As a key technology in the Industry 4.0 concept, Additive Manufacturing increasingly positions itself as a pivotal factor of development and innovation across many industrial sectors. Here is the thing, “this development puts a significant strain on the talent market, as the pool of experienced additive manufacturing professionals is limited and is growing at a slower rate than the market demands. For this reason, there is a significant lack of available qualified professionals in the additive manufacturing industry”.
On top of that, the innovation and skills race encourages countries and even continents to invest in actionable takeaways to train and drive more people to experience a career within the additive manufacturing industry. Europe is no exception as the continent aims to maintain its leading position in industrial competitiveness. To support this ambition, the European Commission has supported a project that aims to establish a platform for AM skills at European, national and regional levels.
Named “Sector Skills Strategy in Additive Manufacturing (SAM)”, the project started two years ago and will run for the next 48 months (until 31st December 2022).
The 16-plus partners’ European initiative, led by the European Welding Federation (EWF), seeks to accelerate the development of the AM workforce through targeted education.
We, at 3D ADEPT Media, are thrilled to be part of this project as a SAM Associated Partner. As a trusted source for information related to the AM landscape, we are uniquely positioned to testify to the strengths and areas for improvement in the industry.
In this vein, by sharing any future updates and study results, and in the long-term by supporting the awareness campaign that will address the foresight scenarios for the future in different target groups, we believe we can bring our contribution to the advancement of the industry’s workforce.
‘The EU recovery phase represents a crucial momentum for the growth and flourishing of our economy and will be mostly driven by the fast development of new technologies, such as Additive Manufacturing, and their uptake by the industrial ecosystem. Owning the right set of skills is key for enabling the transformations that will eventually boost the European economy and support its stable growth in the long term. This is what we are doing with the SAM project, creating a specific framework for the assessment of current and future skills’ demand in Additive Manufacturing, to adapt trainings to the actual industry’s needs and keep the EU AM sector competitive at global level’, Alessandra ZINI, EU Policy Officer and Projects Coordinator states.
SAM’s main features are:
- A Skills Strategy in Additive Manufacturing providing solutions capable to foster and support the growth, the innovation and competitiveness of the AM sector;
- A methodology for a sustainable and continuous assessment of current and future skills needs in AM trough the Observatory in Additive Manufacturing, providing just in time mapping and monitoring of the AM industry technological trends, skills shortages and mismatches, policies and figures;
- Design, review and deployment of relevant qualifications in the AM sector, built with a learning outcomes approach and linked with EU Frameworks and Tools such as the EQF, e-CF, EntreComp, ECVocational Education and Training (VET) and ECTS;
- Promotion of the attractiveness of the AM sector as a career choice for primary, general education, Vocational Education and Training (VET) and university’s students Awareness Campaign in the field of AM;
- One online Qualifications Catalogue to continuously update and enlarge the International AM Qualification System, integrating all the developed and to be developed sectoral qualifications.
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