ANALÝZA KĽÚČOVÝCH DETERMINANTOV SLOVENSKA V EURÓPSKEJ DIGITÁLNEJ TRANSFORMÁCII.

Europe's competitiveness in global markets significantly affects the speed and degree of digitization. The success of the digital transformation depends on introducing reforms, improving the business environment, creating incentives, and increasing investments in digital technologies, digital skills, and digital infrastructure. The paper is focused on the analysis and mutual comparison of the overall DESI score and its dimensions of Slovakia with the EU-27 countries in 2022 and revealing the key determinants affecting Slovakia's digital performance within the European digital transformation. We used secondary data from the annual report of the European Commission, which has been published annually since 2014 to monitor the progress of member states in the field of digital technologies. Finland is the leader in the digital performance of the EU-27 countries in 2022, the worst score was achieved by Romania and Slovakia ranked 23rd in the DESI ranking with a score of 43.45. The lowest European average was achieved by dimension 3 - Integration of digital technologies (36.07%) and the highest average European rating was recorded for dimension 4 - Digital public services (67.35%). Slovakia achieved the worst results (24th position) for dimension 4 - Digital public services (52%). In conclusion, we can conclude that among the key determinants of Slovakia's digital performance are the following indicators from dimension 4 of the DESI index - Open data, Digital services for businesses and Digital services for citizens, which had a negative impact on Slovakia's digital performance in 2022. We recommend focusing on improving key indicators, which would help Slovakia improve its digital transformation within the European space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]