WHAT ARE DIGITAL SKILLS?

Digital skills are the capabilities people need to participate, work, and innovate in an increasingly digital world. They fall broadly into two categories: advanced digital skills and essential digital skills.

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Advanced digital skills go far beyond basic usage. They involve the professional, strategic, and economic application of digital technologies – skills that enable people and organizations to lead, manage, and innovate in a digital economy. These capabilities include developing and implementing digital and e-business strategies, governing, selecting and deploying emerging technologies such as AI, analysing digital performance, managing digital transformation, and building digital business models. Advanced digital skills are now essential to global competitiveness, economic growth, and organizational performance, underpinning areas such as digital leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

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Essential digital skills, by contrast, are the basic, everyday abilities required to use technology confidently and safely. They include using smartphones, accessing online services, browsing the internet, and completing tasks such as shopping online or interacting with government services. These foundational skills offered by the public sector support social inclusion, helping people participate fully in modern life and reducing digital poverty. Governments often fund training in these areas to ensure everyone can access and benefit from digital technologies.

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While essential skills enable access, advanced digital skills as offered by the Digital Skills Authority drive economic value. They help organizations identify opportunities, improve efficiency, and create new products and services. As digital transformation accelerates, these professional capabilities are becoming vital for careers, businesses, and national economies.