Digitally empowered Europe. Unite-IT 3rd Annual Report

Transcription

1 Digitally empowered Europe Unite-IT 3rd Annual Report 1

2 UniteIT, 2015 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 2

3 Digitally empowered Europe - Unite-IT 3 rd Annual Report Deliverable Title Version 2 Deliverable Lead Related Work package WP 4 Author(s) Contributor(s) Duration Project coordinator D7.2 Digitally empowered Europe Unite-IT 3rd Annual Report Fundația EOS Educating for an Open Society Romania Gabriela Barna, Cornelia Popescu, Cristina Enachescu Peter Palvolgyi, Zarko Cizmar, Laurence Leseigneur, Mara Jakobsone, Ivan Stojilovic, Gordana Stojilovic, Gabriela Ruseva, Laurentiu Bunescu 36 months Telecentre-Europe AISBL Digitally empowered Europe Unite-IT 3 rd Annual Report 2015 has been a great year for digital inclusion, digital empowerment, access and upskilling of citizens. The Digital Agenda Scoreboard, the Digital Economy and Society Index, the Digital Single Market and the Europe 2020 Strategy are only some of the policy documents which ensure that European citizens benefit from a wide array of opportunities in terms of digital skills, starting from low/basic digital skills to high level IT industry required digital knowledge and competences. The third and last Unite-IT report provides an overview of the activities, programmes, events and initiatives carried out by the Unite-IT project consortium partners or associate partners within the Unite-IT digital inclusion network. This report covers approximatively 12 months, starting October 2014 until the very end of the Unite- IT project October

4 Digitally empowered Europe Unite-IT 3rd Annual Report CHAPTER I An overview of e-skills and digital inclusion policy in Europe 1.1. The Unite-IT e-inclusion network 3 years on The Unite-IT project ends in October 2015, but the e-inclusion community developed through this project will continue to strive and grow over the years to come. The results of the overall project are presented and detailed on the Unite-IT portal developed during the project. The portal comprises separate sections as follows: information about the project and the partner consortium, the Unite-IT community (with subsections for members, photos, blogs, videos, guidelines about the use of this section and a FAQ part), the section dedicated to the working groups (5 groups), the database of good practices, policies and resources, and finally an events section which highlights past, current and future events which might be of interest to the Unite-IT community. A thorough account of activities and progress achieved during the last year of the project can be found in Chapter II of this report. The e-inclusion web portal contains all the public information, resources and documentation and can be freely accessed by all interested parties. 4

5 1.2. e-skills and inclusion initiatives/policies in Europe Research points to the existence of clear social and economic benefits to engaging adults into continued learning activities. Across Europe, however, the participation rate in adult learning programmes has been stagnant throughout the last decade, despite political commitments at both European and national levels. No more than 4.4% of the 66 million adults with low education attainment participate in learning activities. It is crucial to improve both the design and the implementation of current adult learning schemes. Such a re-think should include a more careful selection of policy levers, explicit targets and more rigorous frameworks for policy evaluation. Strong examples of policy levers are co-financing schemes to support employers investment in adult learning provision, financing of learning programmes for disadvantaged groups, and the alignment of training provision with the identified future skills needs of employers. The fourth edition of DG EAC s annual flagship publication the Education and Training Monitor charts the latest evidence available on a number of issues directly related to ET 2020 s priority areas, such as the Europe 2020 headline targets, education investment and educational poverty. It also points to policy levers that can actively contribute to inclusiveness, quality and relevance. Where possible, its quantitative analysis is complemented by an assessment of structural and process indicators to reveal barriers in the EU s education and training systems. 5

6 A lot has happened over the past year in the sector of digital inclusion in Europe. Since 2010, Europe has identified new engines to boost growth and jobs, e-inclusion being a cross cutting issue embedded and addressed in each of the 7 flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy: The Digital Agenda for Europe, Innovation Union, Youth on the move, Resources efficient Europe, And industrial policy for the globalization era, An agenda for new skills and jobs and the European Platform against poverty. Although as mentioned before e-inclusion and digital skills are cross-cutting, we will focus our attention at policies mainly related to the Digital Agenda for Europe. The Digital Agenda Scoreboard, part of the Digital Agenda for Europe flagship, presents previously unpublished analysis and conclusions, based partly on data published online between January and June The Digital Agenda Scoreboard reports on the progress of the European Union on digital issues. It includes an in-depth analysis in fields relevant to EU digital policies. The Commission also publishes yearly the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which focuses on progress in 5 key fields has witnessed the fourth publication of Digital Agenda Scoreboard by the European Commission. This report mainly includes a presentation and analysis of data from Although there is data available for each of the EU28 countries, with breakdown figures regulated to digital inclusion in various sectors, the main achievements in Europe in the areas of digital empowerment and use of technology were summarized as follows: Connectivity in the last two years, there have been 20 million more subscriptions to fast internet (at least 30Mbps) in the EU. 4G mobile broadband is available to 79% of households, up from 27% two years ago. 6

