Pact for Skills Member Spotlight: InnoGlobal's vision of skills development and the future of European industry

In this Pact for Skills Member Spotlight article, we interviewed Dr Ian Jones and Dr Sean Costello from InnoGlobal to highlight the organisation’s support to the Pact for Skills community.  

They discussed why InnoGlobal joined the Pact and explained SKILLS4SIGHT, their skills intelligence platform that uses AI to map evolving job roles and training needs across industries and economies in transition. 

Why InnoGlobal joined the Pact 

The Pact coordinates collective action in response to rapid industry changes caused by digital, green and automation transitions. As Ian and Sean explained, “We joined the Pact because of our shared belief that equipping the workforce with future-ready skills is only possible through collaboration, shared intelligence, and a focus on both social and industrial value.” 

They described the Pact as “a practical, timely and strategic initiative aimed at addressing the urgent need to rapidly enhance the competitiveness of the EU and translate policy goals into actionable strategies that strengthen industrial competitiveness. 

“Pact Large-Scale Skills Partnerships enable collaboration between industry, educators, SMEs, and public authorities under a shared vision. The Pact helps overcome fragmented training systems and a lack of real-time labour market intelligence through targeted skills development.” 

The green and digital transitions and Industry 5.0 

InnoGlobal is creating cross-sectoral training frameworks, micro-credentials, and digital learning platforms like HUB 5.0 to upskill tens of millions of workers annually. 

They said, “Skills are the infrastructure for innovation. However, Industry 5.0 requires a new mindset of sustainability, resilience, and human-centric design. So, we ensure that industrial transformation is driven by technology that empowers people, advancing the Pact’s mission to invest in skills.” 

We asked what makes the Pact stand out as a valuable initiative to get involved with: 

“The Pact supports Europe’s transition to a decarbonised economy while promoting a stable and inclusive economic environment. The Union of Skills policy illustrates this potential: upgrading workforce capabilities, closing critical skills gaps, and encouraging reforms to digital, industrial and green training.” 

Benefits to SMEs joining the Pact for Skills 

For SMEs, joining the Pact opens doors to collaboration, funding opportunities, and access to the latest intelligence in the training and skills ecosystem. They said, “The Pact is a springboard for collaboration and innovation. Through it, we have expanded and strengthened our connections, participated in Horizon projects and formed new consortia for developing joint submissions. 

Ian and Sean also highlighted that the Pact’s continuous knowledge sharing puts InnoGlobal at the forefront of new policy and funding developments: 

“We receive tailored guidance on relevant EU and national funding instruments for training and skills development, helping us to plan, collaborate with governments and national partners, and train according to emerging policy priorities and skills needs.” 

The benefits of Pact community collaboration 

We asked Ian and Sean about the benefits of working with Pact members like the Industry 5.0 Community of Practice, a platform helping industrial stakeholders collaborate and adapt to the green and digital transition. 

“Working together in joint initiatives made EU funding more accessible for training innovation and prevents duplicating technologies that already exist. Our contributions gave greater visibility to innovative Pact members, especially policymakers and funders. 

“We’ve also seen horizontal learning accelerate change across industries. Competitiveness in the Industry 5.0 era means being able to respond to change without friction with a skills-first mindset. The Pact gives us both the community and credibility to turn that mindset into measurable outcomes.” 

InnoGlobal’s upskilling and reskilling initiatives 

InnoGlobal has led reskilling and upskilling initiatives through the EU’s Skills4EII project, which aims to drive skills transformation across energy-intensive industries in support of Industry 5.0. 

“Our most significant contribution is SKILLS4SIGHT, an AI-powered skills intelligence platform that provides a snapshot of sector-specific skills demands to the Pact community. 

“Skills intelligence must be sector-specific and localised. SKILLS4SIGHT offers real-time analysis, helping training providers, policymakers and employers act faster and more precisely with their training and recruitment, contributing to Skills4EII’s target of reaching 2.3 million workers annually by 2025.” 

Contributions to Pact activities 

InnoGlobal also hosts discussions and workshops to share advanced tools, training frameworks and micro-credentials tailored to Industry 5.0, AI, automation and the green and digital transitions. 

“Hosting EU-level roundtable workshops on the future of skills has helped Pact members working in transition-heavy industries by ensuring that policy and skills strategies reflect perspectives from across the ecosystem. 

“Being part of the Pact also allows us to connect the dots between Europe and Africa, by transferring insights and frameworks to markets undergoing rapid industrialisation, like steel, cement, water and rare earth mineral mining.” 

A community of continuous knowledge sharing 

InnoGlobal advised other companies shaping their skills strategy to get involved in the Pact: “Companies, particularly SMEs, should see the Pact for Skills as a practical gateway to innovation, funding, and peer learning in workforce development. 

“Regular Pact webinars, seminars, and peer-learning activities not only highlight EU instruments and best practices but also provide us with access to up-to-date skills data to drive innovation.” 

Ian and Sean concluded that one of the Pact’s biggest strengths is cross-sector learning: “We’ve saved months of development time by adapting resources shared by the Pact community. A tool or training format developed for the chemicals sector may be applicable to logistics or agri-tech, for example. For SMEs with limited capacity, this is a game-changer.” 

What’s next for InnoGlobal? 

InnoGlobal plans to build on its existing skills initiatives, scaling through the Pact. 

“We plan to expand SKILLS4SIGHT into new sectors with new roles in energy storage, smart textiles, and rare earth minerals. We’re also investing in AI governance and ethics, working with Pact partners to ensure transparency, privacy, and inclusion as we automate labour forecasting and training design.” 

Become a Pact for Skills Member! 

Has InnoGlobal inspired you to start upskilling for the green and digital transitions? The Pact for Skills is a collaborative community that helps organisations with their upskilling and reskilling needs. 

Get involved by becoming a Pact for Skills Member.