27 March 2023

ONLINE

In partnership with EURACTIV, the sixth digital debate brought together thought leaders representing policymakers, civil society, and industry.

PANELLISTS:

• Stefan Olsson, Deputy Director-General of DG EMPL
•  Georgi Dimitrov, Head of Unit, Digital Education, DG EAC, European Commission
•  Sylvie Brunet (MEP), Member, EMPL Committee
•  Anders Lindholm, Counsellor Educational Affairs, Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU
• Raffaela Kihrer, Vice President of The Lifelong Learning Platform, European Civil Society for Education
•  Thomas Mulder, Executive Director HR, Internal Comms and Workplace of VodafoneZiggo

The panel was moderated by Brian Maguire, Journalist, EURACTIV.

Discover what our speakers said

“The digital and green transformation will depend to a very large extent on how we manage the skills transformation. It’s not a side issue, it’s THE issue and let’s all work together during the European Year of Skills to see what solutions we can find.”

“The digital divide results equally from the number of people lacking digital skills. There’s a whole group of people who can’t use the services that are provided due to a lack of skills. The mismatch between the availability of these services and the population that cannot take these into account is a real issue with the move into e-government, e-health or digital learning.”

“The European Union will meet the challenge of the digital transition and stay competitive only if the EU includes all citizens with affordable and accessible programs to upskill and reskill its workforce”

“In the digital sector, we don’t fully explain what these jobs really entail. Only a fraction of their workforce works in coding. Other roles have a more humanistic background…the digital jobs of tomorrow are not the digital jobs of yesterday.”

“There are a number of initiatives at local and regional level in adult education and community centres that promote digital skills, however, the lack of access to the technology and a good internet connection remains an issue.”

“The digital transformation means there is a massive demand for new skills in a tight labour market, which means that companies need to both attract these skills and at the same time offer development opportunities to their employees to learn these new skills.”