EDDIE Association and the Large-Scale Skills Partnership

In response to the rapidly evolving digitalisation of the energy sector, the EDDIE Association was created to lead the Large-Scale Partnership (LSP) on the digitalisation of the energy system under the European Commission’s Pact for Skills. This LSP, officially launched in December 2023, brings together key stakeholders across industry, academia, and policymaking to drive a common agenda: equipping the workforce with the digital skills needed for the energy transition.  

The EDDIE Association serves as the operational and coordination hub of this partnership. Its purpose is to deliver lasting impact by designing and scaling high-quality training programmes, building alignment across national systems, and ensuring that upskilling and reskilling efforts match the needs of the energy sector’s digital transformation.

The EDDIE project, funded under the Horizon 2020 programme, laid the groundwork for the LSP.

 

Key Activities

The EDDIE Association coordinates the Large-Scale Partnership (LSP) on the digitalisation of the energy system, supporting the development of a series of activities aimed at enhancing the digital capabilities of the energy workforce implemented by the members of the LSP and reflect a collaborative, sector-wide commitment to upskilling and reskilling. These activities are the following:

 

• Mapping present and future digital skills
  Members collaborate to identify evolving skill needs across the energy sector, ensuring that training and workforce planning remain aligned with technological and market developments.
• Design, implementation and dissemination of training programmes
  Partners are involved in the full cycle of training delivery, with a focus on:
  • Upskilling and reskilling
  • A balanced participant base in terms of skill levels, gender, age, and geography
• Supporting career opportunities
  Members contribute to connecting skilled individuals with roles in:
  • Energy companies
  • R&D centres
  • Training organisations. This includes support for job applications and facilitating successful job matches.
• Collaboration and knowledge exchange among key stakeholders
  The partnership encourages synergies with related projects and alliances to maximise the collective impact on skills development.
• Communication, dissemination and policy input
  Members participate in outreach and consultation activities such as:
  • Events
  • Surveys. These feed into broader visibility, mutual learning, and the formulation of evidence-based policy recommendations on digital skills for the energy transition.

• Advocate for policy changes supporting digital skills in the energy sector
  Creating a Sector Skill Strategy for Education in the Digitalisation of the Energy value chain.

Together, these coordinated efforts form the backbone of the LSP’s strategy to strengthen the energy sector’s workforce through continuous, collaborative digital learning.

 

E.DSO’s Involvement

As a core partner in EDDIE project, E.DSO is also a founding member of the EDDIE Association. Within the project, E.DSO led stakeholder mapping efforts and contributed to the sector’s digitalisation blueprint. In addition, in 2024, it established a dedicated Working Group on the Energy Skills Gap to identify and address critical workforce shortages in the DSO industry. Leveraging its expertise in policy, innovation, and smart grid technologies, E.DSO helps ensure that workforce development keeps pace with the digital transformation of the energy sector.

 

More information

• Pact for Skills launches Large-scale Skills Partnership on the Digitalisation of the Energy System
• Commission promotes skills partnership to advance the digitalisation of the energy sector