STEM in Flanders: A look back at the past and ambitions for the future

Since 2012, the “Action Plan to promote jobs in mathematics, science and technology” (also called the “STEM action plan”) has been operational to meet the needs of the knowledge economy and the labour market better. IDEA Consult has evaluated the Flemish STEM action plan at the request of Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

This assignment has a dual scope and includes the following aspects:

1. Evaluation of the STEM action plan.
2. Evaluation of the monitoring tools.

More specifically, this assignment gives us insight into the extent to which the objectives of the STEM action plan have been achieved: does human capital in Flanders better meet the needs of the knowledge economy? We also study the extent to which the current monitoring system is adequate for monitoring the action plan’s objectives.
Starting from an ex-ante perspective, we develop a possible blueprint for an agenda for “competencies for an innovative knowledge society” and an accompanying monitoring system.