7 basic broadband is available to everyone in the EU, while fixed technologies cover 97% of households. Human Capital internet users continue to increase, with 75% of the EU population reporting that they used the internet at least weekly in 2014; for most people, use of the internet is a daily activity, with 65% of EU citizens reporting using it daily in 2014; Use by disadvantaged people (individuals belonging to at least one of the three groups: 'aged 55-74', 'low education' or 'unemployed, inactive or retired') also continues to rise, with 60% reporting using the internet at least weekly in % of the EU population has still never used the internet. The main reasons for non-use are lack of interest, lack of skills and cost factors; 40% of the population have insufficient digital skills; the large and growing demand for ICT professionals in the economy is leading to a skills gap projected to reach unfilled vacancies by The biggest gaps are expected in Germany, the UK and Italy. Use of Internet and Integration of Digital Technology more than half (57%) of EU Internet users use online banking and close to two-thirds (63%) are shopping online; 21% of individuals in the EU make use of cloud services to store files, while 15% do so for the purpose of sharing files; young people are more than three times likely to use cloud services than those aged 55 and above. Only 11% of cloud users pay for the service they are using. only 15% of citizens in 2014 were buying from another EU country; 7

8 Digital Public Services 26% of the population uses egovernment services to submit forms to public authorities online while the majority of the most used public services are now available online, these online services are not yet user-friendly and transparent enough to overcome the barriers to use by the less digitally-skilled members of the population In order to increase the supply of information and communication technology (ICT) practitioners by 2015 and to ensure there are a sufficient number of skilled people to meet future demand for ICT skills, the Commission launched the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs at the conference on 'e-skills and Education for Digital Jobs' in March 2013 in Brussels. It is a multi-stakeholder partnership that facilitates collaboration between businesses, education providers, and public and private actors to attract young people into ICT education, and to retrain unemployed people. As part of the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs, the Commission organised e-skills Weeks to raise awareness of e-skills and the demand for jobs. There were over events taking place in over 37 European countries and involving over 1.8 million participants. In 2014, a new campaign, 'e-skills for Jobs' was launched. Its aim is also to raise awareness of the need for citizens to improve their ICT skills for work. The e-skills for Jobs High- Level Conference and the e-skills for Jobs Grand Event were organised as part of this initiative. Similar campaigns are planned for The Digital Single Market (DSM) is a new initiative launched by the European Commission within the Digital Agenda for Europe flagship which touches on extremely important issues like employment, digital skills and expertise. A digitally 8

9 skilled workforce and digitally competent consumers will be a driving force for the achievement of a truly connected DSM and a precondition for Europeans' participation in the digital world of e-commerce, services, communication and other forms of interaction. However, we are witnessing digital skills mismatches and shortages in Europe which will significantly affect the functioning and performance of European labor markets in the near future. To make sure that we have the necessary pool of digital skills in Europe, at basic, intermediate and advance levels, education and training opportunities, also within companies, need to be improved. Currently 39% of EU citizens have only low or no digital skills. About one fifth (18%) of the EU population has never used the Internet, mainly older people, those with lower educational attainments and the inactive or retired. Learning and acquiring digital competences goes beyond pure ICT skills and involves the creative and collaborative and safe use of ICT. Consumers need also to be educated and protected in relation to new disguised forms of marketing in social media, e-privacy and behavioural targeting of marketing through online tracking. Consumers should be aware of their online rights and have the means to enforce them. All citizens need to be sufficiently digitally competent to participate actively in society and the economy and to benefit from digital services such as online learning, e-health and e-government and e-commerce. It is therefore essential to increase digital competences among the general population at all stages of life. Effective initial education and training requires well trained educators and modern and well-equipped educational institutions making best use of digital and other innovative tools. Between 20-25% of students are taught by digitally confident and supportive teachers having access to ICT and facing low obstacles to their use at school. Only one in three teachers in the EU reports frequent 9

10 use of practices involving ICT. Digital skills or ICT competences are sometimes a separate subject and sometimes taught across subjects; however they are so far not part of all educational curricula and learning outcomes. Digital skills are currently mostly learned outside formal education, through personal internet and computer use, in the workplace, in experiential learning or in other informal settings. Mechanisms to identify, assess, recognise and validate these skills are rare and fragmented across Europe and often not recognised across borders. This impairs the further acquisition of digital skills as well as the matching of job seekers' and employers' needs. The digitisation of the economy is transforming the European labour markets, changing the working conditions and boosting the demand for digital skills. The use of technologies in the workplace alters significantly the patterns and modes of work as well as the relationships between employers and employees. Regarding the demand of digital skills, there is a growing concern amongst hiring companies regarding the availability of key skills of people, even if these are known to have grown significantly year after year, and even if ICT professionals proved the strongest growing occupation over But it is equally true that so far, still a third of the EU workforce has insufficient digital skills while 19% has a low level and 14% has no digital skills at all. Demand for digitally competent professionals across all economic sectors has continued to grow and is not aligned with the existing supply on the workforce market. Education and employment are mainly Member State and regional competences. Nevertheless, with the recognition of a digital skills shortage and mismatches affecting Europe, EU intervention and support have a clear role to play. The joint 10

