The European e-Skills Week opening event took place in Brussels on 19 March in Brussels. This years' theme is “There is a job waiting for you”, with the main aim to mobilise stakeholders to inform young people on how to acquire e-skills and find jobs in the digital economy. Thus, numerous activities and events will take place during the e-Skills Week in Europe.

The e-Skills week 2012 has started with the opening ceremony held in Brussels on 19 of March. This week is launched by the European Commission to inform young people on how to acquire e-skills and find jobs in the digital economy. As part of the events held during this week, it is taking place the Project Passion competition. The number of ICT practitioners in Europe was 4.7 million in 2007 and is forecast to reach 5.26 million in 2015. In more general terms, jobs for highly-qualified people are expected to rise by 16 million between now and 2020, while those held by low-skilled workers will decline by around 12 million. This huge amount of up-skilling can only be achieved with e-skills. According to the Commission, this is nowadays a precondition to become employable, learn and find a job online.

The Commission also points out that business leaders stressed that, over the past years, the EU was not producing enough ICT practitioners. The Commission adopted a Communication in 2007 on "e-Skills for the 21st Century" which include a long term e-skills strategy. Although good progress has been made: a European e-competence framework is available, Member States are increasingly designing e-skills initiatives and many partnerships have been initiated by the ICT industry, this is not enough.

e-skills bring a premium to highly-skilled workers in a fast growing area while those with low or inadequate qualifications and skills are even more vulnerable. As industry is increasingly sourcing talents wherever they are available on a world-wide basis, e-skills are crucial for the competitiveness and the attractiveness of Europe as a region. In this context, the Commission launches every year an e-skills week. During this week, numerous activities and events will take place in Europe.