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European e-Skills for Jobs 2014 campaign begins

The aim of the European Commission’s campaign is to raise awareness of the importance of ICT skills in working life today. Europe has a lack of ICT experts at an otherwise difficult time for employment. The Federation of Finnish Technology Industries is participating in the campaign together with DIGITALEUROPE.

  The European Commission funded campaign is part of EU level Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs measures. Europe has a high unemployment rate, but at the same time there is great need for ICT experts, and many ICT sector vacancies remain unfilled. For example, according to a recent Commission report, there is the potential for 5 million jobs in digital applications by 2018, but one of the sector’s challenges is the lack of digital expertise. 

Expertise in IT and communications technology is of ever greater importance for improving Europe’s economic situation. In the construction of an innovative and competitive business environment, strong digital expertise will play a key role. This sets the challenge for different actors – young people, teachers, researchers, users and producers of digital technology and services, and enterprises – to collaborate.

The campaign is coordinated by DIGITALEUROPE and European Schoolnet in cooperation with hundreds of national and pan-European partners. During 2014 enterprises, educational institutions and officials will organise scores of events and activities in 30 different countries.  

In the campaign, the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries will highlight the importance of the IT sector in the modern world and present the countless job opportunities offered by the sector. A special aim is to draw women’s attention to the opportunities that digital expertise offers in technology sector work and encourage the utilisation of IT and communications technology in Education.

Among others, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Finnish National Board of Education, the Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association, Nokia, EIT ICT Labs Helsinki and The Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation TEKES are participating in the campaign.

“Digital expertise is the critical success factor for Finland of the future and for Europe. We believe that digitalisation will increase productivity, innovation and business opportunities in all areas of business and through this create growth and new jobs. For Finland to be able to exploit this opportunity, we need to ensure the development of digital expertise at all levels of education, from the very first grade onward”, stated Kaisa Olkkonen, Nokia’s Director of Social Relations.  

Campaign press release

Sizing the EU app economy research report

Additional information:  
Piia Simpanen, Advisor, Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, piia.simpanen@teknologiateollisuus.fi, tel. 0400 199 399

e-Skills for jobs 2014

DIGITALEUROPE is the voice of the European digital technology industry. Its members are IT and communications technology companies, both small and large, including 61 international enterprises, and 41 national organisations in a total of 29 European countries. All told, DIGITALEUROPE represents over 10 000 companies throughout Europe, which together employ over 2 million workers.   

European Schoolnet is a Brussels-based network of 30 European ministries of education. The not-for-profit organisation strives to bring innovation to teaching and learning and associated stakeholders: ministries of education, schools, teachers, researchers and business partners.

The Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs is an alliance of many different actors led by the European Commission. Its aim is to increase ICT skills so that experts are found for the hundreds of thousands of ICT-related vacancies.

(Twitter: #gc_eu)