11 labor market and the cross-border nature of digital and online offers imply that shortages in some countries or regions affect all others. At the same time, European focus and support are needed to assure that no regions are either left behind or 'braindrained' as regards the provision of digital infrastructure, devices, skills in education or the skills and competences of the general population. European Structural and Investment Funds already support the connectivity of schools as well as digital skills and competence training; this support might need to be widened to include provision of devices to educational organisations, skills training aimed at educators, as well as to increase support for digital skills and competence training of the general population and job seekers. The Riga Declaration for e-skills for Jobs in Europe Governments, industry, NGOs, academia and other key stakeholders from across Europe have joined forces with the European Commission to push for further action to stimulate the creation of the jobs needed to build a digital single market in Europe. Together they have drawn up the Riga Declaration - 10 principles that should guide efforts this year to unlock the potential of e-skills to fuel growth and job creation. Harnessing the benefits of the digital revolution has been identified by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as a top priority and an essential means to ending Europe s prolonged economic downturn. Unemployment remains stubbornly high in many EU member states. But at the same time there is a parallel shortage of people with the digital skills needed to fill positions both in the public and private sectors. This is what is referred to as the skills gap. 11

12 The skills gap offers a big opportunity especially for young people entering the workforce. Unemployment among year olds in Europe averaged 24% at the end of Over the last decade, the number of ICT jobs in Europe has continued to grow, despite the unfavorable economic context and the alarming rise in unemployment, especially among young job seekers. The highest job growth has been in highly skilled jobs where there is increasing excess of demand over supply. The trend in ICT management jobs has been growth of almost 14% p.a. from 2011 to Even with cautious forecasting, demand is expected to increase at 4.6% p.a. up to 2020, largely due to a stagnation in the number of qualified graduates from universities. As a result, Europe will be faced with bottlenecks, especially in highest skilled ICT jobs, according to the research organisations, Empirica and IDC) Policy position papers During the last 12 months of the UNITE-IT project, Telecentre-Europe with the Unite-IT membership worked together to develop and publish a series of participatory position papers on various topics of joint interest. I. Digital Competence and Employability One of the most important policy position papers was developed on the recognition of competences acquired through non-formal and informal learning environments. The paper entitled Digital Competence and Employability, offers an understanding of the current need for the development of the digital competence levels of citizens in Europe with the aim of increasing employment and employability perspectives and discusses the need to formally recognize those competences when acquired in nonformal and informal settings. 12

13 The paper argues that our social and economic interactions are increasingly mediated by new technologies, and that digital inclusion today depends largely more on competences than on access to and use of technologies. However, the EU population has either "low" or "no" digital skills and is thus not considered to be functional in a digital society. The lack of digital competence of a large part of the EU population has dramatic repercussions on their employability perspective. Regardless of overall high unemployment rates, in areas like ICT the job offer exceeds the demand and the gap is widening, while it is expected that 90% of jobs in the near future will require ICT skills of some level. Despite the long record of policy developments in the field since at least 2002, reducing skills mismatches and preparing the population to face the challenges of an ever-increasing adoption of technologies in everyday life are still two urgent challenges that require pressing and focused policy action and endorsement. There is a necessity for a common European framework that allows a shared understanding of the meaning and implications of digital competence and that presents its components and levels of proficiency, similar to the Common Reference Framework for languages. This might ease comparability across Europe and the alignment and harmonisation of training offers. Three frameworks have been developed recently at the request of the European Commission that touch upon digital competence - the ecompetence Framework for ICT professionals; the ecompetence framework for end users; the DIGCOMP framework. Telecentre Europe suggests that - in the case of non-ict professionals - the DIGCOMP framework is used as it considers and develops the transversal component of digital competence that are necessary for a variety of job profiles. The ecf for end users can be used to complement the DIGCOMP frame as it covers some aspects of digital 13

