Despre competenţele digitale

Nivele  de alfabetizare digitală Societatea modernă se bazează pe folosirea pe scară largă a tehnologiilor informaţiei şi comunicaţiilor. Aceste tehnologii sunt folosite de un număr mare de persoane şi nu mai sunt doar apanajul unor profesionişti. Din acest motiv, competenţele în folosirea tehnologiilor informaţiei şi comunicaţiilor au devenit o provocare a societăţii moderne. Sunt necesare competenţe diferenţiate de la cele necesare pentru folosirea aplicaţiilor de tip eBusiness, la cele pentru folosirea curentă a TIC, până la cele caracteristice profesioniștilor. În 60 de ani între 1950 și 2010 populaţia planetei a crescut de 2,6 ori, în timp ce numărul profesioniștilor TIC a crescut de 4000 ori, iar numărul utilizatorilor TIC de 400.000 ori. Se pare că putem aproxima dublarea necesarului de competenţe TIC la fiecare 2 ½ ani.

Competenţele digitale sunt cerute pe scară largă și cele mai multe ţări prezintă un deficit al acestora. Uniunea Europeană a lansat mai multe programe pentru reducerea acestui deficit estimat pentru 2015 la 700.000 persoane.

Putem defini 5 nivele de competenţe digitale:

· Lipsa completă de competenţe digitale, numită și analfabetism digital

· Expunere(iniţiere) digitală, respectiv înţelegerea utilizarea personală a TIC, abilitatea de a efectua operaţii de bază web, citi și scrie emailuri, etc.

· Alfabetizare digitală, respectiv posedarea competenţelor de bază de folosire a sistemelor digitale, Internet, baze de date, etc.

· Competenţă digitală, care implică un grad ridicat de cunoaștere a unui loc de muncă informatizat cu aplicaţii diverse

·  Excelenţă digitală, respectiv posedarea unui nivel foarte înalt de competenţe digitale

 Răspândirea competenţelor digitale continuă să preocupe multe ţări, fiind un factor important de modernizare economică și socială. Un sondaj recent efectuat de Google a arătat că numai 8% dintre participanţi au putut spune ce este un browser(navigator web)

Există studii care arată că instruirea insuficientă în utilizarea tehnologiilor informaţiei conduce la un cost al ignoranţei digitale care poate fi cuantificat prin productivitate mai slabă cu circa 20% și creștere considerabilă a timpilor de execuţie a sarcinilor curente sau proiectelor.

Fragment din cartea Tehnologiile Informaţiei - Noţiuni de bază apărută la editura Euroaptitudini SA

Str. Mendeleev nr. 7-15 Sector 1 Bucuresti (în Piața Amzei)

Tel./Fax: 021 - 311 39 30 / 021 - 316 99 33

CEPIS Address at Digital Trends 2011 Conference

Dear colleagues and fellow ICT professionals,

I am delighted to have been invited here today to address you all in Athens at today’s special conference, the first of its kind in Greece. It is an honour for me to present the opening address to you this morning on behalf of CEPIS. First and foremost I would like to thank HePIS, who are co-hosting Digital Trends with CEPIS, for all of their hard work and dedication in organising this event.

Digital Trends 2011 is a forum that I believe is important, to encourage valuable discussion between all of you here today, on increasingly vital topics related to the contribution that the ICT sector has on economic growth and for increased productivity. I hope that today’s forum which brings together participants from all over the world will encourage relevant discussions towards promoting the development of the Information Society in Europe. CEPIS and its Member Societies have been working hard towards achieving this aim over the last 20 years, by focusing on a number of different strategic areas including Professionalism, e-Skills, Green ICT and through our Legal & Security Issues Special Interest Network we have published a pan-European recognised paper on Cloud Computing.

It is clear that in recent years we have all experienced the incredible impact that ICT has brought to our daily lives. I think some of us can remember when no one even had a mobile phone, but now with the widespread use of not just laptops but also smart phones and tablets the world is truly entering a digital age where almost everything can now be undertaken online using these devices and many more to come. This digital age needs to be embraced not just by ICT professionals but also all other sectors of society to use ICT to their advantage, and for the benefit of the recovering economy, productivity and smart growth.

