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Call key data

Sectoral digital skills academies: Virtual Worlds Skills Academy

Funding Program

Digital Europe

Call number

DIGITAL-2025-SKILLS-08-VIRTUAL-WORLDS-ACADEMY-STEP

deadlines

Opening
15.04.2025

Deadline
02.09.2025 17:00

Funding rate

50%

Call budget

€ 10,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

max. € 10,000,000.00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

The Virtual Worlds Skills Academy will reinforce the talent pool needed to achieve the aspirations of the EU to pioneer the development of the various building blocks of virtual worlds, such as extended reality, 3D graphics, content creation, computer vision, AI, interactive media, modelling and industrial applications (digital twins), digital identity, data privacy and big data.

Call objectives

The EU’s Virtual Worlds Skills Academy will pursue the following objectives:

  • Building on the existing actions and initiatives in Virtual Worlds in close cooperation with industry. Identifying meaningful current academic and training offers, while identifying the gaps that may exist. developing new training offers, scaling up successful ones and proposing up-to date and flexible education and training curricula and programmes to reinforce the number of virtual worlds specialists.
  • Planning and designing the Competence and qualification framework (CQF) for education and training in virtual worlds, including qualification standards, for different students/trainee categories, job profiles and professional roles. The CQF will be used as a reference by the EU education and training providers in disciplines related to virtual worlds.
  • Based on the CQF, developing, managing and maintaining a catalogue of education and training curricula and programmes for the virtual worlds domain of expertise, for a variety of target groups across the EU.
  • Creating an ecosystem of EU stakeholders involved in teaching disciplines related to virtual worlds technologies to increase the capacity of nurturing, attracting and retaining talent.

The Academy must act as a catalyst for industry to promote careers, with an emphasis on facilitating women’s access to education and training in disciplines related to virtual worlds technologies. In this sense, it will complement the existing actions and initiatives in the digital skills area, while closely collaborating with the EU-funded umbrella action 4.3 ELEVATE.

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Expected effects and impacts

Proposals are expected to focus on the following, under the three pillars below:

Pillar 1: Knowledge, education and training

Designing, developing and handling operations in virtual worlds entail the interplay between the following sets of disciplines, corresponding to key building blocks of virtual worlds:

  • innovative technologies (e.g. extended reality (XR), blockchain, AI, data, edge computing, high-performance computing, 3D graphics, interactive media, computer vision, modelling and industrial applications (digital twins), digital identity, and big data),
  • creative subjects (e.g. audiovisual production, performing arts, animation, architecture, creative writing and storytelling, fashion, game design), and
  • social sciences and humanities (e.g. law, ethics, geography, anthropology).

Integrating this underlying interdisciplinarity approach, the Academy will plan and design a solid Competence and qualification framework (CQF) for education and training in virtual worlds, as outlined under Objectives. The CFQ will present the qualifications and competencies required in pursuing learning paths towards different profiles, professional roles and careers, in alignment with EU industry needs. In terms of quality standards, the Academy will work together with the umbrella action ELEVATE, which will develop a framework for a certification mechanism of modular learning credentials to provide a seal of quality/accreditation of excellence for advanced digital skills training. The Academy is expected to coordinate with ELEVATE to pilot and implement the seal of quality/accreditation of excellence for all the training modules they offer.

The CFQ will be based on up-to-date reports, studies market analyses, and trend forecasts on advanced digital skills, in alignment with relevant EU policy actions and guidelines.

The consortium partners are expected to commit as the first adopters of the CQF and promoters for further uptake by other institutions targeting the EU wide adoption.
Anchored in the CQF, the Academy will develop, manage and maintain, as outlined under Objectives, a catalogue of education and training curricula and programmes for the virtual worlds domain of expertise. The catalogue will incorporate and coordinate existing academic education programmes, professional training, short-term courses, modules, resources and similarly relevant activities, which are delivered and made available by consortium partners, and, where needed, develop new ones.

The Academy will target the following groups:

1) Higher education students and young graduates wishing to specialise in the design and development of virtual worlds.

