Prof. Dr. Maarten Goos (University of Utrecht) was appointed as Chair of the group by Commissioners Mariya Gabriel and Marianne Thyssen.
The Commission opened a call for expressions of interest for 9 other members of the group. Acting in a personal capacity, independently and in the public interest, the members of the high-level expert group (HLG) shall provide advice to the Commission and, as appropriate, other parties, including:
- Analysis of how to shape the transformation and what framework conditions to be put in place to make it smooth and human-centric;
- Identification of the potential social impacts (risks and opportunities) of digitalisation, in particular the large-scale application of artificial intelligence, and the expected job losses and gains;
- Developing responses to the impact digitalisation has on skills requirements;
- Exploring viable ways to manage digitalisation's impact on labour law and working conditions;
- Identifying ways to use digitalisation (in particular artificial intelligence) to make labour markets more inclusive;
- Assessing the impact of digitalisation on income distribution and existing inequality and ways to respond to it;
- Defining ways to adapt social security systems to ensure a high level of social protection for all forms of employment;
- Evaluating mechanisms to adapt the tax and benefit system to ensure that fair contributions are paid and loopholes are avoided e.g. revision of taxation models;
- Breaking down the potential effects of digitalisation by industry and sector of the economy.
The call for expressions of interest, which closed on 4 June 2018, resulted in more than 80 applications from a broad range of experts across Europe. Following an internal selection process, the Directors-General of DG CONNECT and DG EMPL have decided to appoint as members of the HLG the following persons, who have all accepted:
- Mr Morten Binder, CEO of HK, Danish Unemployment Insurance Fund
- Ms Katarina Ćurković, Head of career guidance and counselling division, Croatian Employment Service
- Ms Solveigh Hieronimus, Partner (Employment and Active Labour Policies), McKinsey & Company
- Mr Stephane Kasriel, CEO, Upwork*
- Mr Vassil Kirov, Associate Professor, Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, Bulgarian Academy of Science
- Mr Karl McFaul, Strategist, City of Lund, Sweden
- Ms Maria Savona, Professor of Innovation and Evolutionary Economics, SPRU Science and Technology, Policy Research University of Sussex UK
- Mr Gary Shaughnessy, CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd
- Ms Lucia Velasco, Director of Research and Social Innovation, Fundacion Tomillo (until July 2018)
*Mr Stephane Kasriel has since given notice of his resignation on 21/09/2018, and will thus not take up the function.
The group will hold its first meeting on 18 September 2018 in Brussels; following four other meetings, it will issue its recommendations by the end of February 2019.
For all further information, please write to EC-HLG-FOW@ec.europa.eu.