Advanced Digital Skills in the Wind Energy Industry: Demand and Priorities

Advanced Digital Skills in the Wind Energy Industry: Demand and Priorities | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Advanced Digital Skills in the Wind Energy Industry: Demand and Priorities Estelle Stoltmann, Azélice Ludot, Patryk Ziółkowski, Elena Stroo-Moredo, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8345273/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 15 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In a context of increasing digitalisation within the wind energy sector, the industry is facing a growing need for professionals with advanced digital skills, outside traditional IT positions. As observed in other major transitions, educational institutions must adapt their curricula accordingly. Before recommending specific curricular updates, this study maps the need for advanced digital skills in the wind industry using a mixed-method approach that combines expert interviews, survey data, and job-posting analysis. These complementary data sources are integrated to provide a comprehensive picture: job-postings provide a picture of the current labour market demands, surveys enable foresight perspectives, and interviews generate deeper qualitative insights. Interviews and job-postings are analysed using Natural Language Processing, enabling automated analyses that can be repeated in future years to track the evolution of the required skills, while qualitative analysis of the interviews provides additional contextual understanding. The triangulation of survey data, expert interviews, and job-posting analysis reveals a coherent picture of advanced digital skills priorities within the wind energy sector. Across all sources, scientific programming and numerical modelling consistently emerge as cornerstone competencies, while the prominence of machine learning, Internet of Things, and cybersecurity varies depending on organisational context and role requirements. Moreover, job-posting analysis shows that approximately 41% of engineering-related positions in the wind sector require advanced digital skills, while surveys and interviews indicate a broader range of emerging competencies, suggesting that the spectrum of required advanced digital skills is likely to expand in the near future. Interviews expand the analysis on skill gaps and lifelong learning needs, while the survey results also provide insights on preferred training formats. Together, these findings pave the way for a broader skill-gap analysis involving the curricula of educational institutions, with the aim of ultimately bridging this gap and supporting the upskilling and reskilling of wind-energy professionals. Social science/Education Business and commerce/Information systems and information technology Social science/Science technology and society Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files output.bbl Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 09 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 06 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 28 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 20 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 20 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 20 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 19 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 19 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 29 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 26 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 26 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8345273","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":594584834,"identity":"a3afd970-2a08-4dbe-a093-862257aa3d63","order_by":0,"name":"Estelle Stoltmann","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAm0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNCCCmYQaUyscqDqA2eYJUjUcrCNFC38/OcPf/44z7rO4ADzZgOitEjOSGaTOLgtXcLgAFtxAlFaDG4wszEc3HYYqIXH+ABRWuzPH2b+cHAOKVoMGJIZJA42QLQQ5zCJG8lmEmeOpUvOPMxWTJz3+fsPPv5QUWPNz3e8ebMEUVoQgJlE9aNgFIyCUTAK8AAAri4st7iZw8cAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Denmark","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Estelle","middleName":"","lastName":"Stoltmann","suffix":""},{"id":594584835,"identity":"512e2424-bd64-44be-813c-2ff3748d2a6c","order_by":1,"name":"Azélice Ludot","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Denmark","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Azélice","middleName":"","lastName":"Ludot","suffix":""},{"id":594584836,"identity":"55fe51d7-bfc6-464b-9681-9ace6aee5b56","order_by":2,"name":"Patryk Ziółkowski","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Gdańsk University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Patryk","middleName":"","lastName":"Ziółkowski","suffix":""},{"id":594584837,"identity":"eb1c59e2-9097-4d3a-afba-b8c843fe44c4","order_by":3,"name":"Elena Stroo-Moredo","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Delft University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Elena","middleName":"","lastName":"Stroo-Moredo","suffix":""},{"id":594584838,"identity":"223df19a-80fb-4309-9936-fb118beca25e","order_by":4,"name":"Nikolay Dimitrov","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Denmark","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nikolay","middleName":"","lastName":"Dimitrov","suffix":""},{"id":594584839,"identity":"b623fab7-8b7e-4496-98a1-0fa470f84fb6","order_by":5,"name":"Olimpo Anaya-Lara","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Norwegian University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Olimpo","middleName":"","lastName":"Anaya-Lara","suffix":""},{"id":594584840,"identity":"d9e9bb7b-8389-4b51-ad5c-96d4a51624ba","order_by":6,"name":"Tuhfe Göçmen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Denmark","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tuhfe","middleName":"","lastName":"Göçmen","suffix":""},{"id":594584841,"identity":"df344491-a7da-4b9b-a9f8-84cb25abc60e","order_by":7,"name":"Eleftherios Sdoukopoulos","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Centre for Research and Technology Hellas","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Eleftherios","middleName":"","lastName":"Sdoukopoulos","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-12 11:23:49","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8345273/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8345273/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":103506184,"identity":"98a6b8b0-6ff8-4f84-9295-bf0287a1cb92","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-26 13:34:27","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2672021,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AdvancedDigitalSkillsintheWindEnergyIndustryDemandandPrioritiesrevision.