The success of any small country hinges on the education of its people, primarily provided by higher education institutions (HEI) or universities. While HEIs can excel independently, their success is amplified when they collaborate closely with industry. Such collaboration enables the provision of modern education meeting labor market demands and drives research and innovation. This symbiotic relationship benefits both parties: HEIs engage with cutting-edge technologies and issues, while industry gains access to skilled workers with practical training and specialized expertise. However, the key question for both parties is how to achieve mutually beneficial cooperation. Rather than seeking more engagement, the focus should be on fostering better, more relevant, and well-thought-out collaborations. One effective approach is the development of a common technical platform that integrates the needs and capabilities of all stakeholders.

A model of one such primary platform koolituskrediit.ee was developed by AS Mainor to allow employees from Ülemiste City (Estonia) companies (n=400+) to participate in training courses offered by various Estonian and neighbourhood country's HEIs. As part of the Nordplus Horizontal project ‘Platform for Co-operation Between Schools and Enterprises’, representatives of nine partner organizations from Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania decided to further develop this platform to facilitate daily communication and services between universities and companies. The project's primary goal was to identify the key characteristics of an effective website or technical platform that is user-friendly for both service providers and the target audience. The aim was to develop a generic prototype platform that aggregates services from different schools and universities, fostering collaboration between academia and industry.

Accordingly, an analysis was conducted of existing web pages and platforms that aim to serve the interests of employees, enterprises, and individual learners (e.g. students, job seekers, other people). 29 platforms from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania were analyzed, and some European or world-wide platforms were also included, which offer learning, research, internship, or job opportunities. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the collected knowledge and its application in the creation of the new Talent Portal (Talendiportaal.ee) platform.

Keywords: University-industry collaboration, science &amp, stakeholder engagement, higher education, internship, talent management, job opportunities, platforms.