Cisco recently announced his initiative to deliver 1.5 million people in the European Union in 2030 free courses on basic digital skills. Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins said the plan also includes training of 5,000 instructors in AI, cyber security, data science and digital transformation to help professionals stay competitive in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.
This skills training will be delivered through Cisco’s Networking Academy, which has provided digital education for more than 27 years.
“Cisco is obliged to support the EU and our educational partners in the development of the talent that is essential to thrive in an AI-driven future,” Robbins said in a statement announcing the program. “This new initiative is strengthening our partnership to build an elastic and skilled workforce ready to meet Europe’s digital transformation and AI goals.”
Building a future-ready workforce to meet the European Commission’s goal
The Cisco courses cover digital consciousness, cyber security, data sciences, IoT and AI, which ensures that citizens gain basic skills for the digital economy. The program is in line with the European Commission’s 2030 digital decade targets aimed at increasing digital literacy throughout the region.
Last year, Coursera said that Germany, France and Spain placed 3rd, 5th and 7th, respectively, as the most technically skilled countries in Europe, where Britain placed 25th place.
The Academy has operated for more than 27 years and partners with over 3,000 institutions and more than 7,000 teachers across the EU, Cisco said. More than 3.2 million students in the EU have participated in courses offered by the Academy since the start in 1998, according to Cisco.
Other programs are aiming to bridge the digital gap
Here are similar programs that are launched worldwide to tackle a lack of digital skills.
- In the United States, computer nonprofit digitunity collaborated with AT&T to provide digital training to 10,000 people across the United States in 2024.
- In South Africa, Microsoft’s AI-Skiller initiative is aiming to strengthen a million South Africans with growing demand digital skills in 2026.
- In the United States, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recommended that more than $ 369 million are allocated 41 organizations to support the building of digital skills across the country. The money is to be earmarked from $ 1.25 billion dollars Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program, one of three digital share actions made by the Toparts Infrastructure Act.
As AI and Digital Transformation transform industries, these major training initiatives highlight the urgent need to develop a future workforce.