The Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult hosted the Catapult Network and partners at the ‘Shaping Future Skills Conference’ on Tuesday 7th March at the ICC Wales.
A year on from signing the ‘Inclusivity in Innovation ’ Charter, the conference explored the links between skills and equality, diversity, and inclusion, and discussed how skills are essential to maintaining a thriving and impactful research and development landscape.
During the event, there were discussions about the accessibility of skills and how combining innovation with engineering needs to be a priority when attracting the diverse talent pool in the UK and abroad.
Speaking at the event, Katherine Bennett CBE – the new Chair of the Catapult Network and CEO of High Value Manufacturing Catapult — highlighted how fitting it was that the event was being held in South Wales:
“To truly foster inclusivity in innovation, we must prioritise accessibility and availability of skills locally. Newport, the location of our event, is a great example of this in action across the compound semiconductors industry. And there are many more examples out there which have Catapults at their core playing a crucial role in using their unique networks to help predict the future skills requirements in different sectors and build services to help meet those requirements.”
