In 2019, the T3 Innovation Network set the goal of supporting open source infrastructure for creating and using competency data and catalyzing the development of competency translation and analysis tools. Through the network’s grant-funded work, as well as the ongoing efforts of its members, these goals are now in sight. However, competency-based learning and hiring is still the exception rather than the rule.

Skill and competency authors and publishers can render existing skill and competency data into machine-actionable formats online, making them accessible and translatable (using AI and machine learning) for workers, learners, and employers. This conversion can supplement, augment, or even replace their own proprietary or unstructured languages. We expect this to improve efficiency in all skill and competency-related tasks. This would build the first-ever open and distributed skill and competency data infrastructure to underlie systems across sectors. This infrastructure does not impose a single set of standards and approaches but grows a community of practice empowered with a rich set of data and algorithmic resources. This document identifies the key use cases and data, community, and algorithmic gaps and next steps highlighted by T3 Network members.

Skills and competencies form the foundation of a more adaptive and resilient labor market. Implementing the recommendations in this report will provide the labor market with the potential for an inclusive digital transformation. Skills and competencies as the new currency of the talent marketplace could result in reduced friction, improved efficiency, and more equitable outcomes across stakeholders.