Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

Upskilling
European industry:
New operational
tools wanted

Recommendations of
the Strategic Policy Forum
on Digital Entrepreneurship

July 2016

A forum established by
DG Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Foreword
Europe's digital skills shortage is both an opportunity and a challenge. With a digitally
skilled workforce Europe has a real opportunity to reap the rewards of digital
transformation. Without, we risk uncertain economic prospects and the social
problems of high levels of structural unemployment.
Accelerating
the digital
To reach that better path we need large-scale, well-financed and easy-to-access
programmes that are developed and delivered in partnership with knowledgeable transformation
stakeholders; programmes that encourage entrepreneurial approaches and have
different flavours for different sectors and industries.
This report is an integral part of our Forum's recipe for Europe's digital success.
Implementing these recommendations will help ensure Europe is able to prosper from
the positive effects of the digital transformation that is upon us.

Published
• Big data and B2B digital platforms:
the next frontier for Europe’s
industry and enterprises
John Higgins Published
President of the Strategic Policy Forum • Cities and regions as launch pads
Director General DIGITALEUROPE for digital transformation
Published
• Upskilling European industry:
new operational tools wanted
Upskilling European industry:
Published
new operational tools wanted • A digital compass
Four key recommendations for decision makers:
toolkit on disruptive technologies,
❶ Create an industry and social partners-led toolbox with specific action impact and areas for action
recommendations
❷ Foster company, sectoral, regional and multi-stakeholder digital academy
initiatives Table of contents
❸ Promote and support entrepreneur-ship as an opportunity for acquiring digital 1. Executive summary: upskilling
skills and career conversion European industry 3
❹ Define a pan-European financial scheme between the European Social and 2. Urgent action needed to close
Regional Funds, the Commission, Member States and Industry Europe’s skills gaps 6
3. Industry and social partners-led
toolbox for upskilling the European
An industry and social partners-led toolbox for upskilling the workforce workforce 14
4. Financing and creating incentives for
Digital 2. Tailored the upskilling of the workforce 18
Workforce company References 22
1. Industry
Planning solutions About the Strategic Policy Forum 23
diagnosis Digital
shift Upskilling Find out more about how digital
plan technologies are transforming
businesses and industries and how to
Techology Industry support the digital transformation:
trends trends https://ec.europa.eu/growth/
tools-databases/dem/monitor

3. Pilot
Training Financing test 4. Impact
suppliers schemes monitoring © - 2016 – European Union. All rights reserved.
Certain parts are licensed under conditions to the EU.
This publication is funded under the COSME
programme of the European Union.
Cover image © LUCARELLI TEMISTOCLE/Shutterstock.com
 Executive summary
1
Upskilling
European industry
© LUCARELLI TEMISTOCLE/Shutterstock.com

Europe is facing a widening skills gap new digital technologies (i.e. robotics)
that is having an impact on the ability of and thirdly, new jobs requiring specific A
EU businesses and governments to and new skillsets will be created.
benefit from the opportunities of
advanced technologies and digitalisation.
A second underlying challenge is the
considerable gender gap that exists in
Seizing
At the same time, the advent of new
technologies and digital tools is making
digital skills. With 28.57% (North EU) to
35.60% (South EU) of women in the
opportunities
many manual jobs obsolete, while
digital industry2, Europe is already With the advent of new technologies and
creating demand for new types of skills.
missing out on a substantial the constant emergence of innovative
This has created an urgent need to
share of the workforce that could be and competing business models, the
upskill and re-employ the workforce that
mobilised to address the digital skills workplace is set to continually evolve.
is becoming redundant.
gap. The societal and environmental
Making upskilling a priority and impact of digital jobs should be more Reaping the full benefits
taking action at European level clearly communicated to incentivize of the technological revolution
more people to follow these career paths. Production processes across manufactu-
Upskilling the workforce in different EU
industrial sectors is a major priority and The adoption of new technologies is ring industries are being reshaped with
challenge. Launching a comprehensive bringing significant changes to the the adoption of digital and advanced
pan-European training strategy based on competencies required for a larger share technologies. The automotive industry
the needs of industry is required to of the workforce. Some functions will for example is being transformed by
mitigate the economic and social risks disappear. Others will require the additive manufacturing, collaborative
that will come from failing to prepare the incorporation of additional competencies robots, composite materials, data
workforce for a new technological and and skills. New functions and job pro- analytics linked to the production
digital future. files will be created. This transformation process, and plastic electronics. This
brings both opportunities and challenges allows the industry to create more
An important factor to be taken into for Europe’s industry and society.
consideration is the fact that to a large
extent society is not yet fully aware of
the importance of this challenge. The Tech opportunities & threats The digital skills gap
general workforce needs to be made The internet of things and
aware that in order to stay employed,
they must be willing to upskill and
related services will bring
40% of workers
using office
possibly shift sectors. EUR 110bn software
every day do not possess
An effective and adequate response of additional revenue p.a.
sufficient skills to use them
through a new pan-European reskilling for European industry3
effectively7
initiative is thus paramount for raising
awareness, boosting EU competitiveness,
increasing all workers’ employability,
9% of jobs are at high
risk of being
substituted by
90% of companies
indicate that
reducing unemployment and setting the
technology4 they lack digital skills5
foundations for a strategic resource
planning at EU level.
Digital transformation is disrupting
Financing upskilling
Only 64%
46%
job markets and has created a skills gap of companies invest
of European firms expect their
in development of
It is expected that digital transformation digital transformation objectives
digital skills5
in particular will severely impact for 2016 to be reached8
between 10% and 30% of the workforce
of banks feel
within the EU¹, amounting to 30-90
million people. The impact of digital
transformation on the job market will be
36% that they are
financially 4%
of companies
ensure that
their training
ill-equipped to address the
threefold: existing jobs will fall into efforts are aligned with their
challenges associated with
obsolescence, others will face radical overall digital strategy5
digital technologies6
redesigning with the incorporation of

Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

3
Upskilling European industry
value for customers but it also requires
that workers adapt their skillset to be
better equipped to adopt these new
technologies.
Building up new job profiles
Finding efficient ways to upskill the
workforce and provide employees with
the right skills to reap the full benefits of
technological advances is key to cope
with the global economic pressure and
create a truly dynamic European
economy. By investing in their human
capital, companies can find new means
to become more efficient, more agile and
more responsive to market changes.
Ultimately, investments in the upskilling
of the workforce present a major
opportunity to spur future job creation
and therefore spark sustainable
economic activity.
B Firms, education providers and public
Overcoming
challenges
Europe has a skills mismatch problem.
By 2025 almost half of all jobs in Europe
will need highly skilled workers9.
Whereas employers are struggling to
recruit people with the skills that they
need, unemployment levels remain at
high levels. According to a 2014
Eurofound survey, 39% of employers are
facing difficulties recruiting staff10.
Highly technical staff are even more
difficult to find than other professional
staff. This is particularly true for staff
with advanced digital skills. UK firms for
example have rated big data recruitment
a difficulty rating of 3.2 on a four-points
scale (with 1 equating ‘very easy’ to 4
Box 1: A New Skills Agenda for Europe
In June 2016 the European
Commission launched the New
Skills Agenda for Europe to boost
human capital, employability and
competitiveness. The actions of the
New Skills Agenda focus on
improving the quality and
relevance of skills formation, making skills and qualifications more visible and
comparable, as well as improving skills intelligence and information for better
career choices.
The Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition is the new flag ship initiative among a
number of other initiatives that were presented. A Blueprint for Sectoral
Cooperation on Skills will also improve skills intelligence and address skills
shortages in specific economic sectors.
4
‘very difficult’). This rating is well above
the ratings given to other types of
employment groups including in
purchasing/logistics, marketing and
finance¹¹.
Meeting the demand for new skills
One key issue is that young graduates do
not have the skills and competences
required by the industry. The current
education system, types of teaching and
curricula fail to provide younger
generation with the ‘mixture’ of hard
(e.g. data and statistics) and soft skills
(e.g. collaboration and creativity) that
would allow them to thrive in today’s
ever changing business world. Further,
the increasing pace of technology
development also requires the existing
workforce to continuously upgrade their
technical competences, which adds to the
complexity of the skills gap issue.
Focusing on implementation
institutions have long realised that
urgent action must be taken to upskill
the European workforce. Yet, if some
managed to set up a clear and well-
designed upskilling strategy, most
struggle with implementation. What
Europe needs is therefore easy to use
tools and opportunities for exchanging
best practices. In particular, initiatives
that seek to connect the world of
business with education providers
should be encouraged in order to design
adaptive training solutions in line with
market demands.
Financing and incentives
The European Commission foresees a
27bn investment to support upskilling
initiatives12, but how this will be
accessed is not clear. Efforts need to be
made to use available EU funds
effectively and cut red tape.
C
Recommendations
An effective and adequate response
through a new pan-European upskilling
initiative is paramount for raising
awareness, boosting EU competitiveness,
increasing all workers’ employability,
reducing unemployment and setting the
foundations for a strategic resource
planning at EU level.
New operational tools are wanted for
upskilling the workforce and to meet the
needs of European industry currently
undergoing a large scale, technology-
driven transformation. A toolbox for
upskilling, led by industry and social
partners, with specific action recommen-
dations is needed. Multi-stakeholder
digital academy initiatives are one of the
practical solutions for the toolbox. A
major financing effort needs to be made
at European level to deliver these
actions. Finally, encouraging more digital
entrepreneurship in Europe is key for
closing the skills gap.
1
Create an industry and social
partners-led toolbox with specific
action recommendations
There is a need for an industry and social
partners-led toolbox for digital upskilling
with a strong sectoral focus, promoting
e-skills, economic competitiveness,
better jobs and social cohesion.
This toolbox will provide adequate
responses to the technological leap that
industries will experience in the coming
5 to 10 years. It should be based on
devising new ways of creating and
delivering training for which the EU
needs new flexible models and on the
sharing of best practices in order to
provide a clear overview of entry points
across Europe.
The toolbox and its tailored solutions
will be designed to be replicated in
different regions and countries and for
different sectors and skills profiles. It
adopts a four-step approach consisting
in: an industry diagnosis to identify the
latest technology trends, training
suppliers and financing schemes;
tailored company solutions; a pilot test
of the solution; and impact monitoring.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

2
Foster company, sectoral,
regional and multi-stakeholder
digital academy initiatives
Digital skills training programmes need
an active involvement from industry and
social partners in all sectors in defining
the curriculum and the sector-specific
skills required today and tomorrow. The
intrinsic problem is that companies act
much faster than the public sector, with a
constant lag between supply and
demand.
Curricula have to quickly adapt to
demand requirements, but also need to
be constantly updated in order to stay
relevant. In this sense, it is necessary to
facilitate multi-stakeholder partnerships
and to strengthen concrete and efficient
cooperation at regional and national
levels between social partners, academic
institutions, industry players and
Ministries of Education in order to work
towards a common objective. In this
evolving context, independent and
official accreditations of competences
are important to ensure the quality of
programmes and learning outcomes.
In particular, public-private partner-
ships and other forms of public-private
collaborations should be strongly
encouraged given their complementarity.
The public sector has a strategic vision
and profound knowledge on territorial
problems, social issues and can leverage
on large financial and human capacities.
On its end, the private sector and
entrepreneurs can ensure a more
effective and targeted use of these
capabilities.
3 and funding mechanisms should be
Define a pan-European
financial scheme between the
European Social and Regional
Funds, the Commission,
Member States and Industry
From a financial perspective, budgets for
upskilling initiatives and programmes in
education and vocational training are
overwhelmingly allocated at Member
States level and through the European
Social and Regional Funds.
At EU level, the objective would be to
define a major pan-European funding
scheme or at least a one-stop-shop
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
Figure 1: Recommendations for upskilling the workforce
Advanced and digital technologies are transforming industries
1 Functional obsolescence,
Industry and social partners-led
toolbox for upskilling
the workforce
2 and social
Multi-stakeholder
digital academy
initiatives
3 for upskilling
Pan-European
financial scheme
4
Promoting and supporting
digital entrepreneurship
as a means to acquire new skills
gateway regrouping, refocusing and
building on all available schemes and if
needed, new complementary ones.
Traditional calls for proposals funding
projects (as in most EU programmes
such as Erasmus+, European Social Fund,
Horizon 2020) are not suitable for large-
scale digital upskilling. Public funding
should be aimed at robust models and
scalable initiatives with proven success,
such as for example the Academy Cube,
initially developed in Germany. Its career
and online learning platform offers an
intelligent matching system, allowing
STEM talent to identify and develop the
skills and qualifications they require for
specific roles in the workplace. The
platform offers various training courses.
It currently has 17,000 users but aims to
have more than 100,000 by the end of
201713.
At Member States level, training schemes
reviewed and refocused to ensure that
they provide governments and especially
Ministries of Labour, Employment and
Education with the right instruments to
deploy digital reskilling at scale and at
speed and with the support of industry.
At industry and sectoral level, incentives
should be made available in order to
encourage corporates at all stages of
growth and expansion to provide specific
upskilling and training programmes to
their employees. A special emphasis
should be placed on small businesses
and SMEs which cannot afford long and
costly training efforts but nonetheless
are the backbone of the economy.
Upskilling European industry
Functional redesign
New jobs
Economic
Matching
monitoring skills with
demand
Operational tool
the workforce Relevant
training &
Financing comparable
and incentives qualifications
Boosting employability of the workforce
Increasing the competitiveness of industry
4
Promote and support
entrepreneurship as an
opportunity for acquiring digital
skills and career conversion
Industrial transformations are creating
new labour opportunities, but an
increasing number of jobs are at risk,
with redundancies rising. At the same
time, Europe is lacking entrepreneurs.
When compared to the US, Europe has a
gap of 20m early stage entrepreneurs14.
Entrepreneurship should be seen as an
opportunity and solution for career
conversion and reorientation. Digital
start-ups and SMEs are a driver of
innovation across industry sectors.
Significant opportunities exist for
European citizens to focus on acquiring
specific digital skills, for example in
coding or data analytics, by starting a
new entrepreneurial venture or joining a
start-up.
Encouraging digital entrepreneurship is
also part of the solution for Europe’s
digital skills gap. The ‘e-Skills for Jobs’
campaign has been raising awareness
and encouraging European citizens to
develop their digital skills and access
today’s job market. The ‘Watify’ is
fostering digital entrepreneurship in
Europe, by targeting entrepreneurs and
intrapreneurs to overcome the barriers
that prevent them from starting their
own business.
5
 2 Urgent action
© Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com
A example, thermoplastic composites offer
Tech opportunities
and threats
Technological advances such as digital
technologies, advanced manufacturing
and other key enabling technologies
including nanotechnology and advanced
materials are fundamentally trans-
forming existing industries and creating
new ones. They carry both opportunities
and risks for established and new
companies. Yet, their impact remains
uncertain as technology develops over
time in a unpredictable fashion.
New technologies go hand in hand
with new market opportunities
Large data sets (“big data”) and
algorithms, assisting in analysis and
decision-making, are the new super
power fuel of the economy of the future.
In both manufacturing and service
sectors, they will bring enormous
benefits to European enterprises, for
example in terms of cost reductions. In
the automotive sector, driverless
vehicles will become a game changer in
the coming years. Autonomous vehicles
use artificial intelligence, sensors and
satellite navigation systems and
therefore transfer several hundred
megabytes per second communicating
with external platforms and back-ends.
Partially and fully autonomous vehicles
could reach 20% of new vehicle sales in
202515.
Composites materials and plastic
electronics are other technological
advances that show great promise for a
variety of sectors such as healthcare,
mobility and media. Composite materials
find their way into hundreds of new
applications each year, ranging from
suitcases, golf clubs and cars to
aerospace components and orthopaedic
surgery. In the automotive industry for
6
needed to close
Europe’s skills gaps
excellent crash performance compared
with traditional steels as they increase
the strength and stiffness of the
materials used16. Biocomposites, which
represents 15% of the total European
composite market, are also widely used
in the automotive industry (e.g. trims for
doors, trunks and dashboards). In this
sector alone, their production and use is
expected to grow from 150,000 tonnes
today to 600,000 tonnes in 202017.
The technology behind plastic
electronics opens the door to a new
generation of innovative products such
as e-readers, illuminated jackets and
glucose strips for people suffering from
diabetes. Future electronic products will
be more flexible, thinner, lighter and
more environmental friendly. It is
estimated that the total market for
printed, flexible and organic electronics
will grow from EUR 14.2bn in 2013 to
EUR 68bn in 2023. Much of the growth
will be in conductive ink and organic
light emitting diode (OLED) displays
which will increasingly supplant LCD
displays in e.g. mobile phones18.
Plastic electronics
in the textile industry
The EU technical & smart
textiles industry18 has an
annual growth rate of 3.2%
and a market value of
EUR 45bn
Transforming the nature of work
and creating new job opportunities
Technology advances give rise to new
jobs. Apple has helped to create 1.4
million jobs for software developers and
application programmers with its iOS
ecosystem alone.
The ICT sector is increasingly providing
new job opportunities in Europe. The
European ICT workforce has been
growing at an average annual rate of
4.26%19. In 2014, it counted 7.5 million
of practitioners, which equalled 3.5% of
the European workforce20. Recent
forecasts predict that over 750,000 jobs
could emerge by 2020 if the right digital
skills are available20.
Digital skills are nowadays
transversal skills
Digital skills were once specialised skills.
Yet today, the use of mobile and
analytical tools is no longer falling under
one specific department (i.e. the IT
department). A minimum level of digital
skills is required in every function across
the organisation and throughout the
entire workforce. These skills are
essential for implementing innovations
and modern business practices.
Functional leaders do not have to
become IT experts, but they do need to
know how to use digital technology and
what it can do for their company.
New manufacturing technologies
will reshape existing roles
The increasing use of computer aided
design (CAD), industry and specific
software solutions and new
manufacturing technologies such as
plastic electronics will likely impact
skills requirements of certain roles in the
advanced manufacturing sector.
It is expected that in the future, more
jobs will be available for biological
scientists and biochemists in manu-
facturing industries. In the automotive
industry for instance, it is likely that
bioscience products in metal coating will
be used, therefore requiring the scientific
skills of biological scientists and
biochemists. These new trends will
require this type of experts to develop
their knowledge of different industries,
in order to apply their competences in
different environments successfully21.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

