Courage and determination: how Liechtenstein is going digital

Admittedly: The results from Liechtenstein cannot be transferred one-to-one to other countries, especially not to Germany with its 84 million inhabitants, 16 federal states and an area of almost 360,000 square kilometres. Liechtenstein has around 40,000 inhabitants and an area of 160 square kilometres.

What others can certainly learn from, however, is the determination and some pioneering decisions that his country has made to advance digitalization, said Daniel Risch, Prime Minister of the Principality of Liechtenstein, in his keynote speech at the Smart Country Convention. In Liechtenstein, more than every second citizen already has an e-ID on their smartphone. The electronic health dossier is almost 100 percent widespread. The fiber optic network was laid nationwide within five years.

When Parliament launched the e-Government Act in 2011, nobody could have guessed how quickly the digital transformation would develop, reported Risch. The start was still somewhat cautious, but things soon took off. Among other things, the government brought the business community on board and jointly defined targets in a digitalization roadmap. Well over 100 projects are now as good as complete.

More money for digitalization than for transport infrastructure

At times, Liechtenstein has invested more money in its digitalization projects than in road and transport infrastructure, said Risch. “We have invested massively, in each of the last three years it was three percent of the state budget.” Risch sees “many courageous, pioneering decisions” that the state has made as the key to success. One example is the “fiber only” strategy. When switching to fiber optics, the old cables were removed. “This forced people to switch within a year.” In addition, there is only one network operator, so the infrastructure is in one hand and all other offers are left to the market.

Example two: To make e-ID widely available, vaccination stations were also used in the final phase of the coronavirus pandemic: Citizens were able to register for the e-ID there. “We have taken a step towards people,” says Risch. After all, digital services are not an end in themselves but must be “as simple as possible” and serve the people.

Opt-out procedure for the electronic health record

Liechtenstein also took a proactive approach to the introduction of electronic health records - example three - and opted for an opt-out procedure. At the beginning of 2024, a citizens' initiative then tried to introduce opt-in instead, but the population voted in favor of retaining the previous approach.

This is precisely where Liechtenstein can be a role model, said Risch: “We try things out, we are courageous, very consistent, but also agile. When mistakes happen, we correct them. And if people think we should do something differently, they launch an initiative.” Ultimately, it is about “leading a country into digitalization as a government and not leaving anyone behind”.