Strategic Skills Assessment for the Digital Economy

Decisive action on digital skills is the most effective way for the UK to secure a greater share of the world's value added work and long-term economic stability. Based on up-to-date, authoritative research, this report demonstrates why this is the case, sets out a compelling vision for the UK's future in a digital world, and identifies the action needed in order to realise that vision.

See below to download the full report.

Background

The network of Sector Skills Councils were asked to provide intelligence for Government on six areas identified in 'New Industry, New Jobs' as having particular potential for growth: Low Carbon; Digital Britain; Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals; Advanced Manufacturing; Engineering Construction; and Professional and Financial Services.

This report, which addresses 'Digital Britain', has been created by the Sector Skills Councils e-skills UK (responsible for Business and Information Technology), in partnership with Skillset (responsible for Creative Media industries) and Creative & Cultural Skills (responsible for industries including Advertising, Music and Design) to:

• Define the economic and societal contributions of digital skills;
• Offer a compelling vision for the UK's future in a technology-enabled world;
• Identify the action needed on skills in order to realise that vision.

Download

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Strategic Skills Assessment for the Digital Economy
(PDF - 667KB)

Importance of digital skills

Digital technology is the single biggest lever for productivity and competitiveness
Digital technology is the single biggest lever for productivity and competitiveness across every sector of the economy. It will underpin the majority of future job creation in Western economies, and the export of global technology services and world-class content offers substantive opportunities for wealth generation

The UK Technology industry delivers £71 billion of GVA per annum
Technology-intensive sectors deliver well over half of UK GVA. The Technology industry alone makes a direct contribution of £71 billion of GVA p.a. (8.4% of the UK total) and the Content industries £31 billion (3.6% of the total). The IT industry has a GVA per job which is nearly three and a half times that of the average for the UK.

The UK Content industries are amongst the strongest in the world
The UK is the largest producer of TV & Radio content in Europe, has the third largest filmed entertainment market globally, and has the largest publishing industry in Europe. It is also renowned for its music output and creativity.

Last modified: 16 Mar 2010