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In an increasingly digital age, it’s never been more crucial to support young innovators. With the tech landscape rapidly evolving and revolutionising the fields of healthcare, climate, education and beyond, it’s vital to arm young minds with the tools to guide us.
Despite this, the UK is sleepwalking towards a skills gap chasm, which is only widening with every passing day. The statistics speak for themselves; a 2023 survey by Userlane found that two-thirds of businesses are facing a digital skills gap in their workforce. AI, specifically, is also blighted by a lack of diversity. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024, just 22% of people in AI roles are female.
Clearly, we must take action to ensure the life-changing potential of new technologies are being harnessed and the right minds are operating it; or we risk falling behind the pace of progress entirely. Sizeable growth will also be stunted, too, if we do not approach this head-on.
So, what can be done? Investment will play a key role in success and the upcoming UK election will be watched with keen interest to decipher who will prioritise closing the digital skills gap. But the way we educate future generations must be shaken up, as well as the use of incubators, ideas hubs and experimentation. This is how nurturing early careers can help us scale the digital skills chasm.
Changing the approach
Not all breakthroughs are made through planned testing; some emerge via unexpected means. While end results are obviously key, plenty can be learnt from the process itself, including mistakes that set scientists off on intriguing tangents. Embracing experimentation must be encouraged if digital skills are to be sharpened and unanticipated discoveries allowed to continue. The outdated attitude of ‘expertise over experience’, too, must be shaken up.
This is because recent technologies like large language models (LLMs) are emerging at a fast pace and constantly evolving. The ability to adapt and research new methods has more value than previous experience as best practice is changing as fast as projects can be completed. Most excitingly, the fearless attitude of early career data scientists combined with an emerging tech like AI compliments the other.
But how do we actually go about empowering these young minds in practice? This is where incubators, such as our own at Bayezian, can provide the right environment for new skills to flourish. With strong mentorship and guidance from those overseeing the process, there is no fear of failure and experimentation is prioritised, with significance placed on the pitfalls and what can be learnt
from them at every turn. When trust is given to early career data scientists, they are emboldened to take risks and develop their talents, ensuring the development of new technologies is in safe hands.
A shift at the top table
With the digital skills gap now being readily recognised, changes are starting to be seen from the top. In a survey of employers by skills development organisation Generation, 52% of respondents said they struggle to fill entry-level tech positions. A 2023 news story by the BBC highlighted how companies such as Virgin O2 and BAE Systems are now recruiting those without degrees and funnelling them into apprenticeship programmes.
Similarly, IBM is hiring people without degrees to help it recruit a more diverse workforce. On the change of approach, Jenny Taylor MBE, who leads the company’s early professional programmes, added: "There are brilliant people everywhere, but opportunity is not the same for everyone. Our clients are diverse. Why wouldn't you want to seek talent from every avenue that you can?"
The last line is particularly critical when it comes to fields such as AI, which can be blighted by biases and inaccuracies in the data used. This means that a more diverse workforce will be beneficial for the future of new technologies.
Recognising the cliffedge we’re approaching, it was announced earlier this year that tech heavyweights like Google and Microsoft have formed a collective task force. In a positive move, the goal is to skill-up workers for the AI era, tilting the scales in our favour when it comes to the urgent need for AI-savvy professionals in evolving job markets.
Investment will be key
As Big Tech companies recognise their responsibility and ideas hubs and incubators are given greater value, global governments must be willing to put their hands in their pockets, too. That’s not to encourage freewheeling spending; in fact, it must be targeted, proven and positioned where it benefits the most.
Positive moves have been made; the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has already prioritised future skills, announcing more than £1.1 billion worth of funding to ready the workforce in areas such as AI. Interestingly, most of the opportunities for this development will come outside of the south east of England, focusing on Edinburgh, Bristol, Sheffield and Manchester.
With the UK election looming, we can only hope the green shoots of progress continue whichever party takes their place in government, as there’s plenty still to be done.
Looking to the future
While it’s hugely exciting to see technologies advancing in a very quick way, we must not get carried away. At a similar pace, we must be setting out a clear plan of action to ensure we have a workforce capable of operating this technology in an effective and efficient manner. Failing that unfortunately makes the pace of progress pointless and obsolete.
Many of those at the start of their tech careers have unique ideas and novel approaches to revolutionise how we live and work. Crucially, it’s on us to give them the tools to unlock their outstanding potential.