New types of maintenance fitting jobs
are also likely to appear in the coming
decades. Technology advances will result
in more complex machines being
deployed, which will need to be regularly
maintained and monitored by highly
qualified technical staff. Many companies
will outsource the calibration and system
setting of the complex machines they
use. Maintenance fitters will therefore
need to possess greater skills in
customer services, relationship manage-
ment and a broader understanding of
manufacturing equipment21.
Routine jobs under threat
Technological progress including the
development in digital technologies and
artificial intelligence is creating new job
opportunities. In many industries and for
many functions technologies will
however replace workers in performing
routine tasks and increase demand for
non-routine ones.
Around 9% of jobs are at high risk of
being substituted by technology as they
entail at least 70% of tasks that can be
automated4. These jobs do not only
include routine-intensive jobs that are
associated with lower skills levels, for
example food hand packers. They also
encompass repetitive jobs carried out by
skilled workers such as medical imaging
technicians and bankers who are in
charge of writing standard reports on
stock-market changes.
Figure 2: e-skills vacancies estimates per EU country (in thousands)
Source: Empirica, 201520
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
Besides, for a quarter of jobs, a large
share of tasks are likely to become
automated, forcing workers to learn
new skills and adapt in order to remain
effective4.
Robots carrying pallets
around warehouses
A warehouse equipped with
robots handles up to 4x
as many orders
as an unautomated
warehouse22
A persistent lack of digital talents
Today, the demand for ICT workers is
exceeding supply. In 2015, it was
estimated that there were 373,000 open
positions for ICT professionals. Among
these, 16% were vacancies for highly
qualified positions in ICT management,
architecture and analysis and 84% were
vacancies for all other ICT
professionals20.
It is expected that the number of e-Skills
vacancies will grow substantially
between 2015 and 2020. There are
significant difference between countries
(Figure 1). It is estimated that the
strongest increase in e-skills vacancies
will be in the United Kingdom (growing
from 13% to 21% of total EU demand),
and in Italy (growing from 9% to 18% of
total EU demand)20.
Urgent action needed to close Europe’s skills gaps
© gualtiero boffi/Shutterstock.com
Decline of ICT graduates
Between 2006 and 2011 the total
number of new tertiary level computer
science graduates in European countries
dropped, after experiencing substantial
growth between 2000 and 2006 (Figure
2). In 2006, the total number of
computer science graduates totalled
128,815, while in 2011 this number was
only 112,918¹¹.
Figure 3: Computer science
graduates (first degree)
Source: Empirica, 201520
The impact of the decline in the number
of graduate entrants to the ICT labour
force is intensified in Europe by an aging
ICT workforce who now slowly goes to
retirement.
These numbers by themselves are
already alarming. Yet, the skills issue is
much larger than that of ICT
professionals alone. In practice, the total
demand for ICT skills can be expected to
be much higher, as many non-ICT jobs
will also require some proficiency in
digital skills.
90% of companies indicate to lack digital
skills, while 87% of them think that
digital transformation is a competitive
opportunity5. Following the OECD, over
40% of workers using office software
every day do not possess sufficient skills
to use them effectively7.
7
Urgent action needed to close Europe’s skills gaps
B implement new technologies also raises
Company level:
in need of proactive,
not reactive leaders
Although more than three-quarters
(77%) of companies acknowledge that
digital transformation has become a top
strategic priority, companies do not
expect it to be easy. This is especially the
case for European firms. In the 2016
survey of The Economist Intelligence
Unit, only 64% of European respondents
expect their digital transformation
objectives for 2016 to be met, compared
with 78% in North America8.
Senior leaders should be more involved
This lack of confidence can be found in
the low commitment of senior leaders
towards the digital transformation of
their organisations. According to 40% of
respondents, senior leaders need to
increase their sponsorship and oversight
of digital transformation initiatives if
their companies are to meet their
objectives. In fact, today’s senior leaders
are likely to never have been confronted
with or had a direct experience of key
new digital technologies, or to the
working processes and practices that are
associated with it8.
Companies need to invest
heavily in order to keep up
with new technologies
Despite the clear importance of digital
transformation, only 46% of companies
are investing in the development of
digital skills. Still, none of them spends
more than 20% of their training budget
on digital skills. Overall, only 20% of
company’s workforce benefit from
training on digital skills5.
In addition, those companies that engage
in the development of digital skills do not
properly align their training efforts with
their digital strategy (96%). They
continue to use traditional approaches to
source digital skills (i.e. training
recruitment, and partnership) instead of
innovative approaches which have been
shown to work such as targeted
company acquisition and engaging start-
ups through incubators. Besides, they do
not actively involve their human
resources function in digital skills
development5.
8
The speed at which companies technical skills, but also knowledge
about statistics and interpersonal skills
concerns. In a study on digitalisation in (Figure 4).
the banking sector by Accenture, the
majority of respondents agreed that new
technology deployment cycles will be
Figure 4: Skillset of a big data analyst
much faster in the future. Yet, two fifth of
respondents felt that the time taken for
their organisation to deploy new
technology today was either negatively
impacting its value, or providing no net
benefit at all6.
80%
Source: SAS, 201411
of board members are
not sufficiently digital savvy In addition, higher use of ICT at work is
to guide their organisation in associated with tasks that require more
the digital era24 interaction with co-workers and clients,
more problem solving and less physical
skills (Figure 5). Higher frequency of
A mixture of technical and information made available by ICT will
require better capability to plan ahead
non-technical skills is required
and adapt quickly. Similarly, increased
The diffusion of new technologies exchange of information between
changes the way work is carried out. workers will increase the importance of
Employees increasingly need to combine management and coordination7.
technical skills with deep functional
It is often assumed that younger
business acumen in order to realise the
generations can offer the required skills
true potential of new technologies. This
pool to employers as they are ‘digital
often requires them to possess strategic
natives’. Yet, recent studies indicate that
and creative thinking, communication
being from one generation does not
skills, and strong leadership abilities5.
imply that everyone from that
A unique set of skills will be required to generation is digitally competent or can
capitalise on the opportunities offered by transfer their skills effectively in a
big data analytics for example. Staff will workplace environment. Besides, it is
not only need to have high-level now questioned whether the young
Figure 5: Correlations between daily use of ICTs at work and other tasks
Source: OECD, 20167
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

adult population possesses the skills that
are needed by employers. For example,
the IT and telecoms sector often favour
older candidates over younger new
graduates when recruiting new staff.
This suggests that the mixture of skills
required in this sector is the one that can
be acquired on the job rather than
through education25.
Experienced
staff wanted
Over the past 10 years,
in the IT & telecom industries
• the proportion of
16-29 year olds declined
from 32% to 19%
• the proportion of
40+ year olds increased
from 32% to 47%25
Continuous learning is central
With each new technology, new skills
requirements are introduced. Yet, at the
same time, the pace of technological
change seems to be increasing, and new
tasks and job profiles keep on popping
up while others start to loose their
importance (Figure 6). In the UK for
example, the total number of
advertisements for big data jobs rose by
41% between 2012 and 2013 (21,000
positions in total) while demand for data
Figure 6: Growth of ICT professional workforce (EU27) 2014 compared to 2011
Source: Empirica, 201520
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
warehouse/business intelligence staff
declined by 6%¹¹.
New technology cycles are thus getting
shorter, and employees must continu-
ously learn and refresh their skills to
prepare themselves for jobs that do not
yet exist or technologies that have not
been developed yet7. Increasingly, new
educational approaches and curricula
are required that allow acquiring new
knowledge and skills at a later stage in
the career.
C album). They can also choose to buy
Industry level: The
multidimensional
impact of new
technologies
The impact of new technologies on
existing industries can be manifold. It is
therefore critical for industry players to
understand the nature of the changes
brought by new technologies if they wish
to pursue their business activities in the
long run.
McKinsey & Company has recently
developed a framework that identifies
the deeper forces behind digital
disruption (Figure 7). They explore
supply and demand across a continuum
Urgent action needed to close Europe’s skills gaps
and look at how strong the impact of
digital technologies is on the nature of
supply and demand26.
Transforming the nature
of demand and supply
Digital technologies can first help
removing distortions in demand. With
mechanisms such as improved search
and filter tools, smart recommendations
engines and the custom bundling of
products, customers can have it their
own way. They do not need to buy the
whole package anymore when they just
want one piece of it (e.g. buy an
individual song instead of a whole
what they want at places of their own
choice and on their own schedules.
Digital technologies also permit the use
of new sources of supply which was
difficult to reach previously. Airbnb for
example has increased the supply of
lodging.
Finally, digital technologies allow
unused supply to be connected with
latent demand. Wikipedia for example
managed to unbundle the product so
that the consumer is not obliged
anymore to buy the whole encyclopaedia
to search information on one specific
topic.
Radical changes leading to
paradigm shifts in value creation
Digital technologies can also help to
create new value propositions that
give customers something they did not
9
Urgent action needed to close Europe’s skills gaps
Figure 7: Digital technologies disrupt industries by impacting the nature of
supply, demand, or both
Source: McKinsey&Company, 201626
know they wanted. To have access to the
Internet via its smartphone, or to give
real-time insights on the progress of
deliveries as proposed by FedEx are
examples of such new value
propositions.
Existing business systems can also be
reimagined thanks to digital techno-
logies. The data storage industry for
example has witnessed drastic changes
over the last decades which have
completely modified how the value chain
works and how money is made. With
Dropbox (among others), data storage
has switched from being a product (i.e.
hard drives) to a service.
The boundaries and definitions of
industries can be burred further with the
entry of platforms owners who span
product categories and customers
segments. These new players have often
other goals than the ones of traditional
industry players. They create new
barriers to entry by harnessing first-
movers and network effects, and
redefining standards. In the agricultural
sector for instance, John Deere has
created a unique platform with
agricultural data that obliges the rest of
the industry to use it and develop
around it26.
10
Digital platforms
Expected to capture
between 30% to 40% of
the automotive value chain27
The digital revolution
in the financial sector
The rise of new technologies in the
financial sector has put the entire
industry on shaky ground, with its value
structure in upheaval. Better
connectivity, faster and better equipped
computers, smartphones and tablets
pushes people to increasingly buy
financial products and services online
rather than in the traditional brand
office.
Together with changes in consumer
behaviour and in legislation and
regulation, new technologies has given
rise to two trends in the financial sector.
First, a series of new initiatives have
started to emerge within existing
financial market segments (e.g. credit
and capital provision). Second, new
initiatives that go beyond existing sector
boundaries also start to appear (Figure
8). Both trends are likely to impact
drastically on existing business models
in the financial sector in Europe. They
could affect not only banks but also
other organisations such as investments
firms and insurers28.
The rise of FinTech companies
Investment in financial-technology
(FinTech) companies keeps on growing.
In 2014, global investment in FinTech
tripled to €10.09 billion. Of this global
investment, the US makes up the lion’s
share. Yet, Europe exhibits the highest
level of growth, with an increase of
215% between 2013 and 20146.
The presence of new market participants
clearly poses a threat to incumbents in
the industry. Introducing innovative
business models have helped many
FinTech to compete successfully with
traditional players. For example,
automated investment funds that use
algorithms (such as robo advisory) are
gaining ground at the expense of
traditionally managed investment
portfolios. Peer-to-peer lenders, which
connect lenders and borrowers online
(e.g. crowdfunding), show promise in
their potential to capture the entire
lending value chain from traditional
banks.
Because technology enables FinTech
firms to reduce costs (e.g. personnel
expenses), they can offer their services
to a larger group of customers. This has
for consequence that existing financial
institutions have more difficulties to
continue providing financial services
profitably28.
Established players seek to
harness new technologies
Incumbents in the financial industry are
also deploying efforts to keep up to
speed with the surge of new
technologies. Banks for instance have
also made considerable progress in
improving payment services. A well-
known example is the mobile wallet,
which permits users to store their debits
or credit card details on their
smartphone and use them to proceed
with mobile payments28.
© goodluz/Shutterstock.com
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
 Urgent action needed to close Europe’s skills gaps

