Stuttgart’s Conference Brief marks the ASA Commitment to Supporting the Skills Agenda in the Automotive-Mobility Ecosystem

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1st Annual Automotive Skills Alliance Conference organized in Stuttgart in September 2022 brought together more than 70 participants who jointly focused the discussions on key topics as: skills needs, up/re-skilling of the workforce in the automotive industry, the steps to a green transition in the automotive-mobility ecosystem as a priority of the EU agenda, human-centric view, and more. The further info about the conference is available here.

ASA Stuttgart’s Conference Brief

September 2022

During the first Annual conference of the Automotive Skills Alliance in September 2022 in Stuttgart, partners across the automotive-mobility stakeholders have reached the following conclusions:

Human-centric approach as a key to a successful green and digital transformation

1. Human-centric approach should be at the forefront of the transition. Ensuring the right skills of the workforce is the only way to ensure a green transition of the automotive ecosystem.

2. Upskilling and reskilling’s should become a norm. There is a need for new paradigm, so that lifelong learning becomes a standard in the professional work cycle, in order to keep workers´ value on the labour market.

3. New focus should be raising attractiveness of the ecosystem. There is a need to raise awareness about attractiveness of working in the automotive industry and about upskilling and reskilling opportunities throughout the whole career cycle.

Focus on the right skills and trainings corresponding to the labour market needs

4. Cooperation between industry and education and training providers is essential. Industrial partners should be transparent on technological pathways, to allow for the education and training offer to  adjust to the actual labour market needs.

5. Quality and relevance of training courses are ever important. For the high-quality trainings corresponding to the market needs, bringing together expertise of universities and the practical experiences of training providers, involving teachers and trainers in the process, is the key.

6. Soft and transferable skills are becoming essential. In order to keep workers´ “market value” and help them to actively prepare for the change, learning should focus on the soft and transferable skills.

7. Hydrogen and batteries in the automotive and mobility ecosystem are emerging. New technologies will be needed for mass production, storage and transport of the electricity; but there are other kinds of technologies to be developed. All that will require new skills to be trained and new training and education courses and curricula to be developed.

Trans-sectorial and regional cooperation

8. We need to strengthen cooperation between sectors, for example the energy sector, due to the electrification of the transport. To benefit from the technological progress and skill pools different sectors, cooperation and best practice sharing tools should be enhanced.

9. Important lessons have been learnt from the regional implementation. Regional differences need to be taken into account, but also used as learning opportunities to deal with skills gaps and geographical skills gaps. The regional approach is important at all stages of education. The transformation of coal regions challenges may help with anticipating changes brought by electrification.

10. Automotive Skills Alliance is here to enable green and digital transformation. Automotive Skills Alliance delivers tools, supports development and sharing of trainings, skills intelligence and funding opportunities and facilitates regional cooperation building on existing tools and initiatives such as DRIVES and ALBATTS projects.

The full version of the Stuttgart Brief is available for download here. Additional information summarizing the results of the discussion is available here.