World ICT Day 2025 – Discover HaDEA managed projects addressing core issues in the digital ecosystem

The World ICT Day, which took place on 17 May, raises awareness on the digital divide and the need to address it by promoting digital skills, challenging gender stereotypes, and ensuring safety in the digital realm.

The Digital Decade guides the Europe’s digital transformation, setting out targets in different areas, including digital skills. One of this targets is 20 million ICT Specialists employed within the Union by 2030, which has been achieved at 47 percent according to the 2030 Digital Decade report.

The Digital Europe Programme (DEP), as the main programme funding strategic investments that create digital ecosystems, has in turn funded initiatives aimed at upskilling the existing workforce through specialised education programmes and short trainings in key capacity areas, while reducing the gender gap in this field and increasing the number of ICT specialists.

HaDEA is monitoring the status of Advanced Digital Skills (ADS) Regulation Indicators to track participation and employment outcomes by gender, enabling data-driven actions to promote gender equality in digital education and careers.

Some examples of projects funded by DEP are: 

• ManagiDiTH (Managing Digital Transformation in the Health Sector) is a four-year project, launched in January 2023 and funded by the European Union, with the aim of creating a new Master’s degree curriculum that equips healthcare professionals with the competencies needed to develop digital services in the health sector. The project has successfully designed an innovative and multidisciplinary training programme to address the skills gap in digital transformation of the health sector. A total of 212 candidates have applied to the first edition of the Master, and 188 were admitted. Nearly 60% of the enrolled and admitted students are women.
• Tech Time 2 Skill is aimed at addressing the pressing need for advanced digital skills in AI and Cybersecurity within the European labour market. The project's main goal is to foster the acquisition of these critical skills by piloting and deploying high quality training programs. These programs specifically target SMEs staff and job seekers to bolster the EU's digital talent pool and support the sustainable digital transformation of European SMEs. The project sets out 6 different training short-term courses aimed at SME leaders and employees and 3-9 months bootcamps aimed at job seekers in the ICT sector. Currently, 893 participants have been enrolled in these courses, 42.2 percent of them being women.
• Code4Europe - JA Europe aims to boost digital skills of young people, especially girls. The project focuses on young people from elementary schools to universities, and it works at grass-root level, involving parents, teachers, and school staff, but also Ministries of Education and other stakeholders across Europe. The activities aim to increase the number of students who choose a career in the digital field. More information about the project can be found here: Inspiring the next generation: Girls in ICT Day 2025 - European Commission

Background information

The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) aims to build the strategic digital capacities of the EU and to facilitate the wide deployment of digital technologies. With an overall budget of €7.5 billion, out of which €0.8 billion is managed by , the programme aims to strengthen the EU’s strategic digital capacities and promote the broad adoption of digital technologies. One key area of investment is ‘Advanced Digital Skills’, which supports the EU’s goal of meeting the ambitious targets set by the Digital Decade. This includes helping education and training institutions across the EU enhance their digital offerings and fostering collaboration with research and industry, aligning with national initiatives such as the Recovery and Resilience Plans.

The Digital Decade policy programme provides a framework for the EU and its Member States to work jointly towards achieving the Digital Decade’s objectives. It establishes a mechanism for monitoring progress towards the 2030 targets.