On the 11th of October, the European Commission announced its ambitious plans to train one million people in deep tech fields over the next three years.
This initiative has been set to help bridge the skills gap reported by many European high-tech companies, many of which are within the EU Unicorn group. The goal is to help the EU be competitive in the next wave of technical innovation.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has mapped out achieving its goal by starting with the existing training opportunities within the EIT. However, to reach the one million trained target, the EIT is looking externally for pledges from the innovation community to support training.
At this stage, we are mapping what already exists in the EIT community and beyond, and then listening to those who express an interest in joining the initiative through the pledge, and that will help us to design the right tools,” EIT director Martin Kern told Science Business.
Pledges from the community do not mean a cash commitment from all businesses willing to participate in the initiative, from sharing existing training programmes to providing resources in kind or cash. The EIT is already committing €25 million.
The technologies included are artificial intelligence and machine learning; advanced materials and manufacturing; biotechnology; blockchain and web 3.0 technology; robotics; aerospace, including drones; photonics; electronics; quantum computing; sustainable energy, and cleantech.
The purpose of outlining the technology categories is to allow the organisations who will be pledging training to define the future needs of their industries.
The expectation is to see current training programmes which fit under the deep tech umbrella are most likely to scale and broaden in reach. “EIT already has a pan-European network, we are present in every EU country, so if we find a good course in one country, in one area of technology, this can be scaled up and disseminated. That’s the kind of multiplier effect we want to see,” said Kern.
The scheme will build on the existing EIT university training network; however, the project is for more than just graduates. The idea is to make training available to anyone from school age to post-grad, as well as existing employees.
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