ChemSkills

On 16–17 March 2026, an international consortium meeting of the ChemSkills project, funded by the European Union, took place in Brussels. The event brought together representatives from academia, industry, and European institutions.
The Faculty of Management of Comenius University Bratislava was represented by Assoc. Prof. RNDr. Michal Greguš, PhD., and Mgr. Vincent Karovič, PhD., who actively participated in expert discussions and working sessions across the project’s work packages.
The main objective of the meeting was to assess the current progress of the project, coordinate upcoming activities, and facilitate knowledge exchange among partners. The programme was structured over two days and included presentations, discussions, and working group sessions.
The opening session featured remarks from representatives of the Representation of the State of Hessen to the EU and the European Commission, specifically a project officer from the EACEA agency. This was followed by updates from the project coordinators on the current progress and administrative requirements of the project.
A key part of the programme focused on reviewing the status of individual work packages (WP1–WP10), where partners presented achieved results and discussed the future direction of the project. Significant attention was also given to impact and dissemination activities, as well as the development of educational initiatives and training modules.
The second day of the meeting concentrated on the development of education and sectoral skills. It included presentations on training programme design and analysis of labour market needs in the chemical industry. The programme also featured parallel breakout sessions, where specific project outputs were discussed in detail and preliminary results were presented.
The participation of representatives from the Faculty of Management of Comenius University confirms their active involvement in international research and innovation projects and contributes to strengthening collaboration between academia and practice at the European level.
The ChemSkills project focuses on the development of skills and competencies in the chemical sector, with an emphasis on innovation, digitalisation, and the needs of the modern labour market.

Milan, Italy – October 20–22, 2025
Last week, representatives of the ChemSkills project gathered in Milan for a two-day consortium meeting followed by a public conference hosted at Federchimica, the Italian Federation of the Chemical Industry. The meetings, held from October 20 to 22, 2025, brought together academic, industrial, and policy stakeholders from across Europe to discuss the progress of the ChemSkills project, funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme.
Our faculty was represented by Assoc. Prof. Greguš, who participated in discussions focused on developing innovative training modules, sectoral skills intelligence, and new educational approaches for the chemical industry.
The consortium meeting (October 21) was moderated by Anni Siltanen, ChemSkills Project Manager from Kemianteollisuus, and featured working sessions on project deliverables (WP5–10), training development led by the University of Twente, and sectoral skills intelligence coordinated by VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. Partners also reviewed progress on dissemination activities and upcoming project impacts, led by Newton University.
The subsequent public conference on October 22, moderated by Maria Xanthoudaki from the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, provided a platform to present preliminary project results. Highlights included presentations on roadmap development, initial training modules, and contributions from leading European companies such as Intercos, Unifarco, Sun Chemical, and Richter Gedeon.
The final panel discussion, “Shaping Future Skills in European Industry,” brought together experts including Anni Siltanen and Jakub Stolfa from the Automotive Skills Alliance, who shared insights on aligning education with emerging industry needs.
Assoc. Prof. Greguš emphasized the importance of connecting academic excellence with industrial practice, underscoring our faculty’s active role in promoting innovation and skills development for Europe’s green and digital transitions.

On 01–02 April 2025, our colleague Michal Greguš actively participated in the ChemSkills consortium meeting, hosted at the European Plastics Converters (EuPC) offices in Brussels, Belgium.

The two-day meeting gathered partners from across Europe to discuss the latest developments within the ChemSkills project, aiming to boost skills development in the European chemical industry.

Key highlights from the meeting included:
•    Urgent Action for Competitiveness: Frans Stokman from Petrochemicals Europe emphasized the need for swift measures to preserve the European chemical industry's global competitiveness. He introduced major political initiatives such as the Antwerp Declaration for a European Industrial Deal and the Clean Industrial Deal.
•    Administrative Insights: Naïs Habermacher, Project Officer at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), outlined the administrative and financial reporting requirements due in autumn 2025, linked to the second pre-financing payment.
•    Advancements in Sectoral Skills Intelligence: Simona Jursova (VSB-Technical University of Ostrava) presented merged findings from Work Packages 5-10, invited feedback by the end of April, and announced the launch of the second project survey with a deadline of 30 June 2025.
•    Communication and Dissemination: Tereza Šimčíková (Newton University) encouraged partners to strengthen project visibility through regular contributions to ChemSkills’ social media channels and requested feedback on skill card posts.
•    Training Development: Leaders of Work Package 4 (University of Twente) showcased a strategy for developing modular training programs, highlighting best practices to support training creation among partners.
•    Improved Coordination Recommendations: The Advisory Board, represented by Elisa Hensel (BAVC) and Andreas Bücker (FECCIA), proposed bi-monthly meetings for task leaders and two additional online meetings annually to ensure smoother communication across work packages.

The meeting concluded with an open discussion on future steps and management feedback.
The next ChemSkills consortium meeting and public conference is scheduled for 20–22 October 2025 in Milan, Italy.
We are proud of Michal Greguš's contribution to the project and look forward to seeing the impact of the ChemSkills initiative on enhancing skills and training in the chemical sector.