The Digital Labour Market team (ESCO and Europass) has presented the Europass Digitally Signed Credentials and the ESCO project at the Decentralized conference, which took place in Athens, Greece, from 30 October to 1 November 2019.
In a panel discussion on “Blockchain in Academia”, the team explained the importance of skills-based job matching in the context of Lifelong Learning and how ESCO can be used by blockchain projects. On the occasion of the event, the University of Nicosia and the Institute For the Future (IFF) had brought together more than 1000 delegates, including 100 international speakers and representatives of universities from around the world, with 50 companies as sponsors and exhibitors presenting their innovative products and services. The University of Nicosia and the IFF aim to advance blockchain technology in education, research and technological development.
ODEM.io, an ESCO implementer, was also present at the event. ODEM.io is an educational marketplace where educational institutions, training providers and educators can share content on in-demand and innovative topics (such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), strategic thinking) directly with students to provide online as well as in-person training to meet changing workforce needs. ODEM also provides to users secure educational and employment credentials to share with employers.
In particular, ODEM links ESCO’s skills and occupation data with learning outcomes of courses hosted in its platform and to relevant employment opportunities for students. It also directs students to appropriate courses, in order to enrich their profiles and increase their chances of being recruited by employers registered in ODEM.
Furthermore, ODEM collaborates with universities and other certification providers to provide students with blockchain-verified certificates of their accomplishments via the ODEM platform, to ensure their authenticity when they are shared with employers and other organisations.