The technology organization VDE, the Federal Association for the Protection of Critical Infrastructures (BSKI) and the GreenTEC Campus jointly declared today at the Hannover Messe that the complete energy transition - energy supply from 100% renewable energies - is possible within a few years.
However, sticking points on two fronts would have to be resolved: There is no doubt that enough investors can be found. But in order to complete the energy transition in full, there is an urgent need for specialists in the fields of energy technology, IT, mechanical engineering and computer science. However, the number of new students and trainees in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering is falling, while computer science is becoming increasingly popular due to 'hip topics' such as artificial intelligence and big data. In electrical engineering in particular, the gap between (successful) students and increasing demand is taking on dramatic proportions, as the VDE study 'Labor Market 2022' shows. The fact is that, in line with the trend towards 'software-driven engineering', the proportion of hardware as an important integral component is growing. Software does not work without high-end hardware. "We need a change of image in electrical engineering to encourage more pupils to study it. At the same time, math skills in grammar schools need to be improved, as the drop-out rate in electrical engineering is too high at over 50%," said Burkhard Holder from VDE Renewables, quoting from the aforementioned study. The fact is that there is no software without hardware.
