Industry as the main source of technological progress

Industry as the main source of technological progress

Interview with Mr Olivier De WASSEIGE, Managing Director of the Walloon Business Union (UWE)

What are the priorities of Walloon businesses for the new regional Government? First of all, it is vital for Wallonia to catch up economically with the European average. This requires, among other things, a restoring of confidence among Walloon citizens in order to encourage them to invest, innovate and engage in enterprise with a view to addressing the challenges, in particular those related to climate. In this respect, UWE demands a coordinated effort from the various training operators to align and prioritise training in professions where labour is in short supply and in the professions of the future, in order to adapt the workforce to the relevant issues of today. In terms of R&D, companies want the new government to pay especial attention to three issues: innovation, digitalisation and training. These are three key areas for the future development of the region. Against the background of the difficult budgetary context, we consider it necessary to make budgetary trade-offs in order to identify priority measures and their phasing. This requires an evaluation culture that is still largely missing in Wallonia.

The UWE has recently called for the creation of jobs. What measures would you recommend to achieve this? Our latest economic report published last June effectively emphasised the need to create private jobs. If the necessary training and education efforts are made, Wallonia can achieve full employment, as is currently the case in Flanders, by 2030. Wallonia is characterised by a high number of unemployed job seekers and an excessively high unemployment rate. At the same time, companies have many vacant positions and are finding it difficult to recruit people. To arrive at a full employment situation, Wallonia must therefore address the structural factors. To achieve this, it is essential to reach a consensus among the Walloon Government, trade unions and employers regarding the method and means required to make it happen. Moreover, this will require structural reforms both in the short and medium term. We suggest increasing the number of training programmes for professions with a labour shortage and for critical roles; encouraging youngsters to choose scientific, technical, engineering and mathematical (STEM) fields; supporting the development of businesses; rethinking the support provided to job seekers and avoiding unemployment traps - still very much present despite the tax shift - by raising the net amount of low wages without increasing the employers’ contributions. productivity gains that raise the standard of living of the entire population; it will also make a decisive contribution to solutions in the fields of global warming, energy transition, health and ageing population. To meet these challenges, Wallonia’s industry must invest in R&D and innovate. It has already understood this because the transformation was launched fifteen years ago: Wallonia is now recognised as a strong innovator at European level and invests 2.7% of its GDP in R&D. The new Walloon Government has understood the importance of industry and R&D in its regional policy declaration. It has set a target of 5% of GDP to be invested in R&D by 2050, one third of which is to be in public investment. © UWE

What do you think are the main challenges that Wallonia will have to address? Wallonia must urgently address a set of major challenges in the fields of employment, mobility, energy etc. In a rapidly changing context, companies are innovating, investing and reducing their ecological footprint. They are developing solutions in line with society’s expectations for a strong, prosperous and durable economy, capable of integrating the opportunities offered by the big challenges of today and tomorrow. With their potential and the formidable levers that they represent, companies are a key partner to guide Wallonia in this transition towards a better future.

For the UWE, industry is the future of Wallonia. How do Walloon companies contribute to this in terms of R&D and innovation? Industry is the main source of technological progress, which subsequently trickles through to the wider economy. Industry also generates a large number of jobs in services directly linked to it; it is the source of significant