Portugal’s response to the challenge launched by the European Commission is coordinated by the INCode.2030 program and brings together stakeholders from all walks of life.
Coordinated by INCoDe.2030, an integrated public policy initiative dedicated to strengthening digital skills, the Portuguese Coalition for Digital Employability (CPED) has already resumed work to promote the country’s post-Covid-19 labor recovery.
From the government to the most varied private and public entities, associations, companies, NGDO’s, university centers and confederations, everyone joined in a meeting to respond to the European Union’s challenge of filling the lack of digital skills in Portugal and promoting greater employability in this area. CPED has aimed to understand the national panorama of digital competence in different territories, sectors and ages, to stimulate multistakeholder collaboration between entities since 2015.
The emergence of the pandemic has awakened the urgent need for innovation and transformation in countries, accelerating the entire process of digitization and technology. It made it clear that technology will be a central pillar for all companies and future employability. It is also in this context that the entities that make up the Portuguese Coalition for Digital Employability (CPED) reinforce their joint purpose to define the mechanisms that promote the adoption of innovative measures and the training of young people in information and communication technologies. The requalification of the unemployed workforce and the awareness of the unique and urgent opportunity that this area and context represent. Some of the conclusions recently released by the INcode.2030 Program point to the fact that Portugal has about 52% of the population with basic digital skills, a reality that is still worrying and needs to be reversed.
“In less than five years, 85% of jobs in Europe will need at least basic digital skills and many of those will need more than that. The main objective of the coordination, by INCoDe.2030, of this CPED is to focus on the response to this reality and on the technological and digital acceleration that occurred with the emergence of COVID-19. It is urgent to stimulate employability, training and specialization in digital applications and technologies, in order to meet the needs of the private market and the public sector,” says Nuno Feixa Rodrigues, General Coordinator of the Incode.2030 program.
Some of the entities that are part of this coalition are AICEP Portugal Global, the Coordination and Regional Development Commission of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, Algarve, Alentejo and the North. Confederação de Comércio e Serviços de Portugal, DECO, DGES, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, IAPMEI, Instituto de Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP) and PT Digital, among many others.