Call for skills projects published for graphical sector by Erasmus+

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An Erasmus+ call for projects has been published for the paper value chain (including print): The Blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills. The successful project undertaken as a result of this call will be part of the EU’s New Skills Agenda for Europe. Projects will be awarded €4m for a 4 year duration and will design a sectoral skills strategy to address skills needs in the paper value chain.

Blueprint projects will build on previous work to combat skills mismatches in the industry, enabling future skills demands to be better met. In the case of the paper and paper-based printing sector, this past work includes the two skills projects coordinated by Intergraf in recent years (2010 and 2014), and the recently completed future skills project of CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries). All of these projects were completed in tandem with the relevant trade union social partner counterparts: UNI Europa Graphical and IndustriAll.

A Blueprint project will build on the findings of these three past projects, before designing a wider sectoral skills strategy to help match the demand and supply of skills—identifying priorities and milestones for action to develop concrete solutions to common problems. The final step of Blueprint projects will be the rollout of the strategy to national and regional levels.

Although Blueprint projects will be financed by Erasmus+, there are opportunities to complete related work using other, complementary, funding streams. As detailed in its 2017 Work Programme (p. 66), one such project call is due to be published under the COSME programme, Europe’s funding body for SMEs. This project will be shorter (12-18  months) and more analytical than the Blueprint, but it is expected that it will make up some of the Blueprint’s work packages to allow both skills projects to run alongside one another.

Details of the Blueprint call can be found in Erasmus+’s Programme Guide (from p. 136) and Intergraf can also be contacted for more information. The COSME call has not yet been published so Intergraf is not yet in a position to elaborate on its exact specifications. Next steps for Blueprint and COSME projects will be for interested parties to build a consortium and submit project proposals for review.

For more information about the Blueprint you can refer to the European Commission’s website.