Member Article

National skills training program collaboration with CPI

The National Skills Academy Process Industries (NSAPI) and the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) have developed a series of training programmes targeting workplace skills in the UK industrial biotechnology (IB) sector.

CPI, which runs the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility at Wilton, is authoring and delivering the courses, the first of which will improve general awareness of microbiology among operators, technicians, supervisors and support staff employed in the IB area.

The importance of up-skilling the existing IB workforce was highlighted in the industry-led IB 2025 report prepared by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Growth Team (IB-IGT), which are supported by Government.

The collaboration between the Skills Academy and CPI responds to the IB-IGT’s skills recommendations and forms part of the work plan of the IB Skills Group, a sub-group of the IB Leadership Forum. The agreed outputs from the collaboration will be hands-on practical courses that combine CPI’s technical expertise and its High Value Manufacturing Catapult capabilities with the Academy’s skills assurance and links into industry.

Kevin Thrower, biotechnology business manager, NSAPI, said: “In order to meet the skills challenges facing a complex industry, such as IB, employers need access to high quality training that is ‘demand-led’. This collaboration with CPI enables us to meet both these criteria and we look forward to developing our relationship with them well into the future.”

Sandy Gunn, Commercialisation Manager, CPI, said: “We work with a number of rapidly growing biotechnology companies and see an urgent need to equip people with the right skill sets. Working with NSAPI, we trust biotechnology training will become more accessible for people within the industry and for people wanting to re-skill to join this growing sector.”

The first IB course will run at CPI, Wilton on Wednesday 1st May and costs £799 + VAT per delegate. The course will cover a range of practical and theory elements to broaden participants’ knowledge and skills in the field of microbiology. There will also be an opportunity to work on the NIBF plant and learn the basics of fermentation.

There are only a small number of places available so to book or for further information please contact Helen Jenkinson at h.jenkinson@process.nsacademy.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kathryn Clapham .