EVALUATION OF THE LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL ECONOMY AND DIGITAL SKILLS IN SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND CZECH REPUBLIC

Digital economy, digital transformation and digital skills, related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, have been given special attention these days. In the global world, there have been revolutionary changes in technology and the use of ICT. The key to all these processes is human capital in terms of making, utilising and upgrading these changes. The purpose of the paper is to assess and compare the current state and evolution of digital skills in the Slovak and Czech Republics using the DESI dimensions which have been calculated by the European Commission since 2015. The authors have focused on the major dimension of human capital. The analysis of the time series of data from 2014 to 2019 and a comparison of synthesis methods were employed to draw conclusions. The data were extracted from the Eurostat and European Commission database. Research results: The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic show a comparable level of digital skills being slightly below the European Union average. In terms of partial indicators, the highest scores were recorded in the connectivity and human capital dimensions in both the Slovak and Czech Republics and the lowest scores in the use of Internet services. Regarding the human capital, both countries have scores below the EU average (48) - Slovakia (44.2), the Czech Republic (44.8). In the the follow-up research, the digital economy performance indicators in the wider context of the EU countries will be assesed.