Governments all over the world face a common challenge: ensuring agile and responsive skills development systems to meet the rapidly evolving needs of labour markets in the context of disruptive change. In recent years, this has led to substantial investment in skills anticipation studies, alongside the development of more innovative, forward-looking and anticipatory approaches. Advances in natural language processing now enable these studies to automatically analyse a wide range of online information sources, from job vacancies and patents to research databases and education curricula.
There is now a larger toolkit for skills anticipation combining both traditional and innovative methods, which contribute to yield valuable information on the evolution of jobs and emerging skills needs. However, analysing skill needs is not free from hurdles due to data limitations, inconsistent methodologies and results, inadequate funding, limited technical capacity, coordination problems, or biased/ unrepresentative data. Yet, translating evidence into a concrete policy action has proved to be even more challenging. Despite the wealth of available labour market information and data, their strategic use in the formulation of employment and skills policies remain limited.
Drawing on its long-standing work on Skills demands analysis, the European Training Foundation (ETF) has noted that producing high-quality analysis does not automatically lead to evidence-informed policies. The key challenge lies in the disconnection between ‘science’ and ‘policy’, and the gap between evidence providers (researchers) and evidence users (policymakers). Factors that limit a meaningful dialogue between researchers and policymakers are time constraints, different priorities and timelines, lacking common language, non-practical and often conflicting findings.
The need to develop and institutionalise effective dialogue mechanisms between research institutions and policy authorities and to systematically embed evidence into the policy cycle is getting urgent. A first step in this direction is turning labour market data and information into ‘skills intelligence’ by synthesising them from multiple resources, creating ‘strategic intelligence’ through interpreting and adjusting the results to the needs of targeted users. So, evidence is transformed into intelligence and feasible operational actions to ‘assist in decision-making’, instead of long recommendations that are out of policy touch.
Among the factors that increase policy ownership of evidence are prioritising policy-oriented research responding to real-world problems, combining different methodologies to find answers, engaging key stakeholders from the outset in structured dialogue mechanisms, allocating enough time to turn evidence into concrete skills intelligence, distilling clear and realistic policy messages, using diverse formats for dissemination, and investing in policy advocacy.
Therefore, creating a strong bridge between skills anticipation research and policy action requires more than producing high-quality evidence. It demands continuous dialogue, strategic communication, interinstitutional cooperation, and shared capacities on both sides. By focusing on these enabling factors, the gap between scientific knowledge and policy design can be significantly reduced and the capacity for effective policy making can be increased —ultimately contributing to more responsive and effective education, training and employment policies.
Within this context, this fourth edition of the ETF’s Skill Lab Network of Experts live event focuses on both the research and the policy action dimensions of skills anticipation and matching. While producing high-quality evidence on current and future skill needs is extremely important and must be excelled, their wider use in policy making must be encouraged at many levels. Not using the available evidence for effective and concrete policy actions would be an enormous waste of resources.
The objectives of this event are to:
- Exchange knowledge and experience on skills anticipation methodologies and tools, labour supply and demand analyses, and on how they are used in different countries;
- Exchange and discuss on translating research findings into concrete policy actions in the field of skills anticipation, including main challenges faced and common practices implemented;
- Discuss key success factors and good practices that support a meaningful dialogue and enhanced collaboration between researchers and policymakers.
This Skills Lab Network live event is organised with the support of the European University Institute (EUI) and will be held at The Social Hub Belfiore in Florence, Italy.
The event will be in English.
The agenda is designed to provide a balance between learning, networking and exchange.
Participants will be invited to explore and discuss the links between skills anticipation research and policy action.
Day 1 will be devoted to framing the discussion topics and exploring innovative approaches and methodologies in skills anticipation and matching.
Day 2 will focus on the use of evidence in skills development and employment policy formulation. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit the Historical Archives of the European Union hosted at Villa Salviati.
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