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 will work 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 (for more details check the link).

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://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/taskforce.htm