Information and communication technologies (ICT) are being used in areas where they didn’t exist before. New sectors are emerging and reshaping their respective industries. These changes in the way we live and work are also changing the skillsets that industry needs and that employers are looking for.
DigitalYouth supports young people in the development of digital skills they will need to participate in this new environment. But even beyond particular skills, DigitalYouth aims to broaden our view of the role technology can play in almost everything we do, and ultimately in our thinking about the future.
Through integrated digital skills education programs (K-20), cyber security competitions, business skills challenges, student learning days, educator PD days, and student work opportunities, DigitalYouth centralizes all ICTC’s youth and education initiatives.
ICTC is a national, not-for-profit centre of expertise that prepares tomorrow’s workforce to fuel Canada’s digital advantage in a global economy. Leveraging our extensive and trusted research knowledge, practical policy development and strong partnership networks (industry, education, government, and NGOs), ICTC has developed and delivered digital education, skills and workforce projects, programs, and solutions since 1992 that help supply labour to meet industry’s demand.
Based on ICTC’s research, we know that the digital economy is experiencing labour and skills shortages; we simply don’t have enough young people selecting digital or STEM disciplines in school or as career choices to meet our current and future needs (216,000 by 2021).
Youth are key to Canada’s success as future innovators, creators, entrepreneurs and solution providers. It is increasingly critical to encourage them to build digital skills and develop the kind of entrepreneurial, cyber, computational thinking and coding, and complex problem-solving skills, that are required in today’s world.
By becoming fluent in the use of ICTs and digital skills, youth will learn to use the essential tools of the 21st century for whatever career they choose (even if it isn’t ICT), as science and technology are pervasive across occupations and critical to Canada’s innovation and knowledge-based economy.
