For many West Palatinate businesses, it is difficult to win over graduates from institutes of higher education as future employees. One significant obstacle in doing so is the low level of awareness of local businesses. The result of this is often the migration of young skilled workers to well-known large businesses outside of the region.

With the series of events Nachwuchs trifft Zukunft - Karriere im Silicon Woods [A dialogue about medium-sized companies - a career in the Silicon Woods] we are trying to to counter this problem, along with the Lehrstuhl für virtuelle Produktentwicklung (VPE) [Institute for Virtual Product Development]. The concept: students from all subject areas at the TU Kaiserslautern [University of Kaiserslautern] meet in a relaxed atmosphere once a semester, away from their courses of studies, with two or three businesses from the West Palatinate and have a dialogue about selected professional issues and career perspectives.

The focus of the events on 19 November 2015 and 12 July 2016 was the topic "Digitalisation of the value-added chain". The spotlight was, of course, always on the career chances at the businesses present and their requirements for young employees. The business Empolis, General Dynamics, MaTelSo, PMB, SKS Welding (all Kaiserslautern), ITW Fastener Products (Enkenbach-Alsenborn), BorgWarner Turbo Systems (Kirchheimbolanden), PSB Intralogistics (Pirmasens), KOB (Wolfstein) and Pfalzwerke (Ludwigshafen) have so far used the chance to present themselves to the students in a personal framework as potential employers.

Project period: since May 2015

Project partner: Institut für virtuelle Produktentwicklung (VPE)