On 5 July, ICS Secretary General, Mary Cleary, participated in the Irish bilateral meeting of the ‘EU Structured Dialogue’.
Among the key points presented by ICS was the emphasis on digital literacy and that advanced digital skills cannot be achieved without a digitally literate population. Mary Cleary also stated that there must be a national work environment that attracts more people into the IT professional workspace. She also mentioned that we must make sure that the goal of having 20 million IT professionals by 2030 will translate into 20 million professional people who are working and operating at the highest levels of quality. Standards is a very important part of professionalism, and frameworks such as the European e-Competence Framework (e-CF) are helping to build strong professional practices that gives society the ability and the wish to trust the IT profession.
The EU Structured Dialogue on Digital Education and Skills was announced in October 2021 and is based on the priority of the European Commission and Member States to develop a digitally skilled workforce, digitally empowered citizens as well as a strong digital education system.