Towards a Union of Skills: regions weigh in

Towards a Union of Skills: regions weigh in

Towards a Union of Skills: regions and ecosystems at the core of Europe’s skills transformation

ERRIN’s Science and Education for Society Working Group convened on 25 June at Wales House in Brussels to discuss the regional dimension of the Union of Skills, bringing together key institutional, regional, and academic actors to explore how Europe’s place-based ecosystems can be harnessed to implement the EU’s new skills agenda.

The session opened with Vanessa Debiais-Sainton, member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Mînzatu, who stressed that Europe’s response to profound societal and technological shifts, such as AI, must put education and skills at the heart of its economic strategy. She underscored the need for tailored, context-sensitive skills strategies to reflect the realities and ambitions of places across Europe. Skills, she reminded the audience, are not just an education concern, but a driver of economic resilience, innovation and social cohesion. She called for strong investment in basic skills and lifelong learning systems that can enable greater mobility, skills portability and talent retention – highlighting the Choose Europe initiative as one such effort to attract top research talent.

The regional dimension of skills matters 

Throughout the discussion, ERRIN members reinforced the central message that 'places matter' and that the Union of Skills must embed the local-regional dimension more structurally to succeed.

  • Miriana Bucalossi of the Tuscany Region described how a diverse regional economy – ranging from emerging green and digital industries to traditional crucial sectors, such as tourism, viticulture and aggrotech – requires a nuanced approach to skills development. She emphasised the importance of multi-stakeholder dialogue and well-developed regional skills intelligence to inform coordinated investment and governance responses. Building future-oriented ecosystems depends on granular, region-specific data and sustained capacity for cross-sector alignment.
  • Vegard Herlyng of Kongsvinger College Centre in Innlandet County located in the Norwegian Oslo Region, echoed this point, underlining that successful implementation depends on local needs being the starting point.  He highlighting the importance of bottom-up intelligence to shape responsive and anticipatory training programmes. He shared on of their success story of co-designing training programmes from ecosystem's perspective, in close collaboration with the municipalities, employment services and businesses. This resulted in short six-week upskilling courses leading directly to local employment.
  • From Portugal’s Alentejo region, Paulo Jorge Silveira Ferreira of Portalegre Polytechnic shared how their low-density, rural setting influences the design of their skills strategies. Strengthening ties between universities of applied sciences, research and business is key to regional competitiveness, particularly in areas where knowledge valorisation and employment creation are essential for transformation. With their on-campus incubators, the University is increasing entrepreneurship and talent retention in the region.
  • Ksenija Vidmar Horvat of the University of Ljubljana described how the Slovenian university is operationalising the Union of Skills through modular learning tools like micro-credentials and student entrepreneurship pilots. She flagged the need for better alignment of quality assurance mechanisms across Europe to ensure the mutual recognition and transferability of skills and qualifications.

The discussion closed with a call for continued collaboration. Unlocking the potential of Europe’s regional innovation ecosystems will require sustained investment in trust, coordination and learning infrastructures making the regional level not just a delivery partner, but a co-architect of the Union of Skills.

Key take-away messages looking forward

  • ERRIN is committed to skills development and calls for reinforcing the place-based dimension in the roll-out of the Union of Skills, recognising territorial diversity of skills challenges across all regional ecosystems in Europe. Place-based skills challenges, require place-based solutions.
  • A ambitious European Skills Observatory should go beyond transnational benchmarking and include granular regional skills intelligence allowing to close skills gaps and address the realities of regional labour markets in all territories across Europe.
  • Attracting and retaining talent in Europe's regions, particularly those facing a development trap, requires long-term commitment from the entire ecosystem to ensure competitiveness across the EU.
  • Regional authorities can play a central role in building strong regional skills ecosystems, cultivating a culture of trust and adopting news ways of collaboration. 

You can find the presentations of the event here. 

To follow up on the Union of Skills meeting, ERRIN's Science and Education for Society Working Group is organising its next meeting on 2 October to explore 'How can fourth generation universities take up a transformative role for delivering innovation and impact for regions?'. 

You can register here, the detailed agenda will follow closer to date. Please note you need to be logged in to register.