MINDSET mission advances coordinated skills development across northern Sweden

Developed through the MINDSET project, the mission brings together Akademi Norr,  a collaboration between multiple municipalities across Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland and Västernorrland to improve how education and training are planned and delivered. By 2030, the mission aims to ensure equitable access to higher education and relevant training through local learning centres supported by a coordinated and evidence-based skills system.

Many rural communities face ongoing challenges in accessing higher education and training opportunities. While local learning centres play an important role in supporting lifelong learning, municipalities, employers, public organisations and education providers often work independently. As a result, information on local skills needs can be fragmented, outdated or difficult to access, making it challenging to align education provision with labour market demand.

The mission provides a framework for improving coordination across the regional skills ecosystem. It aims to strengthen local learning centres as strategic hubs for education, lifelong learning and workforce development, while fostering closer collaboration between municipalities, employers and education providers.

By improving the way local skills needs are identified and shared, the mission supports more responsive education and training opportunities that reflect the needs of rural communities. It also seeks to reduce barriers to learning for underrepresented groups and improve access to education across sparsely populated areas.

The mission is being developed using the Regional Mission-Oriented Innovation approach, known as RegMOI. This methodology enables partners to address complex societal challenges through coordinated action involving multiple stakeholders.

In this mission, RegMOI provides a structured, data-driven working model operating across three interconnected layers. The strategic layer aligns education and training with wider regional development goals. The system layer gathers and organises information on skills needs, ideas and ongoing initiatives. The operational layer helps assess, prioritise and implement actions based on their relevance and feasibility. Together, these layers transform a fragmented skills landscape into a coordinated portfolio of initiatives that supports long-term regional development.

The Swedish mission contributes to the wider MINDSET objective of testing Regional Mission-Oriented Innovation approaches to complex societal challenges across the Northern Periphery and Arctic region. By strengthening collaboration and improving the use of data in skills planning, the mission demonstrates how place-based innovation can help rural regions build more resilient economies and ensure that education provision meets future workforce needs.

Read more about the MINDSET missions:
🔗 https://www.interreg-npa.eu/projects/mindset/home/outputs-results/