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Research background: Digitalization in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated significantly across Europe, including in regions that are at the stage of catch-up development. However, as innovative technologies are intensively integrated into everyday life, the digital gap between the EU countries is increasing. The widening digital gap is becoming a serious threat to achieving the EU's sustainable development goals and building a sustainable European society. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the article was to empirically substantiate the inclusiveness and convergence of the digital strategy in the EU countries. Methods: Using the method of fuzzy sets, the level of asymmetry in access to transactional (e-commerce), information (cloud computing), operational (artificial intelligence) technologies in the EU countries was assessed. The negative impact of the digital gap within the countries (the gap between small, medium, large companies) and the global digital gap (the gap between EU countries) on the competitiveness of countries was established, for which correlation analysis and the Granger causality test were used. Findings & value added: The findings of this study contribute to the literature of digital transformation and digital gap of European countries. The impact of the digital gap in transactional, information, operational technologies on the competitiveness of countries is differentiated depending on the level of digitalization of the country. Cluster groups of countries are determined by the convergence of digitalization and ways to ensure long-term competitiveness. The directions for reducing the digital gap in the EU countries are substantiated by changing the priorities of spending on innovation and increasing productivity, diversifying the digital technologies used. The empirical results obtained can serve as a basis for improving the effectiveness of the digitalization policy in the EU countries in accordance with individual convergence goals. The main added value of the paper is related to the presented research procedure, which can be used in analyses of digital technologies development also for other countries. The results provide valuable insights into evaluating the digital technologies in European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydropower has played an important role in Europe in recent decades, offering a unique combination of safe, low-cost, and clean power generation. Today, it is still one of the largest renewable energy sources (RES), accounting for about 35 % of RES electricity generation. However, grid stability is threatened by the increasing amount of undispatchable RES. Flexibility and dynamics such as energy storage and rapid response are urgently needed to achieve EU policy goals. In such a context, hydropower can play a key role, not only as a provider of regulated renewable energy but also due to its ability to balance a renewable energy system in the short term and the medium/long term by pumped storage technology. All these aspects underline the new role of hydropower, which aims to strengthen grid stability and power supply resilience and to enable higher penetration of volatile RES. In this context, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate the role of hydropower at the European level as well as the needs and opportunities of modernization to fully exploit its potential. In particular, this study provides, the assessment of the today flexibility offered by hydropower to the power system at the European level by leveraging a database of information collected through the participants to the working groups of the COST Action Pen@Hydropower which includes stakeholders in the hydropower sector of 34 European countries. The study confirms the key role of hydropower in future energy scenarios with 30 % of the flexibility demand at all time scales met by hydropower. Furthermore, the paper presents a review of the digitalization solutions and innovative technologies that support the growth of a new generation of sustainable hydropower together with the modernization opportunities for existing hydropower plants. The results of this work have practical implications for stakeholders in the hydropower sector and policymakers as it provides evidence at the European scale of the role of hydropower technology in balancing the power system and the need to have supportive frameworks and adequate markets to fully exploit the European hydropower potential to achieve the energy transition goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, questions regarding the implications of digitalization and convergence have dominated European media debates. One aspect of the debate has concerned regulation: to what degree would existing regulations have to be modified in order to accommodate digital production and distribution technologies? In this article we examine the arguments for regulatory change from the mid- and late 1990s and show that the actual changes have not been as far-reaching as predicted. We will argue that this reflects a general pattern in media development whereby the forces of stability and continuity are often underestimated and too much emphasis is placed on factors pointing towards change. The article draws on empirical evidence from the European Union, Britain and the Scandinavian countries Norway and Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]