14 competence in a more granular way and allows for measurements and certifications which are already developed and adopted. The ecf for ICT professionals shall then be used in the context of ICT-related jobs. II. Digital skills and inclusion through e-facilitators Telecentres have placed themselves for a long time as providers of ICT access and digital competences in local communities. This policy position paper provides the background in terms of the space and context which demand the existence of the e- facilitator profession and its further acceptance and professional up-skilling. People who are disconnected from the digital world today show a multitude of disadvantage features: this group has little options to access the formal education system, so nonformal adult education becomes their unique option (apart from family and friends, i.e. informal learning) to get acquainted with e-skills and digital opportunities. This makes this target group a multi-faceted disadvantaged group that will need special support on their way to the digital society. Education staff with abilities in dealing with this target group is a key for providing digital competences. Telecentre Europe (through its members) has been involved in a strand of four EU financed development projects (Lifelong Learning Programme, ) aiming at supporting the professionalization of telecentres, their services and staff. One of the outcomes was the branding of the profile of the efacilitator as a vocational profile of educational staff for ICT competences in telecentres. 14

15 Recent years have seen a constant rise in requirements towards educational staff working in telecentres. Telecentre staff meets challenges like reduced public funding, new labour market demands for employability concerning ICT qualifications and changing technological systems (tablets, cloud applications, apps). On the other side, end users are requesting new services (mobile devices, online job searching, certification of competences) and new target groups are entering the digital world and face competence gaps. These developments lead to a demand for professional training for educational staff of telecentres. III. European Framework for Cooperation in Education and Training Digital technologies have become an integral part of all aspects of our lives. This paper serves to remind policy makers and all those involved in the Education and Training 2020 (ET2020) that the function of education in today s world is also to provide European citizens, particularly young people, with learning opportunities to acquire digital skills and competences in a holistic way, including the safe, critical and creative use of technology. Adopted in 2009, the ET2020 strategy sets the framework for cooperation in education and training at the EU level is a crucial year for the strategy, as it is under mid-term review halfway through its implementation. So far the strategy put emphasis on improving education and training to meet the requirements of the labour market in an increasingly changing society. Telecentre Europe (TE) believes however that education and training should 15

16 not be looked at from a purely economic prism. Only comprehensive strategies combining inclusion, up-skilling, flexible learning paths, civic engagement and cross-sectorial cooperation can ensure that education and training correspond to the differing needs of all citizens. This position paper discusses the following aspects of the implementation of ET2020: Non-formal education and training has to be recognised in its own right Existing terminology on non-formal education, training and learning needs to be revisited Non-formal education and training is key enabler of lifelong learning More university ICT graduates, but also digital skills needed for the labour market New non-formal ICT educators profiles need to be recognised Not just innovation, but inclusive innovation in education IV. Skillage report Telecentre Europe, alongside the members of Unite-IT e-inclusion network, regularly carries out an analysis of the data provided in Skillage, with the aim of providing an evidence base on young Europeans digital skills. The conclusions of the analysis will help mobilise the efforts of telecentres around Europe to tackle youth unemployment in the most underprivileged areas and to raise awareness about digital competences and their importance for the labour market. 16

17 The report analyses participation results and the average scores obtained by participants between 2012 and In addition, for 2015 it provides an in-depth analysis with the socio-demographic variables. Following the analysis, specific callsto-action and policy recommendations are proposed as well. Policy recommendations are: to raise awareness among female youngsters and employers about the fact that girls and women are well prepared to work in jobs requiring digital competence specific digital competence education and training should be already introduced at school age and aligned with labour market needs to reinforce digital skills education and training for employability at high school, vocational training, university and non-formal training for youngsters (ICT training centres, telecentres, etc.). 17

18 CHAPTER II Unite-IT the European digital inclusion network The coordination and running of the Unite-IT network was officially launched during the First Annual Unite-IT conference held in Malta in October Since then, the network has continually developed its resources and enlarges its membership. This section of the report comprises some key figures and a summary of the activities carried out by the network partners to enhance the participation of multi-sector stakeholders in the area of digital inclusion. Although the focus of this report is to highlight activities and keep points of the last year of its operation, the figures and overall conclusions reflect the progress and the current state of affairs, after 3 years of running the Unite-IT project. The network in numbers end of October 2015: Running the Unite-IT network has obviously underlined a number of activities which are strictly linked with dissemination and exploitation. Because the running 18

19 of the network represents 2/3rds of the total duration of the project, the consortium partners have devoted a significant time to develop the network both following the plans initially described in the project application but allowing sufficient flexibility to help the community evolve in a lively and pro-active way. For relationship building and forming partnerships within the community it was important to keep a certain discipline and structure but also allow conversations and blogpost be published freely (as long as the topic was connected to digital inclusion). At the end of 2015, the Unite-IT online community registered 737 members from 85 individual countries. Although Unite-IT is mainly a Europe wide e-inclusion network (77% of total members), it has so far attracted a considerable international community of members (23% of total membership). From a gender point of view, it seems that the network has achieved an almost perfect gender balance during While in the first year of its operation, there were more registered female users in the community, with a proportion of 2/3 female members and 1/3 male members, the ratio is now at 53.1 female users and 46,9 male users. In terms of growth of the community, there is significant progress both in terms of numbers and the types of members who chose to join the Unite-IT community: 577 members in members in 2015 The growth of the network, as can be seen from the overall picture which represents the network numerically, is mainly based on the usefulness of the activities undertaken by the network and in the interest members take in the events and information facilitated by the network. It is obvious from the comparative metrics, 19

