How can diverse data-driven approaches support regional resilience and development in the face of skills shortages, brain drain, and mobility challenges? This interactive session brings together four Horizon Europe projects, MOBI-TWIN, RE-PLACE, PREMIUM_EU and SkillsPULSE, to explore how different methodologies and tools - the Regional Attractiveness Index, the Local Human Development Index, the Regional Policy Dashboard and skills intelligence - can inform better policymaking. Participants will join group discussions at dedicated tables. The session will be closed by a representative of the CoR reflecting on key takeaways and the potential for integration into policymaking.
- Cohesion | Demographics (depopulation and ageing) | Jobs and Employment | Local and regional | Migration | Research and Innovation | Rural | Social inclusion and Equality | Sustainable | Territorial
- Code: 14IS252429
- Square Brussels, 213-215
Speakers
Moderator
Practical information
- When
-
Tue 14/10/2025, 09:30 - 11:00 CET
- Where
- Square Brussels, 213-215
- Type of partnership
- Partnership
- Format
- Interactive session
- Theme
-
The Right to Stay: unlocking the potential of every territory
- Language
- English
Partner
White Research SRL
Document
4-projects-1m
Reporting
Session summary
• Regional challenges vary significantly across Europe: in countries such as Finland and the Netherlands, the main issues are high unemployment and brain drain, especially in smaller or rural regions where universities are absent and training programmes tend to support higher education institutions only, leaving other local actors underrepresented.
• Measure before you act: Having a robust index or dashboard helps regions identify where they stand (in attractiveness, human development, skills gaps) and thus tailor policy accordingly.
• Skills & mobility are central: The mention of brain drain, mobility challenges, and skills shortage highlights that labour market and demographic dynamics are critical for regional policy.
• Skill shortages are often sector- or group-specific: in countries like Ireland and Czechia, shortages are concentrated in specific sectors or population groups, often linked to the digital divide. Addressing these gaps is considered essential to strengthen resilience, enhance preparedness for economic and technological transitions, and support smart specialisation strategies.
• Data gaps still hinder effective skill intelligence: in some contexts, such as Poland and Italy, the available data are insufficient to accurately identify skill shortages, as they focus mainly on employment flows and occupational categories rather than on specific skills.
• Better use and coordination of data are needed: while regional tools and datasets are generally adequate, persistent challenges remain regarding data sharing across regions and their practical use by policymakers. Participants highlighted that research and evidence often fail to inform policy decisions, partly due to political constraints.
• Context matters: Tools need to be adapted to regional specificities, rural vs urban, ageing vs growing populations, mobility flows etc.
• From insight to action is key: Data is useful only if it leads to policy change and implementation; thus mechanisms for integrating insights into policy processes are crucial.
• Sustainability of regional initiatives is a common concern: numerous effective regional projects have emerged to address skill shortages, yet their long-term sustainability remains uncertain once external funding ends. Ensuring institutional commitment and defining the appropriate governance level were identified as key conditions for continuity.
• Crises can be powerful drivers of change: participants noted that crises or major transformations, such as the establishment of a large industry, can act as catalysts for policy innovation, helping
• Collaboration & dialogue: The interactive format suggests that bringing stakeholders (policymakers, researchers, practitioners) together fosters mutual learning and more grounded application of tools.
Quotes
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“We have plenty of data to diagnose problems and even innovative ways of presenting them. We know how to use that data to design policy solutions, but for some reason, these processes don’t seem sustainable over time.”
“Data also show huge variations within and across countries. Perhaps we’re putting too much pressure on skills systems to solve regional problems - when, in fact, skills are only part of a much broader picture.”
“Data should inform strategy — but not in isolation. We need an integrated intelligence that brings together social, economic, and environmental dimensions.”
“The real challenge is not collecting data, but translating data into insights that can effectively inform policies.”
“Data is on different levels, and data changes over time. I think that really highlights how flexibility of digital tools is key, because if you're trying to have policymakers use them, policymakers have all sorts of remits, levels and powers and so on."
“We saw potential on how we can geo reference survey data as well to link it with the local human development index, so that we can understand the impact that context or the place based variables have on producing individual attitudes and perceptions"
"In terms of labor market challenges, there's a lot of heterogeneity across different regions and countries. For some regions, unemployment is a pre-injury problem. Others are experiencing shortages in high tech areas such as digital and green."
“But actually data may not be the constraint. You can have all the good data and labor market tools in the world, if you don't have a framework to actually translate that into policy change.”
“The viability of the tools after the project lifetime is very important. We need to find ways to keep them alive afterwards.”
“Less is more. So if you provide less information at the beginning in a more simple way it will be much easier also for the policymakers to understand what we offer to them in terms of insights.”
“Green factors may play a significant role there, but digital factors may play a significant role in other more, less developed areas, less accessible areas.”
Additional links
https://www.skillspulse.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Infographics-WP2.pdf
https://www.skillspulse.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Infographics_WP3.pdf
