‘Digital überall’ wins the European Digital Skills Award 2025

Austria convinces Europe with its model for low-threshold digital skills development: The Austrian Digital Skills Offensive (DSO)’s ‘Digital überall’ (‘Digital everywhere’) workshop format was the winning project in the category ‘Inclusion in the Digital World’ at the European Digital Skills Awards 2025 in Brussels.

The award recognises projects and initiatives that make ‘outstanding contributions to the promotion of digital skills in Europe’ and thus support the goals of the European Digital Decade 2030. With 195 submissions from 31 European countries the award is one of the European Commission's most important initiatives for promoting digital skills.

The state secretary Alexander Pröll emphasises: ‘Digital education is successful when it takes place where people live. This award confirms our approach: we bring digital education to municipalities, cities and neighbourhoods. Digital Überall is aimed at all people, from older people to young adults, and also specifically targets educationally disadvantaged groups. Citizens will learn how to use digital administrative procedures securely, understand AI and new technologies, and confidently shape their everyday lives in a digital way. After all, the best digital solutions are useless if people cannot use them.

Track record: Digital education in all regions of Austria 

• Around 7,000 free workshops and workshop series are offered all over Austria – with a focus on everyday digital skills, AI, security and digital administrative procedures.
• 4,850 workshops with more than 47,000 participants have already been held – in all federal provinces: Burgenland (249), Carinthia (379), Lower Austria (1,014), Upper Austria (805), Salzburg (164), Styria (728), Tyrol (221), Vorarlberg (238) and Vienna (1,046).
• The formats specifically target people with low digital affinity: 61% of the participants are older than 55 years, just under 50% have no higher education qualifications, and 58% have not attended any continuing education on digital topics in the last three years.
• A total of around 1,000 towns and municipalities were reached with the Digital Überall offers.
• According to the interim evaluation (2024) more than 94% of the participants are satisfied, with almost 80% very satisfied. 

OeAD as a partner for quality and impact
The ‘Digital Überall’ programme is implemented by the Digital Skills Office at the OeAD, which coordinates the DSO's initiatives on behalf of the Federal Chancellery and implements them together with partners from education, administration and business.

The OeAD’s managing director Jakob Calice says: ‘We are happy to be making a significant contribution to digital participation with the “Digital Überall” programme. Thank you to the more than 70 adult education institutions that are our partners in implementing this programme throughout Austria. In this way we combine educational innovation with social responsibility and support politicians in establishing digital skills as an integral part of life-long learning.’

Mission 2030: Shaping the digital future together
With its Digital Skills Offensive Austria is looking ahead ambitiously and working consistently towards the goals of the Digital Decade. By 2030 80% of Austria’s citizens should have basic digital skills to navigate the digital world safely, confidently and independently. Besides Digital überall new priorities such as the AI Skills Action Plan, She Goes AI and the DSO Economic Platform are implemented. In this way the DSO systematically prepares society, the economy and administration for the challenges of the digital future and strengthens Austria's ability to actively shape the technological change.

‘We are not standing still. The DSO is a long-term reform programme that is making Austria’s society digitally strong. We will continue to deepen our partnerships with the federal provinces, municipalities, business and education – for a digital Austria that leaves no one behind," concludes the state secretary Pröll.

Free workshops and workshop series can be booked at:
www.digitalaustria.gv.at/kompetenzen/workshops.html