Building an adequate talent pool is key to Europe’s competitiveness, but progress towards the goals of the Digital Compass remains too slow. The problem is old and much has been said over the years, but today we have new tools that could finally make a difference – if we seize the moment. The recent Council Recommendation on Improving the Provision of Digital Skills and Competences in Education and Training finally paves the way for a strategically coordinated European approach to boost computer science education in Europe. By the end of 2024, member states will have to formulate clear strategies to address the digital skills gap and be accountable for the results.
The question then becomes: how can Europe maximise this opportunity? What can we learn from the most successful global initiatives?
The 2024 Digital Skills Summit was opened by the inspiring words of Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, director-general of the European Commission’s directorate-general for education, youth, sport and culture. Two exceptional keynote speakers joined to share their experience setting up and leading world-class digital education initiatives. Hadi Partovi, the visionary founder and chief executive officer of Code.org, unveiled the secrets behind their revolutionary initiative that successfully brought computer education to a staggering 80 million students worldwide. And Valeriya Ionan, deputy minister for eurointegration at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, shared with the audience the success story of Diia Education, an initiative that has equipped an impressive 1.5 million Ukrainians with crucial digital skills in just three years.
Alongside them, a high-level panel provided a future-looking overview of what needs to be done to achieve the goals of the Recommendation: Enrico Nardelli, professor of informatics at the Tor Vergata University in Rome and former president of Informatics Europe, Victor Negrescu, member of the European Parliament and vice-chair of the committee on culture and education and Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva, director for innovation, digital education and international cooperation, directorate-general for education, youth, sport and culture at the European Commission.
Watch the video recording of The 2024 Digital Skills Summit
Download Hadi Partovi Presentation