I attended the launch of Developing The Future yesterday at The British Library. DtF is is a report commissioned by Microsoft on the challenges and opportunities facing the UK software industry. You'd think that being a part of this industry for the last 15 years or so I'd be quite clued up about the challenges. How wrong I was....David Brain sets out the opportunity nicely in his quote from the report:

 

"In less than three years time, more than half of UK GDP will be generated by people who create ‘something from nothing’,

 

Cool eh? But here is the challenge:

 

"The UK’s IT industry is growing at five to eight times the national growth average, and around 150,000 entrants to the IT workforce are required each year. But between 2001 and 2006 there was a drop of 43% in the number of students taking A-levels in Computing"

 

That is astonishing. I sat in the audience this week and was truly gobsmacked and though I have a nagging thought that maybe people think they'll ignore computing as they'll just pick it up anyway, I'm still amazed at the lack of IT graduates/school leavers. I shouldn't be though as a partner I know emailed me this week saying they're desperate for C# developers in the North West on £40k. Another I met with this evening uses developers from Serbia to meet their needs and companies like Sinocode and Harvey Nash are thriving in the offshore market. That's great but seriously, we're looking down the barrel of losing our status as a leader in IT and the digital creative industries. People like Paul Walsh at BIMA know this and are crying out for help.

 

Whoever you are, I'd encourage you to read this report. It's enlightening and shocking at the same time and the government need to wake up and smell the coffee and industry need to support organisations like BIMA who can make a difference here (disclosure - I'm on the BIMA Exec now) and not let our IT industry go the way of the car industry. Here is a snapshot of its contents

  • Will Hutton, former editor of the Observer and author of 'The Writing on the Wall', and Ian Brinkley, of the Work Foundation, examine the economic impact of off-shoring work from the UK to developing economies.
  • The report reveals the ways in which technology will continue to destroy traditional value chains in a growing number of business sectors
  • Julie Meyer, founder of First Tuesday and chief executive of Ariadne Capital, reveals why London is becoming a major engine driving UK innovation.
  • The report details how the UK is facing a skills gap in those parts of its economy that are growing fastest and what can be done to address the problem.
  • Sir Digby Jones, former head of the CBI, says why he thinks the UK education system is failing the economy as a whole

 

Technorati tags: