Findings of report unveiled to help firms and universities reduce the innovation skills gap
INSEAD, the leading international business school, recently co-hosted a select event with the European Commission (DG Enterprise and Industry) titled ‘Building e-Competences to Strengthen Innovation in Europe: The Roles of Industry, Academia and Government.’ The event took place 13-14 January 2010 on INSEAD’s Fontainebleau campus, and marked the conclusion of the European e-Competences Curricula Guidelines Project – a European Commission-funded project led by INSEAD eLab to improve curricula and generate e-competences in Europe.
Beginning in January 2009, the INSEAD team conducted research (including surveys and in-depth interviews with over 50 CIOs and 30 universities) and developed a set of guidelines for building e-competences and strengthening the role of European universities in supplying information and communications technology (ICT) practitioners and managers in Europe.
Highlights of the report’s findings include the following:
- ICT in Demand: The demand from a range of organisations for ICT professionals is growing and becoming more diverse.
- Operational and Strategic Support: ICT professionals are needed to support and manage an increasing percentage of business processes and strategic innovations.
- Developing ICT Talent: Firms invest in at least six different opportunities for developing the e-competences of existing employees, including: in-house training provided either by a university, by an external firm, or by employees; external business degree programmes, ICT degree programmes; and university courses.
- University- and Industry-led Curriculum Efforts: The research identifies several successful efforts at effectively building e-competences and highlights five led by Universities (Aalto Factory Park at Aalto University (Finland), CEFRIEL at the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Foundation Degrees (UK), IT-vest & Aarhus School of Business (Denmark), Petroleum Learning Centre at Tomsk Polytechnic University (Russia)) and six led by Industry (Cisco Networking Academy; Innovation Value Institute at NUI Maynooth (initially led by Intel), Microsoft IT Academy; Oracle Academy, SAP University Alliance, and Service Science (initially led by IBM)). The next challenge is to build on these successes and foster more like them throughout Europe through scalable and sustainable public private initiatives.
- A Call to Action: Based on their findings, the report confirms that concerted action between leaders from Academia, Industry, and Government is both urgent and feasible. It recommends specific actions that leaders can take to build the supply of e-competent professionals and strengthen Europe's capacity to innovate.
- Next Steps: Conference participants discussed several important next steps, including making e-competences development a priority of both national and European policy makers keen on strengthening innovation, competitiveness and employability, and promoting multi-stakeholder partnerships, such as the upcoming European e-Skills Week (1-5 March 2010) - a wide range of pan-European and national events that will promote awareness of the strategic importance to both ICT and non-ICT sectors for highly skilled ICT professionals.
"Our findings are especially relevant for senior executives who want to increase the strategic value of their ICT investments by having more e-competent professionals; universities that want to develop e-competences; and policy makers and institutions that want to help firms and universities reduce the skills gap," said Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director of INSEAD eLab.
Several projects commissioned by the EU are currently underway to improve and develop e-skills to close the gap between education and practice. The INSEAD-led project is based on the school’s experience as a leader in academia and strong network of key stakeholders in business, government and other areas of the academic community.
INSEAD eLab represents the school’s commitment to cultivating and disseminating management knowledge and thought leadership with a focus on the digital economy. As an umbrella structure covering the related research and teaching activities at INSEAD, eLab leverages its facilities in Abu Dhabi, France and Singapore, and brings together faculty, alumni, corporate partners and other stakeholders. eLab’s vibrant community directs its continuous effort at achieving a greater understanding of value creation and competitive advantage in the digital economy space.
To access the European e-Competence Curricula Development Guidelines Project, please visit: http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/centres/ecompetences/
For more information about INSEAD eLab, please visit:
http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/centres/elab/
For more information about the EU's e-skills agenda, please visit:
https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/ict/e-skills/
For more information about the European e-Skills Week, please visit:
http://eskills-week.ec.europa.eu/
