News about Digital Skills

The International Digital Economy and Society Index (I-DESI) provides an overall assessment of where the EU stands, compared to non-EU economies, in its progress towards a digital society and economy. First created in 2013, I-DESI compares the average performance of EU member States with 17 non-EU countries, using a similar methodology to the EU DESI index. It measures performance in five dimensions or policy areas: connectivity, human capital (digital skills), use of Internet by citizens, integration of technology and digital public services.

EU Code Week 2018 has proven to be the most successful to date. The total number of activities registered is now 41,000, involving hundreds of thousands of participants, most of them in schools.

The awards offer successful digital skills initiatives a unique opportunity to showcase their work at European level. As digital tools are already transforming the European economy and society, digital competences are vital for anyone to play an active part. The awards shine a light on good examples of how to tackle the digital skills gap and help people to follow training in different stages of life. Organisations, initiatives and projects now have until 24 October to apply.

EU Code Week starts on 6 October with over 12,000 activities taking place in more than 45 countries. The EU Code Week is a yearly grass-roots movement supported by the European Commission as part of its strategy for a Digital Single Market, that promotes programming and wider tech knowledge, this year with a special focus on schools. More than a million people are expected to participate in the interactive events, including children, parents and teachers. This year, the initiative calls especially on teachers to try out coding and 'tech' related activities in their classroom.

The Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition Governing Board presented a nine-point Action Plan outlining the Coalition’s priorities for the coming months. The Plan sets out how to expand current membership to all sectors of the economy, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), how to include all actors and networks that work on the ground with digital skills actions and how to ensure that the EU’s future budget includes a focus on the development of digital competences to support the ongoing digital transformation.

Between December 2016 and July 2018, members of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition offered 10.9 million Europeans a chance to improve their digital skills. In total, 7.4 million digital skills trainings were provided, 1.9 million certifications were delivered and 1.6 million people were reached through awareness-raising campaigns. Moreover, 23 National Coalitions are now working on the ground, promoting digital skills policies and actions.

With the beginning of the new academic year, university students can count on a new EU-funded programme to develop their digital skills: the Digital Opportunity Traineeship Initiative. Students from all faculties can access on-the-job training in a company abroad to improve their digital skills in fields ranging from digital marketing, app development and artificial intelligence. Students will be granted a monthly allowance of around 500 euro, which companies can top up. In the beginning of October over 500 students had started their Digital Opportunity Traineeship across Europe.

During the first meeting of the High-Level Group on the impact of digital transformation, its members welcomed the opportunity to hear the views of Commissioners Thyssen and Gabriel, who underlined the political importance of the topics under consideration and the need to ensure that digital technologies would lead to innovation and growth while also fostering competitiveness and inclusiveness.

On 6 December, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and guests will discuss the need for advanced skills for societal breakthroughs. The discussion is part of the ICT 2018 conference. At the plenary, Commissioner Gabriel will also hand out the European Digital Skills Awards 2018 to five distinguished digital skills projects who will also exhibit their projects together with all runner-ups. A networking session on the Digital Opportunity Traineeship initiative will also take place on 5 December.

The European Commission wants to put the spotlight on projects which contribute to the development of digital skills in Europe. The Awards will be presented by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society on 6 December 2018. The Awards are a great opportunity for nominees to showcase their projects, as the winners and four runners up in each category will be invited to exhibit their project at the ICT 2018 conference in Vienna as a reward. The final deadline for the submission of projects is 24 October 2018.