Euractiv conference – Code to competitiveness: how can digital skills drive Europe’s future?
Taking stock of the Digital Education Action Plan
As part of the preparations for the EU Code Week 2025, which took place in October 2025, Euractiv held an online conference on the 22nd of September 2025. The recording of the event is available on Youtube.
The conference took stock of the Digital Education Action Plan halfway through and explored what is next for digital skills in Europe. Issues discussed included, for example:
- What will the mid-term evaluation of the Digital Education Action Plan reveal about the achievements and challenges? What will be the priorities in the second phase?
- What should the update of the Digital Competence Framework in 2025 include to reflect new technologies and support the development of digital skills?
- What role do digital skills play in enhancing the EU’s global competitiveness and which sectors would benefit most from stronger digital capacities?
- Are current EU measures sufficient to close the digital skills gap, or is further legislation and investment needed? If so, which areas should they focus on?
More information about the online conference can be found here.
The Digital Education Action Plan
This year, the Commission published a Communication on the Basic Skills Action Plan and the Union of Skills, setting out key actions. To promote digital skills across Europe, it will update the Digital Competence Framework in 2025 to include new technologies such as artificial intelligence, develop guidelines to strengthen digital literacy in vocational education and training (VET) and develop tools to integrate basic skills into apprenticeship programmes. The Commission will also promote quality learning materials through EU Code Week and develop EU-wide good practices for assessing digital skills in schools by 2026 to ensure a coherent approach.
After half of the implementation of the Digital Education Action Plan adopted in 2020, the Commission will present in 2025 a 2030 roadmap that will promote equal access to digital education, the development of AI literacy and long-term partnerships with EU-based EdTech providers. At the same time, a Strategic Plan for STEM Education will be implemented to motivate more students – especially girls and women – to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields. Erasmus+, Digital Europe and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) will be used to build transnational partnerships of universities and firms to train professionals in sectors with significant skills shortages.
