Study of data and digital skills for all non-IT roles across multiple industries
Ireland holds a reputation as a “digital leader”, currently ranking 5th in the 2022 European Commission DESI Report. The Irish education system is in the top 5 of 14 European Union countries. While Ireland has ambitious targets to “increase the share of adults with at least basic digital skills to 80% by 2030”, further strides need to be made to improve core data and digital skills and address the reported difficulties in attracting talent. At the same time, the demand for data and digital skills within Ireland’s key industries is rapidly increasing as technology advances and more organisations seek to digitalise.
This study aims to gather industry leaders’ views on the following topics:
● The specific data and digital skills required for all non-IT roles now and in the future
● Whether school leavers, graduates and employees have these fundamental skills
● The applicability of current education and training to the needs of industry and building future capacity in these skill areas.
Primary data was gathered through detailed focus group discussions with 36 industry leaders representing 13 global, digitally transformed organisations. An anonymous online survey was completed by 108 industry leaders representing a spectrum of functions and industry types. The findings from that process were tested in workshops with 15 subject matter experts.
The report is structured as follows:
- Section 1 outlines the overall policy context and rationale for the report.
- Section 2 discusses the Methodology and approach.
- Section 3 discusses the Findings in relation to the three research questions.
- Section 4 outlines the Conclusions and recommendations.
The full report is available at this link.
