05 November 2024
Bilbao Campus
Talent and sustainability are priorities for the automotive sector. On November 6, the Automotive and Mobility Technology Platform-Move to Future (M2F) and Sernauto organized the meeting “Automotive Technologies ‘Made in Spain’. Road to Strategic Autonomy”, with the aim of delving deeper into these strategic areas. Both areas are included in M2F's Agenda of Strategic Priorities for R+D+i in the Automotive and Mobility Sector, which promotes the development of innovations in Spain and a roadmap to maintain the sector's leading position through knowledge and the circular economy.
At a panel of experts, in which the director of Deusto's Master's Degree in Automotive Design and Manufacturing Jon García Barruetabeña participated, the lack of talent was highlighted as one of the biggest challenges for the industry in Spain. According to the study of the strategic area “Talent” of M2F, coordinated by the technical director of R&D&I of CIE Automotive, José Esmorís, it is essential to make this sector “attractive” for professionals. This document has been led by the aforementioned professor of Engineering at the University of Deusto.
José Esmorís highlighted the value of people within organizations and emphasized the need to focus on talent, both by attracting new professionals and by keeping those who already have a working relationship with the company through continuous training (upskilling and reskilling). He also shared the challenges affecting talent in the automotive sector, highlighting, among them, the challenges posed by technological transformation, and the low birth rate and aging population. In his opinion, “in the current situation, we are all competing for the same type of professional profiles, so we have to be attractive enough for talent to want to come to the automotive sector.”
In this context, Deusto professor Jon García Berruetabeña explained that “most of the profiles that are currently needed are a recombination of skills and knowledge that we already have, but the current training offer is not sufficiently prepared”. To provide a solution to this shortage of specific training, as well as to promote the need for junior, senior and especially female talent, the university manager shared initiatives such as the University Master's Degree in Design and Manufacturing at the University of Deusto, a dual training program consisting of a 6-month educational program at the university and another 6 months working on real projects in a company in the sector.
He also made reference to the industrial doctorates to address the challenges that the sector will face in the future and the R&D&I research projects that aim to generate knowledge that will eventually be transferred to a product and, finally, to the market.
In this process of creating and retaining talent, Jon García Barruetabeña also highlighted the need to train trainers. “It is essential to train professionals in companies so that they are able to transfer their know-how to the people who will be trained by them,” he concluded.
Next, the leader of the “Talent” project, Jon Ezkerra, coordinator of R&D Projects at CIE Automotive, discussed in depth how the company is working to generate and maintain talent in the face of the transformation of the sector, explaining the priority training areas on which it is necessary to focus in order to cover the necessary professional profiles and the training itineraries on which it is necessary to work in order to acquire the different skills according to the level of specialization.
Sustainability and circular economy
The M2F study "Sustainability and circular economy" was led by Amaya Arteche, head of Circular Economy Strategy at Tecnalia, who highlighted the automotive sector as a pioneer and fully committed to sustainability in its three axes: environmental, economic and social, which are fundamental for the growth of the industry.
In this regard, he believes that technological innovation, the necessary adaptation to the regulatory and governmental environment oriented towards decarbonization, ethical issues or the current turbulent geopolitical landscape, competition for raw materials and the vulnerability of supply, the optimization of manufacturing processes, and increased environmental awareness, as drivers in decision making, both in companies and consumers, are necessary.
To address these challenges, the strategic priorities that have been established are based on eco-design, life extension and second life, recycling and recovery of resources to return them to their state of origin, and the use of recovered resources in other industrial sectors through the collaboration of value networks (industrial symbiosis).
Finally, the experts stressed the need to focus on talent and the circular economy as key factors in the sector's competitiveness. To this end, the image of the sector must be promoted as technological and cutting-edge, with many possibilities for professional development. There must also be public support to prepare new and current employees so that they can continue working in the automotive sector of the future, an adaptation of curricula to the real needs of companies, and an environment that works around the company (housing, education, resources...) to be able to attract and keep professionals.
Regarding sustainability and circular economy, the need for a country strategy that encourages technology and creates a stable economic, political and social context to give confidence to companies was emphasized, as well as an intelligent and common sense regulatory framework to avoid greater bureaucratic burdens and to be able to compete on equal terms, together with aid to support the implementation of these sustainability actions in companies, especially SMEs, also promoting a system of guarantees and traceability of materials, components and spare parts (European digital passport).
