Europe needs skilled workers to thrive. Yet, skills shortages hinder competitiveness, with nearly four out of five SMEs struggling to find the talent they need. This critical challenge fuels the European Commission’s «Union of Skills» initiative – a comprehensive plan to elevate education, training, and lifelong learning, inspired by the European Competitive Compass.
Its goals are ambitious:
- Elevate Skills: Deliver higher levels of basic and advanced skills across all sectors.
- Enable Lifelong Learning: Provide continuous opportunities for upskilling and reskilling.
- Help EU-wide Recruitment: Facilitate efficient talent acquisition for businesses.
- Attract & Retain Top Talent: Bolstering the EU’s ability to attract and keep talent from inside the EU and globally.
- Promote Inclusivity: Address gender imbalances and create a more equitable workforce.
The EIT: A Crucial Partner in the Union of Skills
The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), a cornerstone of Horizon Europe, uniquely integrates education, skills development, research, and business. Its proven track record in bridging skills gaps and responding to industry demands makes it a key implementation partner of the Union of Skills.
EIT Education: supporting the Union of Skills by training the talent Europe needs
Under the Union of Skills, the EIT will equip 1 million learners by 2028 with the skills needed in strategic sectors, in collaboration with businesses, paying particular attention to gender balance participation. It will also contribute to setting up transnational university-business partnerships to train people for sectors with severe skills gaps, drawing on its Europe-wide network that connects academia, business and research, and its expertise in providing support and mentorship for start-ups and scale-ups.
Thanks to strong connections between businesses and universities, the EIT Community has created and customised skilling and training programmes that directly respond to market demands and position the EIT as a key implementing actor of the Union of Skills agenda.
The EIT has amassed an impressive portfolio of skills building programmes that have directly trained and skilled over 880 000 individuals, while responding to the key initiatives of the Union of Skills as highlighted below:
- Building skills for quality lives and jobs: improve skills in STEM and attract more women
The EIT model weaves education into the innovation web and offers a wide array of entrepreneurial skills programmes that equip the talent of today with the STEM and entrepreneurial skills they need to tackle the challenges of the future, with a proven track-record of success that includes the following results.
- Training almost 6500 university students through the EIT Label with over 60 graduate degree programmes developed with 200 universities active in the EIT network.
- Training almost 70 000 students and faculty at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through the EIT HEI Initiative helping faculties build the capacity to teach innovation and entrepreneurship. During the programme’s pilot phase, 359 HEIs and 179 non-academic organisations were supported with EUR 69 million. Across 65 projects, more than 69 000 students and staff received training in innovation and entrepreneurship and over 1 000 start-ups and scale-ups benefitted from targeted support.
- Contributing to an inclusive STEM landscape and closing the gender gap: training close to 65000 secondary school students through the EIT Girls Go Circular project, committed to help young girls develop tech and entrepreneurship skills related to the green and digital transition.
The EIT will build on this experience to contribute to the success of the transnational university-business partnerships to be set up under the Union of Skills.
- Regular upskilling and reskilling
The Union of Skills recognises that learning new skills should be a regular part of people’s professional lives to keep up with evolving economies and ensure lifelong learning.
The EIT has vast experience in training and upskilling over 200 000, workers and professional learners through a wide variety of non-degree courses and workshops accessible online through the EIT Campus. Professional learners and workers have also been able to benefit from the targeted skills development programmes including the European Battery Alliance Academy and the European Solar Academy working with EU Member States and industry partners under the Net Zero Industry Act to train and upskill workers in industrial supply chains.
The EIT looks forward to leveraging its experience to equip 1 million learners with the skills needed in strategic sectors by 2028, working alongside businesses and promoting gender balance.
- Attracting, developing and retaining talent
As part of the European Commission’s New European Innovation Agenda, the EIT has deployed new and existing training programmes to rapidly foster, attract and retain skilled workers in key tech sectors in Europe, including launching the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative to skill one million learners.
The EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative has, together with its pledging community, successfully targeted one million learners and is on track to complete the training of 1 million learners.
The EIT is a key instrument behind the Union of Skills, delivering innovative educational programmes and actively addressing critical skills shortages. By fostering collaboration between academia, industry, and research institutions, the EIT is ensuring that Europe has the talent it needs to remain a global leader in innovation and competitiveness.