Interreg projects

Smart Specialisation Skills Ecosystems for the Twin Transition

European Social Fund Agency as project partner together with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport as an associated partner started the participation in an interregional cooperation project for improving skills for smart specialisation and industrial transition policies.

Project summary

The EU has committed to promoting twin green and digital transitions to make its economy more fair, resilient, and sustainable. Vocational Education and Training (VET) is a key tool. Yet VET systems must adapt and modernise. Adaptation must go hand in hand with Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3/S4), with an increasing role to be played by VET in strategy development and governance.

Conscious of their policy role in overcoming skills gaps and mismatches, in helping workers reskill and upskill, 8 European regions (10 partners), supported by an expert association in the field of lifelong learning (Advisory Partner), cooperate in SKYLA project to address limitations to the VET role in innovation ecosystems. All SKYLA territories note: concerns over (future)employment, particularly following the COVID pandemic, complicated or non-existent links between SMEs (the economic backbone) and VET providers, capacity among territorial ecosystems to foresee skills requirements for the ever evolving twin-transitions.

SKYLA’s overall objective is to support public authorities in putting future skills at the centre of the twin transitions for a smarter, more resilient development, by boosting and adapting the role of VET in innovation ecosystems and smart specialisation strategies.

To achieve this, SKYLA partners cooperate at interregional level to reach the following specific goals:
1) encourage interregional learning on policy adaptation and modernisation required to adapt VET systems and facilities and integrate them into S3/S4 processes and innovation ecosystems;
2) understand how public policy can address these needs and challenges;
3) design, and initiate implementation of, policy improvements to integrate skills into the twin transition, with a new role for VET systems/facilities and better capacity among public authorities to implement approaches;
4) implement, extend and monitor policy improvements, using territorial resources.

For more information, please go here: www.interregeurope.eu/skyla.

Project partners:

•  Agency for the development of the Empolese Valdelsa (IT)
•  Podlaskie Voivodeship (PL)
•  Regional Council of Skåne, Department for Regional Development (SE)
•  Industrial Development Center South (SE)
•  Sofia Municipality (BG)
•  Cluster of Mechatronics and Automation (BG)
•  Fingal County Council (IE)
•  Regional Development Fund of Attica (EL)
•  European Association of Regional and Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning (BE)
•  European Social Fund Agency (LT)
•  Pôle emploi Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (FR)

Asta Kulbačiauskienė

asta.kulbaciauskiene@esf.lt

+370 659 80 532