At present, there are already around 100,000 difficult-to-fill vacancies in the technical and ICT sectors, and these shortages are expected to increase in the coming years. This poses a threat to both the digital and energy transition. It is time to take action.
Action Plan for Green and Digital Jobs
The government has developed a generic labor market tightness policy targeting the overall labor market, with the Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap and the Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid taking the lead. Additionally, work is currently underway on an Action Plan for Green and Digital Jobs, with the Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat leading the way. The Topsector Energie actively contributes to this initiative.
The Action Plan consists of four pillars:
- Increasing enrollment in STEM education
- Retaining and increasing the influx of technical jobs
- Increasing labor productivity
- Improving governance
Labor-saving innovations, therefore, arise from the third pillar of the Action Plan (outlined below).
Energy innovation policy to increase labor productivity
Currently the Topsector Energie already funds innovations that result in labor savings as a byproduct simply because they reduce costs. Nearly all of these innovations are digital and technological in nature. In addition to digital and technological innovations, process or chain innovations also lead to labor savings.
Building blocks of the "Energy-saving Innovations" program
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Individual studies on labor productivity (TKIs) and cross-sector research (HCA) to investigate and compare across the board (identifying pain points). Scientific research call on digitalization and energy transition, examining the role of digital innovations and increasing labor productivity, particularly in the built environment.
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Analyzing which sectors, processes, and technologies already have intersections with labor savings and identifying further opportunities. Making a clear connection with the MMIPs helps to highlight these aspects.
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By substantiating it through research and incorporating labor savings into the MMIPs, labor savings can subsequently be included as a requirement to qualify for energy innovation schemes.
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There are existing labor-saving techniques that are not yet being implemented by companies, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises MKB. By communicating about these innovations and disseminating knowledge, we can increase the adoption of existing labor-saving innovations. The communication strategy of TSE HCA focuses, among other things, on sharing good examples of how investment in innovation has led to labor savings and the potential role that Learning Communities play in this regard.
