Some of the biggest technology companies in the UK have released a joint manifesto in an effort to kickstart economic growth and employment.
The heads of leading IT & telecoms companies as well as CIOs from all sectors of the economy have joined together with e-Skills UK – the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology – to publish the e-Skills manifesto.
According to the e-Skills manifesto, the areas of education, innovation, productivity and government policy are all in urgent need of improvement if the UK is to compete in the high-skill IT sector. The organisation also predicts that, over the next decade, at least 110,000 people will be needed in the technology sector each year if planned growth is to be maintained.
Businesses behind the manifesto include Logica, IBM, Cable & Wireless, HP, Cisco, Quicksilva, National Grid and BA.
The manifesto claims that the great majority of future job creation in the developed world will be technology and IT-based, putting skilled IT workers at the heart of new industries such as the low-carbon and bio-technology sectors.
Andy Green, CEO of Logica and chair of e-Skills UK's IT and industry board, said: "To succeed, both the public and private sector need to become more innovative and more productive. Modern economies are driven by skilled people. The UK needs more, many more, of these skilled people."
e-Skills said that the technology workforce is at least on the right track, having continued to grow throughout the recession, even while the unemployment has risen to nearly 2.5 million and is expected to increase throughout 2010.
Larry Hirst, chairman of IBM Europe, Middle East and Africa and chair of e-Skills UK, said: "Partnership between employers and government is the key to making sure the UK has the technology skills it needs.
"We also need to make employer-backed IT degrees central to the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) agenda."
Further links:
- e-Skills manifesto
- Search for telecoms jobs
- Search for public sector IT jobs
- Search for banking and finance IT jobs
