The INVESTech project aims to develop national centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs) in five countries and to interconnect them in a functional network. This objective is based on the conclusion that CoVEs typically operate at two levels:
National level - a national or regional CoVE can be established in each country, based on a model that is closely embedded in the local innovation ecosystems and responds to the real needs for excellence in VET in a given sector or region. The national CoVEs in this project are not intended to build new VET institutions and infrastructure in their countries from scratch.
In the initial stage of establishing a Center of Excellence in VET in the ICT sector in Sofia - Bulgaria (CoVE), as one of the 5 CoVEs, on the basis of which a new network (INVESTech Project) will be built in Europe, it was necessary to outline the operational framework of this centre in the context of the national/regional specificities of the ICT sector, as well as the dynamically changing skills needs required to carry out a successful digital transformation.
Some trends of the labour market in the IT sector
The data related to the labor market for IT specialists is indicative of the changes in the requirements regarding skills and competencies in the ICT sector.
The EU Clusters Talk on 21.05.2025, in which representatives of the Cluster Sofia Knowledge City participated, was about “Smart Support: AI Tools for Effective Cluster Management”. Artificial Intelligence is changing the way we collaborate, plan, and innovate - and this webinar explored how these powerful technologies can be applied by cluster organisations across Europe to stay competitive and impactful.
The topics include the Use Cases for AI in Clusters, the European & Global AI Tools (SeTA, eTranslation, GPT@EC, and tools from OpenAI, Hugging Face, etc.), Regulatory Insights (The AI Act and practical guidance) and Funding Opportunities (New EU calls supporting AI-driven innovation).
InvestTech Project Team
Centers of Excellence in VET (CoVEs) typically bring together a wide range of local partners. These include vocational training centres (VET centres), employers, research centres, development agencies and employment services, which contribute to the creation of a “skills ecosystem”, and which contribute to regional, economic, social development, innovation and follow smart specialisation strategies (S3).
The question arises as to how to establish a CoVE in the IT sector, which will link the work of educational institutions, businesses and other key stakeholders to create the skills that the digital transformation in a given region, sector or country needs?