Boosting smart growth is a very significant and important initiative that the European Commission launched in 2010 as part of its Europe 2020 strategy. Smart growth essentially means improving the EU's performance in using ICT, creating new products/services that generate growth and jobs and encouraging people to use new skills, learn and study. As you can see the ICT sector will be and is already a significant contributing factor in all of these areas. CEPIS and its Member Societies especially have teamed together to form a coherent strategy around the contribution that this sector can have on society, and I encourage all other stakeholders across Europe to do the same. The ICT sector is of such importance nowadays that without a proper strategy in place that embraces the overwhelmingly positive contribution that ICT can have, you will be left behind.

One of the phrases that I have heard a lot recently is “How Green are You?”. As we start to realise that the way of the future is indeed digital, we must also start thinking about how we can limit the way the ICT sector is itself contributing harmfully to the environment, and more optimistically about the extremely positive impact that the ICT sector can have in reducing Europe’s carbon footprint.

Recent figures published by the European Commission show that today ICT equipment and services are estimated to be responsible for somewhere between 2,5 and 4% of the EU's carbon emissions and 8 to 10% of our electricity consumption. As part of the Digital Agenda for Europe flagship initiative, the European Commission will focus on the energy efficiency of the ICT sector in at least two actions. CEPIS praises the European Commission for these actions but I believe that they can only be successful if all European ICT companies, stakeholders and beyond become involved and join together to carry out these actions. For the recovery and growth of our economy it is essential that the ICT sector and other major emitting sectors such as transport, building and construction etc. band together to fully take advantage of the energy saving capacity of ICT. The use of Green ICT needs to be encouraged and promoted for even further organisations though also like SMEs and with European citizens’ own personal use of ICT.

CEPIS, as the leading organisation of European ICT professionals, is committed to mobilising its members to promote the ideas of Green ICT and contribute to the environment's protection. Last year we launched the Green ICT Task Force which now consists of more than a dozen experts in the area of Green ICT representing 10 different countries, and 11 informatics associations from across Europe. Byron Nicolaides, CEPIS Honorary Secretary and Vice President of HePIS will present more information about the Task Force, and will reveal the results of a recent pan-European survey for ICT Managers created by the Task Force, in the next session.

Regarding Green ICT and its influence at a more local level, it is clear that both the public and private sectors have a responsibility in controlling their power consumption and wasteful usage of ICT resources in many European countries. CEPIS believes that public authorities must adopt actions on both a national and a pan-European level in order to enhance public e-services. The private sector, being more flexible, could also easily adopt practices that contribute to energy efficiency and reduction of power consumption. Many of you here today are part of various sectors of industry and business including but not limited to the ICT sector, but I believe all of us should implement Green ICT practices in our personal and professional lives and contribute to the environment’s protection in this way.

Cloud Computing is an advancement in ICT that has started to revolutionise the way in which citizens, businesses and governments in Europe operate. With a simple Internet connection anything is possible. As such Cloud Computing has also been an important focus of CEPIS’ strategy over the last number of years. European citizens are utilising cloud computing in a number of different ways either via web-based emailing or for saving information on a remote database with practically endless storage space available. It is true that the advantages of Cloud Computing include also most importantly cost savings, especially for SMEs, but the fact is cloud computing also carried implications of data protection particularly across borders. I was encouraged to see the European Commission launch a public consultation this year where all Europeans could respond and share their opinions about this issue. I’m looking forward to the Cloud Computing strategy that is to be launched next year by the Commission, based on the results of this consultation.

CEPIS and its Member Societies also published its first paper on Cloud Computing. The paper is available in both English and Greek on our website, www.cepis.org. We appreciate and gladly welcome the incredibly positive impact that Cloud Computing has had on all of our daily lives, but before any major developments continue in this field both positive and indeed negative sides have to be examined. That is why our statement explores the security and privacy implications associated with Cloud Computing. The CEPIS working group in charge of legal and security issues examined areas such as the loss of control over data and dependence on the Cloud Computing provider and outlines the related issues in this paper. We also provide 15 recommendations on measures that should be taken to deal with the risks and privacy invasion factors of Cloud Computing. I look forward today to seeing involving and active discussions about the huge value that Cloud Computing can provide in the corporate world and beyond, but also some of our concerns need to be considered too. 