Proposals will provide curricula and multidisciplinary programmes to equip students with skills for the different profiles needed for virtual worlds creation processes. The programmes will cover all the above-mentioned sets of disciplines, i.e. innovative technologies, creative subjects, and social sciences and humanities, and ensure, among others:

  • the necessary level of modularity to allow students to pursue tailored learning paths, according to their educational profile and desired level of specialisation (e.g. this can mean a master's degree or 1-2 courses to fill in a specific skills gap).
  • the development of skills complementarity (e.g. creative education for students with technical profiles, ethics training for digital creative arts students).
  • opportunities to combine, where needed, theoretical courses with hands-on experience (e.g. in research labs or during internships with industry partners).
  • alignment with the Blueprint for a European Degree.
  • the use of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS).

2) Academic staff teaching disciplines related to virtual worlds technologies.

Proposals will provide for professional development and specialisation schemes, including fellowships and exchanges in cooperation with industry, where relevant. In addition, Teacher’s mobility between higher education institutions is encouraged and funded under Erasmus+.

3) Upper secondary and/or vocational education (VET) students wishing to work in the virtual worlds area.

Proposals will include curricula and programmes focussing on hands-on learning methods (e.g. apprenticeships, internships).

4) Upper secondary and/or VET teaching staff.

To allow for the teachers’ proper specialisation in disciplines related to virtual worlds technologies, proposals will present upskilling and reskilling schemes, including placements in enterprises.

5) Professionals in different sectors (e.g. health, agriculture, automotive, public administration) and institution types (e.g. SMEs, start-ups. public) who wish to upskill/reskill to be able to operate in virtual worlds.

Given the increasing need for digital skills proficiency and specialisation in domains such as automotive, healthcare, education, agriculture, as well as in the public sector, the Academy will cater for upskilling and reskilling of professionals in these areas. In addition, to complete the knowledge cycle, the Academy is expected to stimulate and enable, when possible, the participation of the different professional communities in exchanges and co-creation activities with the developers of virtual worlds technologies.

For this target group, the Academy will develop training activities and provide learning resources as clusters focussing on either closely related areas of expertise (such as medical specialties or public administration applications), or on multi-use technologies (e.g. digital twins). Other similarly relevant ways of structuring the training activities and learning resources can be envisaged. Proposals will present at least 1 (one) such cluster of training activities and learning resources, structured in a modular way, that will enable the creation of learning packages corresponding to the participants’ knowledge level and objectives.

6) Citizens

The Academy will support the acquisition of basic knowledge in virtual worlds to make citizens aware of the opportunities and risks that they may encounter as regular users. In addition, the Academy will empower young people to engage with virtual worlds and foster their interest in finding a job in this technological area.

As mentioned under Objectives, proposals will, to the greatest extent possible, capitalise on, and get inspiration from, existing specialised education and training activities at EU, Member State or regional level, both in the public and private sectors. New activities will be proposed, as needed.

This catalogue will be stored on Digital Skills and Jobs Platform (DSJP), where it will be made accessible to the interested public through a well-designed interface. 

The Academy will commit as the first adopter and provider of the designed programmes and activities for each above stated target group. The consortium will deliver a minimum of one higher education programme leading to a degree (starting two programme cycles) and is encouraged to provide at least one vocational programme. To close the talent gap64 and strengthen the pool of specialists, the active participation of industry will be key to the design of curricula and delivery of education programmes.

Proposals with high ambitions in terms of the number of students trained and successful completion of the programme(s), as well as delivering excellent programmes and all other activities are likely to be assessed more positively. Additionally, proposals delivering their activities in several Member States are likely to have more added value.

Pillar 2: Building the ecosystem

The Academy will create synergies with EU-wide ongoing initiatives or schemes (e.g. Erasmus+) and maintain constant collaboration with the EU advanced digital skills umbrella action ELEVATE that will coordinate and foster collaboration among sectoral academies and initiatives, as well as with the European Advanced Digital Skills Competitions project supporting the design, managing and running of the virtual worlds competition. The academy will also build synergies and complementarities with other EU funding programmes and existing education and training initiatives such as the EIT Campus, the EIT Community AI and EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative (DTTI), the Erasmus+ European Universities Alliances, Alliances for Innovation and Centres of Vocational Excellence, and their possible follow-up initiatives, as well as the Large-Scale Partnerships under the Pact for Skills. Cross-border partnerships and collaboration frameworks among relevant EU stakeholders will be essential for good quality proposals.

