Why we need to close the digital skills gap

According to the World Economic Forum, Europe will see a shortage of some 756,000 professionals in the ICT sector this year, and this in a region with high-level universities and educational institutions and a highly skilled workforce. In less developed regions, the shortage is expected to be even more severe. So why is there this gap? One of the main reasons behind this shortage is the lack of synergy between education and the needs of the labor market.

However, companies and countries with sufficient access to skilled and educated ICT professionals are able to compete better, to increase income and GDP and to improve the quality of life. Those who do not have access to such professionals will likely be left behind even further. At the same time, technology is developing at an unprecedented rate. Businesses are eager to adopt the latest technologies, such as AI, 5G and IoT as quickly as possible and realize the competitive and economic benefits of intelligent connectivity, the powerful convergence of these technologies.

Unfortunately, in the real-world implementation scenarios, initial results are often disappointing because IT teams don't have up-to-date skills. Therefore, they must seek out talents, including recent graduates. However, no matter how digital natives they may be, there is a problem: even recent graduates are the educational products of obsolete technology. Because? Because educational institutions are unable to adapt curricula quickly enough to include the latest technological developments. Developing teaching materials and producing a meaningful curriculum takes time and money, two elements that most institutions do not have enough of.