e-skills in ICT research

Tο άρθρο που ακολουθεί ανέβηκε στο eSkills Week of EU
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Eurescom starts discussion on e-skills in ICT research

Written by Milon Gupta

European ICT research faces the issue of insufficient human resources in the mid-term. Eurescom has now launched a discussion to address the issue.

David Kennedy, director of Eurescom, sees the risk that human resources in European ICT research may not be sufficient in the mid-term to keep the EU at the leading edge of innovation, if industry and public institutions do not address the issue now.

“The main issue in European ICT research in the near future is to have enough highly qualified researchers and project managers to drive innovation in areas like the Future Internet,” said Kennedy. In order to address the issue, he suggests an interdisciplinary discussion between industry, academia, and public institutions on the type of e-skills needed in future research activities and how to create an e-skills-friendly environment, which motivates young people to build the skills that are needed for outstanding research.

“The European e-Competence Framework is a good basis for discussing the e-skills required. However, we need to get more specific. It is not enough to have researchers with a narrow, specialised expert knowledge, we need more versatile researchers, who combine technical expertise with interdisciplinary thinking and project management skills,” said Kennedy.

In order to kick off the discussion, Eurescom has launched a mailing-list through which stakeholders in the field of ICT research can exchange their views and discuss a roadmap towards building the e-skills needed to ensure that European ICT research stays at the top worldwide. Representatives of relevant stakeholders are invited to join the Eurescom e-Skills Forum and subscribe to the Eurescom e-skills mailing-list via the form at www.eurescom.eu/activities/e-skills.asp. Based on the discussion, Eurescom plans to write a White Paper on e-skills in ICT research, together with active stakeholders from the community.

About Eurescom

Eurescom is a leading European organisation for collaborative R&D in telecommunications. The Heidelberg-based institute manages and supports European research projects as well as international ICT initiatives and runs the office of the CELTIC Cluster for telecommunications within EUREKA. Eurescom support the