The IPEF Upskilling Initiative, which was announced in September 2022, is one example of the many economic benefits which will be brought through IPEF. The upskilling initiative was announced by Secretary Raimondo and Ambassador Tai with the goal of providing digital skills for primarily women and girls in developing countries in the Indo-Pacific. Specifically, fourteen U.S. companies will each provide 500,000 or more upskilling opportunities that use digital tools for women and girls in IPEF emerging economies and middle-income partners by 2032, bringing 7 million or more training and education opportunities over the next decade. To implement the Initiative, the Department of Commerce is partnering with The Asia Foundation. 

⇒ Read the fact sheet for the IPEF Upskilling Initiative.

⇒ Read the press release on the Upskilling Initiative launch.

Representatives of U.S. companies participating in the Upskilling Initiative attended the launch event in September 2022. At the event, fourteen U.S. companies, including Amazon and Amazon Web Services, American Tower, Apple, Cisco, Dell Technologies, Edelman Global Advisory (EGA), Google, HP, IBM, MasterCard, Microsoft, PayPal, Salesforce, and Visa, announced they will each provide 500,000 or more upskilling opportunities that use digital tools for primarily women and girls in IPEF emerging economies and middle-income partners by 2032.