Using public investments smartly to speed up the adoption of innovative solutions is crucial for successful digital, green economic recovery. Europe needs to step up its game to safeguard its global competitiveness. Objective is to raise political visibility and impetus across countries around Europe to make this happen. Greater political engagement with continued regular EU wide monitoring can reinforce the impact of economic recovery plans. It can encourage countries to set higher ambitions for modernising public services with more cutting-edge solutions, which creates simultaneously high value jobs, including for innovative startups and SMEs.