Event Report: Manchester Digital Skills Conference Day
Manchester Digital Skills Festival was an inspiring day for companies, recent graduates and those who want to know more about the digital world.
Manchester Digital drives the digital sector in the North West of England. The Manchester Digital Skills Festival, held between the 5th and the 9th of February 2024 showcased various businesses in the digital world, as an event for companies to get together and learn, connect and inform the tech sector of tomorrow.
Manchester Digital Skills Festival brought together incredible business leaders, employers, educators, and policymakers to discuss challenges, triumphs, and future opportunities in the digital skills landscape.
Read along as Becky McMillan, Digital Strategy Officer, documents the events of the day.
Augmenting human skillsets through AI. Diversifying the tech sector. Bridging the gap between education and early career roles. The power of supportive mentorship. And delicious cake.
My inaugural visit to Manchester Digital Skills Festival’s Conference Day left me several notebook pages down, and with a brain buzzing from the insights of incredible leaders within the digital sector. (Either that, or a minor sugar rush – all credit to Loaf Mcr for the aforementioned cake).
As strategic partners of the Festival, Manchester's Digital Strategy Team – of which I’m proud to be a part - is an enthusiastic support to Manchester’s thriving technology scene. With apprentices and CEOs sharing the stage, Conference Day offered the chance to hear a broad range of perspectives, experiences, and top tips from professionals at all stages of their careers. For those of us sitting in the audience, it was a chance to absorb, be inspired by, emulate (or shamelessly steal!) insights. Our Digital Strategy tagline, #DoingDigitalTogether, means that we believe our digital economy is only strengthened through opportunities for collaboration. By working together with businesses, educators, policy makers, and tech innovators in our digital community, we can harness the power of technology to shape a future that benefits everybody.
Condensing and sharing Conference Day takeaways - and those many, many notebook scribbles - will always fall short of capturing the nuances of speakers’ thoughts, or the feel of a room that’s alive with impassioned discussion.
But for those who might have missed out, here’s a recap you can digest over a morning coffee:
1. Keynote speaker Robert Sugden reflected on the significant challenges that have impacted recruitment within the tech sector over the last few years, including continued talent shortages and huge lay-offs. Luckily, Rob channelled his inner evidence-based Mystic Meg to make much more positive predictions for the future. With VC funds still above pre-pandemic levels, and over 82% of employers looking to increase headcounts this year, continued sector growth seems all but certain.
An increase in hybrid roles has also unlocked doors into the tech sector for a wider range of candidates. While such roles also have potential to improve work-life balance (for myself, the joys of working in a heated blanket on a rainy day after ten years in education cannot be overstated) this does mean Manchester’s home-grown talent must now compete with the global talent offer. Sector growth means that investment in bridging the digital skills gap is urgently needed. For the Digital Strategy Team, this underlines the importance of our collaboration with the Work and Skills Team in the development of a Digital Skills Framework for Greater Manchester - so watch this space!
2. Lily Stanton of AtkinsRéalis chaired discussion with panellists John Tredinnick, Ignasi Pizarro, Alex Meehan, & Elizabeth Scott MBE , to explore how a balance between ethics and innovation can be achieved in a workforce supported by AI.
The importance of keeping humans in the loop to mitigate against bias was illustrated through several cautionary tales. Case in point: did you know that Amazon trialled an AI recruitment tool that inadvertently disadvantaged female applicants, after being trained using data from a bank of predominantly male resumes? The AI had taught itself that male candidates were preferable.
To alleviate that shiver up the spine, there’s also huge potential for AI to benefit the workplace. AI, used responsibly, could “augment, not displace”* humans, providing the means to reduce workload and increase productivity and performance. Making conscious and active decisions around the ethical use of AI, establishing a supportive workplace culture, and investing in initiatives that look to bridge the AI skills gap is crucial to ensuring that everybody benefits equally from advances in technology. The Digital Strategy Team has exciting plans in the works to contribute to the reduction of this gap through providing education and training to local communities and engaging residents in the ongoing ethical debate surrounding AI. If you’d be interested in getting involved, keep your eyes on our social media!
*(As previously warned, words shamelessly stolen – in this case from the insightful Ignasi Pizarro).
3. Opting against heroic failure, I’m shying from the challenge of summarising the incredible amount of data contained within the Skills Snapshot 2024. Presented at Conference Day by Alison Ross MBE & Tom Amies-Cull, you can dive into the full report here.
4. The Question Time panel – lacking David Dimbleby, but featuring Alison Ross MBE, Katie Gallagher OBE, Rebekah Drury, Dr. Opeoluwa Aiyenitaju & Rakesh Maharaj - provoked plenty of lively discussion on how we might build a more inclusive, ambitious, and sustainable digital future for Manchester.
Panellists took on the challenge of addressing the discussion dominating skills gap head on, grappling with potential solutions.
While major employers have the privilege of closing gaps between education and early career roles through in-house education and training, SMEs - despite arguably offering more autonomy and creativity - lack the time or resources to develop graduates who are unable to hit the ground running. Adoption of apprenticeships in smaller businesses was fielded as a possible solution, although improving access will be key. In education, institutions must embrace technology to encompass new approaches that equip students with the skills to succeed in the workplaces of the future.
Collaboration between industry, academia, and policy is essential to bridging the skills gap and preparing graduates for success. As a Digital Strategy team, this reinforces the importance of inviting a diverse range of voices to strengthen and mould our strategy.
5. Bursts of feel-good energy were delivered in lightning sessions highlighting the work of organisations and charities in driving a more equitable future for Manchester. FareShare UK talked about their incredible work ferrying surplus food across the city, helping local charities and community groups to carry out their work more effectively. AutoTrader's Tay Duncan also spoke about the value of apprenticeships in opening up pathways into tech with infectious enthusiasm.
6. To draw the day to a close, the collective hearts of the audience were warmed through a cozy Fireside Chat with Elaine Mullan & Bekki Walker, (Foundation CIPD) , mentor and mentee in the MentorHER scheme. How much better could your working life be with a dedicated “cheerleading” supporting every success from the sidelines? Bekki and Elaine spoke passionately about the benefit of incorporating different perspectives and ways of working in their practice, and the value of ensuring knowledge is passed on before employees leave.
There are many ways the tech sector can work together to support growth and innovation. Collaboration facilitated by events such as these is essential to addressing the challenges in our sector and working towards solutions that benefit everyone in our city.
After hearing so many concrete examples of great practice and gathering a hoard of useful insights to back to our Digital Strategy Team, I left my first Conference Day feeling inspired, optimistic, and only slightly overwhelmed. I’m sure many audience members will feel the same way, leaving eager to contribute to Manchester’s technology scene in even more impactful ways, and motivated to affect positive change for people across the region.
(And if all else fails, there was always the cake to fall back on!)
