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"Cross-bloc agreement on the importance of digitalization should be a strength"

Digital inclusion Digitalization Skills supply Education and training

The fact that parties on both sides of the block borders agree that digitization policy is important should be a strength, said both Anna Johansson (S) and Aron Modig (KD) when the IT&Telecom companies' report on the IT skills shortage was presented at a breakfast seminar at Lindholmen in Gothenburg on Monday morning. This was a counterargument to the claim that digitalization issues would be overshadowed as they are not so party-dividing. The proposals in the report were also very well illustrated by representatives from both industry and academia.

The IT&Telecom companies' latest report on the IT skills shortage, published earlier in November, was the theme of Monday's seminar organized by Business Region Göteborg and IT&Telecom companies in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg as host.

The report, based on a survey of 200 recruiters across the country, points to a shortage of 70,000 IT professionals by 2022 if no specific action is taken - including at least 12,000 people in the Western region.

After initially presenting the report and its eleven proposals for action in four areas, these were concretized through some suggestions for possible activities in the Western Region:

  • Development of a regional edtech cluster.
  • Special focus on diversity and gender equality.
  • Match higher education programs in data/IT with the same strong brands as the other metropolitan regions.
  • Make use of international expertise, both locally and in nearshoring areas.

The proposals were commented on in turn by Beatrice Silow from Sigma IT Consulting, Annica Anderson and Elias Berge from the two Edtech companies Mobile Stories and Hypocampus, and Johan Magnusson, Associate Professor at the University's Department of Applied Information Technology.

The seminar ended with a discussion between the two Gothenburg-based MPs Aron Modig (KD) and Anna Johansson (S). In this discussion, Aron Modig was encouraging about the clarity of the report's proposed measures, and highlighted in particular the need to refine the role of the Public Employment Service to the payment of compensation, to digitize teacher training and to make labor immigration work better, for example by separating the Migration Agency's processing of labor immigration from asylum cases. Anna Johansson chose to highlight the government's overall digitization strategy, and the promotion of programming in the school curriculum that will be introduced from fall 2018.

Both party representatives emphasized the importance of collaboration on the activities that need to be done locally. This prompted yours truly to ask whether it is not a problem for them that they are so relatively united on the importance of digitization across party lines. Does it risk becoming a non-issue if it is difficult to make a mark on these issues in the quest for voters? However, both Modig and Johansson argued strongly against this, saying that it should definitely be a strength that they can agree on the importance of digitalization. Let's hope that this proves to be true in the upcoming election campaign!

A few gems from the other speakers are also worth highlighting:

  • Sigma IT Consulting invests in youth and gender equality through Kodcentrum and Pink Programming.
  • Both edtech companies are helping to bridge organizational and industry boundaries through their edtech solutions.
  • How Johan Magnusson and his department are working with the IT&Telecom companies' four proposal areas. Imagine if all universities worked so purposefully to meet the needs of working life!