In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• Be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• Be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • Creative Europe Participating Countries:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • non-EU countries:
      • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries)

Consortium composition Proposals must be submitted by:

• for topic DIGITAL-2025-SKILLS-08-QUANTUM-ACADEMY-STEP — Sectoral digital skills academies: Quantum Skills Digital Academy
  • Consortium composed of a minimum 5 entities (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from a minimum 3 different eligible countries.
• for topic DIGITAL-2025-SKILLS-08-GENAI-ACADEMY-STEP— Sectoral digital skills academies: Digital Skills Academy in GenAI
  • Consortium composed of a minimum 6 entities (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from a minimum 3 different eligible countries.
• for topic DIGITAL-2025-SKILLS-08-VIRTUAL-WORLDS-ACADEMY-STEP Sectoral digital skills academies: Virtual Worlds Skills Academy
  • − Consortium composed of a minimum of 6 (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from a minimum of 4 different eligible countries.

 Targeted stakeholders

• The selected consortium must demonstrate complementary roles and an established track record in virtual-worlds technological and/or non-technological building blocks, in training and education, and proven experience with the design and implementation of complex education programmes. It is highly recommended for consortia to include 3 higher education institutions from 3 different eligible countries, a minimum of 2 industry partners with headquarters in 2 different eligible countries and at least 1 research organisations/excellence centres. The consortium is also encouraged to particularly involve small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and start-ups. For each of these partners, the proposals will explain the relevance of their participation in the project.

To facilitate the participation of Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutions in the design and delivery of advanced digital skills training opportunities and to support flexible learning pathways, it is encouraged to seek cooperation with VET providers, preferably as partners in the consortium. The proposals should outline how the proposed project will exploit the unique insights of VET into the labour market needs and its links with the industry to support the design of curricula and delivery of the programmes.

Scope Proposals are expected to focus on the following, under the three pillars below:

Pillar 1: Knowledge, education and training

• Higher education students and young graduates wishing to specialise in the design and development of virtual worlds.
• Academic staff teaching disciplines related to virtual worlds technologies.
• Upper secondary and/or vocational education (VET) students wishing to work in the virtual worlds area.
• Upper secondary and/or VET teaching staff.
• Professionals in different sectors (e.g. health, agriculture, automotive, public administration) and institution types (e.g. SMEs, start-ups. public) who wish to upskill/reskill to be able to operate in virtual worlds.

Pillar 2: Building the ecosystem

 The Academy will create synergies with EU-wide ongoing initiatives or schemes (e.g. Erasmus+) and maintain constant collaboration with the EU advanced digital skills umbrella action ELEVATE that will coordinate and foster collaboration among sectoral academies and initiatives, as well as with the European Advanced Digital Skills Competitions project supporting the design, managing and running of the virtual worlds competition. The academy will also build synergies and complementarities with other EU funding programmes and existing education and training initiatives such as the EIT Campus, the EIT Community AI and EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative (DTTI), the Erasmus+ European Universities Alliances, Alliances for Innovation and Centres of Vocational Excellence, and their possible follow-up initiatives, as well as the Large-Scale Partnerships under the Pact for Skills. Crossborder partnerships and collaboration frameworks among relevant EU stakeholders will be essential for good quality proposals

Pillar 3: Measuring progress

• The proposals will include a robust methodology to monitor the evolution of the labour market, and the progress achieved in closing the virtual worlds skills gap. The indicators and benchmarks will be in line with the EU measurement frameworks.

Organisation: Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA)

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NOTE: The Opening Date in the description may not match with real Call Opening Date.