improving security. On the one hand, 87% of entities use digital administration platforms with ENS certification. On the other hand, the average score obtained in the vulnerability indicator has improved by 23% compared to the previous edition. These are data that show solid progress.

Activity: interoperability, pending issue

Despite some positive indicators, the overall score remains stagnantThe average score for the dimension is only 55 points, two points more than last year.
78% of procedures are carried out electronically, a very high value that has remained stable since 2022.
However, interoperability remains the pending subject. Lin the middle of the percentile of consultations x inhabitant has grown, but it is still at 30%In addition, there is a very significant gap between large and small municipalities: in municipalities with more than 20.000 inhabitants the average percentile of consultations per inhabitant is 60%.

Open government: everyone has a transparency portal, but it's not enough

La overall average score in 2024 it is 53 points, one point more than in 2023 but still far from the optimal levels we would like to achieve.
differences according to the size of the municipalities are very markedLarge municipalities exceed 80 points, while small ones do not reach 50 points. It is the dimension with the most inequality.
The implementation of the transparency portal is universal, but there is still a long way to go in the effective compliance of all obligations. The average obtained in the Infoparticipa stamp is only 33%.

Beyond measurement: IMD as a driver of improvement

The IMD not only serves to take a picture of the degree of digital maturity of city councils, helps to improve.

IMD reports receive more visits every year. This means that city councils use them, study them and trust them.
There is also real interest in improving dataIn this edition, 88 local bodies have reviewed their information and submitted more than 400 amendmentsThese are actions that show interest in better reflecting the work done.
The result is noticeable: 74% of local governments have improved their score compared to last year.

IMD activates conversations, prioritizes actions and drives decisions. And this is its greatest value.

And now what?

Check your report and compare yourself with municipalities of similar size. Identify opportunities for improvement and ask for support if you need it. Use the IMD as a compass to move forward.

Because digital transformation is a long-distance race. And because no one should be left behind.