Strengthening the skills base for defence, security and preparedness in Europe's regions: key take-aways of ERRIN's second Skills for Resilience Talk
On 25 June 2026, ERRIN’s Science and Education for Society (SEFS) Working Group gathered over 45 ERRIN members for its second online Skills for Resilience Talk. Following up on the first session held on 13 May, this second skills talk took a deep dive into skills development for security and defense.
- Vassilis Antoniou presented the Committee of the Regions Working Group on Defence, which considers the regional dimensions in the EU Defence and Security policy landscape. While analysing the defence capabilities and regional investments across Europe, this Working Group aims to gain a better understanding of territorial security and defence-related challenges in view of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The working Group's broad mandate for 2025–2027 also covers civil protection and preparedness at the local level and considers transport and military mobility (dual-use infrastructure), hybrid threats and disinformation, with the aim of increasing local resilience. Since numerous skills gaps and needs have already been identified by regions, like the Murcia Region for instance, skills development has emerged as a future area of work. It is expected that skills will most likely feature among the priorities for the second term of the Working Group mandate that will run from 2028–2030.
- From ÖsterGotland Region in Sweden, Professor Charlotte Norman at the Department for Management and Engineering, Project Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Research and Innovation Support Division of Linköping University introduced their InDefense programme. This short track 8-week challenge-based multi-disciplinary programme at master's level, strives to create an innovation ecosystem for total defence that includes students, researchers, business, organisations and authorities, by turning real-world security and preparedness challenges into innovative prototypes and policy solutions. This programme was piloted for the first time in 2025 in collaboration with the Swedish Defence University and supported with funding from Vinnova, the Swedish Innovation Agency. The students focus on real-world challenges provided by local SME's, companies, fire departments, local authorities and civic organisations. The students design solutions, being mentored by Linköping University professors and domain experts from the Swedish Defence University. This programme demonstrates well how co-designed and co-delivered university-led programme involving sme's, big companies, local and regional authorities, fire departments, civil organisations and the Defence University, deliver immediate added value: students gain hands-on knowledge and experience in the field of security, defence and preparedness, while solutions are being developed by students to address for local defense and security related challenges, to find their way back into the regional defense innovation ecosystem.
Following these two presentations, ERRIN members held an interactive exchange which uncovered more inspiring initiatives, like the West Midlands’ Defence and Security Blueprint, building a future-ready workforce in aerospace, cyber, nuclear and more.
The presentations of the session can be found here.
ERRIN continues the work on skills for resilience
ERRIN members underscored the increasing interest from their territories in skills development for territorial resilience and expressed interest in exploring further collaboration with the Working Group. ERRIN's Science and Education for Society Working Group will resume the online Skills Talks series after the summer break with a focus on more emerging skills initiatives tapping into societal challenges, ranging from VET to higher education and covering initial training, upskilling and reskilling. The SEFS Working Group will bring learnings and recommendations from the skills talks series to a high-level exchange with the cabinet of Executive Vice-President Mînzatu.
ERRIN members who are interested in getting more involved in this workstream can contact astrid.hannes@errin.eu.