Digital economy is a leading driver of European economy. As digital skills are becoming widely demanded, their prevalence in society needs to be monitored. The recently adopted 2021-2027 Digital Education Action Plan proposes stronger cooperation between Member States for a high-performing digital education ecosystem, and highlights the need to reinforce education in digital competences, from basic to advanced. 

Investment in advanced digital skills is crucial to achieve international competitiveness and to reinforce Europe’s strategic digital capacities. In fact, the proposed Digital Europe programme acknowledges that artificial intelligence, high performance computing, and cybersecurity are key technologies that need to be further developed and made widely accessible. The Digital Europe programme aims at “increasing Europe's talent pool, bridging the digital divide, fostering greater professionalism taking into account gender balance”. 

In support of policy initiatives to ensure the availability in the EU27 of an adequate education offer of advanced digital skills, AI Watch maps the higher education offer provided in the domains of artificial intelligence, high performance computing, cybersecurity and data science