• The European Commission selected DIGITAL SME, alongside a consortium led by European Schoolnet, as contractors to carry out a new European Platform for Digital Skills and Jobs from 2020 to 2022

• A Europe-wide platform will provide the one-stop-shop for anything offered in the EU on digital skills and jobs: training opportunities and resources, stakeholder networking, events, policy discussions, skills intelligence and more

• The Platform will coordinate initiatives by the 24 national Digital Skills and Jobs Coalitions. Top-notch online collaboration and communication tools will support networking activities, events and webinars organised for the skills community across Europe

Brussels, 24 September (DIGITAL SME). Europe is finally ramping up its efforts to increase digital skills. In DIGITAL SME’s Skills Strategy 2030, a number of measures to close the digital skills gap in Europe are outlined. The strategy called for the creation of a public-private “European Skills for SMEs Partnership” based on four pillars: the creation of a training and education platform, intelligence gathering and foresight development, strengthening of existing ecosystems and supporting EU digital sovereignty.

The new Digital Skills and Jobs Platform is an ambitious step towards this goal. Together with top European skills stakeholders, DIGITAL SME will contribute to its development and promotion among businesses, citizens, and public administrations in Europe.

Combating fragmentation and a lack of coordination

Although several successful digital skills initiatives exist on the national, regional or local levels in Europe, they are often fragmented, and best practices hardly make it across state lines. There is also a lack of coordination, structure and information among skills initiatives. Good practices, resources, and funding opportunities do not receive sufficient promotion or do not reach their target audiences across the EU.

To overcome this fragmentation, DIGITAL SME and its partners will cooperate with the European Commission to develop a Europe-wide “one-stop-shop” platform for all information and resources on digital skills and jobs.

Set up as a user-centric community tool, the platform will: 1) provide a single point of access on digital skills for anyone interested in digital skills training offers or traineeships, good practices, skills intelligence and data, training resources, funding opportunities, news and events, 2) facilitate interactions and stimulate cooperation between digital skills stakeholders from different sectors and among those who need to be upskilled (students, employees, unemployed, SMEs, etc.) and 3) offer an interactive space for discussion on skills intelligence, policies and strategies.

Building a strong skills-awareness effort among SMEs

DIGITAL SME’s role in the project will focus on stakeholder engagement and community management. Through our strong network of national, regional, and local SME associations and experience within the European Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, we will provide support to communication and outreach activities and assist with the analysis of relevant initiatives and online services.

Stay tuned for more information about the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition Platform soon! You can also follow DIGITAL SME on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more updates and live-streamed events about digital skills.