Creating future data scientists

REGIONAL TRANSFORMATION OUTLOOK 2019

As the artificial intelligence skills gap becomes more like a chasm, next year we will see the technology talent war heat up even more. Artificial intelligence is reinventing the way we work, redefining business strategies and helping organisations make sense of the ever-growing volume of data they possess. This makes roles such as data scientist and artificial intelligence specialist a necessity, as opposed to merely being a competitive advantage.

The challenge? There is not enough talent to go around. Artificial intelligence and data specialists are not being trained fast enough to meet demand, with the best professionals likely to be monopolised by large firms with deep pockets. This could result in an innovation vacuum in the start-up and SMB space.

In a study commissioned from MIT Tech Review Insights, business leaders felt a lack of resources and talent was one of the biggest barriers preventing a better management of data in their organisation. With data undoubtedly the new currency of businesses, this is a serious issue for the industry and action needs to be taken.

With this in mind, we expect to see businesses of all sizes and industries begin working with educational institutions, ensuring that courses are designed to prepare students with the skills that organisations need. To end the war for talent once and for all, we need to see the creation of artificial intelligence-specific internships and flexible university curriculums that keep up in real-time, with technological change.

We also expect to see new tools that will simplify the adoption of artificial intelligence, reducing the learning curve for new talent. These efforts, among others, will help accelerate the creation of future data scientists.

Key takeaways

• Expect to see new tools that will simplify adoption of artificial intelligence, reducing the learning curve for new talent.
• Artificial intelligence and data specialists are not being trained fast enough to meet demand.
• This makes data scientist and artificial intelligence specialist a necessity, as opposed to merely being a competitive advantage.