OECD calls for stronger impact orientation in digital government strategies: Outlook 2026 report
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The OECD has just published its first Digital Government Outlook 2026, a report that takes the pulse of the digital maturity of 36 Member States and 8 candidate countries for accession. The subtitle, From Foundations to Transformational Impact, accurately sums up the moment we find ourselves in: governments have already built much of the digital foundations, and now the challenge is to turn them into real and tangible impact for citizens and businesses.
It is a particularly relevant reading for a country like Catalonia, which for more than two decades has been committed to a digital administration built on shared and interoperable services. We share with you the keys and the perspective from the AOC.
Real progress, but uneven
The picture drawn by the report is that of a public sector that is clearly more mature than two years ago, but still insufficiently cohesive and integrated into daily operations. Thedigital government index (DGI) The OECD Open Data Index (ODI) has risen from an average of 0,61 in 2023 to 0,70 in 2025, an improvement of 14%, with almost all countries making progress. The Open Data Index (OURdata) also rises, from 0,48 to 0,53, although more modestly.
The underlying message, however, is what should challenge us the most: there is a persistent gap between strategy and implementation. Governments score very high when it comes to setting strategic direction (0,87) and deploying policy levers (0,80), but fall short when it comes to implementation (0,78) and, above all, monitoring and evaluation (0,65). In other words: the problem is no longer the lack of strategies or regulatory frameworks, but the difficulty of translating them consistently into operational practice at scale.
Four priorities for the next stage
The report identifies four areas where efforts need to be concentrated. In all four, the Catalan experience has much to say.
1.- Moving from the basics to widely adopted interoperable systems. The digital public infrastructure, data exchange platforms, digital identity, single portals, cloud, is already mostly available. The challenge is to make it really usable: on average, only the 63% of public institutions share data within the administration through their national interoperability systems. Here Catalonia starts from a solid position: services such as Via Oberta For years, they have allowed administrations to verify data directly among themselves, instead of asking citizens for it again and again. This is precisely the "once only" principle (once-only) that the OECD places at the heart of a proactive government and that the report illustrates, among others, with the data brokerage platform of the Spanish State.
2.- Strengthen investment and skills to generate impact. Most governments already evaluate digital projects before they start and have dedicated funding, but post-evaluation remains the pending issue: only 1 in 4 countries systematically checks whether completed digital projects have achieved the promised results. And even more worrying in terms of talent: only 6 OECD countries have a strategy dedicated to developing the digital skills of their public employees. Without the right people, it is impossible to responsibly govern AI, manage complex relationships with technology providers, and sustain reforms in the long term.
3.- Scale the adoption of reliable AI. In almost all OECD countries, artificial intelligence is already used in at least one area of government, and most have strategies, oversight bodies and training programmes in place. We have moved from experimentation to early integration. Now we need to create the conditions for AI to deliver reliable results at scale: more specialist training, more support for public procurement of AI (available today in just over half of countries) and, above all, more capacity to measure its impact – today only the 28% of the countries does so systematically. The guarantees (algorithm registers, transparència algorithmic, checks before and after deployment) are key to maintaining trust.
4.- Offer more integrated and people-centered services. Governments have made progress in service standards and user participation, but only the 28 % systematically measures the burdens that services impose on citizens. The path lies in connecting channels, sharing data securely between agencies, and moving towards proactive services that needs are anticipated before the person has to ask for anything. This is where interoperability, digital identity and good data governance come together.
Trust, the thread that sews everything together
There is one piece of information that runs through the entire report and that should not be lost sight of: only the 52% of people, on average across 30 OECD countries, trust that their government will use their personal data for legitimate purposes. Digital progress depends not only on technology, but also on strong governance, a skilled workforce and credible safeguards. Trust is not an add-on: it is the condition that makes it possible for citizens to adopt and use the digital services that take so much effort to build.
What do we get from the AOC?
The OECD's diagnosis fits with the roadmap that we at the AOC have been promoting: it is not so much about continuing to accumulate new platforms as it is about ensuring that the ones we already have are used in a generalised way, that data flows with quality and security between administrations, that digital talent in the public sector grows and that each project is measured by the value it brings to people.
Catalonia has enviable digital foundations. The challenge, shared with the rest of the OECD governments, is to decisively transform them into transformative impact: simpler, more proactive and more reliable services, and an administration capable of adapting to the pace that today's world demands.
Source: OECD (2026), Digital Government Outlook 2026: From Foundations to Transformational Impact, OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/0496b2bc-en