20 that the organisations and individuals of the Unite-IT network have had a very active year in This can be seen from the continually growing number of blogposts, photographs, videos events, and even working groups. During 2015, the internal activities of running the network were focused on the following categories of activity: Running of the working groups Updating activities Interaction activities Although there is a clear evidence on the interests and preferences of the members for some activities and working groups, Education and Training seems to be by far the more popular topic with a membership of 88 people. This is mostly due to the fact that education and training is a topic which is relevant and cross-cutting across the other working groups and has therefore attracted a higher number of users. Regardless of how the working groups might be organized and facilitated, it seems there is still a tendency for members to use other collaborative working spaces (Basecamp, Dropbox) and communication instruments ( , skype, etc). The activities within the working groups have also witnessed a seasonality of increased activity at times like the Get Online Week campaign or the Annual Unite-IT conferences. 20

21 While the activity and discussions of the working groups are all accessible on the Unite-IT portal, it is worth mentioning that the face to face meetings during the annual Unite-IT events made it possible for the members to meet each other in person, co-work and discuss live the issues of common interest. The Unite-IT network has now become a focal point of e-inclusion initiatives, projects and activities in Europe. With the continued support of Telecentre-Europe the initiator of the project and with contributions from the membership this e- inclusion community will continue to develop and grow with the mandate of bringing on board of the information society ALL the European citizens. Each working group has had its own structure for development and has organised webinars aligned with the interests of the members. All webinars per each work group are available for reference on the Unite-IT portal. It is worth mentioning that the Unite-IT membership felt that a new working group is needed to address the social innovation aspects of inclusion since this topic has become a priority especially within telecentre networks across Western Europe. 21

22 Chapter III - The 3rd Unite-IT Annual Conference on Digital Empowerment All Inclusive Unite-IT project partners organised the 3 rd annual conference in Belgrade during 24th and 25th September The event was co-organised by the Serbian Unite-IT member International Aid Network. The event was attended by almost 150 participants and was held in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade where guests enjoyed 2 days of speeches, workshops and an unforgettable e-inclusion award ceremony with live music and networking. In 2015, the participants at the 3 rd Unite-IT Annual Conference were, expectedly, a majority of telecentre networks and NGOs in digital inclusion field. However, the event also welcomed policy makers from Finland and Serbia, a group of primary and secondary school teachers, civil society organisations from UK and municipal authorities from the city of Venice. From the private sector, Tieto Latvia s CEO Elmars Gengers spoke at length about attracting talent to ICT professions and the ever-growing importance of soft skills such as flexibility, communication and leadership. On behalf of CISCO, Natacha Comar spoke about the CISCO Networking Academies making a difference all around the world. She also presented the Get Connected course which can be implemented in telecentres and was therefore an interesting opportunity for Unite-IT members to further explore this program. All the details of the conference are available on the event website: The first day of the conference started with an overview of the progress and trends in the field of e-inclusion, followed by a panel discussion which focused fully on youth employability and the new stakeholder platform launched by Telecentre-Europe 22

23 together with European Schoolnet and Telefonica. The panel brought together representatives of 5 different fields: researchers, civil society, ICT sector, entrepreneurs and policy makers. They all presented their own perspective about how they are contributing to bringing unemployed young people into jobs. Another important section of the event was dedicated to learning about the theory and practice of e-participation, what it means and what it can actually achieve for local, regional or national initiatives. The main question was centered around the kind of skills citizens need to have to be able to be active and participate online in shaping the future of their communities and countries. The e-participation session was followed by a world café on funding, where members and other NGOs talked about concrete topics they can get together for projects and funding applications. This is always one of the workshops which generates a lot of interest for organisations and individuals. Workshops and discussions The UNITE-IT workshops were a series of simultaneous discussions on digital inclusion matters, relating to 1. Vulnerable groups such as the elderly or disabled (#TEACvulne), 2. The gender gap in ICT (#TEACgender), 3. Education and training and the EU framework for digital competence (#TEACedu), 4. Youth employability (#TEACemploy) and 5. Social innovation (#TEACinno). The main themes addressed during the conference were Empowering youth for employability, e-participation in theory and practice and Sustainability and funding for telecentres, networks and NGOs working in the field. One of the main focuses of each of the working groups` face to face meeting was to collectively develop and validate a joint position paper on topics of common interest. While the Education and Training working group discussed the future of the Digital Competence Framework and its usability by telecentres, the Gender equality group discussed opportunities to bring more women into IT, the Youth employability group focused on the Grand- 23

