The European health industry is changing faster than ever. From AI-powered diagnostics to greener biomanufacturing and complex regulations, the sector no longer relies only on traditional medical expertise. It needs data analysts, regulatory specialists, digital engineers, sustainability experts, and professionals who can move between science, technology and industry. This intersectionality and daily intersectoral collaboration is what drives the healthcare industry forward.
But the key question is: do we actually know which skills are missing and where?
That is what the BRIGHTskills project set out to discover.
BRIGHTskills is not just another training initiative. Its main ambition is to build a Skills Strategy for the European health industry, which is a roadmap that will help policymakers, educators and companies understand what kinds of expertise are needed today and what will be essential tomorrow. The final recommendations will be delivered to the European Commission and the Directorate-General for Employment, helping shape future workforce policies across Europe.
From data to decisions
Good strategies are not written in meeting rooms. They are built from real-world evidence.
That’s why one of the most important steps in the project is a large-scale survey of professionals, companies, educators, and students working in or with the health industry. The survey asked a simple but powerful set of questions and the answers will feed directly into the project’s skills intelligence work, mapping current gaps and identifying emerging job profiles, from digital health and AI to regulatory science and green manufacturing.
Why does Bosnia and Herzegovina matter?
For a European strategy to work, it must reflect the diversity of Europe’s workforce and not only large innovation hubs but also emerging ecosystems.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a growing health and biotech sector, strong academic expertise, and a new generation of professionals entering the field. Recent data confirms this trajectory: Bosnia and Herzegovina is classified as an “Emerging Innovator” in the European Innovation Scoreboard 2025, performing at 25.7% of the EU average, with continuous improvement in recent years. In addition, the country has seen gradual strengthening of its research base, with approximately 670 researchers per million inhabitants (2023) and increasing participation in EU research and innovation programmes, indicating a steady expansion of scientific and innovation capacity. Yet, like many countries in the region, it faces specific challenges such as limited access to specialized training, brain drain and a mismatch between education and industry needs.
By taking part in the “Healthcare Companies Skills Analysis” survey, professionals and organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina helped ensure that local realities become part of the European conversation. Their experiences revealed which skills are most urgently needed on the ground, how education and training can better support regional growth in the health sector, and what would make careers in the health sector more appealing to young talent. Out of 311 survey answers and 76 one-on-one interviews, the BRIGHTskills project made sure that the needs, gaps, and opportunities of the healthcare sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina is accounted for in future steps of the project lifetime. Without these insights, any European-level recommendation risks overlooking the needs of entire parts of the ecosystem.
From survey to strategy
So, what happens after the data collection step?
The survey results will be combined with the results of the scoping literature analysis, consortium co-creation workshops, stakeholder consultations through focus groups, and labor-market analysis to produce a European Health Industry Skills Strategy. This strategy will define priority skills for the green and digital transition, propose concrete training and reskilling actions, support micro-credentials and new learning pathways and strengthen collaboration between academia and industry.
In other words, today’s real-world data analysis will become tomorrow’s policy recommendations and future training opportunities.
A small action with system-level impact
Throughout participation in these activities, most prominently by collecting survey responses, interviewing relevant stakeholders, and attending the focus group discussions, Bosnia and Herzegovina will have its word in shaping the European Health Industry Skills Strategy, an education and training guideline document for the future. For us, it is also a chance to position our workforce within the European skills landscape and ensure that regional priorities are recognized in future initiatives.
What next? The European Health Industry Skills Strategy will be built iteratively, with stakeholder consultations occurring along the way. We are inviting you to dedicate your time to this activity. Having the representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina included in all stages of the process will ensure that the Skills Strategy is inclusive, relevant and adaptable to different environments.
Because the future of healthcare innovation will not depend only on technologies, it will depend on people who have the right skills to use them.
And this Strategy will be designed to recognize the needs of us, healthcare industry workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Learn more about the project here.
Written by Lejla Gurbeta Pokvić, Adna Ašić and Ana Lalović, Verlab Institute
