Development of digitization services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic a solution for Smart City. Case study: Romania

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the globalization of services worldwide, due to restrictions that have been imposed for a certain period. In this context, the digitization of services, both in rural and urban areas, contributes to the development of Smart City and its integration into communities. Romania is a country that does not have digitized services, which are under development, but the COVID-19 pandemic has created a forced “opportunity” to accelerate this process. Also, the areas that had digitization projects, being integrated in Smart City projects, were advantaged during the period of restrictions during the state of emergency in 2020 or the state of alert from 2020 to 2022. The digitization of services depends on several factors such as infrastructure and internet connectivity. At European level it is the DESI index (index of the digital economy and society) which highlights digital competitiveness in the Member States of the European Union, the main areas of analysis being human capital, broadband connectivity, integration of digital technologies by businesses and digital public services. This study will focus on the development of digital public services between 2020 and 2021 and will see if they have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The indicators analyzed will be “people who use the Internet to interact with public authorities”, “level of Internet access of households”, “households with broadband access”. The paper will highlight the state of digitalization of public services in Romania and how these services are ranked in the European context.