“Allianz für Digitale Skills und Berufe“ goes Europe
Digital fitness in Austria was the focus of the kick-off event of the Austrian “Allianz für Digitale Skills und Berufe” and the European Commission. Under the title "Digital Skills certification and DigComp implementation", a community-led event of the ADSB took place for the first time on January 13th, 2021. More than 100 experts from Austria, the institutions of the European Union and other EU member states came together virtually at the invitation of Federal Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs, Margarete Schramböck.
In 2016, the European Commission founded the Digital Skills and Job Coalition (DSJC) initiative. Its aim is to increase digital skills in Europe with broad stakeholder involvement. The fit4internet association was confirmed by the European Commission in February 2020 as the first Austrian member of the Digital Skills and Job Coalition. In October 2020, the ADSB, the Austrian version of the DSJC, was presented for the first time.
Together with the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the Federal Ministry for Labour, Family and Youth, the first virtual community-led event in Austria has now been organized. The event focused on the one hand on the status of the implementation of the Digital Competency Model (DigComp Framework) in Austria as a common standard for the assessment, qualification and certification of digital competencies and on the other hand on best practices and future perspectives for professional digital training and certification in the work context. Experts from business, education, science and politics discussed the practical implementation of the DigComp model for lifelong learning.
The importance of cooperation among EU member states was emphasized in order to pool resources and knowledge about successful implementations. The implementation of the EU Reference Framework for Digital Competences within the EU member states offers a cross-border, connectable measure and future-oriented learning and exchange potential.
Here are a few selected quotes from the speakers:
- “Working together is key to achieving the required economic development goals” – Margarete Schramböck, Federal Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs
- “If we don’t have enough ICT professionals, we do have a problem. Therefore, we need initiatives as the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition.” – Alexander Riedl, European Commission representative
- “Profiling and understanding the end-users is crucial to defining a successful ‘digital skills competence framework’.” – Luis Navarro, Digital Expert from Spain
- “The pandemic crisis was a booster for digitisation, a vaccine against the crisis for business. We now have to support companies, especially SMEs, to digital transformation.” – Mariana Kühnel, Chamber of Commerce, Vice-Secretary General
- “Current developments show we need to distinguish between fake news and evidence-based facts to combat misinformation. Public mistrust has apparently been accelerated by digital tools.” – Sabine Herlitschka, CEO Infineon, Vice-president of Federation of Austrian Industries and fit4internet
- “Between March and April 2020, demand for MOOCs from the top 5 providers skyrocketed 640 %. But how much was real learning? EU Frameworks working together provide a good answer.” – Alexander Schmölz, Managing Director, Austrian Institute for Vocational Education Research (öibf)
- “SAP has an initiative to cast jobseekers and graduates with a company, then offer them training and certification, and upon completion a job offer. This multi-layer approach has proved successful in Austria.” – Christoph Kränkl, CEO SAP Austria (BFI OÖ upskilling program)
- “Looking at Germany and Switzerland, Austria can do more to improve the perception of VET in urban areas, as well as start earlier preparing students for apprenticeships.” – Mario Derntl, Secretary General, Zukunft Lehre Österreich (Future. Apprenticeship. Austria)
Here you can watch a best-of video from the event: