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Smart Places guide: Education, skills & jobs (6/7)

Authors and contributors: Jos Creese, Martin Ferguson

Smart Places guide: Education, skills & jobs (6/7)

Smart places inevitably require higher than average digital skills in their workforce – employers will require technology knowhow and digital leadership, whether they are public, private or third sector.

The potential of technology seems limitless. It is transforming our health and our wealth and also driving economic growth. It is emancipating people, creating greater equality of opportunity and spreading democratic participation. It enables social cohesion and better understanding of differing views. It can give security for communities and families. It offers new opportunities for universal education and better use of scarce resources and energy. It is giving us more leisure and freedom. And it is central to pretty much every area of research, development and business transformation.

It also brings new risks and threats, from either deliberate or unintended misuse of new technologies and our dependence on them. These affect individuals, communities, governments, businesses and even the environment around us.

Maximising this potential and controlling the risks, requires skills and digital awareness — from specialist technologists in the digital professions to the digital awareness and technical skills needed by every citizen.

Publications in this series: