Vision
Fostering 21st century e-skills and digital literacy of Europe’s workforce and citizens for a competitive, innovative and inclusive Europe

Mission statement
The mission of the e-Skills Industry Leadership Board (e-Skills ILB) is to lead the ICT sector’s contribution to the development and implementation of a long term e-skills and digital literacy agenda in Europe.

The e-Skills ILB works in partnership with public authorities across Europe, other industry sectors, SMEs and all relevant stakeholders, building upon the recommendations and other reference initiatives on e-skills.

Governance
The e-Skills ILB is governed by the Board of Directors, supported by an Executive Committee and an European Secretariat.

Board of Directors
The BoD, presided by two elected co-chairmen upon an agreed term, is in charge of leadership and supervision of the e-skills ILB to foster set goals as under the e-skills ILB "Founding Declaration" of 7 June 2007 (for the members see: "About")

Executive Committee
The ExCom, co-chaired by two executives, has overall responsibility for the management of the e-skills ILB and is entrusted with the oversight of all activities under the e-skills ILB umbrella.

Members of the ExCom are as follows:

Antonio Herrera, Cisco Systems (co-chair)
Ms Elena Bonfiglioli, Microsoft (co-chair)
Niko Schlamberger, CEPIS
Hugo Lueders, CompTIA
Nikos Ioannou, ECDL Foundation
Ms Yanne Courcoux, Econet
Thomas Mosch, EITO
Peter Hagedoorn, EuroCIO
Ms Alexa Joyce, European Schoolnet
Ms Siada El Ramly, European Software Association
Ms Jeannette Weisschuh, HP
Xavier Simo, INLEA Foundation
Mark Harris, Intel
Ms Orfhlaith Ni Chorcora, Oracle
Jerry Young, Prometric

European Secretariat
The BoD and the ExCom are supported by an European Secretariat (please see the Contact page)

Autonomous Stand-alone Initiatives
Stand-alone initiatives, such as the “European Alliance on Skills for Employability” and the “e-skills Career Portal” project, etc. will act in full autonomy under the e-skills ILB umbrella (For a list of these initiatives, please see the “Menu”)

The e-Skills ILB was founded on 7 June 2007, in the presence of Günther Verheugen, then Vice-President of the European Commission (please click here for Commissioner Verheugen’s speech). The ILB is mainly structured as an umbrella organisation with a multitude of stand-alone initiatives (open for new entries in line with the key e-Skills ILB principles as expressed in the Founding Declaration)

Founding Declaration
In a world where ICT reaches into every corner of human life, the competitiveness of the European industry and social cohesion have increasingly become dependent on ICT-related skills and competences (e-skills), and digital literacy of Europe’s workforce and citizens.

ICT industry actors have successfully raised awareness among policymakers, about the need to ensure adequate availability of e-skills and digital literacy to meet the needs of the European economy in the future. This has resulted in a number of policy recommendations.

There is now a clear imperative for increased joint action and engagement of ICT industry stakeholders, and for partnership at the highest level, with the European Union (EU) institutions and with education institutions in EU Member States. Working together in a genuine spirit of dialogue and cooperation, the e-Skills ILB will help shape and implement relevant policies to foster e-skills and digital literacy of Europe’s workforce and citizens for a competitive, innovative and inclusive Europe.

As industry high-level executives: Chairmen, CEOs, Presidents and Vice-Presidents of ICT companies, ICT services companies and providers of e-skills education, training and certification, we hereby express the commitment of our respective organisations to such concerted efforts. Therefore, this day of 7th June 2007, we join forces to create the e-Skills ILB.

The e-Skills ILB will lead the ICT sector’s contribution for the development and implementation of a long term e-skills and digital literacy agenda in Europe. The Board will provide leadership, coordinate industry advice, pool resources and expertise in support of EU and Member States policies and actions promoting ICT practitioner, user and e-business skills, and digital literacy, as well as the wider set of skills needed for innovation and employability in the 21st century knowledge-based economy.

In particular, the Board is committed to contributing to the implementation of the ICT Taskforce¹ recommendations and of the European Commission policy Communication and actions on e-Skills and e-Inclusion, building upon previous initiatives on e-skills over the past five years such as the European e-Skills Forum, the Career Space initiative, the e-Skills Competences Consortium, and the Skills for Employability Alliance.

Areas of initial focus of the e-Skills ILB’s work will include:

• Motivating and empowering future generations with e-skills
• Promoting ICT practitioner learning, education, competences and training
• Boosting the employability and productivity of the workforce with ICT user skills, including the deployment of multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Provide foresight and support for future skills needed in a changing environment with emerging technologies and new business models.

The e-Skills ILB welcomes additional members from among ICT industry stakeholders that share the same objectives and are able to contribute resources and expertise in support of European e-skills policies.

Members of the e-Skills ILB endorsing this declaration:

¹Fostering the Competitiveness of Europe’s ICT Industry (November 2006)
See: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/731&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en