One concern is Digital Divide with the need to consolidate the four pillars of its bridge: appropriate ICT Infrastructure, accessible and affordable Internet access, generalized ability to use IT, availability of useful content. The predominant narrowband access vs. broadband applications produces a new divide in the use of transactional applications eGovernment, eCommerce, etc., but also in use of cloud computing.

I am glad to be here at Digital Trends today which is the perfect setting for open and active discussions to take place on all these topics.

CEPIS is extremely proud to be co-hosting of Digital Trends with its Greek Member Society, HePIS. Today’s forum is a relevant and significant event that is catered towards European ICT professionals, businesses and citizens alike and we hope that you will be enlightened and more importantly, we hope that this event will inspire you to realise the importance of two influential topics currently having an impact on ICT.

You may further contact us, follow us on social networks or visit our portal www.cepis.org

Thank you!

Σας ευχαριστούμε!

Vasile Baltac, 5 December 2011
Athens, Greece

Presentation on Slideshare.net

Forme de înșelătorie prin scrisori nigeriene pe Internet

Este instructiv de studiat un mesaj e-mail primit azi. Un caz clar de încercare de furt de identitate și escrocherie potențială.
Expeditorul a trimis unui număr probabil foarte mare de persoane mesajul de mai jos prin care îi anunță că sunt beneficiarii unei ”moșteniri” de 25 milioane de lire sterline (!), dar pentru a o obține este necesar să completeze unele date personale.
Odată completate, victima va fi sigur contactată de escroci pentru a continua procedura prin care va fi stoarsă de bani, chipurile pentru a obține ”aprobările” necesare.
Nu trebuie să fi specialist pentru a vedea că mesajul nu provine de la Barclays Bank și nici că datele nu vor ajunge acolo. Nici nu este nevoie să se piardă timpul pentru a verifica identitatea celui care semnează. Sigur nu este cineva de la banca respectivă.
Este de remarcat că Google Mail m-a avertizat (textul în roșu) că expeditorul ar putea să fie altcineva decât pretinde că este și mi-a plasat mesajul în folderul de spam.

ATENȚIE deci la astfel de capcane! Din unele date publicate circa 2% dintre destinatari intră în joc!


REF:- INSTRUCTION TO CREDIT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

BARCLAYS BANK PLC ✆ eessaammw@rediffmail.com via softnet.ro

4:19 PM (3 hours ago)

to odin_alin

Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information. Learn more

BARCLAY'S BANK PLC
CLAPHAM JUNCTION BRANCH
7 ST JOHNS HILL,
SW 11 1 TN, LONDON
WWW.barclaysbank.co.uk

Attention : Beneficiary

REF:- INSTRUCTION TO CREDIT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

This is to notify you about the status of your fund presently in my desk.
After due vetting and evaluation of your Inheritance file which The
Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Forwarded us to see
to your Immediate payment.

From our findings you have been going through hard ways by paying a lot
of charges to see to the release of your Fund ($25 000, 000, 00) which
has been delayed. We advice that you stop further communication with any
Correspondence from Nigeria . You don't have to pay much charges to
receive your Inheritance fund as you met up with the whole
requirements, your representatives in other country may tell you to still go
ahead with them But on your own risk.

The only thing required from you is to obtain Non-Resident Clearance
Form/Receipt which we are not asking you to pay the fee to us here in
United Kingdom as the Government of Nigeria have instructed us, for
handling/processing of your Payment with other customers. We will help you
to see that you obtain the form so that our bank will effect Immediate
transfer of your inheritance sum ($25 000, 000, 00) in to your designated
bank account.

If you follow up our directives your fund will reflect in your account
within five working Bank days from the day you obtain this form. Do not go
through anybody again but through this Bank if you really want your fund

.1. Full Names: ------------------------------ ---

2. Residential Address: ------------------------

3. Phone Number: ------------------------------ -

4. Fax Number: ------------------------------ ---

5. Occupation: ------------------------------ ---

6. Sex: ------------------------------ ----------

7. Age: ------------------------------ ----------

8. Nationality: ------------------------------ --

9. Country: ------------------------------ ------

10. Payment Method: -------------------------

Please the above information shall be forwarded to this email:
(bobdiamondbarclays@gmail.com) for immediate attention.

Yours sincerely,
Mr BOB DIAMOND
Chief Executive Officer
Barclays Bank Plc

BARCLAY'S BANK PLC
CLAPHAM JUNCTION BRANCH
7 ST JOHNS HILL,
SW 11 1 TN, LONDON
WWW.barclaysbank.co.uk

Attention : Beneficiary

REF:- INSTRUCTION TO CREDIT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

This is to notify you about the status of your fund presently in my desk.
After due vetting and evaluation of your Inheritance file which The
Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Forwarded us to see
to your Immediate payment.

From our findings you have been going through hard ways by paying a lot
of charges to see to the release of your Fund ($25 000, 000, 00) which
has been delayed. We advice that you stop further communication with any
Correspondence from Nigeria . You don't have to pay much charges to
receive your Inheritance fund as you met up with the whole
requirements, your representatives in other country may tell you to still go
ahead with them But on your own risk.

The only thing required from you is to obtain Non-Resident Clearance
Form/Receipt which we are not asking you to pay the fee to us here in
United Kingdom as the Government of Nigeria have instructed us, for
handling/processing of your Payment with other customers. We will help you
to see that you obtain the form so that our bank will effect Immediate
transfer of your inheritance sum ($25 000, 000, 00) in to your designated
bank account.

If you follow up our directives your fund will reflect in your account
within five working Bank days from the day you obtain this form. Do not go
through anybody again but through this Bank if you really want your fund

.1. Full Names: ------------------------------ ---

2. Residential Address: ------------------------

3. Phone Number: ------------------------------ -

4. Fax Number: ------------------------------ ---

5. Occupation: ------------------------------ ---

6. Sex: ------------------------------ ----------

7. Age: ------------------------------ ----------

8. Nationality: ------------------------------ --

9. Country: ------------------------------ ------

10. Payment Method: -------------------------

Please the above information shall be forwarded to this email:
(bobdiamondbarclays@gmail.com) for immediate attention.

Yours sincerely,
Mr BOB DIAMOND
Chief Executive Officer

Escrocherie virtuală estivală

Este sezon de concedii. Oamenii sunt mai puțin atenți și pot cădea victime a tot felul de escrocherii. Canalul de televiziune DISCOVERY a avut de altfel zilele trecute o serie de emisiuni destinate avertizării celor ce călătoresc. Prevenirea este importantă.

O escrocherie estivală ce se propagă pe Internet este cea descrisă în emailul de mai jos primit de mine azi 23 august 2011. Pentru protejarea persoanei am schimbat numele si prenumele folosite ca momeală. Precizez că este al treilea email de acest gen primit în ultimele luni și care se referă la persoane diferite.

From: Ionescu Nelu
Date: Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Subject: Hi
To:
Hi,
I really don't mean to inconvenience you right now but I made a quick trip to Scotland UK and had my bags stolen, in which contains my passports and credit cards. I know this may sound odd, but it happened very fast. I've been to the embassy and they're willing to help me fly without my passport but I just have to pay for my tickets and settle some bills. Right now I'm out of cash plus i can't access my bank without my credit card here. I've made contact with them but they need more verification. I was thinking of asking you to lend me some funds now and I'll pay back as soon as I get home. I need to get on the next available flight.
Please reply as soon as you can if you are ok with this so I can forward the details as to where to send the funds. You can reach me via Carmelite hotel's desk phone if you can, the number is +447035907125 or via my alternative email ionescunelu@yahoo.com
Thanks
Dr. Nelu IONESCU
Mail: Romania (adresa corectă a persoanei de la care se pare că am primit mailul)
e-mail:ionescunelu@yahoo.com

