Launch of the European e-Skills Association (EeSA)

The creation of the European e-Skills Association (EeSA) builds upon the achievements of the e-Skills Industry Leadership Board (e-Skills ILB), a European consortium, founded in June 2007 with the support of then Vice-President Guenther Verheugen of the European Commission. 

The EeSA launch announcement was held on the occasion of e-Skills Week at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany on 2 March 2010.  This event marked both EeSA’s commitment to eSkills in Europe, but also its alliance with other major stakeholders in the drive towards growth, innovation and skills in Europe.
 
Since 2007, EeSA members have led the development of the e-skills strategy at European level by:

• Establishing the first European Career Portal on e-skills;
• Fostering debate and the sharing of knowledge on e-skills;
• Contributing to the EU institutional debate;
• Contributing to the development of the European e-Competence Framework.

EeSA embodies the recognition that e-skills will be the differentiating factor for how Europe transforms itself, how it creates new ideas, products and services and how much it prospers in a global digital economy.

EeSA acts as the reference European platform driving the adoption of e-skills and competences, in addition to promoting ICT professionalism for professionals, practitioners, citizens and users to build a more inclusive, innovative and competitive society in Europe. Through its members, EeSA actively promotes the exchange of ideas, awareness raising and best practices amongst organizations active in this field at EU and Member State levels; it supports the development of tools and methodology for the governance of e-skills; and it leads the implementation of concrete e-skills activities in cooperation with other stakeholders.

EeSA Policy Recommendations
 
EeSA believes that the e-Skills Knowledge Triangle: research, education and innovation, is the centre piece and key priority of e-skills policies both at European and Member State level.  In doing so, EeSA makes the following policy recommendations:
 

• Foster synergies amongst educational institutes, ICT industry and IT professionals in the private and public sector to promote e-skills and training.
• Increase attractiveness of ICT as a career path. It is still not understood by vast majorities of young people that an ICT career offers fast growing opportunities in almost all private and public organizations, that ICT is part of almost every profession and “the” key for innovation in every business.
• Foster ICT professionalism, particularly through European and international efforts to improve and enhance standards for ICT professionalism.
• Align supply with demand to bridge the gap in knowledge skills.
• Drive uptake of e-skills in business, especially in SMES in order to remain competitive, grow, and prosper into the future.

EeSA is grateful to the European Commission for the leadership it has taken on e-skills to date and wishes all participants of e-Skills Week a fruitful and productive journey towards an innovate and inclusive Europe.

Wishing all e-Skills Week participants “e-Skills for Success”,

 

Read the EeSA Spring Newsletter 2010 (pdf)