Brussels, 28/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes pointed out, on 25 January 2013, the urgent need to fill the skills gap for jobs in the digital sector in Europe, saying that employers would have a million information technology and communications jobs that they will find difficult to fill, due to lack of skills in the potential workforce, which is why she is calling on all stakeholders (companies, public authorities, social partners, trainers, etc) to commit to reversing the current trend. Kroes said the digital skills deficit is growing at the same time as the dole queue, while ITC is the new backbone of the European economy and action must be taken to avoid Europe losing competitiveness and a generation in the process, adding that, while the Commission would be doing its share, it cannot act alone.
The European Commission is promising to collect details of promised new jobs, traineeships, training establishments, start-up finance and university training online free of charge. In the private sector, Nokia, Telefónica, SAP, Cisco, HP, Alcatel-Lucent, Randstad, ENI, Telenor Group and ARM, along with CEPIS (Conseil Européen des Associations de Professionnels de l'Informatique) and DIGITALEUROPE, have promised to take action. On 4 and 5 March, given the various commitments made by its partners, the European Commission will announce the launch at a major conference on future action a Grand Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs. It is calling for active collaborations in domains like training in enterprise services, aid for professional mobility, skills certification, improvement of school and university programmes, raising awareness and establishing a conducive environment for innovative start-ups. Paid training courses are another avenue to be explored, which has proved itself in Germany and Spain and which the Commission wants to be spread across Europe. Another crucial aspect of the Coalition will be aid for mobility in the form of help in learning English, making it easier for the unemployed to move to a new location, and skills certificates using an eCompetence Framework. Given the potential of new start-ups, the Commission will launch Startup Europe Partnership, a unique website providing aid to individuals wanting to launch digital start-ups in Europe. (IL/transl.fl)