Sectoral digital skills academies: Digital Skills Academy in GenAI

Deliverables

• Comprehensive academic curricula designed across different levels and for different target groups, implemented at European level (curricula encompass complete academic programmes or consist of smaller modules to be injected into larger programmes).
• Modular short-term training curricula for sector specialists designed and piloted trough relevant training courses at regional or local levels, including targeted training for SMEs and public sector.
• Partnerships and collaboration frameworks established between academia, industry (including SMEs) and research institutions to facilitate and promote the large-scale European-wide roll-out of the academic programmes and short-term trainings. Facilitated joint (practical) educational initiatives and events with industry and research institutions, such as on-the-job experiences in companies’ premises, and laboratories, mentorship schemes, internship programmes, summer schools, bootcamps, visits to facilities, career days.
• Support, integration, and visibility schemes implemented, with particular attention aimed at the participation of female students and female professionals in education and training activities, as well as talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and people with disabilities.
• Training initiatives addressing teaching staff, such as “Teach-the-teacher” training modules targeted at university, VET and secondary-education teachers.
• Different communication and awareness-raising activities carried out, e.g. through social media, including career orientation activities or “technology deep dive sessions” targeted at secondary education students and the general public.
• A dedicated landing page integrated in the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform, where all activities, events and initiatives of the academy are disseminated.
• Reports on the impact of the academies’ activities, based on a KPI assessment scheme, and recommendations for policy and investments.
• Additional deliverables specific to individual academies’ activities.

While European AI start-ups, key industrial players and public authorities acknowledge the transformative potential of GenAI, most of these large AI models are currently built outside of the European Union, where companies have easier access to high amounts of computing power, large datasets, and the skills needed to develop and train the underlying algorithms. Furthermore, most EU professionals are still not familiar with the use and impact of this technology in their work environment. Understanding and adopting AI and GenAI technologies is of paramount importance for achieving the digital transformation across the EU.

The AI Skills Academy will contribute to the objectives of the AI Innovation package launched in January 2024¹ and support the upcoming Apply AI Strategy part of the Political Guidelines of the President of the European Commission². It will empower undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students, as well as current and future sector and ICT specialists in SMEs, startups, and the public sector with basic and advanced skills for developing, deploying and applying AI models and applications in their field. The academy will work in close coordination with and further support the work of the AI Factories. The AI Factories initiative will deploy an AI-focused, tailor-made supercomputing service infrastructure aimed at further developing the innovation capabilities and skills of the AI ecosystem³.

¹ Commission launches AI innovation package (europa.eu). Part of the package is the AI Factories initiative. The EU AI Start-Up and Innovation Communication outlines additional key activities, including the GenAI4EU initiative, which aims to boost the uptake of GenAI solutions across key economic sectors in the Union.

² Political Guidelines 2024-2029 | European Commission p.10.

³ The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU regulation) regulation will be amendment to set up AI Factories, a new pillar for the EU's supercomputers Joint Undertaking activities. This includes: i) Acquiring, upgrading and operating AI-dedicated supercomputers to enable fast machine learning and training of large General Purpose AI (GPAI) models; ii) Facilitating access to the AI dedicated supercomputers, contributing to the widening of the use of AI to a large number of public and private users, including startups and SMEs; iii) Offering a one-stop shop for startups and innovators, supporting the AI startup and research ecosystem in algorithmic development, testing evaluation and validation of large-scale AI models, providing supercomputer-friendly programming facilities and other AI enabling services; and iv) Enabling the development of a variety of emerging AI applications based on General Purpose AI models.

The AI Skills Academy will set up a one-stop-shop for a range of activities supporting or developing educational and training schemes in two main focus areas: (1) skills related to the AI Factories facilities, complementing the work of the EuroHPC Virtual Training Academy, and (2) skills for the uptake and deployment of AI and, in particular, GenAI in key economic sectors.

Under the two above focus areas, the academy will develop and implement learning modules and short-term trainings on AI foundation model development but also AI inference processes, data science, AI and GenAI deployment and the use of supercomputers for AI that can be integrated into academic curricula at various levels and for various target groups. The academy could conduct additional activities on educating the general public on how to use AI and in particular GenAI technologies safely and responsibly¹.

The academy will cooperate with existing initiatives, among others, the AI-on-Demand Platform, the Networks of Excellence in AI, the European Digital Innovation Hubs, and all the EuroHPC Factories, including for the use of their services and facilities for the proposed training activities.