24 Coalition-for-Digital-Jobs and the Digital-Single-Market, while the Vulnerable Groups community overviewed the balance between social and digital disadvantage. The Unite-IT network established the Digital Inclusion Awards in 2014 as the annual recognition to organisations and professionals who work in the field of digital inclusion and who create, often with very small resources, innovative ways to bring digital opportunities and skills to people in their communities. Organisations working in the field of digital inclusion and training were invited to submit their good practices and policies in May-August The Unite-IT network collects each year new European practices into a comprehensive database that can be used by all its registered members. The Unite-IT Project Jury evaluated 42 good practices and 18 resources from all over Europe based on the following criteria: (1) innovation of the good practice/resource, (2) its usability, and (3) relevance. The Unite-IT award ceremony took place on 24th September Gordana Stankov Stojilovic, from International Aid Network (IAN, Serbia) hosted the ceremony, while four Board members of Telecentre Europe were invited to present and hand the 24

25 awards to the winners. The winners received certificates and symbolic statues for each category and were invited to briefly present their project to the audience, share a few ideas and thoughts about the Unite-IT network and the feeling of having won an award. The audience applauded the winners and celebrated their success during the gala dinner following the formal part of the awards ceremony. Four organisations, in four categories, were selected and awarded in Belgrade: Education and training AWARD Tieto Latvia - an IT company - won the award in this category with their mobile application GUDRINIEKS (Wise One). The application is a free educational tool designed for preschool, first and second grade schoolchildren. GUDRINIEKS helps children develop mathematical understanding, skills and strengthen their knowledge base acquired at school. More information: Youth employability AWARD YouRock.Jobs platform, established by YouRock Online Ltd (UK) in 2013, was selected as the best entry in Youth employability category. It is a creative tool developed for young job-seekers under 30 wishing to showcase their first working skills and connect with employers. Available in 17 languages, YouRock aims to help 500,000 young people in Europe to build attractive online portfolios and find a job. More information 25

26 Vulnerable groups at risk of exclusion AWARD Citizens Advice from United Kingdom won with their Digital Money Coaching. This project is about a community of volunteers who work with Citizens Advice clients to improve their digital skills in the context of financial capability to use online and mobile banking; price comparison sites and energy switching sites. They also teach people how to access local and national government services. More information: Gender equality AWARD The winner of Gender equality category is a project Spazio M@mm@ (M@mm@ space) run by the City of Venice in Italy. It is a dedicated space for mothers and children, next to the room that houses an Internet centre. The idea was to address the gender gap and attract more women to the centre and to computer classes by providing a space for children with a babysitter. Children play while their mothers are learning ICT skills. More information: Due to the success of the einclusion Awards developed through the Unite-IT project, the membership agreed to continue to organise this event for the long term. The continuation of this activity will be supported by Telecentre-Europe and the Unite-IT membership. 26

27 CHAPTER IV Best practices and e- inclusion policies database The Unite IT Database was constructed to allow access to the repository of European practices and policies with specific regard to ICT for inclusion and social cohesion. The Database presents practices and policies related to digital inclusion, and initiatives, trends, policy agendas at a local, national and European level. The Database is available free of charge for the registered Unite IT portal users. The procedure for submitting new practices developed during the design phase of the network has functioned well for organizations wishing to submit best practices. The project consortium agreed to keep the same procedure in place to keep the fillable.pdf form procedure to make it easier for members to focus on the contents and review their entered text easier. Until the end of 2015 which represents approximately 24 months since the database was available to partners and other organisations a number of 121 good practices were uploaded online. The chart below details the number of practices submitted per country of the submitting organisation. It is obvious that the project consortium partners demonstrated a higher level of activity and have uploaded more good practices this was understood as a means to encourage and motivate other organisations to start sharing their experiences. 27

28 Series1 Top 10 contributing countries to the collective pool of knowledge and experience in the field of e-inclusion is not surprisingly coming mostly from the countries of residence of the Unite-IT project partners, but has also shown a lot of interest from countries like Germany, Spain or the United Kingdom. The general trend for the good practices uploaded into the database has been searched and evaluated to better understand the target groups which are mainly served by the organisations who have uploaded best practices. It is obvious that from 28

