Introduction

The maturing of ubiquitous computing and the Internet environment has nurtured collaboration and collective intelligence from knowledge workers to solve problems of all kinds. Data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, chip designs, cloud computing, virtual reality, augmented reality and e-commerce are creating high value added in the era of digital economy. Digital economy has changed our lifestyle, work methods and pace. It is also a vision for industrial competitiveness and economic strength in a country. As the professionals with digital competences are the cornerstone of a digital economy, talent development is the key to a country’s competitiveness.

The developed countries educate their digital talents by augmenting their IT infrastructure and constructing an e-learning environment. Meanwhile, the key is to build a talent supply chain from compulsory education to universities, internships and on-the-job training. Programming is taught as part of national education curriculums. Digital competences of different levels, from basic, intermediate to advanced, are developed via internships and learning by doing. This builds up the pool of talents and paves the way for the transformation into a digital economy.

The key elements of a digital economy are communication networks, computing, software, applications and e-commerce/operations. Digital cross-disciplinary skillsets will drive the change and innovation of industries. The continued evolution and sophistication of digital technologies (particularly with regards to intelligence and smartness brought by computing) are bound to gradually impact all the industries from agriculture, manufacturing to services.

Therefore, the demand for human resources and digital competences will be anchored on the understanding of computer science, as a subject matter of concepts and skills and the application of computer skills (particularly infomatics and computational thinking) into other sciences in order to solve problems.

The OECD Skills Strategy includes: (1) the development of digital literacy from a young age (from K-12 to university); (2) the promotion of digital competence for the labor force, including the unemployed, middle-aged, senior citizens and females; (3) the construction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for lifelong learning. More than 50% of the students on MOOCs hope to develop additional work skills and 30% are for academic purposes. Among those who pursue employability skills, 26% of them find new jobs, and 3% get a raise. Among those who pursue higher education, only 12% of them complete their academic programs.

The action plan for the development of cross-disciplinary digital talents consists of five venues: elementary schools, junior high schools, colleges and universities, on-the-job training and introduction of software competences from overseas. The purpose is to accelerate the development of professional knowhow in both hardware and software, in support of innovation and development of 5+2 industries.

1. Construct a smart learning environment for high and elementary schools;
2. Establish the foundation of K-12 education and explore the potential elite ;
3. Expand the cultivation of university student’s inter-disciplinary digital skills ;
4. Support the cultivation of inter-disciplinary digital skills of the workforce ;
5. Link international open innovation resource to facilitate the talents’ ability to design and develop .

Promotional Strategies

1. Construct a smart learning environment for high and elementary schools
   • Deployment of smart networks in campus: the planning to upgrade the network infrastructure for all the elementary, junior/senior high and vocational schools with the availability of in-campus backbone networks and centralized wireless structures;
   • Strengthening of a digital teaching and learning environment: replacement and development of information technology facilities throughout primary, junior/senior high and vocational schools (by including computers, projectors, teaching software as part of curriculum specialization) so as to create the classrooms with information technology integrated into digital teaching and learning of primary and junior high schools;
   • Improvement of broadband connectivity and speeds for Taiwan Academic Network: upgrade of the networking equipment to support a bandwidth of at least 1Gbps for public senior high and vocational schools; gradual harmonization of the broadband environments and cost structures; establishment of a network management mechanism.
2. Establish the foundation of K-12 education and explore the potential elite
   • Deepening of IT education as part of 12-year compulsory education by developing computing concepts and digital literacy for students: encouragement of learning about programming with multiple platforms such as technology domain classes, IT curricula, flexible syllabuses, or extra-curricular activities, in order to cultivate informatics and computational thinking capabilities; incorporation of information technology into the planning and promotion of the curricula and teaching resources in elementary and junior high schools to provide learning and teaching resources; establishment of an observation mechanism to monitor the results of students’ participation in International Challenge on Informatics and Computational Thinking;
   • Assistance to teachers in primary and junior high schools regarding the enhancement of IT expertise: review of the list of required IT classes in the curricula for the education of teachers; planning and administering of pre-job training and qualification examinations for IT teachers; establishment of a technology domain office as part of the Curriculum and Instruction Consulting Team under the Ministry of Education; improvement of the functioning of IT Education Resources Center; assistance to the on-the-job training and education for IT instructors; selection and sharing of good teaching ideas; organization of co-learning communities on different avenues (including on social media) with incentive measures;
   • Discovery of students’ IT potential with a development mechanism: promotion of an online collaborative learning platform as a vehicle for students to practice and better programming skills; designing of preparatory classes for programming and qualification tests as a reference for the selection of university students; identification of the students with IT potential; training and enabling of participation in community activities and competitions in Taiwan and overseas.
3. Expand the cultivation of university student’s inter-disciplinary digital skills
   • Promotion of programming and design curricula: subsidies to support and encourage special projects; assistance to teaming teaching and MOOCs in the design of programming instructions;
   • Development of 5G networking and application competences: formulation of learning modules on 5G mobility; construction of the environment for teaching and learning-by-doing; nurturing of professional talents in technology, application and innovation;
   • Administering of the integration of academic, industrial and research efforts: enhancement of the employability of cross-disciplinary digital talents; encouragement of spin-offs, start-ups and new ventures for innovative teams; fostering of the development platform by collaborating with academics, industries and research institutions for cross-disciplinary digital talents; connection with learning resources available on MOOCs around the world; creation of a digital economy online platform/curriculum and a smart system to develop digital talents;
   • Internationalization of digital economy professionals by fostering the links between corporates and the new generation of international talents: integration of educational programs organized by the Ministry of Education as part of the New Southbound Policy by incorporating the development of cross-disciplinary digital skills; promotion of international programs with South East Asian countries by working with academics and industries.
4. Support the cultivation of inter-disciplinary digital skills of the workforce
   • Organization of training and education programs for multi-disciplinary digital talents in order to support the innovation and the development of 5+2 industries: conducting of the surveys to gauge the demand for multi-disciplinary talents and the reference of survey results as a basis for the planning of digital economy competences; arrangement of on-the-job training programs for cross-disciplinary digital literacy and competences;
   • Encouragement of on-the-job training and education schemes by companies for cross-disciplinary digital competnces: assistance in the development of training programs to improve the disciplinary digital skills of employees and support the development and innovation of 5+2 industries.
5. Link international open innovation resource to facilitate the talents’ ability to design and develop
      Government-sponsored R&D projects on open source software serve as a smart vehicle to improve the industry’s capabilities in open source programming and develop engineers specialized in open source; active participation in open source initiatives to enhance Taiwan’s contribution to the community and right of discourse; introduction of open source development programs from overseas by working with academics, industries and research institutions, with a focus on smart applications of key sectors and development of cross-disciplinary digital designers and developers from hands-on experience.