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  1. An institution, body, office or agency established by or based on the Treaty on European Union and the Treaties establishing the European Communities.

    All education and training facilities for people of different age groups.

    An intergovernmental organization having legal personality under public international law or a specialized agency established by such an international organization. An international organization, the majority of whose members are Member States or Associated Countries and whose main objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe, is an International Organization of European Interest.

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  1. Administration & Governance, Institutional Capacity & Cooperation 

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    This topic covers labour market development and employment, focusing on creating job opportunities, optimizing existing jobs, and addressing academic (un)employment and job mobility. It also includes attracting a skilled workforce and improving working conditions for various groups. 

    Strengthening small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and boosting entrepreneurship are key priorities. This includes enhancing SME capacities, supporting social entrepreneurship, and promoting innovative business models. Activities may focus on creating advisory systems for start-ups, spin-offs, and incubators, fostering business networks, and improving the competitiveness of SMEs through knowledge and technology transfer, digital transformation, and sustainable business practices. 

    This topic focuses on fostering community integration and strengthening a common identity by promoting social cohesion, positive relations, and the development of shared spaces and services. It supports initiatives that enhance intercultural understanding and cooperation between different societal groups. 

    Demographic change and migration address key societal challenges, such as an aging population, active aging, and silver economy strategies. It also includes adapting public services and infrastructure to demographic shifts, tackling social and spatial segregation, and addressing brain drain. Migration-related actions cover policy development, strategic planning, and the integration of migrants to create inclusive and resilient communities. 

    All projects where ICT has a significant role, including tailor-made ICT solutions in different fields, as well as digital innovation hubs, open data, Internet of Things; ICT access and connecting (remote) areas with digital infrastructure and services; services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.); services and applications for companies (e-commerce, networking, digital transformation, etc.).

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Call key data

Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills (implementing the ‘Blueprint')

Funding Program

Erasmus+ - Key Action 2 – Cooperation among Organisations and Institutions

Call number

ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PI-ALL-INNO-BLUEPRINT

deadlines

Opening
04.12.2025

Deadline
10.03.2026 17:00

Funding rate

80%

Call budget

€ 67,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

max. € 4,000,000.00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

Alliances for Innovation aim to strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity by boosting innovation through cooperation and flow of knowledge among higher education, vocational education and training (both initial and continuous), and the broader socio-economic environment, including research. They also aim to boost the provision of new skills and address skills mismatches by designing and creating new curricula for higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET), supporting the development of a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mind-sets in the EU.

Call objectives

These partnerships shall implement a coherent and comprehensive set of sectoral or cross-sectoral activities, which should be adaptable to future knowledge developments across the EU.

To boost innovation, the focus will be on talent and skills development. Firstly, digital competences have become increasingly important in all job profiles across the entire labour market. Secondly, the transition to a circular and greener economy needs to be underpinned by changes to qualifications and national education and training curricula to meet emerging professional needs for green skills and sustainable development. Thirdly, the twin digital and green transition requires an accelerated adoption of new technologies across all sectors of our economy and society and boosting STEM skills and talent.

Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills aim to create new strategic approaches and cooperation for concrete skills development solutions – both in the short and the medium term – in areas implementing a major action of the European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience, the Pact for Skills, an action launched under the European Skills Agenda in 2020 and now a major element of the sector based approach of the Union of Skills, the overarching European skills strategy. The initiative provides large-scale partnerships established under the Pact for Skills, with the opportunity to support the development of sector skills strategies, as well as the revision and development of job profiles and of related training programmes. The main objective of the Pact is to mobilise and incentivize all relevant stakeholders and leverage public-private partnerships to take concrete actions for the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce, by pooling efforts and setting up partnerships, also at EU level, addressing the needs of the labour market, supporting green and digital transitions as well as national, regional and local skills and growth strategies. Therefore, the deliverables of Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills, i.e. sectoral skills intelligence, skills strategies, occupational profiles, training programmes, and long-term planning, will be an important contribution to the work of the ecosystem-based large-scale partnerships that have joined the Pact for Skills.

Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills seek to tackle skills gaps on the labour market that hamper growth, innovation and competitiveness in specific sectors or areas, aiming both at short term interventions and long-term strategies. These Alliances will be implemented in the 14 industrial ecosystems identified in the New Industrial Strategy for Europe.

The large-scale Pact for Skills partnerships in ecosystems will build on the Blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills. Therefore, Alliances under Lot 2 will support the implementation of the commitments under the Pact by developing sectoral skills strategies. These strategies have to lead to systemic and structural impact on reducing skills shortages, gaps and mismatches and increase the competitiveness of the sector, as well as ensuring appropriate quality and levels of skills. The sectoral skills strategies must include a clear set of activities, milestones and well-defined objectives with the goal to match demand and supply of skills to support the overall implementation of ecosystem-based large-scale skills partnerships under the Pact. The Alliances aim to build the bases for these Skills partnerships and define the pathway that should be continued after the projects are finalised.

