AI-Enabled Skills Matching for Manufacturing Careers

The manufacturing skills forecasting and matching dataspace aims to assist people in their journey of finding a career in manufacturing and help them acquire skills that are directly relevant to today’s industrial reality. It brings together learners, educators, and industry through an AI-enabled approach that analyses existing skills and connects individuals with suitable training pathways. By using a secure and GDPR-compliant skills data space, the solution enables structured sharing of learning content and labour market information between the University of Patras and its Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation (LMS), training providers, and manufacturing companies, ensuring that learning recommendations are grounded in real industrial needs. 

Addressing the Skills Gap in Digital Manufacturing

At its core, the use case responds to a well-known challenge in manufacturing education and training. Students, employees, and job seekers are often faced with an overwhelming amount of digital training material but struggle to understand which skills are truly useful in practice. At the same time, manufacturers find it difficult to assess skills gaps within their workforce and to identify training that aligns with the increasing use of AI, digital twins, automation, and advanced quality control systems. This lack of alignment slows workforce development and makes it harder for organisations to fully benefit from digital transformation. 

Personalised Learning Pathways and Industry Collaboration

The use case supports a broad group of stakeholders, including university students, manufacturing employees, unemployed members of the workforce, educators, training providers, and industrial employers. Key activities include analysing CVs to identify existing skills, comparing them with labour market demand, and recommending personalised learning pathways while tracking progress through certification. Labour market analytics also feed back into training design, helping educators and providers keep their content relevant. The expected outcome is a better prepared workforce, clearer learning journeys for individuals, and stronger collaboration between education and industry.