Are you an individual or organisation in the chemical sector?
The European Chemical Regions Network is organising a conference on ‘Future Skills: Regional Contribution to Defining the Future of Energy-Intensive Industries’.The event will take place on the 28th of June from 10:00 – 13:00 CET and will be held physically at the House of the Dutch Provinces in Brussels, Trierstraat 59-61 B-1040 Brussel, fourth floor.
What are the aims of the conference?
The event will focus on the role of skills and education in making the European chemical industry ready for green and digital transitions, competitive at the global level, and resilient to market disruptions. Additionally, we want to highlight the role of interregional cooperation, as the challenges are not limited to a single region or city. The twin transformation will have tremendous implications for regional development and employment. It will change skills requirements, redistribute jobs across locations, decrease jobs in some activities, and raise them in others.
The objective is to exchange and develop practical solutions to ensure that the decarbonization of the chemical industry happens in a fair way. We want to work out a common transition vision and skills approach for the chemical sector that will consider the industry expectations and regional policy priorities.
The first panel will display regional examples, best practices, and experiences on skills in the transition. The second panel will provide an overview and insights into how institutions and private actors can support this change.
This conference will focus on:
- Green and digital transition: what skills will the chemical sector need to face the twin transition?
- Hands-on: skilling and re-skilling projects at the regional level, examples, and best practices
The agenda is as follows:
- Welcome by the ECRN - Folco Ciulli - ECRN Executive Director (10:00 - 10:05)
- Keynote speech - Joke Schauvliege - Vice-President of the Flemish Parliament, European Committee of the Regions (10:05 - 10:15)
- Presentation of ECRN and the Pact for Skills survey results, Monika Banka (10:15 - 10:25)
- Panel 1 – Hands-on: up-skilling and re-skilling projects at regional level (10:25 - 10:55):
- Limburg NL: Ron Lambi, Manager Business Development Chemelot Innovation and Learning Labs CHILL
- Lombardy: Davide Fumagalli, Chemyst - Lab Manager, ITS New Technologies of Life
- Flanders: Frederick van Gysegem, Researcher and Partner at Roland Berger
- Panel 2 – Tools and Funds: how institutions and industry can contribute to regional initiatives (10:55 - 11:15):
- Emma Argutyan - European Chemical Employers Group, Director General
- Małgorzata Nikowska - European Commission, DG CNECT, Head of Unit
- Andrea Lapegna - Lifelong Learning Platform Deputy Director
- Marina Samoylova - CEFIC, Innovation Manager Digitalization
- Manuel Gil - ECORYS Senior Research Manager
- Elke Carlier - A-Maze recruitment agency, Operations and Community Manager, Flanders
- Q&A session (11:15 - 11:50)
- Summary of the session – conclusion – Thomas Wobben, Director - European Committee of the Regions (11:50 - 12:00)
- Lunch and networking (12:00 - 13:00)
