The competition was inspired by an initiative of senior executives at Pepsi. They saw the value of engaging with early-stage digital companies that might help to provide insights and innovation to the soft drink maker. The PepsiCo10 competition was born out of this, and run in conjunction with Highland Capital Partners, and a participant of Highland Capital Partners is now working with the Irish Times on The Irish Times Digital Challenge.
There is a major bonus to the winner of The Irish Times Digital Challenge in the access their innovation will have to Irish Times users  – up to several million per month. Each finalist will receive marketing to the value of €10,000 while the overall winner will receive investment funds to the value of €50,000. To assist the finalists in developing their path to market, NDRC LaunchPad will run a mini-startup incubator inside The Irish Times over eight weeks. In addition to extensive mentoring, there will be €10,000 worth of free legal, accounting, and taxation advice for the finalists over the eight weeks. Enterprise Ireland will also be offering support during this phase.
To register your interest - http://www.irishtimesidealab.com/

Four Irish and six international teams from Israel, Brazil, US, China, Romania, Lithuania and Poland selected from over 150 international applicants, will pitch their start-up businesses to a global panel of over 100 investors.
These new businesses have a good chance of job creation thanks to the Startupbootcamp model. Eoghan Jennings who is behind the Dublin initiative explains: “what we’re trying to do is build tomorrow’s employers.”
The programme focuses on creating sounder businesses rather than focusing on funding. They create traction with customers before seeking funding or hiring people.
“Some of the mistakes we’ve made in the past, if we’ve funded an idea before we reached the product/market fit, jobs aren’t created and funds evaporate.”

The Eurocom Worldwide technology confidence survey found that 60% of respondents expect the business they work for to increase jobs and 71% forecast an increase in revenues. The survey was conducted online by member agencies of Eurocom Worldwide during January and February 2012 including Simpson Financial & Technology PR.
Ronnie Simpson of Simpson Financial & Technology PR explains that there was a very strong Irish sample – 10% of the 318 responses received. “It reflects anecdotally what we’re hearing from technology clients. Most are recruiting. They’re not finding it easy to find the right people. Almost one-third refer to a skill shortage.”
He describes this as a paradox – 14.5% unemployment rate and all of his IT clients are recruiting heavily. 30% of respondents thought it was more difficult to hire individuals with the right technology skills at the moment.

NovaUCD as a purpose-built centre also nurtures high-tech and knowledge-intensive enterprises. Companies based at NovaUCD include social web-search solutions (HeyStaks), localization services for app developers (Tethras) and elearning (RendezVu).
Professor Peter Clinch, Vice-President for Innovation at UCD commented: “NovaUCD client companies were established to translate innovative ideas into value-added products and services, including companies which are commercialising UCD research outputs. The development and growth of such high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies is of critical importance for Ireland’s economic recovery.

In the meantime it is investing €3.3 million into its research and development programme.
The new ‘high-value’ jobs will be created mostly in sales, engineering, development and product management. They’ll be based across the firm’s Dublin operation and at its regional office in Galway.
OpenJaw is headquartered in Dublin but has offices in Galway, Madrid, Frankfurt and Dallas.
The new jobs will bring the total number of people employed by the firm to 169, 151 of whom will be employed in Ireland.
OpenJaw’s customers include airlines, online travel agencies and hotel chains.
Kieron Branagan, CEO, OpenJaw Technologies, said the firm sees great opportunities for ongoing growth.
“Our growth strategy is aimed clearly on greater penetration of the global travel market.”

The company is looking to recruit both graduates and experienced specialists in areas such as Java, SAP, cloud computing, mobility and workplace collaboration technologies.
Around half of the Dublin-based positions will be for graduates, and will be separate from the firm’s graduate recruitment programme that takes place around October each year.
The technology jobs are also in addition to those being created at Accenture’s Analytic Innovation Centre in Dublin. In May last year, the firm announced it would create 100 jobs, and continues to recruit for those positions.
Accenture provides management consultancy, technology services and outsourcing to clients, which include Microsoft, Kerry Group and the Revenue Commissioners.

How important are digital skills to Ireland’s job creation prospects?
Ireland is a successful major centre for ICT operations. Nine of the top 10 software companies in the world have substantial operations here. The large talent pool of ICT professionals that currently exists here is valuable both for foreign owned and Irish companies. The ready availability of top quality talent has been an important contributing factor to the success of multinational companies in Ireland. The cluster of internationally renowned firms and smaller Irish companies offer a range of attractive career opportunities for professionals.

What skills are in demand?
There is a strong demand for high-level ICT skills arising from an expansion of the business operations of companies over the last year, inflow of foreign R&D investment and formation of new start-ups.

An increasing share of employment within the sector is being accounted for by people with high-level skills. This is a result of a shift in subsector employment from hardware towards software; a general shift in the skills mix; and a pattern of simultaneous creation and loss of jobs, resulting in lower-skilled jobs being replaced with higher-skilled.