Figure 8: Technological innovation in the financial sector: sectoral and sector-transcending initiatives

Sectoral innovations

Investments and Credit and capital

Payments Insurance
financial advice provision
Peer-to-peer
Mobile wallets Automatic trading Sensors
lending

Digital currencies Robo advisory Crowdfunding New risk pools

Portal aggregators

Ecosystems (open source, APIs)

Sectoral and
Data applications (big data analysis, machine learning)
sector
transcending
Blockchain (smart contracts)
initiatives
Security (identification and authentication)

Cloud computing

Source: De Nederlandsche Bank28

Established financial players associated with future digital techno-

are not all well equipped to
respond to the new challenges
Although a large share of banks and
insurers are aware of the potentially
major impact of new technologies and
newcomers to the industry on their
business models and profit models, few
have put in place a comprehensive
strategy to deal with it. Accenture’s
survey of bank senior executives for
example reveals that 72% feel that their
bank has only a fragmented or
opportunistic strategy (i.e. invest in one-
off opportunities) to respond to current
technological changes6.
In addition, 80% of respondents feel that
their bank is only ‘somewhat’ or
‘minimally’ equipped in terms of culture
and skills to face the challenges
Figure 9: How equipped do bank feel to address the challenges associated with
the next wave of digital innovations (n=25)
Source: Accenture, 20156
logies (Figure 9). Besides, only half of
them feel that their bank possesses the
required technological capacity to deal
with such challenges6.
Accessing the right competences through
cross-industry collaboration, outsourcing,
investment or acquisition
In order to break away from (new)
competitors, financial institutions must
deploy efforts to increase their
knowledge and capacities in relation
with new technologies. One option
available to them is to develop
complementary partnerships (e.g.
alliances) with different players.
Financial institutions are usually used to
partner with other players in their
industry to work on the improvement of
non-core business activities. Yet, if they
Senior bank
1/5 executives
think that their
industry will
disaggregate
in the future6
wish to ensure future value generation,
they will need to engage beyond their
comfort zone, and learn to collaborate
across industrial boundaries. Most likely,
a cultural shift will be required,
especially for collaborating with
innovators and start-ups6.
In order to tap into new pool of
competences and knowledge, financial
institutes could also engage with
technical specialists and developers
outside of their own organisation. They
first could outsource part of their
activities to external parties. They can
also invest or acquire innovative
companies. Today, many established
financial firms invest in promising
innovative start-ups in need of capital
with the hope to feed their innovation
pipeline. In February 2015 for example,
AXA launched a €200 million fund to
support the development of start-ups
companies in its areas of business (e.g.
insurance)6.

Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

11
Urgent action needed to close Europe’s skills gaps
D stimulate private investment and ensure
How to bridge
the skills gap
To address the digital skills gap, a
number of initiatives have been
proposed and implemented both at
European and at Member State levels.
European initiatives
In June 2016 the European Commission
launched the New Skills Agenda to
boost human capital, employability and
competitiveness. The Agenda proposes
10 actions as part of an “ambitious, long-
term strategy to make sure people acquire
the skills they need to thrive in the labour
market and in wider society”.
The Agenda is centred around three key
areas where the Union action can bring
most added value:
• Improving the quality and relevance of
skills formation;
• Making skills and qualifications more
visible and comparable; and
• Improving skills intelligence and
information for better career choices.
More concretely, the Commission
proposes a basic Skills Guarantee to
help low-skills people acquire the skills
that will allow them to find employment
and/or stay in work. The actual Key
Competences Framework will be
revised in order to get a better idea of
what competences are key to succeed in
today’s business world. In a similar vein,
the European Qualifications Frame-
work will also be revised in order to
better understand and compare skills
and qualification across Member States.
Efforts will also be deployed to
modernise education and training
curricula.
The Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition
will support co-operation among
education, employment and industry
stakeholders to develop a large digital
talent pool and ensure that every
individual possesses the adequate digital
skills.
The Commission will also put forward a
Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on
Skills to tackle skills shortage in specific
economic sectors (e.g. automotive and
maritime technology). This Blueprint
will help to stimulate stakeholders to
work together to identify skills needs
12
and identify practical solutions. It will
a better use of EU and national funding
programmes.
The Agenda will reinforce and in some
particular cases rationalise existing
initiatives (e.g. ET2020, Erasmus+
programme, European Semester) to
better support Member States in their
national reforms. For the period 2014-
2020, more than €27 billion of the
European Social Fund will be available to
support Member States in the
implementation of the Agenda’s key
initiatives29.
Business level initiatives
Digital skills training programmes
require an active involvement from
industry and social partners for the
definition of the curriculum and the
sector-specific skills which are
increasingly needed today. Companies
can be better equipped than public
authorities to define the training
schemes needed to upskill their current
and future employees.
Box 2: Cisco’s networking academy
Due to its leading position in the
development of the internet economy
since its inception, Cisco benefits from
a clear understanding of the global
shortage of ICT skills. In this respect,
contrary to many public education
institutes, the American technology
company knows first hand the impact
of technological developments on the
skills requirements of employees.
Cisco therefore started to develop a
programme enabling public institu-
tions to teach the missing ICT skills.
Cisco’s networking academy is an
educational programme focusing on
the development of ICT professional
skills. The goal is to help individuals
to find a first job or to increase their
employability. The Academy is based
on a public private partnership (PPP)
between the company and public
education institutions (mostly
vocational education institutions).
Through this PPP, Cisco hosts a
virtual learning platform containing
educational content that is freely
accessible by educational institutes.
Since the launch of the virtual
platform, over 5.5 million students
have followed at least one course
developed by Cisco.
© Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
An ever-increasing number of companies
including Cisco, SAP and ARM are
therefore developing collaborative
solutions to bridge the European skills
gap (see boxes).
Third-party initiatives
Universities and other higher education
institutions are often lagging behind
when it comes to developing and offering
educational programmes providing
students with skills in line with market
demand. With many companies and
organisations coming to this conclusion,
an ever-increasing number of third-party
initiatives are being developed (often in
partnership) to put an end to the
European skills mismatch.
Across Europe, NGOs, entrepreneurs,
associations or citizens are leveraging on
their particular knowledge of market
needs or training tools to take a leading
role in the creation of innovative
upscaling solutions. The Academy Cube
platform launched in 2013 is a prime
example of these new collaborative
initiative.
Box 3: Academy Cube
In 2013, Academy Cube was
introduced at CeBIT (an international
computer expo) by Neelie Kroes,
European Commissioner for the
Digital Agenda, and Jim Snabe, former
co-CEO of SAP SE.
Academy Cube is a platform that
combines e-learning with job
searching. It connects students,
graduates and professionals with
companies and training providers.
The platform aims to strengthen
tomorrow’s workforce by offering
training programs enabling workers
and jobs searchers to get a better
understanding of new digital
technologies. It therefore opens up
the door to new opportunities in the
international labour market for
motivated talents.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

