The European Steel Industry is confronted with significant challenges due to economic, digital, social and technological developments. In particular, the rapid and constant change the industry is experiencing requires it to update the qualifications, knowledge and skills of its workforce in continuous ways.

The workforce of today and tomorrow must adapt to digital transformations and changes in production processes, as well as to the new working practices and patterns of work organisation that are being introduced as a result of such developments. New and more stringent regulations concerning energy efficiency and emissions, to protect the environment, will also impact the way the steel sector in Europe operates.

A more highly qualified, specialised and multi-skilled workforce is needed to address all of these developments, but the industry faces skills gaps, skills shortages, recruitment difficulties and talent management issues.

Against this background, the European Steel Skills Alliance ESSA was initiated to develop a Blueprint for a sustainable, steel industry driven European Steel Skills Agenda. This Agenda, which was finalised in June 2024, presents a strategy for meeting current and future skills demands, and pilots the development of modules and tools for building awareness and implementing new skills for a globally competitive industry. Skills assessment, training modules and other components are delivered and will be further developed by the open online training platform steelHub.

The following results were the central components of the Blueprint:

• steelHub: An Online Training Platform that includes courses related to the steel industry and helps to close skills gaps in the steel industry. 
• European Community of National-Regional Training Ecosystem: A system designed to strengthen a successful partnership on sectoral-national-regional level by integrating various stakeholder groups 
• Foresight Observatory: A set of methodologies to anticipate future technological trends and skill demands continuously, including a survey as well as an expert group discussion (“Skills Radar”) 
• Image and Recruitment: The focus of these activities lies in enhancing the steel industry’s image and thereby increasing the attractiveness of the sectors for new talents. 
• Policy Recommendations: A set of guidelines to define policies that might help to fulfil the industry’s ambitionsIn addition to these content-related elements, some formal aspects will also be discussed, the structure of the project consortium, the working structure of the projects and the publications that were produced as part of the project or are related to it.