European Commissioner Nicolas Schmit delivered opening remarks at Upskilling Studio 2020: “Effective upskilling requires to have a sectoral and comprehensive approach first to bring together the training, the business and the educational worlds.”

Head of EIT Digital Professional School Timo Nyberg delivered welcome words to participants of Upskilling Studio 2020.

Izabela Milewska, Digital Skills Global Leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS) presented the AWS approach to the upskilling challenge.

Abraham Liu, Vice-President for the European Region at Huawei, talked about Huawei’s programs to tackle the upskilling challenge.

Bjarne Foss, Vice-Rector of Norwegian University of Science and Technology, addressed upskilling solution from the university perspective.

Cesare Onestini, Director of the European Training Foundation (ETF), shared ETF’s experience in upskilling around the globe.

Pär Lager, Professional Board Member, Advisor, Author & Speaker, addressed why it is urgent to upskill globally.

Peter Kietz, Managing Director Nordic, Mercuri International, talked about how corporates can tackle the upskilling challenge.

Christian Scharff, Partner, People & Organisation Leader, PwC Luxembourg, presented what businesses should do for an effective upskilling.

Dr. Markku Markkula, Chair of the City Board of Espoo: Lifelong learning and its importance has become evident in the rapidly changing world of today. EIT Digital plays an important role in promoting lifelong learning and constant professional development.

Taina Tukiainen, Professor of Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Aalto University, and Member of the Cabinet of the President, European Committee of the Regions: Research shows that 44% of professionals lack the digital skills they need and that only 20% of women are participating professionally in the digital world. How is EIT tackling this challenge and what concrete actions can we take to gain all the creative force available?

Prof. Taina Tukiainen breaks down how the rapid development of today’s digital technologies is changing what professional capabilities we need to develop and enforce in order to stay competitive in the digital era.

Upskilling is not only about the individual. Dr. Ismo Laukkanen, head of Learning and Development at ABB, breaks down the different levels of upskilling and how they differ from each other.

Prof. Dr. Sjoerd de Vries from University of Twente takes a stance on the accessibility of education. How do we redesign universities and even how we define education to be more open to all and encourage constant professional development and lifelong learning?

The digital world of today presents us a challenge to keep up with technologies that are developing increasingly rapidly. Prof. Milena Stoycheva and Mr Lorenzo Angeli talk about the opportunities that lie in bringing together digital and non-digital disciplinaries across all generations.

Will Martin, Founder of Goodwill Training Company Oy: They say the only constant is change. Change means new challenges that keep us motivated. In the rapidly changing world of today we need to be constantly reinventing ourselves. But how is this showing within our education systems? Enforcing entrepreneurship and empowering people to be self-directed learners is how we will solve our problems in the future.

Dr. Jari Handelberg: Start North is an innovative education community that is here to disrupt this problem by bridging the gap between mentors and those willing to learn.

Lauri Hollo: How can we utilize the minds and energy of young people to solve global problems such as climate change, especially in countries where education is not accessible to everyone?