Malta’s digital ambitions are real and, in many ways, they are already visible in the services we use and the systems being rolled out across the public sector. However, there is one uncomfortable truth we should keep in mind: digital transformation doesn’t succeed because we buy the right platform. It succeeds when the people in the system have the skills, confidence  and support to make change work in real life.

That’s why a piece I had read in The Guardian in February 2019 has always stuck with me. It asked whether an IT skills shortage could derail the UK’s ambitions for digital public services and it opened with a sobering reminder: the NHS’s national IT programme, meant to create shared electronic patient records across England, was abandoned in 2011 after costing at least £10bn.

The details matter less than the warning. When large public-sector tech projects fail, the consequences aren’t only financial. They can damage trust and disrupt everyday services.

What made the article especially relevant from a Maltese perspective is that it didn’t stop at the failure. It described how the UK later rebuilt its approach through a stronger digital push, including the creation of the Government Digital Service and the spread of digital projects across councils and the health service. The real lesson isn’t that the UK suddenly discovered ‘better technology’. It’s that, after a very public failure, it began taking the hard part seriously: skills, leadership and the capacity to deliver.

I firmly believe that Malta should take that point closer to heart, even though this is the direction the country, clearly, is being led in. The NHS programme did not collapse simply because software can be imperfect. It collapsed because the system did not have the human capacity to deliver something of that scale and complexity.

Digital change only sticks when there are enough specialists to build and maintain systems and enough capable managers to lead teams through disruption without burning them out or losing them.

In recent years, the Maltese government has done a lot to push this agenda forward and it is doing so in a context that is uniquely challenging for small states. In a country like ours, the same limited pool of people is often expected to serve the government, education, health, regulators and a fast-moving private sector at the same time. That can make capacity fragile because there isn’t always a deep bench to draw on when new projects, new systems and new demands are introduced.

Malta Diġitali (2022–2027) frames digital transformation as something that affects how people live and work, not simply how government websites look. The National eSkills Strategy (2022–2025) reinforces the same point by putting lifelong learning and adaptability at the centre, recognising that digital government doesn’t “arrive” when platforms are launched; it arrives when people can use them confidently, lead change sensibly and keep learning as tools evolve.

Malta’s Digital Decade Strategic Roadmap (2023–2030) then adds a dose of realism by tying national ambition to EU monitoring and targets, meaning progress is not just aspirational but measured.

Digital skills’ can’t be reduced to knowing which button to click

However, even though strategy documents can be well-written and full of good intentions, they only become real when there are competent people in place to deliver them. Those people would then need the time, support and confidence to adapt as systems change. It is likely that this is where EU reporting acts as a useful reality check.

The European Commission’s 2024 Digital Decade country report for Malta points to concerns around the supply of ICT specialists and the pace of growth in basic digital skills, even while Malta performs relatively well in other areas.

From my own experience at the University of Malta (UM), I see how digital change is felt most sharply in the everyday realities of work: more processes moving online, new systems reshaping workflows and new expectations around flexibility where roles allow. In a setting like this, ‘digital skills’ can’t be reduced to knowing which button to click. They also mean being able to work across departments, solve problems as systems evolve and maintain standards while procedures change.

The UM’s reflections on ‘teaming’ capture a shift that many workplaces will recognise. This takes the form of more work organised through projects and cross-department collaboration, because of which people need to share responsibility, learn quickly and raise concerns early when something isn’t working. When this is managed well, digital tools reduce friction and make work smoother; when it isn’t, they become an added layer of stress and managers end up carrying the strain.

MCAST is a key part of this story too but from the ‘supply’ side rather than the ‘testing ground’ side. If the UM is where digital change is felt day by day, MCAST is where Malta can grow the next wave of technicians and hands-on problem-solvers who keep systems running and make new tools work in real organisations.

Its role, therefore, goes beyond vaguely ‘supporting’ the digital agenda: it is one of the most practical ways Malta can turn policy into capacity, through applied training, adult reskilling and closer alignment between teaching and employers’ needs.

MCAST has positioned itself prominently in the vocational education sector in recent years. Education Minister Clifton Grima has argued that stronger links with industry are essential, writing that “the more industry invests in the college, the more MCAST will respond positively, effectively and in a timely manner to industry”.

And when a new ICT institute at MCAST was inaugurated in December 2025, Grima framed it in exactly those terms, saying that environments like these give students the best conditions to develop skills and prepare for careers in a fast-evolving sector.

Put simply, we can recognise progress and still admit that the talent pipeline, and how quickly it improves, will determine whether national plans can keep pace with national ambition. And that is why, if Malta is serious about its digital ambitions, the ‘people side’ must be treated as infrastructure.

Strategies can set direction, funding can accelerate projects and platforms can modernise services. However, and this is the key point I want to underline, the real proof of readiness is whether institutions like the University of Malta can make change sustainable in the everyday realities of work and whether institutions like MCAST can keep supplying the skills that make the whole system viable.

Damian Spiteri is a lecturer in social work and social policy at the University of Malta.

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