29 the total number of best practices available the most targeted groups in terms of digital inclusion are the unemployed, seniors and followed by the general public and young people. This seems to validate the result of the analysis performed during the first operational phase when the first good practices were uploaded into the repository Just like in the previous year, the project partnership also looked at understanding which kind of activities, projects and programmes are mainly developed and carried out by the Unite-IT membership. Just like with the target groups, there are no big changes of direction in terms of types of activities. Having said this, there is a clear indication that a new type of activity is starting to become of interest for communities: coding. A mere 10% of the practices seem to indicate that coding and learning how to develop software has an increased interest. This might be due to the recent campaigns run by Telecentre-Europe, by the European Commission or by business players like Microsoft. It seems to have raised the awareness of telecentres and communities to start tapping into a huge pool of human resource which has not yet been tapped into. Employability, digital skills (e-skills) and IT specialist courses represent over 75% of total good practices contributed to the Unite-IT database. 29

30 The chart below summarises the overview of all best practices submitted by the end of the project in October 2015 in the Unite-IT searchable database, based on their focus: Multimedia Mobile apps IT Specialist Employability Internet Innovation eskills Accessibility Accessibility eskills Innovation Internet Employability IT Specialist Mobile apps Multimedia By interpreting the data and analysing the good practices which were submitted in the overall database, we can conclude that there is still a lot of effort going into the provision of digital skills courses and programmes especially to those who are still not confident or convinced about the power of the Internet and the use of a computer. The last 30% of the EU population which is still not digitally literate requires a lot more resource and effort, but also exposure opportunities to technology. The telecentre ecosystem is one of the vehicles which still have as one of their core missions the digital inclusion of those who are still left out, and will continue to do so until most European citizens are aboard of the information society and knowledge economy. As a new feature for the Unite-IT database, the project partners have developed a new section within the database a section dedicated for the sharing of resources specific to digital inclusion initiatives. Started up just a few months before the end of the project, the resources section of the database is a grass-roots proposal which was embraced by the membership willing to share curriculum, plans, guide books, etc. 30

31 Although there are only 20 resources which were uploaded to the resources section until the end of the project, this will be a feature which will continue to be maintained by Telecentre-Europe who will take responsibility on continuing the work around this great e-inclusion community. The following countries have kick-started the Resources section with material which will be hopefully used by many other member organisations in the future: UK Russia Romania Portugal Macedonia Lithuania Ireland Hungary Czech Republic Belgium As a follow up and continuation to grow the pool of expertise and know-how of the Unite-IT community, Telecentre-Europe and the wider membership will continue to publicise calls for the collection of more good practices, einclusion policies and resources. There is an agreement that these calls for contributions should be done around important events in order to motivate newcomers. For example, before the next Telecentre-Europe Annual Conference, a general call for contributions will be published with the opportunity to then participate in the Digital Inclusion Awards competition and take part in the overall conference. 31

32 CHAPTER V Conclusions As stated before in this report, 2015 has been a year in which jobs, growth and competitiveness were tackled as hugely important topics, and e-skills are transversal within all the programs, projects, initiatives and strategies concerned. Competitiveness, innovation and job creation in European industry are increasingly being driven by the use of new information and communication technologies (ICT). This must be backed up by a workforce with the knowledge and skills to use these new technologies efficiently. The European Commission works on a number of initiatives to boost ICT skills in the workforce. We will just mention a few strategic documents and communications of the European Commission which highlight the importance of the digital skills and empowerment for a better Europe: The Annual Growth Survey 2015 states that ICT is not only a sector but also the foundation of a modern innovative economy, and which identifies the need for structural reforms to establish a connected Digital Single Market (DSM), which in turn is essential to make the European economy more competitive; Commission's Communication For a European Industrial Renaissance, stated that the EU, Member States, regions and industry all have a role to play in fostering the digitalisation of business processes and in developing the industrial dimension of the digital agenda; Commission's Communication A Digital Agenda for Europe, proposes a framework for better exploiting the potential of information and communication technology (ICT) in order to foster innovation, economic growth and productivity; Conclusions on Single Market Policy stressed the benefits of a stronger Single Market and DSM and their potential for higher growth and new jobs, and for increasing the EU s global competitiveness; they recognise the importance of the digital transformation of EU industry to creating jobs, boosting productivity and enhancing the competitiveness of EU businesses 32

