Sweden's competitive advantage is high-tech know-how. Access to the right technical competence is absolutely crucial for companies' ability to grow and invest in Sweden. Many of Teknikföretagen's members have difficulty finding the skills they need for their operations and for Sweden to be able to be a world leader in new technology areas. The rapid changes in technology mean that more and more people will need to build on their knowledge during working life.
Digitization is the factor that affects the technology industry's supply of skills to the greatest extent. Companies are delivering more and more services and there will be a greater software content in traditional hardware products. Goods and production systems become connected and interconnected. Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and electrification are some prominent technological shifts that affect the development and need for competence to a large extent, as well as companies 'and politicians' focus on sustainability and climate.
The Swedish education system needs to maintain consistently high quality - from primary school to university. Regardless of place of residence or background, all children, young people and adults must have equal opportunities for a good education. The educations need to be dimensioned to a greater extent according to the labor market and developed in close dialogue with the business community. Separating upper secondary education into two categories, whether it is a vocational program or a pre-university program, is outdated. The industry-oriented vocational programs should provide basic higher education eligibility without this having to be chosen. Partly because this knowledge is needed for the jobs that await after high school and partly because not to create dead ends but instead facilitate further studies later.
The opportunities to further education via the public education system after completing higher education are currently limited. The education system needs to be developed towards lifelong learning. We see that the need for continuous further training in, for example, new technologies as well as larger training initiatives for employees linked to technology shifts will only increase.
The great lack of competence in certain areas means that many companies also recruit competence in technology and IT from third countries. Here, both changes in regulations and changed government assignments are needed for this to work better.
Many young people are interested in climate issues and problem solving and there is thus potential to get more people to choose technical educations. But already in high school, many have unfortunately opted out of technology-oriented education due to, for example, poor self-confidence in mathematics, gender norms or a narrow picture of technology.
