Investing in Skills in Europe’s Regions and Cities

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On 25 April 2024, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the European Commission, DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) co-organised the event “Investing in Skills in Europe’s Regions and Cities’‘. This conference marked the closing of the European Year of Skills at the Committee of the Regions. The event was divided into three sessions focused on the critical role of skills development and the transformative power of upskilling and reskilling in bolstering the socio-economic fabric of Europe’s diverse regions and cities. Mr Iñigo Araiztegui, Director of the Internationalisation Department of TKNIKA, was invited to introduce LCAMP Skills and Jobs Observatory findings in the second-panel discussion.

The second panel deep-dived into the skills of intelligence and the importance of data collection to identify skills gaps and trends. Representatives from OECD, Public Services Network, Cedefop and Eurostat stressed that skills intelligence can play a pivotal role in addressing labour market challenges. However, they all agreed that is difficult to collect data and then understand how to interpret and value it at the local level. Mr Francois Decoster (Committee of the Regions) stated that a macro-regional level cooperation will be essential to overcome those difficulties. LCAMP, Skills and Jobs Observatory has been working on the skills of intelligence for the past months. Mr Iñigo Araiztegui introduced the main findings of the Observatory, such as that the jobs in the Advanced Manufacturing sector won’t change but the skills required for each position will evolve, green skills and circular economy concepts must be included in all training programmes, Lifelong Learning culture needs to be strengthened, basic technical skills are essential.