Participants of Friday’s AmCham business breakfast in Ljubljana, which looked at the digital transformation in Slovenia, identified the shortage of IT and digital skill experts as a key challenge. They noted the need to awaken enthusiasm for ethnological skills among the young, in particular girls.

Minister of Digital Transformation Mark Boris Andrijanič spoke of major progress in the field this year, pointing to a recently adopted act on the furthering of digital inclusion. While digital literacy campaigns need to target older people, it is also necessary steer young people towards the professions of the future, the minister added in a point echoed by other participants of the discussion. “Special attention needs to be given to girls. This is the biggest deficiency in Slovenia. As far as I’m concerned, this is our country’s biggest natural potential,” Andrijanič said.

Edita Krajnović, director of marketing agency Mediade, noted this issue exists even though Slovenia is the leader in Europe when it comes the number of women with tertiary education degrees.

Peter Gregorčič of the Ljubljana Faculty Of Mechanical Engineering stressed the role of quality teachers in primary and secondary schools when it comes to inspiring young people. He also spoke of the need for higher wages in the sector, with other participants agreeing a change of the business and social environment will be needed as well if the shortage of ICT experts is to be tackled.

As to the challenges in education, the head of the government office for the digitalisation of education Igor Pesko spoke of the need to reform school curricula and of potential specialised courses for ICT teachers.

Alexa Joyce of Microsoft explained the importance of a flexible business environment and Barbara Domicelj of Microsoft Slovenija spoke of the need for less bureaucracy when it comes to the employment of foreign experts in Slovenia.

(Source: STA)