Lifelong learning as a win-win model

Digitisation and other rapid technological developments require that we include people in the process. This makes lifelong learning a significant theme, which already played a role when I was still in the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, the urgency is sometimes still insufficiently recognised,” says Van Hijum. He studied at the University of Twente, was a member of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2014 and has been deputy for Economics, Finance and Europe in Overijssel ever since. “That’s why we started picking it up in Overijssel ourselves. We have set up training funds in Zwolle, Twente and, recently, Deventer. Funds for craftsmanship. But actually, we want to go one step further. Everyone should be given a kind of ‘learning account’ to keep their knowledge and craftsmanship up to date.

– Eddy van Hijum, member of Provincie Overijssel

Connection

In Zwolle, for example, an interesting initiative has been launched called Perron038. It brings companies together and creates an inspiring environment. Fraunhofer Project Center is also active there. Together with high-tech companies such as IMS in Almelo, it is working on the PRISMA, Prototyping, Researching and Innovating Vision Technology for Smart Manufacturing Applications project. Here, new camera technology is linked to artificial intelligence, an example of Industry 4.0. The project is subsidised by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Van Hijum: “It is more than technology development; thanks to the efforts of students, knowledge flows in two directions. It stimulates talent and connects it. ”

For that reason, Van Hijum also sees many opportunities in the arrival of the Advanced Manufacturing Center that will further strengthen the ecosystem in Twente. The ecosystem around the UT is, with many startups, strong research institutes and meeting places such as DesignLab, already strong. However, it is questionable whether the ‘classic’ SME manufacturing companies find a connection: on average, they are more likely to be followers than frontrunners when introducing innovations. Van Hijum acknowledges this but also sees excellent initiatives: “Take the digital workshops in hbo, or the Professional Doctorate of Engineering, PDEng, of the University of Twente. Here, a Master graduate does a design project in the industry. What you want is that, after obtaining your diploma, it is not ‘ready’. Suppose we find that it is all about human capital. In that case, employees of a company, at different points in their careers, should be able to go back to colleges and universities for retraining and further training. That is also a way to lower the threshold.”

Room to experiment

Here he finds the University of Twente on his side. In its ambitious vision for the future ‘Shaping 2030’, the university is already looking to the university of the future. UT is already building today; rector Tom Veldkamp explains: “We are working on a model in which it is not only about a diploma, but also about maintaining a professional portfolio. Companies or other organisations with research questions send a few people who work with students. The students and the professionals work on their portfolios and learn from each other. That is ‘challenge-based’ education. We know from our students that they like to work with real-life problems during their education.” The benefits may be clear, but the current higher education system is not yet designed for it, says Veldkamp: “Together with the ministry, we are exploring the space to experiment. Ultimately, you must be able to guarantee the level of the modules. And it concerns new forms of public-private partnerships, in which funding is an issue.” Together with twelve partner universities in Europe, in the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU), the UT is building ECIU University, which is also based on new teaching and research methods. The European Commission supports this ECIU University as one of the promising initiatives for the European University of the future.

The attraction

Van Hijum: “This clarifies that the powerful regional innovation hub we are building will have a global impact. With all its connections in the manufacturing industry and in Germany, Fraunhofer is a good example of this. I expect that the new Advanced Manufacturing Centre will not only play an important role in making production processes smarter. It allows entrepreneurs to gain ‘hands-on’ experience with new technology. I also expect the new hub to have a pulling effect on talent. Ultimately, as a region, we also benefit from being able to bind good people.”

To prepare employees for the industry of the future, it is important for manufacturing companies to include lifelong learning in their business plan. Properly implemented, lifelong learning helps create a thriving workforce and remain successful in the future. To learn more about the importance of lifelong learning, download issue 2 of InnovatieNU.