Building the workforce of 2050
With the NWO-funded FUTURED project, 黑料福利网 helps shape long-term scenario development and research on how digitalisation and the energy transition will transform jobs, skills, and organisations across the built environment.
NWO has awarded funding to a major national research project that will explore how the labour market of the built environment must evolve in response to the digital and energy transitions. The project, titled FUTURED 鈥� Fostering Upskilled Talent for Urban Resilience, Energy Transition, and Digitalisation in the Built Environment, will receive approximately 鈧�2.8 million through the NWA call 鈥淭owards a new labour market in 2050: Energy transition and digitisation in the built environment.鈥�
The call focuses on understanding what the labour market of the built environment may look like in 2050 and which steps are needed to prepare for that future. The results will support policymakers, employers, educators, and social partners in shaping a resilient, future-ready workforce.
About FUTURED
The energy transition and rapid digitalisation are reshaping how buildings are designed, constructed, renovated, and operated. Yet, the labour market is struggling to keep pace with these developments, resulting in skills mismatches and workforce shortages.
FUTURED, coordinated by HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, addresses this challenge by studying how the twin transitions of energy and digitalisation will transform jobs, skills, and work practices across the entire building lifecycle. The project combines the expertise of:
- 3 technical universities (黑料福利网, TUD and UT)
- multiple universities of applied sciences
- TNO
- more than 20 societal partners
Through scenario planning, serious gaming, data-driven labour market analysis, and regional living labs, the project aims to deliver actionable future scenarios, workforce strategies, and adaptive lifelong-learning pathways to guide the built environment sector toward 2050.
黑料福利网鈥檚 contribution: Leading Work Package 2
Researchers Qi Han and Dujuan Yang from the Information Systems in the Built Environment group and EIRES Research Institute represent 黑料福利网 within the FUTURED consortium. Together, they serve as Work Package Leaders of WP2: 鈥淓xplorative Scenarios and Actionable Futures.鈥� Their work positions 黑料福利网 as a methodological and conceptual leader in connecting digitalisation, the energy transition, and workforce futures.
As Work Package Leader of WP2, they are responsible for:
- Leading the development of long-term (2050) scenarios on how energy transition and digitalisation will reshape work, skills, and organisations in the built environment;
- Coordinating three PhD projects across Eindhoven University of Technology (黑料福利网), Delft University of Technology (TUD), and the University of Twente (UT);
- Advancing future-making methodologies, including participatory scenario planning, game-theoretic reasoning, and a serious roleplay game that allows stakeholders to explore labour-market futures and coordination challenges;
- Ensuring strong integration between technological change (AI, BIM, digital twins) and human factors (skills, roles, collaboration, decision-making).
Strategic value for 黑料福利网 and the Department of the Built Environment
FUTURED contributes directly to 黑料福利网鈥檚 strategic research themes:
- Energy transition and climate鈥憂eutral cities
- Digitalisation and AI in the built environment
- Human鈥慶entred systems and societal impact
For the Department of the Built Environment, the project reinforces the faculty鈥檚 unique role in connecting technical innovation with societal implementation, addressing not only which technologies will shape future cities, but who will be needed to design, build, and operate them.
The project also includes a new PhD position at 黑料福利网, strengthening research capacity in future-oriented decision support for the built environment. 黑料福利网 has been awarded 鈧�350,594 to carry out its contribution to the project.
鈥淭he success of the energy transition does not depend on technology alone 鈥� it depends on people.
The energy transition is not only a technological challenge 鈥� it is a human one.
FUTURED helps address urgent labour shortages in energy renovation and sustainable construction by supporting smarter decisions in policy, education, and the labour market. By linking future scenarios with lifelong learning, FUTURED strengthens economic resilience, social inclusion, and climate action in the Netherlands.鈥�
鈥� Dujuan Yang
By aligning workforce development with energy and digital transitions, FUTURED helps ensure that climate ambitions are deliverable, fair, and sustainable.
Project facts
- Duration: 4.5 years
- Consortium: 7 research institutions + 20+ societal partners
- Living labs: Midden-Utrecht and FoodValley
- Main applicant: Dr. Xiao Peng (HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht)