‘The labour market of the future will need more high-skilled workers and specialists with broader knowledge and good learning skills. I consider it one of my major duties to further develop the lifelong learning and continuing training system for all age groups with sustained funding. In light of all of the objectives of the current strategic plan on R&D, innovation, and business, I believe it is essential to increase the productivity of the Estonian labour force. I would like to see our research sector grow faster in terms of both quality and the role it plays in solving the societal and economic challenges faced by our country, and I wish to contribute to ensuring that the promises made by the parties when the Estonian Research Agreement was signed in 2018 are fulfilled,’ Renno Veinthal said.

Renno Veinthal has been a professor at the Tallinn University of Technology since 2007 and has headed up the university’s materials technology department since 2008. He holds an engineering doctorate from the Tallinn University of Technology. Between 2015 and 2020, Renno Veinthal served as Vice-Rector for Research at the university, after which he continued as a professor at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.

The exact date when Renno Veinthal will be taking up the new post has yet to be agreed. The term of office of the Deputy Secretary General is five years.