The European Commission, together with participating Member States, has launched the Cybersecurity Skills Coalition European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (CSC-EDIC), a new initiative aimed at addressing Europe’s cybersecurity skills gap and strengthening the continent’s cyber workforce.

The consortium will play a central role in implementing the EU Cybersecurity Skills Academy, a flagship initiative introduced by the Commission in 2023 to boost cybersecurity expertise across the European Union.

The launch was announced in Brussels by Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, during the Digital Skills EU Days 2026. The CSC-EDIC will be headquartered in Athens, with Greece, Cyprus, Austria, Croatia and Slovenia as founding members, while Czechia and Poland have joined as observers. Other EU Member States will be able to participate in the future.

According to the Commission, the Cybersecurity Skills Academy has already secured 26 commitments from global industry leaders, helping train more than 900,000 cybersecurity professionals. It has also established 10 industry-academia partnerships and promoted wider adoption of ENISA’s European Cybersecurity Skills Framework.

The newly launched consortium will expand these efforts by developing specialised cybersecurity training programmes, assessing skills shortages, coordinating the Industry-Academia Network, and supporting an EU-wide certification scheme for cybersecurity skills. It will also focus on strengthening cyber resilience in critical sectors, including healthcare, while creating career pathways and micro-credentials for cybersecurity professionals.

The CSC-EDIC has received €3.1 million in funding from the Digital Europe Programme to support its establishment, governance and initial operations.

Commenting on the initiative, Henna Virkkunen said the EU must strengthen its technical expertise to meet growing cybersecurity challenges and ensure Europe has a workforce equipped with the skills needed to protect its digital infrastructure.