În emailul primit adresa expeditorului de la From: este cea corectă. Faptele descrise sunt plauzibile. Hotelul Carmelite există la Aberdeen, dar desigur numărul de telefon nu este al hotelului. Cel mai probabil este un număr de telefon mobil folosit de escroci, care au creat și o adresă alternativă la care desigur au acces numai ei.
Escrocheria, ca și scrisorile nigeriene, se bazează pe faptul că un număr mic de destinatari vor cădea totuși victime, se vor preocupa de soarta prietenului și vor trimite bani, contactând "prietenul" la telefonul sau adresa de mail indicate, fără să verifice pe alte canale care este situația.
Sfatul meu este ca dacă primiți astfel de emailuri să contactați persoana în cauză care desigur nu știe nimic și să o sfătuiți să anunțe pe cât mai mulți cunoscuți din lista proprie de emailuri că nu este autorul emailului respectiv și că i se recomandă să-și schimbe parola de acces la cutia poștală.
O recomandare generală este să nu atașați prea multe date personale la sfârșitul emailurilor dvs. Ele pot fi interceptate și de persoane răuvoitoare care au spart probabil cutiile poștale ale altora. În cazul de mai sus, persoana reală obișnuiește să atașeze la mesaje adresa de acasă și toate telefoanele la care poate fi găsit. Eroare ce poate să coste…

Vasile Baltac MECIPT 50.wmv

Universitatea POLITEHNICA din Timișoara la aniversarea a 90 ani de existență

Cuvânt rostit ca reprezentant  al absolvenților Universității POLITEHNICA din Timișoara la aniversare

  

Onorată asistență,
Îmi exprim imensa bucurie de a putea fi prezent la sărbătorirea a 90 ani de existență a iubitei noastre Politehnici din Timișoara.

Pot spune cu mândrie că Politehnica din Timișoara este pentru mine mai mult  decât o simplă universitate pe care am absolvit-o. I-am pășit pragul în 1957, înainte de a împlini 17 ani, ca student al Facultății de Electrotehnică. Erau ani grei, de privațiuni de tot felul, gândiți-vă ca am venit la Timișoara la un an după evenimentele din 1956.

Am constatat imediat că intru într-un mediu care promova valoarea înainte de orice. Chiar din primul an de studenție am avut posibilitatea de a reprezenta cu cinste Politehnica timișoreană la concursurile naționale de matematici pentru studenți din 1958 și 1959 ocupând locul 1. Amintesc acest fapt deoarece atunci, aici, s-a trezit în mine dorința de autoperfecționare care nu m-a părăsit toată viața.

Profesorii facultății, dintre care cu emoție îi amintesc pe legendarii Plauțius Andronescu al cărui asistent am avut privilegiul să fiu ulterior, Emanoil Arghiriade, Toma Dordea, Alexandru Rogojan, alături de mulți alții dintr-un lung șir de cadre didactice care au făurit prestigiul Politehnicii și al facultății, ne-au transmis nu numai cunoștințe valoroase, dar mi-au însuflat atit mie cit și colegilor mei convingerea că numai prin muncă și perseverență poți reuși în viață. La alte facultăți predau profesori care erau , de asemenea, legende ale Politehnicii. Amintesc numai de Cornel Micloși, care mi-a și fost președinte al comisiei de licență sau Koloman Bakony, devenit și erou iubit de studenți pentru umorul său inegalabil.

Devenind în 1962 președinte al Uniunii Asociațiilor Studenților din Politehnică am avut ocazia să colaborez cu rectori ai Politehnicii, profesorii Constantin Avram și apoi Ioan Anton, personalități de prestigiu ale învățământului universitar românesc, de la care am învățat să fac primii pași în management. Adresez un omagiu academicianului Ioan Anton, care, cunoscându-mi activitatea, m-a recomandat în anul 1969 ca director științific al Institutului Național de Calculatoare Electronice, - o ocazie extraordinară pentru mine de a participa la noua revoluție digitală în România și în lume. Mi-am dorit întotdeauna ca prin activitatea mea să nu-l fi dezamăgit.

Politehnica din Timișoara este pentru mine indisolubil legată de calculatoarele MECIPT.  Centrul MECIPT a fost fără îndoială o demonstrație  a spiritului inovator care a caracterizat Politehnica timișoreană. Anul viitor vom aniversa 50 ani de la punerea în funcțiune a MECIPT-1, calculator din prima generație, cu tuburi electronice, primul din mediul universitar în România și al doilea din țară după CIFA-1. Am participat la construcția MECIPT-1, apoi MECIPT-2, am stabilit tema de proiectare MECIPT-3. Apoi a început edificarea unei industrii naționale de tehnică de calcul și drumurile mele au început o altă traiectorie, dar MECIPT rămâne un simbol, un început de drum, o școală care face cinste Politehnicii noastre.

