Treating up- and reskilling activities as a top priority is paramount for the EU. By addressing technological advancements, driving economic growth, achieving sustainability goals, mitigating social disparities, and anticipating future challenges, the EU can position itself as a global leader in the 21st century. 

Through these strategic investments in human capital, the EU can pave the way for a sustainable future. Specifically, skills partnerships under the Pact for Skills bring together stakeholders to implement concrete up- and reskilling actions. 

The study Pact for skills - Analysing of up- and reskilling policy initiatives and identifying best practices: final report supports the overall ambition of the Commission to build the skills economy in Europe. For this purpose, there is a need to understand better how up- and reskilling policy actions function and what creates their success or failure, in particular those actions where businesses, including SMEs, play an active role. 

As stated by the European Skills Agenda, skills policies and actions are shared between many actors and there is a strong potential in boosting joint action to maximise the impact of skills investment. To this end, this study implied conducting a global analysis of up- and reskilling initiatives and identify best practices in order to draw key lessons learned and propose recommendations for policy decision makers and stakeholders on developing and implementing efficient up – and reskilling initiatives in the future.