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Talent is now recognized globally as the single major issue standing in the way of technology companies achieving their objectives. The shift to digital and technology-led economy is creating a talent void which is putting many companies' survival at risk. In a research report published in June, Harvard Business Review and Red Hat pair up to review some of the best practices CIOs can share in the war for talent across the globe.

The nature of skills that organisations need are changing at a dramatic pace. With cloud computing and mobile-first services, skills that were important a few years ago are becoming fast irrelevant. At the same time, the higher-level skills now in demand are scarce. In 2015 big data and analytics top the list of hard-to-fill positions in a global survey of 4,000 IT leaders by Harvey Nash, a global recruitment company headquartered in London.

Read more on e-Skills for Jobs 2016

The Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants (FSM) and the Third Country National Support Network (TSN Malta) are inviting interested migrants to participate in a training programme on mentoring, peacebuilding, and community methods for supporting people to improve their basic skills in communication, language and literacy for employment.

The aim of this project is to train migrants and their communities to develop their own mentoring and support skills and programmes for helping vulnerable persons integrate in society through the provision of mentoring and support. The project will provide learning and support tools, based on community methods, that participants can use to start their own mentoring programmes to provide employment and social support, to promote literacy, and to help people to improve their language, IT and communication skills, as well as acquire cultural knowledge.

The project will also train migrants in peacebuilding, and on how one can analyse and resolve cultural conflicts. Participants will find space to organise their own cultural events during the project, based on these principles. They will also have the chance to work with migrants from other cultures, and to develop cross-cultural activities.

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As part of the Skills Agenda for Europe, the Commission has published an "Entrepreneurship Competence Framework" to raise consensus about what entrepreneurship skills are.

The development of the entrepreneurial capacity of European citizens and organisations is one of the key policy objectives for the EU and Member States.

The Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp) proposes a shared definition of entrepreneurship as a competence and aims to establish a bridge between education and work.

The framework develops 15 competences along an 8-level progression model and proposes a comprehensive list of 442 learning outcomes.

The framework can be used as a basis for the development of curricula and learning activities fostering entrepreneurship as a competence. Also, it can be used for the definition of parameters to assess learners’ and citizens’ entrepreneurial competences.

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The social and economic impact of technology is widespread and accelerating. The speed and volume of information have increased exponentially. Experts are predicting that 90% of the entire population will be connected to the internet within 10 years. With the internet of things, the digital and physical worlds will soon be merged. These changes herald exciting possibilities. But they also create uncertainty. And our kids are at the centre of this dynamic change.

Children are using digital technologies and media at increasingly younger ages and for longer periods of time. They spend an average of seven hours a day in front of screens – from televisions and computers, to mobile phones and various digital devices. This is more than the time children spend with their parents or in school. As such, it can have a significant impact on their health and well-being. What digital content they consume, who they meet online and how much time they spend onscreen – all these factors will greatly influence children’s overall development.

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The Science and Technology Committee publishes a report warning that the UK risks being left behind if the Government does not take more action to address the digital skills crisis.

Report findings

12.6 million adults in the UK lack basic digital skills; 5.8 million people have never used the internet; only 35% of computer teachers in schools have a relevant degree and 30% of the required number of computer science teachers have not been recruited; and 13% of computer graduates are still unemployed 6 months after leaving university. This digital skills gap is costing the UK economy £63 billion a year in lost GDP.

The gap between digital skills possessed and digital skills needed demonstrates a long-running weakness in the UK’s approach to this crisis. The Committee is calling for:

• Digital skills to be made one of the core components in all apprenticeships, not just "digital apprenticeships"
• Industry led vocationally-focused digital careers advice in universities.
• Universities to provide ‘code conversion courses’ to help graduates from non-computer science backgrounds enter the tech sector
• After introducing the much needed computer curriculum in schools, the Government to establish a forum for employers to feedback on the continuing development of the curriculum, and Ofsted to include it in its school inspections
• A review of the qualifying requirements for ‘shortage occupation’ IT jobs under ‘Tier 2 visas’, to allow SMEs to get critical digital skills from abroad
• Apprenticeship scheme processes to be simplified to allow SMEs to participate more easily.

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