Drawing on evidence regarding skills needs with regard to occupational profiles, Blueprint Alliances support the design and delivery of transnational education & training content, as well as teaching and training methodologies, for quick take-up at regional and local level and for new occupations that are emerging. For this, Alliances should base their proposals on existing work of Centres of Vocational Excellence, of regions implementing smart specialization strategies, of European Cluster Partnerships and of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Technology (EIT) that are active in the same industrial ecosystem.

Proposals should include the design of continuing vocational training programmes to address urgent skills needs of people in working age. Proposals should also include developments of emerging occupational profiles, related qualifications, which should cover upper and post-secondary VET levels (EQF levels 3 to 5) and tertiary levels (EQF levels 6 to 8). Furthermore, proposals should include the design of related core curricula and education and training programmes leading to those qualifications.

Each project must include among its partners both vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE) organisations and labour market actors. Ideally, they also involve policy bodies, certifying bodies as well as European sectoral associations and representatives of industry.

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Expected effects and impacts

Alliances for Innovation will be anchored in strategic and sustainable cooperation among vocational education and training, higher education and enterprises working together to boost the innovation capacity of Europe. They will considerably strengthen the synergies between both educational fields in fostering innovation, new skills, a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial mind-sets. These Alliances among HE, VET and the enterprises are expected to contribute to the development of regional eco-systems and directly provide a valuable input to the economy, integrating work-based learning. While universities have research knowledge and data that allows them to directly provide input to small and medium sized enterprises to boost local economies, VET providers supply skills needed by enterprises and they are able to foster growth in the local economy.

At a larger scale, Alliances for Innovation are expected to target societal and economic challenges, both in education and employment, and take into account key areas such as innovation challenges, skills provision, climate change, green economy, demography, digitalisation and artificial intelligence. Benefits can also be drawn from cooperation with large enterprises. The Alliances for Innovation will focus on the need of citizens and accelerate the modernization of HE and VET.

The Pact for Skills will not only establish a framework for the implementation of the actions of the Union of Skills, but also for the dissemination and exploitation of the project results of the Alliances for Innovation. In  particular the results of the Blueprint Alliances for sectoral cooperation on skills will be used as a basis for the Pact for Skills partnerships. They will support the skills dimension of the Competitiveness Compass, the Clean Industrial Deal the Automotive Industrial Action Plan and of the White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030 as well as the Apply AI Strategy.

In addition, the Alliances will help to implement the EU Communication on the Renewed Agenda for Higher Education and contribute to the creation of a European Education Area. They will also contribute to implement the new European Innovation Agenda. The Alliances can also contribute to and cooperate with the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Technology and Innovation (EIT) in the sectors they operate in.

The Alliances for Innovation will also take into account the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Declaration on Climate Change as overarching parameters of the action, thus helping the European Commission to implement its new Green Deal and the Europe Recovery Plan. The Alliances will also contribute ideas to the New European Bauhaus initiative which aims to design new sustainable ways of living to meet the objectives of the Green Deal.

Alliances for Innovation are meant to have a short and long term impact on the wider range of stakeholders involved, at individual, organisational and systemic level. This impact is expected to go beyond the project's lifetime and beyond the organisations involved in the partnerships. It is expected that partnership and activities persist. For that, results/deliverables might not be stand-alone but be linked to/integrated into existing undertakings, schemes, projects, platforms, ventures etc.

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Expected results

The following activities should be implemented:

Developing a strategic approach to sectoral cooperation on skills

  • Setting up sustainable cooperation on skills development between key industry stakeholders including social partners, education and training providers, and public authorities (on national and regional level). The project will also aim at building cooperation between large companies and micro, small and medium companies (SMEs) throughout the value chain in a particular industrial ecosystem;
  • Gathering skills intelligence on a continuous basis: delivering relevant EU and country and/or regional level qualitative evidence and quantitative data according to linked open data format; developing a common methodology for anticipating future skills needs as well as monitoring (on a yearly basis) progress and the evolution of the demand and supply of skills based on credible foresight scenarios, drawing on the EU Skills Panorama and, where relevant, the work of the OECD, the World Economic Forum and existing Sector Skills Alliances;
  • Mapping of existing upskilling and reskilling support available in the sector/ecosystem (provided by industry, public and private stakeholders) and identifying which of those actions could be upscaled to support companies in the value chains;
  • Based on the skills intelligence, developing a skills strategy for the industrial ecosystem including priorities for actions to support the objectives of re- and upskilling the workforce of the industrial ecosystem and those who could join the sector (e.g. economically inactive). The strategy should detail how major trends, such as global, societal, and technological developments in the industrial ecosystem, are likely to affect jobs and skills needs. It should describe the expected timeline and give particular attention to the impact of digital and deep tech technologies. It should identify and define occupational profiles and related skills that are likely to emerge in the sector (i.e. will be completely new). It should also identify key industrial players and stakeholders that should be involved in the implementation of the strategy. This strategy should be the one of the first key deliverable of the project, indicating a clear set of activities, milestones and well-defined outputs, as well as setting out concrete priority actions suggesting how to match future demand and supply of skills for these emerging occupations. The strategy should be used as a base for building the partnership under the Pact for Skills;
  • Where relevant, ensuring that results of the project are available in open data format so that they can feed into the Cedefop’s Skills Intelligence, the work of the European Skills Observatory, and the classification of European Skills, Competencies, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO); 
  • Delivering relevant EU and country and/or regional level qualitative evidence and quantitative data according to linked open data format.

Applicants are expected to describe how the project proposal complements and/or creates synergies and avoids overlaps with already ongoing CoVE projects, Net-Zero Industry Academies, and other skills academies.

Designing European sector-wide agreed ‘core’ curricula and training programmes

➢ Within the first 18 months of activity (reactive response)

In parallel to the actions above, all projects should rapidly address urgent skills needs in occupations in an industrial ecosystem resulting from the digital and green transition (evidence to be provided in the proposal):

  • Drawing on, where available, the occupational profiles of the Classification of ESCO and existing competence frameworks;
  • Designing or revising training programmes for up-skilling and re-skilling the labour force by, where relevant, innovative blended and work-based learning;
  • Ensuring the good quality of the content and provision of the new training programmes by applying quality assurance methods in line with EQAVET and ESG (European Standards & Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education);
  • Ensuring rapid uptake and use of these training programmes by reaching out for example to main players in value chains within the industrial ecosystem, or to Centres of Vocational Excellence, or to regions implementing smart specialisation strategies, or to European Cluster Partnerships and to Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Technology (EIT) that are active in the same industrial ecosystem.

➢ Throughout the project (proactive response)

Projects should then work on developing occupational profiles and training content for changing and emerging occupational profiles:

  • On the basis of identified skills needs for emerging occupational profiles in an industrial ecosystem, designing new modular VET curricula and related qualifications for initial education & training (E&T) (full curricula for integration in national education & training systems), and training programmes for up-skilling or re-skilling the people of working age (modules addressing emerging skills needs);
  • These curricula and training programmes shall be composed of units of learning outcomes, in line with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) / National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) and informed by ESCO; curricula should deliver job-specific skills as well as key competences, that include notably transversal skills and STEAM disciplines;
  • Integrating periods of work-based learning into the new training content, including opportunities to apply knowledge in practical "real life" workplace situations, and embedding trans-national learning experience whenever possible; 
  • Applying quality management to the new training content either by applying the quality assurance principles of EQAVET and ESG or by using already existing quality assurance systems which, however, should be in line with EQAVET and ESG;
  • Promoting relevant sectoral qualifications including trans-national joint programmes (that include European Vocational Core Profiles) awarded by more than one E&T provider, thus facilitating cross-border certification, and building mutual trust, contributing to increased learner and professional mobility in the sector.

Delivering the ‘core’ curricula and training programmes:

  • Developing delivery methodologies for the curricula and training programmes, that are adapted to the various target groups, using innovative approaches to teaching and learning, including the provision of work-based learning, the use of ICTs (e.g. blended learning, simulators, augmented reality, etc.), virtual/blended mobility solutions for learners and staff, and open educational resources (e.g. AI-enhanced learning, MOOC's);
  • Developing actions to facilitate inter-generational transfer of professional knowledge;
  • Describing the ways in which assessment methodologies and procedures can cover all forms of learning, including work-based learning, and facilitate the validation of skills and competences acquired prior to training;
  • Building on established contacts and on new contacts established with the skills demand side during the skills intelligence phase, reaching out to providers of employment opportunities, such as private and public employers and employment services, for potential matching with training graduates;
  • Identifying adequate measures to track learners after completing their training in order to provide "feedback loops". These tracking and feedback systems can build on information from companies, learners/employees, as well as public information resources and labour market stakeholders;
  • Proposing the appropriate measures for the formal recognition of the new or adapted vocational VET and HE curricula and qualifications in the countries where partners are located and in the industrial ecosystem covered.

