The report highlights a three-day event, which took place in Ghent on 6-8th October 2016. More than 120 participants attended the conference. Besides Telecentre Europe member organizations, the conference welcomed ICT sector representatives from Belgium and Netherlands, policy makers from Belgium and EU, a group of youth organisations and civil society organisations and municipal authorities, as well as I-LINC young ambassadors.

The key theme of the event explored the skills, both ICT and soft skills, that citizens will need in the future. This was put in the context of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and the advances in technology that are starting now and likely to continue for the next generation, such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Internet of Things, 3D Printing, Virtual Reality, etc. Citizens will need to gain new skills to not only take advantage of these new technologies, but to remain in employment, and telecentres should consider how to support citizens in these technologies. Thus, Day 1 was focused on policy and practice around digital skills for future technologies and modes of employment, while Day 2 provided further in-depth discussion on future skills for learning and recruitment and practical sessions.

See the short video of the event here and the longer video with more insights from speakers here.

The report wraps up the  plenary sessions with inspiring keynotes, an I-LINC discussion panel on youth pathways to employment, interactive sessions and workshops, as well as the numerous side events, including visits to Ghent telecentres, preview of Ghent Digital Interactive Fair and Telecentre Europe and I-LINC Awards Ceremony. The Awards video can be found here.

In the report, you will find the links to all presentations, workshop materials, photos and videos, as well as the short summary of evaluation forms; so it is a one stop for all conference-related information.

The report is also credited and supported by tweet posts and photos from participants, so you can get the feedback from attendees and feel the atmosphere.

You can view and download the report in .pdf here – teac-2016-report

Telecentre Europe would like to thank the city of Ghent, Digipolis, our sponsors Cisco Systems and Liberty Global, speakers, session moderators, workshop leaders and delegates for such a successful event!

We are looking forward to the next year’s event in Barcelona!