The pandemic and the state of alarm declared on 14 March 2020 to contain it demonstrated that Spanish society is a networked one, and that thanks to digitalisation, Spanish people can develop the resilience necessary to overcome adversity in the most challenging situations. In just a few weeks, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital habits by Spanish people both at home and in the workplace by five years. Normalising the digitalisation of Spanish society, in all productive sectors, yielded unstoppable progress in 2020 in terms of the role of technology, according to ‘Digital society in Spain 2020–2021: the year everything changed’.

The report ‘Digital society in Spain 2020–2021: the year everything changed’ was presented on 1 June 2021 in the presence of Carme Artigas, Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence; Sergio Oslé, Telefónica Spain CEO; Carmen Morenés, Telefónica managing director; and Pablo Gonzalo, head of Digital Culture and Espacio Fundación Telefónica.

Science and technology are increasingly coming together to provide solutions to big problems. Artificial intelligence has contributed to the fight to control the pandemic: From curbing the spread of the virus to quick diagnoses to researching new drugs. COVID-19 has also pushed companies onto the cloud. Almost a third of the productive sector now uses some type of cloud service. What’s more, working from home is now here to stay and some corporate processes have been automated.

This edition of ‘Digital Society in Spain’ analyses the impact of COVID-19 on companies’ and people’s technology habits in the country, and reflects the level of progress made in developing infrastructure and telecommunications services, as well as in innovation and in deploying major cutting-edge technologies.

As in previous years, this work is based on three information sources: the main indicators of the digital economy, both national and international; surveys conducted on clients of Telefónica’s business units; and finally, a regional perspective from Spain’s autonomous communities.

‘Digital Society in Spain’ aims to reflect the path the country is following to become a networked society, a transformation that has been accelerated by the pandemic and comes with numerous challenges, the most important of which is ensuring that no-one is left behind, thereby guaranteeing an inclusive transition.