Visitors, exhibitors and delegates from the offshore industry came together in Amsterdam RAI over the past two days to visit exhibitors, attend conferences, panels and masterclasses, network and meet new relations. A short overview.
Offshore Energy had almost 500 exhibitors, which is an increase of twenty per cent in comparison to last year. Apart from Dutch, a lot of conversation was conducted in English indicating a large number of foreign exhibitors and visitors.
Drilling & Dollars
Organised for the first time during Offshore Energy, the Drilling & Dollars Panel discussed the investment opportunities in the oil & gas industry. Financial experts talked about the quest for alternative funding in oil and gas.
Industry Panel
The Industry Panel offered a mix of presentations and interactive discussions on the changing industry fundamentals – from geology to geopolitics and from technology to tech talent shortages.
Offshore Wind
The Offshore WIND Installation and Maintenance Conference focused on the one thing that concerns the entire offshore wind industry: getting the price down. The conference brought together experts to describe how they are working toward this goal.
Human Capital Panel
How can you attract and retain technical talents? These questions were discussed during the Human Capital Panel. Next to industry experts, three students gave an insiders’ view on the thoughts and choices of the next generation.
One of the remarks of the students was that in daily life the work of engineers is not as visible as for example that of lawyers or doctors and also the difficulty of technical studies might be a barrier for youngsters to chose such a study. The enthusiasm of teachers is seen as an important factor in the choice of a study.
Although the enrollment for technical studies is growing and therefore the problem with the shortage of technical staff is slowly solved, educational institutes and the industry need to (continue to) work together to ensure enough technically skilled people are available for the offshore industry in the future.
Job Route and Masterclasses
Young and/or future professionals could meet potential employers by means of the Career Pavilion or the Job Route; a route along employers with vacancies. Job seekers and potential employees from the offshore and energy industries were given the possibility to find and speak to each other.
In addition there were masterclasses provided by Van Oord, Heerema Marine Contractors and Damen Shipyards Group for young professionals.
Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference 2014 takes place on 28 & 29 October 2014 in Amsterdam RAI.
Below two extra pictures. Please click the little squares to view them in their proper dimensions.