Existing initiatives
remain fragmented
When looking at the variety of initiatives
that seek to respond to the skills gap
(see also the following chapters), it
becomes apparent that the need for
upskilling originates from different
sources. For some organisations, an
upskilling initiative is executed because
the skills of young graduates do not
match the requirements of the industry.
In this case, the range of skills taught is
often broad, ranging from vendor
certified programming skills to more
generic skills and knowledge (e.g.
software engineering, hardware
platforms and intellectual property
regulation).
Other organisations have put in place
upskilling initiatives in order to
implement new technologies within
their company successfully. Examples
include:
• Implementation of a Life Cycle
Analysis approach within a company
specialised in protective coatings and
resin flooring, which demanded new
skills for operating a new software
programme;
• Application of emerging technologies
to support teaching and learning in
universities, which required the
setting up of technology exhibitions
and displays, and to increase teacher
knowledge on new technologies;
• Company-wide training programmes
aimed at supply chain automation
within automotive suppliers, which
included among others certified
vocational trainings for becoming a
Mathematical Technical Software
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
Developer; on the job trainings in
pilot plants for operators; and
e-learnings on leadership, communi-
cation, health & safety and specific
engineering and mechanical tools.
Finally, some initiatives are specifically
targeted at the ‘front-end’ of the skills
development pipeline, focusing on
developing digital literacy and advanced
digital skills amongst young children.
The principle behind this is that when
young children start with a solid basis in
digital skills early, it is much easier and
more likely that they will further develop
these skills in their career.
Although these initiatives form a great
starting point for upskilling the
European workforce, there is a need for
expanding the scale and number of
upskilling initiatives. Because current
initiatives remain fragmented, they
impact on the education and training
systems is often limited.
Engineering an operational solution
to pool isolated upskilling efforts
The integration of new technologies in
European industries and enterprises is
significantly altering the qualifications
and skills requirements of a major part
of the workforce. Depending on the
sectors, large numbers of jobs are
disappearing, job functions are changing
considerably and new jobs are being
created. However, in Europe, a vast
majority of large and small companies
have still not implemented comprehen-
sive assessments of the implications of
these new changes on their workforce.
The industry and social partners-led
toolbox for upskilling the European
Urgent action needed to close Europe’s skills gaps
workforce intends to remedy this
situation by providing organisations with
key guidelines to do so.
New tailored training solutions need to
be defined in close collaboration
between the company or organisation
and its employees or members. At a time
of unprecedented demand for digital
and advanced skills, the definition of new
skills development frameworks is
required to ensure a better match
between the skills level of the workforce
and new skills requirements. The
redefinition of the skills development
framework is also a prime opportunity
to increase the employability of the
workforce, to increase their ability to
deal with new digital and industrial
technologies and to better communicate
internally and with external partners. It
will also address concerns linked to
technical innovations by enabling the
workforce to better grasp the full
ramifications of the related change.
Fostering a collaborative approach
for the upskilling of the
European workforce
The toolbox consists in a 4 step approach
to assist companies from the assessment
of the new skills requirements to the
implementation and impact monitoring
of the designed training solutions.
The toolbox is useful for all the
professionals involved in the definition,
implementation or evaluation of skills
development framework. Company
managers, trainers, education providers,
HR professionals, employees and policy-
makers all have a key role to play in the
upskilling of the European workforce.
© Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
13
 3 Industry and
© Maxx-Studio/Shutterstock.com
Europe needs to upskill millions of
employees in key industries. The scale
and urgency of the challenge requires a
solution of unprecedented magnitude. A
training solution that is fit for purpose
needs to be customised to the needs of
industry. We recommend that this
solution should take the form of an
industry and social partners-led toolbox.
The toolbox needs to provide tailored
solutions for specific digital skills
challenges that are particular to
countries and industrial sectors. Spain is
facing particular problems with youth
employment, whereas German SMEs
have difficulty embracing the digital
revolution in their sales model.
In addition, employees all have different
social and psychological profiles.
Upskilling tools need to be tailored
accordingly to better respond to the
learning needs of the employee. This
tailored approach to upskilling is critical
to ensure a smooth transition to the jobs
of the future. The toolbox should be
made available to all professions as they
are all subject to radical changes due to
digitisation
Figure 10: Four key steps of the industry and social partners-led toolbox
1. Industry
diagnosis Digital
shift
Techology Industry
trends trends
3. Pilot
Training Financing
suppliers schemes
14
social partners-led
toolbox for upskilling
the European workforce
The toolbox adopts a four-step approach
(Figure 9).
• First, an industry diagnosis
will be performed. This diagnosis will
identify the latest technology and
industry trends, training suppliers
and available financing schemes.
• Second, tailored company solutions
will be designed to create an industry
and social partners-led toolbox.
• Third, the solutions will be tested.
• Finally, to ensure that the toolbox
reaches its objectives, its impact at
both industry and company-level will
be regularly monitored and the
toolbox will be updated on a regular
basis.
In this context, it will be opportune that
the upcoming Commission’s initiative on
a Blueprint for Sectorial Cooperation on
Skills follows this toolbox approach, with
a view to: collect evidence of a skills gap
in particular sectors; translate evidence
into strategy and solutions; and roll out
EU sectorial partnerships to provide the
skills for the industry of the future.
Digital 2. Tailored
Workforce company
Planning solutions
Upskilling
plan
test 4. Impact
monitoring
A
Step 1
Industry diagnosis
An initial comprehensive analysis will be
carried out with the aim to identify the
key weaknesses and challenges that a
particular industry has to address and
anticipate when implementing a
workforce reskilling initiative. This
analysis will be based on the following
four pillars.
Assessment of the emergence of
new technologies and their industry-
specific technological trends
The emergence of disruptive techno-
logies at global scale will have a
profound impact on the job market and
on the skills that will be needed by
tomorrow’s workforce. In this sense, it is
essential to anticipate and foresee the
emergence of new technologies, such as
those enabled by 3D technologies. In
order for companies and organisations to
stay competitive, keep ahead of the curve
and effectively carry out strategic
reskilling programmes, they need to
understand the digital leap that their
industry will be confronted with in the
coming 5 to 10 years.
The analysis should distinguish between
disruptions that will bring a paradigm
shift, the evolution of business models,
and natural technology evolutions
through enhanced features that do not
modify significantly business models and
the ecosystem.
Assessment of particular
industry trends
The analysis of the impact of digital
technologies on the whole value chain of
a particular sector will serve to
determine the concrete challenges and
opportunities faced by industry players.
It will also provide key information on
the impact of digital transformation on
the workforce in different industries.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

The analysis will include policy monitor-
ing, an overall vision of the market, level
of adoption of technologies and up-
skilling efforts by key players and the
identification of effective upskilling
programmes that can be scaled up. The
analysis should be carried out at global
and local levels.
All industry players and social partners
need to be involved in the assessment of
the industry-specific technological
trends. In order to do so, working groups
or interviews need to be carried out to
get a better understanding of these
trends and their implications on
different sectors.
Identification of funding
and financing schemes
Businesses have the ability to grasp or to
sharpen a new competitive edge by
investing in the upskilling of their
workers. However, finding sources of
funding for corporate trainings can
prove highly challenging for companies,
especially for SMEs. Yet, substantial
financing schemes for workforce
development are often available but
potential beneficiaries are rarely or not
sufficiently informed of the available
financing opportunities. Funding and
financing schemes available to support
upskilling initiatives therefore need to be
identified at EU, national and local levels.
Public authorities need to work in
collaboration with companies and
training providers to raise awareness on
available financing schemes and to
develop new partnerships to finance
upskilling trainings when necessary.
These new training opportunities could
therefore be financed by both public and
private actors or though public-private
partnerships.
Provision of an inventory of the
existing training suppliers and
their infrastructure
While demand for trainings can vary
from one company to another, underuse
of the available trainings at regional level
can often prove costly both to local
governments and companies. An
inventory of the existing training
suppliers and their infrastructure is
therefore required at country, sector,
institutional and private level in order to
address and provide solutions to specific
reskilling challenges. Particular attention
should be given to new ways of
delivering training and on the infra-
structure used to do so. Hence, the
diagnostic phase will also intend to
identify and define the equipment
requirements for the different trainings
that need to be provided.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
Industry and social partners-led toolbox for upskilling the European workforce
B stakeholders will also lead to a faster
Step 2
Tailored solutions
The second step aims to provide
companies with tailored solutions based
on the industry diagnosis performed
under the first step. The toolbox should
provide the necessary means for
companies to adequately adapt to, and
even anticipate, the potential impacts
that digital transformation will have on
their workforce. The required company-
specific solutions will cover the following
three dimensions.
Assessment of the technology
and digital shifts that particular
companies will undergo
The major technology and digital shifts
that particular companies will undergo
as industries transform in the next
5 to 10 years need to be assessed.
Different technological innovations
should be evaluated, selected and
adopted in alignment within the strategy,
business objectives and processes of
every organisation. The analysis should
be extended to the impact on the entire
workforce within the company as well as
all professions subject to radical changes
due to digital transformation.
Development of a
Digital Workforce Planning
A Digital Workforce Planning is
necessary to allow companies to project
themselves in the next 5 to 10 years by
estimating their digital skills and
competencies gap as well as to define the
required characteristics of the future
workforce.
To make the industry and social
partners-led toolbox a success, it is
essential to involve all stakeholders and
to create political momentum for the
institutionalisation of the toolbox. EU
ministers, trade unions and industry
players should all be mobilised in order
to take this initiative forward and put
digital upskilling on the agenda.
In particular, as it may not be feasible to
access additional funding, it will be
indispensable to define training
priorities and to refocus funding alloca-
tions to be able to address the full scale
of the issue. By turning the dialogue and
involvement between stakeholders into
concrete actionable recommendations,
there will be an enhanced ownership
dimension which will translate into
greater and sustained commitment.
The creation of incentives for different
contribution and adoption of the toolbox.
Development and implementation
of a tailored upskilling plan
A tailored upskilling plan should be
developed and take into account the
following elements:
• Number of people to be upskilled;
• Scope of the upskilling programme;
• Timing of the programme;
• Source of funding of the programme;
• Implementation strategy; and
• Potential partners.
In order to provide an answer to these
questions, the toolbox should deliver
specific solutions by determining:
• Who the main industry-specific players
and stakeholders are;
• What kind of assistance in terms of
open collaboration, partnerships and
shared practices can they provide. A
special emphasis should be put on
public-private partnerships or other
public-private collaboration schemes;
• How often the training should be
implemented;
• How to finance the programme in the
most cost-effective and inclusive
manner; and
• Which curricula or learning platforms
are most suitable to offer trainings for
the provision of the most pressing
skills in a specific industry (e-learning
courses, traineeships, apprenticeships,
communal programmes, etc.).
The completion of this second step
ultimately leads to the creation of an
innovative portfolio of curricula. If
properly developed, these curricula will
be recognized by the industry,
employees, and governments as an
attractive operational solution providing
individuals with skills that will ensure
their employability and effectiveness,
which in turn will contribute to enhance
the competitiveness of the EU industry.
These new curricula will be certified and
accredited by national and European
authorities to ensure their quality and
recognition. Similarly to the North
American upskilling initiative ‘Udacity’,
the new curricula will be structured
either around company functions (e.g. IT
developers, security and data officers,
technology integrator and maintenance),
technology (e.g. data analytics, artificial
intelligence) or personal skills (e.g.
communication, project management).
15
Industry and social partners-led toolbox for upskilling the European workforce

