The world is being ushered into the next era of industrial revolution, where technology and data are transforming the way we live and work. Skills required in occupations such as machine learning experts, software developers, user interface and user experience professionals are becoming increasingly necessary and valued. Nurturing these skills are necessary for businesses to harness and be prudent in their growth and scalability in the following years. 

Businesses can leverage this technology to drastically improve their product development and operational costs and processes. However, to implement these changes and stay relevant in this new era of industrial revolution, companies must ensure that they have experts and skilled talent according to rising industry needs

Within the next two years, it is projected that there will be great job disruption where new skills are overtaking previously valued roles. As Michael Bertolino, EY Global Skills Foundry Leader states that, “there is a gulf between the skills that workers have today and those they need for tomorrow; and this leaves business with a stark but simple choice - either adapt fast or become obsolete.”

The World Economic Forum published a report in 2020 that projected the impending changes coming to job skill requirements. It showcased that 40% of the fundamental skills needed for various jobs will be heavily impacted and changed by 2025. Additionally, the report indicates that $11.5 trillion global GDP may be punted if companies around the world do not take initiative in facilitating these changes and bridging the skills gaps. 

In Europe, despite 500,000 ICT specialists entering the labor market in 2020 and 2021, it is still far off of the European Commission’s target for 80% of each European country’s population to have basic digital skills. To remain involved in the future and societal and professional developments, people should be familiar with exchanging information and data through devices, a basic level of computer literacy, web-based communication and research,  and navigating social media.

So far, Cyprus seems to be at the tail-end of this initiative. In 2022, the European Commission released results of its Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), and Cyprus has among the lowest basic digital skills knowledge across its population (just under 50%). In conjunction with this, according to a Education and Training Monitor report from the European Commission in 2022, Cyprus ranks amongst the highest in EU for students completing tertiary education (58.3%) in 2021, versus the EU’s target (45%). Despite this, “the labor market relevance of education needs to be increased”. This means that, although Cyprus sees a multitude of graduates annually, their education and skills do not match current industry requirements.

Cyprus’ current standing in digital upskilling and reskilling is reflected in the movements within the job market. To better understand current job market movements, we reached out to Ergodotisi, a leading job listing platform with hundreds of thousands of inquiries per month. 

The Head of Ergodotisi, Antonis Papadopoulos, shares that “At Ergodotisi, the job categories that hosted the most job openings were always the Accounting category and the HORECA category, which makes sense, as Cyprus' heavy dependence on tourism and services is well-known. The last few years, though, the computer science category has sky-rocketed with new and sometimes extremely specialized vacancies opening up every day. Our daily communication with the companies hiring these professionals, shows that there is a lack of skill/talent among the candidate pool in Cyprus.

Reskilling and upskilling is necessary not only for the grads/candidates/workforce to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world, but also for the companies to remain competitive or operate in full capacity, as well as for Cyprus to be able to offer these skilled professionals to relocating companies in order to truly establish itself as a technological hub.” 

To become a technological hub and to have a successful digital transformation, it is paramount that the majority of Cyprus’ population is educated and has at least some degree of expertise in navigating digital tools and processes. 

This is reflected in Cypriot business’ top three challenges in 2021, which were digital security (43.1%), IT and business alignment (41.4%), and digital transformation (41.4%), according to an ICT Cyprus report. Additionally, the Digital Cyprus Survey conducted by IMR/University of Nicosia, Capacitor Partners, and CITEA, indicates that 68% of businesses believe that digital transformation is imperative to their future success and sustainability. Overcoming these challenges and ushering Cyprus into the next digital era will require ample upskilling of staff and citizens, as well as reskilling Cyprus’ workforce. 

There currently are efforts being made in regard to upskilling and reskilling Cyprus’ workforce. Among them are the Cyprus National Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs, put together by the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy. The coalition is comprised of more than 50 members from both public and private sectors for the purpose of forming a digitally fit society. They aim to distribute e-learning material pertaining to digital skills on their platform. 

Their efforts are more clearly outlined in Cyprus’ National Digital Strategy, where they share their principle-based approach. Their key principles include being user-centered and focusing on what users need from a digital service or product, being agile and quick to execute with a mindset focused on continuous improvement. Additionally, they aim to transform the delivery of services from physical to digital, to ensure that everyone across Cyprus has access to public and private sector services.

Worldwide, there have been notable efforts made by several companies to keep up with digital skill requirements and the digital transformation of the public and private sectors. The World Economic Forum launched a “Reskilling Revolution” in 2020, backed by over 350 public and private sector organizations, and has reached an estimated 350 million people in the last 3 years. The Reskilling Revolution aims to bring better education, skills, and economic opportunity by 2030, which resonates with the European Commission’s goals.

Singapore and Germany have also been stepping up the upskilling and reskilling of its workforce and citizens through programs that help individuals identify skills they can learn to retain their positions in their industries and companies. Singapore’s SkillsFuture program and Germany’s skills anticipation program aim to provide access to the necessary resources for skills mastery and insights to future skill requirements

Given that Cyprus is encroaching on its vision of becoming a technological hub, regionally and globally, even further efforts will be needed in order to not only meet the targets set by the EU, but also to keep up with its neighboring countries. In an effort to keep the region alive in this digital era, Microsoft, within the Mediterranean region, is making waves with its launch of “The ReGeneration Initiative”. It aims to provide 20,000 hours of training in digital skills to 1,000 beneficiaries across Cyprus, Greece, and Malta. 

With just seven years left to meet the European Commission’s targets, the question remains to be answered if Cyprus has the potential to keep up with the necessary reskilling and upskilling taking place around the world.