Extra talent for microchip sector
The Twente region (The Netherlands) will train more than 1,600 extra talents for the microchip sector in the next five years | Twente University
This ambition is at the heart of Twente’s plan for Project Beethoven. Launched earlier this year, Project Beethoven involves a substantial investment in the Dutch microchip sector. The national government has earmarked 72 million euros for the Twente plans, with financial contributions also coming from the region.
Investing in the microchip sector is of great importance for the Netherlands, both from an economic and social perspective. The sector will be an important carrier of the economy in the future. ASML is among the absolute world leaders in chip technology and has substantial growth ambitions. The entire chain, of which Twente is an essential part, must grow to achieve this. Companies like VDL ETG, Demcon, NTS Hengelo, Benchmark Electronics and Tecnotion are strategically essential suppliers and, together with many SMEs in the region, fulfill a crucial role for the sector. In short, ASML can only grow if companies in Twente grow, too.
Together, the educational institutions, the Twente business community and the government united within Twente Board developed a plan for the sustainable strengthening of the sector. This plan describes measures that will lead to an outflow of extra technically trained students at MBO, HBO and WO levels and includes various measures to retain talent.
Up to and including 2030, 1,640 extra students should enter technical study programmes. This should lead to a structural increase of 480 graduates in the following years. A key ambition is to link the potential of students being trained to microchip companies and increase the ‘stay rate’ of (international) students in the region.
There are also measures that in the short term will train additional potential from lateral entry and target groups currently less represented in the microchip sector through a Life-Long Development offer. Over the next five years, this should help almost 800 additional people find their way into the microchip sector and around 2,200 existing workers in the sector to be trained to the latest state-of-the-art technology.
Unique in the approach is the Semicon Learning Centre, an important showcase for the microchip sector in Twente and the Netherlands. In it, industry, students and researchers work together on, for example, practical and research assignments. People also come into contact with the opportunities the sector offers and the equipment used in and around ASML’s machines. In the set-up of the Semicon Learning Centre, companies’ assignments are central, and business schools play an important role.
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