Creating the list of competences in demand: first Russian experience

The paper deals with the first experience in Russia to elaborate the lists of soft and hard skills for the spheres of technological innovation. The scope of the study is limited to the sphere of the key areas in seven priority directions of development of science and technology: information and telecommunication systems; biotechnology; medicine and health; new materials and nanotechnologies; transportation and space systems; environmental management; energy and energy efficiency. The methods applied are foresight studies and surveys of employers using a new technology called «Job & Competence Description». The authors give a detailed description of the completed research: starting with the identification of new technological trends and «future challenges » through the analysis of the documents of strategic development of Russia and foreign countries, expert work on making a list of key competencies; conducting foresight sessions, formalization and verification of their results by polling Russian enterprises operating in the sphere of technological innovations. The results of the study include clusters of competency for the future priority areas of science, engineering and technology as well as examples of the description areas of professional activities and competency models which are presented in the article. It allows to formulate requirements to the system of professional education taking into account prospects of the development in the sphere of technological innovations until 2030, increasing the chances of guaranteed employment to graduates and filling vacant positions.