“Strong skills alone are not enough – Europe needs the courage to bring bold ideas to market,” said Ilaria Tagliavini, head of operations overseeing innovation, education and communication. Tagliavini was speaking with Euractiv’s Christoph Schwaiger at the EIT Education and Skills Days in Brussels, where she underscored the importance of cultivating entrepreneurial talent to enhance Europe’s global competitiveness.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is advancing as a pivotal player in reshaping Europe’s educational and innovation ecosystem, with a mandate to integrate scientific research, technical proficiency and entrepreneurial drive.

Tagliavini spoke about the EIT’s strategic initiatives aimed at narrowing the continent’s skills gap, including the launch of the Advanced Materials Academy and the Girls Go STEM programme, both designed to foster innovation and inclusivity in emerging sectors.

CS: What’s causing Europe’s skills gap?

IT: Commissioner Zaharieva highlighted Europe’s skills gap loud and clear, explaining that Europe’s industries are desperately looking for the right skills and talent. We live in an era where the technologies and the skills that complement them are changing at such a rapid pace that it’s difficult to keep up with them.

We need to be ready to cater to learners of all ages, providing people with the right skills at the right time. We also need to show learners that the traditional model of education ending after university no longer applies. We all need to be prepared for a lifelong learning process.

The biggest cost education providers incur when training people is updating training content. It changes very rapidly, on average every six months, especially when it’s related to deep tech, quantum technologies, and AI.

CS: Several panel discussions during the EIT Education and Skills Days had more than one speaker claiming that talent trumps funding, infrastructure, and technology when it comes to creating things like competitive economies here in Europe. So, with the US having more unicorns than Europe, does it mean we’re less talented than our peers across the Atlantic?

IT: Not at all. I would say that Europe has a wonderful population of researchers and talents. Our research is top-notch, and our universities are among the best, too. What we do not yet have is the seamless integration between technical, scientific, and entrepreneurial skills.

In the US, this is more rooted in their culture. They’re scientists and businesspeople at the same time. Why? Because they start to do this at very early stages. It has positive and negative aspects, but it is part of their culture. Now we don’t have this same type of culture in Europe for many different reasons.

We do have a wide variety of different cultures with rich histories. But here in Europe, we often put people into boxes: you’re either a researcher, a scientist, or a businessperson. Everyone is placed in their own category.

We need to start very early on. To start teaching young generations entrepreneurial skills and grow them throughout their career. Having them bring an idea to market entails not only scientific knowledge but also commercial knowledge.

Why shouldn’t a physicist or a chemist know how to set up a company? This entrepreneurial spirit should be fostered in all our learners. And this is exactly what the EIT does. I would say that this is the core feature of EIT as an education powerhouse of Europe. We’ve seamlessly integrated scientific and technical skills with entrepreneurship.

There are two things that place us in a great position to accomplish this. Firstly, because the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) have a deep knowledge of their sectors, and they know the main needs and what skills are required. And secondly, because the EIT links business, education, and research across Europe through the so-called knowledge triangle.

CS: We’re living in exceptionally challenging times, which make it seem Europeans are better off sticking together.

IT: Yes, we also have to overcome fragmentation. I come from the US venture capital sector. If a startup there closes a contract with, say, Walmart, they’re instantly in 5,000 stores across a single territory hosting 300 million people.

If you convince Walmart, you’ve conquered the market with a single contract. Imagine if we had the same thing in Europe. An Italian startup aspiring to branch out to France needs to deal with an entirely different way of doing things. That is where we come in to connect people and build trust, helping organisations work together in Europe.

CS: Some companies complain there’s a mismatch between the skills today’s workforce has and the skills they need. But don’t companies also have a responsibility to train their own workforce?

IT: Absolutely, and I would say that this is what we are fostering with initiatives like the Deep Tech Talent Initiative. We encouraged companies to commit to creating training opportunities. Starting from their own workforce, with the possibility of making their content available to other companies in the network.

In the end, we managed to train over 1.3 million people with relatively little public funding.

CS: What does the interface between formal education and the EIT look like in your eyes? Where does the work of educational institutions end, and where does that of the EIT start?

IT:  The EIT works closely with educational institutions to turn academic knowledge into practical innovation together. Universities provide skills and research, while we connect these strengths with entrepreneurship and market needs.

For example, through our Higher Education Initiative, we help universities build their innovation capacity, upskill staff, and test new multidisciplinary education models. This cooperation helps ensure that education and innovation are more closely linked in practice.

CS: And you just launched the European Advanced Materials Academy. What inspired its creation?

IT: The establishment of all our academies – Battery, Solar, Raw Materials and now Advanced materials – comes from the same key need, that we need to upskill people in the critical value chain. And this process hasn’t ended. We’re already discussing with the European Commission the setup of a Wind Academy and a Hydrogen Academy.

The common thread between all these academies is a focus on sectors identified as being part of the critical value chain for the competitiveness of Europe. However, we won’t be limiting ourselves to these sectors.

There are many other sectors or specific sub-sectors that are desperately in need of this type of upskilling and reskilling. Now that we have a model, we are going to replicate it as much as possible. Possibly even with differentiated sources of funding that can also involve private funding.

It’s also amazing to see how, throughout Europe, geographically speaking, you have completely different skill needs according to the specialisations and industrial backgrounds of those regions.

We define the required skills profiles based on these requirements and deploy our model to the different member states.

Going back to Europe’s competitiveness objectives, many agree that the real competition worldwide will be for talent. So, this is exactly what the Advanced Materials Academy will focus on: ensuring we are equipped with the best and most up-to-date talent according to the specific needs of this sector.

CS: Aside from closing the skills gap, the EIT is also working toward gender parity. Does this mission remain important?

IT: I’m very passionate about the gender aspect. We’re also launching our new Girls Go STEM programme, broadening our very successful Girls Go Circular programme, aimed at schoolgirls.

I do believe it’s a very important and relevant initiative. Why? Because if we want to close the gender gap, we need to start very early. These girls, of course, need skills. They’ll need an entrepreneurial spirit. But above all, they need to know that success is possible.

They need inspiration. They need to see that there are examples of women who become successful. There are wonderful female scientists and CEOs of companies. We need to send Europe’s girls the message that they can achieve great things too.

I had the chance to speak with some of the participants, and looking into the eyes of these girls was really inspiring. I could see the potential this programme is giving them by providing them with concrete challenges to solve and empowering them. So, I really believe in this programme and in the value it provides to younger generations and young women.

The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

(BM)