Data-Driven Competitiveness: Insights from the LEADSx2030 Webinar
On June 16, 2025, we hosted a webinar on “Data-Driven Competitiveness: Fuelling the Development of Tomorrow’s Advanced Skills.” The session brought together project partners and external stakeholders to explore how data can guide the development of advanced digital skills in Europe. The webinar featured in-depth presentations on the LEADSx2030 data model, dashboard functionalities, and the new Data Sub-Cluster.
From fragmented data to strategic intelligence
Brendan Rowan opened the session by introducing LEADSx2030. With 465 courses delivered and in preparation under the Advanced Digital Skills (ADS) cluster of the Digital Europe Programme, the need for coordination and foresight is greater than ever.
Understanding the data landscape
Harri Ketamo, Founder & Chairman of Headai, provided an overview of the LEADSx2030 data hub. Using a representative sample of 4 million job ads (out of 8.5 million in Europe in 2024), the model focuses on identifying and analysing skill pockets: clusters of related competencies that appear together across labour market, research, and investment data.
The model operates on three levels of data:
- Publicly available data (e.g., job ads, open access papers)
- Non-confidential data (e.g., course descriptions, internal reports shared under data space governance)
- Confidential and sensitive data are explicitly excluded.
What sets the LEADSx2030 model apart is its use of real numbers rather than statistical ratios, providing a clearer picture of the actual demand for skills such as machine learning, cybersecurity, and industrial automation.
Introducing the dashboard
Ivana Pesic unveiled the live LEADSx2030 dashboard: a flexible and interactive tool offering insights from macro trends to individual skills. The dashboard allows users to explore:
- Skill pockets across multiple technology domains
- Their evolution over time (2021–2030)
- Demand projections by tech area and individual skills
- Comparative trends across years and domains
Key takeaways include the increasing overlap between tech areas and skill pockets, and the surprising underrepresentation of emerging areas like edge computing.
A call to collaborate: the data hub and sub-clusters
The success of the model depends on data contributions. The LEADSx2030 Data Hub will allow stakeholders to share non-confidential data via Prometheus-X governance model. In return, contributors gain access to the complete dataset powering the dashboard, which can be used in internal analytics, dashboards, or AI tools.
The upcoming Data Sub-Cluster is a thematic working group chaired by Isabela Paredes Cisneros, project manager at BioNT & Anu Passi-Rauste, Chief Business Officer at HeadAI designed to:
- Facilitate data access and exchange
- Support the design of new educational programmes
- Generate best practices across projects
Your organisation’s data can play a vital role in building a more accurate and future-ready picture of advanced digital skills demand across Europe. Ready to contribute?
Participation includes quarterly meetings, the opportunity to be featured in the Best Practice repository, and visibility at the ADS Summit in Brussels on 13 November 2025.
See the full session here: