EIT Campus: Breaking silos as skills may apply to various sectors

Gerard Dominguez, Head of EIT Campus in EIT Urban Mobility, joined us during the EIT Manufacturing Summit 2023 where he underlined the necessity to collaborate. The EIT Campus gives access to training courses across the expertise areas of the different Knowledge and Innovation Communities of the EIT - European Institute of Innovation and Technology . It thus aims at breaking silos, as skills may apply to various sectors. There were courses for different levels of background knowledge, designed to fit between work, life and family time.

"Manufacturing is not alien to the increasingly rapid technological change that threatens to render skills and knowledge outdated at a worrying speed. The pace at which we see innovation happening across the industry makes it very difficult for education and training to keep up. When a learning solution reaches the market, some new technology has been made available. This entails many risks for nations, which are struggling to achieve positive green and digital transitions; for corporates, which are exposed to lower productivity levels and thus unable to compete in a global market; and for individuals, who fear unemployment or getting stuck on the career ladder.

The EIT Campus provides an EU-wide response to these challenges by breaking silos between industries, so that learners from a wide range of sectors, regardless of their background, find learning opportunities connected to the needs of the labour market. Mostly bite-sized, education resources on the EIT Campus recognise employees' need for short courses compatible with a career, personal life, and family duties. As the need for transferable skills becomes more intense, and as technological breakthroughs span across a growing number of industries, the EIT Campus is perfectly placed to become the one-stop shop for those wishing to be at the forefront of the innovations that take place before our eyes. Its 40,000 users in 2023 are proof of that.

However, we cannot do it alone. And that’s a big takeaway from the panel discussion held at the EIT Manufacturing Summit. We need employers, big and small, to inform learning needs, and commit to facilitating upskilling and reskilling among their staff. We need learning providers who are responsive to the ever-more rapidly changing needs of the labour market. We need individuals ready to face the challenges of exponential innovation across sectors and train accordingly. And, finally, we need a tool like the EIT Campus that brings all key stakeholders together to generate a thriving community of change-makers. We are ready for the journey."

Interview with Gerard Dominguez

Read more about the Summit 2023 edition.