Cambridge’s innovation economy relies on a steady supply of highly skilled people. Yet employers consistently report recruitment challenges, particularly in fast-moving, knowledge-intensive sectors where skills requirements evolve more quickly than traditional training pathways.
At the same time, the skills landscape has been subject to considerable policy churn and fragmentation resulting in an increasingly complex system. Policy reforms, funding changes and new institutions have created uncertainty for employers and providers alike.
Against this backdrop, some employers are moving beyond identifying skills gaps and instead helping to shape the skills system itself.
The challenge of keeping pace with technological change
Few sectors illustrate this challenge more clearly than semiconductors. As a critical enabler of technologies from AI to clean energy, the sector faces a growing shortage of highly specialised engineers – a challenge recognised in both national and regional strategies.
For employers operating at the frontier of technological change, traditional curricula can quickly become outdated. Without close collaboration between industry and education, skills shortages risk becoming a brake on growth.
Articulating skills needs through collaboration
Arm, a global leader in computing technology, has taken a proactive approach to addressing this challenge. Through the Semiconductor Education Alliance, Arm has brought together industry and academic partners to focus collectively on talent development.
Central to this effort is the Arm Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) Framework – a detailed, evolving articulation of the capabilities needed by entry-level semiconductor engineers. Developed in collaboration with professional engineers and informed by existing research, the Framework provides a credible, industry-led reference point for education providers.
Crucially, the Framework has been made openly available under a permissive licence. This has enabled universities and training providers to use it to develop new courses, update curricula and identify gaps – from vocational standards to PhD research.
What this tells us about the future of skills
The KSA Framework demonstrates the value of shared language and collective action. Rather than each employer attempting to solve skills shortages in isolation, collaboration allows industry expertise to inform training at scale.
This approach also aligns with national ambitions to develop clearer skills taxonomies, helping employers, learners and providers better understand how skills connect to jobs and progression pathways.
For Cambridge – and for the wider OxCam Growth Corridor – employer leadership of this kind will be essential to ensuring the skills system keeps pace with innovation.
