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Nick James – Ai Group Senior Economist
Introduction
• In late 2008, Ai Group conducted a survey to identify how Australian firms source the skills to work effectively with emerging technologies.
• Insights into the capacity of the vocational education & training system to meet training needs in relation to emerging technologies were also sought.
• Findings were based on the responses of almost 300 companies, of varying size, across all the manufacturing, services and construction sectors.
Key findings
Awareness of emerging technologies
0 20 40 60 80 100
Nanotechnology
Photonics
Carbon capture & storage
New energy technologies
New environmental technologies
Biotechnologies
Advanced materials
Smart materials
Advanced digital modelling
Advanced ICT applications
Percentage of respondents
Likely emerging technology use
0 20 40 60 80 100
Nanotechnology
Photonics
Carbon capture & storage
New energy technologies
New environmental technologies
Biotechnologies
Advanced materials
Smart materials
Advanced digital modelling
Advanced ICT applications
Percentage of respondents
Importance of emerging technology skills to business success
20.5
52.1
21.65.8
Very important Somewhat important Not at all important Don't know
Do Australian firms have the skills required for emerging technologies?
4.4
16.4
59.4
19.8
Yes Somewhat Not at all Don't know
Frequency of training to cope with emerging technologies
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Continuously Every six months Annually Every two years Don't know
Pe
rce
nta
ge
of r
esp
on
ses
Company priorities for upskilling employees
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Labourers
Process w orkers
Apprentices & trainees
Tradespeople
Technicians
Engineers
Other professionals
Managers
Percentage of respondents
Methods used effectively to meet emerging technology skills needs
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Retrained existing staff on the job
Recruited experienced employees
Reduced staff turnover
Employed more apprentices & trainees
Employed people w ith basic skills, thenretrained
Redesigned jobs
Employed skill migrants
Shifted production off-shore
Taken on and trained unskilled staff
Taken no action
Percentage of respondents
Status of training for emerging technology use
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Currently trainingemployees
Planning to trainemployees
Aware of training, butnot interested
Unaware of trainingavailable
Not applicable
Pe
rce
nta
ge
of r
esp
on
ses
Methods of introducing new emerging technologies to existing employees
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
External formal training
Vendor training (w ith equipmentpurchase)
Formal in-house training
Informal in-house training
Mentoring
Other
Percentage of respondents
Success of training methods introducing emerging technology skills to existing employees
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
External formal training
Vendor training (w ith equipmentpurchase)
Formal in-house training
Informal in-house training
Mentoring
Other
Percentage of respondents
Importance of technical skills in working with emerging technologies
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Basic science/maths
Basic technician
Basic engineering
Setting standards and procedures
Percentage of respondents
Shortage of technical skills required for working with emerging technologies
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Basic science/maths
Basic technician
Basic engineering
Setting standards and procedures
Percentage of respondents
Importance of generic skills to emerging technologies
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Problem solving
Teamw ork
Communications
Adapting to change
Percentage of respondents
Shortage of generic skills required by emerging technologies
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Problem solving
Teamw ork
Communications
Adapting to change
Percentage of respondents
Barriers to upskilling employees in emerging technologies
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Employee resistance
Uncertainty of future needs
Unsure of skill deficiencies
Lack of relevant training available
Poor quality of training available
Cost of training
Lack of incentives from government
Training is not suff iciently f lexible
Staff leaving follow ing training
Other
Percentage of respondents
Key conclusions
• Australian companies are highly aware of new energy and new environmental technologies, particularly large firms.
• Unfortunately, companies may not have the skills needed to take advantage of emerging technologies, despite considering them important to business success.
• Most firms believe that training in emerging technologies is required in the short-term.
Key conclusions
• For some businesses, particularly large firms and services companies, there is demand for continuous training.
• A large proportion of companies are unaware of their future training challenges.
• Engineers and managers are the employees prioritised for training in emerging technologies.
Key conclusions
• Retraining existing staff on the job and recruiting people already trained are the most popular methods for meeting emerging technology needs.
• Informal in-house training is the preferred method of training, although companies also frequently use formal training, both externally and in-house.
• Both technical and generic skills are considered important for working with emerging technologies.
• Adapting to change and problem solving skills are ranked the most important and also the most lacking.