5 Years of DSJP: perspectives from National Coalitions stakeholders

The Digital Skills and Jobs Platform (DSJP) was launched five years ago with the goal to become a central hub for Europe’s digital transformation: facilitating collaboration, visibility, and impact across the continent.

This anniversary is a celebration for the organisations, educators, and professionals who have used DSJP to connect and share their work. In this article we will hear testimonials from some of the National Coalitions who are fundamental to the DSJP.

Austria: From national action to European progress

“Our journey began in 2023, when OeAD became the implementation partner of Austria’s Digital Skills Initiative and subsequently the National Coalition. Coming from an organisation deeply rooted in European cooperation, we were glad to bring the Digital Skills Office onto the international stage, connecting national work with DSJP’s European community and opportunities.
One highlight was winning the Digital Skills Awards 2025, which gave Austria’s work strong European visibility. Beyond that, DSJP has opened doors for collaboration on funding calls, practical exchanges in monthly meetings and constant inspiration from innovative practices and initiatives across Europe, helping us learn, compare approaches, and strengthen our own ecosystem.
Our ambition is to use DSJP even more strategically: to share Austrian good practices, learn from other coalitions and scale effective skills opportunities. National Coalitions can translate Europe’s Digital Decade goals into concrete action by mobilising partners, reaching diverse target groups and ensuring that digital competences become a sustainable foundation for participation, employability, and innovation.”

Belgium: The power of connection: building a European digital skills community

“When I started as National Coalition Lead for Belgium, the digital reality was still far from the daily lives of citizens, schools, and organisations. Very quickly, however, we were confronted with key challenges: e-inclusion, educating children from an early age to live in a digital world, helping education organisations adapt to rapidly changing skill needs, and inspiring industry to recognize that virtually every job would require digital competences.
It became clear that no country could address these challenges alone. The Digital Skills and Jobs Platform became a vital enabler, bringing together Member States, connecting stakeholders, and creating scale for the many excellent local initiatives across Europe. It allowed us to learn from one another, share good practices, and increase the visibility and impact of successful projects.
Over time, the Platform evolved into the reference point for the broad spectrum of digital skills policies and initiatives across Europe—covering skilling, upskilling, and reskilling. It also became a powerful dissemination channel for initiatives eg. CyberHubs and the Cybersecurity Skills Academy pledges.
Today, with AI transforming workplaces and cybersecurity becoming ever more critical, the need for a strong European collaboration platform is greater than ever. The next chapter of the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform will be essential in shaping the future workforce Europe needs. I strongly recommend, for the future, to massively invest in communication: the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform must become a trusted resource for every European, connecting people, initiatives, and opportunities to achieve the Digital Decade’s ambitious goals.”

“Because our joint (digital) future is a team sport. We need all stakeholders on board, connected, with new ways of cooperation, out of the box thinking and sharing best practices. DSJP started 5 years ago as a European ambitious project with a vision, but now has become a real living and impactful international ecosystem with members and organisations that connect, learn, but also inspire and elevate each other.
In the beginning the DSJP started as a community and IT project with very different stakes and different types of organizations per country: privately, government or hybrid owned/lead. But as we got to know each other better through the monthly meetings, the lines of communication became shorter, the digital awards gave a stage to concrete organisations and cases from different countries, and the shared projects inspired and lead to more cooperation and exchange of best practices and ideas. And the glue of it all was that the world changed even faster and we saw that our goals and certainly the challenges were the same in every country!
Because the need for action and concrete actionable answers, has become even more relevant in the AI-era as the world is evolving at a much higher pace than ever expected. In the last years I was happy to see digital inclusion becoming more important in the programs of each country, because everything we do as organisations or society will fail if +35% is not connected or digitally vulnerable. A wide and human-first AI adoption, traceable and secure, is now the only roadmap ahead and an active role of the DSJP ecosystem is key.”

