Future is made with the right players

Column  30.06.2022

The main themes of this year’s Subcontracting trade fair are the attractiveness, needs and players of the industry. We could not be at the core of the matters more, because that is where the essential building blocks for Finland’s future lie. We want Finland and industry to succeed, and experts are key to that. The future is made with the right players.

The Finnish chemical industry, which is, for example, a close part of the target group of the Subcontracting Fair through the rubber and plastic industry, has set itself ambitious sustainability objectives. The industry as a whole aspires to be carbon-neutral by 2045. For example, our companies have been reducing emissions and water consumption and paying particular attention to responsible and safe working practices for thirty years. Again, engineers, researchers and innovators – Finnish natural science and mathematical competence – are strongly behind this development.

Finland and the Finnish industry have the opportunity to be larger than their size precisely because of their technology solutions. Pioneering solutions in industrial production processes are the result of the work of engineers and scientists, and for successful implementation we need top-level professional expertise as well. We need to ensure that this continues to be the case. That is why, together with the decision-makers and the educational world, we must ensure that we know what skills future talents need and what it means in practice -for example, at the curriculum level. This requires continuous dialogue between industry, education and training decision-makers.

Another very important issue is the attraction of industry. Incredibly, there is room for improvement. Those of us who work in industry feel very strongly that we are in a very interesting position, even saving the world, and rather rightly so, because is there really anything more important than what we do every day for employment and, at the same time, for carbon-neutral industry?  It is up to each of us -the teacher, the employer, the guidance counsellor and the parent -to encourage young people to take an interest in science, technology and, consequently, industry.

I encourage companies to offer as much work experience as possible and traineeships also to students who are as young as possible. Every student is a potential future player for us.

So let’s warmly welcome the students and the entire training field to explore the industry at the Subcontracting Fair in September! The future is made with expertise!

Columnist Anni Siltanen, Chief Advisor, Skills & Competence, The Chemical Industry Federation of Finland