Romania's digital economy can grow fourfold to reach 50 billion euro by 2030, Secretary of State with the Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitalisation Bogdan Dumea told the opening of GoTech World 2024 on Tuesday.

"The calculations we have show that Romania's digital economy, including commerce and funding, could grow four times in the coming years. By 2030, we estimate that we could reach a market of 50 billion euro, which encourages us and shows that we need to invest heavily in everything related to digital skills, in adapting to the market, in the development of SMEs in this area, and ultimately, in the development of the state, digital skills, and public servants, so that they can offer the services we all desire. According to IMF studies, 40% of the tasks we have in the workforce today can be automated. At the same time, Google tells us that 70% of administrative tasks in government can be automated. This means that we have enormous potential to improve, but also to change the paradigm, change the labour market, and the way jobs look today," the official mentioned.

According to Dumea, in terms of the number of specialists, Romania ranks first in Europe and sixth in the world per 1,000 inhabitants.

"We are in this significant period of Artificial Intelligence, and this is the topic we are discussing at all the events we attend right now, whether it's about research, innovation, science, or anything related to entrepreneurship. Everything starts with AI (...) The good thing is that Romania and Romanian companies have this opportunity to be at the forefront of this progress and to manifest, to enjoy all the opportunities that AI technology offers us. We need to capitalise on it and do our best to harness this immense potential of technology. Romania, if you didn't know, ranks first in Europe when it comes to the number of IT specialists per 1,000 inhabitants. We even surpass the United States in this regard and are sixth in the world. So, we have everything we need to develop significantly right now," said Dumea.

This year's edition of the B2B GoTech World expo-conference is taking place at Romexpo, November 12-13, gathering over 120 industry experts and around 100 exhibiting companies. The organisers estimate that around 15,000 people will be attending, including approximately 7,000 from the C-level category. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Badea, editor: Andreea Marinescu; EN - editor: Adina Panaitescu)