Contribution of basic skills to productivity, innovation, competitiveness and economic growth

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Provide policymakers with a more detailed understanding of the contribution of basic skills on the economy in the short and medium term, with a focus on their contribution to productivity and innovation, to sustain EU competitiveness and growth.
• Develop actionable advice about how, in a lifelong perspective, education and training systems can help foster basic skills.
• Promote productivity, innovation, competitiveness and growth, including by reducing gender, disability and socioeconomic gaps in basic skills.

Scope:

In the context of the Union of Skills, the 2025 European Commission’s Action Plan on Basic Skills identifies five basic skills: literacy, mathematics (including also financial literacy), science, digital and citizenship. Strong basic skill levels among young people and adults are key to sustaining EU productivity, innovation, competitiveness and growth, as also explained in the 2024 Draghi Report[1]. Other key EU initiatives support lifelong learning as a driver for productivity, innovation, and economic growth, for instance the 2022 Council Recommendation encouraging the implementation of Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) in Member States.

Evidence of causal relationship between basic skills on the one hand and productivity, innovation, competitiveness and economic growth, on the other is still limited in Europe, both at microeconomic and macroeconomic levels, mostly due to scarce use of longitudinal data. This also applies to the interplay between the basic skills and other skills (such as socio-emotional skills) in promoting productivity, innovation, competitiveness and growth.

Trimmed here, the full scope, expected outcomes and award criteria are on the official topic page ↗.