SMARt COmmunities Skills Development in Europe

2026-07-22

SMARCO proposal addresses two key issues identified in digital ecosystem: 1) lack of focus on the development of resilient solutions for smart communities by ICT professionals (such as Smart Cities Engineers) and 2) on the other side of the scale, lack of green, digital, cybersecurity skills among public administrations’ staff (smart city planners, procurers) working on smart communities. These two problems hinder the development of resilient smart communities, and hence decreases economic competitiveness, employability, potential to deliver on green targets, etc. Therefore, SMARCO project aims to address these issues serving as an all-encompassing umbrella for smart communities skills on both sides – industry and public administrations – offering evidence-based research, trends analysis, training programmes, certification, ant other resources for its stakeholder community. SMARCO community will evolve around its Smart Communities Skills Partnership which will be established under Digital Ecosystem Large-scale Partnership within the Pact for Skills. Throughout the project lifetime, it will become a become a unique one-stop-shop for smart community skills focusing on the three main aims: - to ensure the development of resilient and sustainable smart communities by addressing the skills gaps of smart city engineers and planners/procurers through the development of urgent upskilling courses and forward-looking training programmes; -to grant flexible and user-centric learning, trans-national dimension and learning mobility, as well as a wide recognition of trainings through the development of micro-credentials, training certificates and wider certification scheme; - to create a sustainable community of stakeholders to discuss, share and scale training, upskilling and reskilling linked to smart communities’ skills and relevant best practices via participation in the Pact for Skills (and its Digital Large-scale ecosystem).

Belgium

2025-10-01