Amazon has announced a collaborative agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, and Sports to enhance digital skills and promote STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) across Spain. The initiative focuses on equipping half a million students with essential technological and digital skills by 2027, addressing the growing need for a digitally-proficient workforce.
The increasing adoption of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), is reshaping businesses and society. A recent study by Strand Partners for Amazon Web Services (AWS) suggests that this digital transformation could add €282 billion to Spain’s economy by 2030. However, over 30% of Spanish companies are struggling to find employees with the necessary technical skills, especially in AI.
This commitment aims to prepare young people aged 11 to 25 for a more promising future, closing the educational gap and helping Spain achieve its full economic potential in the digital era. The agreement includes various training programs, building on Amazon’s existing support for STEAM education in Spain. “These programs demonstrate the crucial role of collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing highly qualified professionals,” commented Pilar Alegría, Spain’s Minister of Education, Vocational Training, and Sports. “By working together on innovation, companies become powerful drivers of development. Fostering this collaboration is essential to train the talent that will define our future.”
Mariangela Marseglia, Vice President and General Manager of Amazon for Spain, Italy, and Portugal, stated, “Reducing the digital skills gap and providing specific knowledge and tools to master STEAM disciplines is key to enable Spanish businesses 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.” Suzana Curic, Country Lead of AWS for Spain and Portugal, further highlighted, “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 programs 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.”
As part of the joint commitment, training courses, industry certifications, mentoring programs, virtual visits to logistics centers, and professional internships within Amazon will be available to students from high schools, vocational training schools, universities, and other higher education institutions.
The Digital Talent Shortage
A study by Access Partnership revealed that companies in Spain are willing to offer up to 33% higher salaries for technical roles due to the shortage of professionals with cloud technology skills. In-demand skills include cybersecurity, generative AI, and cloud computing – all essential for businesses leveraging AI technologies. The AI talent gap is particularly significant, with 34% of companies finding it difficult to hire employees with AI expertise. According to Strand Partners, it takes businesses an average of 5.8 months to find candidates with the right digital skills, which leads to increased expenses and delays in technology adoption.
Training Initiatives
Amazon’s commitment includes several key initiatives:
- Amazon Future Engineer (AFE): This program focuses on encouraging technological careers among primary, secondary, and high school students by providing access to computer science education, including courses and scholarships. Amazon collaborates with organizations like Code.org, Save the Children, and YMCA as well as local administrations, aiming to engage students from varied academic and social backgrounds, offering them access to the latest technological advancements.
- Course Modules: The AFE program provides Python courses and virtual tours of Amazon’s logistics centers.
- Teacher Training: AFE also offers teacher training in the fundamentals of computer science and programming.
- Amazon Women in Innovation Bursaries: These programs are aimed at inspiring female university students in STEAM fields.
- Dual Training Mechatronics Program: Supporting students studying Mechatronics. Also, AWS launched the AWS Spain Tech Alliance in 2023, which unites over 50 companies, AWS partners and customers, government agencies, and more than 600 educational institutions to equip students with in-demand cloud knowledge, reducing the skills gap in curricula. Programs such as AWS Academy help higher education institutions prepare students for cloud certifications, while AWS Educate offers self-paced learning about cloud technologies. The Tech Alliance also includes training events like AWS DeepRacer, which teaches students to use AI/ML with an AWS cloud-based racing simulator, with the opportunity to compete globally.
All of these initiatives contribute to the goal of training half a million students in digital skills in Spain by 2027.
Amazon formará a medio millón de jóvenes en habilidades digitales en España para 2027 (Amazon will train half a million young people in digital skills in Spain by 2027)