33 The importance of e-skills for Europe is widely acknowledged. Shortages and mismatches in e-skills, and the resulting digital divide negatively affect growth, competitiveness, innovation, employment and social cohesion in Europe. As new technologies develop rapidly, the skills required to use them become increasingly sophisticated and need to be constantly updated. Individuals with creativity, innovation and higher-level conceptual skills are increasingly in demand. Improving the level of e-skills in the workforce and increasing the talent pool requires action at EU and national level in education, training, research, industrial and labour policies, and also in areas such as immigration and taxation. The EU s long-term e-skills strategy, based on the Communication, 'e-skills for the 21st Century' is making progress. There are several visible achievements regarding ICT practitioners in particular. The initiatives that stemmed from the implementation of the e- skills strategy were financed by the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP). New initiatives for will be financed by the programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME). Within this very favourable action and policy context, Telecentre-Europe along with many of the Unite-IT network members have officially endorsed the Riga Declaration on eskills for Jobs in March 2015 with the occasion of the eskills for Jobs High Level Conference. The 10 points of the Riga Declaration come to highlight the necessity of continued investment in the area of e-skills and jobs. The declaration is also re-confirming the importance of e-skills for Europe s medium to long-term economic future. The ten principles and action items agreed by the key stakeholders who are committed to push the digital inclusion agenda forward are summarised as follows: 1. Commitment to more and better investment in digital technologies and skills Digital technology opens the world to European business and Europe to global markets, enabling Europe to compete more effectively on the world stage. For the EU28, eliminating barriers to the expansion of the digital economy based on the free flow of information and knowledge could deliver 4% additional GDP growth over the next ten years, a gain of 500bn and similar in scale to the growth dividend achieved as a result of the EU s historic Single Market programme of

34 2. Address youth unemployment in Europe through digital skills With a shockingly high jobless rate among the year olds, Europe fares less well than other regions of the world, including the US and Asia-Pacific. Youth unemployment will fall if young people are equipped with the digital skills needed for jobs, in turn enhancing the competitiveness of industries across the board. Job creation can be stimulated through digital technology. An estimated 2.6 new jobs are created for each low skilled job made obsolete by digital technologies. 3. Prioritise "e-skills for the 21st Century" policy and scale-up implementation The EU e-skills strategy, multi-stakeholder partnerships, solutions, benchmarking and research activities, communication, as well as awareness raising campaigns have generated important, high-value impacts across the EU. The European Commission and Member States need to start building on these achievements and to prioritise "e-skills for the 21st Century" in the framework of Europe 2020 and the Digital Single Market (DSM) package and ensure that full scale implementation is achieved. 4. Continue work of the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs The European Commission needs to ensure that the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs will feature prominently in the EU e-skills strategy and the DSM package. The Member States are encouraged to continue to create new national coalitions or support existing ones to tackle the digital skills gap through immediate short term actions. Focus should be on developing partnerships from the private and public sectors and ensuring that funds from the European Social Fund are allocated to innovative ICT training initiatives and IT training vouchers for unemployed talents. 34

35 5. Promotion of European e-leadership Innovation in the management and use of digital technologies will optimise business value in Europe. They must be aligned with business goals affording business leaders more digital savviness. ICT professionals with greater business knowledge will be able to leap the gap between ICT practice and board room goals. SMEs form more than 95 % of EU economy and provide two out of three jobs. Thus, sector specific education and training programmes for e-leadership skills development for SMEs need to be supported by Member States. 6. Fostering digital transformation and entrepreneurship Stakeholders need to support the harnessing of advanced digital technologies such as mobile communications, social media, cloud computing, big data analytics and the connection of a wide range of devices and objects to the internet (the Internet of Things). The adoption of these technologies will have massive transformative power, adding genuine social value and providing the tools for the next generation of entrepreneurs across Europe. 7. Commitment to life-long education and training From basic digital competence to e-skills; education and training systems must be designed in a holistic manner, combining formal, non-formal and informal learning and linking academic theory to practical skills required for employment and life in the digital world. Improvement of curricula for computer science and programming and scaling up of ICT infrastructure and pedagogy in schools is an urgent necessity. Long term cooperation between employers and education is fundamental in ensuring skills acquired in education and training remains relevant for life as is the continuing professional development of teachers. 8. European leadership of global standards Developing high level e-competences standards is helping Europe to deliver education reforms, initiated by Ministries of Education and strongly supported by industry and digital 35

36 learning providers. Effective cross-platform integration relies on the development of common standards for interoperability, as well as European standards to define and develop skill sets among citizens, the workforce and ICT professionals, such as the European e- Competence Framework released by the European Standardisation Committee (CEN). Driving the development of ICT professionalism in Europe can position Europe as centrestage for increase competitiveness and delivering business value. 9. Fostering ICT professionalism and maturing the ICT profession in Europe The stakeholders need to support the further development and the implementation of a European Framework for the ICT profession based on four building blocks: 1) European e- Competence Framework and related ICT jobs profiles 2); European ICT foundational body of knowledge and curriculum development guidelines; 3) European recognition of ICT certifications and qualifications across countries based on high quality standards; and 4) shared European professional ethics. 10. Commitment to cooperate, pool expertise and efforts The internet has evolved into an interactive Web 2.0. Mass-collaboration has been made instantly possible, emphasising the importance of e-skills for jobs and digital technologies awareness. Whether for experts working on research, game creators developing new software, architects designing a new project or designers shaping a new model, having the skills to use the internet facilitates teamwork, anytime, anywhere, in every business sector. 36

37 37