Government to Focus on Workforce Development in Nano Materials and Service-Oriented Platforms

Announcement of the "Industry Demand-Based Skilled Talent Development Strategy"

2030 Technology Sector-wise Innovation Talent Demand Forecast Results

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The government has decided to take a proactive approach to workforce development focusing on nano materials, Platform as a Service (PaaS), quantum computing, and other fields where there is high demand for technical talent across all industries.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the "Demand-Based Technical Talent Development Strategy" through the 17th Social Relations Ministers' Meeting and the 6th Human Investment and Talent Development Council, jointly with related ministries.

This strategy was prepared to proactively forecast the demand for technical personnel in the industrial sector due to environmental changes such as digital transformation and carbon neutrality, and to establish a talent development system based on rapidly changing technology forecasts and to advance the industry-academia cooperation ecosystem.

The 2030 innovative talent demand forecast was derived by selecting the top 10 advanced technologies expected to lead future industries in 2030 through discussions among technical experts from the Korea Academy of Engineering and the Korea Council of Engineering Deans, led by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade. Subsequently, a survey on the most needed technical personnel in the future was conducted targeting 1,209 member companies of Job Korea across various industries.

As a result, the demand for technical talent is highest across all industries in the order of nano materials, Platform as a Service, quantum computing, and big data analysis. Additionally, demand for personnel in miniaturized and low-power sensors, and rollable and curved technology fields is expected to increase across various industries.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy set a strategy to respond proactively to the demand for innovative talent in the future society by expanding industry-academia contact points and promoting workforce development based on industrial demand in the short term, and establishing a development system based on technology forecasts in the long term.

The main tasks include ▲promoting workforce development based on industrial demand ▲strengthening universities' adaptability to environmental changes and innovation capabilities ▲establishing a foundation for regional revitalization through industry-academia cooperation.

First, the government plans to analyze talent demand based on technology forecasts annually and promote proactive workforce development responding to future technological changes by strengthening links with major government workforce development projects such as ▲a 500 billion KRW scale cross-ministerial workforce development collaboration budget, ▲an 80 billion KRW scale digital innovation shared university curriculum, and ▲the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s own workforce development projects.

To enhance universities' adaptability to environmental changes and innovation capabilities, new projects will be introduced, including technology development projects that support close technical cooperation with companies by utilizing faculty sabbaticals, and contract department support projects for securing advanced technical personnel in non-metropolitan and mid-sized manufacturing companies.

Furthermore, the scope of designated industry-academia convergence zones will be expanded from current industrial complexes to universities to strengthen industry-academia-research activities aimed at solving manufacturing site problems. The government also plans to expand problem-solving practical education that utilizes excellent technologies and personnel possessed by universities to resolve on-site difficulties of regional companies, as well as education and training programs linked to regionally specialized industries.

Moon Seung-wook, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "This technology talent demand forecast is significant as it reflects the demand forecast from field companies for technologies selected by renowned experts in the domestic engineering community such as the Korea Academy of Engineering and the Council of Engineering Deans. We will strive to establish an industry-academia cooperation ecosystem and talent development system that proactively respond to rapidly changing technology forecasts through close communication and cooperation between industry and academia."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.