Industry and economies will always be disrupted by technological evolution and innovation.

From the late 18th century, which witnessed the onset of what is described as the first industrial revolution, bringing the mechanisation of production facilities with the help of water and steam.

From steam to electricity, the next revolution brought the era of mass production, with the first assembly line operating in 1870, aided with the help of electrical energy.

Transformed manufacturing landscape

Fast-forward to the 1970s and the integration and application of electronics and IT led to computers, automated production lines and PLCs which transformed not only the manufacturing landscape but also educational systems and labour markets.

The arrival of the fourth paradigm, Industry 4.0 is somewhat the perfect storm with convergence of the digital, physical and virtual worlds, which has the capacity to transform manufacturing systems into digital ecosystems, through the horizontal integration of the global value chain and the advanced networking of production systems.

This future of digitally enabled production will significantly change how we do things, utilising emerging disruptive technologies to enable the ‘smart factories’ of the future, creating the potential for fully integrated and networked smart factories, with machines operating in an intelligent way resulting in minimal need for manual intervention.

As the face of manufacturing transforms, the Internet of Things (IoT) and ‘Big Data’ play a significant role, as organisations will adopt data driven strategies.

As more devices are equipped with sensors, for example tools, vehicles, manufacturing equipment, more and more data will be generated, while in a 2018 survey, 60% of biopharma CEOs globally are concerned about a digital talent shortage and one of the key challenges of ‘big data’ analytics is the visualisation of the results and the organisational ability to utilise context-aware visualisation to support operational decision-making.

The combination of globalisation, demographic changes and new-age technologies will change industries, jobs and workforce requirements of the future.

Automation of routine tasks

Industry 4.0 will lead to a substantial increase in the automation of routine tasks as digitalised production networks act autonomously, in turn resulting in many employee roles no longer existing.

At an employee level, workers will increasingly focus on creative, innovative and complex problem-solving activities, and key to developing this knowledge and skill within graduates is the quality, relevance and responsiveness of an economy’s education and research system, particularly at higher education levels.

The complex technology of the future will require a curriculum designed for developing greater vocational skill and knowledge through education, fostering practical and collaborative competencies for a highly technical, automated environment.

There is no doubt, that these emerging technologies, such as the industrial internet of things (IoT), advanced robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics will significantly impact on education, curriculum design and pedagogy, requiring the development of new curricula to adequately prepare graduates for complex work environments of the 21st century.

A recent UK report indicates that science industries will require over 1000,000 new technical level staff over the next 10 years. Similar trends are visible across EU member states, America, India, South Africa and China, leading to significant global high-tech talent requirements over the next 10 years to manage transition to high tech manufacturing platforms.

According to the World Economic Forum, many of the most in-demand occupations or specialities did not exist ten or even five years ago and this pace of technological change is now exponential.

It is estimated that up to 65% of children entering primary school today may end up working in completely new roles, this equates to approximately one in 10 workers employed in jobs that do not even exist today, and these new roles will open up predominantly in areas such as IoT, machine learning and AI in all the industry verticals.

In todays digitised work environment, agility equals competitiveness. As markets compete to capture a growing share of industry 4.0 manufacturing investment, economies with the deeper talent pool of skilled graduates will gain early advantage.

Investment in higher education is critical in this development of an innovative next generation of skilled workers, researchers, engineers, technicians, and teachers.

Advances in technology can now allow education providers the opportunity to deliver to learners at diverse times through eLearning platforms, while optimising new learning devices incorporating virtual reality to simulate a production environment, by integrating the elements included in Industry 4.0.

For both accredited programmes and industry-oriented courses and trainings, the implementation of project and problem-based learning approaches, within an experiential and cooperative learning environment is essential.

Increased collaborative approaches

In addition, industry involvement in curriculum design with increased collaborative approaches to optimise the relevance and synergy between industrial and education partners will provide greater potential to equip graduates with a skillset industry requires, and greater alignment to labour market needs.

As industry revolutionises, it presents the opportunity for higher education to adapt and adopt to the complex and changing environment, by providing a platform for people to upskill and train in order to keep up with the pace of change.

Industries within the advanced manufacturing sector of biopharma, medtech, ICT and foodtech, which are key contributors to the Irish economy, require a skilled and competent workforce to attract investment and mitigate against the loss of potential projects due to a skills deficit.

By government investing in an inclusive and lifelong learning approach to skills development, Irish businesses can plan growth strategies and in turn global organisations will identify Ireland as a hub for exceptional talent, with skilled teams leading the revolution.

Author: Ann Ryan, training development professional at Innopharma Education