Giving Europe the digital skills for tomorrow: our new “Grand Coalition” - Main contents

Source: N. (Neelie) Kroes i, published on Monday, March 4 2013.

Our challenge today is to give our people better job prospects - while also boosting European competitiveness.

Today’s businesses are all going digital and they all need skilled ICT workers. Yet at the moment there aren’t enough workers to meet that huge demand - we could soon have 900,000 unfilled vacancies, even at a time of high unemployment.

There are many possible reasons for this. Maybe people aren’t aware how attractive and enjoyable ICT careers can be; maybe our education systems aren’t giving them the skills businesses actually need; or maybe they don’t feel able to apply for jobs in other EU countries.

Fixing this problem isn’t something we can do alone as the European Commission - it needs others to play their full part, including businesses, schools and universities.

So we’ve launched a “Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs“. Not just a talking shop - but a way for those who can help to make firm commitments for how they will help Europe “fill the gap“. Not just through business as usual: but through new programmes, new platforms, and new partnerships. Whether it’s a commitment to design new e-Learning programmes to teach ICT skills; to offer new internships and apprenticeships; or just to visit schools and spread the word.

Already we’ve had many such detailed pledges. Those in so far include from SAP, Telefonica, Oracle, European Schoolnet, the European eSkills Association, Cisco, CEPIS, HP, the European Computer Driving Licence Foundation, Microsoft, the Corporate IT Forum, and “Fast track to IT”. On top of which, the European Commission has made some commitments of its own. Because we’ve all realised the imperative of acting - and the benefits if we get it right.

If you’ve got a bright idea for how your organisation can help - alone or in partnership - it’s not too late. You have until 31 May to let us know - and we’ll present and take stock of all pledges together at the Digital Assembly in June.

If we don’t meet this opportunity, it will be bad for our businesses, bad for our workforce, and bad for our global digital competitiveness. So let’s all play our part.