National Coalitions met in Brussels to shape future actions to develop digital skills
One year after the launch of the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform, a meeting of the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform coordination team with representatives of national coalitions from European countries took place in Brussels on 7 July 2022. Romania was represented by APDETIC-Coalitia Skills4IT.
The seminar provided an interactive framework for discussions on national and European initiatives in the field of digital competence development, exchanges of experience and best practices, as well as opinions on strategies to achieve the 2030 digital targets under the Digital Decade of Europe.
The strategic goal of the Digital Decade is to ensure at least 20 million JTIs specialists active in European economies.
Europe is currently facing an accused lack of IT professionals. Public companies and institutions shall endeavour to provide experts in the field of physical intelligence, cyber security, data analysis or blockchain. Achieving the ambitious goals of the Digital Decade involves a cross-fertilisation between governments, academia and the JTI industry.
In this context, universities become key players in the digital transformation: they teach future generations of graduates who need digital skills to successfully use new technologies and contribute directly to the digital transformation.
Pasi Important to Europe’s digital future
The seminar began with the introductory carvant of the Benini Manufacture, Deputy Director DG CONNECT, who highlighted the urgent need to improve digital skills in Europe, the advantages of initiatives to improve competences at regional and local level, and the diversity of opportunities open to European citizens. It has moved to the review of the ongoing activities in this field and in particular the Structured Dialogue for Digital Education and the significant volume of investments provided for in the DIGITAL Europe Programme and in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans.
Following the introduction of the theme of the seminar conducted by Jakub Kajtman, Policy Officer DG CONNECT, representatives of the national coalitions exchanged views on the causes and opportunities for improving the training of human resources with digital skills, providing relevant examples at national and regional level.
The interactive sessions provided the coalition representatives and the DSJC Platform coordination team with the opportunity to shape perspectives, exchange experiences and invent some at the altitudes. During the brainstorming sessions, participants discussed a number of topics related to engagement, continuity and visibility, which included:
- enrich horses on DSJC Platform and national websites
- increase the DSJC community and involve partners in national coalitions
- attracting new partners in various fields and improving the flow of communication
- topics and topics for awareness campaigns
With the support of moderators, participants also addressed topics such as national strategies in the field of digital competence, IT career opportunities for young people, increasing the role and number of women in the IT sector, access to digital training in companies and public institutions, professional training for the various categories of citizens in line with the requirements of the labour market.
Thanks to the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform and this seminar, more and more Europeans will be able to learn about new opportunities for careers based on digital skills and participate in various projects at national or regional level.
The organisers considered that the DSJC seminar in Brussels would also contribute as a consultation of the partners to the Structured Dialogue of the European Commission for Education and Digital Competence.