Posted on: 12/12/11
On 7th December 2011, e-skills UK hosted the Promoting Collaboration 2011 conference in Newtownabbey, County Antrim. The event brought together Northern Ireland key policy makers and employers to promote a collaborative approach to growing skills and occupational standards in IT and promote industry growth.
Employment and Learning Minister Doctor Stephen Farry, whose Department has responsibility for skills development in Northern Ireland, said:
"My Department's overarching strategy, Success through Skills, examines the skills we will need in the future to grow the Northern Ireland economy and highlights areas for action. Skills are widely accepted as the key raw material in the modern knowledge-based economy and will be the key driver if Northern Ireland is to achieve its economic goals.
"There is a clear need to raise awareness and to demonstrate the benefits of a career in the ICT sector to attract new people into the industry. This conference can have a positive impact by raising awareness of the importance of skills in the workforce. My Department will continue to work with the ICT industry on measures to improve performance.
"I would encourage everyone involved in the sector – employers, employees and stakeholders - to work together with Government to help ensure that the current strong performance by local companies continues to grow and that we maintain and increase Northern Ireland’s global competitiveness."
The IT and telecoms industry contributes £1.4billion to the Northern Ireland economy and optimisation of IT could generate a further £0.7billion over the next 5-7 years. In order to achieve these economic benefits e-skills UK research, published in March 2011, identified four strands of policy:
- Helping small businesses adopt and exploit more advanced ICT
- Improving ICT skills among both IT professionals and within the wider workforce and community
- Helping the digitally excluded access the Internet
- Providing superfast broadband across the UK
Promoting Collaboration 2011 brought together employers and Government in a unique event designed to give employers and educators the opportunity to listen and talk to the key policy makers, and raise awareness of how together we can grow and maintain the highly-skilled workforce essential for such a strategically vital sector.
Find out more about e-skills UK's work in Northern Ireland.
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