Digital skills in focus at Annual EU4Digital Start-ups and Innovation Forum 2023
Date:
09/03/23
The EU4Digital Facility will bring together key policy makers, leading start-up ecosystems organisations and experts in the area of digital innovation and startup ecosystem development in its 2023 Annual EU4Digital Start-ups and Innovation Forum. This high-level policy event will focus on ‘Digital upskilling of SMEs and start-ups in the Eastern Partnership region’ (EaP). The event will be held remotely in the form of a virtual session on 9 March 2023.
This year, the forum will provide the venue for Eastern partner policymakers and key ICT innovation ecosystem actors, as well as international donors, to share experiences and strategic plans regarding support of SMEs’ access to digital skills, helping to reach the goal to upskill 1 million people in the Eastern partner countries.
Regional challenges
There are some challenges in the EaP region, such as insufficient knowledge about digital trends and tools as well as their social and economic impact. Surveys show that the biggest barriers to digitalise the region’s SMEs include this lack of knowledge and a lack of possibilities to use digital tools in business activities. There is a low level of digital skills maturity and difficulties in applying digital methods and tools in work-related environments.
Who is the forum for?
The audience of the event will include representatives of the European Commission (DG NEAR); ministerial-level representatives and agencies coordinating the development of innovation ecosystem and SME support; IT associations and networks of SMEs with a focus on digital markets; and innovation clusters and key online digital skills platform operators. Participation in the forum is by invitation only.
Forum agenda
The forum will be opened with welcome notes from DG NEAR and DG CNECT representatives, introducing the EU strategy and policy agenda on support for SMEs’ digital skills, as well as EC access support plans for the EaP region, and highlighting 2023 as the European Year of Skills.
The agenda will include:
a keynote speech disclosing the tools and innovative model EY uses to digitally upskill its staff, which could be used to accelerate digital upskilling in the Eastern Partnership;
a panel discussion where representatives of Eastern partner countries’ innovation and SME support agencies exhibit solutions and discuss challenges;
a presentation of the EU4DIGITALEdTech Hub, its ongoing design and inviting stakeholders to join in with elaborating its operational and governance model and selecting the educational programme priorities;
a tour de table where international donors spotlight programmes and initiatives for supporting digital upskilling of SMEs that could inspire and be considered for localisation in the Eastern partner countries.
Following each part of the event, participants will be able to ask questions and share their own experiences and ideas with governmental representatives and international donors.
In case of any questions, please contact the EU4Digital Facility ICT Innovation team at eu4digital@lt.ey.com, noting in the topic ‘Start-ups and Innovation Forum 2023’.
We use cookies on this site to improve your website experience, to enhance site navigation and analyse site usage. By clicking “Accept all cookies” you consent to our use of cookies.
You can find out more about which cookies we are using or adjust your cookie settings in the Cookies policy.
Functionality Cookies
Functionality cookies, which are essential to the functioning of the website. These cookies also which help us measure the website’s performance and improve your experience, as well as remembering any settings you might have selected.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
Advertising/targeting cookies
Advertising/targeting cookies, which we use to track user activity and sessions so that we can deliver a more personalized service, and (in the case of advertising cookies) which are set by the third parties with whom we execute advertising campaigns and allow us to provide advertisements relevant to you. These are optional cookies and users can choose to opt out at any moment.