Employers are struggling to fill jobs while many candidates are unable to find a role that matches their career aspirations. Entire regions are falling behind. Social cohesion and economic prosperity are threatened. Today’s digital transformation, economic globalisation, environmental challenges and societal changes may introduce new forms of work organisation and fundamentally reshape the education system.

In January 2018, the ‘Futures of Industry and Work: Education, Innovation and Regions’ (FIT²) Chair was established with the intent of contributing to this debate. Its sponsors – Mäder Group, Kea Partners, Theano Advisers, FaberNovel and La Fabrique de l’industrie – are committed to redefining businesses and regions in order to foster economic prosperity. The Chair’s ambitions are threefold: it aims to make recommendations on how to enable workers to better fulfil their aspirations, on how to design new training programmes tailored to the needs of tomorrow’s industry and on how to improve stakeholder accountability in organisations.

The FIT² Chair conducts, encourages and promotes studies that examine possible Futures for Industry and Work and their public policy implications. Its research team assesses emerging practices related to innovation, further education, quality of work and collective action. The Chair targets multiple audiences. It hosts public debates and regularly invites practitioners and researchers to participate in multidisciplinary task forces.

Currently held by Thierry Weil, head of the MIDI research group (French acronym for Innovation Management and Industrial Dynamics) at Mines ParisTech, the FIT² Chair works closely with La Fabrique de l’industrie, L’Ecole de Paris du management, the Education, Training, Work and Regions Committee of the French Academy of Engineering (Académie des technologies) and an important network of independent experts.

For further information, please contact: thierry.weil@mines-paristech.fr