Skillnet Ireland invested €60m in upskilling programmes last year, supporting 22,500 companies and 86,500 individuals in total, according to the agency's 2021 annual report
Of the businesses backed by Skillnet, 93% were SMEs and 1,100 were FDI firms, while the number of people participating in upskilling programmes represented a 5% increase year-on-year.
The total investment was an increase of 17% from 2020, while contributions for businesses represented 37% of total investment.
The organisation says it saw a growing appetite from businesses to progress in areas such as digitalisation, leadership development and sustainability, increasing the output of its training programmes by 8%.
In all, Skillnet delivered 9,850 programmes spanning industry and professional certified courses, specialised upskilling, new industry and academia collaborations, and many innovation and research-based projects. This was an 8% improvement from 2020.
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Growth in the body's national initiatives was robust, with the Climate Ready climate action programmes taken up by 1,600 businesses and 3,200 people in its first year, while participating in MentorsWork rose 35% in 2021.
Chairman Brendan McGinty commented: "We are pleased to have been able to increase our support to businesses and workers. "We have also increased our focus on nurturing talent for FDI firms, which is vital in attracting and retaining investment in Ireland.”
Chief executive Paul Healy added that the agency's goal is to increase the number of businesses supported by Skillnet Ireland to 30,000 annually by 2025.
Minister Simon Harris said the report summarising Skillnet's 2021 activities demonstrates a growing appetite for talent development and upskilling from businesses of all sizes.
"The government is committed to ensuring that we have the right skills to thrive and grow and Skillnet Ireland is a key part of that,” the minister stated
The 22,500 companies supported by Skillnet was a 4% increase from 2020, while the 86,570 employees training with the agency was an improvement of 6% year-on-year. Skillnet completed over 664,000 training days in 2021, up 16% from 570,000 a year prior.
Photo: Paul Healy (left) and Brendan McGinty.
