Skills and Regulation Must Advance Together in Europe Ecosystem

At the AISHA event hosted by Istat in Rome, Gianluca Misuraca, Brando Benifei and Mario Nobile discussed how education, workforce skills and coherent regulation can support Europe’s AI development.

On 22 May 2026, AISHA organised Building the European AI Skills Ecosystem – Enhancing Competences and Nurturing Talent in the Aula Magna of Istat’s headquarters in Rome. The event brought the discussion on the European AI Skills Academy to policymakers, academic experts and representatives of industry and civil society, following the consortium’s kick-off meeting on 20^th and 21^st May.

A central exchange between AISHA project coordinator Gianluca Misuraca, Brando Benifei, (Member of the European Parliament and co-rapporteur of the AI Act) and Mario Nobile (Director General of the Agency for Digital Italy - AgID), highlighted the need to bring skills policy and regulation closer together. Too often, these develop on parallel tracks, while building a coherent European AI ecosystem requires a coordinated approach.

The discussion addressed both workforce reskilling and changes to education systems. AI and digital competences need to become part of foundational education, with opportunities to develop and update those skills continuing through professional and on-the-job training. Preparing people to work with AI requires a sustained effort across these different stages of learning.

Fragmentation remains a challenge, both across Europe’s AI ecosystem and in the implementation of digital legislation. The exchange stressed that the AI Act’s safeguards require people with the competences to put them into practice. Coherent implementation across Member States is therefore essential to a more harmonised European AI ecosystem.

These themes connect directly to the work of AISHA, which is building the European AI Skills Academy. Its planned activities link evidence on skills needs with competence frameworks, educational programmes and workplace learning. The discussion at Istat underlined why this work needs to remain connected to the policy and regulatory environment in which AI is developed and used.