Bridging the Advanced Digital Skills Gap

Unprecedented advances in digital technologies have been achieved in the past decade transforming and accelerating our society and economy. The development of professional profiles and digital skills, however, has not kept up. The European Union has been facing a chronic shortage of digital talent. In 2021:

• 55% of employers have reported difficulties in recruiting ICT specialists
• 45% of Europeans don’t have basic digital skills
• 50% increase in ICT employment over the previous decade
• 83.2% are men vs only 16.8% women employed as ICT specialists

Digital technologies and skills are strategic to European development. They drive employment, economic growth and sovereignty. The current gap poses a major challenge to the digital ambitions of Europe, inhibiting growth and competitiveness.

We have launched a major project, Leading Europe’s Advanced Digital Skills (LEADS), that will meet this challenge by providing predictions of skills demands in Europe over the next five years related to AI, IoT, Quantum, Cloud and Cyber.

LEADS will bridge the advanced digital skills gap between education institutions, researchers and industries addressing the future demand within emerging key technologies. We will shape Europe’s digital future by providing a road-map to resolve this deficit, based on evidence, insights and best practices and support the realisation of the Digital Decade.

BluSpecs is leading the consortium of 9 partners that will contribute towards defining the needs for the next 5 years of the DIGITAL programme, with €580M dedicated towards Advanced Digital Skills; ensuring the coupling of tech development and adoption capacity.

Learn more or stay up to date on advancedskills.eu

Source: DESI (2022) EC