We're committed to support training half a million students with technological and digital skills by 2027 in a bid to address the digital skills gap in Spain.
An uptick in adoption of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), is transforming the business world and society in general. This digital transformation could contribute an additional €282 billion to Spain's economy by 2030, according to a recent study by consulting firm Strand Partners for Amazon Web Services (AWS) [1]. Yet more than 30% of Spanish companies have difficulties finding staff with technical skills, especially in AI.
Our commitment aims to propel young talent, aged 11 to 25, towards a more promising future, bridging the education gap and supporting Spain to achieve its full digital and economic potential. This commitment, which includes various training initiatives, has been formalised through a collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, and Sports. Amazon has been supporting STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education in Spain for years through various initiatives.
"These programmes demonstrate the fundamental role of collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing highly qualified professionals," comments Pilar Alegría, Minister of Education, Vocational Training, and Sports in Spain. "When we work together to innovate, companies can become great drivers of growth and development. Fostering such collaboration is essential to train the talent that will define our future."
"Reducing the digital skills gap and providing specific knowledge and tools to master STEAM disciplines is key to support Spanish business to recruit much needed talent. Stimulating interest in scientific careers and digital entrepreneurship is fundamental for the development of this country, giving young people access to higher paid, higher value work to achieve their full potential," stated Mariangela Marseglia, Vice President and General Manager of Amazon for Spain, Italy, and Portugal.
“Spain has all the ingredients to be a world leader in AI – world class infrastructure, a great location, talented startups, and established international and national brands. We have been supporting this country to develop its digital talent with a wide range of educational programmes in collaboration with different institutions and focused on making STEAM education accessible, unleashing its maximum potential to address the most challenging problems in our society”, highlighted Suzana Curic, Country Lead of AWS for Spain and Portugal.
As part of this shared commitment, training courses and tools, official industry certifications, mentoring programmes, virtual visits to logistics centres, and the opportunity to undertake professional internships within Amazon will be offered to young people from high schools, vocational training schools, universities, and other higher education institutions.
Shortage of digital talent
Companies in Spain would be willing to pay up to 33% higher salaries for technical roles due to the current shortage of talent with cloud technology skills, a study by consulting firm Access partnership reveals. The most sought-after skills include cybersecurity, generative AI, and cloud computing, all essential for companies looking to leverage AI technologies effectively. However, this talent gap is particularly acute in AI, with 34% of companies struggling to hire employees with AI knowledge. On average, it takes 5.8 months for businesses to find candidates with the right digital skills, leading to increased costs and hindered technology adoption, according to the Strand Partners research.
Training available to all
Our commitment includes:
Amazon Future Engineer (AFE), a programme focused on fostering technological vocations among primary, secondary, and high school students by providing access to computer science education, including courses and scholarships. Through collaborations with educational organisations such as Code.org, Save the Children, YMCA as well as local administrations, Amazon aims to reach students from different academic profiles and social backgrounds, providing access to the latest technological advances and offering them the support they need to learn how to make the most out of the technology around them. Course modules include Python courses, along with virtual tours of Amazon´s logistics centers to learn how real-life applications and technology work. AFE programme will also incorporate teacher training, which includes the fundamentals of computer science and programming in classrooms.
Additionally, Amazon will continue to inspire female university students entering STEAM careers with the Amazon Women in Innovation Bursaries scholarship programme, and those studying Mechatronics with the Dual Training Mechatronics programmws.
- To meet the industry demands and help reduce the digital skills gap, private-public collaboration is a must. Thus, AWS launched in 2023 the AWS Spain Tech Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 companies, AWS partners and customers, government agencies, and over 600 educational institutions, advocating and working to equip students with the most in-demand technological knowledge in the Cloud field, and addressing the technology skills gap in technical school and university curricula. To this end, AWS offers programs such as AWS Academy, aimed at higher education institutions to prepare students for industry-recognised cloud certifications and careers; AWS Educate, for students seeking to learn about cloud computing technologies at their own pace. The Tech Alliance also offers training events like AWS DeepRacer, which teaches students to use AI/ML with an AWS cloud-based racing simulator, with the possibility of competing globally with students from other countries.
All of these initiatives are now part of our commitment to train half a million students in digital skills in Spain by 2027.
[1] AWS is Amazon's division dedicated to providing on-demand cloud computing services to individuals, companies, and governments.
