Europe Launches Quantum Skills Academy to Expand Workforce Development

Insider Brief

• Three coordinated academies in Quantum, Generative AI and Virtual Worlds mark one of Europe’s most ambitious digital skills initiatives to date, with €19.8 million dedicated to quantum talent alone.
• The European Quantum Academy launches with 70 partner institutions, six regional hubs, and concrete targets to train thousands of professionals across the continent.
• Five initiatives were recognised at the European Digital Skills Awards 2026 for advancing digital inclusion, AI literacy, cybersecurity and women in tech.
• Photo from Pexels by Dušan Cvetanović.

Press release – The European Commission today officially launched three new digital skills academies in Quantum, Generative AI, and Virtual Worlds, marking one of Europe’s most ambitious pushes yet to build the workforce its critical technologies will require. 

The announcement took place during the Digital Skills Awards 2026 ceremony, which also recognised five initiatives advancing digital skills across Europe. At the heart of lies the same goal: equipping Europe with the people it needs to lead in the technologies that will define its future.

The Skills Behind Europe’s Technological Sovereignty

Behind Europe’s ambitions for technological sovereignty lies a fundamental challenge: the people to make it real. The three academies launched today are the EU’s deliberate answer to that challenge, built on the understanding that competitiveness in quantum, AI, and virtual worlds cannot be achieved field by field, but only through a coordinated strategy that spans all three.

As Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen noted during the ceremony:

“These awards celebrate more than excellence in digital skills — they celebrate Europe’s capacity to innovate, lead and shape its own technological future. The awarded initiatives are helping people across Europe gain the skills needed to drive progress in critical technologies, strengthen our competitiveness, and reinforce our digital sovereignty. By investing in talent, digital ambition and innovation, we are building a more resilient, future-ready Europe that can thrive and lead in the digital age.”

That same logic was echoed by Jacob Sherson, Director of the European Quantum Readiness Center at Aarhus University and EQA Coordinator, from the quantum community’s perspective:

“Today the European Commission, the EQA, and our sister academies in GenAI and Virtual Worlds are in the same room because Europe has understood something important: technological sovereignty is not won technology by technology, but through a coordinated workforce strategy that spans them all.”

A Turning Point for Quantum Skills in Europe

Of the three academies launched today, the quantum one marks a particularly important moment for a field that has long been at the top of Europe’s strategic agenda. 

With the global quantum sector projected to exceed €155 billion by 2040, the race to build a qualified workforce is already underway, as quantum computing, sensing and communications move from the laboratory to the market. Yet access to quantum training remains uneven across Europe, with a handful of countries concentrating most of the infrastructure and talent while others lack pathways into the sector. 

The European Quantum Academy (EQA) launched today, with €19.8 million in funding, 70 partner institutions, and more than 100 affiliated organisations across Europe, to address exactly that: build quantum talent across the continent, not just in the places that already have it.

Europe’s Quantum Workforce: From Ambition to Action

The EQA’s ambition is matched by concrete targets. Over the course of the project, the Academy aims to train at least 600 quantum professionals through advanced degree programmes, reach 5,000 learners through its wider activities, and reserve 20% of student travel grants for learners from underrepresented groups, through future-proof programmes that address labour market needs and foster industry-academia collaboration across Member States.

The Academy also coordinates the full educational pipeline, from school outreach through doctoral training to professional upskilling, operating through six Regional Quantum Academies to ensure that access is not determined by geography.

As Jacob Sherson, Director of the European Quantum Readiness Center at Aarhus University and EQA Coordinator, put it during the ceremony:

“The EQA, launched today alongside the GenAI and Virtual Worlds academies, is how that ambition becomes real on the ground — in classrooms, in cleanrooms, in companies, across every region of the continent. The presence of Commission leadership and our sister academies here today reflects a shared understanding: Europe’s competitiveness in advanced digital technologies will be decided by the people we train, and that training has to start now.”

Recognising Europe’s Digital Skills Pioneers

The ceremony also marked the European Digital Skills Awards 2026, honouring five initiatives already making a difference across the continent, and spanning the full breadth of Europe’s digital skills challenges:

Upskilling @Work: FAIRmat (Germany) 

For building FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) research data management tools and services —like the NOMAD platform for materials science and related fields— and empower the next generation with the skills, tools and mindset needed to lead an AI-driven world.

Digital Skills for Education: Generation AI (Finland) 

For open-source, privacy-first AI literacy tools that have been used more than 180,000 times across 50+ countries to equip teachers to embed AI literacy into curricula and teach learners how AI works while openly discussing its limitations and risks.

Inclusion in the Digital World: Scratch Tactile, THEAD (Spain) 

For reducing the structural gap in digital and STEAM education with tangible coding tools and an accessible app, designed from the outset for learners with and without disabilities, in mainstream classrooms and in diverse educational settings, without the need for individual adaptations.

Women in ICT Careers: THRIVE by Kiron (Germany) 

For supporting more than 700 refugee and migrant women from 45+ countries into ICT careers —including in contexts as constrained as Afghanistan—. With an integrated upskilling program that combines flexible online learning and direct employer engagement.

Cybersecurity Skills: HackShield (Future Cyber Heroes)

For empowering 680,000 children across four European countries to become active and responsible digital citizens, with a gamified, community-based approach that equips children with the digital and cybersecurity skills they need to safely navigate today’s online world.