EITCI has been designated to undertake governance of the European IT Certification (EITC) framework which has been an outcome of a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) publicly funded project and is an expert-centered and vendor-independent non-profit organization, currently membered by over 12 thousands IT experts.
Since 2008 EITCI is pursuing its missions to lower access barriers to vocational IT skills and competences attestation in Europe, with a continued support of the EU funding, while competing with major market-dominating US based for-profit and vendor-dependent IT certification standards. The Profile and History of EITCI and further details on the EITC framework can be found on EITCI websites, e.g. at Frequently Asked Questions, as well as in the EITCA Academy website, directly implementing the EITC framework, under the About and How it Works sections.
European IT Certification Institute is a non-governmental, non-profit public utility organization fully committed to implementing European Union's digital education policy. It is seated in Brussels and operating under the framework of the Belgian law, granting ASBL non-profit legal personality to institutions of public utility associations. It's statutory aim is to develop and disseminate the European IT Certification (EITC) framework established in 2008 under the EU funding, directly implementing one of the targets of the European Commission's Digital Agenda for Europe, to disseminate quality IT competencies and to build an independent, experts-governed and accessible pan-European framework for applied IT competencies verification and attestation.
The governmental institutions of the European Union include the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. Additionally there are also EU governmental public justice and public finance bodies: the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Court of Auditors, as well as a few governmental-competence sector agencies such as the Frontex (for border control), European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA, for drugs control), European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO, for intellectual property), Europol (for the EU police forces cooperation), European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA, for aviation control), European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA, for the EU joint space programs), European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA).
Majority of officially operating European public utility institutions and associations working in the EU are not directly government driven and controlled, but non-profit non-governmental organizations (NGOs), expert-managed and publicly funded through tenders and project calls. The role of the governmental institutions of the EU is mainly to provide policy direction and law-making for the common EU legislative framework. The EU governmental institutions are not tasked with direct governance of various non-governmental economy sectors (in contrast to governmental-competence sectors, judicial system, law enforcement, aviation, immigration, public finance, drugs control, etc.), especially expert-relevant sectors and domains, such as vocational IT skills and competences verification and attestation. This role is taken by the non-governmental and non-profit European associations present in the EU in various sectors, including health, education, employment, environment, housing, trading, social, digitization etc., such as for example: European Institute of Health and Sustainable Development (EIHSD), European Forestry and Environmental Skills Council (EFESC), European Forensic Institute (EUFOR), European Institute for Export Compliance (EIFEC), European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), European Association for International Education (EAIE), European Institute for Health (EIH), etc. a few examples among dozens of similar sector-oriented European non-governmental and non-profit organizations, i.e. the so-called third sector of the EU. More information on the European associations, along with the legislation of the European cross-border associations (ECBA), can be found at the European Commission website.
Vocational IT certification is not a governmental-competence sector under the applying legislation and the European Commission leaves it to experts-managed organizations. At the current time the European Commission has also no accreditation programs for IT skills and competences certification frameworks, including those which were funded under the EU funds, but legislative initiative to accredit digital skills certification standards competing on the EU market by the European Commission is currently on a level of feasibility study, in which EITCI is also engaged. Most of the European organizations, including those working in the domain of digital and educational twins, are organizations not directly governed by the European Commission (which is responsibly rather for implementing legislation, and managing the EU budget in funding those organizations through relevant programs), but are experts-centric associations and networks, which are mainly funded from the EU funds.
In this ecosystem European IT Certification Institute is an expert-centered European organization, statutorily established to implement the EITC framework for IT competencies attestation, operating in a legal form of a European non-profit NGO association of public utility and aiming at improving accessibility to applied IT and digital skills attestation. The EITC framework has been established as a pan-European IT certification framework in due of the EU funded project, and EITCI was designated to govern this framework under a non-profit profile, in contrast to industry dominating US-based digital skills certifications, which are for-profit, vendor-owned and vendor-centric. Although majority of EITCI members are EU citizens, EITCI does not limit its scope of operation to the EU only, extending its certification programmes outreach globally, including 100% DSJC fees waived programmes for low socio-economic status developing countries, where all EITC/EITCA certification programmes are available with all fees waived, similarly as for all people living with disabilities.
In particular, in the domain of skills certification, there are also many other European not-for-profit organizations implementing similar competing frameworks, such as for example: the European Certification Institute (EUCI), European Computer Competence Certificate Foundation (ECCC), Central European Training Institute (CETI), European Centre for Certification and Privacy (ECCP), European Digital Initiative Policy (EDPI), European Certification & Qualification Association (ECQA), European Quality Certificate (EQC), European Communication Certificate (ECC), Institute of European Certification of Personnel (ICEP), etc.
European projects and funding
EITCI is continuously participating in the EU funded projects, including EIT, Horizon, Erasmus+, ets. It works with experts to expand and keep up to date its certification curricula. It is also active in international deep technology standardization, including domains such as cryptography and randomness (under the Quantum Standards Group - QSG) or AI enabled smart PV systems (under the Smart Energy Standards Group - SESG) within the Horizon EU Research and Development Framework Programme and the StandICT programme.
EITCI funding was part of eAdministration, EuroWoman, eSkills, ESIT, ICPA and several other European Social Fund and European Regional Development projects series. Some of the projects included in particular:
- StandICT SESG - StandICT SESG AI-Driven Standards for Smart Photovoltaics is a Horizon-funded initiative led by the European IT Certification Institute (EITCI), focusing on creating reference standards that integrate AI and ML methods, into the monitoring, control, and maintenance of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. Through the Smart Energy Standards Group (SESG), the project unites experts from industry and academia to draft open-access specifications and promote international adoption. By enhancing system efficiency, enabling automated O&M, and supporting Europe’s climate goals, StandICT SESG helps shape a cleaner, smarter, and more sustainable energy future and works on applying AI breakthroughs to support sustainability.
- eSkills PARP - The eSkills project (PARP HR e-Skills Manager) is a network system for managing development of ICT competences with aid of AI methods for SME staff in the cloud model in the EU - a HCM tool for HR departments, supporting knowledge and change management in SMEs with AI supportive methods. The project expertise in employing AI methods to improving digital education is a strong support basis for developing certification methodologies.
- eAdministration - eAdministration project provided EU e-governance support in improving the quality of the EU local governments work through staff certification programs in the field of key ICT competences, implemented under the European Social Fund and focused on the ISA/IDABC standards for e-administration and cybersecurity awareness and skills under the EITCA/EG certification framework. The project provided a platform for piloting and outreaching with cybersecurity competences to EU member states administration sector.
- euroWoman - A series of ESF funded projects aimed at countering the digital gender-gap with increasing accessibility, lowering barriers and disseminating professional online IT certification under the EITC/EITCA framework to women in the EU. Expertise and experience supports applied IT skills and competences certification in addressing the digital gender gap problem.
- ESIT - Project ESIT - eSchools - supported positioning of e-learning technology as the future of vocational education in the EU. It supported EU public vocational schools and educational facilities in their curricula modernization, offered educational and career counseling to learners, as well as provided many certified extracurricular online IT trainings and professional internships, funded under the HCOP program. The project provided a platform to pilot school teachers e-Learning competences outreach, targeted to support formal vocational education in the EU.
- ICPA - The project was supporting development of digitally enabled academic entrepreneurship in the EU, implemented through EITC certified digital training and internships programs for graduates and PhD students, including advisory services, funded under ESF Operational Program Innovative Economy. The project’s gained expertise support certification programmes for AI enabled entrepreneurship skills.
The most recent EITCI EU funding was granted under a June 2025 contracted EIT Health consortium for AI/ML as a part of Deep Tech curricula training and certification for precision medicine practitioners, InnovPrecMed project no. 250072.
