We are proud to announce that we have officially been accepted as the first regional network in the Pact for Skills 2023!

Our Partnership proposal ‘Regional Skills Partnerships for the chemical industry’ will support regional private and public partners through 2023, and possibly work as blueprint for future initiatives. 

The main ambitions of the Regional Skills Partnership for the chemical industry are:

• Helping regions to find the best and the most suitable solutions to tackle the challenges linked to skills needed for the green and digital transition of the chemical industry.
• Speed up the identification of the most vulnerable regions and areas of interest by bringing all relevant partners to the table and surveying their needs. 
• Facilitating meaningful dialogue between regional administration, social partners, education and training providers, Research & Development institutions and industry. 
• Stimulate partners to work on specific tasks and create smaller, targeted working groups that can lead to the concrete project applications of EU-funded projects and/or to the preparation of interregional strategies to tackle common challenges.
• Increase digitalisation of the EU chemical industry for its future competitiveness. Big data can improve manufacturing processes and lower the environmental impact of the sector through a more efficient management of resources, materials, and energy use.

Speaking of the announcement Mr. Stephan Satijn, Limburg's Regional Minister for Economy, Land Management, and Education, explains that:

‘I believe that the green and digital transition will require new skills and create innovative jobs. The chemical sector can play a pivotal role in this process of creating these new skill sets and highly innovative jobs. In order to guarantee a successful transition, I want to encourage other regions to join the European Chemical Regions Network and therewith to empower this EU-Partnership. The Pact for Skills offers an incredible amount of opportunities for numerous European regions to up- and reskill employees in the chemical sector, to get advice on relevant funding possibilities, and to represent a kick start for ECRN’s participation in the 2023 Year of Skills.’

About the Pact

The Pact for Skills is an engagement project launched by the European Commission in 2020, it is the first of the flagship actions of the European Skills Agenda. It aims to support public and private actors with upskilling and reskilling projects, and it does so by providing advice, creating a reliable network, and guiding members through funding opportunities at different levels. 

Synergy between private and public stakeholders through networks is crucial for fostering effective regional development and can bring increased coherence in the programming and implementation of activities related to skills development. And are therefore at the core of the initiative. 

In 2022, we have been invited as speakers in the first Pact for Skills Peer Learning Activity, to support other potential or new Pact members. Moreover, we have been selected together with the Lombardy Region, as best practices within the initiative in 2022. We are happy to celebrate this new chapter! And we are excited for the challenges ahead. 

Find out more HERE.