#AItowards2040

While Europe is looking at expanding its industrial capacities in semiconductors, quantum, green technologies, or digital infrastructures, businesses are still struggling with successfully leveraging AI and data as they face a talent gap. Today, only 55.6% of the EU population have at least basic digital skills, far from the 80% target in the EU 2030 Digital Decade framework. This skills shortage leads to a broader gap in terms of productivity and competitiveness, as highlighted in the Draghi report.

Presented earlier this year, the European ‘Union of Skills’ aims at urgently improving high quality education, training, and lifelong learning.

This event will bring together policymakers from the European Parliament and European Commission, as well as experts from industry and competence centers to discuss the EU proposal.

The discussion will focus on upskilling and reskilling Europeans, the second pillar of the Union of Skills, providing findings around the skills shortages in Europe, sharing best practices at local level that can be scaled across Europe, examples of public-private partnerships on AI and Digital skills, and the roll-out of EU skills academies such as the Cyber Skills Academy.

• Programme

  Opening remarks

  Alex Agius Saliba MEP and EIF Member

  Speakers

  Max Uebe, Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Executive Vice-President Roxana Minzatu, European Commission

  Chris Gow, Senior Director, EU Public Policy, Government Affairs, Cisco; EIF Board Member

  David Mekkaoui, CEO of All Digital

  Maud Sacquet, Senior Policy Manager, LinkedIn

  Exchange of views with the participants under the Chatham House rule