On 12 June 2023, stakeholders gathered for the first Web Intelligence Hub Conference (WIH-CON) in Brussels. The hybrid event was attended by around 235 stakeholders, including over 60 in-person attendees who had the chance to network and interact face to face. Among them were statisticians, labour market economists, skills experts, policy analysts and Eurostat representatives.
Centred around ‘Skills in the front row’, WIH-CON was organised by Eurostat in collaboration with its official partner, Cedefop – the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training.
The conference began with an introductory session presenting the setup of the WIH.
In the session on ‘Challenges and solutions for skills measurement’, panellists Manuela Geleng (European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion), Jürgen Siebel (Cedefop) and Emmanuel Baldacci (Eurostat) discussed the importance of decision-making that is supported by information and statistical data.
The panellists explained how the WIH’s work on OJA data can help deal with turning points and changes and, by producing high-quality data from web sources, can answer one of the most pressing policy questions in Europe – skills shortages and the changing demand for skills.
The next session, led by Albrecht Wirthmann (Eurostat), Klaudia Peszat (Statistics Poland) and Antonio Ranieri (Cedefop), focused on the practical aspects of the WIH. The session outlined the importance of innovation and quality in producing official statistics using web data.
It also highlighted the establishment of a community of stakeholders from statistical offices and explained how the statistical community, working together with Cedefop, can play an important role in responding to the need for skills statistics and intelligence.
If you missed the conference, you can rewatch it on the event website. To access the recordings, go to the ‘Replays’ tab (please note that you must first register and sign in).
The content for this article is based on an article first published on 21 August 2023.
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