We have no time to have time: Missing employee skills are slowing the development of industry

The digital transformation of Slovak industry is progressing slowly. Almost half of companies cite an insufficient level of their employees' skills as the reason. The dynamics of change have caused the time needed to supplement professional skills to fall, in a short period, to less than five years. The deficit of necessary knowledge threatens development and weakens competitiveness, especially of small and medium-sized enterprises. The necessary skills are brought into companies by the ING 4.0 educational programme, focused on upskilling and reskilling employees to manage the digital transformation. It is the result of cooperation between companies and universities, and the support of national and European financial schemes. Small and medium-sized enterprises can take the courses free of charge.

The shortage of qualified labour needed for the digitalisation of industry is growing and reveals a significant imbalance between the demand for skills and their availability. Today, only just over a quarter of companies are fulfilling their digital transformation strategy (27%) (source: Industry4UM survey). Almost half of companies (44%) consider the low level of their employees' skills to be the main obstacle to digitalisation. There is a lack of suitable educational programmes on the market that would quickly and effectively supply employees with the knowledge needed for the digitalisation of workplaces. The digital transformation of a company requires the intensive participation of the whole spectrum of technical and managerial staff. However, most employees still lack the professional preparation needed to successfully manage the transformation changes.

The necessary skills will be delivered into companies by the educational programme ING 4.0, focused on upskilling and reskilling employees of companies that need to digitalise their operations, processes or products. In preparing the content of the programme, the consortium partners of the European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) EXPANDI 4.0, leading industrial enterprises, and the technical universities in Bratislava, Žilina and Košice joined forces. „Industry is facing one of the deepest and most complex transformations in recent decades. Companies need a workforce that is agile, adaptable and equipped with the latest technological know-how. This will enable them to overcome the challenges that the digital transformation brings,“ explains Martin Morháč, a member of the ING 4.0 steering committee.

The technical universities played an essential role in the methodological and content preparation of the programme. In cooperation with companies, they prepared the content of four training modules, and at their top-class facilities they created space for participants of the courses to hold practical workshops, which help them to better master and manage the various aspects of digitalisation. „We managed to create a programme that is unique in content, tailored to the needs of companies. It is a real result of mutual cooperation between universities and practice. Quality courses to support skills in digitalisation are here, and ready to pass the necessary knowledge into companies as early as the spring period,“ informs Professor František Duchoň, member of the ING 4.0 steering committee and coordinator of the content side of the programme.

On the basis of the requirements of industrial enterprises, experts created the contents of the individual courses. Today the courses educate in five areas: Digitalisation of the industrial enterprise for everyone, Robotics and advanced robotics, Data collection, its analysis and machine learning, Logistics systems and automated logistics, and Intelligent maintenance. To small and medium-sized enterprises that significantly lag behind in digitalisation, EDIH EXPANDI 4.0 provides the opportunity to fully finance participation in the educational courses through the Digital Europe programme and the Recovery and Resilience Plan via the de minimis scheme. It helps companies with a wide range of services. It can thus support in digitalisation even companies that have until now, for various reasons, postponed digitalisation or did not have sufficient capacity for its development.

The cooperation of companies with universities, using the infrastructure of national and European support schemes in preparing the ING 4.0 educational programme, is an example of an effective solution that will ensure the continuous transfer of skills into companies to support and maintain their competitiveness. „The race against time to deliver the knowledge needed for the digital transformation in industry has begun. I highly appreciate the cooperation of all stakeholders in fulfilling the common interest – support for digitalisation and digital transformation, and quality lifelong professional preparation of employees in areas related to current changes in Slovak industrial enterprises,“ Martin Morháč concludes.

Ivan Ivančin, State Secretary of the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic: „The Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic considers the transfer of knowledge for the digital transformation of companies to be one of the main priorities for supporting their competitiveness. At present, Slovak companies need precisely this connecting element so that they can effectively increase their productivity, added value for their partners, and ultimately also strengthen the resilience of the whole economy. We assess the ING 4.0 educational programme positively, since it responds to the requirements of Industry 4.0 and assists the development of digital skills needed to modernise production processes and innovations. We are pleased that it focuses precisely on the effective deepening of employees' qualifications in areas such as robotics, data analysis or the internet of things. The programme in this way contributes to the development of the digital capacities of Slovak industry, which is also in line with EU policies in the digital area.“

Andrej Lasz, Secretary General of the Association of Industrial Unions and Transport: „The pace of technological change in industry is so fast that every four to five years employees have to adapt to new digital skills in order to maintain their competitiveness. The ING 4.0 educational programme offers exactly what companies need – the opportunity for effective reskilling and upskilling of employees. The biggest challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises is keeping pace with the digital transformation, which is no longer just a competitive advantage but an existential necessity. If companies fail to manage the adaptation to digitalised processes, they will lose the ability to operate competitively in the supplier chain and will be pushed out of the market. That is why it is extremely important that companies understand the significance and take advantage in time of the opportunities that the ING 4.0 programme brings, and thereby secure their place on the market in the digital era.“

Michal Puškár, Director General of the Research and Innovation Authority: „With great pleasure I welcome the joint initiative of EDIH EXPANDI 4.0 and our leading technical universities, which prepared the ING 4.0 programme. This programme is a significant initiative towards strengthening the competitiveness of the Slovak economy. For progress in digitalisation we need systemic solutions. That is also why VAIA supports research and development in this area through calls financed from the Recovery and Resilience Plan. In the near future we also plan to launch an innovative financial instrument that will support digitalisation and research and innovation activities in companies with minimal administrative burden. The instrument, financed from the Recovery and Resilience Plan, will be implemented by banks as a combination of a loan and a grant, whereby companies will gain access to advantageous financing.“

You can find more information at www.expandi40.sk.