All Digital Week 2021 Launch Event: Digital Skills for a Stronger Europe

Europe needs digital skills to go beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, which has presented humanity with a huge challenge to our known infrastructures – education systems, healthcare provision, social support, businesses and community cohesion. Society is tired of it all, and misinformation is one of the few things flourishing. At the same time, we have all been forced to learn new digital skills. New technologies to enable our lives to continue. New skills to continue learning, teaching, working, running a business, communicating with loved ones, and even discerning what information we can trust.

All Digital Week campaign has been running every March since 2010 and helped more than 1.3 million people to get online for the first time or enhance their digital skills. Once again, in 2021 it will address the importance of digital skills and will support thousands of people across Europe to gain those.

During 2020 the European Commission consulted stakeholders and published the Digital Education Action Plan, which sets out wide-ranging principles, priorities, and actions to take Europe forward with digital skills. ALL DIGITAL welcomes the Digital Education Action Plan, and during All Digital Week 2021 hundreds of events across Europe will support educators to ‘be a digital hero’, boosting citizens’ employability, helping them to access healthcare and government services, increase their social connections, and counter disinformation. Events will also help businesses to become more resilient focusing on social media and efficient homeworking.

The launch event for the All Digital Week 2021 campaign will be opened by Chair of the Board of ALL DIGITAL Achilles Kameas and CEO of ALL DIGITAL Peter Palvolgyi. In the keynote message, Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, will provide brief reflections on the Digital Education Action Plan and All Digital Week.  Stefano Scarpetta, Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs at OECD will follow Commissioner Gabriel expanding on the needs for digital skills in the post-pandemic world.

A panel discussion will follow the keynote speakers, with

• Victor Negrescu MEP, Vice-Chair CULT Committee on Education & Training
• Veronica Mobilio, European Commission, DG Education, Youth, Sport & Culture, Policy Officer
• Simon Delakorda, Director of the Institute for Electronic Participation.
• Other panellists from industry are to be confirmed.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Prof Achilles Kameas, Chair of the Board of ALL DIGITAL.

The event and the panel in particular will consider a number of key statements and questions that arise from the Digital Education Action Plan consultation, for example that 95% of respondents consider the COVID-19 crisis to be a ‘turning point’ for how technology is used in education and training. The event will ask how we can ensure that it is a turning point. Further to this, more than 50% of Digital Education Action Plan respondents “plan to take action to further improve their digital competences in the future”. How can we capitalise on these good intentions? ALL DIGITAL looks forward to a lively debate considering these and other important topics.

READ THE BLOG AND WATCH THE VIDEO