Employers and companies have highlighted areas that they see upcoming skills shortages in. These inclue: AI/AR Developers, Robotics Engineers, Data Science, Coding/App Devlopers, Cybersecurity, Scrum Masters and Machine Learning Engineers.

At national, regional and local level the overarching response was one of gender imbalance but industry shows great potential for a female workforce with women increasingly engaging in high-tech manufacturing.

Some of the strategies that VET providers can use to address the skills gaps.

Education providers see it as necessary to have a strong employer/industry engagement alongside learning to meet the rise of hybrid jobs in Industry 4.0 manufacturing. #digitaldesign #partnership

The training programmes that are currently used with education providers include employee specific training and certified training programmes. These will increasingly need to become more technology based to meet the demand of industry.

Employers & companies need to look at strategies they can adopt to tackle skills shortages. In order to shape “demand-led” skills development systems, businesses must be more proactive by articulating and communicating their current and future skills needs to providers.

Generation Z will have an impact on the workplace. They generally have a high awareness of technology and this needs to implemented into education settings for learning and training and followed through into their working life. #generationZ

A purpose-driven workplace needs to reflect the intrinsic values of the younger generations – corporate social responsibility towards climate change and circular economy being an example.

Meta skills are equally important as technical skills. Meta skills are an evolving skill set that requires to be “in tune” with technology developments, hence meta skills are fundamental within a 4.0 working environment.

Industry produces carbon dioxide from energy and material needs, quality issues, poor productivity and human error . Industry 4.0 can help address theses issues significantly lowering carbon dioxide emissions. #COP26 #Industry40

Smart factories require 21st Century Students because they have the skills to make the shift to the new era of manufacturing. #smartfactories #Industry40 #upskill #education

The four c's are communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. These are qualities that are considered essential for 21st-century learning. #GenZ

Ludor Engineering conducted the 21st Century Students ”Experience Days” in collaboration with ”E. Cuza” Gymnasium School, Iasi, Romania. 30 students learnt about digital manufacturing and manufacturing automation, and provided valuable feedback on the Learner Academy resources.

21ST CENTURY STUDENTS SKILLING TODAY FOR TOMORROW. Please see the leaflet below for more information on the programme. Please share, print, and distribute this leaflet to help spread the word. #Industry40 #generationZ #education

The World Economic Forum cites that 65% of children will work in a completely new job type that doesn't yet exist. We challenge the traditional delivery of education & curriculum - to invest in education today for tomorrow’s workforce. #21stCenturyStudents 21st-century-students.com

Coming Soon...📢🔜 Within the Erasmus+ 21st Century Students project, our international consortium is developing a "Digital Manufacturing Learning Lab", an interactive online platform designed to enable teachers across #Europe to effectively deliver #STEM education. 💡

We were delighted to welcome Omagh High School for an afternoon of CAD,digital design and digital manufacturing. Students feedback was overwhelmingly positive for the project resources which will feature on our platform - 21st-century-students.com #21stCenturyStudents #erasmusplus

Our partners at IHU in Greece have been looking at E-design and how CAD provides quality, accuracy and precision in engineering and manufacturing. Find out more about e-design and our 21st Century Students Project here 21st-century-students.com/news/ #21stCenturyStudents #Industry40

Our partners enjoyed our 1st in person transnational meeting in Serres, Greece hosted by our friends at IHU. A very productive few days with much accomplished! #21stcenturystudents #industry40