Digital Single Market as an Opportunity for Europe and Slovakia

How can a small European country fully benefit from the emerging digital economy while protecting its citizens and businesses? How can all EU countries agree on a way forward? We helped define strategic approach to the EU Digital Single Market — one that positions every country as an active contributor to European digital policy, not just a passive recipient.

Challenge

Slovakia faced the need to respond strategically to 16 major EU initiatives reshaping e-commerce, telecommunications, data governance, and digital services. Slovakia's Presidency of the Council of the European Union had to navigate fragmented national regulations, unclear data ownership rules, and limited cross-border interoperability— it required coordination across multiple ministries and sectors simultaneously.

Beyond policy alignment, the challenge was to transform Slovakia from a rule-taker into a rule-shaper. It was about building genuine capacity to influence European negotiations, especially during Slovakia's Presidency of the Council of the European Union— while ensuring that digital transformation benefits citizens, startups, and established businesses alike in the whole EU.

Approach

We worked with national stakeholders to establish a multi-level coordination mechanism spanning political leadership, technical working groups, and industry participation. Through structured analysis of each EU initiative, capacity assessments, and priority-setting workshops, we identified three strategic focus areas: data economy development, public service digitalization with cloud computing, and platform regulation for collaborative economy and smart industry.

The strategy translates Slovakia's ambition to lead in public sector innovation and data-driven governance into concrete negotiating positions and implementation roadmaps. It turns the EU's digital agenda into a national opportunity — with clear responsibilities, timelines, and measurable outcomes across eight thematic working groups.

Outcome

The resulting Digital Single Market Strategy became Slovakia's guiding framework for EU digital policy engagement and a central theme of its 2016 Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It defines priorities spanning cross-border e-commerce, telecom reform, copyright modernization, cybersecurity partnerships, and e-government interoperability — ensuring Slovakia actively shapes rules worth an estimated €250 billion in additional EU GDP.

Its impact extends beyond Brussels negotiations — it established a permanent coordination structure connecting ministries, regulators, and industry, created mechanisms for citizen and business participation, and positioned Slovakia as a proactive voice for innovation-friendly, privacy-respecting digital regulation across Europe.

Explore the full case

If you’d like to explore the full scope of this case study, the strategy for the Digital Single Market is available for download (Dokument: Stratégia pre Digital Single Market).

Download full version of case study as .pdf