ELEVATE: European League of Advanced Digital Skills Academies, join the discussion and find project partners!

Objective: The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) has launched the 9th Digital Europe Call for Advanced Digital Skills (DIGITAL-2026-SKILLS-09) under the Digital Europe Programme to fund projects that strengthen advanced digital skills in line with the EU’s Digital Decade and Competitiveness Compass goals. The first topic of the call aims at establishing the European League of Advanced Digital Skills Academies (ELEVATE) — an overarching framework designed to guide governance, enhance coordination, and ensure coherence among various sectoral initiatives. This topic aims to establish a central coordination and governance initiative that connects all sectoral academies in advanced digital technologies, including AI, Quantum, Virtual Worlds, and Semiconductors. 

Scope: Proposals should address the following four pillars

Pillar 1: Coordination and Collaboration

ELEVATE will serve as a collaborative hub for advanced digital skills academies and related EU initiatives, such as the Cybersecurity Skills Academy, EuroHPC Skills Community, LEADSx2030, and the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform (DSJP). Activities should include:

• Establishing a multi-stakeholder governance structure bringing together higher education, research organisations, industry, and policymakers.

• Strengthening collaboration between academies and fostering a shared identity through networking, partnership-building, and joint advocacy (e.g. promoting joint degrees, microcredentials, and EU-wide standards in advanced digital skills).

• Pooling expertise and best practices already featured on platforms like DSJP and LEADSx2030 to enhance visibility and impact.

• Cooperating with initiatives such as the Data Space for Skills to ensure alignment and interoperability across the EU digital education ecosystem.

Pillar 2: Capacity Building

ELEVATE will reinforce and amplify the efforts of digital skills academies through structured capacity-building actions. Key activities include:

• Developing and implementing a Seal of Quality/Excellence for European ICT education and training, setting EU-wide standards and visual identity.

• Designing a European certification framework for modular learning credentials, aligned with EU qualification frameworks such as DigComp, ECSF, and the European Competence Framework for Quantum Technologies (CFQT).

• Creating a blueprint for fellowship programmes within the academies to encourage cross-border mobility and knowledge exchange.

• Establishing mentoring programmes, with a focus on underrepresented groups such as women in tech.

• Organising an annual EU Virtual Job and Career Fair in collaboration with the academies and the DSJP to connect learners with employers.

• Launching an EU-wide alumni network for graduates of DIGITAL-funded education programmes to foster community engagement, peer learning, and industry collaboration.

Pillar 3: Communication 

ELEVATE will use the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform as the main hub for communication and awareness-raising. Planned actions include:

• Promoting the achievements and activities of all participating academies and sectoral initiatives.

• Increasing the visibility of advanced digital skills opportunities, events, and success stories across Europe.

• Supporting communication and dissemination activities for related initiatives such as the European Advanced Digital Skills Competitions, including the creation of a dedicated landing page on the DSJP.

Pillar 4: Market Intelligence 

ELEVATE will provide data-driven insights to guide EU policymaking and the evolution of digital education. Main actions include:

• Conducting market and impact analyses of the current offer of advanced digital skills training and its alignment with labour market needs.

• Developing a repository of publicly available intelligence on digital skills needs and forecasts, hosted on the DSJP.

• Using these insights to support strategic actions such as talent attraction (e.g. via the EU Talent Pool) and the potential creation of new sectoral academies in emerging technology fields.

Type of action and funding rate: Coordination and Support Action (CSA) — 100% funding rate
Funding: €7,200,000
Deadline: 3 March 2026 (17:00 Brussels time)
Call text:View the official call document here
Call information: Available on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
Info session: to be announced soon!

Find Project Partners & Prepare Proposals  

Do you want to find consortia partners and participate in this call?  

Simply use the Comments feature at the bottom of this thread to introduce your organisation, express your interest in creating or joining a consortia, indicate your desired role in the project, and provide a link to your Member Profile on the platform or your personal email address. You can see some organisations have already added their profiles below, so feel free to follow their lead! 

You can also message Community Members directly using the new Private Messages feature, just click the Messages button on the top right of the screen when you are logged in as shown in the screen grab below. This is an excellent way to contact potential partners in a secure and discrete manner. 

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If you have questions or comments, our Community Team are ready and waiting to help.  

Best of luck with your proposals!