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Top2. Skill Transferability And Ict Professionals
Several studies point out the crucial role played by human resources in the development of an information society and the harms potentially associated with skill shortage and skill gap1 among ICT professionals both in the ICT industry and in other economy sectors (Forth & Mason, 2004; Wintjes & Dunnewijk, 2008; Didero et al., 2009; Colomo-Palacios et al., 2012). The risk of mismatch between demand and supply of ICT skills is deeply connected with the intertwined key events that have marked the history of information and communication technologies since the 1980s (OECD, 2005; Solimene, 2008; Didero et al., 2009). First, by unifying elaboration tools and transport and delivery channels of different types of information (voice, data, images), digitalisation processes drove the merge between telecommunications, computer industry and production of digital contents. Second, the switch of traditional ICT manufacturers from capital-intensive good production to knowledge-intensive service delivery has been driving progressive processes of outsourcing and offshoring, at least in industrialised countries (OECD, 2005; Didero et al., 2009; García-Crespo et al., 2010; OECD, 2011). Third, the pervasiveness of ICT made basic ICT-skills a requirement to perform a large range of working and non-working tasks in the daily life of most citizens and opened new positions for ICT professionals in virtually all economic activities (European Commission, 2012).