The U.S. Department of Homeland Security defines 16 industry sectors as "critical infrastructure - Nuclear, Manufacturing, Chemical, Facilities, Defense, Dams, Emergency, Communications, Financial, Energy, Water, Agriculture, Transportation, Health, IT (e.g., data centers), and Government Facilities.  Each of these sectors are experiencing the same workforce challenges:

​

• Reaching retirement age and taking a lot of their knowledge and experience with them.

• Take up is declining in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects. Engineering and technician roles are often seen as undesirable with limited prospects for career development.

• Continuing technology advances make it difficult for the workforce to keep pace with the skills and knowledge that they need.