A sustainability plan will also be proposed to show how the Academy will continue to expand beyond the duration of the project.

Building upon and expanding this network, the Virtual Worlds Academy will foster an ecosystem of EU stakeholders around virtual worlds skills, which will include, at least:

  • higher education institutions,
  • upper secondary schools, VET institutions,
  • research organisations, innovation centres,
  • industry partners,
  • public institutions at EU and Member State or regional level (e.g. ministries, agencies),
  • NGOs, associations, (e.g. for consumers),
  • Education service providers.

The ecosystem of stakeholders will strive to nurture, attract and retain virtual worlds talent in the EU, paying special attention to enrolling women, and to facilitate employability on the EU labour market. International partnerships to attract foreign talent are also encouraged.

To this end, the consortium will involve the ecosystem of stakeholders in awareness raising campaigns, communication and dissemination activities, prizes, including by using Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTP), or competitions to promote the Academy. In addition, the consortium will encourage the virtual worlds organisations in the ecosystem, in particular industry stakeholders, to propose and test practical solutions, such as internships, fellowships or scholarships, for which funding can be also ensured through FSTP. All such initiatives will be published on the DSJP website.

To increase the impact and ensure the continued delivery of the designed educational and training programmes, the proposals are expected to foster as wide as possible the dissemination and promotion of the designed curricula in the main European Universities and Technological Institutes. Furthermore, the academy will engage the education ecosystem to scale up existing education and training offers (for example the higher education programmes funded under DIGITAL) and make them available throughout Europe. Active collaboration and inputs from industry must be sought for all activities.

Pillar 3: Measuring progress

The proposals will include a robust methodology to monitor the evolution of the labour market, and the progress achieved in closing the virtual worlds skills gap. The indicators and benchmarks will be in line with the EU measurement frameworks.

Progress monitoring will allow for adjustments in the proposed actions, where needed.

Proposals are highly encouraged to cover the following points explicitly under the RELEVANCE criterion:

  • Explain how the Academy will contribute to reducing the skills gap in the virtual worlds area, in alignment with the Digital Decade targets;
  • Explain how the Virtual Worlds Skills Academy contributes to the development of a skilled workforce in virtual worlds, and how this benefits EU industry.

Proposals are highly encouraged to cover the following points explicitly under the IMPLEMENTATION criterion:

  • Explain the rationale behind the planning and design of the Academy’s proposed curricula and the multidisciplinary programmes, with an emphasis on how modularity and complementarity are applied. Provide details on how learning paths for the various target groups are built and where the creation of new education and training activities is needed;
  • Provide concrete details on how the delivery of the activities under the mentioned multidisciplinary programmes is carried out;
  • Explain the role of cross-border partnerships and collaboration frameworks in the creation and delivery of the Academy’s curricula and programmes.
  • If applicable, explain how students will be financially supported to participate to the programme(s), training modules (e.g. via scholarships, fee waivers or others), and especially to acquire practical experience either with members of the consortium or with companies and organisations outside the consortium (e.g. via internships, fellowships or short-term job placements).
  • Explain how students from countries with whom the European Commission has ongoing international cooperation related to digital topics (e.g. digital partnerships, trade and technology councils, policy dialogues, Talent Growth Task Force) will be financially supported (e.g. via scholarships, fellowships, fee waivers or others) to participate in the programme(s) and how gender conversion will be promoted. This support can take the form of Financial Support to Third Parties.
  • If applicable, explain if and how digital solutions, equipment and infrastructure will be purchased/leased to ensure the programme(s) and self-standing module(s) have the necessary facilities to deliver excellence.

Proposals are highly encouraged to cover the following points explicitly under the IMPACT criterion:

  • Demonstrate the efficiency of the communication and dissemination activities put in place to raise awareness about the Virtual Worlds Skills Academy and attract talent.

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Expected results

Outcomes:

  • Through designed and delivered education and training activities, the Academy will prepare the workforce to contribute in a sizeable way to closing the virtual worlds skills gap, acting as a booster for competitiveness and innovation for European companies and research organisations.
  • The Competence and Qualification Framework (CFQ) for Virtual Worlds Skills will get increasingly adopted by EU-wide education and training institutions, as a trusted qualification and quality assurance reference for teaching virtual worlds skills.
  • The ecosystem of EU stakeholders will propose, under the coordination of the Academy, actions to reach a better balance between the demand and offer of virtual worlds skills.

KPIs to measures outcomes and deliverables

The project will report based on the minimum set of KPIs indicated below. It is recommended to add any other relevant, as deemed necessary in the context of the project.

  • Number of delivered education and training activities included under the Academy’s curricula and programmes, broken down by target groups;
  • Number of students/trainees enrolled in Academy’s education and training activities, broken down by target groups;
  • Number of students/trainees having completed the Academy’s education and training activities, broken down by target groups;
  • Number of dissemination and communication activities by type, professional profile, audience etc.

 

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Iceland (Ísland), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Liechtenstein, Montenegro (Црна Гора), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Switzerland (Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна)

eligible entities

Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

No

Project Partnership

Proposals must be submitted by minimum 6 entities (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 4 different eligible countries.

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

  • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
  • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • non-EU countries (except for topics with restrictions):

other eligibility criteria

Specific cases and definitions

Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of selfemployed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person).

International organisations are NOT eligible, unless they are International organisations of European Interest within the meaning of Article 2 of the Digital Europe Regulation (i.e. international organisations the majority of whose members are Member States or whose headquarters are in a Member State).

Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.

EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. Please note thatif the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).

Beneficiaries from countries with ongoing negotiations for participating in the programme (see list of participating countries above) may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are concluded before grant signature and if the association covers the call (i.e. is retroactive and covers both the part of the programme and the year when the call was launched).

Special rules apply for entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). Such entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).

Special rules apply for entities subject to measures adopted on the basis of EU Regulation 2020/2092. Such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties, etc). Currently such measures are in place for Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain (see Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022).

Additional information

Topics

Competitiveness of Enterprises, Employment/Labour Market, SME & entrepreneurship, 
Digitalisation, Digital Society, ICT, 
Education & Training, Children & Youth, Media

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

project duration

48 months

Additional Information

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:

  • Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
  • Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (template to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and re-uploaded)
  • mandatory annexes and supporting documents (templates to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and re-uploaded):
    • detailed budget table/calculator
    • list of previous projects (key projects for the last 4 years) (template available in Part B)

Proposals are limited to maximum 70 pages (Part B).

Financial support to third parties is allowed for grants or similar forms of support and prizes under the following conditions:

  • the calls must be open, published widely and conform to EU standards concerning transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality
  • the calls must be published on the Funding & Tenders Portal, and on the participants’ websites
  • the calls must remain open for at least two months
  • if call deadlines are changed this must immediately be published on the Portal and all registered applicants must be informed of the change
  • the outcome of the call must be published on the participants’ websites, including a description of the selected projects, award dates, project durations, and final recipient legal names and countries
  • the calls must have a clear European dimension.

Financial support to third parties (FSTP) will be accepted for all topics in projects which use grants or similar and prizes to support students and participants to participate in the training programme(s), self-standing training modules, internships, fellowships, scholarships and apprenticeships. FSTP could also take a form of prizes to promote the Virtual Worlds Skills Academy.

Your project application must clearly specify why financial support to third parties is needed, how it will be managed and provide a list of the different types of activities in line with Topic specific requirements for which a third party may receive financial support. The proposal must also clearly describe the results to be obtained.

Call documents

Call Document - DIGITAL-2025-SKILLS-08Call Document - DIGITAL-2025-SKILLS-08(239kB)

Contact

Digital Europe NCPs
Website

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