Building Digital Maturity Together

Municipalities in Møre og Romsdal face increasing demands for digitalization while resources are under pressure and levels of digital maturity vary. Through Competence Boost 2.0, Digi Møre og Romsdal has established a regional competence program combining shared learning frameworks with local anchoring through change agents and practice-based learning.

The case demonstrates how a regional initiative can strengthen municipalities’ ability to work systematically with digital transformation, build a shared language, and increase technological understanding – while ensuring that learning is translated into practical local implementation. Competence Boost 2.0 illustrates how competence development can act as a strategic driver for sustainable change in the municipal sector.

Municipalities in Møre og Romsdal have different prerequisites for digital development. Variations in digital maturity affect both the use of digital solutions and the ability to collaborate across sectors. At the same time, national ambitions for integrated and coherent services place increasing demands on municipal competence and capacity. Lack of digital competence may particularly put smaller municipalities at risk of falling behind in shared digital development.

Digi Møre og Romsdal therefore initiated Competence Boost 2.0 – a regional program designed to strengthen municipalities’ ability to work systematically with digital transformation, innovation, and organizational change.

The case explores how municipalities with varying organizational and resource conditions can build sustainable digital competence while managing significant operational pressure. A key question is how regional coordination and shared learning frameworks can support local anchoring and practical implementation of new methods and solutions.

Competence Boost 2.0 was designed as a train-the-trainer program where municipalities appointed change agents responsible for both personal learning and local implementation. These agents acted as a bridge between the regional program and municipal practice.

The program consisted of four professional modules combining technology understanding, design-driven innovation, prototyping, and agile working methods. Learning was supported through digital and physical workshops, individual preparation, and local implementation work. Methodologically, the program emphasized service design, interdisciplinary collaboration, and sensemaking as a framework for understanding complex change processes.

Key Elements of the Competence Boost:

• Four module-based learning pathways combining technology, design, and agile development
• Change agents as key enablers of local anchoring and translation into practice
• Practice-based cases and prototyping work based on real municipal challenges

The program increased technological understanding and strengthened reflective approaches to digital transformation and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. Participants reported increased awareness of starting with user needs rather than solutions. In several municipalities, interdisciplinary collaboration improved identification of shared challenges across sectors.

The case also highlighted that the program’s impact depended strongly on local conditions. Municipalities with strong leadership anchoring and active change agents gained the greatest benefit, while operational pressure and lack of time limited local follow-up in others.