The UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy (UK ITSS) has launched the Frontier Industries Skills Coalition (FISC) to help address technical skills shortages across the UK’s Digital and Technologies sector.
The coalition has been established following the publication of The Technical Skills Landscape in the Digital and Technologies Sector, an independent report commissioned by UK ITSS and delivered by Frontier Economics.
This report provides the first comprehensive assessment of technical workforce demand across the UK’s frontier industries and projects that up to 120,000 additional technical professionals could be needed by 2035.
The Frontier Industries Skills Coalition will support the development of a national plan to address technical skills needs across artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, quantum, semiconductors, engineering biology, and advanced connectivity technologies (ACTs). These technologies form a central part of the UK Modern Industrial Strategy and are critical to national capability, innovation, and economic growth.
Dr Kelly Vere MBE, Director of the UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy, said:
“Our research makes it clear that the UK’s future prosperity depends on strengthening its technical workforce. The scale of the challenge means no single organisation can address it alone. The Frontier Industries Skills Coalition brings together the organisations that can make a real difference, creating a shared commitment to develop coordinated, practical solutions that will equip the UK with the technical skills needed to support innovation, growth and global competitiveness.”
The coalition will be chaired by Professor Dame Melanie Welham, President of the Royal Society of Biology and former Executive Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, bringing extensive experience from across the UK research and innovation system. She will lead the coalition as it develops a coordinated national response to the technical skills challenges facing the UK’s frontier industries.
Dame Melanie Welham, Chair of the Frontier Industries Skills Coalition, said:
“Technical professionals are fundamental to the UK’s research and innovation ecosystem and will be central to delivering the ambitions set out in the Industrial Strategy. By bringing together organisations from across the skills landscape, the Frontier Industries Skills Coalition provides an important opportunity to move from evidence to action. I am delighted to chair the Coalition and support the development of a coordinated national plan that will help build the technical capability the UK needs for the future.”
The new coalition will bring together senior leaders and stakeholders from across government, industry, research and innovation, and education to agree practical actions and interventions that support the Industrial Strategy’s Digital and Technologies priority growth sector.
Contributions from partners and stakeholders are invited to help shape the coalition’s programme of work. We are keen to hear from organisations and individuals with an interest in technical skills across the Digital and Technologies sector, including those we may not yet have reached, to ensure the coalition reflects the breadth of expertise and perspectives across the UK.
Join the Frontier Industries Skills Coalition Community of Interest