For our innovation agents, it is a daily routine: linking entrepreneurs with an innovative idea to network partners or knowledge institutions to take the idea further. As a human capital coordinator, my job is comparable: I also make connections. In my case, often between the business community and educational institutions. And while innovation agents are all about finding connections on a technical or economic level, for me it’s all about people. Because people acquire new knowledge and pass it on. Innovation is human work!
ChemistryNL’s Human Capital Agenda (HCA) is strengthening the link between education and the chemical labor market. This involves challenges such as: How do we get enough students in (mainly) technical courses such as chemistry? How do we find sufficient employees within the chemical field, especially at intermediate vocational education level? And, on the skills side: what should starting (chemistry) professionals be able to do? And what do working professionals need to learn to make the (chemical) innovations of the future possible?
Please, contact me if you are looking for inspiration, contacts and best practices in the field of human capital. If you want to know more about ChemistryNL’s HCA, take a look here. Here you will find the annual plan with the three “connecting missions” that the HCA is working on. And of course also the education-labor market dashboard that ChemistryNL has updated annually since 2017. All facts and figures about (chemical) education and the (chemical) labor market can be found here!
Onno de Vreede, HCA coordinator ChemistryNL
