The European Commission announced on Monday 18 July the launch of a new ‘Skills Partnership for the digital ecosystem’ which brings together some sixty companies, such as Microsoft, universities, European public authorities and associations, such as Digital Europe, to boost the acquisition of digital tools and attract “more people into the digital industry”, says a press release.
The partnership will focus on “improving the skills of the workforce of the partners of the digital sector. Partners will then develop common targets, for instance on the number of people to be reskilled and monitor future developments on upskilling and reskilling”.
This new alliance is part of the Pact for Skills, launched in 2020. Another partnership dedicated to skills for the social economy sector was launched in May (see EUROPE 12947/20).
The Pact for Skills contributes to one of the EU’s three social objectives set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, namely that at least 60% of all adults participate in training each year by 2030, the Commission recalls.
The digital skills partnership aims to address, among other things, labour shortages - for example, of IT and other technology experts - or the shortage of digital experts in companies. Cyber security in companies is also a challenge, explains the document supported by all these entities.
In 2019, the digital ecosystem in Europe recorded an annual turnover of €625 billion. It employed 6.8 million workers in 1.2 million companies, of which over 99.8% were SMEs.
Link to the partnership: https://aeur.eu/f/2o8 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)