The Global ICT Capacity Building Symposium saw over 400 delegates attend and pledge their continued commitment to education and training in information and communications technologies (ICTs) to help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Francis Wangusi, Director General of the Communications Authority of Kenya and chair of the Symposium, called on participants to “take full advantage of the wealth of knowledge and experience from the symposium to increase ICT capacity building in their countries in order to drive the digital revolution forward.
“Increasingly, we are witnessing ICTs exerting considerable pressure on the orthodox structures of our educational systems, challenging traditional service provision and heightening the demand for the transformational e-government services across jurisdictions,” He said. “Owing to the above inevitable push experienced in this digital era, concerted care must be taken to urgently address both short and long-term possible risk of ICT skills shortage. This imminent challenge therefore makes this symposium key, not only for Kenya but for the entire global ICT fraternity.”
Wangusi called on the need for partnerships and collaborations to address the challenge of ICT skills gap today and for the future.
With emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT). advent of smart cities, smart societies, smart homes and the growth of big data, ICT professionals require different sets of knowledge and skills therefore governments, industry, universities and other higher education institutions need to invest in, and develop a range of ICT skills at various levels of immersion, which will not only enable increased participation in the economy, but will ensure the creation of digital citizens for a digital society.