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8345273/v1_covered_551c64bc-df3d-4605-898f-b4a15757a406.pdf"},{"id":103257707,"identity":"f6ec44a1-21c5-456d-8a56-83437cd74247","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-23 17:18:45","extension":"bbl","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":7151,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"output.bbl","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8345273/v1/d0b7d6b198ca6ce376c1ebcd.bbl"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Advanced Digital Skills in the Wind Energy Industry: Demand and Priorities","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8345273/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8345273/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"In a context of increasing digitalisation within the wind energy sector, the industry is facing a growing need for professionals with advanced digital skills, outside traditional IT positions. As observed in other major transitions, educational institutions must adapt their curricula accordingly. Before recommending specific curricular updates, this study maps the need for advanced digital skills in the wind industry using a mixed-method approach that combines expert interviews, survey data, and job-posting analysis. These complementary data sources are integrated to provide a comprehensive picture: job-postings provide a picture of the current labour market demands, surveys enable foresight perspectives, and interviews generate deeper qualitative insights. Interviews and job-postings are analysed using Natural Language Processing, enabling automated analyses that can be repeated in future years to track the evolution of the required skills, while qualitative analysis of the interviews provides additional contextual understanding. The triangulation of survey data, expert interviews, and job-posting analysis reveals a coherent picture of advanced digital skills priorities within the wind energy sector. Across all sources, scientific programming and numerical modelling consistently emerge as cornerstone competencies, while the prominence of machine learning, Internet of Things, and cybersecurity varies depending on organisational context and role requirements. Moreover, job-posting analysis shows that approximately 41% of engineering-related positions in the wind sector require advanced digital skills, while surveys and interviews indicate a broader range of emerging competencies, suggesting that the spectrum of required advanced digital skills is likely to expand in the near future. Interviews expand the analysis on skill gaps and lifelong learning needs, while the survey results also provide insights on preferred training formats. Together, these findings pave the way for a broader skill-gap analysis involving the curricula of educational institutions, with the aim of ultimately bridging this gap and supporting the upskilling and reskilling of wind-energy professionals.","manuscriptTitle":"Advanced Digital Skills in the Wind Energy Industry: Demand and Priorities","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-23 17:18:41","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8345273/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-03-09T19:14:05+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-06T20:32:12+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-02-28T18:17:35+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"235898750502093478843390068358352005117","date":"2026-02-20T16:56:49+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-02-20T06:43:39+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"12775554733500647219302705562061558704","date":"2026-02-20T06:33:27+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-02-20T04:45:14+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"51151138034741332519408498233577903629","date":"2026-02-20T03:56:20+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"112025738303436164015467459271901894543","date":"2026-02-19T15:27:21+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"286291388555452431271245634632996147638","date":"2026-02-19T12:34:01+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"99272202939721896959861029701210601732","date":"2026-02-19T12:24:33+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-19T12:07:05+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-01-29T12:42:19+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-01-26T09:34:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-01-26T09:33:20+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e3eafc34-a88a-4e26-b3dd-f315486be79e","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 23rd, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"in-revision","subjectAreas":[{"id":63276593,"name":"Social science/Education"},{"id":63276594,"name":"Business and commerce/Information systems and information technology"},{"id":63276595,"name":"Social science/Science technology and society"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-05T22:08:37+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-23 17:18:41","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8345273","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8345273","identity":"rs-8345273","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}