Jack Orlik

1. Skills for the Future
Preparing our students and institutions for a rapidly
changing world
Jack Orlik, Senior Researcher and Programme Manager
May 2019
@JackOrlik

3. Increasing inequality
Disparities in education,
healthcare, social services,
consumption.
Urbanisation
More than half of world
population lives in cities—70
percent by 2050.
Political uncertainty
Uncertainty negatively affects
economic activity in government-
influenced sectors, such as defence,
finance, construction, engineering,
and healthcare.
Technological change
The impact of automation on
employment
Globalisation
Global labour markets are
increasingly integrated.
Demographic change
Pressures to control age-related
entitlements vs. investments in
education, R&D and infrastructure
Environmental sustainability
Structural changes resulting from
emerging 'green economy sector' and
'green jobs', but vulnerable to political
reversals
Read more at Future of Skills: Employment in 2030
Future trends to impact labour markets

4. Interpersonal
skills
Higher order
cognitive skills
Healthcare
Research &
technology
Strength
Repair skills
Machine
operatives
Elementary
administration
Trends in skills and occupations
Read more at Future of Skills: Employment in 2030

5. The future of skills….
Needs a Story

6. Time
The quest for knowledge

7. Time
The emotional ride
Watch Kurt Vonnegut on The Shapes of Stories

8. We award grants
for interventions
to build
resilience, self-
confidence &
motivation
Read more about the Future Ready Fund

9. The future of skills….
Is Collaborative

10. The Agile
Manifesto
(2001)
● Business people and developers
must work together daily
throughout the project.
● The most efficient and effective
method of conveying
information to and within a
development team is face-to-
face conversation.
● At regular intervals, the team
reflects on how to become
more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly.

11. Collaboration and Collective Intelligence
Educ-AI-tion and Collective
Intelligence
We believe that AI systems can
enable humans to make better
decisions, together.
For example, it can assist
educators to make more
effective assessments of student
needs.
Innovation Mapping
Highly technical team, using Big
Data and AI to map innovation.
Core features of their work:
● Open Working
● Community building
● Fostering trust
People Powered Results
The 100 Day Challenge method
supports front-line practitioners
and service users to collaborate
to change complex systems for
the better.

12. The future of skills….
Is Creative

13. Portrait of Edmond Belamy, 2018, created by GAN (Generative Adversarial Network).
Sold for $432,500 on 25 October at Christie’s in New York. Image © Obvious

14. Some digital skills
are more valuable
than others:
1. Animation
2. Multimedia production
3. Design in engineering
4. Building and maintaining IT
systems and networks
5. Research and quantitative
data analysis
Read more about Which digital skills do you really need?

15. The future of skills….
Is Changing

16. Technology
changes
rapidly; so
do skills
The for-profit adult education
provider General Assembly updates
each curriculum every 6 months.
It is in constant contact with
employers and practitioners.
Read more about Delivering Digital Skills

17. Labour
markets are
complex
Labour markets are affected by
many more trends than
technological change.
Open Jobs at Nesta aims to open
up and use labour market data so
that educators, governments,
employers workers can be more
responsive to changes in skill
demand.
Universities support this through
data-sharing.
Read more about Open Jobs

18. ● Stories: Make learners the
protagonists of their own skills
story
● Collaboration: Build capabilities
for collaboration - with people
and AI
● Creativity: Promote creativity as
a core feature of digital
capability
● Change: Connect with other
stakeholders & share data
The future of
skills...
is more human
than it might
seem

19. nesta.org.uk
@nesta_uk