Skåne, a vibrant region is Southern Sweden and part of the cross-border Öresund area, is home to a dynamic Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industry (CCSI) ecosystem. In Sweden, these sectors are deeply rooted in the country’s long-standing support for aesthetic subjects in primary and secondary education, as well as the Scandinavian model of municipal cultural and music schools.
In this context, the Pact for Skills ‘Regional Skills Partnership for the Skåne Region’ supports cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) by promoting education opportunities. The RSP aims to help to address skills gaps, improve economic stability and drive recovery by embracing the region’s long-standing tradition of free accessible adult education.
The new Partnership will create and test training models which can be used to upskill and reskill people in creative, digital, green, innovation and entrepreneurial skills, aiming to engage the whole educational system in Skåne (Sweden) and the wider cross-border Öresund Region (Sweden and Denmark).
The Partnership recognises that both SHAPE (Social Science, Humanities, and the Arts for People and the Economy) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) are essential for the region’s CCSI sector to thrive.
To improve the way SHAPE and STEM work together, the Partnership will take a broader, holistic approach to address societal challenges and enable sustainable transformation.
Regional context and challenges
Employment in Skåne has decreased since the pandemic, and its impact is still felt in the region today. In addition, key skills are disappearing in certain creative sectors due to a lack of creative education, further training opportunities and demographic trends in the creative industry.
Statistics also show an imbalance between the skills of the unemployed and the needs of the labour market. So, further reskilling, upskilling and international recruitment is needed.
To ensure Skåne’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) and education systems meet its needs and that the region develops, the RSP aims to address the following challenges:
- The CCSI industry is disconnected from the educational system, which hinders their collaboration.
- Society is changing through the digital and green transformations, requiring new re-skilling and upskilling formats.
- Low employment levels in the cultural-sector and lack of diversity necessitates measures to reduce unemployment and skill gaps and improve diversity within Skåne’s CCSI.
Commitments
The Partnership aims to prepare CCSI for future working conditions, incorporating new business models, digital channels and AI tools.
In line with the objectives of the Pact for Skills and the Swedish national strategy on the CCSI, the Partnership commits to facilitate dialogue between academia and the CCSI to create initiatives focused on reskilling and upskilling.
Further commitments are to promote sustainable transformation by providing enhanced innovation support in collaboration with other sectors and to improve diversity and inclusion in education, working to create more cross-border labour market opportunities.
Impact
The Partnership aims to implement the following activities by 2030:
- Engage 35 organisations.
- Create 5 collaborative programmes and labs.
- Have up to 10 industry-academia partnerships.
- Create 5 new initiatives with innovation hubs and incubators.
- Develop up to 20 new training models.
- Create 4 collaborative grant programmes.
- Create 5 diversity and inclusion initiatives.
And by 2035:
- Create up to 4 accessible training programmes.
- Unify 8 cross-border regions.
Read the Partnership Declaration below
Regional Skills Partnership for the Skane Region Declaration
