In January, we brought together members from across Europe’s automotive skills ecosystem for our first ASA Partnership Meeting of the year. The session provided an opportunity to take stock of where we are, align on priorities, and prepare for what’s ahead.
What We Covered
The meeting addressed our key activities and achievements in 2025, updates on ongoing and new projects, and our plans for 2026. Members received an overview of where ASA stands and where we’re heading as a partnership.
As always, the open discussion was one of the most valuable parts of the meeting. Hearing directly from our community helps us ensure we’re addressing real challenges and focusing our efforts where they matter most.
Member Poll: Understanding Your Priorities
During the meeting, we ran a poll to better assess the priorities of our members. The responses offer valuable insight into what the community sees as the most pressing challenges and goals for skills collaboration in the sector.
Biggest Blockers in Skills Collaboration
When asked about the biggest barriers to collaboration on skills in the automotive sector, three themes emerged most frequently:
- Limited resources: Internal, financial, and human resource constraints were cited as a key barrier by the majority of respondents.
- Fragmentation and poor coordination: Many members pointed to a lack of coordination of activities and information across the sector, leading to duplicated efforts and missed opportunities.
- Lack of recognition: A third major theme was insufficient recognition of skills initiatives at both national and EU levels, along with the absence of agreed competences and frameworks.
Main Goals for Skills Collaboration
When asked what they see as the main goal for skills collaboration in the sector, members highlighted:
- Networking: Building connections, exchanging ideas, and creating platforms for collaboration was by far the most common response.
- Sharing best practices: Closely linked to networking, many members emphasized knowledge transfer and learning from each other’s experiences as a central objective.
- Staying informed: Several respondents highlighted the importance of keeping up with trends, policy developments, and available training offerings across the sector.
What This Means for ASA
These findings will help shape our activities and priorities in 2026. The feedback reinforces the importance of ASA’s role as a connector, bringing together stakeholders to share knowledge, align efforts, and reduce fragmentation across Europe’s automotive skills ecosystem.
We will continue to create spaces for networking and exchange, improve access to information on training and sector developments, and advocate for greater recognition of skills initiatives at EU and national levels.
Thank You
Thank you to everyone who participated in the meeting and contributed to the poll. Your engagement shapes our direction and strengthens the partnership.
We look forward to continuing this dialogue throughout 2026.