Homo digitalis: Upskilling the European Workforce

While the COVID crisis has reignited the need for a stronger European industry, reality is that many companies in Europe, across sectors, find themselves struggling with a shortage of digitally competent talents. This shortage, affecting all business functions and ranks, prevents the European industry from accessing the full potential of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, smart automation, high-performance computing, or 3D printing. The modernisation of academic and vocational programmes is part of the solution to the skills gap. However, given the urgency of the need and the impact of technology on job markets, up- and reskilling of the existing workforce is of critical importance, if Europe is to position itself as a global power.

Addressing the digital skills gap has become a top priority across a series of EU programmes and the recent EU industrial strategy. However, concrete solutions - effective but also affordable for companies of all sizes - are yet to be defined.

On 17 June 2020, Science|Business is bringing together the members of its “Digital skills for Industry” initiative, in a private meeting, to address the following questions:

• Where does industry see the most critical skills gap today and in the near future?
• What successful models of on-the-job training have already been tried or implemented?
• How can industry and academia work together more effectively on upskilling and continuing education?
• How to make European companies more attractive to digital talents?
• How can policymakers support or help accelerate the upskilling process? What kind of dedicated government programmes would be welcome?

The outcome of this private meeting will be summarised in a white paper, gathering best practices and concrete recommendations, which is then going to be presented and discussed with leading policy makers at Science|Business’ public conference titled Industrial R&D: Europe first? on 8 September 2020.