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.