The European Commission envisions an innovative, inclusive and dynamic Europe based on a knowledge-based economy and society. European businesses need to be placed at the forefront of innovation to enhance Europe's business competitiveness; to enhance the employability and professional prospects of students, workers and the unemployed; and to support the social integration of those at the margins of civil society.
There has never been a more compelling or opportune time in Europe's economic, industrial and societal development to focus on the essential training and development necessary for Europe to lead the world in innovation and developing the industries of tomorrow.
Microsoft is one of the many stakeholders whose engagement and participation, alongside that from civil society, government, business, education and the non-governmental sector, will be necessary to deliver this European knowledge society the EU envisions and refers to five core steps that are needed to deliver an innovative European knowledge society, the A, B, C, D, E of e-skills.
Accelerating the uptake of e-skills in business, especially in SMEs, is the first important step. Digital competencies and skills that drive innovation are the currency that will allow European SMEs to remain competitive, grow and prosper into the future. We need to design, develop and promote educational programmes that are targeted so that they address the skills deficit and reconcile the skills mismatch that will allow SMEs to drive innovation.
Benchmarks need to be identified to ensure that Europe's e-skills training programme is directly matched to its skills needs, delivering the right training with the right focus, where and when it is needed. To this end, we need to perform ongoing due diligence to ensure we remain abreast with industry trends and anticipate future developments so that Europe's e-skills training evolves constantly in line with Europe's changing needs, keeping Europe one step ahead.
At the same time, we will need to remain open and receptive to innovative ideas from outside of Europe, harvesting the very best of these and integrating them into Europe's high-tech research and development.
Collaboration through the promotion of joint ventures in driving e-skills and ICT training is the third important step. Large-scale collaborative ventures such as e-Skills Week 2010 are essential to address the e-skills gaps and further ICT professionalism and Microsoft has always encouraged the governments, educational bodies, NGOs and businesses to work together to this end. Such collaborative ventures help facilitate the exchange of experience and expertise, tools and ideas among all stakeholders, promoting investment in e-skills training to the benefit of more people, providing them access to the vital skill sets needed to the transition to a new job.
Europe needs to scale up successful ventures that will match talented students and graduates with open positions in industry, providing them with first-hand professional experience through internships, contract or permanent jobs.
Delivering the European Union's Digital Agenda needs to be supported and actively promoted by all stakeholders. The societal challenges facing Europe today - from the transition to a low-carbon economy, securing Europe's future energy supplies or safeguarding European cyber security to delivering more efficient and effective healthcare through innovative e-health solutions - will all require the highest standard of e-skills among researchers and innovators.
Beyond the minimum level of e-skills that every citizen will require to engage with civic society, such as through e-government services, the Digital Agenda should have as one of its primary foci the high-value high-tech research capabilities that will make Europe a global innovation champion and drive European competitiveness and prosperity, as acknowledged in the i2010 debate now taking place.
Ensuring e-skills are available to everybody, everywhere is attainable. The European employment, education and training agenda needs to think digital. For this to happen, we need to ensure that e-skills and digital competencies are given the due consideration and focus in education they deserve and within employment decisions across all sectors of work and all professions, going well beyond the ICT sector, ICT professionals and specialists. Increased networking and partnerships between labour-market services and IT training institutions need to be supported. New guidelines and guidance for national governments to incorporate digital skills and inclusion measures in employment assistance, lifelong and retraining programmes will need to be developed and integrated into national curricula across the EU.
If Europe wants to realise the imperatives of innovation, sustainable growth and employability, governments will need to work closer with industry and stakeholders to include e-skills in every aspect of training, workforce development, re-skilling and education with dedicated resources to bring digital competencies to SMEs, to the long-term unemployed but also industrial sectors that are at risk or in decline.
The author is Microsoft Citizenship Lead for Malta and Cyprus.