Training agency Skillnet Ireland is aiming to double the number of people participating in talent development programmes over the next five years as part of its new five-year strategy, which was launched today.

The Transforming Business Through Talent 2021-2025 strategy also aims to increase the organisation’s engagement with business and industry, as well as focus on the challenges of digital transformation and climate change.

Skillnet Ireland currently partners with 57 industry bodies and enterprise clusters, supporting over 18,000 businesses and 70,000 trainees annually, through its 70 Skillnet Networks around Ireland. The agency provides funding and support to businesses to help upskill Ireland’s workforce.

The new strategy seeks to expand Skillnet Ireland’s ongoing activities by increasing the number of businesses supported by the agency to 30,000 annually by 2025. Skillnet Ireland will also provide supports to 100,000 workers annually by the end of 2025 and double the investment in upskilling the Irish workforce to €100m annually.

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Skillnet Ireland has also identified two new key initiatives for the next five years across the areas of digital transformation and the implications of climate change for the Irish workforce. The strategy highlights the importance of introducing greater digitalisation of processes and seeks to develop the skills needed as Ireland transitions to a low carbon and environmentally sustainable economy.

Brendan McGinty, chairperson of Skillnet Ireland, said that the agency’s new strategy reflects the need for Ireland to have a highly skilled and agile workforce. “Skillnet Ireland will drive that agenda, both in terms of increasing numbers of businesses supported and expanding into new areas. We are doing this by setting ourselves ambitious targets, focused on the three key themes of workforce design, people development and strategic innovation.”

Skillnet Ireland chief executive Paul Healy added that the training agency’s activity over the next five years will deliver a fourfold increase in innovation-themed workforce development projects.

Photo: Skillnet Ireland's Paul Healy (left) and Brendan McGinty (Credit: Keith Arkins)