The 1st Educational Career Fair EDU OFFSHORE WIND has started in Gdansk. In two days full of lectures, demonstrations of specialised equipment, discussions and panel debates, the Amber Expo hall is a place where experts in the offshore wind industry and young people interested in working in the sector can come together. The event is attended by more than 5,000 secondary school and university students. BalticWind.EU is a Strategic Media Patron of the event.
The educational fair is a response to the high interest in the offshore wind industry in Poland. Exhibitors include offshore wind farm developers, their main suppliers and participants in the supply chain responsible for the construction and installation or operation of the farms. Among the exhibitors are GWO schools and universities. The event is organised by representatives of the Pomeranian Platform for the Development of Offshore Wind Energy in the Baltic Sea (Rumia Invest Park sp. z o.o., Co-Made Sp. z o.o, and the Foundation for Innovative Offshore Energy Industry) together with Gdańsk International Fair S.A.
As the organisers emphasise – the education of young people is one of the key conditions for the development and success of this sector. The demand for new, yet qualified employees in the near future is estimated to be for at least a dozen thousand vacancies and in the longer term even up to 60 thousand. Hence the idea of the fair as a place that will allow direct contact and discussions with future employees and employers in the offshore sector in a friendly atmosphere. The development of competencies at secondary school level, as well as already at primary school level, is a priority within the activities of the Pomeranian Platform for the Development of Offshore Wind Energy in the Baltic Sea. This is confirmed by the implementation of the Pomeranian Centre for Offshore Energy Competence in Rumia.
During the first day of the fair, a series of expert debates on the future of the sector took place. The main issues discussed by, among others, representatives of the wind industry, local government representatives, financial institutions and organisations involved in competence development, were: preparation of the education sector for the challenges of a modern economy, exchange of experience from already implemented programmes and defining conditions necessary to provide people for work in the offshore sector. In addition to youth education, the topics of reskilling and upskilling, support for educators and parents, as well as good practices from other markets were raised.
The aim of the series of debates, which continues on the second day of the event, is to show how to effectively create an offshore industry in Poland, the importance of investing in personnel and competences. The magnitude of the challenges is evidenced by the cited WindEurope data indicating that offshore wind energy currently provides jobs for 77,000 workers in Europe. By 2030, this figure will rise to 250 000. The EU and national governments want offshore wind power to reach 110 GW by 2030 (currently it’s 15 GW). This requires a huge investment in the offshore wind supply chain and personnel.
EDU OFFSHORE WIND 2023 is the finale of an entire educational programme that is ongoing in secondary schools in all districts of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The programme consists of workshops at selected schools, extensive online presentations: on the YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@eduoffshorewind), TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, etc., during which students learn the secrets of wind energy – the finished lessons are published not only on the YouTube channel but also on a specially prepared educational platform. Among the attractions are also competitions with attractive prizes (in-kind and in the form of study visits) for young people and schools for active participation in the entire programme.
