Which competencies are gaining more importance for the chemical-pharmaceutical industry? What do employees in this domain need to do to create innovative products, processes, and business models? After all, what are the “future skills”? 

Decision-makers, HR managers, and work councils have an equally strong stake in these and questions. In a resiliently competitive environment spiked with a high degree of uncertainty, guidance is essential. This is where the first “Future Skills Report Chemistry” comes in: Based on the intelligent algorithms and globally “crawled” large volumes of data (big data), it: 

– identifies trends that are particularly relevant for the development of the industry; 

– evaluates opportunities and risks for Germany as a chemical location in international comparison; 

– formulates trend statements on skills and job profiles (which are in greater and fewer demand), broken down by functional areas; 

– takes a closer look at selected occupational profiles and shows how they are likely to develop.

Together with experts from the companies (managers and work councils), we defined the parameters for this AI-based first work: regional focus, the number of trends examined, “chemical-relevant“ job profiles. Structure and content are not set in stone but are continually being adapted. After all, what’s relevant and what’s not – is not constant once and for all. In this respect, the Future Skills Report can be seen as an iterative project that should preferably be published and updated online: www.future-skills-chemie.de. 

The recent past has shown that training regulations that are open to technology offer a great deal of design scope to meet new competence requirements. The decisive factor is not so much the date of the regulation, but how it’s put into practice. For example, elective and additional qualifications make it possible to expand digital skills flexibly and in line with requirements during training (see elective qualification “Digitalization and networked production” in the occupation of chemical technician). In Germany, social partners ensure that vocational training always focuses on practical needs. At both company and sector level, they play a key role in identifying the need to adapt training and continuing education regulations. More information on digital skills in training for laboratory, metalworking, electrical and IT occupations, as well as chemical technician, can be found at Elementare Vielfalt (ElVi), the training campaign of the chemical employers’ associations: www.elementare-vielfalt.de/digitalisierung 

It is intended to provide the company actors with impulses for assessing the individual company challenges. It is clear that not all trends can be expected in every company. The report does not affect collective bargaining issues such as grouping. 

 …which social partners BAVC and IG BCE agreed on November 22, 2019, as part of their latest collective bargaining agreement. While the report represents a kind of skills compass (“Where is the journey heading in terms of skills?”), a second element of the offensive focuses on the better mapping of existing qualifications in the company: The Excel tool “PYTHIA” (https://personal-pythia.de/), which has proven itself in practice, is currently being adapted to the specific needs of our industry. The focus here is mainly on small and medium-sized enterprises. These two strategic analytical tools are supplemented by the “human factor” of the Chemical Sector Qualification Initiative. Together with the German Federal Employment Agency and private service providers, we will develop an advisory service for companies and employees in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, initially in pilot regions. Once the pilot project has been successfully completed, the service will be rolled out to the entire industry.