Skill Ecosystems in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Vocational Education and the Future of Reindustrialization
Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Future of Work, Industrial Policy, Reindustrialization, Skill Ecosystems, Vocational EducationAbstract
Global value chain restructuring and the revival of industrial policy have once more brought debate on reindustrialization in the twenty-first century. At the same time, the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and technologies of modern production in a very short period of time is changing the character of the work of industries and the qualification of the personnel needed by them. It is against this dynamic backdrop that vocational and technical education (VTE) has become a very important institutional process of shaping the workforce capacity in response to technologically sophisticated industries. In this paper, we analyse the idea of the so-called skill ecosystems as a prism through which to view the dynamic process of interaction between industry, education system, governmental policy, and technological change in the age of AI-driven reindustrialization. The study provides an interdisciplinary examination of the ways the vocational education systems have to respond to accommodate the new types of production, including smart manufacturing, digital supply chains, and AI-guided industrial processes. According to the paper, successful reindustrialization policies need to incorporate an ecosystem of skills that are integrated through the support of the public policy, institutional collaboration, and adaptive training systems that are able to react to technological disruption. The synthesis of experiences of the world and new policies, including the empirical evidence of recent changes in vocational education and industry-education interactions reveal that flexible training systems, industry-education partnerships, and lifelong learning infrastructures are of significance in creating resilient industrial workforces. Results can be added to the modern discussion of the future of work, industrial change, and education policy in the era of artificial intelligence.
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