ICT sector faces skills shortage

There are no signs the wave of growth being ridden by the state’s information and communication technology sector is going to peak any time soon, but the sector still faces some formidable challenges in the years before 2010.

Department of Industry and Resources general manager Roy Chapman said the ICT sector in Western Australia would continue to grow into the foreseeable future.

“DoIR has launched an ICT development strategy, which enables future prosperity in the industry,” he said.

“Over the next five years we will be involved in building local capacity and attracting new investment to take this industry to the global market.

“We are also trying to build a skills base and further industry opportunities into the future.”

Mr Chapman said part of the state government’s strategy was to bring together six industry bodies under the ICT Industry Collaboration Centre, launched in November 2004.

“Originally, we had industry associations in their own right and from that we noticed a lot of overlaps,” he said.

“It was decided that there should be an overriding body, which was one voice to the government.”

Mr Chapman said the first ICTWA conference, held last month, allowed for greater interaction within the ICT sector and between different industry groups, which he expected would further develop with future ICTWA conferences.

“The conference included presentations on commercialisation, development, management technologies and local case studies,” he said. “In 2008 we are looking at having an international conference which will have 700 to 800 people come to WA and look at possible link ups and investment opportunities.”

Mr Chapman said there would be further promotion of ICT through projects such as Australia’s bid to host the $1.7 billion Square Kilometre Array project, an ICT radio telescope.

He said there would be further development of high-performance computing and 3D visualisation applications based on IVEC and ISA/IBM facilities at Technology Park, including looking at the applications for BioInformatics.

Another future project included the proposed establishment of a National ICT Australia centre node based on a resource ICT theme.

The project, if it receives NICTA approval, would involve WA’s four public universities and the state government working towards the establishment of a suitable node in WA with a value of between $3 and $20 million.

Mr Chapman told WA Business News there was also a focus on promoting game developers in WA, which included assisting a number of developers to attend the annual Australian Game Developers Association conference in Melbourne in early December.

ICT Industry Collaboration Centre of WA chair Gregg Boalch said the state’s ICT industry was now working cohesively.

He said there had been a number of innovation success stories in the WA market and stressed the need to encourage investment in WA-based projects during the next five years. 

“There are efforts to better enable WA business to make sense of contemporary ICT,” he said. “We need to look more at what we can do better in the WA market to expand the ICT sector.”

Mr Boalch said there would also be more of a focus on ICT in the not-for-profit sector, as it had been under-represented with ICT in the past.

However, he warned of problems ahead as a result of the skills shortage and inability to attract sufficient numbers of graduates to the ICT sector.

“Even though the tertiary courses are there, people seem to be taking a different path,” he said. “There are just not enough skilled workers to meet demand.”

Mr Chapman said the state government was spending $1.58 million over 30 months to alleviate the skills shortage by assisting small business and industry in sourcing and recruiting skilled labour, including areas of shortage in the ICT industry.

Last month, State Development Minister Alan Carpenter told the 2005 ANZA Technology Conference in Silicon Valley, California, that the promotion of trade and investment opportunities in the ICT sector was a key component of the government’s trade and investment strategy to diversify industry sectors and export markets.

“Our goal is to grow industry clusters in our internationally competitive industries,” he said. “We support that growth through the provision of specialist infrastructure and technology facilities.”

In November 2004 the DoIR released the West Australian Information and Communications Technology Industry Development Strategy, which called for the development of the ICT sector through building local capacity, taking local companies to global markets and by attracting new investment.