Denmark: learning together, growing stronger

"When we joined the European Coalition, forming the National one in Denmark, we didn’t see nor understand the grandeur of it. Over the following years I have grown only more and more amazed and impressed with how little I know, and how much I may learn from others.
The fact that we, Dansk IT, The Danish IT Society, has become the home of the Danish National coalition, has been fruitful as well as somewhat challenging. Being an NGO, independent of all commercial, political, Governmental, or other interests or forces, we are but a tiny actor in the ecosystem of digital, with no official mandate let alone resources to initiate or engage in activities. On the other hand, we have managed to build stronger connections to other organizations, be they public or private, small or big, old or young, NGO’s or enterprises, civil society entities or individuals.
In particular, when we host our ‘Gatherings’ for the NC’s members and everybody else, it has been crucial to keep them open and ‘easy to access’ with a focus on sharing and inspiring each other. So many things go on, so many offerings co-exist, and/but for many reasons so many of us don’t easily get to meet one another (if at all).
In the nation of Grundtvig (N. F. S. Grundtvig - Wikipedia) and his Popular education (Wikipedia) we have undertaken the task of passing forward as much as we can of what works well elsewhere."
To be sure, attending the European Digital Skills Award ceremonies a number of times, most of which in connection to the NC F2F meetings, has been very giving. Here I have met both winners and others (nominees to a certain degree), from which point we have managed to meet again, bringing speakers (if only virtually) to our NC events. Also, albeit too few, being part of joint events have been a giving experience that I should like to encourage everybody else to take part in.
While DSJP (‘yet another platform’) may not be the first place Europeans ever get to visit in the morning, all that amazing content that dwells here, as well as the initiatives, activities, offerings, and projects that lie behind, is SO important to keep building, supporting, and sharing. We all need each other in this domain, becoming digitally stronger in Europe! And we all need to keep meeting, discussing, and learning together.”

Germany: a new chapter in digital skills collaboration

“Germany joined the DSJP community only recently, as part of the Champions for the Digital Decade project. For us, becoming part of this European network was a natural step. Strengthening digital skills across society is a shared European challenge, and we strongly believe that collaboration across countries helps us learn faster, build stronger initiatives, and avoid working in isolation. We are excited to contribute to and learn from this growing community as we establish and expand the German National Coalition.
For us, the greatest value lies in the community itself. Through the Platform, we can connect with organisations, experts and National Coalitions across Europe who are all working towards the same goal: strengthening digital skills and inclusion. The exchange of experiences, ideas, approaches, and good practices provides an invaluable source of inspiration and helps us build on existing knowledge rather than starting from scratch.
Our ambition is to establish and grow a strong and sustainable National Coalition in Germany that brings together stakeholders from education, civil society, business, academia, and the public sector. Through advocacy, networking, visibility, and collaboration, we aim to contribute to the Digital Decade targets and support more people in developing digital skills.
We also see the Coalition as a bridge between national and European efforts: showcasing successful initiatives from Germany at European level while helping German stakeholders benefit from knowledge, inspiration and opportunities emerging across Europe. National Coalitions play a key role in translating European goals into local action – and in ensuring that local experiences help shape Europe’s digital future. Together, we can achieve far more than any organisation could alone.”

Greece: knowledge sharing for a stronger ecosystem

“The Greek National Coalition joined DSJP on 1 September 2022, during the early stages of the Platform. The journey was not always easy, but through sustained effort and close cooperation, we achieved meaningful results, strengthening the link between national initiatives and the European digital skills ecosystem, and ensuring consistent alignment with shared European priorities.
The most valuable aspect of the Platform is the close cooperation among National Coalitions and European stakeholders, which offers us the opportunity to see how different countries address the challenge of developing digital skills. Comparing the strategies and solutions adopted across Europe allows us to draw ideas for good practices.
Looking ahead, our goal is to further strengthen cooperation and the participation of all societal groups in digital skills initiatives. National Coalitions can act as a key link between EU policies and national needs, contributing to more targeted, coordinated, and effective interventions towards the objectives of the Digital Decade.”