Immediate skills recruitment demand mainly relates to high-level ICT talent – computing science and electronic engineering Honours Bachelor Degree (Level 8 ) and above-especially for personnel with several years experience. There is also a requirement for foreign language fluency skills with cultural awareness – required for technical support and sales and marketing activities. Analytical skills, initiative and communications skills are increasing valuable skills in helping develop new business solutions for customers.

Firms are also willing to recruit some persons who have not quite the technical skills profile they are looking for and train them up – especially persons with analytical thinking, initiative, creativity and good communications skills. These are increasingly valued for the development of business solutions for customers.

Emerging skills demand are around cloud computing; service design; database management; social networks and media, development of e-commerce applications and internet marketing.

What actions are under way or need to be made to ensure we can supply this demand?
The continuing professional development of staff within enterprise is essential in ensuring that emerging skill gaps are addressed – as companies move towards higher value products and services. Companies that run internships are very satisfied with them – and students certainly benefit from the work experience.

Inward migration is valuable in its own right for the cross fertilisation of ideas and practices which underpins innovation. Many multi-national companies here are European and global centres, and the availability of a talented pool of people from a range of countries is a positive attraction for them.

Boosting the high-skills supply pipeline in terms of the numbers and quality is the best way to ensure that skills recruitment needs will be met – and to help realise greater employment opportunities for graduates. The numbers of young people entering such programmes had fallen over the period 2002-2007 – but over the last four years there has been a welcome 40% increase in acceptances.

There is an ongoing need to communicate the availability of the range of attractive ICT career opportunities – both in the ICT sector and in related sectors such as international financial services, to students, parents and teachers. This action is best industry led with the support of third level institutions. Industry understands the nature of work on offer – that it involves working with a team of people, often of different nationalities, on the development of products and services which impact on the wellbeing of all in society.

There is also a need to attract more female students into STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] disciplines. It is essential to boost the numbers of young people taking higher level Leaving Certificate maths so as to increase the potential supply pool from which STEM disciplines at third level draw upon.

A High-Level ICT Skills Action Plan is being prepared jointly by the Department of Education and Skills and the Higher Education Authority, with the support of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs to boost the domestic supply of high-level ICT supply in terms of numbers and quality – in the immediate and medium term. These measures will require the sustained support and collaboration from a range of stakeholders – in particular from enterprise.

Website: www.skillsireland.ie

How important are digital skills to attracting foreign direct investment?
Despite the recession, demand for digital skills remains strong, ranging from information security, data hosting, payments, digital advertising, film, animation, e-learning, to customer support and global business services (including international HQs’ operations). The games industry also presents high growth potential and opportunity for Ireland. This is illustrated by recent job announcements which span a variety of sectors, from ICT (HP Ireland, Avaya, Quest Software) and games companies (PopCap Games) with the financial sector featuring prominently as an employer of IT skills (Fidelity Investments, Monex, Fidessa, Murex).
Job creation is expected to continue in these sectors, with jobs likely to span managerial, professional and technician levels. Some leading global ICT companies which have announced job expansion plans include Dell, Hewlett Packard and LinkedIn. In line with trends in the sector, most of the investments are in the areas of cloud computing, software and contact centres all of which require digital skills of varying degrees.
Recent reports have highlighted the major economic opportunities for Ireland in the cloud computing and games sectors. The reports have shown that c. 9,000 and c. 4,500 jobs respectively could be created in these sectors, relying heavily on digital skills.
•    Ireland is poised to become a global cloud centre of excellence due to our significant software economy and combination of talent and track record. A growing number of global businesses in the IT industry are involved in this strategically important activity which can create high-value jobs and drive competitiveness.
•    Ireland also has the potential to become a global games hub for the 21st century. The games sector is experiencing strong growth leading to an increased employment in core games companies, with potential for further growth in a host of interrelated activities in the digital economy including social networks, search engines, animation, film and video, and e-learning.

What skills do your clients demand?
Multinational companies have a strong record for generating employment opportunities in Ireland. A 2011 IMI/National Irish Bank Survey of Multinational Corporations in Ireland shows that almost half (48%) of multinationals are expecting to grow employment numbers in the next 12 months, while only 13% of firms surveyed expect to decrease employment numbers. This growth is feeding strongly into Ireland’s export-led economic recovery, with multinationals here now accounting for over three- quarters of exports.
IDA is working with multinational companies to help transform their operations in order to best position them for future growth and ensure Ireland remains a leading competitive location for foreign direct investment. A key element in the transformation process includes an uplift in the skills of the workforce to meet the increasingly complex challenges of the digital economy.
Multinationals who are considering investing in Ireland frequently highlight the need for employees to be strong in one or more of the following: basic digital skills; software skills and both European and International languages. In addition companies focus on the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Demand for digital skills is expected to increase among multinational companies in Ireland, driven by the following factors:
•    Harnessing ICT is expected to feature prominently in businesses’ efforts to reduce costs and improve efficiencies through innovation in business processes. This is expected to further expand the use of SaaS (software as a service) and cloud computing platforms.
•    Increased use of the internet for marketing, advertising, sales, networking, communication (blogs and social networks) and recruitment purposes throughout the economy.

