As all sectors, the sector of industrial footwear production faces the mega-trends of globalisation, digitalisation and sustainability. Many studies on these trends refer to the meta-level, an example might be the study conducted by Jeske et al. (2021), who stated for the German metal and electrical industry increasing “Qualification requirements for skilled workers” due to digitalisation (p. 378). Findings like the one quoted are published broadly for all three trends and many sectors and lead to enormous uncertainties among workforce (What does this mean for my workplace?).

To answer this question exemplarily for the sector of industrial footwear production, the project Innovative Skills for an Old Vocation (ISOV 2025) has been started in autumn 2024, running till autumn 2027. Research is undertaken in the three countries participating in the project: Germany, Portugal and Romania. In our previous projects ICSAS and DIA-CVET it was concluded that skilled work of colleagues qualified via Initial Vocational Education and Training (VET) can be described by 9 Spheres of Activity (SoA, ICSAS 2020) and the tasks of colleagues qualified via Continuous VET (CVET) or Higher Education (HE) by 13 SoA (DIA-CVET 2023). Some SoA like “quality assurance” appear in both lists, as colleagues from various educational levels are working in this SoA; thus skilled work in the whole sector can be described by 18 SoA.

Within the project ISOV a 4-dimensional matrix was developed, where the x-axis consists of the 18 SoA, and the 3 y-axes Y₁ (sustainability), Y₂ (globalisation) and Y₃ (digitalisation) of the dimensions respective sub-dimensions of the corresponding trend.

Following the thoughts drafted above, four research questions (RQ) have been raised:

* RQ1: Which are the potential dimensions and sub-dimensions of the three trends that could influence skilled work in one of the SoA?

* RQ2: Which of the potential (sub-)dimensions have a concrete impact on any of the 18 SoA?

* RQ3: Which of the 18 SoA are affected most by the (sub-)dimensions?

* RQ4: Can corresponding Continuous VET (CVET) courses close the gap between current skills of employed colleagues or job-seekers and future requirements as found whilst working on RQ2?

* RQ1: To figure out the potential dimensions for the y-axes, basically desk-research was undertaken. Authors like Pfeiffer et al. (2017, p.14), who pursued a comparable approach for the trend of digitalisation in metal industry, were examined. Additionally, findings of projects with similar aims (e. g. Metaskills4TCLF 2024), were taken into account. * RQ2: To investigate the concrete impact of the sub-dimensions on each of the 18 SoA the method of expert-workshops (EWS) has been applied. Experts, both from the sector and for the trends, have been invited to a row of 9 EWS. The WS relied on an iterative approach: Always starting with an empty matrix; but when the experts have negotiated their estimations, any available results from previous WS have been presented and discussed. * RQ3: In autumn 2025 two additional EWS have been conducted, to figure out the 12 SoA which are affected most by the trends. For choosing these 12 SoA, external factors like the economic relevance or the equipment of the participating training centres was taken into account, as well. * RQ4: For the 12 SoA chosen, training manuals have been developed and peer-reviewed. Design-based research (DBR) is applied: Currently the courses are piloted, evaluated and will be -if needed- piloted again. For evaluation, participants of the courses are assessed practically at the end of each course, additionally short semi-standardised interviews collect their feedback.

Regarding RQ1, the axis Y1 (sustainability) consists of six dimensions, the axis Y2 (globalisation) consists of five dimensions and the axis Y3 (digitalisation) consists of six dimensions (together: 17 dimensions), in total they consist of ~60 sub-dimensions of the trends. For digitalisation, for example, the dimension “new era of robots” is sub-divided into * light-weight robots, * 2-arm robots, * adaptive robots (sub dimensions). Regarding RQ2, very concrete outcomes, for example updated processes in the SoA ”Assembly” due to new glues have been found. Findings on RQ1 and RQ2 have been presented on ECER 2025 in Belgrade and are available via project webpage (ISOV 2025). Regarding RQ3, firstly a quantitative approach was chosen: During the EWS in Romania and Portugal the participants were asked to estimate, whether each of the 17 dimensions has a high impact on the respective SoA, thus the potential score for each SoA ranges between 0 and 34. In practice, the SoA (“Cutting”) is affected the least and was mentioned 10 times, the SoA is affected the most (“Design”) and was mentioned 24 times. Additionally, it became obvious, that classical “blue collar” SoA like “Assembly” are affected less than white collar SoA like “Sustainability Management”. The 12 SoA chosen for piloting and the reasoning process will be presented during ECER 2026 and are also available via the project webpage. Regarding RQ4, the manuals for the courses consist of many new principles, for example the “Design” manual of “Design for reuse” or “Using big data for design decision”. First conclusions from piloting and evaluating the corresponding courses will be presented on ECER 2026 – and the whole approach discussed as a potential blueprint for other sectors, as well.

DIA-CVET (2023): Spheres of activity of CVET-qualified in industrial shoe production. https://dia-cvet.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/IO-01_EN.pdf ICSAS (2020): Spheres of Activity of Industrial Shoemakers. http://icsas-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IO_06_EN.pdf ISOV (2025): Innovative Skills for an Old Vocation. https://isov-project.eu/ Jeske et al. (2021): Development of Digitalization in Production Industry – Impact on Productivity, Management and Human Work. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing (ISM 2020). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921004348?via%3Dihub Metaskills4tclf (2024): Skills Intelligence for Forecasting and Monitoring TCLF Emerging Skills Needs. https://www.metaskills4tclf.eu/Library/Uploads/WP3_Final_Report.pdf Pfeiffer et al. (2017): Pfeiffer, Sabine; Lee, Horan; Zirnig, Christopher; Suphan, Anne: Industrie 4.0 – Qualifikation 2025. Deutschsprachiges Management-Summary zu gleichnamigen und in 2016 erschienenen Studie, Frankfurt: VDMA. https://www.sabine-pfeiffer.de/files/downloads/2017-Pfeiffer-ua-Q2025-ManagementSummary-DE.pdf