UpskillOne

UpSkillOne is an Erasmus+ Forward-Looking initiative that develops AI-powered career guidance for adult workers in micro and small enterprises across Europe. Rather than adding a new training catalogue, the project provides a modular infrastructure that can be adapted at local level, helping workers map, undertake, and validate learning pathways rooted in their everyday work context.
By integrating training support schemes into its guidance approach, UpSkillOne turns career guidance into an economically sustainable pathway: it helps people identify the right course and access the resources needed to attend it.

The project pursues a set of interconnected objectives: personalised, evidence-based guidance for workers in micro and small enterprises; recognition of informal and non-formal learning; ethical, human-centred use of AI; regional relevance and transferability; access to training support funds; and long-term policy adoption.

At operational level, these lines of action translate into the following activities:

• A transferable methodological framework for adult career guidance, aligned with EU standards (ESCO, EQF, Europass).
• A scalable digital platform that combines user profiling with local labour market data.
• Training and certification for SME Skills Champions, acting as multipliers for guidance activities.
• Pilots and co-design activities in five European regions.
• Open Educational Resources (OER) and guidelines for regional adaptation.
• Ethical safeguards for AI-based guidance, with a focus on explainability and bias mitigation.
• Funding-aware guidance, connecting users with national and European support schemes.
• A roadmap for sustainability and policy integration beyond the duration of the project.

The IFAB Foundation is the consortium’s driver for stakeholder interaction and engagement. In practical terms, IFAB builds and animates the project’s community of practice, bringing together workers from micro and small enterprises, career guidance professionals, training providers, and institutional actors, so that the model reflects the real needs of local territories.
IFAB coordinates stakeholder engagement and regional co-design activities in the pilot areas and leads the design of the project’s mentoring framework. Thanks to its expertise in applied and ethical AI, IFAB helps ensure that the guidance tools remain human-centred and trustworthy, while working within European and national AI ecosystems to support the project’s long-term impact.

UpSkillOne brings together seven partners from five EU countries:

• Kilometro Rosso (KMR), Italy, project coordinator
• nternational Foundation Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Human Development (IFAB), Italy
• Grenoble École de Management (GEM), France
• Aalto University, Finland
• University of Salamanca, BISITE Research Group (USAL), Spain
• Vratsa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI Vratsa), Bulgaria
• EIT Manufacturing (EITM), Italy