Infrastructure requirements and
training providers for upskilling the
workforce
The curricula that will be introduced to
upskill the workforce might require
investments in new physical infra-
structure and up-to-date technological
equipment. For instance, training
employees for fibre optics requires
significant infrastructure and equipment
investments if the trainings are to be
provided in a learning-by-doing manner
by imitating a real life productions
environment.
Policy makers, in collaboration with
industry, need to ensure that the
infrastructure needed to effectively
upskill the workforce is provided.
Training providers should be selected
while taking into account their capacity
to meet specific employee training
objectives in the most efficient manner.
on the target population and to assess
whether the designed training is ready
for full-scale implementation.
Acting as a trial run, the pilot test is a
critical step that needs to be carefully
organised. It enables training designers
to identify potential problems and
unforeseen challenges and to take
actions to address them or to prevent
them from escalating when the full
implementation of the training occurs.
Different categories of upskilling
initiatives can be developed. These
different categories of trainings all have
different types of pilot tests with varying
degrees of difficulties. The following
provides an overall account of potential
actions which can be taken to tailor the
pilot phase to different categories of
upskilling initiative.
Pilot tests for multi-user platforms
to organise trainings
The first category of upskilling initiatives
covers digital platforms set up by
Pilot tests for structural programmes
anticipating future skills needs
The second category of upskilling
initiatives covers organisations that have
set up a structural programme for
upskilling within their own organisation
not specifically targeting one project or
change. These pilot tests need to be
defined by the company in direct
consultation with its employees.
Pilot tests for upskilling programmes
for specific transformation projects
The third category of upskilling
initiatives covers companies that have
rolled out more specific upskilling
initiatives in response to specific change
projects or technology implementation.
The assessment and planning phase of
the pilot test is particularly important as
it needs to be tailored to the specific
goals of the change project.
Box 5: Key recommendations
for an optimal pilot test

C organisations allowing external actors to

Step 3
Pilot test
The aim of the third step is to enable
industry players to test the specific
solutions developed under step 2. Pilot
testing can serve as an opportunity to
implement a new process on a small
scale, to analyse the impact of the project
use them to organise upskilling activities.
Prior to their implementation, these
platforms need to be tested with
potential beneficiaries such
companies, workers (individually and
through their collective representation in
trade unions and training providers. The
platform designers need to consult these
beneficiaries to assess their training
needs and select a test group
representative of the different potential
beneficiaries.
• Carefully select the pilot test group
and ensure full support and
commitment of the group
members to the objective of the
as
pilot test
• Develop a monitoring mechanism
to track the learners’ progress and
levels of achievement and to
capture information about the
effectiveness of the training
• Implement the training pro-
gramme as planned until the end
and then fine-tune it as necessary
• Carefully analyse training results
and involve the pilot testing
participants in the evaluation of
training results
• Draw relevant conclusions and
modify the training programme
accordingly
• Share training findings with all the
actors involved in the training
design and pilot testing and future
training beneficiaries
• Bear in mind that pilot results may
differ from those from a large-
scale evaluation, Pilot testing does
not absolve the organization from
the need to evaluate training
results after the full-scale
implementation.

© goodluz/Shutterstock.com

Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

16

D
Step 4
Impact monitoring
Once the methods to bridge the skills gap
have been identified and implemented, it
is crucial to establish a continuous
system of monitoring progress both at
industry and company level. In order to
deliver value added solutions, the
toolbox should be regularly updated
with technology and industry trends,
financing schemes, partnership opportu-
nities and training suppliers.
Impact monitoring activities will take a
holistic view of the company and
industry value generated by the toolbox
solutions. Relevant indicators include:
• The geographical distribution
companies using the toolbox;
• The number of upskilling programmes
implemented;
• The evolution of the retention rate in
companies using the toolbox to provide
trainings to their employees;
• The number of companies accessing
particular financing schemes;
• Survey campaigns and periodic
meetings to evaluate the progress and
benefits of reskilling programmes at
industry and company level; and
• The level of digital literacy of training
users.
Striking a balance between
upskilling goals and training impact
The monitoring of the toolbox will serve
to identify the key challenges and
unforeseen problems which had not
been detected during the pilot test of the
reskilling initiative. They include for
example problems with the setting of the
course, logistics, and specific training
modules or activities for which more
elaboration, explanation or practice may
be necessary.
The monitoring of the training course
will allow the training designers to
ensure that training modules are
planned and delivered in a suitable
manner in terms of both content and
fulfillment of audience’s requirements. It
is therefore critical to collect relevant
data during the impact monitoring phase
to ensure the effective evaluation of
training results.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
Industry and social partners-led toolbox for upskilling the European workforce
of
The creation of an upskilling programme
is ultimately a repeating process
consisting of four steps:
• Assessment;
• Planning;
• Implementation; and
• Monitoring.
Training designers need to keep in mind
that the monitoring and evaluation of the
upskilling initiative will not ensure it has
an impact on learners if the training has
not been properly assessed and planned
in the first place.
Sharing training evaluation results
with all interested parties
Training evaluations are critical not just
for the trainers, training designers,
companies or policy-makers. Feedback is
essential also for learners to get a better
understanding of their progression. An
impact monitoring of upskilling initia-
tives is therefore necessary for the
learners themselves and they should
therefore be fully associated during the
implementation of the monitoring
exercise.
Leveraging on learners’
feedback to improve and
add value to the training
The evaluation of the upskilling initiative
should provide adequate responses to
the digital leap that industries will
experience in the coming 5 to 10 years
and offer concrete and ready-to-use
suggestions and solutions to SMEs. A
practical way to find these solutions is to
© wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock.com
ask training users about their
recommendations and suggestions for
improvements based on their experience
with the training. All learners, and their
representatives in trade unions, should
be included in the evaluation exercise
since they all have different learning
styles and strategies. An effective
assessment and evaluation of the
upskilling therefore starts with the
involvement of the right stakeholders.
Creating specific monitoring
arrangements for each specific
reskilling initiative
The monitoring of upskilling initiatives is
essential for trainers to assess where
they stand with implementation. Each
specific training project or upskilling
initiative needs to have its specific
monitoring arrangements. Monitoring
mechanisms do not necessarily have to
be particularly elaborate or scientific.
The constant use of the monitoring
system is however critical. In addition,
the gathered information should remain
as straightforward and simple as
possible to facilitate the interpretation of
the training results and the revision of
the upskilling initiative.
Ensuring an effective allocation
of training budgets
The monitoring phase also acts as an
opportunity to ensure a better match
between the training-related expendi-
ture and the training goals being
pursued. Training budgets should
therefore be monitored on a regular
basis and revised according to the
training needs of employees.
17
 4 Financing and
© Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com
Upskilling the workforce in different EU
industrial sectors is a major priority and
challenge. There is a tremendous need
for upskilling as around 100 million
Europeans will have to update their
skills in the coming 5 years1 if they wish
to keep up with the pace of new
technology development. Moreover, the
resistance to adopt new technologies and
to change tasks or functions is alarm-
ingly high amongst the workforce in
Europe.
In this respect, defining a bold incentive
framework to align the vision and
actions of companies, employees and
training bodies is of utmost important if
Europe’s industry wants to maintain its
leading position. Incentives need to be
targeted at three main groups of stake-
holders (Figure 11).
Figure 11: A bold incentive frame-
work targeted at 3 key stakeholders
❶ Providers of new training curricula
• Professional training associations and
companies – define the best programmes
with clear goals and financial means
• Developers of new educational
technologies – essential to increase the
reach and impact of the programmes
• Trainers – to be trained to deliver new
curricula, creating thousands of jobs and
requiring a strategic resource planning
❷ Beneficiary entities
• Companies – with different incentives for
large corporates and SMEs, which will
need more direct financial support
• Administrations, healthcare and other
public funded bodies - tailored
incentives to enable the participation of
officials and public sector employees
• Nonprofit organisations – as a driver of
social cohesion and source of employment
❸ Individuals and employees
– Success relies on personal motivation to
acquire new skills and apply them in a
new competence framework
– Incentives include new remuneration
schemes, new skill recognition pattern
through certified training programmes,
new career paths and increased
employability
18
creating incentives
for the upskilling
of the workforce
A public-sector intervention. An additional
Tapping into
different available
instruments
In order to keep pace with financial
considerations related to the upskilling
of the European workforce, it is impor-
tant to consider the types of upskilling
cost involved.
Differentiating upskilling costs
First, the cost of trainers needs to be
taken in account. This includes the
compensation of individuals, companies
and organisations effectively providing
trainings in classrooms, workshops or on
digital platforms. Second, the cost of the
development, maintenance and revision
of training concepts, curricula and
materials should not be under-estimated.
Third, the cost of both physical and
digital training spaces can also be high.
Last but not least, foregone productivity
needs to be taken into account, as
employees spending hours in training
and upskilling programs are not
productive during those hours.
Highlighting the role of public,
private and individual initiatives
to upskill the workforce
Public authorities can use several
instruments to finance the upskilling of
the European workforce. They include
fiscal instruments such as tax incentives
or reduced social contributions for
employers investing in training and
reskilling, training vouchers, direct
grants and subsidies for specific training
courses and upskilling curricula.
Typically, these instruments face
challenges related to the ‘deadweight
loss effect’ which can be associated with
the financing of upskilling efforts. This
occurs when the employer would have
financed the trainings even without any
challenge is the information lag
regarding the targeting and scoping of
upskilling efforts. These challenges are
one of the reasons why stakeholders
believe that public-sector intervention
should be reserved for basic and general
skills development.
Financing arrangements led by the
private sector have the benefit of being
developed by the best-equipped actors to
assess upskilling needs. They include:
• sectoral training funds;
• mutual training funds within a region
or an ecosystem;
• company-wide training funds (in the
case of very large companies);
• communal training programmes for
micro-enterprises; and
• employer-sponsored apprenticeships.
At the individual level, European
workers and job seekers can sometimes
benefit from public sector guarantees to
reduce the borrowing cost. For instance,
Nordic countries have experimented and
in some cases implemented schemes that
encouraging household savings for
upskilling purposes.
These schemes include individual
learning accounts that are specifically
targeted at saving up for upskilling, and
life-course arrangements that encourage
savings for costs associated with life-
changing events such as having to
provide high-intensity informal care,
switching career tracks, or investing in
upskilling efforts.
Typically, these schemes feature fiscal
facilities to make them more attractive
than regular saving possibilities. At the
same time, the financing of upskilling
efforts at the individual level is also
associated with challenges such as
deferred earnings, credit risks and
return-on-investment risks, liquidity
constraints, and (short-term) economic
impact on consumer spending.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

