EU WEBINAR 1: PRIORITISING SKILLS

Innopharma hosted a webinar entitled “The EU skills agenda” which took place online on June 11th 2020. The objective of the webinar was to examine how, in a post COVID-19 world, Europe is preparing for the challenges ahead in order to protect existing and create new jobs. COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst to accelerate change and realise the digital economy. All of this will require new skills across a range of sectors and industries.

Key Recommendations

The challenge of skills deficit in the EU, and globally, is immense. The EU are not alone in having a skills challenge but we have the power to react. There is a significant challenge around how to develop those skills and align them with the industry requirements.

We must ensure continued technology investment in Europe’ We need European Research Frameworks to continue to support the implementation of Industry 4.0 platforms in factories across Europe. Only through this continued research and investment will we realise the transformation towards Industry 4.0.

We must invest in Industry 4.0 type skills are a safe investment for citizens to enhance current and future employability prospects as well as have an impact on the key European Strategic goals around competitiveness, green agenda and a Covid response.

We must consider the benefit of skills investment in these sectors as part of a COVID-19 recovery, particularly as part of a career transition strategy for citizens transitioning from high-risk sectors (like retail and hospitality) to lower-risk sectors (like high-tech manufacturing).

We must ensure that EU citizens have the skills for high-tech manufacturing sectors. This must be addressed with a budget that reflects the scale and urgency that reflects the current challenges across the EU.