RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENTERPRISE AND ACADEMIA NEEDS RADICAL CHANGE TO CREATE WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE

Optus Business report urges prioritising skills

The relationship between Australian enterprises and education institutes must undergo significant and rapid change for the country to take advantage of the opportunities presented by technology, a new report from Optus Business reveals today. The report calls for a collaborative approach to equip the existing workforce and graduates entering the market with the skills needed for emerging industries and technology.

Bridging Australia’s Knowledge Economy Gap in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the latest report in Optus Business’ Enterprise 4.0 series of research, reveals that simply investing in technology won’t equate to success in Industry 4.0.

“While having the right digital platforms is critical, it fails to address knowledge gaps in the development, deployment, application and management of these platforms,” said John Paitaridis, Optus Business Managing Director.

Optus Business refers to this discord as the knowledge economy gap. The report notes that without collaborative planning by enterprise, academia and government, Australia risks widening its ingenuity gap.

Mr Paitaridis explains that to close these gaps Australian enterprises and academia must share the responsibility for preparing the workforce for a digitally-driven future.

“Across the next three years, we anticipate big changes when it comes to emerging industries such as cyber security, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, application programming interfaces and next gen technologies.

“As leaders of enterprise, government and academia, it is our joint responsibility to work together to prepare our existing workforce and those entering the workforce for a very different future. There are some great examples of collaboration between corporates and universities, we need to leverage the learnings of these endeavours, build a blueprint and create repeatability across Australia”

“For Australia to be best equipped for these changes, Australian enterprises must also prioritise the reskilling of existing staff to ensure that the existing workforce does not get left behind. Fostering digital skills and a digital culture is essential to success in Industry 4.0,” he concludes.

About the research

A total of 285 leading enterprises across Australia were invited to participate in a quantitative study conducted by Optus over June and July 2018. All respondents were from a range of C-Level roles and a wide range of industries from enterprises operating in Australia.

Enterprises were analysed according to their level of exponential performance. The Singularity University define an exponential organisation as one whose impact (or output) is disproportionately large – at least 10 times larger – compared to its peers because of the use of new organisational techniques that leverage accelerating technologies.

Enterprise 4.0 - Bridging Australia’s Knowledge Economy Gap in the Fourth Industrial Revolution has been authored by futurist Rocky Scopelliti, Optus Business Director for Industry 4.0.

To access the report, visit https://www.optus.com.au/enterprise/industry-4-0