The Finnish partner of the RES Compass project, VTT, arranged a national conference about education in the renewable sector on December 1st. The annual fair of educational institutions for prospective students, Studia 2010, was the venue chosen for the conference. In the conference, presentations of experts on education in the renewables sector were heard, including a question and answer session by the Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen.

After hearing from the experts, a workshop session was held for the participants. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together representatives of various organizations, businesses, educational institutions and the government to discuss renewable energy education, the current challenges and future opportunities. The goal of the workshop was to outline a picture of Finland’s future challenges in ensuring an adequate supply of skilled labour for the renewable energy industry and offer solutions.

As a result, the workshop led to the creation of a road map report to the future success of renewables education. The results were made freely available to all the workshop participants. It is hoped that this allows participants to better take into account some of the views of the other stakeholders in the future development of the renewables sector.