A busy but satisfying week for the eSkills Malta Foundation

• June 26, 2017
• admin

​Written by Bernadatte Zerafa, eSkills Malta Foundation Manager

Last week has been quite busy but satisfying for the eSkills Malta Foundation. On Thursday, the foundation organised an international event, entitled “The Impact of IT Professionalism on the European economy”, in collaboration with the European Commission, CEPIS, ICS, and Capgemini Consulting. The event was organised during this period to complement the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and in fact it was held back-to-back with the EU Digital Assembly organised in Malta between the 15th and 16th June. During the seminar, the recently published comprehensive proposal for a European framework for IT Professionalism was distributed to the attendees. The purpose of the event was to celebrate IT Professionalism, particularly the role and contribution that IT professionals play in building the digital economy and society.

The event was inaugurated by the Maltese Digital Champion, Mr Godfrey Vella, followed by other speakers from all over Europe, including Andre Richier from the European Commission, Niels van der Linden from Capgemini Consulting, Fiona Fanning from CEPIS, Mary Cleary from ICS, Carm Cachia from the eSkills Malta Foundation, Pascal Ravesteijn, Hogeschool Utrecht, Gian Marco Campagnolo from Edinburgh University, Professor Ernest Cachia from the University of Malta and Conrad Vassallo from MCAST. The Parliamentary Secretary for the Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation, Mr Silvio Schembri who was also representing the Office of the Prime Minister, delivered a speech in the closing of the event.

The event was then followed by a workshop organised by the European Commission and the eSkills Malta Foundation, in which the discussion focused on the progress and ambitions of a service contract on “Digital Organisational Frameworks & IT Professionalism” run for European Commission DG GROWTH, coordinated by Capgemini Consulting in collaboration with Empirica and IDC. The workshop was well attended by 25 IT professionals and education professionals, half of whom were coming from Malta and the rest from all over Europe.

On Thursday, the eSkills Malta Foundation also attended a workshop for the National and Regional Coalitions for Digital Skills and Jobs. The workshop was held at Dar l-Ewropa in Valletta. In December 2016, the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition was launched and the eSkills Malta Foundation is Malta’s National Coalition. National and regional coalitions for digital skills play a key role in helping citizens and labour force to get the right skills for the digital age. Whilst there are already several European coalitions that have been launched, some are still in the making. The workshop served as a venue to take stock of the progress that is made, discuss challenges, share experiences and explore new avenues for digital skills development.

Adjacent to this workshop, the eSkills Malta Foundation also took part in the Digital Expo which was held on the 15th and 16th June during the Digital Assembly at the Mediterranean Conference Centre Valletta. The Digital Expo gave the opportunity to Maltese IT companies, agencies and entities to exhibit their products/artefacts/robotics that represent the local achievements in digital skills. The eSkills Malta Foundation was joined by the Foundation for Information Technology Accessibility (FITA), easypeasy coding and Educ Investment.​