Hungary: from information hub to strategic community

“Hungary was among the first EU Member States to establish a National Coalition following the launch of the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition initiative. Over the years, DSJP has evolved from a valuable information and networking platform into a strategic European community that helps align national efforts, exchange good practices, and strengthen cooperation across countries. For us, it has become an essential framework for connecting local actions with European ambitions.
The most valuable aspect has been the opportunity to learn from other National Coalitions and build relationships with organisations facing similar challenges. Through the Platform, we have gained inspiration for initiatives, exchanged practical experiences, and connected with partners working to improve digital skills across Europe. These interactions have helped us strengthen our own activities and broaden their impact.
Our ambition is to further strengthen the role of the Hungarian National Coalition as a platform for dialogue and coordinated action among government, industry, education, and civil society stakeholders. The new government structure and new policymakers that will be established in 2026 will give the platform particularly great importance: our task and responsibility will be enhanced both in terms of Hungarian digital capability development and participation in EU affairs, and we must create space for higher-level consultations and cooperation among stakeholders.
National Coalitions can play a key role in achieving the Digital Decade goals by turning European objectives into concrete national initiatives, fostering partnerships, and ensuring that digital skills development reaches people of all ages, backgrounds, and regions.”

Portugal: bridging gaps, promoting inclusion

“One of the greatest benefits of being part of the DSJP community has been the opportunity to connect with national coalitions, public institutions, companies, and civil society organisations across Europe that share similar challenges and ambitions. These connections have enabled valuable exchanges of knowledge and best practices in digital inclusion, skills development, and workforce reskilling. At the same time, DSJP has provided a platform to showcase some of Portugal’s most impactful initiatives, encouraging participation in the European Digital Skills Awards and seeing Portuguese projects recognised among the finalists. This mutual exchange of experiences continues to strengthen digital skills efforts both nationally and across Europe.
We aim to strengthen collaboration among the various stakeholders of the Portuguese and European digital ecosystem, promoting initiatives that help reduce inequalities in access to digital skills. National Coalitions can accelerate the Digital Decade objectives by translating European goals into concrete actions tailored to the realities and needs of each country. Sharing experiences and replicating initiatives recognised as best practices across Member States are effective ways to increase basic digital skills among the European population and to grow the number of ICT specialists. In this context, it is also essential to promote gender equality and encourage greater participation of girls and women in ICT and STEM fields, ensuring a more inclusive and representative digital transformation.”

Connecting Ukraine to Europe’s digital future

“StartAid Ukraine contributes by building a national ‘one-stop window of opportunities’ that connects digital skills, education, innovation, jobs, funding, and partnerships. As the first National Coalition from outside the European Union, we help Ukrainian citizens, organisations, startups, and institutions access European knowledge, tools, and networks for digital transformation.
Joining DSJP has given StartAid Ukraine a trusted European framework and a stronger voice within the digital skills community. It helps us connect Ukraine’s needs and potential with European partners, programmes, and expertise, while making Ukrainian organisations more visible as active contributors to Europe’s digital resilience and innovation ecosystem.
Digital transformation cannot happen in isolation. For Ukraine, being part of a connected European ecosystem like DSJP is essential for rebuilding, upskilling people, supporting innovation and aligning with EU priorities. Shared platforms create trust, accelerate partnerships, and ensure that digital skills become a common driver of resilience, competitiveness, and inclusion.”

The road ahead: DSJP in Europe’s Digital Decade

As Europe moves toward its Digital Decade goals, some key priorities come into focus:

Strengthening national collaboration: National Coalitions must continue to translate European objectives into concrete national actions, fostering partnerships and ensuring that digital skills development reaches all citizens.
Promoting inclusion and equality of opportunity: Digital transformation must be inclusive and equitable, with a focus on reducing inequalities in access to digital skills, promoting gender equality, and ensuring that no one is left behind.
Investing in connection: DSJP can become a trusted, go-to resource for every European, connecting people, initiatives, and opportunities to achieve the Digital Decade goals.

DSJP user perspectives

These testimonials from DSJP users highlight the platform’s transformative impact on collaboration, innovation, and digital transformation for National Coalitions.

In this series, we’ll also hear the perspectives of Digital Europe Programme (DEP)-funded project users and key organisational stakeholders on how the DSJP supports their unique goals and challenges.

Working on a digital skills initiative? Join the DSJP – helping projects increase their visibility, build partnerships, and amplify their impact for the last 5 years and into the future.