The technology industry is set to benefit from a boost of £18.5 million to help drive skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science. It is to support more adults to up skill and retrain so they have the opportunity to progress into a career or find new employment.
An investment of 13.5 million will help to fund new degree master conversion courses and scholarships over the next three years to help 2,500 people retrain in AI and Data science. Another £5m is also being invested to encourage more technology companies to develop solutions that utilise AI and automation to help the quality of online learning for adults. An adult learning technology innovation fund will be launched in partnership with Nesta that will provide funding to help tech companies create new technologies to support adult learning. The new technologies will be bespoke, flexible, inclusive and engaging to support more people into learning a new skill set and gain more career opportunities.
Artificial Intelligence and Data Science are becoming increasingly popular in our everyday lives and it’s already used in smartphones and smart speakers such as the Amazon Echo and Alexa. In years to come it is expected to be used more often in businesses to help them make decisions more effectively and efficiently. Therefore, investing in online courses are a great way for people to retrain and learn new skills that will give them more career opportunities whilst juggling work and family commitments.
Companies across the technology industry employ around 2.1 million people and contribute £184bn to the economy every year. The inward investment to the UK AI sector stood at £1bn in 2018 which is more than France, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany combined. To strengthen the tech sector further, the government is investing in data driven technologies such as AI to help business and people with drive succeed. Investing in cutting edge technologies such as AI will help to future proof online learning experiences and ensure it meets people’s needs.
The investment will help to boost diversity in the technology sector as it is giving more people opportunities to start a career in tech. The course is open to those who are wanting to succeed in the tech industry and as there is such a lack of opportunities for diverse candidates, this is a great initiative that can help them.
Find out more about diversity in technology and how gender diversity is vital for Artificial Intelligence.