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About this event
This year, Eurofound and European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) both mark their fiftieth anniversary. The longevity of the agencies, and the impact of their work, is a testament to the importance of evidence-based research for adapting to labour market change and driving economic development.
That specialism and evidence-based approach is needed now more than ever to deal with current rapid changes to the labour market and the world of work. New technologies are having a profound impact across various aspects of our working lives. They have the potential to drive efficiency, reduce risks, and improve job quality. Europe must harness them to improve working life, as well as maintain its competitive edge.
Artificial intelligence is at the forefront of this change. Alongside its tremendous potential for profit and progress, it has presented challenges, including concerns of job destruction for medium and low-skilled workers. AI transforms tasks and skills needs across the board and more must be done to close the gap between the new knowledge and skills needs associated with AI and the low share of workers training for it. There are also significant business implications, and SMEs may lose out to larger businesses that can invest more in AI development and deployment.
In this special #Eurofound50 webinar, Mary McCaughey, Head of Information and Communication at Eurofound, speaks with Dragoș Adăscăliței, Eurofound Research Officer, and Jasper Van Loo, CEDEFOP Department Coordinator, about how AI is already changing working life in Europe, and what needs to be done to harness its tremendous potential while also protecting those that risk being left behind.
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Dragoș Adăscăliței is a research officer in the Employment unit at Eurofound. His current research focuses on topics related to the future of work, including the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, the consequences of automation for employment and regulatory issues surrounding the platform economy. He is also a regular contributor to comparative projects monitoring structural changes in European labour markets. Prior to joining Eurofound, he was a lecturer in Employment Relations at the University of Sheffield, Management School. He holds an MA in Political Science from Central European University and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Mannheim.
Jasper Van Loo is coordinator in Cedefop’s department for VET and Skills. Jasper oversees the labour market and skills analysis work of the agency and coordinates the work of two teams. He is also a member of the skills intelligence and foresight team and he has been driving efforts to develop the next generation skills intelligence Europe needs to shape an inclusive twin digital and green transition via skills. Before joining Cedefop in 2007, Jasper worked for the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) in The Netherlands. He has a master degree in quantitative and general economics from Maastricht University and holds a Ph.d. in social sciences from Utrecht University.
Host account Eurofound
Mary McCaughey is Head of Information and Communication in Eurofound. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the College of Europe, Bruges, she started work in Brussels with Europolitics and the Wall Street Journal Europe. She worked with the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) in South Africa during the country’s transition to democracy, and in 1998 she took up the post of spokesperson with the Delegation of the European Union in Pretoria, heading up its press and information department during the negotiation of the EU–South Africa free trade agreement. Following the end of the Kosovo War, she worked as a communications consultant for the European Agency for Reconstruction in Serbia. She took up the post of Editor-in-Chief in Eurofound in 2003.
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Eurofound is the tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies