ASSETs+ has identified the future technology needs of the defence industry

59 potential defence related applications, 97 technologies, 172 skills classified, and 181 job profiles identified. That is the result of the first phase of the ASSETs+ project. ASSETs+ (Alliance for Strategic Skills Addressing Emerging Technologies in Defence) is an Erasmus+ project, working to build a comprehensive strategy to create, develop and upskill students and employees focusing on digital technologies (namely: robotics, autonomous systems, AI, C4ISTAR[1] and cybersecurity) thereby reinforcing the human resource supply chain in the defence sector.

The background of the project is that European defence sector is facing skill shortages which constrain the development of product market strategies and the promotion of economic and employment growth in relatively high value-added segments of the global economy.

It is difficult for the defence industry to forecast the future demand, as it depends on the future levels of public procurement

Also, only a low volume of specialist skills are required making it difficult to design educational programmes of an economically viable size.

Markets are nationally segmented and with a high degree of secrecy, which limits the mobility of skills between EU member states.

All these issues are some that the ASSETs+ project seeks to mitigate by identifying the skills needed in the defence industry and will design and implement educational programmes accordingly. In close cooperation with the industry.

During the first phase of the project, 500.000 documents have been analyzed with a mix of text mining methodologies and team expertise in the technological field and defence matter to explore technological domains and identify their trend, the defence-related applications and the required skills.

The results will now be used in the next phase of the project in which each of the identified educational levels to create a framework that covers both pedagogical and technical aspects for how to conduct the skills development and education activities supporting the technologies identified in the initial phase. Furthermore, the objective is to ensure that the new educational programmes comply with pedagogical requirements and match industrial needs.

Read more about ASSETs+: www.assets-plus.eu

[1]C4ISTAR is an acronym for Command, Control, Communitions, Computers, Information/Intelligence, Surveillance, Targeting Acquisition and Reconnaissance