Designing a long-term action plan for the progressive roll-out of project deliverables after the project has finished:

  • This plan shall be based on sustained partnerships between education and training providers, key industry stakeholders and public authorities (regional or national) at the appropriate level to facilitate/strengthen multi-stakeholder skills partnerships under the Pact for Skills for re- and upskilling the workforce. It should include the identification of appropriate governance structures, as well as plans for scalability and financial sustainability;
  • The plan shall ensure the appropriate visibility and wide dissemination of the results, including at EU and national/regional political level and include details on how the roll-out will be implemented at national and/or regional levels with relevant public authorities;
  • The plan shall foresee how the deliverables of the project, in particular the skills intelligence, the strategy and the training programmes, will be updated following the end of the 4-year duration of the project, including by foreseeing its future sources of funding;
  • The plan shall indicate how EU funding opportunities (e.g. recovery and resilience facility (RRF), EU multi-annual financial framework (MFF) 2021-2027, including European Structural Funds, InvestEU, Erasmus+), as well as private investment and national/regional funding can support skills strategies. This should take into account Smart Specialisation Strategies, European cluster partnerships, the networks of Centres of Vocational Excellence and the Innovation Communities of the EIT.

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Iceland (Ísland), Liechtenstein, North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Türkiye

eligible entities

Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

Yes

Project Partnership

Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills (Blueprint) must have the following composition:

  • cover at least 8 EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme and involve at least 12 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities),
  • the consortium must include at least 5 labour market actors (enterprises or companies, or representative intermediary organisations, such as chambers, trade unions or trade associations) and at least 5 education and training providers (VET and HEIs) as applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities),
  • there must be at least one HE institution and one VET provider involved as applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) in each proposal.

Affiliated entities and associated partners do not count towards the minimum eligibility criteria for the consortium composition and cannot be coordinator

The 14 industrial ecosystems as identified in the Annual Single Market Report 2021. The applicant must select only 1 ecosystem out of the 14 eco-systems below:

  1. Mobility-Transport-Automotive: Production of motor vehicles, ships and trains, and accessories; Their repair and maintenance; Freight Transport etc.
  2. Textile: Production of textiles, wearing apparel, footwear, leather and jewellery etc.
  3. Renewable Energy: Electric motors, engines and turbines; Electric power generation; Manufacturing and distribution of gas etc.
  4. Electronics: Production of electronics etc.
  5. Retail: Retail sales, Wholesale connected to consumers etc
  6. Construction: Building of residential and non-residential estates; Building of roads and railways; Building of utilities and civil engineering; Associated activities; etc.
  7. Aerospace & Defence: Aircraft production; space manufacturing and services; defence products and technologies, etc.
  8. Low-carbon energy Intensive Industries: Extraction of fossil fuels; Refining; Manufacturing of products with high environmental impact: plastics, chemicals, fertilisers, iron and steel, forest-based products, cement, rubber, non-ferrous metals, etc.
  9. Tourism: Passenger transport and travel; Hotels, short term accommodation; Restaurants and catering; Events, theme parks etc.
  10. Agri-food: Plant and animal production; Processing of food; Veterinary activities etc.
  11. Creative & Cultural Industries: Newspapers, books and periodicals; Motion picture, video and television; Radio and music; etc..
  12. Digital: Telecommunications; Software and programming; Web portals; Manufacturing of computers and equipment, etc.
  13. Proximity & Social Economy: Social enterprises, associations and cooperatives aiming at generating a social impact, etc.
  14. Health: Pharmaceutical products and equipment; Hospitals, nursing homes, residential care etc.

For their proposal, alliances must choose a single industrial ecosystem which their project will address.

A proposal may concern an ecosystem that is not covered by an on-going Blueprint project, an EU Skills Academy or an ecosystem that already has an on-going Blueprint or an EU Skills Academy. In the latter case, the proposal must address fields and areas that are clearly different from those addressed by the on-going Blueprint project/s or EU Skills Academy/ies.

Additional information

Topics

Competitiveness of Enterprises, Employment/Labour Market, SME & entrepreneurship, 
Education & Training, Children & Youth, Media

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

project duration

48 Months

Additional Information

Applications must be submitted to the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).

Applications must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Applications (including annexes and supporting documents) must be submitted using the forms provided in the Submission System.

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:

  • Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online);
  • Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, and then assembled and re-uploaded); and
  • Application Form Part C (to be filled in directly online, if any) containing additional project data.

Applications (Part B) are limited to 40 pages.

This action follows a lump-sum funding model. The amount of the single lump-sum contribution will be determined for each grant based on the estimated budget of the action proposed by the applicant. The amount will be fixed by the granting authority on the basis of the estimated project budget, evaluation result and a funding rate of 80%.

Financial support to third parties in the form of grants or prizes is not allowed.

Volunteer costs are allowed. They shall take the form of unit costs as defined in the Commission Decision on unit costs for volunteers. SME unit costs for SME owners without a salary are allowed. They should take the form of unit costs as defined in to the Commission Decision on unit costs for SMEs owners.

Call documents

Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026-DEErasmus+ Programme Guide 2026-DE(3067kB)
Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026-ENErasmus+ Programme Guide 2026-EN(3182kB)

Contact

Erasmus+ National Agencies
Website

European Education and Culture Executive Agency
Website

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