Meeting the digital skills challenge

On Tuesday, 21 March 2022, the Committee met with it’s members to discuss the need for Melburnians to be digitally literate to remain competitive and relevant in the changing nature of the economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underpinned the need for Melbourne and Australia to prepare for an increasingly interconnected world using technology. In 2020, during the first year of the pandemic, 65,000 tech sector jobs were created in Australia.

This is now the fastest growing sector of employment.

Australia will need 156,000 – 300,000 digital technology workers by 2025, representing 1 in 4 jobs created during that period.

Addressing the curriculum of education institutions, as well as ensuring that employers maintain a culture of continuous upskilling, will therefore be crucial. Networks and collaborative mechanisms by which employees, employers and educators can share and develop digital skills, will need to be created.

A special thanks to our expert panel, Patrick Kidd OBE OAM, CEO, Digital Skills Organisation, Rachael McIntyre, Executive General Manager, State Corporate Affairs, NBN Corporate Affairs, and Tom McMahon, Chief of Staff, Tech Council.

For event enquiries please contact our team at events@melbourne.org.au.