Working with a bid team sponsored by the North East LEP on the Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) Industrial Strategy Challenge, launched by Innovate UK, as the catalyst to producing £5bn more Power Electronics, Motors and Drives (PEMD) products in the UK by 2025 across 7 industrial sectors. We identified the future workforce implications and skills requirements associated with this ambition to develop a UK supply chain for PEMD. We looked specifically at the challenges facing the level of advanced electrical engineering and manufacturing capability, and the underlying long-term implications for STEM educational provision. We identified actions to improve the pipeline of available qualified talent and support the development of capability required.