Looking to the Future

At Skillnet Ireland we are building a world-class enterprise-led organisation to help prepare businesses and workers for the future of work. We are ambitious for Ireland. We are ambitious for Irish business.

View Our Strategy 2021-2025

A New Set of Ambitions
for Irish Business

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Having a skilled and agile workforce is essential to how we respond to current and future business challenges. The future, although challenging, offers an opportunity to transition and transform businesses, build new business models or reengineer existing ones, and enable those in the workforce to build new skills. By developing our talented workforce we will ensure businesses are equipped for the future.

We look forward to working with businesses to support the talent demands for a more digital future and building a low-carbon and sustainable economy. The strategic themes will be delivered upon through clear and ambitious actions, so that we can make the optimum contribution to the productivity and innovation of businesses in Ireland.

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Strategy 2021-2025

Strategic Themes
to Support Irish Business

Over the next five years Skillnet Ireland will be guided by
three strategic themes.

Workforce Design

Workforce design is the process of analysing the workforce, determining its future needs, and identifying the gap that exists between what the organisation needs now and what it will need in the future. The need to have the right people with the right skills and tools, in the right roles at the right time is more critical now than ever. Workforce design is essential to keep enterprise ahead of the curve, building human capital and capacity at a sectoral and regional level.

People Development

As working environments become more complex and greater agility is needed, developing people is an essential strategy to achieve business goals. People development activities help businesses to improve through talent development and that enable workers to learn and to grow. It results in better business outcomes, improved staff engagement and greater career opportunities for workers.

Strategic Innovation

We are living in an age of unparalleled technological disruption and business transformation. Strategic innovation is at the core of how enterprises manage change and adopt to changing circumstances. Strategic innovation places businesses ahead of the curve by boosting creativity, ideation and productivity and helps workers adapt to the new world of work by future proofing their skills.

Click here to view our
Strategy 2021-2025

Helping businesses in Ireland to be the best they can be, through innovative and enterprise-driven people development.

Strategic Goals
2021 – 2025

Baseline Output

2025 Target

Businesses
Supported

18,400

30,000

Total
Investment

€52M

€100M

Workers
Supported

70,000

100,000

Innovation Themed
Projects & Proposals

100

Click here to view our
Strategy 2021-2025

“We are ambitious for Ireland and for Irish enterprise and our new strategy reflects the need for Ireland to have a highly skilled and agile workforce. Skillnet Ireland will drive that agenda, both in terms of increasing numbers of businesses supported and expanding into new areas. We are doing this by setting ourselves ambitious targets, focused on the three key themes of Workforce Design, People Development and Strategic Innovation.”

Brendan McGinty
Skillnet Ireland Chairperson

Ireland will be a leader in people development with the world’s most future looking, agile and highly skilled workforce

Case Studies:
Powering Enterprises

The Future of Cx
in Ireland

Ireland is a centre of excellence for global customer experience (Cx), a sector that is seeing significant transformation due to the increased adoption of AI and automation. In collaboration with Skillnet Ireland and the University of Limerick, ICBE Advanced Productivity Skillnet undertook research to advance our understanding of these trends and what they mean for future skills in this sector of strategic national interest. Our research found that Ireland’s Cx sector benefits from highly skilled workers, that are agile, and with a capacity to apply their talents across multiple industry sectors. New programmes subsequently developed by Skillnet Ireland and our partners are providing career transition pathways for workers in roles vulnerable to digital transformation in Cx, opening doors to the richer knowledge-based roles required post automation.

Global Leadership
in Data Science

Rapid advances in Big Data, dataenabled technologies and artificial intelligence are creating both challenges and opportunities for Ireland’s data science industry. A new industry-driven PhD in Data Science emerged from a multi stakeholder collaboration between Skillnet Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, University of Limerick, Maynooth University, University College Dublin, together with industry partners and companies. Skillnet Ireland and Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet are leading the industry engagement component, a cornerstone of the initiative. The programme will be instrumental in making Ireland a world leader in the field of data science.

Rapid Reskilling
through Enterprise

Skills Connect is helping workers severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic to reskill quickly and prepare for roles in sectors offering strong employment opportunities. Skills Connect is multi-sectoral in its reach, spanning technology, agri-food, medtech, logistics, energy efficiency, law, cybersecurity and Cx. Together with innovative upskilling and reskilling programmes, Skills Connect is providing valuable work placements, on-the-job mentoring and other career supports for workers, all delivered in close collaboration with over 300 companies nationwide. Employers are also grasping the opportunities presented by Skills Connect, enabling new growth by providing immediate access to skilled workers.

