2023 European Year of Skills
On 14 September 2022, Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced in the annual State of the Union address, her intention to make 2023 the ´European Year of Skills’ to address the current skill shortage in the EU.
Currently, in fact, more than three quarters of companies in the EU report difficulties in finding workers with the appropriate skill set. This is even truer when it comes to digital skills, with only 4 out of 10 adults and every third person who works in Europe lacking basic digital skills. Additionally, IT and security specialists are few and the female component of this workforce appears to be even smaller.
To address the EU digital skills gap, several steps have already been taken.
- While improving education and skills is a key part of the EU Digital Strategy ´Shaping Europe´s digital future` and the related Digital Decade targets, the Digital Education Action Plan is certainly a key step towards a possible European Year of Digital Skills. This, in fact, sets out a common vision of high-quality, inclusive, and accessible digital education and aims to support the adaptation of the education and training systems of Member States to the digital age.
- A further element launched at EU level to foster digital skills is the European Digital Skills and Jobs Platform, which makes information and resources on digital skills, such as a digital skills self-assessment tool, funding and training opportunities (e.g., the EU Code Week) available to all.
- Encouraging digital skills trainings is also part of the mission of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, which gathers Member States, social partners, companies, non-profit organisations and education providers to raise awareness and address together the digital skill gap. The European Digital Skills Awards are part of the activities organised by the coalition.
In alignment with the EU goals, data.europa.eu has its own knowledge hub: the data.europa academy. Here, data providers working at international, national, regional, or local government levels, as well as data enthusiasts within the civic community, can find relevant e-learning materials, webinars and training courses to upgrade their digital and data skills. The open data lessons offered are currently structured along four themes (policy, impact, technology, and data quality), following the Open Data Maturity dimensions.
If you want to upgrade your understanding of open data, don´t miss the chance to explore our academy offer and consult our events calendar and news pieces to stay updated with the upcoming webinars.
For more insights into digital skills, consult our related datasets and stay tuned for our November data story that will expand on the topic!
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