Spain believes that the global target of training 20 million professionals on these issues by 2030 “could fall short”
Digitization is in many cases faster than the development of citizens’ digital skills. So much so that only 54% of Europeans aged 16-74 have at least basic digital skills, according to data from the Digital Economy and Society Index 2022, leaving jobs unfilled due to lack of qualifications. This is why the global target of training 20 million professionals in digital skills by 2030 could, in the words of the Secretary of State for Digitization, “fall short”, as the market is more likely to demand these professionals with advanced qualifications. .
For this reason, Spain sees progress in learning new digital skills as a “global need”, not only from a social point of view, but also essential for creating the jobs of the future. This was stated by Artiega at the meeting of the D9+ Group, a committee made up of the nine most digitized countries in Europe, which met in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria under the Presidency of Spain, within the framework of the IVth Ministerial Conference on the Digital Economy of the OECD.
The meeting, in which Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden participated, also focused on the actions to be taken to maintain a high level of security in the roll-out of 5G in the new world stage. Nevertheless, Artigas assured at the meeting that it is a priority for Spain to promote the regulation of European digital identity, a digital portfolio project available to both European citizens and companies that allows them to identify or confirm certain personal information in order to access services, both public and private, online or offline, across the EU in a “secure and reliable” manner.
And it is that only 60% of the population of the EU, in 14 Member States, can use their national electronic identification in the cross-border area. And according to data from the European Commission, only 14% of providers of key public services in all Member States allow cross-border authentication with an electronic identification system.
Likewise, Spain believes that the group meeting this Friday in Las Palmas must have the capacity to act independently in the digital world and, above all, to manage the consequences in the analogue world, to ensure that interdependence is much better is controlled. “Better governed digital sovereignty would allow us to choose without obligation between the available options, including the ability to develop the technology in our states,” said Artigas.
On the other hand, as stated this Thursday in the Final Declaration of the IVth Ministerial Conference, the most digitized countries in Europe have chosen to work towards a digital transformation that guarantees respect for fundamental rights through the development of “intelligent regulation and the establishment of the borders and the action framework.” That is why the Secretary of State has requested the support of the D9+ Group in this sense so that the European Union develops a European Certificate of Training in Digital Competences.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
