The Northern Ireland Polymers Association (NIPA) is one of 5 organisations chosen to test new ways to develop skills for innovation in manufacturing.
NIPA, in conjunction with CITB Northern Ireland, is collaborating to develop innovation skills between the polymers and construction industries in Northern Ireland. Both industries have complementary skillsets and have identified learning from each other’s strengths and weaknesses, something which has not been attempted before. 24 employers, of all sizes, from both industries, will be brought together to define innovation issues and the interventions required in ‘petri-dish’ working groups. These will ‘drip feed’ information between each other to develop solutions before all participants test and share their findings. The project will provide insight into how two compatible, yet distinct sectors, can collaborate and whether the resulting innovation process could be deployed to other sectors.
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) has chosen the five organisations to test new ways to develop skills for innovation in manufacturing. Each will run a trial programme expected to yield valuable learning that can be shared across the sector to improve innovation and productivity.
They will test skills development in their workplaces as part of the UK Futures Programme, a series of learning programmes aiming to address specific workplace skills needs. Each project will receive co-investment from UKCES up to £150,000.
UKCES Commissioner and leader of the competition Paul McKelvie OBE said:
“I’m delighted to announce the successful applicants of our Skills for Innovation in Manufacturing competition. My team and I were impressed with the fresh thinking on display in these five projects, and we are excited to see what we can learn from their achievements.”
UK manufacturing is identified as highly productive and a key sector for exports, and this competition seeks to explore new ways of developing skills and practices needed to maximise the value of innovation.
McKelvie added:
“Innovation is vital for our national prosperity. It has a critical role in productivity and job creation, and nowhere is this true more than the manufacturing sector. It’s vital that that we learn how manufacturing firms can optimise their workplaces and processes to take best advantage of their high-skilled, highly productive workers.
“We will watch and learn carefully over the coming months, and we look forward to sharing the learning from these five projects to the manufacturing sector as a whole.”
The UK Futures Programme is a series of learning programmes that target specific emerging or persistent workforce development problems. This round invited employer-led proposals from businesses and other organisations in the manufacturing sector to run initiatives until summer 2016 that focus on skills to manage the innovation process and exploit innovative products or services for commercial value.