B this respect, a greater emphasis on
Improving existing
European funding
schemes to develop
digital skills and
generate digital jobs
The European Commission is strongly
committed to improving the labour
market prospects of millions of
Europeans. The Commission is notably
making large sums available for
measures, initiatives, activities and
projects aiming to develop the education
system, the labour market and the
connection between the two.
As part of the Digital Agenda for Europe,
in October 2013 the European Council
recommended to use European
Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF
2014-2020) for the development of
digital skills. More particularly, the
European Social Fund, the Erasmus+
programme and the Youth Employment
initiative are proving increasingly useful
for the upskilling of the workforce. Yet,
there is still large room for improvement
to further increase their use.
European Social Fund
The European Social Fund constitutes
Europe’s main instrument to support job
creation, to help people get better jobs
and to ensure fairer job opportunities for
all EU citizens. The fund will invest EUR
80bn in human-capital-related initiatives
between 2014 and 2020.
The selection of actions and initiatives to
be financed by the Fund is made at
Member-State level. In this respect,
Member States are following their policy
priorities in the selection of upskilling
initiatives to be targeted by the Fund.
According to a recent study, policy
development and implementation
focusing on digital skills and digital jobs
differ across Europe (see Figure 12).
Even though the 2007 e-Skills agenda
gave momentum to greater policy
responses at Member-State level, policy
making in the digital domain is still lacks
consistency and integration. Conse-
quently, the investment potential of the
ESF still opens doors to a large number
of opportunities for actions and initia-
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
tives focusing on digital jobs and skills. In
human-capital development for the
digital domain could be considered. ESF
funding is made available to Member
States and regions via Operational
Programmes.
Figure 12: Mapping ‘e-Skills Policy
Activity’ versus ‘Innovation
Capability’ in Europe, 2013
This image cannot currently be display ed.
Source: Gareis et al., 201428
Youth Employment Initiative
The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI)
constitutes one of the European
Commission’s flagship initiative to tackle
youth unemployment. Acting as a
complementary initiative to support
provided though the ESF, the YEI is a
major EU financial resource enabling the
implementation of the EU Youth
Guarantee schemes. During the period
2014-2020, the Youth Employment
Initiative allocated EUR 6bn (including
EUR 3bn from the ESF) for measures to
provide job opportunities to young
Europeans. The implementation of this
initiative takes place at Member-State
level.
The Youth Employment Initiative
specifically targets the group of young
people referred to as “Not In Education,
Employment or Training (NEET)”.
Measures funded by the initiative should
ensure that people aged 25 and younger
receive decent employment opportuni-
ties, continued education, apprentice-
ships or traineeships within four months
after the end of a job contract or after
school completion.
These measures may include the
creation of strong partnerships with key
stakeholders, the strengthening
employment services to ensure early
intervention and labour-integration
measures. Another key consideration of
the YEI is the facilitation of the Education
to Employment path. To structurally
Financing and creating incentives for the upskilling of the workforce
increase the labour-market value of
youth in NEET, it could be worth
strengthening the focus of the YEI on
digital skills and digital jobs, in order to
emphasise the upskilling of young
workers for jobs in the ICT fields.
Erasmus+
The Erasmus+ programme for education,
training, youth and sport allocates more
than EUR 14bn to upskill and increase
the employability of young Europeans. It
also enables the modernisation of
education, training, and work systems
for young people. The programme
directly creates opportunities for over
4m Europeans.
The Erasmus+ Programme implements
actions focusing on the mobility of
individuals (e.g. trainees, volunteers,
professors, teachers, master students).
The programme notably fosters
cooperation on innovation-related
activities and the exchange of good
practices (e.g. knowledge alliances,
sector skills alliances) on policy reform
(e.g. in the fields of training, education
and youth).
Currently, there are already activities to
address the needs for digital skills
alongside other emerging skills needs
such as professional needs for ‘green’
skills. Consequently, a number of
projects funded through Erasmus+ boost
opportunities for digital skills and jobs.
However, none of the actions imple-
mented by Erasmus+ specifically focuses
on digital skills. All the direct references
to the digital sphere are limited to the
importance of IT support platforms to
offer virtual collaboration spaces for
teachers and trainers.
Overall, the impact of Erasmus+ on the
development of digital skills and the
creation of digital jobs could be
improved. The current focus on digital
skills and jobs depends essentially on
specific projects but Erasmus+ has the
potential to have a much larger impact.
This image cannot currently be display ed.
of
© docstockmedia/Shutterstock.com
19
Financing and creating incentives for the upskilling of the workforce
C Box 6: ARM University
Developing new
support systems
to help SMEs
An important driver for digital upskilling
efforts in organisations is related to the
implementation of new digital solutions
and technologies within these organi-
sations. The integration of new digital
technologies and solutions requires new
skills which are often not mastered by
the current workforce of European
industries and enterprises.
Updating skills and developing new skills
among staff therefore implies direct and
indirect costs for the organisations,
which are often overlooked and costly
when procuring new digital solutions
and technologies (especially for SMEs).
As a result, some organisations do not
tap into the full benefits of digital
solutions and technologies while others
simply decide not to implement new
digital solutions and technologies.
A voucher system was developed by
training solution providers to help SMEs
overcome the challenges related to costly
digital upskilling-trainings. In these
contexts, governments usually provide
SMEs with training vouchers exclusively
targeting the digital upskilling of staff
members whose work is impacted by the
implementation of new digital solutions.
Consequently, the impact of this voucher
system on the digital transformation of
European industries and enterprises is
three-fold. It helps to further increase
the uptake of new digital solutions and
technologies by European SMEs. It serves
to achieve a higher level of digital
literacy among European SMEs and their
staff and it boosts the potential for
digital entrepreneurship in the European
economy.
Relying on an active
network of contributors
The successful implementation of an
upskilling initiative is also based on an
active network of contributors. Contri-
butors can first increase the chance of
success of the initiative by providing the
necessary funding and supporting
hardware. A prime example of the role
that a large network of contributors
could have on the upskilling of the
workforce is illustrated by the initiatives
led by the ARM University.
20
The ARM University Program enables the
educational use of ARM technology to train
the next generation of engineers by offering
educators, students and researchers state-
of-the-art education kits. The programme
provides a variety of teaching materials,
hardware platforms, software development
tools, IP, and other resources for educators,
students, and researchers.
These contributions allow educators to
combine traditional lecture-based teaching
with hands-on experience in labs, featuring
the latest technology from the field. This
new approach does not only ensures that
students are taught relevant skills, it also
motivates them to continue a career in
microelectronics.
© ARM Limited
External contributors can also
strengthen the attractiveness of the
upskilling initiative by publishing job
offers corresponding to the training
content of specific upskilling initiatives
For example, corporate partners of the
Academy Cube (see Box on page 12) can
upload vacancies on the platform of the
Academy Cube. They can also identify
potential talents to be recruited by
searching in the database of registered
workers and job seekers available on the
platform.
External contributors can also increase
the impact of upskilling initiatives by
acting as ambassadors or by becoming
trainers as demonstrated by the
volunteers of the CoderDojo initiative.
Box 7: CoderDojo
CoderDojo is a non-profit organisation of
free, volunteer-led, community-based pro-
gramming clubs for young people. At a Dojo,
young people between 7 and 17 can learn
how to code, develop websites, apps,
programs, games and explore technology in
an informal and creative environment.
The network is run by the CoderDojo
foundation, a small team operating from
Dublin. All the educational content is freely
available through the community platform
and translation of content to as many
languages as possible is also enabled thanks
to volunteers from the community. By
making the movement open source,
thousands of dedicated champions and
mentors have set up more Dojos across the
world, making the CoderDojo movement a
global phenomenon.
Adapt training format and content
to the characteristics of the learner
The way knowledge and skills are taught
and the type of mentoring activities
provided have a critical impact on the
ability of learners to acquire new skills.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,
and upskilling efforts taking into account
the characteristics of the learner have
the best chances of generating the
desired impact. The motivation of the
learner to upskill should also determine
the most appropriate way to transfer
knowledge.
Favour long-term
upskilling initiatives
The digital upskilling of the (future)
workforce can take a lot of time,
Organisations setting up upskilling
initiatives should therefore keep that in
mind when designing new upskilling
initiatives and also consider various
aspects which could delay the learning
progresses of the workforce.
Box 8: API SpA
The upskilling experience of API SpA can
serve to demonstrate why a holistic and
continuous approach to quality improve-
ment is crucial. API SpA is an Italian
company specialised in the production of
protective coatings and resin flooring.
In a previous upskilling effort, the company
trained all its workers on various aspects
related to the pollution of its factory.
However, as a consequence of the reduction
of pollution, the quality of process output
decreased and customer complaints
increased. The company managers therefore
realised that a simple refreshment of
knowledge was not enough to increase the
overall process quality.
Employers need to establish a connection or
emotional link with each of their workers in
order to induce successful change. Since this
upskilling experience, API has changed its
upskilling approach by offering training
every 4 months, instead of only once. In
addition, the examples from practice (case
studies) used during the training were
changed per session. Consequently, the
results of the training (process output
quality) increased, and workers evaluated
the newly obtained knowledge more
positively.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

