A unique national skills platform — which will be the first of its kind in Ireland — is being developed by a partnership of public and private organisations to help close Ireland’s digital skills gap.
The €400,000 collaborative research project is being driven by Learnovate, Ireland’s future of work and learning research hub in Trinity College Dublin, with partners global technology company Cisco and the national workforce development agency Skillnet Ireland.
The project is recognised by Skillnet Ireland, The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and IDA Ireland and will be significant for meeting the needs of Ireland’s future economy and society.
The first phase of the collaborative research project was officially launched by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris and the aim is that this research will inform the development of a prototype of the skills platform.
The goal is to create a platform dedicated to the development of core digital and data skills and the matching of individuals to roles that suit their skills. The prototype platform will provide a self-assessment tool to allow individual users to analyse their own capabilities, standardise digital skills required for different job roles, identify skill gaps for a particular role and recommend relevant learning course journey maps.
It will also provide a roadmap for career progression by detailing the skills they would require to move into more senior roles.
The aim is that some of the platform’s key components will include:
An engine that matches digital/data skills to specific roles
A self-assessment tool for core digital/data skills
An ‘in-the-flow-of-work’ learning solution to target gaps.
Following prototype development, the platform may be developed as a global skills assessment and development platform.
Workshops held with Irish companies identified a shortage of core digital and data skills as an issue affecting industry. This project aims to provide solutions to the common challenges faced by Irish companies in relation to learning and development, talent, and Human Resources. The project is being launched as demand for digital and data skills is expected to grow.
The project also comes as 2023 marks the start of the European Year of Skills and the EU’s Digital Decade plan. A key goal of the EU’s Digital Decade is to place people at the centre of digital transformation by ensuring at least 80% of the population has developed basic digital skills. This research project recognises the critical importance of bridging the widening digital and data skills gap to the Irish economy.
