The market for employment in the ICT sector is buoyant, in the sense that, to paraphrase a classic saying, the demand for qualified personnel is greater than the supply. This is an extremely dynamic market but also one that is changing very rapidly, because the sector as a whole is in a state of constant flux. New qualifications and techniques are emerging all the time… Although from the point of view of the employees, everything is fine, the situation is more troubling for employers, because the shortage of qualified profiles in the ICT field is a painful reality.

According to the companies of the sector, we are seriously short of programmers. In only a few days’ time, a new specialised private school will open in Belval to train up this kind of profile. It is known as the WebForce3 academy, and is the outcome of a private initiative that we are backing actively. Thanks to its programme, this establishment promises to train junior programmers in less than five months.

I am doing my utmost to put this message across to young people in our country: “If you like innovation, IT, telecommunications, etc., here’s a piece of advice: get involved in these sectors. They provide tremendous returns. There are jobs available right now and there will still be jobs on offer tomorrow and the day after that. You can count on it.”

This growth is neither surprising, nor accidental. We have done everything, and we continue to do everything to get this growth to take place right here in Luxembourg. This has been a key priority of successive governments and for the current government in particular. We are doing our best to promote Luxembourg as a centre of digital technology, a hub for fintech and telecommunications start-ups, and to draw in investors. In this respect, you might say that we are well prepared. But we also need to succeed in drawing enough talent and to train the young generations to meet the quantitative and qualitative requirements of the companies that we are attracting to our country. This is a tremendous opportunity for our little country, and I am particularly optimistic about it.

You cannot legislate for entrepreneurial spirit. This is something innate, something that is experienced and acquired ad-hoc… it is also tied to a certain attitude in society. Unfortunately, entrepreneurship is all too often synonymous with risk-taking in our minds. It’s not considered as a worthy avenue for one’s endeavours. And this is precisely what we must change. The message must be turned into a positive one. How? By reviewing our system to ensure that it offers more security to those who decide to take the plunge and start their own business. By reviewing our social security system and also by altering the terminology that is used. For instance, there is often talk of “unemployment benefit”, a negative term that is not very encouraging. It would be better to speak of financial support to enable one to deal with the periods of transition between a phase when one is an employee and another phase when one is an entrepreneur. Or vice-versa. More and more people’s careers are beginning to look like that. You might be an entrepreneur for a while, then an employee for some time, then go back to setting up your own business, and so on. What’s needed is above all to give more security to the people who dare to start businesses. There should no longer be any hindrances to entrepreneurship; on the contrary.

Investment in ICT skills is one of the keys to successfully pulling off Luxembourg’s digital strategy. To that end we have launched the “Fit4coding” strategic initiative, which is co-financed by the European Social Fund; this is a partnership between Agence pour le développement de l’emploi (ADEM) and NumericALL, which operates the WebForce3 academy as a franchise in Luxembourg.

The WebForce3 academy, which trains web developers and integrators to be immediately operational, thanks to an intensive training course lasting 490 hours over 3 ½ months, will open in Luxembourg on 30 November, at the Technoport of Esch-sur-Alzette, a very stimulating environment for these future players of the digital scene in the Grand-Duchy. Fit4coding is expected to help train 90 job seekers in 18 months.

NumericALL is consolidating a teaching concept – the WebForce3 academy – which over the past two years has proven its effectiveness at developing operational skills, the expertise of ADEM in identifying applicants who are enthusiastic about IT and motivated by the opportunities presented by programming skills, and the close links with companies which need these skills: companies such as Vanksen, Kneip and PwC have already formed partnerships with NumericALL, and negotiations are already under way with other major players in the economy to develop the skills that they need.

The other aspect that must be worked on is matching up the talent to those who need it. To that end Luxembourg’s Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Labour Economy and the country’s Ministry of Communications and Media will organise in partnership with Europa Plurimedia Synergie SA a “Digital Plug&Work 2016” recruitment evening dedicated specifically to recruitment for the ICT and digital sectors. The European Social Fund will also be backing this event.

This event will be organised in close cooperation with ADEM, which will enable the participation of a selection of job seekers registered with ADEM who have ICT profiles prized by many companies.