How Siemens works with academic partners to address STEM skills gap

Millions of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers are produced globally every year. As baby boomers reach retirement, the government and industry are in need of new workforce to fill the positions. However a shortage of qualified STEM career candidates causes recession in STEM jobs, as many of the jobs are unfilled. Fewer students study STEM fields in college/university, and many graduate without industry experience and are underqualified for the professional world. According to the World Economic Forum, more than 10 million manufacturing jobs were unfilled worldwide. In the U.S. alone, the skills gap is expected to increase to more than two million by 2025.

Siemens PLM Software helps mitigate the global problem by providing in-kind industry software grants as well as resources to educate the future STEM workforce.

Download the white paper, “Facing the looming shortage of STEM professionals.” It discusses the reasons for shortage in STEM professions and efforts to address the problem through corporate and academic partnerships. Learn about workforce trends and the technical skills gap, the needs of industry, the role of government and software providers, academic competitions, women in STEM fields and STEM careers statistics.

“We need to close the gap between education and practice

by showing the exciting careers they can have as STEM

graduates through experiential learning versus boring them

with reading long chapters… We need to have students experience

engineering through making products and competing rather than

have them as observers of STEM principles.”



Vass Theodoracatos

Vehicle Engineering STEM Outreach of General Motors

Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education 

Siemens PLM Software also sponsored a white paper by Jim Brown of Tech-Clarity. Jim presents a thorough analysis of the gap in the technical workforce and the industry’s needs in Developing the STEM Workforce of the Future. The paper explores implications of the skills gap in the manufacturing workforce and recommends practical solutions. Academic competition is one way to promote STEM interest and involvement in higher education. Competitions like Greenpower, EcoCAR and PACE encourage students to become engaged in working on cars from young age.

“How more real can you get than designing and building your own car,
and then getting in it and racing it?”

Mike Howell
Greenpower Ambassador and Growth Project Manager

“In EcoCAR, we try to introduce the important tools they will use 
when they graduate, the ones that companies like GM use…
We emulate the auto engineering experience…
We use real processes, real tools, and real cars.”

Kristen De La Rosa
Director of DOE Advanced Vehicle Competitions
Argonne National Laboratory