Improving the digital skills of people across the EU will be critical to achieving a thriving digital economy and for benefiting from the opportunities offered individuals, enterprises and government by the achievement of a digital single market. The fast pace of the digital transformation means that the demand for digital skills in the economy is accelerating. The supply has been slow to respond so that digital skills gaps are becoming ever more apparent. These gaps relate not only to the increasing number of skilled ICT professionals that are being demand in every part of the economy but to all types of jobs in all sectors as use of digital tools in the workplace become omnipresent. And even more than this, digital skills are needed by everyone from every walk of life as these skills have become critical to the lives we lead, for work, learning, communicating and interacting with the government and public services, for research and innovation etc.

A recent report published by the UK House of Lords Select Committee on Digital skills "Make or Break: The UK's Digital Future" highlights the need to move now on digital skills so that the UK's global competiveness does not suffer. The report provides an in-depth discussion and policy advice to the incoming UK government of the need for a more coordinated and comprehensive Digital Agenda to tackle the challenges presented by an increasingly digital economy and society. The challenges outlined and policy solutions offered are relevant not just for the UK but also for other European countries. In particular, investing in superfast broadband infrastructure and targeting universal coverage, increasing the digital literacy of the population, increasing the numbers of, especially female, STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics), graduates, addressing the shortage of medium and high level digital skills, addressing digital literacy and digital skills in all levels of education from primary to university and throughout vocational training (with more digital apprenticeships and digital in all apprenticeships), encouraging industry collaboration in curricula design, making better use of immigration, ensuring cyber risk management through development and deployment of the necessary expertise etc.

At the European level, the European Commission addresses digital skills through its own Digital Agenda for Europe. In particular, the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobsinitiative launched in March 2013 brings stakeholders together from across Europe to take direct action to tackle emergent digital skills gaps. It has attracted a lot of interest and support. More than 80 pledges have been made to undertake digital training, offer placements and apprenticeships, carry out awareness-raising in schools about the career possibilities connected with digital jobs and to support mobility. It has also led to the creation of a number of national and local coalitions. More are needed.

Indeed a multi-stakeholder approach is of crucial importance to equipping our citizens and workforce with the digital skills necessary to thrive in an increasing digital economy and society and to ensure that the benefits of a Digital Single Market are optimised. It is therefore important that stakeholders from across Europe in all sectors, not just the ICT industry but also the ICT-using industries, of the economy engage collaboratively in identifying and tackling digital skills gaps and that more national coalitions and strategies are developed.