October 2016

European Digital Skills Award 2016

The European Commission invites nominations for the best projects, which encourage people to improve their digital skills. The intention is to identify projects that can inspire others to take similar actions all over Europe.

Digital skills are one of the cornerstones of a well-functioning Digital Single Market. In June, as part of the Skills Agenda for Europe, the Commission set out steps to improve digital skills in Europe through the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition. The Coalition calls on Member States to develop comprehensive digital skills' strategies by mid-2017, and stakeholders to establish national digital skills coalitions. It also calls for measures which will bring digital skills to all levels of education and training. Moreover the Commission supports EU Code Week, 15-23 October, where hundreds of thousands of people across Europe can improve their digital knowhow in coding events.

The new European Digital Skills Award aims to celebrate outstanding projects developing the digital competences of Europeans for work, education and life in general.

The Commission hopes to identify projects that have achieved a significant and measureable impact and should have the possibility to be replicable and scalable in other regions or sectors.

The award is open to all types of projects irrespective of the location or the type of organisation involved e.g.: national or local public authorities, businesses, education, non-governmental organisations, associations or a mix thereof.

Winners and finalists will be selected in four award categories:

> Digital skills for all – developing digital skills to enable all citizens to be active in our digital society

> Digital skills for the labour force – developing digital skills for the digital economy, e.g. upskilling and reskilling workers, jobseekers; actions on career advice and guidance

> More and better trained ICT professionals in Europe – developing high level digital skills for ICT professionals in all industry sectors

> Digital skills in education – transforming teaching and learning of digital skills in a lifelong learning perspective, including the training of teachers

Winners and finalists will be invited to exhibit their project at the conference and will be featured by the European Commission in the media, website and newsletters.

The best projects will be awarded the European Digital Skills Award 2016 on 1 December 2016 in Brussels by Günther H. Oettinger, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, during the launch conference of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition.