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Lifelong Learning Summit – 18 November 2025
As societies navigate digital transformation, climate urgency, demographic shifts, and evolving security challenges, one thing is clear: lifelong learning must take center stage in shaping our collective response.
At this summit, researchers, educators, business leaders, policymakers, and civic actors will come together for a day of bold ideas, shared insights, and collective imagination — all fueled by a spirit of collaboration. Highlights:
- A keynote by Professor Geoff Mulgan from University College London
- A presentation by Minister of Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund
- Insights from four cross-sector Mission Labs, connecting disciplines and breaking silos
The Lifelong Learning Summit is part of the project “A Mission for a Coherent Infrastructure for Lifelong Learning.” Supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and organised by the University of Copenhagen, the project spans multiple universities.
Insights
Europe must develop “intelligent infrastructures” for upskilling and reskilling its population.
Kristian Cedervall Lauta on LinkedIn
Prorector and Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Kristian Cedervall Lauta:
"It’s time to rethink lifelong learning — not just as a service, but as a strategic societal mission.
If universities are serious about shaping the future, we must go beyond offering courses and certificates. We need to build learning infrastructures that connect individuals, organisations, and society — and do so in response to the grand challenges of our time.
In the past year, two major European reports have underlined this need:
- The Draghi Report (2024) urged us to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness through deeper reforms and a renewed social contract — with lifelong learning as a key pillar.
- The Union of Skills Communication (2025) emphasized the urgent need for upskilling, reskilling, and foundational learning across all layers of society — from basic literacy to STEM and digital transformation.
At the University of Copenhagen, we want to take responsibility. We believe it’s time for universities to adopt a mission-oriented approach to lifelong learning — one that enables strategic up- and reskilling, not just for the labour market, but for the future of society.
But this requires a new institutional paradigm. And it starts with a simple question:
What if... lifelong learning was reimagined as a public learning infrastructure — open, intelligent, and mission-driven?
This fall, we are launching a series of Missionlabs and hosting a Summit Conference to explore how we can co-create a future of lifelong learning that transforms lifelong learning into a societal infrastructure.
We invite you into our thinking, our questions, and our dreams. Let’s imagine—and build—what lifelong learning could become. We’ll keep you posted on our activities."
Mission labs
To gear up for the upcoming conference, the University of Copenhagen is hosting four mission-oriented labs focused on understanding what is required to support lifelong learning and skills development across society in four grand societal challenges:
Christina Egelund
Minister of Higher Education and Science
Organiser
Supported by
