BRUSSELS (August 26, 2020) — The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) inspires and engages 500 young women from Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Romania and Spain to consider careers in innovation, entrepreneurship and technology by organizing a series of entrepreneurial and digital skills workshops. These efforts are managed by Certiport's European consortium of partners, including Certipro, Aristotle Certification, Training and Assessment - ACTA, OpenEDG, Certiadria, and Fundacion Esplai (on behalf of PUE).
According to the European Commission, the EU is facing an unparalleled shortage of information and communications technology (ICT) professionals. Women account for 52% of the European population yet hold only 15% of ICT-related jobs. Only 1 in 6 ICT specialists is a woman in the EU, and only 1 in 3 STEM graduates is a woman. Increasing women's visibility and empowerment in the digital economy will drive economic growth and wider social progress, especially in countries with higher unemployment.
The EIT's Entrepreneurial and Digital Skills workshops project is part of the Digital Education Action Plan adopted by the European Commission, which supports the development of digital competences in education across Europe. More specifically, it delivers on the 'Training in Digital and Entrepreneurial Skills for Girls' action, focused on promoting positive role models and enhancing digital and entrepreneurship skills to tackle the gender gap and boost female participation in science, technology and business.
"We are excited about this new opportunity," said Ray Murray, General Manager of Certiport. "Through a series of 20 workshops, young women will be inspired to develop their entrepreneurial and digital competences and learn how they can improve their skills to better engage and succeed in the tech and digital sectors. Utilizing Certiport's IC3 digital literacy certification and Entrepreneurship and Small Business (ESB) certification, these young women will also have an opportunity to validate their newly acquired skills with an industry-recognized credential.
Using virtual tools, project based learning and online collaboration, the EIT workshops will also give attendees access to strong role models who will be sharing inspirational stories and providing real-world insight into achieving successful tech and entrepreneurship careers. We are proud to help empower the next generation of female entrepreneurs."
To ensure inclusiveness, the project consortium partners decidedly engaged participants who have not yet been exposed to digital and entrepreneurship education, are from geographically isolated areas, and/or are from areas with higher unemployment rates across the participating five countries.
EIT - European Institute of Innovation and Technology
The EIT was created in 2008 to drive Europe's ability to innovate. The EIT is a unique EU initiative, the only one to fully integrate business, education and research in Europe's largest innovation network. The Institute supports the development of dynamic pan-European partnerships among leading universities, research labs and companies. These are called Innovation Communities and each tackles a specific global challenge. Together with their leading partners, they offer a wide range of innovation and entrepreneurship activities across Europe. This includes education courses that combine technical and entrepreneurial skills, business creation and acceleration services and innovation driven research projects.
For more information visit eit.europa.eu & follow the EIT on Twitter @EITeu
About Certiport
Certiport is the leading provider of learning curriculum, practice tests, and performance-based IT certification exams that accelerate academic and career opportunities for learners. Certiport provides certification development, delivery, and program management services through an expansive network of more than 15,000 Certiport Authorized Testing Centers worldwide. More than 3 million Certiport exams are delivered in 26 languages across 148 countries each year throughout the academic, workforce, and corporate technology markets. Certiport is a Pearson VUE business, and is a part of the world's leading learning company, Pearson. To learn more, go to certiport.com.
"Certiport" is a registered trademark of NCS Pearson, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