Leading on Digitalisation
in Manufacturing

Skillnet Ireland, in partnership with the Irish Medtech Skillnet and Limerick Institute of Technology have developed Ireland’s first MEng in Digitalisation of Manufacturing. The programme builds on Ireland’s international reputation in advanced manufacturing excellence by equipping workers with cutting edge skills in robotics, data analytics, machine learning, cyber-physical systems, and the digitalisation of production. Designed specifically for experienced workers in the sector, the programme is developing ‘Digital Champions’ capable of mastering the integration of systems, the analysis of data, and the identification of value-add opportunities for the manufacturing enterprises where they are employed.

A Safe Care Environment:
Infection Prevention and Control

Skillnet Ireland in collaboration with Leading Healthcare Providers Skillnet and University College Cork School of Public Health, have developed a bespoke Postgraduate Certificate in Infection Prevention and Control – a direct response to mitigating the future spread of Covid-19 in Ireland’s private nursing home sector. This programme is a powerful example of rapid collaboration and is providing a timely boost to the sector’s capacity to implement progressive infection prevention and control strategies. Given the increasing demand for talent in the healthcare sector overall, this specialised online programme is also providing valuable career progression opportunities to frontline healthcare professionals.

Technology-Enabled
Professional Development

Skillnet Ireland, in partnership with Law Society Finuas Skillnet have developed an innovative Learning Management Hub designed to rapidly address the skills and management challenges facing the legal profession. Within six months of the Hub going live, over 13,000 solicitors had participated in LegalED Talks, an interactive online series that addresses issues such as emergency legislation related to the Covid-19 pandemic, wage subsidisation legislation, business support initiatives, cybersecurity, management development and business transformation. Focused on best practice in online programme design, this award winning Skillnet continues to demonstrate its leadership in technology-enabled professional development.

The Triple
Helix

Collaborations between academia, industry and government that foster economic and social development are known as the triple helix model of innovation. Skillnet Ireland has excelled in triple helix collaborations, solving complex industry challenges and addressing future skills gaps. Skillnet Ireland with Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet developed a series of industryled Masters in AI, Blockchain and Internet of Things through partnerships with the university sector and Ireland’s tech industry. For enterprise, these strategic collaborations allow businesses to future-proof and grow. For workers, they gain specialist expertise and greater career mobility. For academia, this extensive access to companies enables ideas sharing and capacity to meet industry needs with cutting edge new programmes.

Seizing the Future:
Sustainable Finance in Ireland

Through the support of Skillnet Ireland, the Sustainable Finance Skillnet with Deloitte developed a ‘Deep Dive Skills Report’ for this rapidly emerging sector. It found that intense growth in sustainable finance presents a major shift in the required skillsets, a challenge spanning the full international financial services sector in Ireland. The report signalled the extent of the skills gap that exists, leading to a series of substantial actions with new industry-led specialised programmes underway and more in development. As climate change continues to pose the greatest challenge to the global environment and economies, this research has provided the blueprint to build Ireland’s specialist talent in sustainable finance, supporting ESG and the goal of sustainable global growth.

Accreditation of the Future:
Micro-Credentialing

As the world of work changes, we must embrace new and creative approaches to workforce development and accreditation. Digital badges developed in partnership with industry present a quantum leap in both capturing, and giving value to, the learning and knowledge garnered in the workplace. Building on extensive micro-credentialing research and a deep competence in accrediting programmes for the food and drink industry, Taste4Success Skillnet in collaboration with University College Cork developed Ireland’s first digital badge for the food sector. The initiative has showcased the immense potential that micro-credentials offer as a leading-edge learning technology to all industry sectors, and the opportunity to make lifelong learning more accessible and engaging for workers.

Hear From Our
Enterprise Partners

This Statement of Strategy is informed by an extensive multi-stakeholder consultation. Skillnet Ireland, together with our industry partners, will deliver substantive actions across our three strategic themes. Watch our video to hear from some of those helping to drive the Skillnet Ireland mission forward.

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View the
Skillnet Ireland
Statement of Strategy 2021 – 2025

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Discover the right Skillnet Ireland Initiative for you

Discover the right Skillnet Ireland Initiative for you

Looking to the Future

A New Set of Ambitions
for Irish Business

Click here to view our
Strategy 2021-2025

Strategic Themes
to Support Irish Business