Personal, de câte ori trec prin nordul Bucureștilor și văd cupola Romexpo, îmi amintesc de calculele pe care le-am făcut cu MECIPT-1 în vara anului 1963, proiectul cupolei refăcute după un accident fiind al Catedrei de construcții metalice din IPT sub conducerea profesorului Dan Mateescu.

 Tot o premieră caracterizând spiritul mereu inovator al Politehnicii, a fost și crearea primei specializări din România de calculatoare electronice la Facultatea de Electrotehnică. Este indiscutabil meritul profesorului Alexandru Rogojan care a luptat pentru crearea specializării și apoi a secției de calculatoare electronice. Echipa MECIPT s-a alăturat entuziastă, inclusiv cu lucrări de laborator la MECIPT-1 și am avut satisfacția să vedem în 1966 primii absolvenți din România pe diploma cărora este scrisă specializarea calculatoare electronice.

De numele Politehnicii din Timișoara este astfel legată declanșarea revoluției digitale în România, atât prin MECIPT și prin Catedra de calculatoare, cât și prin Filiala Institutului de Tehnică de Calcul creată pe structura MECIPT și care a generat industria de profil din Timișoara, industrie simbolizată acum după investiții succesive de Alcatel. Industrie la care Politehnica a adus în continuare contribuții cu importante conotații naționale.

La dezvoltarea acestei industrii naționale și-au adus contribuția numeroși ingineri absolvenți ai Politehnicii timișorene. Politehnica în sine, prin facultăți și secții de profil, a continuat să fie un pol de cercetare-dezvoltare cu rezonanță națională și internațională.

Profesia și responsabilitățile profesionale m-au purtat pe multe meridiane. Peste tot am constat recunoașterea de care se bucură Politehnica din Timișoara, înaltul nivel de pregătire al absolvenților ei.

O primă recunoaștere pentru mine a fost în 1966 când faimoasa Cambridge University din Anglia la care am fost înscris la un program pre-doctoral mi-a comunicat că îmi recunoaște studiile universitare de la Institutul Politehnic Timișoara! Și astfel de recunoașterii, poate mai puțin formale ca aceasta, au fost nenumărate.

Sunt mândru, de aceea, că mă număr printre inginerii și doctorii acestei prestigioase universități și adresez Politehnicii urarea de viață lungă și succes, iar cadrelor didactice și studenților felicitări și succes în a menține cit mai sus nivelul acestei prestigioase instituții.

La Mulți Ani Politehnica și să ne vedem sănătoși la centenar!

Prof. dr. ing. Vasile Baltac

11 noiembrie 2010

CEPIS President Speech at the ECDL Forum 2010

Dear colleagues,

It is my pleasure to address you this morning, and with a certain pride, that I, as CEPIS President, come to these annual ECDL Foundation Forums. Such a large and international gathering is a striking demonstration of the reach of ECDL and ICDL.   

CEPIS, as most of you in Europe know, represents the national informatics societies, who with the help of European Union funding, created ECDL as a means to raise digital literacy levels in Europe. This was back in 1995.

Now, almost 15 years later, ECDL and ICDL have grown exponentially in their success and with the support of ECDL Foundation much has been achieved, not just in Europe but around the world.  At a time of economic upheaval, the role of ICT in empowering people is more crucial than ever before as its potential can provide greater benefits when these benefits are most needed.  However, with budget cuts and instability around the world, the risk of exclusion, the risk of skills falling down the list of priorities, and the risk of training and certification being perceived as removable budget lines in industry and government alike, are also great.

Nonetheless, I believe that ECDL Licensees also have a great opportunity at this time.  The European Commission’s Digital Agenda for Europe, which you heard about yesterday from Damien, represents Europe’s plan for the next decade.  It replaces i2010, the previous policy framework that encompassed the benefits of ICT for social and economic life.  The Digital Agenda for Europe is the strategy that the European Commission and Member State governments will adhere to for the next decade. It is based on seven action areas: the most important of which is for us the one called ‘enhancing digital literacy; skills and inclusion’.

Through this action line in the digital agenda there are two key chances that represent for ECDL an un-missable occasion to position ourselves as the champions of this agenda.

