4.6Digitalisation of Enterprises in Flanders

By Thomas Standaert (UGhent) and Petra Andries (UGhent)

This chapter maps the digitalization efforts of Flemish enterprises, focusing on the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity maturity. Data are drawn from the annual digitalisation survey conducted between 2021 and 2024 among a large, representative sample of Flemish enterprises across sectors and size classes.

Artificial Intelligence

Between 2021 and 2023, the share of enterprises using at least one AI technology rose from 23.2% to 32.1%. Early adoption was dominated by text analysis, but by 2023 natural language generation became the most widely used technology. Other applications include process automation, image recognition, machine learning, and speech recognition, while autonomous machines remain the least adopted.

AI is applied across the industrial value chain, most frequently in ICT security, administrative processes, marketing and sales, customer services, production processes, and the development of new technologies, products, and processes. Less common uses include HR management, strategic decision-making, procurement, and logistics.

Cybersecurity

The 2021–2024 data show that many enterprises still take limited cybersecurity measures, though the share of firms implementing the maximum set of measures has slightly increased. Basic technical measures, such as regular software updates and data backups, are widespread, while advanced practices such as encryption, biometric authentication, and ICT security testing are less common.

Organisational maturity remains modest: fewer than half of Flemish enterprises offer employee training on cybersecurity. The implementation of systematic management procedures, based on the NIST framework (identify, protect, detect, respond, recover), is uneven—most firms adopt protective and recovery measures, while procedures for detection, identification, and response are less frequently in place.