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EU appeals for industry help with plan to tackle deep-tech skills shortage

11 Oct 2022

The Deep Tech Talent programme will be open to all as part of a plan to educate 1m people over the next three years.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is calling on partners to get behind its new deep-tech skills initiative.

The Deep Tech Talent initiative is being set up to address the current skills gap across Europe’s deep-tech sector. Over the next three years, it aims to provide 1m people with the skills they will need for the EU to become an innovation and tech powerhouse.

The programme was launched today (11 October) at the conclusion of the EIT’s Innoveit Weeks – a series of events focused on European innovation.

EU body EIT is now appealing to public and private organisations, industry and education stakeholders to get on board with its strategy and invest in European tech talent.

The Deep Tech Talent initiative will be open to all, from secondary school students through to higher education students, professionals and entrepreneurs.

It will also be open to all education and training providers. It will have a particular focus and incentives ensuring a strong participation of women, as well as people from countries with lower innovation capacity.

“Fostering, attracting and retaining deep-tech talents is crucial to enable the green and digital transitions and harness a new wave of innovation in line with the New European Innovation Agenda,” said Mariya Gabriel, European commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and uouth.

As one of the EU’s largest tech ecosystems, EIT has a network of around 3,400 partners across Europe. According to Gabriel, this means it is “best placed to develop the deep-tech education programmes the EU needs”.

“The initiative will ensure that Europe is in the vanguard of global cutting-edge technological advancements, and I encourage all European deep-tech stakeholders, from educators and employers to member states, to make a pledge to support it,” Gabriel added.

The new initiative not only aims to ensure the development of a skilled labour force, but also make sure that deep-tech innovators maintain and expand their operations in Europe.

The EU hopes to maintain a leading position in emerging sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, aerospace, blockchain and quantum computing.

More information on the Deep Tech Talent initiative and the pledge can be found on its website.

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Blathnaid O’Dea
By Blathnaid O’Dea

Blathnaid O’Dea joined Silicon Republic in 2021 as Careers reporter, coming from a background in the Humanities. She likes people, pranking, pictures of puffins – and apparently alliteration.

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