General Election 2015: Decoded co-CEO Kathryn Parsons wants investment in the knowledge economy
ELECTION COUNTDOWN: 17 DAYS TO GO
Every day until the final week of the election campaign, we ask a business leader to say what policies would entice them to vote for a particular party.
KATHRYN PARSONS: CO-CEO, DECODED
There was sufficient investment in the knowledge economy. The UK’s digital economy is predicted to expand at a rate of 11 per cent year-on-year, creating an economy worth £221bn in 2016. Every industry and sector, all our lives and behaviours, are being radically impacted by technology. Yet how many of us can confidently say we understand the technology behind the screen?
Employment in the technology sector is growing five times faster than the UK average.
Yet the talent needed for these roles cannot be met within the UK.
The future of work is changing and so education must change too. Code is an economic issue.
What can we do?
EDUCATION
We should be proud the UK put computing on the national curriculum in September 2014. Let’s now look at how we can further empower both teachers and pupils with the resources and skills they need to bring all subjects alive through technology.
LEADERSHIP
Education need does not just sit within schools.
We’re in danger of those in work becoming a forgotten digital generation as more digitally literate enter in the world of work in the coming years.
We need digitally literate leadership within business to navigate this change and to innovate with confidence.
We’re a knowledge-based economy. This is visible in the tech sector more than anywhere else. Investing in people is vital to ensure the economy continues to grow and the tech sector continues to thrive. Yet businesses are not incentivised to invest in people. Businesses get tax relief to invest in machinery and R&D, but not learning.
Knowledge is the foundation of long-term economic growth – let’s invest in it.
WOMEN
Baroness Martha Lane Fox’s inspiring manifesto for DOT EVERYONE set out an ambitious vision for a future Digital Britain and touched on the particular challenges of women in technology. What incentives can the next government create to re-skill at career level; transforming low-value part-time work into high-value high-skilled and highly flexible employment?
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