News & Events

It seems fitting here at Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet that we are ending a busy year with the rollout of our new career pathway for the Sportstech sector called  ‘Digital Athlete’.

Together with our partners in SportsTech Ireland, we are proud to be able to offer this ground-breaking route into a dynamic and exciting sector. Ireland is a leader in SportsTech, a global €18 billion industry, and with ‘Digital Athlete’, we will help more people develop the required skills to build a lasting career in the space. 

It is only through people that companies can excel when volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – or ‘VUCA’ – becomes the norm.  In an unpredictable world, people-oriented leadership is vital to creativity, innovation and fresh thinking – vital aspects of a fluid and nimble workplace.

We are pleased to see our member companies continuing to make strong commitments to diversity, equality and inclusion, as hybrid working models open new opportunities for women. In 2022 we saw record demand for our Women TechStart and Women ReBOOT programmes with 165 women participating and 95% immediately gaining employment as a result. ESB, AON, Sunlife, Fidelity, Datalex, VMware, Dell, Optum, Guidewire, Workhuman, Fineos, Storm Technologies among many others continue to benefit from these award winning programmes.

A new thematic area for the network in 2022 was Data and Analytics skills. Data skills are now essential for almost every role in every organization. Companies tell us that when it comes to data, they are not suffering from a lack of data skills specialists but from skills in data-driven problem solving. Companies need more people with the ability to interpret data, to draw insights, and to ask the right questions in the first place. These are skills that we bring together in our new Data Skills Framework for Business. Across 4 pathways companies can rapidly expand data-driven data-driven decision-making, lift capability, drive change, with domain specific analysis to markedly improve business performance.

We are honoured to work with the Analytics Institute of Ireland, the leading professional body in Ireland in creating the Framework which will expand in 2023 to incorporate practical machine learning and AI skills for business. 

We launched the framework in October and already 300 staff have been accredited. We are also incorporating the feedback we are getting from pilot companies such as Primark, Energia, and Hostelworld, Irish companies who place huge importance and value on employees having great data skills. Their company experience is driving further development and expansion of the Framework and was integral to the creation of Musgraves new Data Academy.

Technology Ireland Director Una Fitzpatrick noted at launch, ‘Leading companies now have data science and digital academies that are focused on helping employees in all disciplines learn how to analyse data. This is an opportunity we encourage more employers to embrace. They will certainly reap the rewards’.

We are honoured to work with the Analytics Institute of Ireland, the leading professional body in Ireland in creating the Framework which will expand in 2023 to incorporate practical machine learning and AI skills for business. 

Our TechLearn online learning platforms with O’Reilly Media and Pluralsight continue to provide a key resource for over 2000 staff across our member companies. The platforms are constantly updated, expanded and supplemented with new functionality like sandbox environments and coding test centres with preparation for all major technology accreditations.

The pace of digital change can be dizzying at times but we’re excited to be a key part of an ecosystem that helps companies and their people to rapidly upskill and reskill, keeping pace with real time changes in technologies.

In 2023, we will continue to expand our portfolio and deepen relationships with our member companies and our new strategic enterprise collaborators like SportsTech Ireland, the Analytics Institute of Ireland, Convene/Enterprise Academy at TU Dublin and Dell Technologies who are helping us develop new approaches to Digital fluency and leadership. 

Our work is always informed and guided by Ibec and our promoter organisation Technology Ireland, as well as Skillnet Ireland and its ongoing creation of innovative and transformational approaches to workforce development challenges.

Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year. 

See you in 2023! 

Maire Hunt, Network Director, Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet