Upskilling and retraining in education and working life will determine the future of current and future generations. We need to adapt to the constantly changing situation on the labour market in order to get ahead and remain competitive. How can building an innovative data space and working with data and data services contribute to improvement and progress? How can European countries work together? What needs to be done first?

Anyone who works in education and its development in relation to data knows that there is a lot to do in this area. Initiatives like Prometheus-X exist to highlight the importance of change and – at the same time – to drive that change by inviting international partners to collaborate. Innovation is triggered by the creation of a concrete shared vision with a clear plan and the necessary mandates.

After several months of preparation, the Prometheus-X consortium gathered in Paris on January 23and 24, 2024 to officially launch the international initiative for the future of European data spaces in education, reskilling and upskilling. During two intense days at the CNAM, Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, which is also one of the 38 participating organisations, the partners discussed their main objectives and the way to achieve them.

Luis Carlos Busquets Pérez, Programme Officer of DG CONNECT of the European Commission, joined the partners virtually and officially opened the meeting by phone call. He emphasised the importance and scope of the Prometheus-X mission by saying that “data spaces are an important pillar for the EU’s competitiveness”.

After the brief welcome, Matthias de Bièvre, the leader of the initiative and CEO of Visions, a partner company, took the floor and invited selected organisations: Inokufu, imc, CNAM, Rejustify and Themis to present their use cases and plans to achieve the common goals in collaboration with the partners.

After the lunch break, it was time to discuss technical aspects of Prometheus-X. László Goenczy, Associate Professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), presented the operational roadmap to the audience, focusing on the building blocks, the modular approaches based on the building blocks and the general infrastructure. He also listed the organisations that will be most intensively involved in this part.

The second part of the day was dedicated to the public online kick-off, where Prometheus-X and its partners presented the ideas to a wider audience, explained the importance of the building blocks, presented use cases and explained the role of efficient communication, for which the DIO – Data Intelligence Offensive is responsible.

Around 170 participants dialled in. At the end of the session, participants asked questions, exchanged comments and dropped ideas.

On the second day of the public presentation, the partners split into two groups: one focused on use cases, the other on building blocks. Each of them worked in a breakout session mode to focus on the most important questions. The results of these sessions were presented by the session leaders in the form of summaries, followed by short Q&A sessions.

Prometheus-X & Partners left Paris with numerous insights, ideas and concrete expectations. The next steps have already been defined. There is no time to lose. There is only time to act. That time is now.

Stay tuned and follow the progress of Prometheus-X & Partners on LinkedIn, where the latest updates will be published. You will soon be able to follow the development of the initiative on a dedicated website. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Prometheus-X contact@prometheus-x.org.