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

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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.
There is also a need for better evidence (including from SSH disciplines) on which education and training policies and practices at all levels (school education, vocational education and training, higher education, adult education) can be effective in reducing gender, disability and socioeconomic disparities in basic skill acquisition and in subsequent labour market outcomes. The research should also better explore the competences that learners need to learn effectively with AI-based tools. Additional evidence is required on how to increase female participation in STEM and how to address teacher shortages, as well as on how to address barriers faced by persons with disabilities.
Proposals should address those research gaps by applying rigorous quantitative methods with a longitudinal perspective for their analysis and could complement them with qualitative research methods. Proposals should also evaluate the inclusion aspect, and the costs associated with the policies or practices analysed. Cooperation with education and training stakeholders is encouraged. Clustering and cooperation with other selected projects under the call HORIZON-CL2-2024-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-10: “Effective education and labour market transitions of young people” and other relevant projects, as well as the Social Transformations and Resilience Partnership are strongly encouraged.
[1] https://commission.europa.eu/topics/eu-competitiveness/draghi-report_en

Status

Closed

Deadline

24 September 2026 (time not stated)

Opens

12 May 2026

Published

12 December 2025

Total budget

€12,000,000

Grant range

€3,000,000 – €4,000,000

Country

European Union (EU-wide)

Programme

Horizon Europe (HORIZON)

Funder

European Commission

Official page

Open at the source portal

What applying involved

12 steps, all of them taken from this call's own documents.

This call is closed. The steps below show what applying involved, and are kept for reference only.

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• Write the proposal against the award criteria and thresholds

  As described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §5a

• Check the grant's legal and financial set-up standard for this programme

  Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) . The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive … — conditions §6

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• Check your country of establishment is eligible

  The source scopes this to associated countries. — ai_results.eligibility

• Check every partner is established in an eligible country

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• Meet the call's other eligibility conditions

  As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §3

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  As described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §4

Prepare the documents

• Prepare Part B of the Application Form standard for this programme

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• Complete the detailed budget table standard for this programme

  In addition, it is mandatory to submit a detailed budget table, using the template available in the Submission System. — conditions

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• Check the submission and evaluation process

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• Submit before the closing date shown above

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