Preparing for future skills needs in European manufacturing industry

Over the last two decades the manufacturing sector has been subject to fundamental changes due to new and emerging technologies. This ever-increasing dynamic raised pressing questions on how employees and employers can cope with changing skills needs in future labour markets and increasingly digitalised industrial environments. The publication at hand presents a new approach to tackle these challenges using participatory tools to co-design upskilling courses tailor-made for both workers and companies. The FIT4FoF European project developed and tested this approach, called ICoED, in a number of industrial pilot applications. Furthermore, a future scenario for work and skills in Industry 5.0, aligning technology, sustainability, and society, is sketched, including framework conditions that are relevant for its realisation. By presenting recommendations for policy, the FIT4FoF partners would like to invite stakeholders to enter into a dialogue on how to achieve this future scenario using the ICoED approach for the benefit of both the economy and society.