D definition of the type of funding
Create a European
one-stop-shop
for all available
funding schemes
An increasing number of upskilling
initiatives are being developed to bridge
the European skills gap. These initiatives
are led by different actors. However,
with the multiplicity of upskilling
initiatives, workers and companies are
often lost and have difficulties
identifying, taking up and replicating
relevant initiatives.
Further promoting existing
funding schemes
At European level, substantial funds have
consistently been made available to
improve educational outcomes. The
extent to which these funds have been
used to finance upskilling initiatives and
activities (notably focusing on digital
skills) is limited (especially as regards
the ESF, the Youth Employment Initiative
and Erasmus+).
For each of these programmes, the
emphasis on digital skills and jobs could
be strengthened. This reinforcement of
the digital dimension could notably be
achieved though the definition of a major
pan-European funding scheme to
channel public funding for upskilling
initiatives. The targeted initiatives
should be based on robust and scalable
models. They should demonstrate
tangible results and success stories.
Training schemes and funding mecha-
nisms at Member State level should tap
into this scheme to make sure they offer
the right instruments for the upskilling
of the workforce. As regards the design
and the implementation of such a pan-
European scheme, industry players have
a key role to play. They should be
involved at all levels to ensure that the
designed instruments receive the
required support on a timely manner.
Developing cross-sector and
cross-industry partnerships to
finance the required trainings
If European countries are willing to
engage in the upskilling of their
workforce, all stakeholders should be
aligned on how to finance the specific
activities and initiatives required to
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
Financing and creating incentives for the upskilling of the workforce
achieve this goal. Coordination on the
instruments needed and the identity of
the funding authorities is also critical.
For instance, training vouchers have the
ability to help SMEs overcome the
financial barriers preventing them from
financing the staff trainings required for
the adoption of new digital solutions and
technologies.
Identifying the relevant
coordinators for the
European one-stop-shop
Mobilising the right individuals and
organisations to set up and coordinate a
European one-stop-shop on upskilling
initiatives is critical for its success and
continuity. Public authorities at EU,
national and local levels need to work in
collaboration with industry represent-
tatives and training providers to create a
transparent and easily accessible
European one-stop-shop.
This one stop shop on upskilling
approach will be particularly beneficial
for the implementation of the New Skills
Agenda actions, namely the Digital Skills
and Jobs Coalition and the Blueprint for
Sectorial Cooperation on Skills.
A clear identification of the learners’
needs is necessary and will guarantee
that an appropriate response is provided
in order to ensure the best fit between
the user’s needs and the service
delivered.
Ensuring the relevance of
the funded upskilling initiatives
The relevance of upskilling initiatives
should be assessed in terms of the fit
between what the learners and the
employers expect from the trainings and
the skills actually provided by the
trainings. The relevance of upskilling
initiatives will ensure their scalability,
transferability and it will also act as a
guarantee of their sustainability over
time.
The most effective way to ensure the
relevance of upskilling initiatives is
therefore to involve all interested parties
in the their design. Industry players
need to clearly define their skills
requirements and the skills gap of
employees needs to be clearly assessed.
The regular impact monitoring of the
upskilling initiatives will also be key to
ensure that the initiatives remain
relevant over time.
Adapting the content of upskilling
initiatives to national specificities
The adaptation of the content of the
upskilling initiatives to the specific
needs of national companies is key to
increase the impact of the European one-
stop shop. In order to do so, the
appointment of local ambassadors of the
European one-stop-shop with a deep
knowledge of the local training needs
could be an effective way to ensure the
relevance of the platform to local
specificities.
Ensuring the recognition
of funded trainings
The recognition and certification of the
trainings of the European one-stop-shop
is crucial to ensure the positive impact of
the funded upskilling initiatives. The
certification and accreditation of
trainings increase their relevance for
learners since it serves as an effective
way to increase their labour-market
value and also facilitates job mobility.
© Wright Studio/Shutterstock.com
21
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s/?publicationid=48

Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship

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About the Strategic Policy Forum
on Digital Entrepreneurship
The Strategic Policy Forum on Digital
Entrepreneurship was set up in 2014 to
outline what should be the short and
long-term strategy for digital
entrepreneurship in Europe, to
implement this strategy and advise the
European Commission on key priorities.
The objectives of the Strategic Policy
Forum were to reinforce dialogue
between industry, and the scientific and
political communities, with the aim of
shaping an ambitious EU vision and a
European roadmap that will fuel digital
entrepreneurship in Europe. The Forum
advises the Commission on policy issues
and actions to foster digital
entrepreneurship and promotes the
development of policy by EU countries at
national and regional level.
The priority areas to be covered by the
Forum’s work, include:
• Identifying new business
opportunities for jobs and growth:
the focus is on how digital tools
enable the development of new start-
ups in all sectors of the economy, as
well as the transformation and
growth of existing companies (both
SMEs and corporates), including
social enterprises and organisations.
• Removing the barriers: the focus is
on removing the most significant
barriers, at all levels, spanning
education, skills and entrepreneurial
culture, technology, regulatory
issues, taxation, access to finance, etc.
• Raising commitment and actions
among the key stakeholders: this
includes the public sector, as policy
maker, as well as driver and enabler
of digital entrepreneurship (e.g.
through open government data,
public procurement), private
stakeholders and public-private
partnerships, in support of EU Digital
Entrepreneurship policy.
Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
The members are appointed by the • Non-industry/Private organisations
Commission, identified among key actors supporting and monitoring digital
in the digital entrepreneurship field. The entrepreneurship, including NGOs,
European Commission sought to achieve trade unions, universities, research
a balanced overall composition, based on organisations, intellectual property
broad representation and expertise of experts, equity firms, etc. and
the members while keeping the size of
the Strategic Policy Forum to a • Public authorities, particularly active
manageable level. in the area of digital entrepre-
neurship.
The following key organisations are
represented:
• Industry representatives, including
digital entrepreneurs, traditional
industries (pioneers in the digital
transformation of their business),
technology service providers to
digital entrepreneurs and relevant
associations;
President • Caroline Jenner, JA-YE Europe
• John Higgins, DigitalEurope • Cornelia Kutterer, Microsoft
Vice-Presidents • Silvia Leal Martin, IE Business School
• Irene Braam, Bertelsmann • Javier Lopez Calvet, Carrefour
• Antonio Murta, Pathena • Colin Mason, University of Glasgow
• Hanne Melin, eBay
Members • Jeremy Millard, Danish Technological
• Filippo Addarii, Plus Value Institute
• Filippo Berto, Berto Salotti • Marco Pancini, Google
• Paul Browne, Enterprise Ireland • Veronika Pistyur, Bridge Budapest
Representative in Brussels • Axel Pols, Bitkom Research
• Nicholas Davis, World Economic • Eduardo Salido Cornejo, Telefonica
Forum Digital
• Franc J. Dorfer, Eierfabrik • Bram Smits, Materialise
• Daniela Florea, Geo Strategies • Vincenzo Spiezia, OECD
• Bartlomiej Gola, SpeedUp Venture • Karolina Telejko, SAP
Capital Group
• Mihkel Tikk, Estonian Information
• Blaž Golob, GoForeSight Institute Systems Authority
• Sandy Grom, Department for Business • Stijn Van der Plaetse, Telenet
Innovation and Skills • Reinhilde Veugelers, KU Leuven
• Ignasi Guardans, K&L Gates
• Laurent Zibell, industriAll European
• Fernando Herrero, Madrid Emprende trade union
• Alain Heureux, The Egg Brussels • Fabian Zuleeg, European Policy
• Patrick Hoffstetter, Renault Centre
Web page of the Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship
http://ec.europa.eu/ growth/sectors/digital-economy/
entrepreneurship/strategic-policy-forum/index_en.htm
This report was prepared by the Strategic Policy Forum with the support of PwC, CARSA, IDATE
and ESN as part of the Digital Entrepreneurship Monitor project for the European Commission,
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.
Editors: Laurent Probst, Laurent Frideres, Bertrand Pedersen & Virginie Lefebvre, PwC
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