Conclusions of the European e-Skills 2009 Conference

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Experts from governments, academia, associations, trade unions and industry emphasised the importance of e-skills and professionalism for innovation and business value creation.

While ICT increases its importance in strategic and operational aspects of the economy and society, it is now a key component of the new skills requirements for new jobs.

E-skills for entrepreneurs, managers, ICT practitioners and users are crucial for fostering innovation and competitiveness.

The EU e-skills strategy has progressed with several visible achievements in promoting e -skills and ICT related jobs.

Further developing the long term e-skills strategy to encompass higher level innovation skills is a necessity and a logical next step for supporting European growth and competitiveness.

The conference was organised in Brussels by the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee in partnership with the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS), the e-Skills Industry Leadership Board and other leading stakeholders.

The conference acknowledged that all the major action lines set out in the EU e-skills agenda have been addressed: strengthening partnerships and cooperation, supporting human resources investment for e-skills, promoting the attractiveness of ICT education and careers, developing digital literacy and e-competences for the workforce, and enhancing lifelong learning of e -skills.

Concrete results such as the European e-Competence Framework and the European e-Skills career portal have recently been complemented with the drawing up of forecasts and foresight scenarios on the demand and supply of e-skills, the development of European e-competence curriculum guidelines, the analysis of existing financial and fiscal incentives for e-skills training and support initiatives, the study of e-learning exchange mechanisms, and the further development of multi-stakeholder partnerships.

Background

The European Commission adopted in September 2007 a Communication on “e-Skills for the 21st Century” presenting a long term e-skills agenda and including five major action lines at the European level.

The Competitiveness Council of Ministers welcomed this Communication and adopted Conclusions on a long term e-skills strategy at its meeting on 22-23 November 2007.

Stakeholders have established the e -Skills Industry Leadership Board to contribute to implementing the strategy.

More information

E-Skills for the 21st Century, European Commission , DG Enterprise and Industry http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/e-skills European e-Skills 2009 Conference : Fostering ICT professionalism http://www.eskills-pro.eu European e-Competence Framework http://www.ecompetences.eu E-Skills Industry Leadership Board http://www.e-skills-ilb.org European e-Skills and Careers portal http://eskills.eun.org

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