The Talent for Technology Platform has provided the political parties with ideas aimed at ensuring sufficient trained technicians and IT professionals for the election programs for the upcoming parliamentary elections. To prevent Dutch society from becoming even more bogged down, it is imperative that the political parties put this topic high on the agenda in their election programmes. The future calls for a new generation of skilled technicians.
The necessity is established
Major subjects such as nitrogen, climate, migration and agriculture will play a role in the upcoming parliamentary elections on 22 November. Irrespective of the policy choices that political parties make in this respect, without sufficiently trained technicians the implementation will come to a standstill. The energy transition is already slowing down, we are lagging behind in water management, agriculture is having difficulty implementing new innovations, and technological growth gems and their suppliers are diligently looking for staff.
Opportunities to make a difference
Despite the fact that the number of people with a technical profession in the Netherlands has grown by 24% since 2013 to more than 1.8 million people, society is eager for professionals. There are currently 78,800 technical vacancies and 28,000 vacancies in ICT. And although young people and adults are very interested in contributing to societal challenges, the choice is lagging behind. However, there are plenty of opportunities to change this by:
- make practical technology and science education accessible to every young person;
- better arrangements and guidance for the transition and retraining to the technical sector and the stimulation of a learning culture within companies for the retention of personnel;
- the use of hybrid technology trainers as a solution to the teacher shortage in natural sciences and technology.
The paper "Next Generation asks for more skilled technicians" contains the recommendations of PTvT to the program committees of the political parties.
