Gradbase partners with new £20m Institute of Coding to offer digital skills and Blockchain-based qualifications to upcoming digital workforce
In the United Kingdom, more than 500,000 computer scientists are needed by 2022. This comes about as the demands of the modern job market shift relentlessly towards the digital economy, which includes new highly disruptive sectors such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics.
In a speech today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, British Prime Minister Theresa May has just outlined plans for a £20M initiative called the Institute of Coding (IoC). The IoC aims to give the UK an edge in the global digital economy. The Institute gathers more than 60 participating institutions amongst universities and businesses, led by the Open University, the University of Bath, Aston University, Coventry University and Queen Mary University. The main deliverable of the IoC will be the transmission of digital skills to new and existing workforce up and down the UK.
Improving digital skills is a central part of the Government’s new industrial strategy, which sets out a long-term vision for how Britain can build on its economic strengths, address its productivity performance, embrace technological change and boost the earning power of people across the UK.
Gradbase is delighted to announce that it is one of the business partners of the Institute of Coding, and will be working on transferring knowledge on how to write applications using the Blockchain, as well as enabling a new generation of students to get their qualifications verified on this disruptive platform. Gradbase is working closely with the Open University and Newcastle University, two fellow partners at the IoC, to make this vision a reality.
Alberto de Capitani, co-founder of Gradbase and the author of the last post, welcomes the initiative open-heartedly:
“On the back of the successful completion of a pilot programme with the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies, we are very happy to be part of yet another promising and impactful initiative. Digital skills are in huge demand over the world, and Blockchain is at the forefront of this technological revolution. By providing educational resources on this technology and validation of the Institute’s qualifications, we both shed a light on the technology itself and its undoubtable social impact.”
This sentiment is echoed by Cédric Colle, co-founder and director:
“IoC qualifications will no doubt empower a whole new generation of digital learners and leaders. By giving them access to instant validation of these records by prospective employers, we give greater value to the knowledge they gained as part of the scheme and allow them a competitiveness on the job market that has no match.”
Dr. Maria Vigliotti, the Technical and Business Partner of the company concludes:
“It is a great privilege to have been selected among a group of leading universities and the most innovative companies like IBM and Microsoft. We look forward to this fruitful collaboration”.
With courses set to kick off in the coming months, there is no time to waste! While we bury our heads making course materials and making our website squeaky clean for the new students!
