Alba at the 5th Business Forum Greece-Sweden

The Hellenic-Swedish Chamber of Commerce in cooparation with the Embassy of Sweden to Greece, organised the 5th Business Forum Greece-Sweden, entitled “Digitalisation: the future for Greece”. The Forum took place at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens, on Tuesday 19 March 2019. 

The Forum focused on the technological advances, their diffusion and their disruptive impact in the economy and society. The evolution of digitalisation in Greece and the world, including Sweden, and the challenges it poses in the economy, the business and the policy making was addressed.

Among the speakers was Dr. Nikos Mylonopoulos, Associate Professor of Digital Business who participated at the panel  “Digital Skills and the Future of Work”, modenated by Dean Kostas Axarloglou. 

Digitalization and globalization lead disruptive changes in the way we work, communicate, commute, transact. This also leads to unexpected and rapid obsolescence of people’s skills and competences. Learning agility, the ability to learn, adapt and apply ourselves in constantly changing, first-time conditions is an attitude towards learning necessary to manage effectively the disruptive nature of our environment. As the “Power of Knowledge” is key in the knowledge economy, the “Power of Learning”, though learning agility, is necessary to support new and relevant knowledge.

In the “Digital Skills and the Future of Work” session, Mrs. Diamantopoulou, President of Diktio, claimed that the mismatch of skills in the labor market should be managed by a comprehensive and sustainable education strategy in the country that supports the development of the relevant skills in all levels of education. Mr. Magnusson, Director of the National Agency of Education in Sweden, presented Sweden’s strategic plan on how to develop digital skills to students in the elementary and secondary education system. Prof. Mylonopoulos, discussed the urgency of developing digital skills in the society since in the era of digital transformation, catching up the leaders is not easy. Finally, Mr. Skertsos, Director General of SEV, presented SEV’s plan in supporting digital transformation within the business community.

Overall, digital transformation leads to rapid and unexpected obsolescence of relevant skills and competences, the “talent gap”, and various stakeholders in a society, including the government, the business community and the education institutions need to be aligned within a country wide strategic plan to help the development of digital skills.