Yesterday, 31 January 2024, the European Chips Skills Academy (ECSA) project was presented to the European Semiconductor Board. On behalf of SEMI Europe, Christopher Frieling, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy, highlighted the project’s mission to pilot innovative initiatives and develop training content aimed at upskilling workers, attracting new talent to the industry, and bring awareness to the skills needs of the sector. He underscored the importance of collaborating with Member States to rollout essential programs and identify best practices already in place that can be scaled up to benefit Europe as a whole.

Looking towards the future, Léo Saint-Martin shared DECISION’s most recent report on skills needs in the industry and asked the Board for their input on key metrics to collect data on. In the interactive session, the Board Members shared experiences from their countries and encouraged the project to take a granular approach to forecasting the industry’s needs to provide critical information on exactly which profiles and skills are in demand to ensure the education system can respond in kind.

The Members agreed that the talent shortage is a pervasive issue, not limited only to the semiconductor ecosystem, that would require a multitude of tools to address. In sum, the session focused on the need to boost the sector’s image to attract young talent, disseminate best practices to ensure programs that get results are being replicated and scaled up, and reduce the distance between education and industry.