We’re not swiping left or right – we’re swiping towards the future!

During our matchmaking afternoon on Tuesday, 8 September, we brought AYOP members from education, government and industry together. No romantic speed dates, but conversations with plenty of potential for a great match 🫱🏼‍🫲🏼

What can you offer as a school or company? What are you looking for? And where can education and industry strengthen each other?

After presentations by Marie Brands from Gemeente Amsterdam and Erdogan Ozturk from Nova College about a pilot focused on attracting industrial electrical technicians to the North Sea Canal Area, participants heard pitches about existing initiatives from Sabine Vink from Tata Steel Nederland, Yvo Grootenboer from ROC van Amsterdam | Flevoland, Erik Deuling from Stichting MyTec-Bedrijven and Wilco van Pel from Stichting Vrienden van Technisch en Maritiem vmbo Velsen (SVTV).

Then it was time for the speed dates – and they proved to be a great success! Many matches were made, business cards were exchanged, and several companies were immediately connected to existing education initiatives.

The biggest mismatch – or rather, challenge – identified during the afternoon was how to retain well-trained professionals within individual companies and, ultimately, within the sector. Another key takeaway was the need to work together to make the offshore energy sector even more visible and attractive.

These are exactly the kind of challenges we want to address in future sessions.

And this is precisely why AYOP organises these matchmaking sessions: to bring the right people together and create the space for meaningful conversations. When education and industry connect, we can work together to ensure that education better reflects the needs of the offshore energy sector and the reality of the workplace.

A big thank you to Nova College for hosting us, and of course to all AYOP members who took part!

The match has been made; now let’s see where it takes us. 💙