This is one of the questions we are exploring in the INNOSKILLS-CE project. Across Italy, Hungary and Poland, we have analysed 94 companies operating in manufacturing and technology-related sectors and collected 30 SME questionnaires to better understand their current and future skills needs.
The first analyses point to several common challenges across the partner regions. Employers are looking for stronger technical and digital competences, practical workplace skills and young employees who can adapt to changing technologies. These findings are helping us identify where vocational education and labour market expectations may differ.
The next step is to combine insights from companies with information collected from technical and vocational schools. This will support the development of a joint Training Strategy and future learning solutions based on LMS and AR/VR technologies. Our work is focused on a practical question – How can we better prepare young people for the jobs and technologies they will encounter in the workplace?