In the emerging knowledge and competence based e-Society, new and different combinations of skills will break up, and perhaps even erase, professional frontiers as they are currently recognised. It will become increasingly difficult to systematically assess competence by any of the types of formal qualifications, titles, or even job-titles as they are currently understood and applied. There will thus be a growing demand for new methods of testing and criteria for assessing and validating non-traditional and non-formal competence and skills. With the increasingly integrated European labour market, cross-border validation and harmonisation of existing certificates will have to take place.

In the Swedish province of Blekinge, one of the European ICT regions, has experienced dramatic transformations during recent decades. In order to better deal with the changes, tools, methods and procedures for competence management have been developed and tested in Blekinge. Central instruments are user-friendly competence databases, which help to manage skills at individual, company and regional levels. Using open-source software development techniques, with no license cost and open for companies and organisations to modify the databases themselves, the barriers for widespread adoption and acceptance have been significantly lowered. The Regional Competence project provides an opportunity to adapt and introduce the successful concept to other regions in Europe, testing and further developing it in new environments and contexts.

SMEs, trade unions, universities, municipalities and regions agencies join forces to test, adapt and further develop the competence tools. The Regional Competence consortium covers rural and urban areas in a number of EU member countries and in one candidate country, Slovenia. The council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is playing a key role in the European wide dissemination.

The technological focal centre of the project is formed by the software tools the Individual Competence Database (ICD) and the Regional Competence Database (RCD). The ICD is used to map skills at a company level and the RCD at a regional level. The two databases are now being tested in the partner regions in Komen (Slovenia), in Tuscany (Italy) and in Castilla y Leon (Spain).

Regional competence database tool supports the identification of the skills of the companies and other organisations within a region. It also links together all the companies and organisations to a regional map of skills. At the same time the RCD supports the elaboration of regional competence profiles and the development of strategic planning.

The system supports the establishment of development partnerships within the region and the creation of new and innovative solutions to common problems. Not only companies but also other organisations and institutions have a major role to play in regional development.

With globalisation and increasing competition, companies have to develop their competencies much more than before. This also means that companies need to find new and innovative solutions to deal with the changes. These new strategies include establishing partnerships with other companies both domestic and foreign - solving problems together. Networking can help SMEs to find companies with complementary competence profiles and establish co-operation structures.

Regional competence databases can be used between companies, but also between companies and other organisations. The regional universities and other educational institutions can tailor their courses to fit the companies’ needs, students can find places for practice and employment agencies can use the RCD for job-matching.

Project Coordinator
Mr Sterne Johannesson,
LO Distriktet i Blekinge
E-mail: sterne@kompetens.net

Technical and Scientific Board Coordinator
Mr Lars Karlsson
E-mail: office@hippo.org