The Digital Economy Forum celebrated last October in the framework of MedaWeek 2024 with the collaboration of Deel dived into the challenges and opportunities of the ascent of the digital economy in the Mediterranean. Panelists shared insights and recommendations for fostering a new digital Mediterranean, focusing on digital infrastructure, platforms, skills, and entrepreneurship.
The session began with an interesting debate on how organizations must embrace digital transformation. All panelists agreed that the region is well-positioned to pursue its digital ambitions, fostering tech sector maturity and accelerating its digital revolution. However, the great challenge for companies is to take advantage of this favorable context and adapt new technologies to their business strategy. According to Mr. Jordi Llorens, Business Consultor at Cambra de Barcelona and CEO of Searcha, “this entails a cultural change as the company must have the technological capacity and the workers must have the necessary technological skills, in addition to review the business’ internal processes”.
This challenge affects not only companies, which need talent and infrastructure, but also the public sector, that must invest more capital because of its social responsibility to citizens. To Ms. Christiana Manzocco, Director of Investments at Alberta Enterprise Corporation (AEC), “Both companies and governments need to take the digital transition seriously because new technologies and, especially, AI, evolve faster and faster”. She added: “To do this, public-private collaboration is the key. Governments cannot lead the digital transition alone. They need the support of universities and companies, in addition to learn from successful initiatives launched in other Mediterranean countries. In the same sense, companies should foster synergies with governments, universities and start-ups to know and implement new technologies and accelerate the digital transition”.
In this way, Ms. Ghinwa Jalloul, President of the Sydney Institute of Technology and Innovation, highlighted that “embracing digitalization is no longer a choice but a necessity, as it holds the foundation and the potential to shape a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable world for generations to come”. Ms. Jalloul shared insightful data from the World Bank Report 2023 regarding the social, environmental and economic impact of the digital transformation:
- Increases employment per firm up 22%
- Increases firm exports quadruple
- Reductor of extreme poverty up to 10%
- Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20%
- By 2050 in the highest emitting sectors: energy, materials, and mobility.
As for the challenge of the digital gap in many Mediterranean companies, Ms. Jalloul remarked that “the release of ChatGPT in 2022 ushered in an AI hype cycle and moved the technology to the top of boardroom and political agendas worldwide”. In addition, “AI has become central to how organizations drive efficiency, improve productivity and accelerate innovation”. In this regard, Mr. Zouheir Lakhdissi, Board Member at WSA -a global network of experts, mentors, start-ups and young entrepreneurs who promote and recognize digital applications with an impact on society-, said that “while start-ups have AI in their DNA, traditional companies are more reluctant to change because they think AI is going to replace their jobs”. In his opinion, “AI represents a great opportunity for SMEs, because they will automate tasks and be able to explore new business avenues”.
Mr. Lakhdissi added: “Organizations need creative professionals, who think out of the box, capable of adapting to the new AIs that emerge. To do this, it is essential that they collaborate with start-ups, that they know their research and apply it in their day-to-day work not only to be more efficient but also to explore new business opportunities”.
Talent retention and new professional skills
As the panelists pointed out in this session, attracting and retaining talent has become one of the most significant challenges for companies due to globalization and accelerated digitalization. To Mr. Sergi Pinar, Entreprise Account Executive at Deel, “as companies expand internationally and look to diversify their teams, the competition to find the right talent intensifies”. In addition, he said, “geographical and regulatory barriers make it difficult to attract highly trained professionals from different parts of the world”.
On the other hand, automation and AI are transforming business processes at an ever-increasing speed and redefining skills for new digital positions. Many traditional roles are being replaced or modified by machines, creating additional pressure on organizations for their employees to constantly adapt and evolve. All this entails a strong need for reskilling and upskilling at all levels.
In this regard, Mr. Pinar shared the following reflection: “Organizations that do not invest in the continuous training of their workforce risk being left behind in a highly competitive market, as well as losing valuable talent that would otherwise seek new opportunities for professional growth. The challenge is not only finding talent, but also making sure employees have the right tools to thrive in an increasingly automated, technology-centric environment. For all these reasons, companies must adopt a strategic approach that combines the development of internal talent with the ability to attract and manage international teams, taking advantage of platform solutions such as Deel”.
In the framework of the forum, Mr. Pinar explained that Deel helps companies, regardless of their size, to achieve their growth objectives in an increasingly globalized and digitized environment. Specifically, Deel offers practical and accessible solutions related to infrastructures and platforms -a single tool to manage hiring, payroll and regulatory compliance in more than 150 countries, with advanced integrations to facilitate global operation-, specialized talent -reskilling and upskilling strategies versus automation-, support for start-ups and SMEs to facilitate their international expansion, and optimization with AI – automation of critical processes to reduce errors and free up resources for innovation.