New digital solutions are often lacking integration and acceptance by potential users. Therefore, only a small amount of innovative software solutions is really in use. The article describes a co-creation process by integrating end-users and relevant stakeholders right in the beginning in a social innovation process. Within this process, technology is seen as an enabler of innovation getting its relevance from new social practices of the people using it (e.g. working practices). Against the background of EU funded projects conducted by the authors (GT-VET, GREEN STAR, COCOP, and ROBOHARSH) the relevance of mutual learning processes of engineers / researchers / trainers on the one side and end-users / beneficiaries / learners on the other side will become evident. Moreover, new (digital and analogue) skills of employees have been identified as key for a successful digital transformation. Thereby, this article shows a twofold perspective on social innovation in education: new skills demands for employees and mutual learning processes of developers and users/stakeholders. To obtain needed skills, traditional innovation practices have to be changed by setting up a social innovation process. Such a process design has to include stakeholder and user involvement beyond pure feedback on a new technology. Co-creation means that experience, knowledge and ideas of users will be considered to ensure high usability and impact of the new technology framed by organisational and people related measures. In this respect, the innovation process and the innovation itself is much more than technological functionality–it is a contribution to new social practices and performances of the people that innovate and use the technology.

The ecological and digital transformations of the steel industry intensify already existing skill shortages and create specific skill demands that are currently not being met. One of the main problems in this sector lies in the lack of sufficient information on which skills companies need and which skills trainings are suitable for today’s challenges. In addition, more information is needed to provide more and better information for policy-making processes for getting the sector’s workforce well-equipped for digitalisation and decarbonisation. This paper uses the framework of skills intelligence in the steel sector, reflecting on theoretical developments and the application of concrete tools in the European projects BEYOND 4.0 and ESSA. The main research questions guiding this work are: To what extent is the concept of skills intelligence useful in the steel sector, and how can it be applied in the steel sector in Europe? This paper provides empirical data based on qualitative and quantitative research carried out in the mentioned projects. The main contribution of this paper is the development of concrete reflections on the concept of skills intelligence based on tools in the steel sector. This work operationalises the skills intelligence approach at sectoral level, namely for the steel industry, and shows how this sector approach can be implemented at the European, national and regional levels. The main findings suggest that skills intelligence in the steel sector is not limited to the preparation and presentation of data but creates a governance structure to mitigate skills imbalances.