The report highlights the challenges Ireland is facing in meeting current demands and the potential impact this could have on future hiring in critical sectors.
Scale Ireland has released the Future proofing Talent Supply in the Irish ICT Start-up and Scaling Sector report. This new report was created by labour market experts David Collings, a prof of sustainable business at Trinity Business School, and Dr Shirley Kavanagh, an executive adviser and consultant specialising in talent management, workforce development and organisational strategy.
What was discovered is that Ireland, despite performing “creditably in international skills comparisons surveys”, is facing considerable challenges as it aims to meet both the current and the future skill needs of the indigenous IT sector.
The report indicated that there are several areas of concern, as the ICT sector faces acute skill shortages in areas such as software development, AI, cybersecurity, DevOps and data analytics.
It also identified a strong demand for employees with a range of transversal skills including leadership, problem-solving, adaptability and analytical thinking. Smaller businesses (SMEs) in particular were found to be struggling in the acquisition of skilled ICT professionals.
Future demands
Looking to the future the report stated that to maintain competitiveness, “organisations need to proactively plan for emerging skill demands”, as baseline analytics suggest that there will be an additional 89,590 positions in ICT by 2030. This will likely result in significant supply issues, along with growing demand for skills in the areas of AI, machine learning, network, cybersecurity and technological literacy.
And as the sector grows, requiring highly skilled employees, there will potentially be increased demand for experts qualified in the evolving regulatory space to oversee ethical compliance in AI and digital policies. The report also noted that transversal skills will be of particular importance going forward.
Detailing what needs to be done to address the rising challenges, the report stated that “the overarching implication of our analysis is that what got us here won’t get us there in terms of the future competitiveness of the indigenous tech start-up and scaling sector”.
It suggests prioritising a number of key areas, such as reskilling and upskilling for professionals, increased organisational investment in training, wider access to non-traditional educational and career routes, and improvements to the work permit system that would enable Ireland to be viewed as an attractive location from which to begin or continue your career.
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