Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Günther Oettinger, invited ECEG’s President Stephen Elliott, Chief Executive at Chemical Industries Association, UK, and Secretary General Emma Argutyan on 20 September 2016 to the Berlaymont building to exchange on key challenges of digital skills shortages. Together with other sectoral social partners, Stephen Elliott presented how the ECEG and its member associations will take action to support and deliver training and certification of digital skills.

As outlined in ECEG’s position paper on the impact of digital transformation, the ECEG calls for a sector-specific approach to anticipate change, emphasising the importance of promoting STEM skills and 21st-century skills, such as abstract reasoning and self-learning competence, in addition to soft skills. Moreover, Stephen Elliott reiterated ECEG’s commitment to the European Alliance for Apprenticeships.

Luc Triangle, General Secretary of ECEG’s social partner, industriAll Europe, declared that both sectoral social partners agreed recently on a joint position on digitalisation, which, once finalised and published, could be used as an example by the European Commission.

The ECEG looks forward to joining the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition to be launched 1st December 2016.