THE ICT sector is a key driver for the growth of Northern Ireland’s economy.
That was the message from Em-ployment and Learning Minister Stephen Farry as he addressed a conference organised by the ICT trade federation Momentum.
Speaking at Scrum 2014, he acknowledged the strong skills base within Northern Ireland and highlighted the critical importance of skills to the economy.
The minister said: “There is no doubt in my mind that the availability of skills is one of the key determinants of our ability to fully capture the opportunity presented to us in the future.
“If we are to achieve our eco-nomic ambitions of higher value added economic growth and developing niche areas for ourselves in areas such as ICT, we will need a workforce with: higher level qualifications; more focus on science, technology, engineering and maths skills; better management and leadership skills and more individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit who will be prepared to seek out opportunities?”
Mr Farry chairs the ICT Sector Implementation Group, which manages an Action Plan setting out the short, medium and long term actions required to ensure the local ICT industry has access to the skilled workforce it needs to grow and flourish.
Meanwhile, a group of businesses led by South Eastern Regional College (SERC) has secured research and development funding from Invest NI’s Innovation Voucher initiative.
The businesses will use funding to research the performance and quality characteristics of cavity wall insulation materials and provide detailed performance information.
The innovation vouchers programme enables businesses with less than 250 employees to access up to £4,000 of fully-funded training and mentoring to improve or create new products, services and processes, thanks to the specialist knowledge and expertise of providers such as SERC.
SERC is encouraging more businesses to apply for an Innovation Voucher worth £4,000. The next call for innovation vouchers opens on February 1, 2015.