1. Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition:
Aims and Activities
21 September 2017

2. Digital transformation
• the integration of digital
technology into all areas of a
business.
Changes in operations
and delivering to customers.
• Digital disruption is taking place
across sectors, functions and
business processes
• Impacts job market: obsolescence,
redesigning and creation of new jobs
Source: University of Kent

3. Digital Skills
• Digital Skills involve several abilities people need in their lives, ranging
from finding information on the internet and sharing online messages
to creating digital content such as coding apps.
• 🚀 ticket to the digital economy, to full participation in modern society.
• In 2016, only 56% Europeans had adequate digital skills for the digital
world they live in.

4. All jobs require digital skills

5. ICT Professionals shortage
• by 2020 500 000 unfilled vacancies
for Information and
Communication Technologies
professionals (2017 forecast)
Gap is slowly closing thanks to:
- Choosing IT as studies
- Vocational Training
- Non-formal education
• Almost 20 million people
unemployed (4 million under 25)
• Over 1 million ICT jobs created in
2014-2016

6. ICT Professionals
In 2016….
• Over 90 % of people with an ICT education
in the EU have a job.
• 20% of business (all sectors) in the EU
employed ICT specialists.
Source: Eurostat, 2017
• In the EU, 41% which recruited
or tried to recruit ICT
specialists had difficulties
to fill their vacancies.
55% in Lithuania.
• Only 22% companies provided
training to develop or upgrade
ICT skills of their personnel.

7. Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition
Multi-stakeholder partnership
Launched in December 2016

8. • Brings together a broad set of stakeholders,
as pledgers and/or members
• Builds up National Coalitions
and encourages Member States to develop
national digital skills strategies
• Promotes best practices in digital skills training
• Disseminates information about available EU funds
To tackle the lack of digital skills in Europe
To fill ICT-related vacancies across all industry sectors

9. Members
• Organisations become members of the
Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition by
endorsing the objectives outlined in
the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition
Members Charter by completing the
submission form
• Up to date 275 members
• Several sectors represented:
IT industry, education,
banking, chemicals,
fashion, libraries,
regional/local entities etc.
• A pledge is a concrete commitment to carry
out an action to reduce the digital skills gap in
Europe, addressing one of the areas
• Submit pledges for action by completing the
online form (only organisations, not individuals)
• Approval procedure: Secretariat + EC
• Up to date 70 individual pledges and 2
collective pledges (min.2 org together)
• See and contact pledgers
on pledgeviewer.eu
Pledgers

10. 17 National Coalitions
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
France
Hungary
Ireland
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
More to come
Role of the NC:
• Connecting public authorities, business, education, training
and labour market stakeholders.
• Develop concrete measures to bring digital skills and
competences to all levels of education and training, supporting
teachers and educators and promoting active involvement of
business and other organisations.
• Support Member State in developing comprehensive
national digital skills strategies: timeline, targets, funding.
Boosting digital skills as one of countries priorities.
11 Member States considered to have comprehensive
strategies.
!Not Lithuania.

11. Importance of National Coalitions
• Understand circumstances
• Awareness-raising and bringing the attention
of interested stakeholders and general population to the digital skills gap
• Inclusive open for different stakeholders
• Conductive in gathering funding also EU funding for digital skills
• Expertise needed for Digital Skills Strategy in a country, implementing projects
• Supported by ideas of Digital Champion
National Digital Coalition

12. Tools
Shared concept
A common European response to shared goals.
A concept for tackling the digital skills
challenges in Europe
Mapping digital skills activities in Europe:
• Online database with best practices from:
- Pledges
- European Digital Skills Award
- DSM Sub-group on digital skills
Activities ongoing on pledgeviewer.eu

13. Tools
 Webinars on EU funding
“The European Social Fund and the European Regional
Development Fund alone will inject over EUR 30 billion to
support skills development in the period 2014-2020, and the
Erasmus+ programme supports skills development in
education and training with nearly EUR 15 billion.”
Source: A New Skills Agenda for Europe
• Potentially both ESF and ERDF could be used
to boost digital skills – how? webinars – 19 October
Contact Managing Authority in your country
• Erasmus + - monthly EU funding alerts for NCs

14. Tools
 "Digital Opportunity" - pilot project
To be launched in the autumn 2017 by the European Commission.
Paid traineeships for students and recent graduates of all disciplines.
To give hands-on experience in working in the digital economy.
To be launched in the autumn 2017 by the European Commission.
 European Digital Skills Award
• Invites nominations for the best projects, which encourage people
to improve their digital skills.
• Awards best practices which can be replicated and scaled up
across Europe.
• Next round autumn 2017
 Matchmaking online events between NCs – Pledgers

15. Twitter @DigitalSkillsEU
#DigitalSkills #DSJCoalition
Facebook page
online community LinkedIn
European Commission website
Katarzyna.Koziol@digitaleurope.org
Follow/join digital skills community