What actions are under way or need to be made to ensure we can supply this demand?
There is continued demand for graduates with appropriate digital skills across all industries. Initiatives such as Project Maths and the introduction of bonus points for Leaving Certificate mathematics to improve numeracy skills have been introduced.
•    Project Maths was introduced to improve the numeracy skills of second level students by changing what they learn, how they learn it and how they will be assessed. The programme will place a greater emphasis on understanding mathematical concepts, and developing problem-solving ability, focusing on understanding and skills in the teaching and learning of mathematics.
•    The introduction of a bonus points scheme for higher-level maths in the Leaving Cert from 2012 should increase higher level maths uptake and achievement, developing numeracy skills which are fundamental in order to develop digital skills and to attract investment to Ireland.
The State plays a critical role in ensuring that the supply of workers is conducive to employability through the education, training and activation system, and by reducing the mismatch between the skills available through the unemployed and the skills required by client companies. A number of policies to enhance labour market activation have been introduced in the government’s Jobs Initiative in May 2011, targeted at those who have left employment in areas which are now suffering from structural employment.
Conversion courses for non-technology graduates and initiatives such as Springboard have a vital role to play in ensuring this demand is met. The ‘Springboard’ initiative provides up-skilling and retraining for unemployed people in areas such as digital marketing, engineering and medical devices so that they may fill current or future job shortages in these areas. A number of the courses focus on technology enabling more people to choose careers in the broad range of sectors where demand for these skills is growing.
A new National Internship Scheme, JobBridge, was also launched during 2011 in order to provide work experience placements for a six or nine month period. The scheme will give people an opportunity to gain valuable experience to bridge the gap between study and the beginning of their working lives by providing time-limited work experience placements in the private, public and voluntary sectors.
In order to strengthen Ireland’s position as a cloud computing centre of excellence, EMC Corporation has partnered with Cork Institute of Technology to launch Ireland’s first masters and undergraduate degree programmes in cloud computing. The programmes aim to provide graduates with the advanced conceptual understanding, detailed factual knowledge, and specialist technical skills required for successfully delivering cloud computing. They will also equip them to meet the challenges associated with the rapidly changing IT industry.
In order to meet demand for digital skills, where difficulties arise for companies accessing IT skills employment permits are issued to non-EEA software engineers and computer programmers.
The demand for sophisticated digital skills is resulting in a number of companies from various sectors competing for the same pool of expertise. While the initiatives highlighted above should lead to an overall increase in the availability of these skills, in order to maximise the return from these investments it will be necessary to build on the output of the initiatives and utilise the enhanced skills to attract further investment to Ireland.

How important are digital skills to the success of Enterprise Ireland client companies?
They’re critically important; we released a software strategy in 2009. One of the key enablers for software companies is the whole area of routes to market. Obviously the internet is a key route to market, the online market is central for our companies. It’s every bit important as geographical markets. For that obviously they need decent websites.

All the software companies would obviously have websites but they might not necessarily all be as good as everybody else’s. Without wishing to be critical of them there room for improvement particularly in terms of things like in inbound and outbound marketing.

For the inbound marketing they need their search engine optimisation sorted so people can find them.

What skills do your clients demand?
There are loads of vacancies in this area – there’s a huge shortage of IT skills. There’s a shortage globally but there’s a dramatic shortage certainly in Ireland. Currently we have at least 1,500 vacancies across our Irish-owned software companies; it’s not all in the internet skills area. We estimate that multinationals have at least double that. There’s a huge dearth of skills here. In the short term companies will probably find experienced people from overseas rather than from Ireland. In the medium to long term, hopefully the people will grow and be developed in Ireland.

The kind of skills our client companies are looking for are certainly programming skills in Java .net and C++, network engineers, business analysts, product managers, people with business intelligence/data analytics skills, digital media specialists, animators, Delphi programmers. They also need experienced sales and marketing people – somebody who has honed their skills over a number of years.

Localisation skills are needed too. In general our clients’ websites don’t seem to be very well localised for the markets they’re getting into. There’s a huge requirement for really effective localisation, not just in terms of the language but the look and feel with the site, does it fit with the culture of the people using it.

What actions are under way or need to be made to ensure we can supply this demand?
There’s a few things happening. There’s a brand we’ve set up here ‘IT’s happening here’ for Irish-owned software companies. In general the brands of individual Irish companies aren’t that well known. Everybody knows Google, Microsoft and IBM. Who knows Pacemetrics or System Dynamics?

We currently have a website Itshappeninghere.ie which features lots of the Irish companies and a page where companies can put in the links to the recruitment page of their website.

Phase 2 we will be pushing out the brand internationally and it will be accompanied by a searchable website. Companies will find the experienced people from abroad in the short term.

In parallel with all that there is a range of conversion courses under way: FÁS, Springboard and the HEA, and other bodies. Some of those courses are aimed at technical graduates who are unemployed. Others are aimed at anybody who’s unemployed to give them some introduction to the software industry and IT skills.

Those courses will start producing an output in 2012. In terms of the employability of them in the IT industry it will be a mixed bag. It will be an important stream of people that will become available next year.