Fit4Internet project - Austria | Digital Skills and Jobs Platform

Founded on an initiative by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs back in 2018, fit4Internet. at put the foundations of the current Austrian National Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs.

The non-profit association fit4internet has dedicated itself to standardisation, evaluation and certification of digital skills, with the goal of enabling the competent use of digital technologies amongst the Austrian population, boosting digital literacy, and making sure everyone in society is able to make the most of the benefits brought by digitalisation.

About this initiative

Context and background

Fit4Internet addresses a well-known issue, present in the labour market - overall lack of digital literacy. With technology advancing at a rapid pace, digital literacy has become akin to being able to live and work in an intensifying, digital-first world. Online tools are also being developed every other hour. But society has never really managed to catch up: not everyone can take part in the digital transition, and aspects like socio-economic background, origin, or gender, still determine the extent to which one can benefit from digitalisation itself.

Austria is both a European and global leader when it comes to digital skills, and especially digital literacy. According to Eurostat, in 2023 the ratio of Austrians who had at least basic digital skills stood at 64.7%, well above the EU average of 55.6%. Across policy frameworks and national roadmaps, Austria's digital strategy aims to see the entire working population be equipped with basic digital literacy skills by 2030. This target surpasses the one of the EU Digital Decade of 80%. And while Austria is already starting from a much better position than other EU Member States, challenges remain. Within the country, the shortage of experts in ICT is leading to bottlenecks in the labour market and reinforces inequalities. A 2020 Austrian article suggests that around 80% of vacancies in ICT in Austria go unfilled.

Fit4Internet: leaving no one behind

With the aim of ensuring everyone has access to digital skills and tools, fit4Internet is actively trying to bridge the skills gap accelerated by the digital transformation, and leave no citizen behind. Another goal is to equip people in Austria with a variety of opportunities to up- and re-skill, and reap the benefits of digitalisation. To achieve this, ‘fit4internet’ pools a whole database of resources, sets standards for digital skills, coordinates other actors in the Austrian market and beyond, offers skills assessments, and produces several training courses in digital skills. Fit4Internet targets young people that are just starting out, or wondering which career path to embark on, but also older people in the 60+ age group, who are typically excluded from the labour market. In this way, the initiative increases the digital 'fitness' of the Austrian population, promotes the increased integration of digital technologies in teaching and learning, and helps to reduce inequalities.

Fit4Intermet's Digital Fitness Check

Fit4Internet is the main actor behind the Digital Fitness Test - an online, free self-assessment tool developed specifically with young people in mind, that offers a quick assessment of one's digital competences.

Why is this a good practice?

Fit4Internet provides a range of accessible self-assessment tools (f4i-tools), which test the level of digital competence across 4 areas: everyday life, the workplace, safety, and understanding of artificial intelligence (AI). Once they complete the test, users can download a short report (or a longer one for a fee), highlighting strong and weak areas.

Fit4Internet also focuses on enhancing basic skills in mobile internet use throughout the Austrian society and workforce and developing the Austrian DigComp framework so that it reflects the Austrian context and involve all Austrian citizens. The website also incorporates an online repository of trainings in different formats (face-to-face, blended and online), free and for a cost, from a variety of providers. Additional sections and features include: multimedia information modules on the digital competencies and on digital applications in everyday life, as well as an online learning module on AI. Information on the latest developments and trends in digitalisation across sectors is also available through the initiative's website.

All this essentially means Fit4Internet scores high in accessibility: information on the platform is for everyone: from young people and students, to parents and adults looking for up- or re-skilling opportunities. It also covers a range of topics: from content on basic digital literacy and online safety, to ones on specific digital technologies like blockchain and AI.

Today, the Fit4Internet platform's training repository has over 100 courses on offer in either German or English. What is more, the training catalogue contains a range of resources with different teaching and learning formats - something that not only supports skills building for broad target groups, but also makes it easily scalable and replicable in other contexts. Through active engagement of its stakeholders throughout economy, politics and society, Fit4Internet today brings together more than 28 associated members and has ran more than 10,000 digital fitness tests. It has also supported the organisation and active participation of Austrian society in EU-wide and national initiatives - Youth Hackatons, CodingDay4Kids, EU Code Week, and many others.