Matthew Guest - University of Central Lancashire
It is about putting Lancashire on a footing with other parts of the country and making sure that we’re not lagging behind.
The world is changing. The pandemic really moved things quite quickly, particularly in the education space, towards how you can deliver high quality online learning experiences as well as the change to the way of working. The move that has happened has to be underpinned by something that supports it.
Looking across the higher education sector, we have a lot of arts and humanities graduates. How do we help them, so the lateral thinking that they’ve been trained to do is applied to some of the more tech-focused careers?
Part of the digital strategy is to outline the opportunity that is here and why people should be looking at Lancashire. Inevitably, though, it comes down to leadership, both collectively and in individual organisations, being able to show we’ve got the vision.
There is also the wider offer. We’ve got some amazing heritage assets and we’ve got some fantastic natural assets.
One of the big challenges emerging is around energy for digital and the infrastructure. Where are our data centres going to be located and how are they going to be powered?
It’s making sure we’re not draining energy from the region and how we generate the energy that we are going to need as part of a digital space. Digital technology is not carbon neutral so there is a huge challenge there. We’ve talked about the national strategies. How do we make sure of Lancashire’s position within that space? It is a big opportunity.
Alison Robinson - The Lancashire Colleges and Myerscough College
The Lancashire Colleges as a group are very much invested in making sure we meet the future needs skills of the county. We all recognise that digital skills are vital to every single sector, they must be more productive and digital is part of that solution.
Making sure that we meet those future skills links is one of the reasons whey the colleges have bid to the government for the development of an Institute of Technology in Lancashire.
It is also about reaching back into the school sector, into the high schools and primary schools, trying to build the sense of the digital community and the opportunities to make sure it’s absolutely clear that it embeds in everything.
Digital has got to be one of those skillsets that we develop and it’s also about reaching out into the adult community, reskilling and upskilling people.
We’ve got to bring more people into the digital skills arena and help them recognise there are jobs out there. We’ve got to stop people leaving our universities to seek jobs elsewhere, and the fact that we’ve got the NCF coming to Lancashire means there are immense opportunities to grow our own talent and keep more people in the county. That will help us all in terms of economic productivity.
Employers are screaming out for a range of skills that directly meet their needs. Whether it is digital, cyber or AI, that kind of technology is something that everyone needs to engage with.
We need to be absolutely clear what opportunities are there, because the one thing that the NCF is telling us is this is not about people who are computer technicians. It is the conceptual thinkers, it’s the problem solvers of the future, it’s the creative people, it’s not just the people who are working in IT and computers. We need to get that message across.
And we must build really strong case studies to promote the skills that we need, so that people can see that they can move between a multitude of careers in their lifetime.
Michele Lawty-Jones - Digital Skills Partnership
In 2018, when we launched the Digital Skills Partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, it was in recognition of the growth in demand for people with digital skills within the labour market.
The digital strategy brings the collaboration between business and education to build that talent pipeline. There is an awful lot of activity going on, inspiring young people in schools about the opportunities within digital.
It is also about building pathways, technical routes through things like the new digital T-level. We’ve got the Institute of Technology on the horizon. We’ve got some fabulous apprenticeship provision and you can balance that with the academic routes through the universities.
It brings it all together but there is a challenge to maximise opportunities for Lancashire. The NCF is really exciting and it will provide the hook to sell the sector to our younger people.
In terms of equality, diversity and inclusion we need to shift the gender balance. And it is not just about gender, it is also about ethnic minorities and getting into our disadvantaged communities to boost social mobility.
Our industry partners want that talent pipeline. How do we boost collaboration so that we are not totally reliant upon the teaching community? We’ve got to think about doing things differently.
We need to do more to get the message out there about the buoyant tech community, the range of tech businesses that already exist in Lancashire and opportunities for the future and really shout loud about it.
By 2035, Lancashire is the fastest-growing digital economy in the UK
Download the Lancashire Digital Strategy from
www.lancashirelep.co.uk LANCASHIREBUSINESSVIEW.CO.UK
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