Upskilling European industry: New operational tools wanted
(From ec.europa.eu)
The rise of new technologies and digital tools is making manual jobs obsolete while creating demand for new types of skills. This has created an urgent need to up-skill and re-employ the workforce.
This report illustrates the benefits, opportunities and challenges of the technological revolution for the workforce.Specific recommendations are set out in order to adapt the existing skillsets and build up new job profiles.
The "Upskilling European Industry" report highlights the main areas where urgent action is needed in order to close Europe's skills gap. The impact of new technologies can be manifold. Industry players need to understand the nature of the changes brought by new technologies in order to pursue their business activities in the long term. However, despite the clear importance of digital transformation, only 46% of companies are investing in the development of digital skills.
To boost EU competitiveness and increase the employability of all workers, the report sets out the following four specific recommendations:
- Create an industry and social partner-led toolbox to shape sectoral future-proof strategies and specific actions.
- Foster company, sectoral, regional and multi-stakeholder digital academy initiatives.
- Define a pan-European financing scheme between the European Social and Regional Funds, the Commission, Member States and industry.
- Promote and support entrepreneurship as an opportunity for acquiring digital skills and career conversion.
The toolbox will help provide tailored solutions for specific skills challenges that are particular to countries and industrial sectors. Based on devising new ways of creating and delivering training and on the sharing of best practices, it adopts a four-step approach: industry diagnosis, design of tailored company solutions, solutions testing and impact monitoring.
The toolbox will help drive forward the implementation of the actions set out in the New Skills Agenda, namely the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and the Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills.
Report and more information
Upskilling European industry: New operational tools wanted (PDF, MB)