Open topic: Strengthen Europe's social model and sustainable competitiveness through productivity

Expected Outcome: Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: The concept of sustainable competitiveness is analysed taking into account the shifts in geopolitics, global trade patterns, as well as changes in climate, the environment (including biodiversity loss[1]), technology and demography. Policymakers are provided with recommendations and innovative solutions, including a toolbox to boost Member States and Associated Countries (labour) productivity while ensuring high social and environmental standards and increasing competitiveness within planetary boundaries. Scope: The Future of European competitiveness report (also known as the Draghi report)[2] analysed and discussed the reason for European declining competitiveness, productivity and growth vis-a-vis its main competitors. A competitive economy is defined as an economy whose sustained rate of productivity is able to drive growth and, consequently, income and welfare. Both the economy and the European social model have to adapt to the great drivers of change, including demography, technology, global trade patterns, climate, and geopolitical shifts. From its side, the European social model is the basis of the still high level of productivity and competitiveness in the EU, and without continuously upgrading it and sustaining it, there is a risk of a series of negative consequences, ranging from an increase in poverty, to a deterioration of human capital and a decline in well-being. Research…