PARIS AIR SHOW: Botti bemoans engineer shortage

Europe needs to train an extra 25,000 engineers a year to meet the needs of its industry, with 10,000 required in France alone, EADS's chief technical officer Jean Botti has estimated.

Speaking at EADS's pre-show media seminar, Botti complained that young people found it "difficult to take the pain" of an education in science and technology.

However, the "good news" is that not so many engineering graduates are being poached by financial institutions these days. Citing one academic institution, Botti said that the lure of higher salaries in investment banking had at one point tempted 40% of engineering graduates away from the profession.

EADS as a whole requires 3,000-4,000 engineers a year. As part of a drive to promote the profession, it held an Innovation Fair in March 2009 and has instituted its Hall of Fame Awards. Winners in four categories (the great inventors, the great innovators, the great craftsmen, team award: lean manufacturing) will be announced at a ceremony in Bordeaux in September.

It also allocates a budget of €5 million ($6.9 million) a year to Fondation d'Enterprise EADS, which funds aerospace research projects.

Speaking at the same event as Botti, EADS Defence and Security chief executive Stefan Zoller said that his business "could grow much faster than we are today" if there were more engineers available.