Adaptability of the US Engineering and Technical Workforce

Late last year, the National Academy of Engineering convened a workshop on Preparing the Engineering and Technical Workforce for Adaptability and Resilience to Change. The workshop springs from the earlier NAE report Making Value for America which described the ongoing transformation in the way in which products and services are conceived, designed, made, and distributed. The workshop focused on the challenges facing the workforce in light of these dramatic changes in the production process, especially the need to constantly renew and learn new skills.

The workshop served to increase stakeholders’ understanding of both the importance of workforce adaptability and the definition and characteristics of adaptability. It also provided an opportunity to share known best practices for fostering adaptability, including identification of barriers and multiple pathways for overcoming those barriers. As important, it helped to identify needs for future study and development. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.