It is important to know that the Digital Agenda gives us the chance to take action, and to make impact in ensure that this agenda is a success. It clearly defines two areas of action, that for us represent the two main and most important opportunities. I will tell you now what I believe these opportunities to be and how you can and should pursue them.

The first of these two key opportunities relates to the development of a long term digital literacy policy. This is a framework within which you can advocate to your national governments for such a policy to  involve ECDL, or indeed be based upon ECDL. You are the experts on digital literacy and skills in your national environments, offering your expertise to your government in the development of this plan would be a valuable asset.  This is the first opportunity that I think about.

The second key opportunity relates to funding.  The digital agenda provides a channel through which you can help your governments to choose digital literacy and certification as priorities for future funding.  This can take place through the European Social Fund for the next programme cycle.  Sustainable funding is often a challenge in our business.  The digital agenda provides us with a means of overcoming this challenge.  This is the second opportunity that you have.

We make ask us rhetorically why e-Skills became a challenge for the modern society. We all know that new skills are needed, from ICT practitioner skills to ICT user or eBusiness skills. In 60 years since 1950 I made some calculations that the world population has increased 2.6 times, the number of ICT practitioners       4,000 times and of ICT users 400,000 times!

In fact, the result is that the demand for ICT User Skills doubles every 2 ½ years as the intervals between successive radical breakthroughs in computer science decrease exponentially. We have to be prepared for this challenge!

Applications appear at a much reduced accelerated speed compared to technology advances and even more implementation is delayed by need of skills. That is a solid base for promoting eInclusion and fighting digital divide.

Digital Competences are therefore in great demand. ICT User Skills Gap is directly related to eInclusion objectives. Europe faces Shortages and more all types of ICT skills are demanded. The gap is estimated by EC at 700,000 by 2015.

The fact is that in 2010 we are still facing the first Digital Divide and a 2nd Digital Divide is developing directly related to broadband divide and other factors as well.

ECDL is an outstanding example of best practice and we have to make the next steps from Digital Literacy to Digital Competence!

Going back to Europe’s Digital Agenda, it can serve to help position ECDL and indeed to an extent ICDL, as the leading certification standard for the next decade. 

It is has an important potential for us, it can provide a sustainable source of funding for national programmes. Through this agenda, you can, embed ECDL into your governments’ national plans. You can position your organisation as the authority for digital literacy in your country.  These are real opportunities that are available to you.  The potential benefits must be seized and can only be seized through strategic, consistent, deliverable plans of action toward these goals in both advocacy and PR. These are important opportunities, the like of which we have not seen in the past and are unlikely to see again in the future.  At least not for another decade.

I compliment ECDL Foundation, Jim and Damien on the open letter to President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso and to other high-profile political actors.  ECDL Foundation has committed to ambitious yet achievable targets, and it is only through you, the Licensee network,  that these targets can be reached.  Publicly declaring these targets this will benefit the profile of ECDL; but replication through a public relations campaign serves to show your national commitment to making the digital agenda a success and will have a similarly positive impact for your organisation.  I encourage you therefore to follow suit with high profile pledges to your national-level media, government and other actors. And I encourage you then to deliver on the targets that you state – in particular through the two actions I have already mentioned – by working with governments to develop their digital literacy policy and by ensuring that digital literacy is a national priority for European Social funds in your country.

Where the potential gain of the digital agenda is great, as is the risk. The risk in this case, might lie in our inertia, in our lack of response to the opportunities that we have right now. We must ensure therefore that we mitigate against this risk.  The opportunities are there, now more than ever, but action is needed from each and every one of you.  On behalf of CEPIS - the organisation that has been at the very inception of ECDL - I urge you, to take firm grasp of these opportunities and to ensure that ECDL and ICDL are firmly aligned in public support of this agenda and play visible role in the digital recovery of the global economy.

In conclusion, I reaffirm our belief that eSkills are a Challenge of the Beginning of the 21st Century. They are needed for Building a Competitive and eInclusive Europe and World! And again I would like to urge each and every one of you to take advantage of the opportunities that the Digital Agenda provide.

For further contact please visit www.cepis.org

Thank you!

Dr. Vasile Baltac

22 October 2010