Helsinki warns industry ministers of EU’s high-technology skills gap

Date: 01/07/1999

By Tim Jones

THE Finnish government will warn this week that failure to equip EU workers with information and communications technology (ICT) skills risks exporting jobs and wealth to the US and Asia.

In a paper prepared for an informal meeting of Union industry ministers in Oulu this weekend (2-3 July), the incoming Finnish presidency states that "skills shortages are preventing industry from potentially extending their activities".

A report from the European Commission which will be discussed by ministers suggests that 500,000 ICT vacancies remain unfilled in the EU because of a generalised unwillingness to invest in start-up high-technology firms, and acute skill shortages.

The Commission has urged member states, companies and labour unions to draw up programmes together to promote training, introduce new forms of business organisation and revitalise the Union's entrepreneurial culture.

The Finnish paper goes a step further, warning that this skills gap will extend to 1.6 million within three years unless urgent action is taken.

"This is far from being a national or regional issue and medium- and long-term solutions must be based on plans to increase the supply of highly-skilled labour across the EU as a whole." states the document. "With insufficient skills among employees, companies have little incentive to invest in ICT and investments already under way result in only minor productivity improvements."

In 1997, 2 million EU citizens worked in ICT and 7 million more in the information technology field as a whole. The Finns, who boast one of the world's top ICT-makers in the Nokia Corporation, are keen to hone a Union policy in favour of the sector in time for the hi-tech jobs summit to be held in Portugal in March next year.

Helsinki and Lisbon, which takes over the EU presidency in January next year, are working together to prepare the summit. They want industry ministers to identify 'framework conditions' for fostering ICT, including the creation of a capital market more geared towards funding high-risk innovative projects.

Above all, governments will be asked to make their education systems more flexible to encourage workers to retrain in new technologies. "A greater need is emerging for partnerships between the public and the private sectors in finding a good and efficient balance in education provision by the two sectors." says the Finnish report.

In industry itself, Helsinki is calling for the creation of an EU 'innovation system' which would "guarantee adequate dissemination of results and find appropriate means to make commercial use of these innovations". Scientific professionals have long complained that industry is unaware of the results of cutting-edge research.