Sistemas de seguimiento e indicadores para la medición del impacto de las tecnologías de la información y comunicación en el desarrollo sostenible de Europa

The development of the Information Society and technological services is presently a fundamental pillar on which to base the new economic, social and ecological model of sustainable development. The aim of this work is to explore the logic of existing systems for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, Agenda 2030) and their relationships with ICTs in order to detect the availability of indicators to address future research related to the analysis of the impact of ICTs on sustainable development in Europe. The aim is to answer the following questions: according to the institutions and to the reference of sources of public data, which are the indicators designed to measure ICTs-SDG relationships and what is the actual availability of these indicators at different spatial scales? To answer these questions, the matrix of the World Summit on the Information Society Project (WSIS-SDG Matrix), linking the strengthening of ICTs and their impact on sustainable development, is analyzed. The EUROSTAT’s metadata and ESPON DATABASE are also examined to detect the connection between the ODS and the specific policies and actions that activate or produce effects on ICTs-SDG relations. The result is an own matrix of indicators and data sources that will serve as a basis for future research regarding how and how much ICTs influences sustainable development in Europe. The results show that, despite the efforts made by international bodies, along with the scarcity of data, intrinsic conceptual problems are recognized as the relationship between TIC and Sustainable development is multidimensional and multifaceted and it does not include clearly measurable characteristics.