While it is a fact that after the digital revolution more and more people increasingly turn to digital jobs and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry in the European Union shows a positive growth of about 120,000 new jobs per year, technology companies face a critical shortfall of talented ICT experts. This contradictory picture reveals a mismatch between the skills on offer and those in demand in today's fast developing technology market.

Whether it is facts, values, measurements, observations, variables, concepts, instructions or any other limitless source of information, data and the knowledge derived from it is the new capital in today’s economy. The fast-evolving world of Data Economy, an emergent business industry based on the publication, management, intelligent use and share of data, supported by high-tech innovations, new tools and new skills, connects a wide variety of partners and competitors who benefit from investing in this field.

In the opening session of the High Level Conference on Coastal and Maritime Tourism that was held today (10.3.2014) at the Acropolis Museum, in the framework of the Informal Meeting of Ministers for Tourism, Greece’s Minister of Tourism,  Olga Kefalogianni, referred to the challenges and opportunities arising from “Coastal and Maritime Tourism” for the EU countries.

The Committee of Permanent Representatives today endorsed an agreement between the Greek Presidency of the Council and European Parliament representatives on a new generation of public and private partnerships that will allow large-scale, long-term innovation projects to be carried out under the umbrella of Horizon 2020, the EU's next research framework programme.