26/11/2025
The first Empowering lifelong learning, building lasting skills for a sustainable workforce (DEMANDS) EU-funded project, event, “Empowering Skills for a Fair Energy Transition,” took place on 4 November 2025 in Seville, Spain. Organised by the University of Western Macedonia and hosted by Ayesa, the event brought together stakeholders from education, industry, policy, and research to discuss how workforce development, upskilling, and intercultural competencies can support a just and inclusive energy transition.
The event was held as part of the Erasmus+ DEMANDS project, an initiative dedicated to supporting low-skilled workers and VET providers as they navigate the challenges of the green transition. DEMANDS focuses on identifying training needs, addressing skills mismatches, and developing an open educational platform to help equip Europe’s workforce with the competencies required for the evolving energy sector.
TRAILS was invited to contribute to the event as a key example of data-driven workforce analysis in Europe.
Mr. Paris Karypidis (Democritus University of Thrace) presented the latest TRAILS findings, illustrating how regional and sectoral skills gaps are emerging across Europe and what this means for vocational training and lifelong learning initiatives such as DEMANDS. The presentation highlighted how TRAILS’ evidence-based insights can guide the design of targeted reskilling pathways essential for both the green and digital transitions.
The session demonstrated the strong complementarity between the two projects: while TRAILS provides the analytical foundation for understanding labour market trends and skills needs, DEMANDS transforms these insights into practical training tools and educational strategies for workers and VET providers.
Around 35 participants attended the hybrid event, representing training organisations, industry, public authorities, and academia. Discussions revealed significant interest in how research-driven analysis can inform policy, support training programme design, and address regional disparities in access to learning opportunities. Stakeholders also stressed the importance of converting analytical results into accessible and actionable learning resources—an area where TRAILS and DEMANDS work hand in hand.
The day concluded with a lively exchange on the importance of cross-sector collaboration. Participants agreed that solving skills mismatches in Europe’s evolving labour market requires coordinated action between education providers, industry, and policymakers—an objective shared by both TRAILS and DEMANDS.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101132673
