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EU initiative to upskill the microelectronics industry
This initiative is calling on the industry, employers, social partners and other stakeholders to work together towards a clear joint commitment and a shared vision. Microelectronics was announced as one of the three key areas the Pact will focus on in its initial stages.
What is the Pact for Skills?
The Pact for Skills is a new engagement and governance model for a joint skills endeavour. The Pact aims to mobilise and incentivise all relevant stakeholders to take concrete commitments for upskilling and reskilling, and, when relevant, pool efforts thanks to partnerships.
The Pact can be implemented through:
- the launch of large-scale European public-private multi-stakeholder partnerships, in some cases, based on the experience of the Blueprints for sectoral cooperation on skills,
- individual commitments of companies, in the same way as the pledges under the European Alliance for Apprenticeships,
- the commitment of existing organisations/partnerships: e.g. national, regional or local partnerships based on cluster or territorial skills strategies; social partners agreements and/or tripartite agreements.
The first European skills partnerships were announced as microelectronics, automotive, and aerospace and defence.
Why do we need to up-skill and re-skill those working and training in the microelectronics industry?
We have come to depend more and more on electronic components and systems; these technologies and the solutions that they provide are the very basis of our everyday devices, such as mobile phones and computers. As technology changes at unprecedented pace, it is vital to make sure that the current and future workforce of this industry is equipped with the necessary skills. Those training in this industry often do not have access to state-of-the art design and manufacturing equipment used in the workplace, and they are not trained on real-life business problems.
Additionally, COVID-19 has had an impact on on-site training, apprenticeship and traineeship programmes, exacerbating the need to provide further opportunities in these areas. The Pact will be instrumental in setting up new and upgrading existing teaching facilities, training equipment and digital education infrastructure.
How will the Pact for Skills make this possible?
The success of the Pact depends on the commitment, the expertise and the resources its signatories bring to the partnerships they build and the results they achieve together. To incentivise ambitious upskilling and reskilling actions under the Pact, partnerships can be supported by EU funding. For microelectronics, an overall public and private investment of €2 billion through initiatives that underpin the ambition of the partnership will provide opportunities for upskilling and reskilling more than 250,000 workers and students in Europe’s electronics clusters over the course of the next four years.
Background
The Pact for Skills is one of the flagship initiatives under the European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience, presented on 1 July 2020. The main objective of the Pact is to mobilise resources and incentivise all relevant stakeholders to take real action to upskill and reskill the workforce, by pooling efforts and setting up partnerships supporting green and digital transitions as well as local and regional growth strategies.
The launch event of the Pact took place on 10 November 2020 during the European Vocational Skills Week 2020, organised by the European Commission in partnership with the German Presidency of the Council of the EU. The fifth edition of the European Vocational Skills Week encourages people of all ages to ‘Discover Your Talent’ through vocational education and training.