"In an ideal world, four out of ten children should choose a technical education. This gives us a healthy balance in our knowledge-driven society. But unfortunately we currently only achieve two in ten across all levels of education. And if you zoom in you see that the real big shortage is mainly in vocational education: pre-vocational secondary education and senior secondary vocational education. Therein lies the real cause of the crying shortage of technically trained professionals that we are currently dealing with.” Lucas van Grinsven, ASML.
During the Dutch Technology Festival 2022, everything should radiate the joy of technology. Intended to make it clear to young people how cool it is to work in the tech sector, says Monique de Wit of Brainport Development. "There are plenty of opportunities for a relevant and interesting study and a job in tech. That message is therefore central during Dutch Tech Fest. Here we show festival-goers and experience that technology is fun and offers solutions for issues in important sectors such as the healthcare, mobility and sustainable energy. If you see that you can make a contribution to this, you can combine two things: fun and challenging work and meaningful results."
The fact that the Brainport region is doing slightly better than the rest of the country when it comes to opting for technical training is no reason to sit back. The lack of technical talent is still one of the biggest challenges for the continuity of the success of the region. That is why the companies that depend on technically trained personnel are doing everything they can to reverse the trend.
Over the past ten years, this has happened with an annual Dutch Technology Week. For the new edition of this festival of technology – scheduled for 11 and from 15 to 18 June – not only have some substantive changes been made, but a new name has also been chosen: Dutch Technology Festival. However, the common thread remains unchanged: technology promotion. “Because that is still very much needed”, says Monique de Wit, who, as in previous years, is leading the festival with her team. “The biggest difference compared to previous years is in the focus; where we used to have about sixty events in that week, at many dozens of different locations, it is now all much more compact and concentrated in one place: the Klokgebouw in Eindhoven.”
Lucas van Grinsven, Head of Communications & Community Engagement at ASML in daily life, took over from Frits van Hout last year as the figurehead of the sounding board group behind the Dutch Technology Festival. His main task: to bring technology to the attention of young people. “The most pressing issue, especially in our region, is filling the pipeline of technology talent. We must therefore continue to do everything we can to make young people aware of the possibilities of meaningful, valued and job-secure work in this sector. The need for more talent is not something that will disappear tomorrow: our sector is still growing and that will not change for the foreseeable future.”
Van Grinsven: “We are doing slightly better here in Brainport than in the rest of the country, so you could conclude that those years of technology promotion have had some effect. But it's still far from enough. We should actually get a national delta plan for technology; only by looking for solutions on a structural basis can we ultimately fill that pipeline of talent. And the other way around: if we don't succeed, the damage to society will be enormous.”
