This project is part of the Blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills initiative for the defence sector. Lowri Evans, the Director-General for Internal Market, Entrepreneurship, Industry & SMEs, will launch the 'European defence skills partnership' in Brussels on 19 June. She will call upon its members and key stakeholders to take advantage of the new funding opportunities for skills within the sector.

The partnership will contribute to the understanding of current and future skills needs in Europe's defence sector. This way, European, national and regional policies can be targeted more effectively. Individual countries' state of play will be mapped and analysed to feed the sectoral strategy, which will include implementation roadmaps with steps to be taken at EU, national and regional levels.

Synergies with relevant EU actions will be taken into consideration. This one-year project will pave the way for future calls with EU funding and for actions after 2020.